Edgar Baker

I ran into Pastor Brad Spangenberg at the Riverside Market Monday and we started talking about Edgar Baker.
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Brad and Edgar were good friends and Edgar once authored a report entitled Harmony and Discipline in School, written for Pastor Spangenberg as part of a project involving former teachers who were parishioners and friends of Rev. Spangenberg at the Millville United Methodist Church.
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Edgar taught in the one-room school at Upper Pine where each day the Scriptures and the Lord's Prayer were read in unison as the school day began.Songs were sometimes sung, and poems, sometimes religious in nature, were read.At Upper Pine, Edgar never had more than twenty pupils in any one year, and one year had only thirteen.Edgar's own one-room school days were very different, with about fifty students and prior to Edgar's school days about 90 students in that same school.

At Upper Pine, of the students Edgar had in school there were more than half of them that were first, second, or third cousins.Edgar and his wife, Helen, owned the Talmar country store in the same community, and all the parents were customers during the last three years that he taught.During the depression years, mandated by state law, Edgar was asked to go back to the eighty-five dollars from the one hundred dollar salary he had been receiving.

Edgar discussed how the selection of teachers was made when he started teaching.Edgar recalled that during his senior year of high school, in 1927, George Gordner, a school director in Pine Township, asked Edgar to teach the next year.Edgar recalled that during his senior year of high school, in 1927, George Gordner, a school director in Pine Township, asked Edgar to teach the next year.
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Edgar was not interested, as he intended to go to State College.An uncle, Benton Young, also asked Edgar to come to Upper Pine to teach.
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Edgar finally acquiesced to teach at Upper Pine, beginning in the fall of 1927 and four or five others of his class at Millville High School began teaching in Greenwood and Madison Townships at the same time.

Edgar wrote that the appointment of teachers was nearly always made by school directors, although the County Superintendent of Schools also had a voice in these decisions.

When asked about discipline, Edgar responded by saying that restrictions on punishment were not regulated by state law in those days, except that teachers were encouraged not to use excessive punishment.Common sense was the rule.Edgar recalls that he never inflicted punishment with a whip or strap, but does recall other types of punishment: making students stay in their seats during recess or at lunch time, or making them write something a number of times.

The discussion of Edgar brings up another subject.
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In 1946, Edgar Baker bought this building.
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Donna and her husband Edgar are currently in Spain waiting for the "Euro dollar mess to clear over."

Ann was the daughter of Mae Bennett and the late Donald R. Bennett, who had partnered with Edgar Baker to form the Baker and Bennett Store, Main Street.

We'll pick up the subject today again, this time to include some thoughts on teaching in one-room school houses by former Benton resident, Edgar Baker.

Edgar once authored a report entitled Harmony and Discipline in School, written for Pastor Brad Spangenberg as part of a project involving former teachers who were parishioners and friends of Rev. Spangenberg at the Millville United Methodist Church.
...
Edgar taught in the one-room school at Upper Pine, where each day the Scriptures and the Lord's Prayer were read in unison as the school day began.Songs were sometimes sung, and poems, sometimes religious in nature, were read.At Upper Pine, Edgar never had more than twenty pupils in any one year, and one year had only thirteen.Edgar's own one-room school days were very different, with about fifty students and prior to Edgar's school days about 90 students in that same school.

At Upper Pine, of the students Edgar had in school there were more than half of them that were first, second, or third cousins.Edgar and his wife, Helen, owned the Tamar country store in the same community, and all the parents were customers during the last three years that he taught.During the depression years, mandated by state law, Edgar was asked to go back to the eighty-five dollars from the one hundred dollars he had been receiving.

Edgar discussed how the selection of teachers was made when he started teaching.Edgar recalled that during his senior year of high school, in 1927, George Gordner, a school director in Pine Township, asked Edgar to teach the next year.Edgar recalled that during his senior year of high school, in 1927, George Gordner, a school director in Pine Township, asked Edgar to teach the next year.
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Edgar was not interested, as he intended to go to State College.An uncle, Benton Young, also asked Edgar to come to Upper Pine to teach.
...
Edgar finally acquiesced to teach at Upper Pine, beginning in the fall of 1927 and four or five others of his class at Millville High School began teaching in Greenwood and Madison Townships at the same time.

Edgar wrote that the appointment of teachers was nearly always made by school directors, although the County Superintendent of Schools also had a voice in these decisions.

When asked about discipline, Edgar responded by saying that restrictions on punishment were not regulated by state law in those days, except that teachers were encouraged not to use excessive punishment.Common sense was the rule.Edgar recalls that he never inflicted punishment with a whip or strap, but does recall other types of punishment: making students stay in their seats during recess or at lunch time, or making them write something a number of times.
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Edgar Baker was a young teacher at this school for several years, including when Nola Johnson was a student there in 1932.
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Edgar later operated the general store at Talmar and ultimately the Baker and Bennet (later Baker and Baker) hardware and appliance store in Benton.
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Many people knew him only as Reverend Baker, but he had several successful careers before returning to college and being ordained as a Methodist Minister while in his 50's.He served as the pastor of the Methodist parish in the Sonestown/Muncy Valley area for many years and then went on to serve as a counselor at the youth facility on Red Rock Mountain.In 1997, when he was 88 years old, Edgar flew to Ann Arbor to perform the wedding ceremony for Lon's daughter, Amy.At a time when most of us would have let the world close in, he sought out new experiences and enjoyed every minute.

The state did not regulate restrictions on punishment in those days, although Edgar Baker wrote that "teachers ought not to use excessive punishment."Edgar always claimed that he "never had a student on which I inflicted punishment with a whip or strap."He passed out punishment in other ways, however.
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Edgar Baker once wrote of his teaching career in Upper Pine and contrasted it with his education years when he attended a one-room school.As a teacher, Edgar never had over 20 students and one year only had 13.But when Edgar was a student, he was one of about 50 in the school and Edgar was told that 30 years prior to him attending the schoolhouse, there were something like 90 in the school.

We first visited the well-preserved school house when Edgar Baker showed us where he was born, adjacent to the church and the school.