This photograph was taken in 1924 of the pupils of the Geise School in Lykens Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. The teacher, standing upper right, is Henry E. Wenrich, who served from 1918-1929.
The school was also known as the Gise School and was in existence for 100 years from about 1854 to 1954 when it closed and students from this part of the township began attending school in Gratz Borough.
One possible identification of the pupils and teacher in the picture (keyed to the number diagram below) is provided here:
Front Row (boys sitting with slate): Eston Heller (#1); Marlin Tschopp (#2).
Second Row (boys kneeling): Harold Spotts (in overalls, #3); Roy Evitts (#4); Lauren Dietrich (#5); John Hoffman (#6); Harvey Shomper (#7); Lester Fetterhoff (#8).
Third Row & Fourth Row (smaller children standing, taller children standing behind them): [Note: the children are not named in correct order] Levi Kissinger; Margaret [Shadle] Kissinger; Kathryn [Dietrich] Gasbarro (#10); Jonas Hoffman; John Mauser; Ellen Shade; Myrtle [Heller] Wiest; Lillian [Crabb] Kramer; Grant Phillips; Raymond Rickert; Margaret [Mauser] Engle; John Dietrich (#15); Harold Dietrich (#16).
Back Row: Marlin Dietrich (#24); Lottie [Hoffman] Kissinger (#25); Rosie Tschopp (#26); Elba [Tschopp] Klinger (#27); Esther [Gunderman] Shomper (#28); Sarah —— (#29).
As previously stated, Henry E. Wenrich (#30), the teacher, is standing in the upper right corner of the picture.
In the second and third rows, the students are not identified in the correct order. In those two rows, positive identification has been made on #10, Kathryn [Dietrich] Gasbarro, my mother; #15,John Dietrich, my great uncle who was killed in the mines in 1939; and #16, Harold Dietrich, my uncle (my mother’s brother). In the back row, #24 is definitely Marlin Dietrich, my great uncle. And, the teacher is correctly identified as Henry E. Wenrich, #30.
On #29, the paper identifying the persons in the photo was cut off and only the first name of Sarah was provided. All of the remaining names need to be confirmed as stated, or identified for certain.
Readers who can help with the identifications should add comments to this blog post.
#20 is Myrtle (Heller)Wiest, my grandmother.