Union Corners School, District #3 Clifford M. Smith

Susannah Vaughton 89

17cal. of Manuscripts, 151. 18 susannah Leisler Vaughton was the first born (bap. 2/10/1664) of Jacob Leisler and widow of Else Sussanna Tymens. ("Records of the Dutch Reformed Church", N.Y. Genealogical and Biographical Record, VI, (1875), 156. She grew up in a wealthy home. Her father, Jacob Leisler, had married a wealthy widow and strengthened his new fortune through his own mercantile successes. Susannah probably remained in her father's home until her marriage to Michael Vaughton in 1687 after her twentythird birthday. (NYG&BR, V, (1874), 174). She may have moved to Bergen, New Jersey, near the time her son Michael was born in 1688. (Edwin R. Purple, "Leisler", NYG&BR, VII, (1876), 147). Sometime between 1688 and 1695, the time of her appeal for her portion of the land grant in Dutchess County, her husband died. Her husband's death, her father's execution, probably followed by years of quiet persecution during the appeals for her father's pardon were undoubtedly difficult years. She may have lived with her mother until she married Leonard Huygen de Kleyn in 1704. (NYG&BR, XII, (1881), 41). Little is known of her personal life except hel regular appearances as sponsor at the baptisms of the first four of her son's six children. There is no record of her life following the baptism of her grandson, Johannes, in 1720. (NYG&BR, XIX, ( 1888), 15). 19u1ster County Clerk, Deeds, Liber AA, 259; George .S. Van Vliet, "Pawling Patent, Alias Staatsburg, and Some of Its Early Families", Yearbook, Dutchess Co. Historical Soc., 2 (1916), 28-30. 20Land Papers, 3, 15. 21Land Papers, 4, 13. The actual acreage of the whole of Pawling's Purchase probably did not exceed eight thousand acres. N.Y. State Archives, Deed~, Henry Pawling, Liber 20, 581. 22Land Papers, 3, 16. 23Land Papers, 3, 17. 24Land Papers, 3, 30. 25Paul M. Hamlin, Charles E. Baker, eds., Supreme Court of Judicature of the Province of New York, 16911704, (New York, 1952), II, 86. (hereafter cited as Supreme Court.)

90 • William P. Mc Dermott

26council Minutes, 8, 305. 27 council Minutes, 8, 307. 28council Minutes, 8, 308. 29 8 . upreme Court, III, 74-78. 30Land Papers, 3' 28. 31council Minutes, 8, 308. 32Land Papers, 3' 47. 33Land Papers, 3, 58, April 15, 1702. 34 · c • 1 M. 9 36 ounc1 1nutes, , . 35N.Y. Col. Docs., IV, 1010-11. 36Land Papers, 3, 123. 37c ·1 ounc1 M" 9 226 • 1nutes, , . 38The original Council Minutes dating from May 1703 to the end of the year were burned in 1911 in the Albany fire. However, the Calender of Council Minutes, 1668-1783, New York State Library, (Albany, 1902), published before the burning, does not record Lt. Governor Nanfan appearing before the Council for that purpose at any time during the remainder of the year. Perhaps the matter was settled outside the Council. 39Land Papers, 3, 175. 40Land Papers, 4, 13, April 5, 1704; May 25, 1704. 41 • Council Minutes, 9, 444-5. 42council Minutes, 9, 468 & 477; Land Papers, 4, 39. 43N.Y.S. Archives, N.Y.S. Library, "Pawling Purchase", Letters-Patent of Lands, VII, (1696-1712), 258-260. 44 Land Papers, 3, 175.

UNION CORNERS SCHOOL, DISTRICT #3 Clifford M. Smith

History (1845-1907) of a recently restored one room schoolhouse in Hyde Park presently used for educational programs. Clifford Smith~ long time resident of Hyde Park~ is Vice-President of the Hyde Park Historical Society.

On November 10, 1845, the land on which the Union Corners School stood (at present the corner of Cardinal Road and Crumb Road) was deeded for one dollar to Richard Pritchard and John DeGroff, trustees of School District #3. Within one year the trustees built and occupied a "District Schoolhouse" for District #3 and by permission of a majority of the inhabitants of said district for a "singing school, lectures and meetings of a moral or literary character."

The school opened in 1846 witn four pupils and closed in 1907 with a student body of twenty. During the sixty-one year period there were many teachers. In one twenty-year period records show there was a succession of seventeen teachers!

School board battles were as common then as they are now -- particularly where the budget was concerned. Everyone complained about school taxes. Residents had to vote to keep the school open "12 months in the year, as near as may be" and to raise $200 in the district for school purposes, $30 for fuel and contingent expenses and $170 towards the teacher's salary.

On October 17, 1870, the district hired CharlesE. Simpson at $40 a month. His agreement with the trustees was "to teach eight months if he suited the board, with two vacations at his own expense and no time was to be allowed to him for Teacher's Institute." Mr. Simpson didn't last long in that one-room school. By .. summer of the following year a lady by the name of Freelove A. Holmes was hired. She agreed to $9 per week and a special privilege not often offered to many rural teachers. She did not have to build her own fire! The trustees paid a boy four dollars for the school year to do the job for her. This established a precedent. Teachers after that time always had a boy to build a fire in the potbellied stove. The next teacher received only $8 a week and her fire boy received only $3. However, the 91

92 Clifford M. Smith

board of trustees did expend the enormous sum (forthat time) of $13 to buy the new teacher a map! Salaries for teachers in the ensuing years fell with each new replacement until in 1881 the pay scale was $5 per week. Residents complained that taxes were too high so the budget was often cut. Interestingly, the 1884-85 school year showed cash assets of $279.71, a sum equivalent to a year's salary for the teacher.

Things improved financially in the late 1890s and the board raised the teacher's salary to $6 a week and purchased twenty new seats, a new broom, and a box of crayons. There was also a listed item of thirty cents for a new dust pan and a water dipper. Water was carried from a well on a nearby farm.

In 1905, the board of trustees decided to replace the original wood burning stove with one in which they could burn coal, com~lete with an attached hopper which could be filled with coal and which would keep the room heated night and day. However, the teacher and the students did not enjoy this luxury for long as the school closed in June of 1907. The children were transferred to the Union Free School in the hamlet of Hyde Park.

Restoration and Present Use At a meeting of the Hyde Park Historical Study Group and the Hyde Park J.C. 's, a resolution passed to preserve the old school building to give future generations a visual knowledge of the type of school their ancestors attended. During the fall and winter of 1973 the building was dismantled by .the J. C.'s and moved the following spring to a new location on the North Park School ground. The restoration of the school was completed in 1975. In recognition of their fine work, the J.C. 's received a state award; The school was officially dedicated on May 8, 1976. Congressman Hamilton Fish was the principal speaker.

On entering the school, one has the feeling that the children are out for recess and that the teacher is about to ring the bell to call them to classes. Each winter, Mrs. Lenore Brimmer, library media specialist of the Haviland Junior High School, holds an annual "spelling bee" and the winners hold the final "run offff at the "Little Red School." Various classes from the North Park Elementary School use the old school occasionally and classes from the Roosevelt High,School make use of it as part of their study