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.