Alma School
District #1
Town of Alma, Allegany County, NY
1893 Photo & Names of School Children
1893 Alma School #1
The photo & information below was furnished by Pamela Vincent from her Mother's Collection.
I believe this to be the oldest known photo of the building in existence.
To make it even better, the names are with the photo and are shown below.
Ron Taylor, Alma Town Historian
From Pamela Vincent 8/09:
"My mother passed away in June and when going through her papers I found a very old picture of the Alma School. 1893. On the back is a list of names. William Harder is my Great Grandfather and Belle Galutia Harder is my Great Grandmother. Bernard and Lee Harder are William's brothers. They had a sister named Harriet (maybe Hattie) and another brother named Eli Harder.
If I figure correctly F. Belle Galutia Harder was abt 13 and William Harder was abt 15 when this picture was made.
Frances Oviatt- Teacher
Barnard Harder
Eugene Elliott
Will Harder
(Dimma ?) Demming (??)
Belle Galutia Harder
Mae Galutia
Blanche Mead
Hattie Harder
Maude Mead
Grant Tracy
(Rulf ?) Ellis
Lee Harder
Sammel Stebbins
Elise Harder
Carl Tracy
Olney Seamans
Hettie Pinney or Mildred Easterbrook ???
Anna Elliott
Anna Shields
Etta Seamans Lunn
Ema Seamans
Edna Ruth Lunn
Mamie Grover"
2006 View of Alma Schoolhouse; Photo by Ron Taylor; Now a Camp, privately owned.
ALMA SCHOOL
Lot 27 (Lawrence Tract)-Town of Alma, Allegany County, NY
From the 1855 census of Alma, Elizabeth Gibbs, age 23, lived in the home of Jesse B. Gibbs, teacher in Alma Village. It is presumed that she taught at Alma School.
“Miss Mary MacDonald taught in the Alma District and her classes celebrated Arbor Day by placing a tin box under the tree they planted. It contained the names of all the pupils, the teacher and other local and school information.” (The Alma Story, Hazel Shear)