One room school teacher

Ms. Moran decided to attend High School in 1928 after seeing her neighbors doing it. In those days, children living in the rural areas usually didn't attend High School because they were needed to help work on the farm and since there wasn't any transportation, most education ended by the 8th grade. So, at the age of 18, Ms. Moran began walking toward school each morning, hopefully catching a ride before getting too far. Eager to complete school, she attended summer school and added and extra class each semester to finish high school in 3 years in 1931. She then attended Levels School (Fairmont State College) for a year and 1 summer to obtain her teaching certificate.

Her first teaching job was at Layman School on Morgan's Ridge, Marion County, West Virginia in 1932 at the height of the great depression. She walked through a field and then through the woods and another field to reach the school. Paychecks from the County was very erratic because people couldn't pay their taxes. "I didn't like it very much, but it was better than nothing." said Ms. Moran. She said that there were no teaching methods at the time and that this was before any County Superintendents were hired. Her 2nd year she transferred to Forksburg School and taught there for 2 years. During this time the county hired the first Superintendent, Mr. J.J. Straight.

From there she taught at Valley Falls School which sat on top of the hill (The before you drop into Valley Falls which overlooked Rock Lake). By this time she had bought a "Fliver" (Ford car) to travel back and forth. During the bad weather she boarded at the George & Dorothy Kirk home. Her next assignment was Shaw School (Prickett's Creek area), Grassy Run School, Mudlick School, Mt. Nebo and then to St. Clair School. Ms. Moran eventually earned her Bacholers and Masters degree by attending evening and summer classes before retiring in 1972.
The interview:
wvpics: What did the school children have for lunch?
Ms. Moran: Oh, they brought sandwiches, cakes and cookies. The Travis's carried water over to the school. The school had a water cooler.
wvpics: Did you have to build the fire?
Ms. Moran: Oh, no, never. The Neil children would start the fire, sweep the floor and dust.
wvpics: Did they get paid for it?
Ms. Moran: Oh, Yes. It was wonderful, wonderful. Only $10 or so per month but at that time it meant a great deal. People did it, people were glad to do it.
wvpics: Who was your first teacher?
Ms Moran: The first one I had was Camel, Effie, I believe was her given name. Mrs. Effie Camel. I believe she may have been from Jackson county and brought into this county to teach at the Forksburg School. Where we lived, you could go to the Mt. Harmony School or we could go to Forksburg School. I mean, we didn't have to get permission to change schools. They didn't have teachers regularly. When I began to go to school, maybe this school would start late September and another one would start not until the First of October, maybe another wouldn't get a teacher until later on. So when they started, the term was 8 months after the start date. That was when I first went to school, in the early 1900s. I also had Ms. Mary Moran (a cousin) and Miss Shaffer.
wvpics: During High school, did they have school clubs?
Ms. Moran: In the 1930s, they did, when I was going to school but we didn't take part in that because we lived so far out that we didn't linger after school because we may have to walk all the way home and it may be getting dark.
wvpics: Do you remember your first family car?
Ms. Moran: My father owned a car, a"fliver",you know, a Model T but in the weather he didn't drive it. He wouldn't get a license until the roads would dry up in the spring. In those days you could buy the license for part of the year. So when there was deep mud in the road, many of the people around wouldn't use their car.
wvpics: What did people do for entertainment?
Ms. Moran: We played ball. We often times had a handmade ball. It was somewhat of a treat to have one from the store. And when we did get one from the store, it wouldn't be a regulation ball, it would be a sponge ball and it would disintegrate, it wouldn't go very straight when you got hunks out of it!
wvpics: Did you have a bat?
Ms. Moran: We didn't have a factory made bat when I was a child, just hunks of wood. (Laughs). Nobody I knew, had a real bat.
wvpics: Most social time was at church?
Ms. Moran: Yes. You surely did go, not only just to worship but you went to see people and to have fellowship. You really did, because that's about the only place most of us went. Home and school and church was about it. To get to go into Fairmont was really a deal. We didn't do it often though.
wvpics: What would you go to town for?
Ms. Moran: We were given a little money to spend. I remember going with my mother once when I was 10 and going to the five-and-dime and buying cut out paper dolls. Oh, I was enthralled with that!
wvpics: Did your father do business in town?
Ms. Moran: He sold farm products like butter and eggs.
wvpics: Which stores?
Ms. Moran: I believe the Peters Store was one of them, and the Morgan store on the corner of Haymond & Market Street in Fairmont, near the State Street School. The building is still standing.
wvpics: Did your family butcher hogs and cattle?
Ms. Moran: Oh, it was just for home use. They only raised a couple, then in later years my father began to butcher a cow in the fall, so that we had beef as well as pork.
wvpics: Where did you keep your meat?
Ms. Moran: Lord knows how it kept, 'cause we really didn't have refridgeration, we just kept it in the basement and of course we didn't leave a bit laying around. My mother canned the pork and the sausage was kept even in a cool place & it would keep a good while. Most of it was put into jars, with fat over top of it. The hams of the hogs were hung and smoked in an outbuilding. They would last a good while.

© 2005, wvpics.com

updated : February 12, 2005