USA > Iowa > Madison County > History of Madison County, Iowa, and its people, Volume I > Part 11
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Total school population in county, October 1, 1851-601. Increase during past year 232.
There remain no records to show the school population for 1853. The total school population of the county for 1854 was 1,056 but there is given no enumera- tion by districts.
Beginning in the winter of 1851-2 the number of schools rapidly increased throughout the county. Schoolhouses multiplied, taxes for school purposes were increasingly levied and general interest manifested in all portions of the county relating to education. Northern people rapidly arrived, population increased
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
fast, more teachers came, new districts were organized and township lines began to be more permanent.
WHAT THE YEARS ILWE DEVELOPED IN THE SCHOOLS
The first schools in Madison County were supported by subscriptions and held in the homes of the settlers. The teacher "boarded round," and the monthly stipend for drilling into the children the principles and practical application of the three "Rs" was of quite a negligible quantity. Be that as it may. as soon after the county was organized and school laws formulated and put into practice, rude log schoolhouses were erected and the school system of Madison County was launched. The schools of the county. as in all counties of the state at that time. were in a very chaotic condition for several years after Madison was given a form of government.
The first school taught in Winterset was presided over by Mary Ann Danforth, in the log courthouse in the summer of 1850. The pupils were children of E. R. Guiberson, John Wilhoit, James Folwell, Enos Berger, William Compton, Wil- liam Alcorn, Otis Davis, Samuel Lockard, Lign Miller, Chal Danforth, W. R. Danforth and an adopted son of A. D. Jones.
.As has been heretofore related, the official head of the schools in the county was the school fund commissioner, whose duties devolved upon the county super- intendent of schools, the office of which had been created and the first incumbent thereof. James Shepard, elected in 1856. He served the county in this capacity during the years 1857 and 1858, and was succeeded by Lewis Mayo, whose report for the school year, beginning October 5. 1859. and ending October 4, 1860, is the earliest mention in the records of the superintendent's office. According to this report there were at that time sixty schools in the county; there were in the county 2,936 children of school age, 1,513 males and 1,423 females. The number who attended school was 1.742, average attendance 1.025. which does not speak well either for attendance or punctuality. The value of the school- houses in the county was $10.505, while the value of all apparatus, maps, etc., is placed at $7. Unfortunately, it is not stated just where the valuable apparatus was located nor do subsequent reports tell what became of it; if it coukl be located and the particular district which owns it desired to part with it, a hand- some price might be obtained from the committee which is securing relics for the old settlers' society of the county. Some idea may be had about the character of the schoolhouses at the time, from the fact that of the forty-six schoolhouses then in use, two of them were stone, twenty-six frame and sixteen log. There were, as has been said, sixty schools in the county: the whole amount paid teachers was $3,452.65. and if they had six months' school, which is the shortest period of time schools may be in session, teachers were paid $9.50 per month. Teachers who are dissatisfied with their compensation, which ranges from $35 to $45 per month, can console themselves with the thought that there has been progress in the right direction.
Mr. Mayo, the second county superintendent, was defeated for reelection by H. W. Hardy, whose first report is for the school year beginning October 5. 1861, and ending October 4, 1802. Mr Hardy has been more directly and for a longer
.. .
MRS. MARY DANFORTH, 1849
First school teacher in Winterset. Sister of A. D. Jones and mother of William R. and Challen Danforth.
MRS. MARY FARRIS
Wife of Charles Farris. Came to Madison County in 1849. Died in
October, 1914.
AUNT KATIE GUIBERSON
Wife of Judge E. R. Guiberson. Came to Madison County in 1849.
PIONEER WOMEN OF MADISON COUNTY
1
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
time identified with the schools of the county than any other person. He was engaged in the actual work of teaching in the county for more than a quarter of a century and in the meantime filled the office of county superintendent at three different periods, first for four years, then again four years, and lastly, a period of five years, making in all thirteen years of service in the county superin- tendent's office. During his first term of service, beginning early in the 'bos, he found school affairs in a very crude condition. His compensation was about twenty-five dollars a year. in addition to what fees came to him for issuing cer- tificates. Being a cooper as well as a teacher, he frequently carried on an exam- ination in his shop without suspending his manual labor. It is said he often turned up a finished barrel and had the teacher write her examination, using the barrel for her manuscript, while he went on making another barrel. It has been suggested that in some instances the applicant used one end of the barrel, while the worthy examiner was hooping the other end, but Mr. Hardy says this is not true.
Mr. Hardy was succeeded by J. S. Goshorn, who served one term and then went into the insurance business. More recently he successfully entered politics in Nebraska and for a few years helped to make school laws instead of adminis- tering those made by some one else. Mr. Goshorn was succeeded by Mr. Hardy, who served two terms, when Mr. Chamberlin was elected. The latter did not serve and the board appointed W. A. Ross, who was a candidate for election the following fall, but was defeated by Butler Bird. Mr. Bird resigned and was succeeded by Mr. Hardy, who was appointed by the board and was then elected and reelected. Miss Ray was the next superintendent and she was succeeded by Homer Thompson, who was appointed by the board. Mr. Thompson was suc- ceeded by John Mann, who was succeeded by E. R. Zeller. The latter was fol- lowed by T. H. Stone, who was succeeded by J. J. Crossley and the latter in turn by Ed M. Smith. Then came H. D. Smith and T. H. Stone again. Gertrude M. Duff was inducted into the office in January, 1907, and after serving some time, resigned, and Jean M. Cash filled out the remaining six months of the term. John Gentry followed in 1911 and the present incumbent. Carrie E. Ludlow, took charge in 1913.
The county superintendent's office has grown in dignity and usefulness till it has become one of the most desirable offices in the county. Examinations are no longer held on a barrel head, in a cooper shop, with shavings for a carpet, but in one of the best rooms in one of the best courthouses in the state and a sure enough carpet. There are just as devoted and earnest teachers now as there were fifty years ago, but none who either from a sense of duty or love for the work would serve one year in the superintendent's office for the $25 Mr. Hardy worked for away back in 1861.
There are now 176 schools where there were but 60; now there are 144 school buildings, not including parochial schools, where there were but 42. In 1859 the total amount paid teachers for the school year was $3,459.65, while for the school year ending July, 1914, there was paid the teachers of the county the sum of $75.343.85: contingent expenses, $18,700.55 : schoolhouse expenses, $2,838.66. All of the log schoolhouses have been replaced by neat and com- fortable buildings, which are a credit to the county, and not a disgrace, as was
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
the case at one time. As before stated, the enrollment in 1859 was 1,742, while the number enrolled in 1914 was 4,099. and the teaching force has grown from 60 to 259.
Another matter in the development of the schools of the county which has caused much labor and many lawsuits, is the present arrangement of districts. There are now in the county three different systems in force. The following townships have the district township system: Lee, Jefferson, Madison, Penn, Jackson, Union, Scott, Webster, Monroe, Walnut and Ohio. These district town- ships are subdivided into subdistricts, and a subdirector elected for each. The following townships have the independent district system: Douglas, Crawford and Lincoln. The independent districts consist of certain territory, which, as the name indicates, is as absolutely independent of all other territory as the United States is independent of England. For each of these independent districts three directors are chosen, each of whom holds the office for three years. Grand River Township is an independent district township, which differs from the dis- triet townships in that the directors are chosen by the voters of the entire town- ship, and the matter of employing teachers and managing the schools is in the hands of the board instead of being distributed out among the directors indi- vidually. Grand River Township also has a township high school, which is the only one in the county and probably the only one in the state.
The district township of Walnut has eleven schoolhouses; Grand River inde- pendent district township has ten; Jackson, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Penn, Scott, South and Webster each have nine. This is the ideal number of school- houses, where the township is not ent up by impassable streams and the territory is not encroached upon by independent districts. This gives a schoolhouse for each four sections of land, and if located in the geographical center, no pupil can possibly be more than two miles from school.
There are urban independent districts which have not been spoken of. They are Winterset, Earlham, St. Charles, Truro, Patterson, Bevington, Macksburg and Peru. Earlham district has been in existence more than thirty years. The Earlham schools, since they have come under the supervision of W. H. Monroe and combined with the academy, have had a reputation that has extended all over the state.
The St. Charles schools were a part of the district Township of South until about twenty years ago, when an independent district was formed.
The schools of Truro, Peru, Bevington and Patterson, while technically urban independent districts with a large board of directors, are practically the same in character as the rural independent districts, except they have what they call a high school of limited curriculum.
The township high school of Macksburg has quite an honorable history. It was fortunate in its first principal, Professor Snelling, a most efficient teacher of many years' experience. Under his supervision the school had a reputation throughout this and adjoining counties. It is the impression that the Macksburg high school has not kept pace with the onward march of events. It is now inde- pendent.
Winterset has school facilities on a par with the average county seat town of lowa. There are two large school buildings furnished with all the modern ap-
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EARLHAM ACADEMY
PUBLIC SCHOOL, EARLHAM
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
pliances, and the teaching force will compare favorably with the best in the land. Winterset points with pride to her schools : their present efficiency, however, did not spring into existence with one bound, but is the product of many years' effort. When one observes with how little friction the average graded school runs along, with harmony everywhere, and apparently by the sheer force of its own momentum, one can scarcely appreciate the fact that it was not always so. Although many schools were taught in Winterset, in garrets and churches prior to that time, the year 1868 may properly be said to have been the beginning of the city's graded school work. The old stone schoolhouse, which in later years has been succeeded by the commodious new high school building, was completed that year and thrown open to the public. It was limited to eight departments and a high school. Whoever will in the future narrate fully the facts relating to the founding, building and first three years of occupancy of the building will have a tale to unfold replete with strife, bickerings and ridicule, which the later generation knows nothing of. It will do well to remain in that ideal state sup- posed to result from ignorance. While the building of the old house, known as "Fort Cummings," was not up to the most approved plan of modern times, it was nevertheless well adapted to the purpose for which it was built, and by no means deserved the notoriety it received. A public school building constructed from the native granite was unusual in those days, and on the completion of the build- ing, applications for the position of principal poured in from all sides. C. C. Chamberlin was one of these and secured the position. Professor Chamberlin became unpopular and the board refused to elect him after the second year. The second principal was a man named Preston, and he remained but one year. Then came a man named Cox, who was elected for the second year, but before he got through with it had several difficulties and a long and exciting lawsuit, which grew out of punishing a boy, and afterwards with the school board, which he claimed did not pay him enough. By 1873 applications for the principalship were perceptibly diminished, but that year E. R. Zeller accepted the office. Under his directions a new course of study was adopted, and the following year the first class graduated from the Winterset high school. This class consisted of the following : Laura Cummings, now Mrs. J. W. Miller; Jennie Snyder, now Mrs. C. T. Koser: Ida Ewing, later Mrs. J. A. Sanford, but for several years de- ceased ; Carrie Haskins, now Mrs. Howell; Hattie Cox, now Mrs. E. R. Zeller; and Dillie Jones. A class has been graduated every year since then, with one exception, and while many of the graduates have removed from the county and some of them have died, those who remain exercise a very important in- fluence upon the social and industrial interests of the county. Mr. Zeller retained the principalship of the schools for five years, when he resigned. As early as 1878 the big stone schoolhouse became inadequate for the needs of the district and that year the north ward schoolhouse was erected. Mr. Mowatt succeeded Mr. Zeller and he in turn was succeeded by Mr. Eastman, who was followed by Mrs. Webster. When Mrs. Webster resigned Mr. Carson was elected and held the position for two years, when Mr. Dean was called to the place and he was succeeded by T. H. Stone. Mr. McClenahan followed Mr. Stone and he was succeeded by the efficient superintendent, I. D. Salisbury. Then followed C. E. Akers and in 1911 David Williams received the appointment.
HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
In 1804 the okl stone schoolhouse showed signs of falling down. It was con- demned and in its stead the present imposing structure was erected. It contains eight commodious school rooms besides a large room for the high school and recitation room. It is furnished with a steam heater and Smead ventilating ap- paratus. It is built of pressed brick and covered with a slate roof. It cost, when completed, including furnishing, about thirty thousand dollars.
The Madison County Teachers' Institute was organized in Winterset, in October, 1858, by J. IT. L. Scott, an eminent educator, who resided at the time at Osceola. The organization held its annual meetings continuously from its commencement to the present time, and has been the means of accomplishing a vast amount of good for the cause of education in Madison County. The teachers attend the meetings and take an active part in the various exercises of the insti- tute. It may be added that many citizens of the county who are not teachers often affiliate and regularly attend the institutes. Liberal provisions for the normal institute system were enacted by the Fifteenth General Assembly, and in conformity with the law, Butler Bird, then county superintendent, arranged for the first session in the summer of 1874. The institute lasted two weeks, with about fifty teachers in attendance. The two instructors were Mrs. Morey, of Burlington, and E. R. Zeller, of Winterset. The sessions of the school were held in the auditorium of the high school building. As now recalled, the whole six hours of each day and the full five days of each week were occupied or con- sumed in continuous recitations. In later years, the length of the term has gradually been shortened.
Such is a brief but accurate account of the schools of the county and it may truthfully be said that the growth of the schools both in number and efficiency has fully kept pace with the industrial, mercantile and religious enterprises of the county. The schools are expensive and a large part of the money paid as taxes goes for their support and yet, while the average citizen of Madison County does many things as willingly as paying his taxes, there is no other institution he looks upon with such zealous eyes as the public schools and the time is past in which it would be prudent for any one to make an attack upon the system in general, or upon any one school in particular.
AN OLD CERTIFICATE
As a souvenir of the early schools, under the county superintendent system. the following is deemed of sufficient value to be preserved in this article :
"The State of lowa ) Ss. Madison County
"This certifies that the bearer Mr. Robert Clelland in my opinion is qualified to teach the following branches, to wit :
Orthography No. 1
Reading No. 2
Writing No. I
Arithmetic No. 1 Geography No. 1
English Grammar No. 1
OLD SOUTH WARD SCHOOL, WINTERSET
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WINTERSET HIGH SCHOOL
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
"This certificate stands good for 12 months from date.
"Dated at Winterset, this 29th day of October, .\. D. 1858. "JAMES SHEPARD, "Sup't. of Common Schools, "Madison Co., Iowa."
The foregoing is a copy of a teacher's certificate issued by the first superin- tendent of Madison County to Robert Clelland, a resident of Bevington.
Mr. Clelland taught over one hundred terms of school in his lifetime. He taught many terms at St. Charles and nearly all the neighboring schools.
CHAPTER X
RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS
John Evans, who came here in May. 1846, was not only the first preacher of the "Hardshell Baptist" denomination in the county, but the first one of any de- nomination. He came full of enthusiasm to gather, in the vicinity of where he located, as many of his religious faith as he could and build up a strong church. Rev. John Evans migrated to this place from Northwest Missouri, where he had for years devoted much of his time to preaching and therefore had a large ac- quaintance in that section of the country. Not only did he locate a claim here for himself and worked to improve it, but also marked out other claims for imaginary persons, seeking to hold them until he could locate members of his church on them. He had much success for a year or two in thus establishing his people and during the first three years of the county's history he had the strongest church of any denomination in point of numbers and influence. The members were located around where Winterset now is. The Methodists, almost universally the first in a new country, did not begin to strongly appear until three years after the first settlement of the county.
John Evans was of a type and character not understood at the present time. So far as preaching and laborious efforts to build up his church were concerned "Salvation was free;" free as the sunshine and the rain. Illiterate beyond most persons, even in those days, in the use of the English language, especially as a writer, he had a liberal command of expressions with which to convey his under- standing of religious creeds. If he did "kill all the horses in Missouri" expound- ing his conceptions of a hell to come, as some careless sinners declared. no one who heard him doubted for a moment that he was working harder than a rail splitter to build up his church. His sermons were Calvinistic to a' degree not now imagined. All such forceful and zealous natures provoke hostility and criti- cism ; certainly, he reaped his full share here in the early days. And. he may have enjoyed a happy life while here, but it was not evidenced by any of the usual out- ward appearances. He enjoyed the confidence of most of his church members and is favorably remembered to this day by those of his church who heard him preach in their childhood.
The early records of this church were destroyed when the house of Asa Smith was burned. It was here this pioneer preacher lived.
The church was organized at the house of John Butler, in Union Township. it is presumed from lack of anything more authentic, in 1847. Among those who joined at that time were John Butler and wife Susan; Samuel Crawford and wife Polly; Joshua Casebier and wife Louisa; James Thornbrugh and wife Elizabeth; Lemuel Thornbrugh and wife Sarah: Widow Sarah Fidler: Miss
00
CHURCH OF CHRIST, WINTERSET
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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
Nancy Fidler, who married Noah Staggs, of Dallas County ; Paulina ( Fidler) Mendenhall, Mathew Jones and wife, on Jones Creek; Mrs. Betsy ( Butler) Chenoweth ; Asa Mills and wife Sarah; William Gentry and wife Sarah ; Widow Ellison; and William Simmons and wife Polly, of Linn Grove, in Warren County. Among those joining about that time and before 1850 were: Mrs. John (Nancy ) Dorrell, Widow Anna Osburn, Aquilla Smith and wife, John Craw- ford and wife Mary; Mrs. Jane Pender, Mrs. Sarah ( Evans) Casteel, Robert Evans and wife Elizabeth; Moses Osburn and wife Hannah; Widow Nellie Flynn, James Crawford and wife Achsa ; Mrs. Henry ( Nancy Ann) Simmons.
For several years meetings were only held at the homes of the members, and never at a schoolhouse or other building. By previous arrangement they met at a member's house, on which occasion the family provided a dinner for all who attended. Settlers lived distant from each other and some of them had many miles to go, without roads and generally by ox teams, taking all the chil- dren with them. It was an all day's tedious journey to "go to meeting" and home again. And then, by all remaining together for dinner, there was delightful visiting between families who elsewhere could not hope to meet, commingling of children and, just think of it !- a golden opportunity for Cupid to practice with his arrows on the young men and women. Among the homes, where meet- ings were more frequently held, were those of John Butler, William Gentry, James Thornbrugh, Aquilla Smith and Samuel Crawford.
SOME FIRST CAMP MEETINGS
In September, 1848, occurred the first camp meeting in the county. This was held about two miles below the depot in Patterson, on the northeast quarter of section 33, in Crawford Township. For many years this place was a noted one for out-door meetings, political as well as religious. It was earliest known as the McGinnis and later as the Holton place. The meeting, and other meetings later on, were held under an immense black walnut tree that was over six feet in diameter, and more than one hundred feet high. The lower limbs began about nine feet above the ground and the shade of the tree extended about eighty feet in diameter. This camp meeting was held under the direction of the Metho- dists and there were three preachers present-Rev. Ezra Rathburn, of Des Moines (then commonly known as the "colored" preacher from his very dark complexion ), Rev. Allen, of Linn Grove, and the other one is not remembered. People were in attendance from long distances, from miles northwest of (now) Winterset, and from Dallas, Polk and Warren counties. Probably over a thou- sand persons attended at one session or another. It remained in session about a week and was said to have been a "successful" meeting from the church stand- point. Anyhow, it drew a great crowd of sinners; and persons of various de- nominations, besides nearly the entire Methodist population hereabouts were present. It was the second great gathering of people in Madison County, that of July Fourth that year being the first. So great was the success of this meeting that the Methodists held another in the fall of 1849 and again in 1850. People camped as a rule in their covered wagons and most of them came in ox wagons. Tents were very scarce in those days and none were on the ground at the first meeting. Grass, water and fuel were abundant and, of course, free.
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IHISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY
About the year 1850. a Presbyterian farmer, who was also somewhat of an educated clergyman and named William Wood, settled in northeast Jackson Town- ship, where he remained many years. At first he was very active as a preacher and organized and led camp meetings with such help as he could obtain. He con- ducted these meetings, one a year, during 1850. 1851 and 1852; at least, they were the first gatherings of the kind west of Winterset and were hell in the west part of Douglas Township.
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