The Sinkerville School District was established formally in March 1903, named for local farmer George Sinker (c1816-1910). A frame school building was erected on the northeast quarter of 11-1-13 west of the Principal Meridian, in what is now the Municipality of Cartwright-Roblin. It closed in 1963 and its remaining students went to Mather School No. 1345. The district was dissolved in 1967. The school building is no longer present at the site, having been moved to SE15-1-13W for use as a storage shed, but a metal sign commemorates it at the original site.
The teachers of Sinkerville School included Mary Mitchell (1903-1905), Mabel Patterson (1905-1906), Archie McIntyre (1906-1907), Elizabeth Dougal (1907-1908), Alice Jones (1908-1909), Mary Atridge (1909-1910), Mabel Morrow (1910-1911), Mildred O’Brien (1911-1912), Bertha Hannah (1912-1913), Cora Dey (1913), Laura Thorne (1913-1914), Lulu Rogers (1915-1919), Connie Jeeves (1919-1920), Ferne Morden (1920-1921), Olive Caughlin (1921-1922), Opal Smith (1922-1924), Winnie Jeeves (1924-1926), I. Muriel Cobb (1926-1927), Alma Watson (1927-1928), Murl Eileen Bradley (1928-1929), Elizabeth Kate “Bessie” Kingdon (1929-1930), Merle Noreen Argue (1930-1935, wife of J. F. Morrison), Edith Jean Robinson (1935-1936), Marie Anne Martin (1936-1937), Faith Alberta Elizabeth Hill (1937-1939), B. Frank Privat (1939), Elmer Atkinson Preston (1939-1940), Florence Mary Cullen (1940-1941), Wilma MacKay Coulthard (1941-1942), Lenore Gwendoline Tole (1942-1943), Mildred Olive Kester (1943-1945), Sarah Beck Steel (1945-1946), Joyce Eileen Boote (1946-1947), Ruth Amelia Currie (1947-1948), Margaret Winnifred Hatch (1948-1949), Florence Jean Dudgeon (1949-1950), Ruth Jean Fuchs (1950-1951), John Herbert Krieger (1951-1952), Elin Deolinie Roye (1952-1954), Martha Irene Harms (1954-1956), Ellen Louise Cowan (1956-1958), Hilda C. Fulford (1958-1961), Verna Ann Friesen (1961-1962), and Jake Irvin Pauls (1962-1963).
Sinkerville School (no date) by W. J. Parr
Source: Archives of Manitoba, School Inspectors Photographs,
GR8461, A0233, C131-2, page 79.
The former Sinkerville School building (circa 1986)
Source: Historic Resources Branch, Public School Buildings Inventory, slide 1114.
The former Sinkerville School building (May 2013)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Sinkerville School commemorative sign (October 2011)
Source: Gordon GoldsboroughSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.02939, W99.10960
denoted by symbol on the map above
One Hundred Years in the History of the Rural Schools of Manitoba: Their Formation, Reorganization and Dissolution (1871-1971) by Mary B. Perfect, MEd thesis, University of Manitoba, April 1978.
Crocus Country: A History of Mather & Surrounding Districts by Mather History Committee, 1981.
A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.
Death registrations [George Sinker], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
1906 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Manitoba School Records Collection, Sinkerville School District No. 1220 Daily Registers, GR4072, Archives of Manitoba.
Obituary [Lenore Gwendoline Day], Winnipeg Free Press, 21 August 2012, page 22.
We thank Vicki Wallace, Don and Elaine McLennan, and Nathan Kramer for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 18 March 2023
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