USA > California > Amador County > History of Amador County, California, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 62
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76
In 1861 he introduced a bill providing " That every school numbering thirty pupils, established by the parents or guardians of such pupils, should have the right, on application, to be enrolled as a public sehool; that the common school branches should be taught five hours a day, with religious instruction and eate- chism as an extra at the will of the parents; that the parents or guardians should elect the Trustees of such school with full powers to control; and that the State fund should be apportioned according to the number of children attending school."
The bill was accompanied by a petition, numer- ously signed. The Honorable John Coness defended the common school system in a lengthy speech, recit- ing a portion of his own experience. The measure was defeated.
The new school laws of 1863 required the use of school registers for keeping a record of the daily attendance, deportment and progress of the scholars; made provisions and appropriations (one hundred and fifty dollars) for holding annual county teachers' institutes; provided for the annual election of a Trus- tee, who should hold offiee for three years; made new provisions for the collection of taxes for building school houses and the maintenance of schools; and authorized the issuing of teachers' certificates for a term of years.
The most deeided improvement in schools was made during the superintendence of John Swett. He was a graduate of the common schools, and had an abiding faith, not only of their utility in society, but as a necessity for a safe foundation for all the essentials of a republican form of government. In his first annual report, he recommended the raising of a sufficient sum by a property tax to support the
270
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
schools free from all rate bills or local taxes, for at least five months in the year. He showed that but twenty-five per cent. of the children in the State attended school, and contended that, as the general voter had control of property in revenue matters, a portion of it should be taken to prepare him for that responsibility; that, considering the diversified character of our population, California needed the benefits of a free school more than any State in the Union. The Legislature of 1864 passed new school laws, laying an annual tax of five mills on each one hundred dollars of property in the State, and making it imperative on the counties to raise enough, in addition to the State appropriation, to maintain schools five months in the year.
The bill passed the Assembly withont opposition, but the famous Zachary Montgomery was in the Senate, and there it came near being slaughtered. The vote stood :-
Ayes - Benton, Burnell, Crane, Cunningham, Foulke, Hall, Haswell, Kutz, Maddox, McMurtry, Moyle, Porter, Roberts, Shepherd, Tuttle, Wright -- 18.
Noes-Buckley, Dodge, Evans, Freeman, Gaskill, Hamilton, Hawes, Montgomery, Pearce, Redington, Bush, Shafter-12.
In 1863, the amount of money expended for schools in the whole State, was four hundred and eighty thousand dollars; in 1867 the amount of annual expenditure reached the sum of one million two hundred and eighty-seven thousand dollars. The direct tax on all property throughout the State was eight cents on the one hundred dollars, bringing in an income of one hundred and twenty thousand dollars.
Many of the Eastern States, lowa and Illinois, had, about the same time as California, provided for the general education of the children. A well-to-do farmer, a bachelor of course, of the former State, became disgusted with the freedom with which the Legislature put their hands in his pockets and helped themselves to his cash for educational purposes, and sold out and left for California, where the people were supposed to retain some of the conservative, primi- tive virtues of old times. When he came to Cali- fornia and found that the same system of' robbery was in practice here, he gave a terrible howl and turned the heads of his flocks and herds towards Oregon. The last heard of him he was making with all speed towards Alaska, where, it is confidently believed, he will not be disturbed by a general school-tax for at least ten years.
In 1872, the test oath requiring teachers to take the oath of allegiance, was repealed. This was, perhaps, a matter of unnecessary caution; doing very little good or harm, as no case is on record of any teachers leaving the profession on account of it.
In 1867, the State Superintendent reported that every school in the State had become FREE. The Legislature had added some new features to the
school law. Formerly teachers were examined by incompetent men, and, as a consequence, men were sometimes admitted to the position of teachers who were unfit to have charge of dumb brutes, much less human beings. The law now required the County Superintendent and also the Board of Examiners to hold first-grade certificates. There is always much difficulty in executing a law that is much in advance of public opinion. There was no exception to the rule in this case. The County Superintendents bridged over the obstruction, and things went much as before, though there was a manifest improvement in the qualifications of teachers.
The system of free schools met with much opposi- tion. There is a plausibility, at least, in the princi- ples that every man has a right to accumulate and hold property; that he is under no obligation to educate or support his indolent neighbors' children; but in the other side of the scales is the fact that, if his neighbors' children are not educated to some use- ful purpose, they become criminals and paupers, and by their destructive habits endanger not only the existence of the property which was denied for edu- cational purposes, but even life itself.
In 1872, Superintendent Bolander recommended compulsory education, and declared that illiteracy was incipient crime; and quoted Beecher, that, " uneducated mind is educated vice." Bolander pro- posed five hundred dollars as the least sum that should be expended in any school district in one year.
THE SCHOOL-BOOK WAR.
The law requiring a uniformity of text-books was no exception to the average of laws, of which it has been said the unlooked for operations constitute the principal results. The value of school-books in use amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars. A small profit on a book in general use, would make a fortune for the publishing house, or the firm holding the agency. Numerous advocates of each proposed work traversed the country proclaiming its merits, and even a lobbyist was thought necessary for the Legislature. Thousands of dollars were expended in getting the books introduced, all of which had to be paid for by the consumers or purchasers of the books in one way or another. The Sanders series of readers had been discarded, and Willson's generally adopted. They were well printed, finely illustrated, and were a great improvement on anything before in use. During the Superintendency of Fitzgerald they were cast aside, and the McGuffey series adopted. Now came the war. Willson was a northern man, and his books were the product of the northern system of education. MeGuffey was President of the Virginia University, and his books were supposed to represent the style of southern education. Mc- Guffey's series were said to belong to an ancient formation, a sort of pliocene stratum, containing only fossils of defunet ideas; the engravings were said to be old and inferior, having but one commendable quality; there were but few in the book. The change,
271
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
which had cost the parents in the State something like two hundred thousand dollars, was brought about by the State Teachers' Institute. It was even said by the Willson advocates that money had been used to obtain the decision in favor of the south- ern reader. This insinuation was bruited about by the newspapers, and perhaps influenced somc in their opinions, but the more candid part of the people scouted the idea, considering partisan feeling and the prejudice of birth amply sufficient to account for any apparent injustice or error of judgment, in producing the exchange.
The result was a defeat of Fitzgerald, who was much grieved about the matter. The Legislature at the next session took the control of text-books away from the State Board. The Willson readers were not reinstated. The change from Willson's to McGuffey's series received the condemnation of the people, yet having been introduced, it was considered better to retain it than to incur a new expense.
SCHOOL CENSUS IN 1863, BY DISTRICTS.
Amador
82
Lancha Plana 85
Butte City 49
Mountain Springs 41
Buena Vista 63
Pine Grove 75
Buckeye
56
Puckerville 52
Clinton 81
Rural 38
Drytown
66
Sutter Creek 133
Fiddletown
124
Union 101
Forest Home 64
Upper Rancheria 43
Franklin
59
Union Church 45
Ione City 162
Volcano 109
Jackson_
205
Williams
30
Jackson Valley 51
Willow Springs_ 61
.
Total
1875
SCHOOL STATISTICS.
State County Superintendent. Superintendent
Year ..
Bet. 4 and 18
At'g School.
No. Schools
Expendi- ture.
Male.
Female.
John G. Marvin.
1853
339
43: 205
Paul K. Hubbs. Dr J W Gooding 1955
Paul K. Hubbs.
E. B. Mclntire. 1856
868
4261
A. J. Moulder ..
E. B. Melntire.
1857
986
523 10
A. J. Moulder.
H. H. Rheese
1858
1100
555 12 810,192.67
A. J. Moulder. . H. H. Rheese.
1859 1577
625 16
A. J. Moulder. . J. H. Bradley.
1860 1591
734 18
A. J. Moulder
Samuel Pige.
1862 1738
975 26
1863 1875
995 27
1864 2365 1323 29
$65.96
$47.00
John Swett
D. Townsend
1865 2074 1315 29
14,592.65
73.00
55.00
John Swett
S. G. Briggs.
1866
17791
9,816.49
70.00
62.00
John Sett.
S. G. Briggs
1867
1960
16,278.68
70.00
56.00
O. P. Fitzgerald. |S. G. Briggs
1868 1903 1327
15,889.86
74.33
50,25
O. P. Fitzgerald . S. G. Briggs
1870 1869 1401
12,446.40
81.66
50.00
H. N. Bolander. S. G. Briggs
1872 2097
29
15,576.27
H. N. Bolander. S. G. Briggs
1873 2134
28
18,493.10
H. N. Bolander. S. G. Briggs
1874
H. N. Bolander.
W. H. Stowers.
1875
E. S. Carr. .....
W. H. Stowers
1876
E. S. Carr ....
A. Edsinger
1877
E. S. Carr ..
A. Edsinger
1878 2659
77.00
62.00
E. S. Carr ..
L. Miller.
1879 2733
35,791.73
80.00
55.00
E. S. Carr
L. Miller.
1890
"The total expenditures, from the organization of the county to 1867, in- clusive, was $133,873.15.
CONDITION OF SCHOOLS IN 1871.
Amador City School .- This district has no re- corded date of organization. Its progress has been
rather slow; its present condition is rather flattering; its wants are numerous; no school furniture or apparatus, and a poor, dilapidated school-house.
Aqueduct City School .- This district was organ- ized about 1865; has progressed finely as a rural district; has a neat little school-house, together with some apparatus; house poorly furnished. Its pres- ent prospects are hopeful.
Buckeye Valley School .- This district has been unfortunate. Its people were divided on their school interests, and the result of their troubles was the burning of their school-house, which loss they have not yet recovered from, and consequently are not in a very flourishing condition. They are in need of a house, furniture, and apparatus.
Buena Vista School .- This district was organ- ized in 1857; has a very comfortable school-house, some apparatus, very poor furniture, but is in a very flourishing condition, notwithstanding.
Clinton School .- This district is poor. They have a neat little school-house, no furniture or apparatus, yet it is quite flourishing.
Drytown School .- This district was organized in 1853, and, for several years, only maintained a three month's school during the year; but the last few years they have been able to keep their school open seven months in the year. They have a nice school- house, eosting some eight hundred dollars, some furniture, some apparatus, and the school is in a better condition than it has ever been.
Fiddletown School (Oleta) .- This is an old dis- trict, without date of organization; has an excellent school-house, well furnished, with some apparatus, and is in a very flourishing condition, under the guidance of an efficient teacher.
Franklin School .- This district is small, situated in a very sparsely settled neighborhood; has a small sehool-house, some apparatus, but no furniture. It is in rather a state of progression.
Forest Home School .- This district, like many others, has no date of organization. They have a respectable school-house, but poorly furnished, yet in rather a flourishing condition.
Ione Valley School .- It is situated in a very rich and fertile valley which is covered by a Spanish grant, which has been very prejudicial to its interests. They have a comfortable school-house. The district was organized in 1853, is tolerably well supplied with apparatus and furniture and is quite flourishing.
Jackson School .- This district is also without date of organization; has a brick school-house, with two departments, and has progressed finely; has always been under the guidance of able teachers, and is well supplied with apparatus and furniture.
Jackson Valley School .- This district is a small one, and labors under the same difficulties as the Ione Valley, it being on the Spanish grant, also. They have a very commodious school-house, tolerably well supplied with furniture and apparatus, and is in quite a flourishing condition,
51.35
O. P. Fitzgerald. S. G. Briggs
1871 1951
1148
17,742 51|
81.66
50.00
A. J. Moulder. . [Samuel Page.
1861 1679
802 23
John Swett
Samuel Page
John Swett
D. Townsend
865
318
5573
O. P. Fitzgerald. S. G. Briggs
1869 1855 1322
15,140.33
81.13
Teachers Wages
John G. Marvin . H. Eichelberger| 1854
272
HISTORY OF AMADOR COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Lancha Plana School .- Situated in the south-west portion of the county, and at one time a very rich mining camp, but now in a dilapidated condition, and consequently the school has suffered. They have a shell of a house in which to impart instruc- tion, poor furniture, some apparatus, and, notwith- standing the disadvantages under which it has 'labored, its prospects are quite flattering.
Mountain Echo School .- This district was organ- ized in 1867, and has progressed slowly. They have a good wooden school-honse, very little furniture and no apparatus. Notwithstanding the many difficulties with which they are surrounded, they have been able to maintain four or five months' school in the year. Their prospects are quite encouraging.
Milligan's School .- This district has no date of organization, and is also one of the rural districts. It has been able to maintain a four months' school some portion of the year. They have quite a comfortable little school-honse, with very little furniture or appa- ratus.
Mountain Springs School .- This is a small district, and has a hard struggle to exist. By perseverance they have been able to keep open a school in accord- ance with the law. They have a school-house that answers the purpose, but need furniture and appa- ratus. Their prospects are anything but flattering.
New York Ranch School .- This distriet was organ- ized about 1866, They have a very comfortable school-house, together with some furniture and appa- ratus. It has steadily advanced and its prospects for the future are quite flattering.
Oneida School .- This district was organized in 1865, with some twenty census ehildren. It now numbers some eighty. They have progressed stead- ily; have a shell of a house, entirely destitute of fur- niture and apparatus.
Puckerville School .- This is an old distriet, with- out date of organization; has a very commodious school-house, well supplied with furniture and appa- ratus, and is progressing finely.
Pine Grove School .- This district is situated on the road leading from Volcano to Jackson. They have a neat and comfortable school-house, pretty well furnished with apparatus and furniture. This school has been conducted in the main by able teach- ers, and is in a prosperous condition.
Sutter Creek School .- This district like a number of others, is without date of organization; has had the misfortune of having its sehool-house burned up, hut, nothing discouraged, its friends went to work and put up a magnificent two-story, brick building. The cost of the house was about six thousand dollars. It is well furnished with apparatus and furniture, has two hundred and twenty eensus children, and is situated in the richest mining district in the county. Its future is truly flattering.
Stony Creek School .-- This is one of the rural dis- tricts of the county, and was organized in 1868, with small beginnings; but by perseverance they have a
nent little school-house, with a moderate supply of furniture and apparatus. They have progressed beyond expectation. Their prospects are truly flattering.
Union Church and Mnletown School .- These two districts have been merged into one, and will be known hereafter as the Union District, and is situ- ated in one of the prettiest valleys in the county. Last Spring the friends of education went to work and put up a good school-house at a convenient center for both districts, and furnished the same tolerably well. They are getting along finely now.
Upper Rancheria School .- This district is also without date of organization; is an old school, but has not advanced as it should have done. But few felt interested in the education of the children, and con- sequently let both the school and the school-honse run down. Now that it is necessary to have a new house, the people are divided, and cannot agree where to place it, and consequently their prospects are gloomy.
Volcano School .- This district was organized in 1855, and prospered finely until about 1861, when a state of confusion and strife sprang up, which re- sulted in a division of the district. Union district was formed out of a portion of its territory, and continued in that separate state until last year, when they united again and built a fine and commodious house that reflects eredit upon the Trustees of both districts.
Williams School .- This district is among the oldest in the county. Its record shows no date of organi- zation. They have a very pleasant school-house, with somne furniture and a few articles of apparatus. They have progressed steadily. Its wants are con- siderable in the way of furniture.
Willow Springs School .- This district, like too many others, has been negligent of its records. Very little ean be learned of its history, other than it has had an existence for several years. They have a tolerably comfortable school-house, some furniture, and need almost everything to conduct a school properly.
Washington Sehool .- This district, like a great many others, has been quite negligent of duty, the record showing no date of organization. They have a very neat and comfortable school-house, tolerably well supplied with furniture and apparatus. They have progressed moderately well. Their prospects are encouraging.
The foregoing is from the report of the Rev. S. G. Briggs, County Superintendent from 1866 to 1875. Though a man of limited education, his integrity and devotion to the interests of schools enabled him to accomplish a great deal towards elevating them to their present high standard. It will be seen that the most of the statistics, in the table appended, were gathered during his incnm- beney. He died at the post of duty, beloved by all the teachers and pupils in the county. The same
RESIDENCE, STORE & RANCH OF CHARLES . DOSCH. IONE VALLEY . AMADOR COUNTY, CAL.
LITH. BRITTON O REY, S.F.
RANCH.AND RESIDENCE OFJ.C.BLYTHER. TOWNSHIP 4.AMADOR COUNTY. CAL.
273
NEWSPAPERS.
may be said also of W. H. Stowers, who succeeded him.
TRIBUTE TO SCHOOL-TEACHERS.
The limits of this work will only permit a brief reference to some of the devoted teachers, who have seen their sun of life rise and go far down the west- ern slope in their devotion to the cause of education, and of some who have reposed in death for years after their work was well done. School-teaching, though holding so important a position in social economy, is a profession that is little honored. Day after day, weeks following weeks, until the youthful, vigorous form becomes old and feeble, the teacher eoins his life into the coming generation, and finally sinks unknown and unsung to the grave. No plaudits of assembled thousands encourage bim; no daily papers chronicle his coming in or going out, yet silently he fashions the future citizen, perhaps' President, weaves his web of human affairs in pov- erty and obscurity, often in want, happy to see his former pupils performing an honored part in the world.
Many have lived their whole active life in Amador county. Among these we may reckon A. W. Kerr of Plymouth, who is now teaching the third genera- tion; J. F. Gould of Jackson, who thirty years since commenced his work, and still holds on. Hiram Ford, of Buena Vista, also is well fixed in the groove. Some have gone down to premature graves, worn out by the terrible nervous exhaustion incident to watching and caring for a large school of children. Of this number we may reckon Dennis Townsend, whose mind gave way under the terrible strain; and also William H. Stowers, who gave all of life that was in him to children who are now taking places in active life. J. C. Gear, also a teacher for years, rests in the Ione cemetery, not quite forgotten by the children, now men and women, whom he led up the first low hills of science. Among the women we may reckon Mrs. Bartlett of Sutter Creck, Mrs. M. B. Church of Drytown, Mrs. Thomas Stewart of Ione, Miss Augusta Withington, Mrs. Trowbridge (deceased) of Jackson, and numerous others who have done, and still are doing, good work. All honor to them.
CHAPTER XLII.
NEWSPAPERS.
Charles Boynton-Amador Ledger-Dispatch-Union Record- Sutter Creek Independent-Ione News-Amador Sentinel.
THE mining towns, with three or four hundred men hungry for news, were tempting fields for an ambi- tious man. The first institution after the hotel and saloon is a printing office. Who has not felt an idea in his-well, head, pressing and kicking to get out, aehing for deliverance, that it might grow and over- spread the world, revolutionize governments, and correct all things? Men will not try the law without 35
study, or mercantile business without some practice, or a hotel without sitting around awhile to see how things might be run. But there is no measure for mental work; no rule of feet and inches, no measure of pints and quarts to gauge the product of the mind. Though a man may write over acres of paper, square measure will not apply; solid or leaded articles defy eubic measure and avoirdupois just as well; and, finally, though an article may be a drug, apotheca- ries weight will not weigh it, and, though it may be a golden thought, the jeweler's scales are equally powerless. If it is a living, active, vital thought, adapted to the wants of man, it will live and flourish; it is seed sown on good ground. If it is obsolete; if it is the effete matter of a morbid mind, though it is embalmed in print, or engraved in stone, naught shall save it from oblivion.
When lofty thoughts thy mind inspire, Write; some slumbering soul that reads, Touched by sparks of thy celestial fire, Shall ripen into glorious deeds.
Charles Boynton was the father of the newspaper in Amador county. Though many recollect him, few can give an idea of his character, which seemed to be as changeable as a kaleidoscope, now foaming over with fun and good nature, now seriously discuss- ing political economy; now poring over some old volume of forgotten history, and now going for the gold in the bed of the Mokelumne with all his might, mind and strength, with a woman's emotion and a man's power. He was in some way connected with the Mokelumne Hill Chronicle; at any rate he had sufficient access to the types and press to work off several numbers of the Owl, 1853 and '54, which set the whole country crazy with its fun, which, however, being of a local nature, is now understood only by those who remember the incidents referred to. It is said that he used to swim the river with the edition tied to the top of his head. It is also said that he never went over to the Hill without hav- ing a fight or two on account of the little paper. Soon after the organization of the county he started the Sentinel, an independent paper, devoted to no party or clique. It was printed for some months on the Chronicle press, the edition being so small that he carried it all under his arm to Jackson to be distributed. He soon after obtained a press of his own, and ran the paper successfully for some years. O. D Avaline, formerly of Fort Wayne, Indi- ana, became the proprietor of it about 1857 or '58, continuing the publication until the great fire of 1862, when he abandoned the newspaper business, raised a company of soldiers and joined the Union army. He died at Folsom of general debility, produced by exposure while in the service.
THE AMADOR LEDGER
Was started by Thomas H. Springer in Volcano in 1855, during the boom in that town. It was an independent sheet at first, but in 1856, during the Fremont, Fillmore and Buchanan campaign, it took
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.