If you have a country school director's book please let me know. We have been trying to track down the county superintendent's records for the country schools but are not having any luck finding anything of detailed importance at the county courthouses. So other than personal memories we desperately need to find as many country school record books as possible. When each country school was closed the books were not recalled by the county or town schools so the last director kept the books. If these books were kept by the family we will be able to get a lot of student and teacher names for our school history book - if we can find them.

Tank family
Clifford Tank was the last director of Washington No. 4 in Carroll County and he had one of the director's books. Below are the student names we have listed so far who attended this school. Many of the names were taken from the country school book Cliff and Helena had.

One thing that is very important is to get the correct spellings of names. Some of these records go back to the late 1800s and sometimes it is difficult to read the handwriting. Some directors spelled the name phonetically so if you see a name misspelled please let me know. For example we believe that Saegerberg below should actually be Segebart. We are guessing that Krape should actually be Koepke but we are not sure there was a Hilda, Katie, and Louie Koepke. The following names are listed in family groups with the father/mother listed after the children's names.

Norman, Charley, Mary, Carl Fred Dipold (18 year old blind dependent in 1896 who stayed with Piepers) - Carl and Amanda Pieper; Louise, Henry, John, Emiel, Ferdinand - John Ranniger; Amalie, Emiele - Wilhelm Schroeder; Willie - Henry Hormann; Henry - Mrs. Schmidt; Harry, Willie - Herman Cornelson; Mary, Anna, John, Patrick, Thomas - Mike Kennedy; Herman, Lilly, Amanda, Laura, Lena, - Peter Schroeder; Clara, Willie, Harry, - August Schroeder; Russell - Albert Schroeder; John, August - William Fonken; John, August, Emiel, Alfred Fonken - John H. Fonken - 2 different Fonken families?; Katie, Dora, Lena, Katie, Celia, Ella, Johnny - Chris Johansen; Julius, Willie - Herman Johansen; Edward, Alfred, Fritz Rose - Fritz Lehmberg; Malinda - Herman Mundt; Emma, Ella - Adolph Gottsch - Gotsche in book; Fred, Roy - Gustav Stark; Larry, Audrey - Leonard Beckman; John, JoAnn - Albert Vetter; Robert, Stanley - Alvin Grundmeier; Virginia - Marvin Smouse; Steven - Dean Heuton; Louie - Christ Tank; Robert - Louie Tank; Dian, Gretchen, Gwen - Clifford Tank; Minnie, Emma, Henry, Frank, Carl - Charley Sagerberg; Minnie, Anna - Henry Rostermundt; Steven - Cletus McGrane; Hilda, Katie - Louie Krape; Fred, John, George, Gertrude, Eddie - Martin Hansen; Neva, Joan, Dennis, Kerry - Virtus Martens; Judith, Duane, David, Gene, Jane, Shirley, Helen, Joseph, Steven, Robert - Joe Espenhover; Billie, Luetta, Leslie - William Gehlsen; Craig, Marsha - Clayton Dohse; Duane, Lawrence - Vernon Stangl; Marjean, Gale, Karen, Marsha, - Carl Segebart; David, Diane, Roger, Cathleen, - Lawrence Dentlinger; Gerald, Richard, Charles - Willus Hill; Verlin, Kenneth, Ronald, Allen - George Danner; David, Connie Devulhiss - John Devulhiss?sp; Dennis, Dean - Dewey Hargens; Deloris (Rix) Kuhn; Gary Schroeder.

These are some of the teachers: Clara Parker 1894 $32 per month starting pay, Mary L. Bock 1895 96 97 $32 per month starting pay, Minnie Parker 1912 $43, Eileen Signall - Eileen graduated from MHS in 1928.

These are the directors: Peter Schroeder 1894, John Ranniger 1895 96 97, William Fonken 1898, H.P. Mundt 1899, Chris F. Tank 1900 01, John Fonken 1902 03 04 05, Martin Hansen 1906, Fred Lehmberg 1908 09 10 11 16 17, Henry Ranniger 1912 15, August Plahn 1913 - Ploen?, Emil Martens 1918 19 Martins in book, Harry Martens 1920 21 22 23 32, Herman Schroeder 1926, Louie Tank 1928, Louie Bauer 1933 34 35 36, Alfred Rix 1938, Russell Koepke 1940 through 1946, Virtus Martens 1946 through 1952, Leonard Beckman & later Clifford Tank 1953, Clifford Tank 1954 55 56.

A new school house was voted on March 6, 1926, which replaced the original school. When the school was closed the building was moved to the Westside school and used as a band practice room.