Sandy bluff

                                    Sandy Bluff School

First established  1840. A new wooden frame schoolhouse was built in 1845. On January 28, 1915 the school was completely destroyed by fire.and was rebuilt.    . There  were two cloakrooms, two halls, a library and a large classroom on the first  The Sandy Bluff School was located  east of Sandwich, IL. at the northeast corner of Sandy Bluff and Griswold Springs Roads. . 
Mom   began school around 1909 at the age of 4 yrs. , along with her siblings ,Lewis,  Frank, Ray, Ethel and  Leona, and cousins Florence Apple and others...they would walk 2 miles to school each day.( to Sandy bluff school from their farmhouse) Games they played were " Pom Pom Pull away, Mother May I, and I stole a million dollars, which included locking thieves in the cob house. "  Her teacher would  meet them on the lane going to the school house and would have then bring in wood  for a fire and then walk down the hill behind the school to the well to bring in  drinking water.  It was a combined class and she said older students taught her  more than usual as  she read and  she would pick up information from their studies.as well. She later would  attend  the Sandwich Community High School a year or two, which was not uncommon . She said many never went 4 years to high school.  . Mom said, "growing up with three lively brothers, made me a pretty tough kid  . It was at this school that mom and others would see their very first red Model T Ford being ( having a bumper seat)  driven by  some men politicking near the school house one day. While announcing the democratic candidates for their area over a speaker phone...the kids all yelled " Spiced cats and pickled rats are good enough for Democrats"...a saying I would one day tease hear about. putting it on her gravestone, .as she became an avid Democrat.. She never missed voting in a presidential election in 80 years.   Mom left  HS  after a couple years and took a secretarial course in Aurora Il.  after that she began work in a foundry In Sandwich Il where she met dad and they eloped in 1926. He boarded at their farm house and they hadn't told  our grandparents they had married, Uncle Ray  saw the marriage license in moms room and showed it to grandma, who then proceeded to announce their marriage.  After a year or so, dad would purchase the place where he would take his new bride to live ...at the Wellman family home in Lee CenterIllinois.  


Mom had fond memories of Sandy Bluff School  , her teacher, and  the cousins that attended. I believe it now is a private residence.

Sarah Duvick Stevens writes " I'll be sure my uncles see this. My dad and his brothers also attended Sandy Bluff. Then it reopened again for the next generation to house kindergarten. I did not go there but most of my siblings and several cousins did as well."

Karen Wellman Roth Mom loved talking about school. She still remembered poetry she learned. A favorite was There once was a girl who had a curl in the middle of her forehead. When she was good she was very good but when she was bad, she was horrid. With that she would stomp her foot down. She later bought a doll that looked angry and had that curl

 

 

Married 1926