Three Rivers
Hudson~Mohawk~Schoharie
History From America's Most Famous Valleys

Fort Klock District School Number 3
 
 
  The Town of St. Johnsville Commissioners of Common schools ledger of August 1, 1838 contains the entry records of the transfer of funds from the town of Oppenheim. This is due to the fact that the Town of St. Johnsville was established from the Town of Oppenheim in 1838.  
  In the ledger, each school district is listed along with the teachers wages, the teachers names and the amount paid for the library (school books). Teachers' wages and the amount for books were computed by the number of students in each district and the number of days they attended school.  
  In the early years of the town, parents would petition the commissioners to join or leave certain districts. This was done in order to have their children attend the school which was closest to their home.  
  Before free schools were established in 1867, each parent or Guardian had to pay a "Rate Bill" at the end of the school year for the Pro-Rata cost of the instruction given each child.  
  In 1838 the Fort Klock District Number 3 School was open ten months of the year and there were 50 pupils. The amount paid the teacher, besides public monies, was $149.79 a year.  
  The books most in use in the town schools (according to this early ledger) were Beikman's English Grammar, Church, Huntington and Woodbridge's Geography and the Marshal Elementary Spelling Book.  
  The 1838 Commissioners of Common School were George Lake and A.R. Groat.  
  The names on the road and school district lists are of mostly German and English families. At that time there were eight families of Palatine Germans, with a vote of 65, which accounted for 25 percent of the town's electorate. Under the following family names are the number of indivuduals by that name who were taxed: Klock 20, Nellis 12, Fox 8, Nelegas 6, Walrath 6, Vedder 5, Flander 4, and Zimmerman 4.  
  The Fort Klock School was built in the 1820's. It was used by the Klock children and other children who lived in this area up until about 1936 when the central school was established. Adam and Lipe Klock were the last two Klock boys to attend this school. --A. Smith 1991  
 

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