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George Shigley

Early School Life

Spyware and Adware

Family Favorites - Bacon-Broccoli Quiche

George Shigley was the oldest son of Adam and Rosanne Potts Shigley of the Potts family who founded the town of Pottsville, Pennsylvania. His father was said to be a descendant of a prince of the House of Hesse in Germany.

 Many schools were almost identical in size and shape, from the 1830’s until the early 1870’x. Most were of the same type construction as those nearby and a lot of the time they were not aware of other schools being built nearby. Early schoolhouses were crude structures. Many were built of round logs because these could be built in a very short time. Some were hewed on only two sides, so that they would fit closer together and this required less mud chinking to fill in between the logs.

At first the roofs were covered with clapboards, much like the siding on a wood frame house. The clapboard were made by splitting narrow pieces of wood from a 6 to 8 foot log. If more time was available they would take a 28 to 30 inch piece of log and by using a tool known as a froe and a wood mallet, wood shingles could be split. This made the hand split wood shingles for the roof. Most all the early log school houses had stick chimneys, which had to be heavily chinked with a mud and straw mixture. The fireplaces were huge in size, with many being able to hold a ten foot back log in the firepit. Some schools were unheated or may have had a woodburner in the center of the school. The teacher would have to arrive early to get the fire going and have the school warm before the students arrived.

writing desk. Students had to stand while using this desk. Books, lunch boxes were usually placed under the benches.

When the wood frame buildings came into being, a space was built near the front entry to serve as a cloak and storage room. Around 1878 many counties started erecting schoolhouses of brick, as the wood structures caught on fire to easily.

Reading, Riting and Rithmetic were the subjects taught. These were known as learning the three R’s. The pupils were much on their own as they worked at their seats. Slates were used to write on as no blackboards were in use in the early schools. Each student had their own slate boards on which to write their sums or answers to the teachers question.

When the wood frame school house came into use, the inside walls were plastered with a lime and sand mixture, with hog hairs as a binder to hold the mixture together. Usually the rear wall by the teachers desk was painted black and this served as the blackboard. Many times the subject was never explained to the student, except those times when a student asked for help. The younger pupils learned by listening to the older pupils recite.

In the early schools, anyone that could read and cipher were called upon to teach. Age was no bearer as a person age 15 could be called upon to teach as well as an older person. At times there were students in school that were much older than the teachers. Even some teachers had been classmates with their students. Most early schools were held for only three months, from late November to the first of March. Also anyone from age 5 and up into their 20’s attended school. As a general rule, the male students only attended a few weeks of school a year, as they were needed on the farm to get the necessary work completed. No funds were provided for the pay of teachers and schools were not free. The schools were kept open at first, just as long each year as the parents could or would pay for their maintenance.

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Ingredients:

Fit 1 sheet pie crust dough into each of 2 (9”) metal pie pans; flute edges. Prick bottoms with fork; freeze until firm, 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375ºF. In skillet over medium-high heat cook bacon until crisp, 6-8 minutes; drain on paper towels. Discard all but 1 Tbs. Fat from skillet. Over medium-high heat cook onion, salt, pepper and nutmeg until softened, 4-5 minutes; remove from heat. Beat eggs with milk; stir in cheese. Toss broccoli with flour. Place pans on baking sheet. Reserve 2 slices bacon; coarsely chop remaining bacon. Divide chopped bacon, broccoli and onion mixture between crusts; pour egg mixture into crusts. Bake 40 minutes or until set and golden. Cool 15 minutes. Crumble remaining bacon. Before serving top quiches with parsley and bacon. To freeze, cool completely. Wrap with plastic wrap and foil. To reheat frozen quiche, thaw in refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Remove foil and plastic wrap. Bake 25-30 minutes or until heated through.