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SCHOOLS

SWAN HOLLOW

By Nan Dixon

As soon as I was old enough to think about it, the name of Swan Hollow was always a mystery to me. Swan Hill, which dropped the road down to the back of Goose Bay, made sense. Later I understood that the name derived from a family by the name of Swan, and not from the beautiful white birds which were abundant when the first settlers arrived in the Town of Alexandria. There was no hollow for Swan Hollow. Swan Hollow existed only as the name of the school district, otherwise known as District Number 13.

The schoolhouse stood on a level stretch of farmland between Dolley Hill, which rose above Seven Gables, which still stands, and Tamblin Hill on the other side, which descended over the ledge to what was once Eber Tamblin's farm. The playground had a lovely sweep of flat rock, surrounded by grass (never cut) which made an ideal boundary for such games as tag, pom pom pullaway, fruit basket, and the like. In the center of the flat rock was an irregular tussock of sod, perhaps six feet at its longest. That tussock, everyone knew was the "gool," the local dialect for goal, the safe place in any of our games. For Hide'n'go-seek or Red Light, Green Light, a certain spot on the back corner of the school house was always "Home Free."

The schoolhouse was within sight of the Alexandria Bay High School, and to the residents of that far more populous district, it made no sense to have a one room country school so close, without being centralized. The reasons escalated rapidly when one figured out that District Number Thirteen was the second or third richest district for its size in all of New York State, thanks to the wealthy islands it contained. By the same token, our school taxes were ridiculously low, our property then being taxed the normal $3.00 per year, in comparison to the thousands of dollars the same land commands today.

NAMES

The district reached from Number Nine Island, a farm forming a large boundary of Goose Bay, and Dingman Point, its nearest neighbor, to Reester Hill, and Swan Hill, and all the farms in between. It even took in parts of Carnegie Bay. Mina King, in one of her articles in the Thousand Islands Sun named the families of Ransom Van Dresar, William Merrill, Frank and Emma Casselman, Edwin and Alice Simpson, DeElton and Sarah (Binns) Wagoner, George Pierce, Chester and Martha Tamblin.

Others she did not remember (or remembered incorrectly) were Dave Taylor, the Jared Dingman family who gave their name to Dingman Point, Frank and Helen (Derby) Helmer, the Ernest Duprees, the Charles Edgerlys on top of Reester Hill and his nephew Lionel Edgerly and family who rented first, the Tamblin farm and later a place on the Swan Hill Road. Still others were Harry and Frieda Coon, who lived near the Charlie Edgerlys, the Corey Joyners, the Omar Eatons, the Newberrys, George and Ella (Paige) Side, John and Golda (Running) Taylor, who by coincidence, bought the old Dave Taylor place, though there was no relationship whatsoever. Blanche (Hibbard) McCue and her husband Sanford (Sant) owned and farmed Number Nine, and later their daughter Eva (McCue) Simpson took over. Lewis J. Estes bought the Jared Dingman house and farm, though none of his brood of sons ever attended the school. Grampa and Gramma Samuel Running lived in the old Casselman place. From the 1910 register come the Wellington Lees, the George Dobbins family, the Byron Wilburs, Elizabeth Reester who lived on top of Reester Hill where Charlie Edgerly lived later, Arthur Paige, Joseph Marse and Frank Casselman. Other families living in the district in the 1930s and 1940s were Chet Slate and his son, the Willix family whose Willix Spring was a popular place to fill one's water jugs, James McPhall and his daughter, Jack Joyner, Gladys Kelsey with her son Leland, and the Fitzsimmons family and Walt Tusler and his three sons.

Some of the teachers of this district that Mrs. King remembered included Mary Martin, Bertha Wilbur, Florence Dixon, Florence Lantier, Ona Haggart and Helen Derby, later Helmer. Others were Jessie Purcell, Helen Fortner, Ann Howland, Mrs. Joseph Powers, Agnes Merrill, Margaret (La Rue) Ryan, and Belle Lee.

A PAGE FROM THE SCHOOL REGISTER, 1910

PUPILS PARENT AGE BIRTHDAY
Dobbins, Kathleen Geo. B. Dobbins 13 8/15/1897
Dobbins, Daisy Geo. B. Dobbins 15 7/3/1895
Edgerly, Thelma Charles Edgerly 12 1/10/1898
Helmer, Lena Byron Wilbur 14 9/13/1896
Helmer, Lora Alick Van Dresar 10 2/11/'00
McCue, Eva Blanch McCue 13 4/17/97
Page, Mary Ella Arthur Page 15 5/15/95
Page, Maggie Arthur Page 10 4/24/'00
Reester, Lillian Elizabeth Reester 9 6? 1?/ 28/'01
Simpson, Ethel Edwin Simpson 14 1/3/96
Simpson, Bessie Edwin Simpson 9 11/7/01
Wagoner, Irena Sarah Eichhorn 15 1/2/95

Another table found in that or a another register of the same period is titled CENSUS SCHEDULE. It appears to have many of the same names, with additions of other siblings. The first column is titled "Names of parents or other persons with whom the children live," the second concerns "Names and ages of children between 5 and 18 (follow the form given below) Census of August 30, 1910." It gives us a firm date for the ages of the children, which seem to be the same on the attendance schedule, given above.

Names of parents, etc. Names and ages of children
Edwin Simpson Herbert (16) Ethel (14) Bessie (9)
Wellington Lee Cyril (14) Getha (15) Joel (10)
Geo. Dobbins Daisy (15) Kathleen (13)
Charles Edgerly Thelma (12)
Byron Wilbur Lena Helmer (14)
Alick Vandresar Lora Helmer (10)
Blanch McCue Eva (15)
Arthur Page Ella (15) Maggie (10)
Elizabeth Reester Lillian (8)
Sarah Eichhorn Irena Wagoner (15)
Joseph Marse Winsor (15)
Frank Casselman Frank Houghton (6)

If you have additional information, comments, or suggestions, please contact:
Nan Dixon

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