STUDENTS OF THE MIDDLETON SCHOOL DISTRICT IN 1928
27 kids. 14 girls, 13 boys.
Anna Johnson, 14
Oldest child in the family. Helps to look after the younger kids in the family, and at school. Can be a little bossy. Can play piano well enough to accompany the school children when they sing. She plays piano for the church choir. Is very interested in foreign countries and is good at geography.
Hans Johnson, 12
Named after his father, he is considered “the man of the house” when his father is away. He takes this responsibility very seriously, and likes to boss around his sisters. In general he is a serious, hard-working boy who doesn’t talk much at school. He is responsible for taking care of the mule that brings his brothers and sisters to school.
Marie Johnson, 10
Marie has a beautiful singing voice, and likes teaching other kids the hymns that she learns at church. She and her sister Anna often bring in freshly baked goodies to share with the class. She is friendly and well-liked.
Harriet Johnson, 8
Twin sister of Harold Johnson. Because she spends most of her time with her twin and her younger brothers, she is quite a tom boy, and loves to climb trees, climb rocks, go fishing, and ride horse. She likes to be called “Harry.” She gets bored in school and spends a lot of time looking out the window.
Harold Johnson, 8
Twin brother of Harriet Johnson. Because his sister likes to be called Harry, he insists that everyone use his full name, Harold. He also loves the outdoors and likes to help take care of his father’s mules. He sometimes gets in trouble at school when he and Harriet get fidgety and giggly.
George Silas, 11
Very shy and tall for his age. He has had to step up and help take care of his little sister since she was a baby and their mother died, so he is serious and responsible. He and his sister get teased for their shabby clothes and having to share just one lunch bucket (often with not much in it), so he has gotten pretty tough and can beat up any of the boys at school. He is very protective of his little sister Minnie.
Minnie Silas, 8
Minnie is quiet and shy, but has a sweet smile and a kind personality. Sometimes she stutters a little when she is nervous. She feels better when she is holding her little rag doll, and brings it with her to school most days. She is teased about that, but her brother stands up for her.
Nettie Anderson, 13
Nettie is a spoiled rich girl. Her father is a wealthy rancher, so she and her brother are always very well dressed and have lots of fancy food in their lunch pails. She likes to show off her new dresses. She likes to gossip about other kids and other families in the district, especially with her best friend Margaret Turner. She struggles with her schoolwork but tries to be the teacher’s pet by bringing her gifts and candies.
William “Willy” Anderson, 9
Willy likes to brag about his father’s big ranch and their fancy house, but he is also self-conscious about the expensive clothes his mom makes him wear. He is often a troublemaker in class, and teases other children. The teacher recently took away his slingshot after he used it to zing a rock at the tail end of the Johnson mule and made it run away while the Johnson kids were riding it to school.
Margaret Turner, 12
Margaret is best friends with Nettie Anderson, although she is envious of Nettie’s fancy dresses. Being an only child, with no cousins in the area, and her dad at work all the time, Margaret is often lonely and tries to please other people so they will be her friends. Her father recently remarried, and Margaret doesn’t really like her new stepmother, but they both try to get along. She likes it when Nettie and Willy ask her to come to their house after school for dinner.
Jane Morris, 10
Jane is very smart and studies very hard. She often has her nose in a book, and usually spends the recess time reading. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up and likes to help teach the younger students. She always wins the spelling bee, even beating the older students.
Dick “Dicky” Morris, 9
Dickie is also very smart, and very shy. He is very good with animals, and likes helping his father take care of the sheep, especially the lambs. He also helps his mother take care of their flock of chickens. One day his favorite rooster, a big Rhode Island Red, followed him to school and remained outside the school building, strutting back and forth and crowing. Finally Dicky got up and went to the window and yelled, “Go away, darn you! I can’t learn anything in here, and neither can you!”
Effie Morris, 7
Just started school this year and wasn’t quite ready to leave her mama. She cries in class frequently, and still sucks her thumb. Sarah Morris often has to come over and hold her hand.
Jonah Butler, 14
Jonah is a kind, responsible boy and a natural leader. Other kids look up to him. Sometimes when younger students are acting out and causing trouble, the teacher just looks at Jonah, who will go over to the younger kid and talk to him quietly and get him back in line. He is a very devout Mormon and doesn’t like it when other boys use course language or tease other kids. He and his father built the corral and the three-sided “loafing shed” in the schoolyard for the animals that students ride to school.
Sarah Butler, 12
Sarah is also kind and soft-spoken, and likes to help take care of the younger children. She especially watches out for Minnie Silas, who adores her. Sarah and her sister Esther often bring in baked goods to share with the class. Her favorite subject is Poetry and Literature, and she knows many poems by heart and likes to recite them. She is good friends with Jane Morris, even though Jane is closer to her sister’s age.
Esther Butler, 11
Esther has a chatty, outgoing personality and has a hard time sitting still in class all day. She is always ready to start the games at recess, or help the teacher organize parties or activities. She also likes to bake with her mother and sisters, and thinks everything should be decorated to be as pretty as possible. She loves arts and crafts projects.
Naomi Butler, 9
Naomi is a bit of a dreamer and loves to read. She always asks the teacher if she can borrow any new storybooks that come into the classroom. She also enjoys baking with her mother and likes to bring in cookies and other baked goods to share with her friends, especially the younger ones, Minnie Silas and Effie Morris. She looks up to Jane Morris and tries to compete with her at the spelling bee and reading lessons.
David Butler, 8
David loves nature and critters, and often brings in creatures like beetles, snakes and salamanders that he finds on his way to school. Unfortunately, these critters usually escape his pockets at inappropriate times during the school day.
Carleton Ready, 10
Carleton has a lot of energy and is quick with his fists. He hung out a lot with his cousins the Thornburgs, who were older than him, and they often got in fights if someone teased them or teased their sisters. Often they just fought among themselves. Carleton has a hard time sitting still through long lessons, and often taps his pencil on the desk or plays with his chalk until the teacher gets angry with him. For lunch he and his sister usually bring in a baked potato, because that is what their father grows. She rides a horse to school with his sister Christina.
Christina Ready, 13
Christina is a very chatty girl and likes to be the center of attention. She also likes to gossip about other kids and other families in the district, often competing with Nettie Anderson about who has the most exciting news. She likes being called on by the teacher and always raises her hand, even if she doesn’t know the answer. Sometimes when her brother and cousins get into a fight she’ll get in a few kicks too. She rides a horse to school with her brother Carleton.
Olevia Thornburg, 15
Olevia is the oldest in her family, and the oldest student in school, and she likes to think she is in charge, so she is often “bossy.” When the teacher tells the class to do something, Olevia will sometimes repeat it like she is in charge, and she watches to make sure that the kids follow orders. Often the teacher or the other kids call her “Olivia” instead of “Oleeva”, which is how it is pronounced in her family, and she always corrects them.
James Thornburg, 12
James is a talkative boy with a vivid imagination. He likes to make up stories and tell them to anyone who will listen. He also liked to gossip, so sometimes his stories about other people are not true at all. He is also interested in the various families in the county and likes to know who is related to who.
Raymond Thornburg, 7
Raymond is the youngest of the Thornburg kids, and the only one still in school. He usually hangs out with his cousin, Carleton Ready. Raymond isn’t as much of a fighter as his cousin, and is quieter and more studious. He likes arithmetic, and always tries to be the first one with the answer. He likes to build things, and he helped the Butler family build the horse shed outside the school. He and his father often help neighbors with building projects on their farms.
Clifford Dockery, 12
Clifford (Cliff) is the oldest of the twelve Dockery children. Since his family didn’t raise cattle or other animals for food, they mostly ate wild game for meat, so Clifford learned to hunt at an early age and is good at it. He likes being out in the hills he’s a good shot with a rifle. He is already good at shooting pheasants and sage grouse and knows how to dress and clean them so his mother can cook them. Clifford also loves horses, and usually helps take care of the horses and the mules that bring the other kids to school.
Thelma Dockery, 10
Thelma is shy but friendly. She has to help take care of younger brothers and sisters at home so she is good at helping the younger kids at school, too. She helps to keep an eye on her little brother John. She often brings in her mother’s delicious cinnamon rolls as a gift to the teacher. She is kind of a “teacher’s pet” and always offers to help with lessons and schoolhouse chores.
John Dockery, 8
John is a dreamy, absent-minded little boy who frequently forgets his lunch, or his hat, or his homework. He comes from a big family so sometimes his mom doesn’t have time to help him get ready for school. Sometimes he forgets how to act at school and leaves his desk to look out the window. His sister Thelma helps him when she can. He is friends with the Johnson twins.