Schoolhouse mentioned 1721
The first mention of any school (or any reference to indicate there may have been a school in the limits of Gwynedd) is that of 1721, in a petition for a road, entered by Roland Hughes and Robert Humphrey.[475] The mention herein made is of a schoolhouse located near the property of Robert Humphrey and Roland Hughes and not far distant from the road to Philadelphia. Neither has trace been found of any school actually established nor of schoolmaster to have charge over it, yet the presence of a building erected for that purpose lends credence to the view that there was a school there, though perhaps irregularly conducted. Procedure in other districts was usually that schools were present before the schoolhouses were built.[476]
Marmaduke Pardo teacher
The first mention of a schoolmaster is relative to Marmaduke Pardo, who came with the following certificate from Pembrokeshire in Wales.
We whose names are hereunto subscribed, being the curate and others of the inhabitants of the Parish of St. Davids, do hereby certify whom it may concern, that the bearer hereof, Marmaduke Pardo, of the city of St. Davids and County of Pembroke, has to the utmost of our knowledge and all appearances lived a very sober and pious life, demeaning himself according to the strictest rules of his profession, viz., what we call Quakerism, and that he has for these several years past took upon himself the keeping of a private school in this city, in which station he acquitted himself with the common applause and to the general satisfaction of all of us who have committed our children to his care and tuition, etc.[477]
This certificate was signed by Richard Roberts and several others. With such recommendations, the citizens of Gwynedd were very fortunate if perchance they did secure him as a master. Other writers have, it seems, taken for granted that he actually taught in the school, but there is no exact evidence on the point, only a very great probability.[478]
The following extract indicates there was an established school at Morristown in 1766.
School at Morristown Quaker?
Plymouth overseers acquaint this meeting that Mordecai Moore on his own and family’s account and several neighboring friends request the privilege of holding a meeting at the schoolhouse near his dwelling house in Morristown every first day until the general spring meeting. The which is granted.[479]
Committee on schools appointed