TEACHER'S GUIDE TO

History and Folklife of the Kentucky Frontier

Lesson 9: A Frontier School

Our first school in the Eddy Grove was taught by Brother Elijah in an old corn-crib. The crib was of 
logs, about twelve by sixteen feet in size; and it had improved by having another log or two sawed            
out to enlarge the door, having the cracks "chinked and pointed," and having a spacious wooden 
chimney, with a fire-place about ten feet long, built at one end. Here Elijah agreed to teach three months; 
and every child was to bring him a dollar in silver on the last day of the school. There were two seats, 
each running the whole length of the room, and both being formed of a log split open, the flat side 
being hewn or trimmed to something like a smooth surface, and the round side having rough pedgs 
stuck in for legs. Of course they were without backs, except that they were placed against the wall. 
There were two or three stools also, constructed in the same style. A large hewn slab, about two feet            
wide by six in length, supported on huge pegs about two feet and a half  in length, served as general 
writing-desk for all.

This school, like, in fact, all that I ever attended, was what they denominated "loud." And loud it 
undoubtedly was. Every scholar studied at the very top of his voice, each one seeming  intent to excel 
his neighbor; and the result was, a noise "as of many waters" that might at times be heard at the distance 
of half a mile. But I soon became accustomed to the confusion, and progressed so rapidly as to learn the 
alphabet, to spell pretty well, and to read a little in the Testament, before the close of the session.

 My fourth and last session, making in all twelve months, was a school taught by John Ford.... His school 
was very large; for by this time quite a neat and spacious school-house had been built, albeit it was made 
of logs, and the settlement had become comparatively strong in numbers. This, I suppose, was in the year 
1809, as I was nearly grown. Here I completed my education by learning how to write. For a girl to study 
arithmetic, grammar, or geography, was a thing we never thought of. The two latter studies were scarcely 
known even among the boys. The New Testament was the only reading-book for schools that I had ever 
heard of; and I studied the same spelling-book that had served all the family before me....

 Most of my education was obtained at home. Here I learned to card and spin both cotton and wool, and 
to weave in all the fashions of the day. I could lay out my patterns with various-colored threads upon a 
stick, and calculate how many cuts of each color I should want for a piece of cloth. I learned to make 
shirting, sheeting, cotton for dresses, counterpanes, table-clothes, jean, linsey, and every other fabric that 
was used in the country; and as for knitting, I could do that in the dark as well as in daylight, and even 
when in full trot from place to place. I knew all about milking, and making butter and cheese; washing, 
ironing, and bleaching; and in short, was skilled in all the labors that pertained to early life in the West. 

From Susannah Johnson, Recollections of the Rev. John Johnson and His Home: An

Autobiography. (Nashville: Southern Methodist Publishing House, 1869).

After reading Susannah Johnson's descriptions

1. Draw the classroom in Eddy Grove.

2. Write a paragraph comparing Susannah Johnson's classroom with yours.

3. Compare Susannah Johnson classes with kinds of classes your school teaches.

4. Compare the skills that Susannah Johnson learned at home with those you have 
    learned. Do you have any of the skills that her parents thought were important?

5. Ask someone from the community to demonstrate some of the skills that Susannah 
    learned from her mother such as spinning thread, carding wool, weaving, churning 
    butter, or knitting.

This lesson comes from A Teacher's Guide to Pioneer Life in South Central Kentucky, 
by Nancy Disher Baird and Carol Crowe-Carraco.