The Culberts at Atkinson's School

If you missed the post about Atkinson's school, click here.

Atkinson's School was another name for S. S. No. 2 Biddulph School near Lucan, Ontario. It came to be known as Atkinson's School because the land was donated by Jonathan Atkinson and his wife Rebecca (Culbert) Atkinson. Rebecca was the daughter of James Culbert and Rebecca Portis.

In my collection of Culbert family photos, I found this old photo of Atkinson's School...

Generations of Culberts attended this one-room schoolhouse.

The school was designed with its back to the road; one of only a few Western Ontario schools to be built in this tradition. It's said that this way, the children wouldn't be distracted from their studies by watching the traffic through the windows and front doors.

In this older post we saw Myron Culbert in the Class of 1895 at Atkinson's School. Below, we see Myron's two youngest sons, Merton Manford "Mert" Culbert (1926-1998) and William Earl Culbert (1929-1994): students at Atkinson's School circa 1937.

Back row, left to right: Lorne Hodgins, Mert Culbert, Bill Wright, Teacher - Clifford Abbott, Ruby Armitage, Florence Calvery, Alvin Davidson & Donald Abbott.
Middle row: Jim Barker, Mayrene Atkinson, Wilda Armitage, Ruth Regan, Ruby Dobbs, Anna Atkinson, Pauline Abbott, and Ieleen Davis.
Front row: Earl Culbert, Lyle Revington, Earl Greenlee, Jim Regan.

The teacher, Clifford Alonzo Abbott (1904-1980) is related to the Culbert family by marriage, through his nephew, Don Abbott (1928-2018). (Don's in the class photo in the back row, far right.) Don Abbott married Culbert descendant, Audrey Jean Ethel Wood (1929-2008).
 

Don Abbott was teacher Cliff Abbott's nephew. Don married Audrey Wood, the great-great-granddaughter of John Culbert & Mary Ward.

Audrey Jean Ethel (Wood) Abbott was the daughter of Ethel Susannah Ryan & George Heslop Wood. Ethel Susannah Ryan was the daughter of Margaret Crawley & George Ryan. Margaret Crawley was the daughter of Susan Culbert & Philip Crawley. And Susan Culbert was the daughter of our ancestors, John Culbert & Mary Ward. So you can see that teacher Cliff Abbott is related to the Culbert family, albeit distantly by marriage.

Cliff Abbott's wife, Lela Myrtle Hodgins (1908-1992) is probably a distant blood relation to the Culbert family but I haven't yet been able to determine her relationship to us.

I see other names in that class photo who may be related to us but I don't want your head to explode with all the connections. I'll save that for some other time.