In January of 1888 Melvin Sheley married Maggie Parsons in Sackets Harbor, New York. Over the next few years they were blessed with four children;  Elizabeth, Fred, Harry  and Grace.

For most of her life, Grace lived on the family farm on the River Road (Route Three) along the Black River, east of the Village of Herrings.  

                   
Grace and her siblings attended school in Herrings. This group picture on the steps of the Herrings School, was taken about 1903.

In this picture, the school is shown and there are individual pictures of the four children.

Grace spent a normal childhood on the family farm; most of the pictures, however, show her brother Harry with various types of transportation. this is really appropriate, because for part of her later life Harry would take her to and from her job, as we shall see.

After finishing her schooling at Herrings, Grace attended a Training School for teachers at Carthage.  She is shown in this group picture taken on the North James side of the building. 

After graduating from this program at age 19, she began a teaching career that spanned over 50 years (she retired in 1963). The schools in which she taught were those what would become the Carthage Central School District.  Miss Sheley taught in the following schools:

Grace Sheley – Teaching Career:

Herrings School: 1912-1915

Lower Martin Street School:  1915-1916

Great Bend:  1916-1918

Deferiet:  1918-1942

Deer River: 1944-1946

Squash Hole: 1946-1951

Felts Mills: 1951-1963

Augustinian Academy: (substitute teacher) 1964-1970

    In his 1916 diary entries, Harry frequently mentioned taking his sister to or from school;  here are some examples from January:

    Monday, January 10, 1916:  I took Grace over to school in the in the morning.  Pa paid the taxes.  They was $18.23.

    Friday, January 14, 1916:  Pleasant and cold all day.  I went over after Grace in P.M. on the ice.  I went up town in A.M.   Jessie S. rode up with me.  The girls and I went down to Bon's to a party at night.

    Friday, January 21, 1916.  I took Mrs. Roberts home in A.M. and got a shoe set on Jake.  The girls and I went up to Ambrose Garvin's reception at night.  Leo and Helen Malady rode up with us.

    Monday January 24, 1916:  Pleasant all day.  Fred and I went to Carthage in P.M.  I took Grace over the river in the A.M. and she walked home in the P.M.  Leo, Helen Malady, Mr. and Mrs. Cain and Walter Britton was up at night.  Jessie S. was over.  They began cutting ice.

    Tuesday, January 25, 1916:  We got 68 cakes of ice.  We begin using the buggy.

Miss Sheley taught longest in Deferiet; from 1918 until 1942.

As seems to have been the custom of the time, she appears on the teaching rolls of many of the schools in the area.  Teachers seem to have moved fairly freely between schools.   This picture was taken at the Squash Hole School (River Bank) about1950.

 Later in her life, Grace traveled extensively, and loved to drive her own car.

Grace wrote a short account of changes on the farm and a brief commentary on her family.  All these factors helped mold her into the woman who dedicated 51 years to the children of the this area.

               Documentation of a teaching career:

                              Certification of High School Work

     Training School Certificate (Provisional Certification)

     Teaching Contract

     Yearly Stamps (examinations, continued certification)