USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > Waterbury > The town and city of Waterbury, Connecticut, from the aboriginal period to the year eighteen hundred and ninety-five. Volume II > Part 55
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* Soon after Mrs. Russell's death a memorial volume was printed (" In Memoriam, M. H. R.," pp. 32), which was not so much a record of life as a revelation of character. It was devoted largely to selections from her letters, which were written with exceptional beauty of thought and grace of expression. They reveal the simplicity of her faith and love as a Christian woman and the single-minded affection of her nature as daughter, wife and mother.
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CONVENT OF NOTRE DAME. ITS EARLY HOME.
527
PRIVATE SCHOOLS SINCE 1800.
ACADEMY OF THE CONVENT OF NOTRE DAME.
Among the educational institutions that have had a helpful influence in the development of Waterbury, the convent of Nôtre Dame holds a prominent place. The order to which it belongs originated in 1653, when the youthful Margaret Bourgeois left her home in France for heroic service in the wilds of the New World. She established the "Congregation of Notre Dame" in Montreal,
CONVENT OF NOTRE DAME. BUILDING ERECTED IN 1892.
and it spread rapidly over the whole of Canada, and in due time found a welcome in the United States. It was established in Water- bury in 1869, while the Rev. Dr. T. F. Hendricken was pastor of the Immaculate Conception parish. Dr. Hendricken's efforts to pro- mote the welfare of the little community, and his paternal regard for it even after his transfer to the bishopric of Providence, R. I., have given him an abiding place in the annals of the daughters of Margaret Bourgeois.
528
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
The convent was established during the episcopate of Bishop McFarland. On the occasion of his last visit, in 1873, his parting words were almost a prophecy. "The day is not far distant," he said, "when the little house on the hill will spread its wings to shel- ter hundreds." The fulfilment of his prediction is seen in the handsome building in which the school now has its home, which may well be regarded as one of the ornaments of the city. Its erection took place during the episcopate of Bishop McMahon, whose devotion to the well-being of the convent was manifested not only in words but in deeds.
The Waterbury mission was opened in 1869, with five sisters, Madame St. Cecilia being directress. They secured for their resi- dence the dwelling-house of Anson G. Stocking; but after a few years this proved quite inadequate to meet the wants of the grow- ing academy. In 1871 another building was erected, containing a large "commencement hall" and dormitories, and the grounds were beautified by the planting of shrubs and the establishment of a foun- tain. The number of pupils increased from year to year, and pros- perity crowned the labors of the nuns. But a shadow fell upon them, when, in 1882, a malignant fever carried away the young and gifted Madame St. Laura, who for nine years had been a successful teacher in the academy. A marble monument erected by her pupils marks her resting place in the Roman Catholic cemetery.
The convent met with another serious loss in 1887, in the death of Madame St. Gabriel, who had held the position of directress for five years, and had contributed in no small degree to the progress of the school. She was succeeded by Madame St. Mary, who for the first eight years of the school had been directress of the musical department. It was during her term of office as mother superior that the new building already referred to was erected.
In a statement prepared in 1894, the first twenty-five years in the history of the convent and its school are summed up as fol- lows:
A quarter of a century has passed since the convent of Nôtre Dame was opened in Waterbury. Its history has been uneventful. The years have flown peacefully in the service of education and religion. Commencement after commencement has given to some "fair young graduate " the diploma of the institution, the gold medal indicating the triple claim exacted, "Virtue, Industry, Science." Some seventy-eight young women have received graduating honors, each of whom to-day occupies an honorable position. Some brighten the homes over which they pre- side; some are efficient principals of schools. Several are making their mark in the business world. Not infrequently we hear of some one who has gained success in a musical career, the foundation of which was laid at Notre Dame. A few have devoted themselves to an undivided service of the heavenly Master.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS SINCE 1800. 529
The convent is at present under the direction of Madame St. Stanislaus. It is in a prosperous condition, and well filled classes give bright promise for the future. Since the beginning of the present year, the pupils have listened to a series of weekly lectures, given by the Very Rev. J. A. Mulcahy, which have had no slight influence in arousing intellectual activity.
A quarter of a century of usefulness claims acknowledgment, and it is heartily tendered by the friends and patrons of the academy of Notre Dame, who join in wishing it, for the years to come, a continually increasing prosperity .*
THE WATERBURY ENGLISH AND CLASSICAL SCHOOL.
The English and Classical school was organized to supply a want that was widely felt in the community for a school in which boys might receive a thorough preparation for college. An act of incorporation was procured at the May session of the legislature in 1875, and the school was opened in the autumn of that year, with Isaac Jennings as master. Among the incorporators, who num- bered thirty, were included the most prominent business and pro- fessional men of the city. The executive board consisted of T. I. Driggs, president; C. W. Gillette, secretary; F. L. Curtiss, treasurer; and H. F. Bassett, E. A. Lum and C. P. Goss. The amount of the capital was fixed at $5000. The building erected for the use of the school stood on the hill on the south side of what is now West Grove street.
Two courses of instruction were provided for, one to embrace studies required for admission to college, the other the more advanced English branches. The second year of the school opened with fifty students, and the third year with fifty-four, and the institution already had its representatives in college. A year later the number had declined to forty. According to the catalogue of 1878-79 the school "had proved itself a necessity as well as a valuable adjunct to our educational facilities," and it was " sustained by the leading citi- zens;" but some of the men who were active in founding it deemed it best to send their sons out of town for their preparatory training, and the hope of securing pupils from abroad was not fulfilled. The decline which had already begun continued, and after eight years the school was closed for want of support.
The masters of the school were as follows:
Isaac Jennings, 1875 to 1879. R. G. Stanwood, 1879 to 1880. E. E. Phillips, 1880 to 1883.
Among the other teachers were C. M. Stanton, C. G. R. Jennings and Sarah E. Porter.
* For an account of the parochial schools of the Roman Catholic church in Waterbury, see the history of Catholicity in a subsequent chapter.
34
530
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
The following is a list of those who were enrolled as students during Mr. Jennings' term of service. The high grade of the school is to a certain extent indicated by the fact that a large proportion of these men hold prominent positions to-day in the business life of Waterbury. Eight or nine are connected with the professions, and seven are not living.
F. C. Abbott, A. M. Dickinson,
T. F. Lunny,
C. G. Allerton,
H. N. Dikeman,
H. E. Maltby,
G. M. Allerton,
G. A. Driggs, E. C. Parsons,
William Anderson,
H. E. Dudley,
D. N. Plume,
I. L. Atwood, J. P. Elton,
J. H. Roper,
E. P. Baker,
C. W. S. Frost,
Huntley Russell,
F. A. Bassett,
A. V. Gillette, Sigourney Russell,
H. D. Beach,
E. J. Gillette,
H. C. Smith,
F. M. Bronson,
.
E. O. Goss,
L. H. Stocking,
N. R. Bronson,
L. B. Hamilton,
A. J. Storz,
R. A. Cairns,
J. F. Hayes,
C. E. Turner,
C. C. Chambers,
C. L. Holmes,
F. J. Tuttle,
F. S. Chase,
F. C. Holmes,
Howard Tuttle,
E. C. Church,
F. N. Holmes,
H. C. Upson,
G. P. Curtiss,
J. P. Kellogg,
W. C. Upson,
H. N. Curtiss,
F. J. Kingsbury, Jr.,
J. H. Warner,
Howard Curtiss,
Frederick Lane,
E. L. White,
H. L. R. Daniels,
E. F. Lewis,
W. W. White,
F. B. Dean,
T. C. Lewis,
J. H. Woodward.
An incidental but important result with which the English and Classical school is credited by some of its old friends is the improvement of the High school of the city. It became apparent that more advanced studies and more thorough methods must be introduced, so that the High school should more fully answer the purpose of a training school for those intending to enter college.
THE REV. DR. ISAAC JENNINGS.
Isaac Jennings, son of the Rev. Isaac and Sophia (Day) Jennings, was born in Stamford, April 30, 1848, and went with his family to Bennington, Vt., in 1853. He studied at Phillips academy, Andover, and graduated at Williams college in 1871. He was principal of the academy at East Bloomfield, N. Y., for a year, and professor of natural science and mathematics at Ingham university, Leroy, N. Y., for three years. He was offered the chancellorship, but declined it and came to Waterbury as master of the English and Classical school. From 1880 to 1882, he travelled in Germany and Switzerland, having with him several Waterbury boys and others, whom he guided in their studies and travels.
Mr. Jennings was approved as a candidate for the ministry by the Naugatuck Valley association in April, 1879. He was
53I
PRIVATE SCHOOLS SINCE 1800.
ordained as an evangelist by a council called by the First church in this city, April 30, 1880. On December 4, 1883, he was installed pastor of the First Presbyterian church in Elmira, N. Y. The same year, he was made a trustee of Elmira college, and became chair- man of the board in 1890.
He married Mary Elizabeth, daughter of the Rev. S. C. Leonard. They have no children.
HILLSIDE AVENUE SCHOOL IN 1889. LEASED IN 1894 FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL PURPOSES.
THE HILLSIDE AVENUE SCHOOL.
The Hillside Avenue Boarding and Day school was opened in 1883, under the management of Mrs. James H. Yerkes and Mary Merriman Abbott. The building first occupied was that which had previously served as the residence of Charles Benedict, and had been removed to a position on Hillside avenue near Cliff street, where it still stands. The school was divided into three depart- ments, primary, junior and senior, and a kindergarten was also included. The " complete course " embraced four years, and there was besides a "college preparatory course" and an "English
532
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
course." The pupils during the first two years numbered 105, of whom fifty were boys.
At the close of the second year Mrs. Yerkes resigned her posi- tion on account of ill health, and Miss Abbott became principal, with a corps of ten teachers. In 1887 it became apparent that a new and larger building was necessary, and a corporation was formed with reference to meeting that want, with a capital of $10,000 (see page 452). The directors were C. P. Goss, president; F. B. Rice, secre- tary; C. F. Chapin, treasurer; I. A. Spencer and A. F. Abbott. A subscription was raised to purchase a lot on the corner of Hillside and Central avenues, and a suitable school building was erected, which was formally opened on February 27, 1889. The school was continued in the new quarters for three or four years, but did not increase in numbers, and ere long became involved in financial difficulties which led to its discontinuance in 1892.
After the building had stood idle for a year or more, some of the rooms were hired for school purposes by the Rev. I. P. Smith, and a few months later other rooms were hired by the Centre district, and schools opened in them, to relieve the crowded condition of school-rooms in other parts of the city.
HARRINGTON'S BUSINESS COLLEGE.
Harrington's Business college and School of Shorthand was estab- lished March 9, 1893, by G. L. Harrington, its present president. The Mattoon School of Shorthand, which had been running suc- cessfully for several years, but which Miss Mattoon was compelled to relinquish on account of ill health, was merged in it. The col- lege was designed to prepare young men and women by a thorough course of training for the active duties of life, and the curriculum was accordingly arranged to include only such studies as are of vital importance to the success of a young man or woman in business. The branches taught are spelling, penmanship, practical grammar bookkeeping, rapid addition, commercial arithmetic, commercia law, business correspondence, telegraphy, shorthand and typewrit- ing. Algebra and Latin are also taught to students desiring it.
When the college had been established only a month, a large part of the building in which it was situated was destroyed by fire. In the reconstruction of the building, the rooms now occupied by the college were constructed expressly for it, and are probably the most pleasant rooms occupied by any business college in Connecticut.
Thus far the number of students has ranged from seventy to a hundred, and four teachers are employed. The class which gradu- ated in 1895 numbered twenty-two.
533
PRIVATE SCHOOLS SINCE 1800.
THE SMALLER SCHOOLS.
The following is a partial list of the smaller private schools of Waterbury from near the beginning of the century to the present time. The record is incomplete, and the dates are in some cases only approximate.
1803. About this time Miss Hotchkiss, from Derby, a sister of Deacon Elijah Hotchkiss of Waterbury, had a school for young children of both sexes,-possibly in Judge Hopkins's office, certainly in that neighborhood.
1807 to 1814. The Rev. Virgil H. Barber had a very superior school for both sexes. During a part of the time it was kept in his house on Grand street.
David Wood, brother of the Rev. Luke Wood, had a school here, probably at several different periods and places. In 1810 he had a girls' school in New York city, but he had been here before and was here after that date. His family were here until about 1820. His school was for both sexes.
1819. A school was conducted for a year or two by the Rev. Daniel A. Clark, who afterward removed to Amherst, Mass.
1820. A school was kept by the Rev. Joseph Davis Welton in a house on the Wolcott road, afterward occupied by his son, Hobart V. Welton. The common English branches were taught, and several young men were fitted for college.
1827. A Miss More had a school for young children in the house of Giles Ives.
1830. Mary A. Porter kept a school at the residence of her father, Timothy Porter, on East Main street, beyond the city line.
1831. A primary school was kept by the Misses Pitkin and Moore in the house now occupied by E. M. Burrall, next to St. John's church.
1832. Anna Bronson, daughter of Judge Bennet Bronson, had a school for both sexes and for persons of nearly all ages in her father's office.
1833. Mrs. Chloe Taylor, widow of David Taylor, had a school for young girls in the building on the east corner of West Main and Leavenworth streets.
1833. A school was opened by Harriet Powell and successfully conducted for many years. Her school-house was near the site of the present City hall. Miss Powell was succeeded by Mary A. Hotchkiss (afterward Mrs. Wales Lounsbury), whose school was kept in a building in the rear of St. John's church.
1835. A Mr. Burnham opened a school in the academy "upper room," for teaching English grammar, using only the text books and methods of Goold Brown, whose grammar was then recently published. He was quite successful in imparting interest to a study usually thought to be very dry. The parents were so much pleased with the success of the school that at the close of the season they arranged with Margaret Field (afterwards Mrs. C B. Merriman) who had been one of Mr. Burnham's more mature pupils, to continue for another term, which she did in her father's house. She had fourteen pupils of both sexes, and the teaching was excellent.
1839. Margaret Marshall and Elizabeth Crafts, who had been both pupils and teachers in the celebrated school of Mrs. Emma Willard at Troy, N. Y., opened a boarding school for young ladies "in the village of Naugatuck, in the town of Waterbury " (to quote the language of the prospectus). The terms were: " For the
534
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
common English branches, per quarter, $4; for the higher branches, including ancient and modern geography and history, astronomy, logic, rhetoric, botany, natural philosophy, chemistry, algebra, geometry, Kames' 'Elements of Criticism,' Paley's 'Moral Philosophy,' per quarter, $6; for music on the piano, $8; French, $6; Latin, $4; drawing and painting, $5; use of patterns, $1; board, including bed- ding, fuel and lights, $2.25 per week; washing, 50 cents per dozen." It is believed that William C. De Forest, then a prominent manufacturer in Naugatuck, assumed the financial responsibility of the school in its initial state, and the Rev. Oliver Hopson, rector of St. Michael's church, was its promoter. It was a school of high order and was successfully carried on for a number of years-probably five or six. It was the only boarding school of a high grade for girls between Litchfield and New Haven. Miss Crafts subsequently became Mrs. Edward S. Clark of Water- bury. Miss Marshall removed to New Haven, and died there a few years later.
1845 to 1850. Ann Frisbie (afterwards Mrs. Frederick G. Holmes) had a school for young children of both sexes on North Main street (where Dr. C. S. Rodman's house now stands). The building was originally Judge Hinman's office and stood where F. L. Curtis's house is on West Main street. It was removed to the rear of the old academy, and occupied as a school-house by Miss Powell. It was removed to North Main street and occupied by Miss Frisbie and others.
A successful school for girls was kept for many years by Esther Humiston, daughter of Samuel G. and Ruth W. (Holmes) Humiston. A graduate of Mount Holyoke seminary and a favorite pupil of its famous founder, she seemed to have acquired Mary Lyon's faculty of making severe study a delight instead of a task. Under her tuition the dullest were stimulated and the brightest wisely guided, and an impression remained with her pupils which no after experience could oblit- erate.
1850. Caroline Burnham had a school on Canal street.
185I. In the spring of this year Mary Ann Clark opened a primary school in a small building erected for school purposes by C. B. Merriman on his grounds. She had about thirty pupils, their ages ranging from four to twelve years, and con- tinued teaching until the spring of 1864, when she was succeeded by Katherine A. Prichard.
1853. On August 22 of this year the Misses Hotchkiss had a school for young ladies in the school-house in the rear of St. John's church.
1856. Sarah Holmes opened a select school in the same place.
On November 12 of this year Charles Leffingwell opened a school for instruc- tion in drawing, painting and penmanship.
1858. The Misses Twining of New Haven came to Waterbury and opened a school for young ladies and children, in the building in the rear of St. John's church.
Mrs. Perry kept a school on Union street, from about 1858 to 1863.
1859. In the spring of this year H. F. Bassett opened a school in the building on the east corner of West Main and Leavenworth streets. Pupils of both sexes and of all ages were received. Three years later, the school having outgrown the accommodations, it was removed to Reynolds' block, where it was continued for five years. It was from the first popular, and during the last four or five years of its existence many applicants were turned away for want of room in which to accommodate them. It was closed on account of the failing health of the principal, which had become temporarily impaired through overwork.
535
PRIVATE SCHOOLS SINCE 1800.
1860. Mary Sperry (afterwards Mrs. Ransom Holley) taught for a time in the school-house built by Mr. Merriman.
1864. Katherine A. Prichard took charge of the school established by Miss Clark in 1851.
1868. A school was opened by Ida Lawton on the corner of Walnut and High streets.
1869. Caroline Bishop (afterwards Mrs. D. L. Durand) kept a school for some time, for small boys and girls, in her father's house on State street.
1870. Mrs. Harriet E. Griffin succeeded Miss Prichard in the school on the grounds of C. B. Merriman. The school was afterward transferred to Spencer avenue. In 1881 it had forty-four scholars.
1871. Mrs. A. M. Carrington opened a school for young children of both sexes in a house on State street, but on account of failing health discontinued it after a short time.
1872. A school was opened on Cottage place by Katherine A. Prichard, and was continued until 1884, with an average attendance of twenty-five or thirty scholars.
1874. A school was opened on Cherry street by Mrs. Helen I. Goodrich. At first twelve children were admitted, but the school was soon enlarged, and it flour- ished for five years. It was closed in 1879 on account of the ill health of the teacher.
1876. "The Home School " for young ladies and children was opened on West Main street, with Mrs. E. P. Treadway as principal. In 1880 it came under the charge of the Misses Lawton (daughters of R. G. Lawton), and Kate Louise Maltby. In 1886 it was removed to Central avenue. It is now a flourishing school, conducted by Ida M. Lawton.
A select school was kept by Fanny Abbott at the corner of West Main and Willow streets.
1885. A free German school was opened in Turn hall, taught by the Rev. S. Kornmeyer.
1892. The Gerard school was opened by Isabel Lawton, who was a teacher in the Hillside avenue school at the time of its discontinuance.
1893. A school for instruction in languages and advanced studies was opened on Grove street by the Rev. I. P. Smith. It was afterward transferred to rooms in the Hillside avenue school building.
Private schools of which the dates have not been ascertained were kept by Caroline Peck on Westside hill, Harriet Peck on Bur- ton street, Lucy Pierpont on Walnut street, Mrs. Minnie D. Rich on North Main street, and by Adaline Welton, afterwards Mrs. Mills, over the Citizens' bank. St. Bartholomew's school, on Brook street, was established by J. Gunn, and at one time numbered eighty-one scholars .*
After the revolution, and perhaps before, the more ambitious or well-to-do of our citizens gave their children the advantage of a
* For an account of Jewish schools see a subsequent chapter.
536
HISTORY OF WATERBURY.
year or so at some school of reputation in some other place. Among the schools known to have been thus patronized was Dr. Wheelock's at "Lebanon Crank" (now Columbia), the Misses Pierce's at Litchfield, the Rev. Daniel Parker's at Ellsworth, the Rev. Henry Jones's at Greenfield, Mass., the Rev. Mr. Herrick's at New Haven, the Cheshire academy and the Bacon academy at Col- chester. These schools all belong to the last quarter of the last century or the first quarter of this. Were it worth while, the list might easily be continued to a later date.
KINDERGARTENS.
As early as 1874 Miss Elizabeth Peabody of Boston lectured in Waterbury on the subject of kindergartens, but it was not until 1883 that the first Froebel kindergarten was opened. This was taught by Elizabeth O. Robinson (Mrs. George S. Abbott) of Malden, Mass., in connection with the Hillside avenue school, and was continued for two years. In September, 1888, Emma S. Kelsey, of Plymouth, opened a private kindergarten, which was continued until June, 1891, Mrs. Abbott being her assistant during a part of the time.
In September, 1891, Miss Kelsey, with Harriet J. Dutton as assistant, re-opened the kindergarten in rooms offered by the Waterbury Industrial school, the plan being that a free kinder- garten should be taught in the morning and a private one in the afternoon. The former not being successful, Miss Kelsey con- tinued for a while under many difficulties. But in April, 1893, through the united efforts of a few interested women, a free kindergarten was opened in a room of the Third Congregational Church, in the Brooklyn district, and Miss Dutton was engaged as kindergartner. Miss Dutton was assisted by Gertrude Neale in this and in a kindergarten, not free, successfully established in the autumn of 1894, in the Industrial School building.
THE REV. DANIEL A. CLARK.
Daniel A. Clark, son of David and Elizabeth (Moore) Clark, was born at Rahway, N. J., March 1, 1779. He graduated at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton university) in the class of 1808, and at Andover Theological seminary in 1811. He was ordained pastor of the Union Congregational church of Weymouth and Braintree, Mass., January 1, 1812. He became pastor of the church in South- bury in January, 1816, and while there taught gratuitously a large school, hoping thus to promote the cause of education in the vicini-
537
PRIVATE SCHOOLS SINCE 1800.
ty. On the termination of his Southbury pastorate he removed to Waterbury and opened the school referred to in the preceding list. While here he received invitations to settle from the church in this place, and from the churches in North Haven and in the West par- ish of Amherst, Mass. He accepted the call from Amherst, and was settled there in January, 1820. After the termination of his pastorate, in February, 1824, he remained at Amherst for a time, and published a volume of "Conference Sermons," which attained a wide popularity .* He also spent some time in collecting funds for the permanent establishment of the new college at Amherst, and gave largely of his means for its support. In June, 1826, he was installed pastor of the church in Bennington, Vt., and remained there until 1830. After two years spent in Troy and Utica, he became pastor, in July, 1832, of the Presbyterian church in Adams, N. Y .; but ill health compelled his retirement after a year of ser- vice, and from this time onward he was unable to do the work of a pastor. In 1833 he removed to New York city, where his children were living, and there suffered an attack of paralysis. He spent the winter of 1834 and '35 in Charleston, S. C., and the winter of 1837 and '38 in New Haven, but returned to New York in the spring of 1838, and died there, of ossification of the arteries of the brain, March 3, 1840.
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