GOEDEMORGEN STUDENTEN! --
THE SCHOOLMASTER

A proper colonial education required the services of a Schoolmaster.  Such is what tradition dictated.  Dupui's general store ledger offers two definitive references to such an individual, both in April of 1744:  "To an Order per your School master," and "To Cash paid your School master".

In this era before the establishment of schoolhouses, those availing themselves of the services of a Schoolmaster would have also had to provide their children with certain educational essentials, such as, at the very least, paper upon which to write and the ink necessary to do the writing.

We see that both of the above-cited customers, Hendrick Courtright and Barnardus Swarthoot, by name, did buy "a Quier of paper" to that end.  As others, such as James Hyndshaw and Garret Decker, also had purchased "a paper of Ink Powder", it's likely that the Schoolmaster had more than just a few students to teach.

As to who this Schoolmaster might have been, we have a clue residing within Alfred Matthews' "History of Wayne, Pike and Monroe counties"; in his chapter on Lehman Township, Matthews states:

Old Simeon Schoonover says "the first school that he can remember was on top of the Hog Back Hill, which is on Smithfield side. The school-house was made of logs, and one side of it tumbled down so that the sheep used to occupy it with us. They would take possession, and we had to drive them out. I think Jack Robison was teacher."

The Robison surname actually does appear in two occasions within Dupui's ledger.  The first occasion is a 1753 Youramus VanFlera entry that states:  "To one Order Down unto Robisons for Goods -- £2".  The second occasion sees Hugh Pugh in 1755 paying £6:10s. in cash to Robison.

As to overall area literacy, we can point to the area militia's Subscriber List of 12 January 1756 as a relatively good indicator.  It shows us that 58 out of 96 local residents had to sign their names with a mark.