Fairview/Thompson's Students and Teacher, c. 1905.
The photo above shows students and teacher at Thompson's School in Chanceford Township about 1905. The slate held by the boy in the middle of the front row, however, says "Fairview School, J. W. Buckingham, Teacher.
One-room schools sometimes went by two names. Often one was descriptive, such as Fairview or Clearview, and the other referred to a nearby family and/or former owner of the school property. I compared this photo with one taken a few years later that had Thompson's School on the slate. There were quite a few of the same children identified on both photos. They were just a bit older on the second one.
Many children received their primary education at Thompson's school until it closed in the 1950s when Chanceford Township consolidated their schools, now in the Red Lion Area School District. A first-ever reunion banquet is being planned for Saturday April 18, 2009. Reservations are due April 1, so if you are interested call Nancy Paley Hetrick at 717-244-4401 before April 1. The committee is also seeking photos and other memorabilia.
The students on the 1905 photo are tentatively identified below. If you have any corrections or additions, please let me know. For example, the photo has 11 boys in the back row, but the list of students names 12. I thought I had solved that by including the boy that can be faintly seen on the left side of the school, but then some of the other boys that have been positively identified from other sources do not line up correctly.
