Bramble School and the Miars Family of Jubilee Township

My Miars family line came to Peoria County, Illinois with my grandfather, Robert T Miars, as a toddler sometime between his birth in 1915 and 1920 when the family is enumerated in the US Federal Census in Jubilee Township. [1]  I have always wondered exactly when they started their home and farm in there and what their life was like in those days.

Last fall I found the property deed records for my great grandfather's land purchase in Jubilee.  He bought the property on 8 Nov 1916 from Harry and Mary Chance. [2]  This information was very helpful but I was still not clear exactly when they moved and began living in Jubilee Township.  This land purchase in the fall of 1916 did not really narrow the window by much I had for their new residence. But recently I found something that not only helped answer this question but also gave me some new insight on life in their new home.

Going through my grandfather's sister's (Mary E (Miars) Best) papers I found a couple of school report cards for her.  One especially caught my eye for a few reasons.  Here was one for "Bramble School Dist. 48". [3]  Now I had a name for the rural school that she and some of her siblings (including my grandfather) attended after moving to their new farm - Bramble School District 48.

Report card for Mary Miars at Bramble School.  See Bibliography #3 for citation.

I remember growing up in Brimfield, Peoria, Illinois seeing a couple of buildings along US Route 150 when we went to town (Peoria, Illinois) that were supposed to have been one room school houses.  From my vantage point in the 1970s that kind of school environment seemed like something from the dark ages.  Today, that time is around one hundred years since Aunt Mary and my grandfather and their brother, Albert "Dutch" Miars would have been schooled in such a place. 

One of these buildings I remember most was down the hill from what used to be the Notzke dairy and the beautiful rock garden it contains.  That area now is the main entrance to the Jubilee College State Park on US Route 150.  There was a white (when it was painted) dilapidated building there that I must have past hundreds of times growing up.  I never knew the name of it and I certainly did not know that my family had attended school there.  Now I know they did.

After finding this report card I went looking for the location of Branble School.  The internet is still a wondrous entity where nuggets of gold are still to be found.  I found reference to the school on a website that no longer exists - Peoria County One Room Schools [4]  Even though the website is no longer active it was found on Internet Achive's Wayback Machine. [5]

On that website is a picture of the Bramble School and some interesting history about it.  Seeing that picture made me realize I probably had one also. 

School photo of Robert Miars ca. 1920s [6] He is far right in second row.

This photo of my grandfather at school is one of my favorite.  He is seen as a young boy (far right on second row) standing next to a lifelong friend, Tom Flynn (second row, second from the right).  I never really knew where this school was until now.  It's very likely Bramble School in Jubilee Township, District no. 48.  Now this photo has a location as well as a time period and a couple of names for the students.

I also did a search of "Bramble School" in the archives of the Brimfield News.  This is a marvelous resource for finding context, events, obituaries and news (aka gossip) about the people of Brimfield, Illinois.  I found a number of references to the school mostly relating to the annual report of its finances.  But also I found notices about reunions that were taking place in the summertime.  Someday when I have time (ha! Like that will ever happen!) I want to go back and read them and remember.

Back to the report card.  The name of the school was just one item that stood out on the report card.  The second item was the school year it reported on - 1917-1918.  Aunt Mary would have turned eleven years old during this time period. [7]  Now I know with much more specificity when the Frank Miars family took up residence in Jubilee Township.  They bought their new farm in November 1916 and by the fall of 1917 his school age children were attending Branble School within walking distance.

When I turned the report card over I found another wonderful gift.  Here was my great-grandfather's signature - Frank Miars.  But not just once but seven times!  I do not think I have ever seen his signature before so this becomes one of those documents that I will treasure.

Back of report card for "Mary Miars" Best.  See Bibliography #3 for citation.

I learned quite a bit from a one hundred year old report card.  The name and location of the school that my grandfather and his younger siblings attended, the year that his family moved to Jubilee Township, Peoria County, Illinois and his father's signature.  Once again I will thank and thank and thank again all the people in the past one hundred years that held onto and kept safe this document that helps their descendents learn more about them and their times.

Related Blog Posts -
A Teacher's Contract - Mary (Miars) Best - 1843-1944
Mary Best Miars (1906-1986) - Happy 113th Birthday!
A Teacher's Teacher - Lulu (Petty) Eicher
20 Years Ago - The Passing of Robert T Miars
Robert Miars and Bessie Purcell - Breaking Down Barriers to Justice
Clara (Miars) Barker - 123rd Birthday - October 12, 1896

Bibliography -
[1] For birth see Tazewell, Illinois, amended birth certificate, local file no. unknown, 1915 (issued 24 Sep 1940), Robert Thomas Miars, formerly "Miars"; Tazewell County Clerk, Pekin.  For census see 1920 U.S. census, Peoria County, Illinois, population schedule, Jubilee, Enumeration District (ED) 54, sheet 4-B (penned), p. 108-B (stamped), line 100, dwelling 94, family 94, Robert Miars; digital image, Ancestry (http://ancestry.com : accessed 11 Jul 2014), citing National Archives microfilm publication T625, roll T625_398, image 812.
[2] Peoria County, Illinois, "Historical Index," entry for grantee of "Frank Miars", book 312, p. 290, dated 8 Nov 1916, PeoriaCounty.org (https://recorder.peoriacounty.org/recorder/eagleweb/historicalIndex.jsp : accessed 18 Jan 2020).
[3] School report card from Bramble [Illinois] School for "Mary Miars" Best, 1917-1918, personal  papers of Mary E. (Miars) Best; privately held by Diane Minor, XXXX, Texas, 2020.
[4] Thank you to Katherine Wilson for finding this website for me on the Wayback Machine on Internet Archive!  https://web.archive.org/web/20110816053027/http:/www.peoriacountyoneroomschools.com/Jubileetownship.html
[5] InternetArchive "archives" the internet daily so extinct websites live on.
[6] Robert T Miars school class photo, location and date unknown; digital image 2018, original privately held by Jana (Miars) Minor, Aurora, Illinois. Location is likely Jubilee Township, Peoria County, Illinois and the date is likely ca. mid 1920s.
[7] Tazewell County, Illinois, “Record of Birth Reports, 6, May 1906-Dec 1908” p. 150, for female “Miars,” (23 Oct 1906), unnumbered; digital image, Vital records, 1827-1922, “Book 6, May 1906-Dec. 1908,” FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org : accessed 10 Jan 2020), film no. 1314683, DGS no. 8329568, image 80 of 715.

A Teacher's Contract - Mary (Miars) Best - 1943-1944

Here is a wonderful document I found in the papers of my great aunt, Mary (Miars) Best.  She was a career teacher in small, rural schools in Peoria County, Illinois.  She spent most of her teaching years in 3rd-5th grade.  She did not drive so she would have had to get transportation to her school in the days when ride-sharing services could not have been imagined.

She graduated from Brimfield High School in the mid 1920s and then attended Illinois State Teachers College (known today as Illinois State University) in Normal, Illinois.  She likely started her teaching career in the early 1930s.

We know that she taught in Sipp School (Richwoods Township, Peoria County, Illinois) which was located at what is today the corner of Glen and University in Peoria, Illinois (a Chili's restaurant is there last time I was there).  In the 1950's she was at Edwards Grade School in Edwards, Peoria County, Illinois. We have some class photos from that time. She also spent some years at the school that my parents, my siblings and I attended - Brimfield Grade School (Peoria County, Illinois).

But it is not exactly clear what years those were.  It seems to be likely that she was there in the 1930s and/or 1940s.  Here is a photo with her class that we believe was from her time at BGS.

(On my list of to-do's is to figure out who all of the children are in this photo.)

Recently though I came across this document that may help answer the question of when she taught at Brimfield.  It is a teacher's contract from the "School Directors of District No. 15, County of Peoria and State of Illinois, and Mary Best". This is the back side of the legal-sized document.  The front side has no writing on it and is not helpful. (It is included below.)

Teacher's Contract - see citation [1] below.

No where in the contract does it specify the name of the school district or the community that it was in.  It says though that it is for "District No. 15, County of Peoria and State of Illinois".  District 15 appears to be for the Brimfield school district. [2]  It has a different district number today.

Now for the important information - salary.  The contract indicates that it begins on 1 September 1943 and runs for nine months (1943-1944 school year.)  The monthly salary is $105.  That would be $945 total for the duration of the school year.  Image working long and hard hours for nine months and getting less that $1000 for your time.

The contract also has a clause regarding termination which can be invoked for "gross immorality, incompetency, or any violation of this Contract, or shall have h[er] Certificate annulled or revoked by the County or State Superintendent she shall not be entitled to receive any compensation from and after such annulment or dismissal."  This clause seems very favorable to the District with little to no recource by the teacher.

There are three "directors" named at the beginning of the contract and also who's signatures and included at the bottom.  They are "R.D. Savage, Karl Christian, C.F. Dungan."  Mr. Savage appears to be Rudolph D. Savage (1891-1961).  He and his wife, Erma (Catton) Savage, are buried in the Brimfield Cemetery. [3]  There are several "Karl" Christians in the Brimfield/Jubilee/Kickapoo Township areas so I am not sure exactly which of them was a school director in the mid 1940s.  Mr. Dungan is Charles F. "Ted" Dungan.  He and his wife, Elva (Marks) Dungan, are also buried in the Brimfield Cemetery. [4]

At least two of these three men would have been well known to Mary Best as they were long time members of the Brimfield community.  She would have known them or known of them outside her work as a school teacher.

There are only three signatures on this contract.  They are those of the Directors of School District 15.  No where is the signature of the teacher, Mary Best.  The very top of the document has the word "Original".  Did Mary sign this contract and teach at Brimfield for the 1943-1944 school year?  This document alone does not answer that question.  I am also curious as to why she hung on to this contract and not others.  At least no other teaching contracts for her have come down to me.

During the war years, Aunt Mary's husband, Robert J Best was in the Army and landed in Europe in the weeks after D-Day 1944.  She and Uncle Bob made their home in the upstairs apartment of M.R. and Lorena (Reed) Clark about 1-2 blocks from the Brimfield Grade School.  She did not drive so working so close to home would have been very easy.

More research is certainly needed.  To start with, I need to contact the Peoria County Schools to see what if any employment records they have to fill in the blanks of where she taught and when.  Until then I will enjoy this document and the information it does provide and the glimpse into small, rural schools in Peoria County during the 1940s.

Enlarged sections -

Front page of the contract -

Related Blog Posts -
Mary Best Miars (1906-1986) - Happy 113th Birthday!
A Teacher's Teacher - Lulu (Petty) Eicher

Bibliography -
[1] Citation for the document - Teacher's contract for Peoria County (Illinois) District no. 15 between "Mary Best" and school directors "R.D. Savage, Karl Christian and C.F. Dungan" starting 1 Sep 1943 for nine months, from the Mary (Miars) Best collection; privately held by Jana Minor, Aurora, Illinois.  This "original" contract is unsigned by Mary so it is unclear if she accepted it or worked in a different district for year 1943-1944.
[2] "Brimfield School District #15," database, Peoria County One Room Schools (https://web.archive.org/web/20110816052903/http:/www.peoriacountyoneroomschools.com/Brimfieldtownship.html/ : accessed 11 Jan 2019); citing Internet Archive Wayback Machine.  The original website is not longer on the internet.  It was found on Wayback Machine as an archived website.  Thank you to Katherine Wilson for finding this for me!.
[3] Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19253858/rudolph-d_-savage : accessed 11 January 2020), memorial page for Rudolph D. Savage (13 Aug 1891–1961), memorial no. 19253858, cemetery marker in Brimfield Township Cemetery, Brimfield, Peoria County, Illinois, USA, maintained by "Barb," contributor no. 46903283.
[4] Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/62522787/charles-f-dungan#source : accessed 11 Jan 2020), memorial page for Charles F "Ted" Dungan (13 Jul 1900-25 May 1984), memorial no. 62522787, cemetery marker in Brimfield Township Cemetery, Brimfield, Peoria County, Illinois, USA, maintained by "Stephen Cantrell," contributor 48212706.