Theaker School -- Cowley County

Kansas One Room
School House Project
Theaker School-- Cowley County

Alice Van Netta of Lawrence attended Theaker School, 4.5 miles west of Arkansas City (Cowley County), located in the southwest corner of the section. She says that her old classmates scattered all over the state and that she was always running into school friends wherever she went. "Not so much any more. We're getting kind of old new. I suppose that some of them are dead by now." She remembers the day that she gave in to temptation and copied from the girl sitting in front of her. Her brother went up and told the teacher. She later accused him of betraying her, and he said "Do you want to disgrace the family in front of all our neighbors?" "I got a quick education that day" she said.

The Kansas Heritage Server would like to thank Roger Cheek (Cheek@essex1.com) for contributing this information.

I have a picture of Theaker School taken probably 1907 - 1911. Think at least two of the students are Ethel Cheek and William T. Cheek. My father's family moved to Arkansas City in 1907 where his brother Ira Cheek drowned in the canal just over a week after their arrival. My father Edward was 14 and Ethel and William were younger brother and sister. If you are interested I would scan and send you the picture. Would also be interested in knowing if there are any records of names for that time period.
This is the Theaker School picture (sometime between 1907 to 1911) for your archives. We transcribed names from the back of the photo as best we could. Ones we really guessed at will have a ? behind the name. They are not listed in order of appearance on the photo.
Teacher: Anna Means
Scholars: Alberta Luhman(?), Meda(?) Crampton, Lois Crampton, Ruie(?) Crampton, Ethel Cheek, Willie Cheek, William Armstrong, Everett Wilson, John Kullen(?), Melvin Gullen(?), Marie Kinnell(?), and Chester McCallan(?)

Friday, July 5, 2002 7:15 PM

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