USA > Connecticut > Litchfield County > Norfolk > History of Norfolk, Litchfield County, Connecticut, 1744-1900 > Part 16
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During her convalescence, two years later, she read his work on the "Millennium," which awakened her interest in life, and she "longed to do something for God." Not long after, a young man going out as a missionary to a foreign field asked her to accompany him. A long, severe struggle ended in a negative decision. Between Miss Grant and her pastor, Rev. Ralph Emerson, a mutual esteem and friend- ship sprang up, pleasant and valuable to both.
In the winter of 1819 she was able again to take up teach- ing, and probably taught in the Loon Meadow district in Norfolk. For one term she attended a select school taught by Mrs. Reeder in the old Conference room. During that winter a class of young people, under the guidance of their pastor (Rev. Mr. Emerson), studied Grammar, History and English Literature, and Miss Grant's work in the school- room did not prevent her being the leading spirit among them.
Rev. Joseph Emerson, her pastor's brother, an ex-tutor of Harvard College, and an ex-pastor, a zealous pioneer and originator of a plan to furnish women an opportunity for a higher education than they had ever received, had in the northeast corner of Massachusetts, at Byefield, opened the new "Female Seminary."
It is difficult for us to go back eighty years and under- stand the novelty of this institution. Then there were no Protestant female seminaries or high schools in existence. The college education, craved for the sons, was undreamed of for the daughters, and except in isolated instances no literary attainments were within the reach of young women beyond the ability to teach a summer district school.
A prospectus of Mr. Emerson's school was placed in Miss Grant's hands, doubtless by her pastor, and upon it she pondered. Her mother had married; she was alone. Her mind cried out, as it were, in its hunger for food. Knowl- edge meant more power for good, but how was she to gain it? She made known her wishes to her God, at the mercy seat. Her pastor sympathized fully with her in her feel- ings and efforts, and her longing for the distant, newly
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opened fountain of knowledge. It was strange then that a woman twenty-five years old should wish to know more than she already knew, and that one so old should wish to go away to school was an unheard of thing.
She committed her way unto the Lord, and laid open her whole heart to her mother, who simply did not oppose her. She must get her oldest brother's approval, and she studied thoroughly on how to present her case to him. Resembling her in the natural constitution of his mind, he entered kindly into her plans for self-improvement, and had he been able would gladly have helped her, and saved her the strug- gles of the few following years.
All obstacles having been removed, in April, 1820, taking her whole fortune of $50, Miss Grant set out on the three days' journey for the Female Seminary at Byefield. She had once seen Mr. Emerson, and took a line to him from her pastor. "He received her into his family, and she, as it were, spread her wings in the new atmosphere." Another of Mr. Emerson's pupils, who became the life long friend and co-laborer of Miss Grant, was Miss Mary Lyon, after- ward the founder of Mount Holyoke Female Seminary. November, 1820, was the close of Miss Grant's term as a pupil.
Mr. Emerson was at this time preparing for Sabbath Schools an "Outline of Questions on Scripture History,"- the first of that class of publications ever written,-and knowing Miss Grant's familiarity with the Bible he sought her assistance; so, instead of returning to her home in Nor- folk, as she had expected, she decided to remain in Byefield for another year, teaching certain classes, aiding in prepar- ing the Union Catechism for the press, and reading under Mr. Emerson's direction. This second year with Mr. Emer- son was a most important and profitable one to Miss Grant. In the spring of that year, 1821, Miss Mary Lyon first ap- peared in the school, and so their acquaintance first began with Miss Grant as her teacher. In a letter to her mother at that time, Miss Lyon wrote :- "In one of our Saturday evening prayer meetings Miss Grant expressed her views in
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a most affecting manner; the solemnity, affection and ten- der solicitude with which she addressed us made a deep impression on every mind." The dignity, spiritual eleva- tion of character and sympathy with every struggling soul which Miss Grant manifested awakened Miss Lyon's affec- tionate reverence; nor did the vast capabilities for use- fulness that yet lay almost latent in the future founder of Mount Holyoke Seminary, escape the keen eye and appreci- ation of her teacher. Neither then knew the far-reaching purpose in the divine plan which brought them at the same time under the influence of such a teacher as Mr. Emerson.
In November, 1821, Miss Grant returned to her native home, although Mr. Emerson urged her to remain longer with him, but her desire was to teach and work in her native state. She opened a select school in Winsted for young ladies, in a single room of a private dwelling-house, upon her return home, where she taught until the spring of 1823.
Mr. Emerson meantime had removed his ladies' seminary to Saugus, a retired village a few miles northeast from Boston, and from there he persistently urged her to be- come his assistant. In an appeal to her he wrote :- "I wish for your assistance both summer and winter. You have done more than any other young lady to raise my seminary. My pupils are prepared to receive you with respect, with affection and with the utmost confidence. I desire your aid not only in teaching my pupils, but in attempting to in- struct the public. It is my decided opinion that you and I can do much more towards effecting a reformation by united than by separate exertion, in the extremely inju- dicious, superficial, defective, atheistic methods of teach- ing in common use."
In the spring of 1823 Miss Grant closed her school in Winsted and went to be Mr. Emerson's assistant at Saugus, Mass., where she "was busy fourteen hours out of the twenty-four, every day in the week."
About this time a Mr. Adams of Derry, New Hampshire, made a liberal bequest for the founding and support of a
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Female Academy at that place. The building was erected during the summer of 1823, and the trustees, look- ing about for a principal, visited Mr. Emerson's Seminary at Saugus, satisfied themselves that Miss Grant was the one they wanted, and offered her the position.
During the following winter she spent six weeks in Derry judging whether she ought to accept the proposition to take charge of the new institution. She at length decided to accept, and in the winter of 1824 went to Ashfield to discuss the work with Miss Mary Lyon, and asked her to become her assistant. The "Adams Female Academy," as it was called, was duly incorporated, endowed, empowered to confer diplomas, and Zilpah Polly Grant, a native of Norfolk, whose early life and struggles to secure an educa- tion we have followed somewhat minutely, "was formally installed the first head of the first college for women in our country, if not in the world."
The institution was opened the latter part of April, 1824, at Derry, New Hampshire, with sixty young ladies, gath- ered from the best homes of the region round about. Pol- ished and dignified in manner, regarded by her pupils as the model of a lady, Miss Grant from the first drew them to herself, and with combined intellectual and spiritual qualities gained a marvellous influence over all.
"The abounding health, the cheerful spirits, the vigorous faculties of Mary Lyon, her wonderful executive ability and her ardent piety, made her to Miss Grant such a helper as few have enjoyed. As to their work, they were in perfect accord. Then, as long afterward, Miss Lyon was accus- tomed to say to Miss Grant, "You plan and I will execute." During the winters of 1824, '25 and '26, the vacations at Derry, Miss Lyon commenced at Buckland, a town ten miles from Greenfield, that succession of schools which made her known to the people of her native region as a most original and able teacher. The following hard ex- perience is proof of Miss Grant's indomitable will power and determination to overcome all obstacles and to be de- terred by no hindrances. "In May, 1827, while practising
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calisthenics with a class, a tendon in the heel was parted from its fastening. The suffering was great. For two years she moved only on crutches. Unable to stand or sit, she kept the business wheels in motion, and the classes that for several terms gathered around her couch to recite were eager and enthusiastic as ever."
"It never rains but it pours." While she was suffering from her painful disability, at the annual meeting of the trustees in November, 1827, it was proposed to have instruc- tion in music and dancing introduced into the Academy as a part of the course the ensuing year. A minority of the trustees strongly urged that no change should be made in the administration. Miss Grant wrote at that time: “I opposed dancing on the ground that, as we have a sys- tematic course, and all parents would not wish to have their children learn to dance, the introduction of this exer- cise would greatly derange our plans, and must be an evil, and I finally said that I could not consent to it." The trus- tees "regretted that the institution has acquired the char- acter of being strictly Calvanistic in the religious instruc- tion."
Early in January, 1828, Miss Grant wrote: "The great question is at last decided. My connection with the Adams Female Academy is dissolved. I think I have done all that I ought to save this beloved seminary from a revolution. Should the institution be injured I shall not be responsible. My business, therefore, for some time will be to scratch with a goose-quill and inform the public that I am disengaged. My health is pretty good, but I am still un- able to go without crutches."
(Two years later these same trustees sought to recall Miss Grant "to take charge of and manage the Academy in her own way," but she was not then disengaged.)
After considering several applications she concluded to locate at Ipswich, twelve miles from Newburyport, Mass., where was a large new academy building. "More than forty of her pupils followed Miss Grant to the new loca- tion,-a trained and loyal body, enthusiastically devoted to
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their teacher, imbued with Bible truth and Christian pur- pose, they aided her greatly in moulding the whole school after that divine pattern which she ever carried in her sanctified imagination."
Miss Lyon, in her new location, became again Miss Grant's assistant, continuing during the winter vacation her school at Ashfield. It would be of exceeding interest to stop and mention the systematic course of English study required during the three years, while lessons in drawing, painting and vocal music were a part of the regular studies and were urged upon all. Miss Grant's skill in teaching what she called simply reading would in these days have made her distinguished as an elocutionist. The teachers whom she called to stand by her side were selected from her former pupils, who were inspired with zeal like her own.
In 1831, three years after she opened her school at Ipswich, one hundred and ninety pupils were enrolled (one account says the number rose to three hundred), but as there were not suitable accommodations for so many, the number was reduced by receiving none under the age of fourteen, and by limiting the number of boarders.
For eleven years the number averaged one hundred and sixteen,-the daughters of nearly every state in the then Union.
The pupils were led to understand that the great object in the seminary was not to finish, but to commence an education; not to furnish all the knowledge they might need, but to show where it might be gained. Pupils of 1829 and '30 recalled Miss Grant as carried up the steps of the academy on a strong man's shoulders day after day, and then moving with dignity on her crutches, in consequence still of that "severed tendon."
While Miss Grant was giving herself to her pupils, calls to various places were presented to her, so widely had she become known. One of the most persistent and difficult to dispose of came from Miss Catherine Beecher, then at the head of the ladies' seminary in Hartford, Conn. Miss Grant carefully considered the matter and decided in the nega-
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tive; but Miss Beecher would not then give her up, but induced her distinguished father, Rev. Lyman Beecher, D. D., to use all his influence and powers of persuasion to induce Miss Grant to join his daughter in Hartford. In one of his letters to her Dr. Beecher wrote :- "I have no doubt of the practicability, and I may add the infinite importance to the interest of sanctified literature, of such an example as Catherine and you would set, and which, being once set, is secured for universal use in all future time." With all the arguments which this distinguished man could bring to induce Miss Grant to unite with his daughter, in a lengthy appeal, he said in closing :- "Such a school as you have does not depend on location, but could at any time, in any suitable place, be called around you again." There were conclusive reasons in Miss Grant's mind against unit- ing with Miss Beecher, and "the second No was decisive."
During the year 1831 Miss Grant was forced by illness to leave her labors in the seminary at Ipswich, and for a year and a half she travelled in the South, and the school went on with its usual efficiency under Miss Lyon, the assistant principal.
Some years later Miss Grant wrote: "It was not till two years after the commencement of our operations in Ipswich that Miss Lyon felt it a matter of importance and was ready to co-operate with me in trying to have our seminary pro- cure a lasting home and live to do good when our labors should cease. During my absence Miss Lyon re- linquished all hope of this being accomplished in our day." We cannot follow Miss Grant further minutely, as this sketch has already reached great length, and it has been recorded in the story of her life, already mentioned, where it can be read in full. Dr. Hitchcock, President of Amherst College, who edited the first "Life of Mary Lyon," wrote after the memoir was complete: "No one can read it with- out seeing that her (Miss Grant's) plans and counsels formed the foundation and framework of the Holyoke Sem- inary; that she, in fact, originated it."
This was evident to the compilers of the memoir, who had
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access to all the correspondence, plans for buildings, etc., drawn by Miss Grant's own hand. "But they failed so to present that influence that it is generally understood and appreciated. The benevolence and self-sacrifice of Miss Grant's character were never more beautifully unfolded than in her cheerful yielding up material which belonged to her own history, to aid in building a monument to her friend and co-helper."
In the summer of 1834 Miss Grant made a journey of observation in what was then known as the "West,"-that is, Western New York and Eastern Ohio,-and "she saw clearly what few of her generation divined, that the great West would soon be the centre of empire, that its evan- gelization was the most vital and important work of the American church."
In 1838 Miss Grant's health so gave way that any con- tinuous mental effort was followed by indescribable dis- tress, and she was assured that her only chance for relief was in laying down every burden; so while seemingly in the full tide of success, she bade adieu to her sorrowing schol- ars and turned forever away from the place and the work that had been to her as the gate of heaven. It was no small matter for Miss Grant, now forty-four years old, an invalid and without a home, to be obliged to close upon herself every avenue to lucrative employment, but she did not fear life, death, pain, or poverty, because in all things she saw the mind and hand of her God.
At this juncture of her life she was made at home with one of her old pupils, in Dedham, and in this home, on Sep- tember 7, 1841, she was married by her former beloved pastor at Norfolk, Rev. Professor Ralph Emerson, D. D., then of Andover, to Hon. William B. Banister, who had been a practising lawyer of Essex County, Mass., a member of the Massachusetts Senate, a courteous, dignified, Chris- tian gentleman of wealth, and over his mansion in New- buryport she was called to preside. There were two daugh- ters in the home by a former marriage, who "stepped grace- fully aside to give place to the new queen." The home thus
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constituted seems to have been a most happy one until Mr. Banister's death in 1853. Subsequent to that date, as her health and strength would permit, her life was a busy and active one, at her home and in travel in different parts of the country, in the interest of education for women.
In 1860, Miss Catherine Beecher wrote to her sister, Mrs. H. B. Stowe: "I have had a most charming visit to my dear friend, Mrs. Banister. She has been for years my chief resort for counsel and sympathy, and to me seems more 'Christlike' than any earthly friend I ever knew." In Oc- tober of 1860 Mrs. Banister crossed the ocean for a year's sojourn in Europe. Her husband had previously died. This was a year of experience highly prized by her. In February, at Havre, she was seized and passed through a violent ill- ness ;- helpless in a strange land, for three months she did not leave her room; but every attention and the best of care was provided for her, and in July following she was so far recovered as to be able to make her trip to England, and in September to return to her native land.
Who in Norfolk ever heard or remembers that a native of this town had anything to do with the founding of Vassar College? Early in 1865 Miss Hannah Lyman had been invited to become the lady principal of Vassar College, which was to open the following September. She was an old pupil of Mrs. Banister's, and ever after an intimate friend and corre- spondent, and in the difficulties set before the first adminis- trators of Vassar College, "Mrs. Banister was consulted in every detail of the plans, felt all the anxieties involved, watched the steps of her beloved pupil with intense interest and fervent prayers, and at Miss Lyman's urgent request she passed two weeks at the college within a month of its beginning. For more than five and a half years the inter- course with Mrs. Banister, which brought her into such close relation with this great educational institution, was to Miss Lyman most inspiring."
Her interest in Mount Holyoke Seminary never ceased. In May and in September, 1873, she was for the last time
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the guest of that seminary, when "her talks to the twenty- seven teachers and two hundred and seventy-five pupils were greatly enjoyed."
Her intense activity continued until very near the end of her life. In September and October of 1874 she was with friends in Connecticut, and later in Ipswich. Returning to her home in Newburyport, attendance on public Thanks- giving services and a visit to an aged woman, once her domestic, ended her activities. She passed away December 3, 1874, aged 80 years and six months.
XIV.
BY MICHAEL F. MILLS, ESQ. FOR DR. ELDRIDGE.
CENTRE OF THE TOWN -BUILDING OF THE PRESENT MEETING-HOUSE - NAMES OF CONTRIBUTORS.
"In 1811 the society voted to build, and appointed a com- mittee to ascertain the centre of the town by actual survey. The committee found it to be about forty or fifty rods east of the now (1856) travelled road, a few rods north of where Auren Tibbals now resides, about one hundred and fifty rods south of the meeting-house, and south side of Burr Mountain, and the center line between east and west on the turnpike road is about one hundred rods east of the meet- ing-house." (At the time mentioned above (1856), Auren Tibbals lived on the Goshen road, very near the present entrance to the grounds of Mr. H. H. Bridgeman, in the house occupied later for many years by William McCor- mick.) "The society were not unanimous as to the precise spot or place where the house should be placed. Some said, where it now is. The largest number said, the middle of the green. Those residing in the east part of the town said it must be on the east side of the green, north of where Deacon Pettibone's house now stands. All agreed,-have a judicious committee to fix the place, and we will be satis-
MICHAEL F. MILLS, ESQ.
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fied. Julius Deming, Esq., and Uriel Holmes, Esq., of Litchfield, and Elisha Sterling, Esq., of Salisbury, were the committee agreed upon, who, after viewing, and a full hear- ing, fixed the stake where the meeting-house now is. All cheerfully acquiesced.
At a society meeting, a motion to choose a committee or agent to superintend the business of building, etc., and the number to be appointed,-seven, five, three and two were named and negatived. It was then voted to choose one, by ballot. They passed around, deposited their votes. The moderator counted and said, You are well agreed. You have made choice of Michael F. Mills to be your agent, he having all the votes but seven. Mr. Mills accepted. He asked the meeting if they had any directions to give as to size, form or fashion, etc., etc. The general reply was none, -none; build us as good a house as you can for Six Thou- sand Dollars. Mr. Mills viewed and examined a number of meeting-houses that had then been built a few years pre- vious. He counselled and advised with experienced builders. He had a plan prepared, and was exhibiting it to a number of the inhabitants and explaining his views. A member of the society was present who was not zealously engaged to build, and who said to Mr. Mills, 'How do you know that will suit the Society?' Mr. Mills replied, 'I do not know that it will suit them; but that is the house I am a going to build, and when it is finished if it does not suit them, they may build another.' The house when finished gave general satisfaction. Mr. Mills contracted with Col. Foote of Tor- rington to put up and complete the frame, which was ad- mitted to be by those who examined it, one of the best in the country. Mr. Mills contracted with David Hoadly to finish and complete the house. It was completed in 1814."
The following beautiful, suggestive sentence from the dedicatory prayer of this house, remembered by Mr. Harlow Roys, who was present at the dedication, by him repeated to his niece, Mrs. Abbie Moses Lawrence, by her written down, kept, and now given to the compiler, is worthy of per- manent preservation. It is as follows :-
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"These hallowed walls,-these consecrated seats,-this sacred desk,-this arched dome,-this lofty spire, which points the good man the way to Heaven, great God, we con- secrate to Thee." By whom this dedicatory prayer was of- fered is to the writer unknown.
At a town meeting held April 26, 1813, it was "Voted, that the south-east corner of the new meeting-house shall stand six feet south of the present meeting-house, in the line of the stake set by the committee from the County Court. Voted to finish the lower part of the meeting-house in the following manner, viz .: the square body to be slips and the wall seats to be pews. Voted to give Mr. Hoadly, the builder, liberty to remove the three south pews in the present meeting-house and occupy the space as a work- shop."
February 28, 1814, it was "Voted, to transfer the Ecclesi- astical business formerly done townwise, to the Ecclesi- astical Society recently formed, and all the writings relating to said business into the hands of the proper officers of said society."
It is of interest to recall the fact that at the time of the erection of the church building, which is still in fine order and condition, the whole business was done by the town, separate from any Ecclesiastical Society, or religious or- ganization, that society having been formed in December, 1813, subsequent to the erection of the "new meeting- house," as it was called, but before its completion and dedi- cation.
At a town meeting held November 18th, 1811, "A vote was passed by a great majority to appoint a Committee for the purpose of obtaining subscriptions sufficient to build a new meeting-house by subscription entirely, if the Society agree on a place to set said house. If not, to have the stake fixed by a Committee from the County Court. A committee of twelve prominent men of the town was chosen to solicit subscriptions, who evidently went promptly and earnestly about the business, as upon the 9th of December following the committee reported that they "Have been so happy as
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to obtain as subscribers, the names of all the inhabitants belonging to the Society, with the exception of a very few persons, not exceeding six or eight, and that a number have engaged to add to their subscription, if necessary."
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