While doing kitchen renovations in the 1970s to the former home of School Board trustee, George Bertrum Henry Hamilton (1892-1959), Mike Szalawiga uncovered a series of school registers under the kitchen linoleum, laid there to prevent the linoleum from cracking. He remarked that at the time he considered using them to start the stove, but held off, thinking that someone might be interested in them. They were donated to the Port Hope Archives in September 2013.
Each year’s register - written in the same hand - is a summary of the student population of each of the eighteen school sections. While not complete, they are quite extensive, providing the student’s name, age, parent/guardian’s name, and concession/lot number for the years:
- 1892: SS Nos. 1-17
- 1893: SS Nos. 1-9, 12-18.
- 1896: SS Nos. 1-18
- 1897: SS Nos. 1-5, 7-8, 10-16.
Given their fragile condition, I transcribed the contents to allow for less handling of the originals. Mary Jane Broughton, an Archives’ volunteer, added mothers’ and spouses’ names. We expanded that further, assisted by our grandson, Peter Andrews.
Efforts have been made to correct spelling errors in the originals. As a number of pages are torn, stained, or faded, we cross-referenced with other years. We also used CemSearch, census returns, and Ancestry. These sources have not been cited in the database. Should you find errors or would like a printed, spiral-bound copy of this publication, please contact the Port Hope Archives.
Display the school registers. (Excel file)
Display the location of the schools.
Peter and Barbara Bolton - Port Hope, Ontario
www.alivingpast.ca