USA > Georgia > Wilkinson County > History of Wilkinson County > Part 13
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MT. ETNA. The veil of obscurity covering the schools of Wilkinson county is first lifted in 1814. We find in the Georgia Journal, published in Milledgeville, of March 2nd, 1814, the following advertisement :
"Mount Etna School in Wilkinson county was opened on February 3rd under the direction of E. Underwood, where a few more scholars will be received. The Director of this school, from considerable experience and unre- mitted attention, hopes to give general satisfaction to such scholars as are entrusted to his care. The situation is very healthy, the water good, and board may be had at respectable houses on moderate terms. Terms of tuition for Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, $2.50 per quarter-for Grammar, Geography and Mathematics, $4.00."
While we have no means of knowing the exact location
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of Mount Etna, yet we have every reason for believing that it was either at or near the present town of Irwinton. It was known at that time where the county site would be' likely to be fixed and we find that during the same month that the half acre town lots were being advertised for sale by the Commissioners appointed for this purpose. It is probable that this school was the same one which was out in the field a few hundred yards east of the home of T. A. Brundage, as the mother of R. W. Adkins, deceased, dur- ing her lifetime told of attending a school at that place when she was young. It is likely that the school remained at that place until the County Academy was built at Ir- winton.
THE COUNTY ACADEMY. It is probable that Mt. Etna School was the same as the Wilkinson County Academy. The laws of Georgia during the years after Wilkinson county was settled provided for the support of a county academy in each county. Apparently no provision was made for any academy in Wilkinson until after the territory south of the line from the mouth of Big Sandy Creek to the Ocmulgee river was cut off. Until this time no man knew what parts would be cut off and as everyone was busy settling his lands had no time for schools. After this line had been run and it was thought that Wil- kinson county had assumed its permanent form, we find the first mention made of the Wilkinson County Academy. To John Thomas Fairchilds belongs the credit of intro- ducing this resolution in the House. John Ball carried it through the Senate, which provided for this academy and appointed as Commissioners of the academy, Arthur Fort, Stephen Johnston, William Lord, John Hays and William Bivins, the date of this being December, 1808.
As to whether these commissioners ever acted we have no record, but it is probable that due to the confusion re- sulting from the selection of the county site, nothing was
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done towards making definite arrangements for a County Academy.
In 1810, a new set of Commissioners was appointed for the county academy, these being Major John Hatcher, Matthew Carswell, Daniel Hicks, Stephen Gafford, and Jeremiah Lofton. In 1813, the legislature appointed Stephen Hoge, Nicholas Thompson, and Thomas Ard as Commissioners to fill vacancies.
The county academy provided in each county during this period was not intended to be used for the education of the masses, but for the children of the wealthier classes. The Academy was thus used mainly by those who lived near the county site, by those who could afford the ex- pense of boarding their children, and those who could furnish a conveyance for their children to ride. Many of the wealthier families found it more convenient to employ private tutors for their children. Among the masses there had not yet been felt that need for universal schooling which years later resulted in such a clamor for more schools that the legislature saw fit to grant them.
As the years passed, the struggle for a livelihood be- came less severe, times became more prosperous, and the wealthier citizens over the whole county became more in- terested in the culture and education of their children. The Academy at Irwinton was rapidly growing in popularity. In addition to this, here and there community schools be- gan .to appear, supported by a few men of the community who realized the need of educating their children. Usually these community schools grew up in churches. Teachers were few and hard to obtain. Often-times some "Yankee" passing through would be hired to do the teaching, but his methods of instruction would hardly be approved by the educators of today. Instead of encouraging the rank and file to educate their children, many impediments were thrown in the way, and the great mass of the poorer chil- dren were allowed to grow up without any schooling at all.
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One of the results of this system of education was a de- velopment of two classes of citizenship, an aristocratic element and a "poor white trash" element. The one be- came wealthier and wealthier as the years passed, the other remained stationary or became poorer. The growth of the plantation system, cultivated by slave labor was rapidly reducing the poorer families to almost serfdom. The big plantation owners as their wealth increased would purchase all the available lands near him, and the oppor- tunities for the poor man to obtain land were few. Large families was the rule in these days and in order to give the children opportunities to acquire property it became the custom to move to more thinly settled portions of the state and there take up the cheap lands. Hence, from year to year, there was an exodus of citizens from Wilkinson county to other counties. Likewise, many of the wealthier classes would sell out their plantations and move to cheap- er and sometimes better lands.
THE FIRST BRICK SCHOOL HOUSE
As the wealth of Wilkinson continued to grow, we find direct results in the increasing interest in the education of the children. In 1821, Samuel Beall who had recently made Wilkinson County his home, and John King, were appointed as commissioners of the Academy of the County of Wilkinson in the place of David Roland and Jeremiah Lofton. Three years later, in 1824, the Wilkinson County Academy was incorporated, with William Beck, James Neal, Alpheus Beall, John F. Simmons, Charles Culpep- per, Lluellyn Roberson and Richard Whitaker as Trus- tees. The fact that Samuel Beall was in the Senate at this time leads us to believe that he was largely instrumental in having this act of incorporation passed. Suffice to say, that from this date, Irwinton has born the reputation of being an educational center. Immediate steps were taken towards providing a suitable school building. The lot
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whereon Talmage Institute was later built was acquired and about the spot where the residence of F. G. Bying- ton now stands, there was erected a brick schoolhouse. The following advertisement found in the Georgia Journal, dated Dec. 28, 1824, gives us an attractive picture of Ir- winton and the surrounding country :
"Wilkinson Academy. This academy, agreeable to the progress of the building and the arrangements made by the Trustees, will be prepared for the reception of stu- dents on the 3rd Monday in Jan., next. The Trustees beg leave to inform the public that a teacher competent to teach as well the ordinary scholastic duties and rudiments of science as the Academical branches, preparatory to an entry in college, will be expected from him, and whose recommendation is requested to be accompanied with a reputation of sobriety and morality, such a one will be gladly received to take charge of this institution and will meet with proper encouragement and an adequate salary. This institution is established in Irwinton, whose inhabi- tants have hitherto enjoyed as great a share of health as any place below the mountains, who are also in their habits quite consonant to the strict rules of morality and decorum. The place affords excellent water, its contiguity to the Mineral Springs, being but four miles from Irwin- ton, recently discovered and much resorted to the past summer, which from their salubrious effects will probably increase in resort in the succeeding. Irwinton is surrounded with plentiful country, abundantly affording all the neces- sary comforts for subsistence of students who are placed at this Academy for education. Parents who choose to place their children at this Institution for instruction may be assured that the guardianship while in school and ex- amples'when out of school in the private families of Irwin- ton, will be of such moral character as will be perfectly con- sonant with the rules of good order as are most admirably calculated to impress the tender mind. Any application by
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any person desiring to take charge of this Academy will please address it to the Secretary of the Board of Trus- tees at this place.
Alphous Beall, Sec. of the Board."
(John S. Barry of Vermont, then only twenty-two years of age, answered this advertisement and with his wife moved to Irwinton and took charge of the school for the following two years, at the same time preparing himself for admission to the bar. After practicing law at Irwinton for a few years, serving as Captain of the Irwinton Mili- tary Company and later appointed as military aide by Governor Forsyth, he removed to the State of Michigan where he was elected Governor three different times on the Democratic ticket. )
THE POOR SCHOOLS
This was the day when the prevailing line of thought was that it was the duty of the individual to pay for the education of his children, and not the duty of the state. The result of this was that there was a great mass of chil- dren, whose parents were either unable or unwilling to pay for their schooling, growing up in ignorance in Wil- kinson county. For years, the state paid nothing at all to any school except the County Academy, and to that very little. Later the Poor School Fund was provided for the various schools. It was slowly being realized by the statesmen of Georgia that it was the duty of the state to provide an education for those children whose parents could not afford to pay a teacher. In 1826, Wilkinson's share of the Poor School Fund was $460.71. In 1830, the Wilkinson County Academy received only $388.55 as its share of the state school funds. In 1836, however, Jere- miah Beall was Trustee for Poor Schools of Wilkinson county, and in this year the state appropriation for the county was $790.21.
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The name, Poor School Fund, as it was unfortunately called, antagonized the pride of many parents who con- sidered they were objects of charity whenever they ac- cepted schooling for their children paid by this fund. This was strikingly illustrated in one of these years while C. C. Beall was Trustee of Poor Schools when the fund re- ceived was $651.43 and only $342.93 was expended.
During this period the management of the school funds was in the hands of the Inferior Court and Ordinary, the latter being ex-officio County School Commissioner and was required to make an annual report to the Grand Jury.
Teachers were examined by a board of examiners ap- pointed by the Inferior Court. In 1859, Rufus J. Cochran, R. A. Stanley, William O. Beall, and Nathaniel C. Hughs were the examining board.
Taxes for the maintenance of the "Poor Schools" as they were called were levied by the Inferior Court upon recommendation of the Grand Jury. Returns of names of those children whose parents were not able to pay for their tuition were kept on file by the School Commis- sioner. The teacher in each academy was required to file with the School Commissioner monthly reports giving the names and number of days each one of such children at- tended his school, and he was allowed five cents per day for these.
The report to the Grand Jury made by the commis- sioner in 1855 shows receipts from all sources of $546.90. This report further showed 5 15 children whom the county was under obligation to educate and approximately the same number whose parents could pay their tuition.
In addition to the small amounts paid the teachers of the Poor Schools, the Inferior Court was authorized by an act of the Legislature of 1854 to supply needy pupils with books and stationery, Judge Authur E. Cochran be- ing the author of this. The amount paid the teachers in 1855 was five cents per day for each pupil unable to pay
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tuition ; in 1859 this was increased to seven cents per day, as is deduced from the old accounts filed by the teachers found in the court house. The account of C. O. Davis, who taught in Bloodworth district in 1855 and 1859, is very valuable in giving the above information. It is made out against the "School Commissioner of the County of Wilkinson," the Ordinary then serving as such, and after giving a list of the pupils taught, the number of days each attended, there was added his affidavit that he did not ex- pect to get any pay for teaching them from any other source.
Traditions are handed down by the descendants of John Tomberlin that about 1820, the planters about the line of Turkey Creek and Griffin Districts combined to- gether and employed a Yankee school teacher to teach their children and sent them ten months in the year to him. This length of term seems to have been general over the county, which goes to explain the superior state of education and culture boasted of by the aristocratic families of the counties prior to the emancipation of the slaves.
Not only did the leading families of the county pa- tronize the district schools but it was no uncommon thing for a planter to send his sons to finish their education in northern colleges. An instance of this was Elijah Hogan who sent his son, Elijah Columbus Hogan, to a university in New York.
THE "DEESTRICK" SCHOOL
In 1835 an act was passed making the Academical Fund a part of the Poor School Fund for Wilkinson. The following year, 1836, will always stand out as a red letter year for the schools of Wilkinson county. In each of the eight militia districts, with the exception of the County Site where the County Academy was located, there was
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incorporated a local academy. As trustees of these schools we find the outstanding men of these districts.
BLACK CREEK ACADEMY in (Bloodworth) Bond's District with John Hall, George Shinholser, Bryant O'- Banion, Oathneel McCook, and Thomas Underwood, trustees.
LIBERTY HILL ACADEMY in the Fork (Passmore) District with James Hatcher, Lewis Clay, Ratliff Boone, John Meredith, and Daniel S. Pierce, trustees.
MOUNT PLEASANT ACADEMY in Currie's (Lord's) District with Joel Dees, William Lord, Wiley Miller, Hansford Davis, and Jethro Dean, trustees. (The writer is informed that Mrs. Epsy Brady, the wife of Franklin Brady gave the lot at Poplar Head upon which this school was built. )
UNION HILL ACADEMY in Ramah District with Richard Lewis, James Gibson, Samuel Bragg, Joel Rivers, and Archibald Smith, trustees; this academy was located near the home of Joel Rivers and was called the Rivers Academy. When Sherman came through his soldiers burned it.
GRIFFIN DISTRICT ACADEMY with Robert Rozar, William B. Smith, Elisha Hall, William Cawley and Dan- iel Hall, trustees.
HIGH HILL ACADEMY in High Hill District, lo- cated at Pleasant Plains Church, with Isaac Hall, James Ross, William Carswell, Joel Hardie and William Hern- don, trustees.
TURKEY CREEK ACADEMY in Turkey Creek Dis- trict with John T. Harrison, Timothy Sears, Anderson Ingram, William Payne and Joel Butler, trustees. (This school was erected on the lands formerly owned by I .. L. Hall.)
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LAFAYETTE ACADEMY in High Hill District with William E. Carswell, Williamson Calhoun, John Smith, Samuel M. Carswell and Green B. Burney, trustees. (This school was incorporated in 1837 and was located at Bethel Church. )
(As an indication of the interest the state manifested in the support of these academies, the sum of $32.75 each, was paid them in 1838.)
WASHINGTON ACADEMY was incorporated in 1840, with Green Burney, Solomon Arnold, John Breed- love, Ellis Harvill and Lewis Spears, trustees.
HARRISON ACADEMY in Turkey Creek District was incorporated in 1850 with A. W. Jordan, Nimrod Burke, R. F. Rozar, John Burke and Samuel Meredith, trustees. (This was located on lands donated by Allen Davidson and is now known as the Manson School. )
COOL SPRING ACADEMY, located at Allentown was incorporated in 1856, with Anderson Ingram, Willis Al- len, John Gainey, William F. M. Brown and Eli Sears, trustees.
TALMAGE NORMAL INSTITUTE
In all the history of Wilkinson, no institution has played a greater part in the affairs of her citizens than has this school. It was the pride of the whole of Wilkin- son county for almost three-quarters of a century. Each section during these years while it was in its prime was ac- customed to send hither the young men and young women for the finishing touches of their education. None but the ablest teachers were employed, and the fame of this school attracted boarding pupils from other counties.
The act of the legislature incorporating this school was due to the efforts of Judge Arthur E. Cochran who was representing the county in the Senate of 1854, and pro-
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vided that the trustees should be Green B. Burney, Thomas N. Beall, William Fisher, Eleazer Cumming, E. J. Gilbert, N. C. Hughs, Leroy Fleetwood, F. D. Ross, James Jackson, Joel Deese, R. L. Story, R. J. Cochran, N. A. Carswell and William Taylor. These trustees were given authority to borrow money for the school, to have perpetual succession and in case of vacancy, the remaining trustees should have the power to fill the vacancies and to increase the number of the trustees to a maximum of twenty-one, besides such other rights and privileges nec- essary to the management of the school.
The original intention of Judge Cochran was for the school to be used as a training school for teachers but it was found impractical to use it for that purpose. There- fore, it having been named Talmage Normal Institute in honor of Dr. Samuel 'Talmage, the name was abbreviated to Talmage Institute about 1874.
THE ORIGIN OF THE COMPULSORY EDUCATION LAW
The Grand Jury of the April term, 1855, in its pre- sentments will go down in history as the originators of the idea of the Compulsory Education Law. Their recom- mendations are as follows :
"We have carefully examined the books and the report of the school commissioner ; and in them we find cause of much to regret and deplore. There were three hundred and seventy-seven children returned and we have ascer- tained forty-nine others that we also considered. Mak- ing four hundred and twenty-six in all entitled to the bene- fit of the fund. Two hundred and ninety-two of this num- ber were taught by the different teachers throughout the county, an average of but thirty-nine days each during the past year, and the other one hundred and thirty-four, we have no reason to believe, received a day's schooling. These facts speak for themselves-proving either the want of suitable and convenient schools, or the deplorable
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ignorance or criminal indifference and neglect of parents and guardians. We have serious apprehensions that the time when the entire mass of our rising population shall be properly educated, is for Wilkinson county at least, far in the distance. The remedy for this evil, we are unpre- pared to suggest but would respectfully commend to the serious consideration of the Legislature, whether some act, compelling parents to permit their children to be edu- cated to some extent may not be necessary. Forty-six of the children whom we mention as having been taught were not legally returned to the Commissioner-he therefore was not entitled to pay the accounts of their teachers. We believe these to be equally entitled and commend that he be allowed to pay them."
Those serving on the Grand Jury at this April term were: Thomas H. Parker, foreman; John Van Landing- ham, Littleton Branan, Joseph N. Miller, Archibald M. Smith, John H. Freeman, Eason Green, Abram Pitts, Joel Hardie, Charles Hooks, Zenus Fordham, James Pittman, Allen Chambers, James Fountain, James A. Dean, Wil- liam Taylor, Etheldridge Ogburn, Wyriott C. Adams, Edward Hickman, James Hoover, Alexander Nesbit, John J. Todd, Francis Fordham.
The following are names of Wilkinson county school teachers, as taken from old Poor School Records, cover- ing years 1852 to 1859 :
Norman McReany, C. B. Anderson, Wm. H. Golden, R. L. Cumming, L. D. Rees, Wm. McGawin, E. C. Ho- gan, Timothy Bloodworth, Wm. Carlton, Wm. S. John- son, M. B. Johnson, Henry L. Dunlap, Jas. M. Lovitt, B. S. Carswell, B. I. Aycock, Mary Lavender, Wiley Shepherd, Theophalus Hardie, Robert Smith, I. K. Wal- ter, J. B. Ursery, Jeremiah Smith, Charles T. Cushing, Jacob R. Walters, Iverson L. Harville, A. D. Breedlove, Sydney A. Warren, Alphaus Breedlove, Larkin Smith, L. S. Jenkins, Luiza Jackson, Francis A. Bishop, J. N. Ray,
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James M. Neil, Meredith Honeycut, M. H. Esom, F. F. Stubbs, John D. Vann, Joseph McCook, John H. Strong, Harriett M. Powell, Obadiah Dumas, J. W. Payne, A. M. Bridges, H. K. Byington, N. B. Nyles, F. A. Kittles, J. B. Murphy, Austin Todd, R. A. Stanley, W. W. Deen, Andrew F. Frazer, W. M. Dean, Thomas Walters, W. L. Holland, John W. Leyan, Wm. R. Pixley, Charles M. Carter, J. B. Ursery, Lydia Jackson, B. T. Castillo, W. S. Castillo, James Adams, John P. Califf, John A. Clements, Joseph D. Bond, C. O. Davis, Caroline Waters, Iverson L. Harvill, Frances Todd, Benjamin Breedlove, J. W. Blackshear, H. E. Harville, Miss Martha Sinclair, A. N. Ladd, M. N. Murphy, A. V. McCardle, J. E. McDonald, Benjamin Green, James A. Bush, John M. Russell, Miss M. R. Anderson, Wm. R. Stub, Byd S. Collins, Lucius I. Robson, James T. Castillo, P. A. Ashley, W. T. Hol- land, S. T. Player, Joseph McCook, J. D. Shaws, A. R. Harvill, Sarah Jackson, Joel F. Loftin, James F. McBeth, J. F. Ross, Wm. N. Ryle, John M. Smith, John H. Strong, Hamilton Shepherd, Nancy McLeods, Welcome Ursery, Thomas Freeman, E. E. Methvin, Minard F. Olph, Phil- lip Clancy, George W. Boatwright, Joseph S. Hair, D. C. Walker, Margaret L. Rose, L. F. Saulter, F. I. Chambers, Martha Kemp, N. M. Green, N. B. Jackson, Emma But- ler, J. M. Langford, Sophiah Taylor.
CHAPTER XXV WAR PREPARATIONS IN WILKINSON
THE BUILDING OF THE HARTFORD ROAD
P ROBABLY no road in the State of Georgia has had such a history as has the Old Hartford Road, which formerly led from Milledgeville the capital of the state, through the counties of Baldwin, Wilkinson, Twiggs, and Pulaski to the then frontier at Hartford, where Hawkins- ville now stands.
The world crisis was directly responsible for the build- ing of this road, the crisis that was affecting the destinies of the entire world, the crisis which was threatening Wil- kinson county as well as all Georgia with utter destruc- tion. Such was the case, and no one realized it more than did the people of Wilkinson.
For years before the declaration of the War of 1812 the people of Georgia had foreseen the approaching con- flict. They had experienced the machinations of the British agents who were eternally stirring up trouble for Georgia among the Creek Indians just beyond the Ocmulgee. They had not forgotten the terrible experience during the American Revolution when all Georgia was drenched in the blood of the patriots, when the Indians were turned loose upon the state by the British. They realized that no state was in a more dangerous position than Georgia, that the British would doubtless land troops in the Indian country where thousands of redskins would flock to their standard and march through the very heart of Georgia. Or should the British use Florida as their base or attack the coastal country below Savannah the effect would be the same and the section here between the Ocmulgee and the Oconee would become the objective of the invading forces. It thus became necessary for Georgia to be able to rush
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troops, artillery, and ammunition to Hartford which must necessarily become the point of attack.
The approaching crisis thus made necessary the build- ing of the road to Hartford, and every able-bodied man between the ages of sixteen and fifty living within three miles of this road was drafted to build it. The act of the Legislature named as commissioners for this road Aaron Feagan and B. M'Crary of Baldwin ; John King, Thomas M'Ginty and Thomas Durham of Wilkinson; Robert Sherrard, John Hays and Thomas Dennard of Twiggs.
The Hartford road had been built not a moment too soon. Along the road was soon heard the roll of drums, the rumble of artillery wagons, the tramp of soldiers, as they hurried to the frontier. Galloping couriers carried the despatches to and from Milledgeville and General Blackshear along this road which became his line of com- munication.
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