USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume I > Part 25
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Simeon Henry Drake, who was graduated from the Upper Iowa Uni- versity at the preceding commencement, was employed to teach the Fayette school, but resigned November 23d to enter the army.
On April 18, 1864, a tax of one mill was levied for a teachers' fund and one and a half mills for a contingent fund. Rooms were rented for the winter of 1864-5 of Charles Hoyt and Fred Cain. January 28, 1865, lots were purchased of Edwin Cave for one hundred and fifty dollars, and in March following it was decided to build a brick school house. In April, 1865, a tax of ten mills was voted for school house funds, and on February 1, 1866, plans and specifications for a school house, prepared by G. P. Randall of Chicago, were adopted. For some reason these plans were not used, but had to be paid for to the amount of one hundred and seventy dollars. The plans of Rev. Mr. Skinner were finally adopted as a basis for the work of con- struction. A room for the winter term of 1865-6 was rented from Mrs. E. Alexander, and Miss Catherine Alexander was one of the teachers. The ; subjects taught were orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar and geography.
The records do not so state directly, but it is probable that the schools were first housed in their own building, the one that now accommodates the first six grades, in the winter of 1866-7, two teachers only being employed, William C. McNeal and Elizabeth Strayer. In the ensuing fall only two teachers were employed, Miss Kate Wilcox and Miss Jennie Cole. By win- ter the two upper rooms were occupied, thus utilizing the whole of the house as then constructed, and Ella Ridpath and Carrie Robertson were added to the teaching force. Miss Ridpath resigned before the close of the term and it was completed by Ben. W. Lacy, now Judge Lacy, of Dubuque.
On April 28, 1868, the following teachers were elected for three months : C. W. Wright, principal, William Garrison, Jennie Cole, and Carrie Robert-
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son. Previous to that time the records are silent as to the names of teachers except in the cases mentioned. From that time onward the principals and teachers came in the order given in their respective lists. The annals thus far given have been necessarily dependent largely on the memory of the older members of the community.
Daniel Vines was president of the board from 1862 until 1870, M. C. Sperry, D. Shaffer, J. L. Paine and A. Winston from that time until 1874, and Allen Holmes from that date till 1880. The following list gives names and tenures of subsequent incumbents : Amos Matthews, five years; G. R. Edmunds, one year; J. E. Robertson, one year; J. W. McLean, two years; Ed Kelley, four years; J. H. Boyce, three years; Ed. Kelley, three years; J. W. McLean, two years ; F. E. Sanders, one year ; M. J. Hartman, nine years.
The names of those who have held the office of secretary from 1862 to 1910 are: H. M. Burch, S. E. Waterbury, M. F. Billings, P. R. Woods, E. C. Howe, W. F. Boyce, John E. Fowells, A. J. Berkstresser, W. M. Rickert and George M. McCann. The office of treasurer has been filled by J. L. Grannis, Thomas Fowells, S. E. Waterbury and C. R. Carpenter.
At the March meeting of 1881 a tax of eight hundred dollars was voted with which to build the addition on the west side of the grade building, thus furnishing six rooms, and when these became insufficient to properly accom- modate the increasing attendance, a room was secured for a time over George Scobey's store. At length, on March 14, 1898, a tax was voted with which to erect the present commodious high school building. This was occupied in the fall of 1900, since which time the schools have been under the direction of Superintendents L. T. Newton, J. E. Moore and C. D. McGoon. Harold S. Craig has been elected to the position, to begin his work in the fall of 1910.
Principals and teachers from 1868 to 1910 have been as follows :
Principals-C. W. Wright, J. C. Magee, J. W. Callender, Sarah E. Preston, Rev. W. H. Miller, M. J. Goodrich, Chauncey Burch, T. F. Johnson, Mr. Mariott, Sarah B. Scobey, J. S. VanDyke, C. A. Husband, J. B. Knoep- fler, P. R. Woods, H. F. Kling, S. S. Wright, J. W. Wyatt, F. H. Bloodgood, A. E. Chapman, C. F. Geiser, F. E. Finch, Mable Lossing and Eleanor Gar- rison.
Teachers-William Garrison, Susie James, Lydia Butler, Maxie Patter- son, George Gregory, Lucretia Brunson, D. L. Bugbee, S. A. Rafter, Sarah B. Scobey, Nellie Aldrich, Lucretia Parsons, Emma Potter, Mattie Boyce, Nettie Barnard, Miss Palmer, Ella Lee, Fannie Alexander, Grace Strong, Elizabeth Woodward, Emma Rice, Mary Ordway, Miss Van De Mark, Hettie Latimer, Miss Sanford, Alsina Boardman, Belle Fowells, Miss Appleman,
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Carrie Scobey, Nellie A. Jones, Willa Holmes, Miss L. C. Holmes, Mrs. Elizabeth Sayles, Abbie Woodward, Hattie Thornton, Della Mack, Alma Muffly, Elva Welling, Sarah Cavanaugh, T. V. Hunt, Mrs. R. W. Temple, Mary D. Hatch, Sylvia Markham, Ella Widger, Dell Noble, Ina Hayward, Fannie Grannis, George W. Cotton, Joanna Davis, Marilla Mathews, Mrs. A. E. Chesley, Anna Fowells, Mary Bailey, Anna L. Huie, Harriet Bogert, Lucy A. Hunt, Ida S. Will, Mrs. Boale, Edith F. Ellsbury, L. Belle Mathews, E. Emah Will, Day L. Grannis, Josephine Burling, Hattie McLean, Ada L. Whitley, Minnie Taylor, Etta Eldredge, Sue M. Merriam, Matie Alexander, Lillian Miles, Lillian Will, Dollie Twitchell, Edith Snowden, Esther O'Neal, Miriam Confare, Georgia Stafford, Edith Lockridge, Lena Walker, Mildred Simonds, Bessie Darling, Dora Carter, Josephine Liers, Myra Finney, Lillian Ludwig, Erma Cole, C. D. McGoon, T. M. E. Peck, Martha Paulus, Enah Hill, Hadwin Williams, Edna Dorman, Herbert Percy-Hames, Jessie Manson and Mrs. H. W. Troy. Since the introduction of music and art, Misses Violet Hammond, Cora S. Jones and Enah Hill have taught the former, and Mrs. Mabel L. Patterson, Miss Nellie Stevenson and Prof. Frank J. Davis, the latter.
UPPER IOWA UNIVERSITY.
One afternoon in the fall of 1854 a mother, in the vicinity of Fayette, asked her presiding elder what it would cost to send two of her daughters away to the nearest college. "About a thousand dollars apiece to send them through college," was his reply. "Why can't we have a college here for our children ?" was her next question, to which the elder replied, "Why not?" The woman who is therefore entitled to the credit of having first suggested a college at Fayette was Mrs. Robert Alexander and the presiding elder who joined in the thought was Rev. H. S. Bronson. May these never be for- gotten by the youth of northern Iowa !
In a subsequent conversation between Mrs. Alexander, Samuel Robert- son, James Robertson and others, the need of a Christian educational institu- tion for northern Iowa was discussed and a lively hope developed. But to talk about building a college and to build a college are two very different propositions. To do the former is inexpensive, to do the latter takes money.
There was only one man in the county at that time who had any consider- able amount of money and that man was Robert Alexander, husband of the woman who longed for the college. Mr. Alexander was a typical frontiers- man. He was at this time sixty years of age, not a Christian, but a man of
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energy, courage and power. He had moved from Indiana to this locality in 1849, coming all the way by team. His sons-in-law, Samuel and James Robertson, had come with him. In the previous twenty years he had accu- mulated eighteen thousand dollars, which he brought with him in gold. A part of this he invested in land, including that upon which Fayette now stands, until by 1854 he possessed an aggregate of eight thousand acres.
To this busy, worldly man came his wife and the others interested in the founding of a college, urging the following propositions: (1) the great need of better educational facilities for the locality; (2) the influence that a college would have to draw settlers to the vicinity; (3) the fact that the best people would be attracted by the college; (4) the consequent influence of the college to rapidly increase land values. The plan appealed to the judgment of Mr. Alexander and at the urgent request of his wife he started the project with a cash subscription of ten thousand dollars.
Samuel Robertson made a cash subscription of five thousand dollars, and gave ten acres of land for the campus. James E. Robertson also made a cash subscription. Thus the enterprise, which was destined to have such a mighty influence for good throughout the county, the state, the nation and reaching even in tremendous power to foreign lands, was inaugurated.
Long live the memory of those who founded our institution! They were of the salt of the earth. They were men and women of vision. They had come to a new country to blaze a way for civilization and fight the battle of life in "God's free out of doors." They had faith in the future possibili- ties of the country, hope for its speedy development, and love for the children growing up around them. They foresaw that the greatest and most permanent good which could possibly be accomplished for the community would be the founding of an educational institution for the youth of the land.
The undertaking was begun as a private enterprise. Motives of private gain were present as stimulating forces in the beginning. But what nobler ideas could have impelled the early pioneers in their efforts to increase land values ? The best settlers were to be attracted to Fayette county by the presence of a paramount civilizer-an educational institution of higher learn- ing.
It was in the winter of 1854-5 that an organization was effected for the purpose of founding the school and erecting the building. There was at this time no town of Fayette. The site selected for the building and the ten acres donated by Samuel Robertson for the campus lay on a rise of ground in the open field. The only houses near were those of James and Samuel Rob- ertson. The college was located and then the land platted and the town built around it.
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During the following summer ( 1855) the main building (for many years called the Seminary building) was begun and the walls of the first story erected. The first plan was to build of rubble stone, and the contract was let to John A. Griffith, of Auburn, for eight thousand dollars. Mr. Griffith employed Charles West, then a young man who had recently come from Brooklyn to West Union, as foreman of the job. When Mr. West reached Fayette (just beginning to build) and investigated the quarries he found the stone of such excellent quality that he strongly urged the abandonment of the first plan and the erection of a more substantial building made of cut stone. The first contract was accordingly cancelled and a new contract en-
tered into with Griffith and West. The new contract called for twenty thousand dollars to enclose and roof the building and a subscription contract provided for the interior finishing for the added sum of ten thousand dollars, making the entire first cost of the main building thirty thousand dollars.
In the fall the private company which had begun the enterprise decided to offer the seminary to the Iowa conference, and nominated the following board of trustees : H. S. Bronson, H. W. Reed, John Webb, Perry Perkins, S. M. Leach, J. H. Maxon, J. R. Cameron, A. J. Kynett, C. R. Bent, J. E. Rob- ertson, L. S. Ashbaugh, J. S. Brewer, S. H. Robertson, J. A. Griffith, Moses Pridmore, T. J. Hazlett, William Logan and J. W. Foster.
The offer was accepted by the conference and the nominations for trustees confirmed. Under the direction of this board, work was continued on the building during the year 1856 with such energy that by January 7, 1857, the first story was ready for occupancy. During the summer of 1856 the board of trustees had selected Rev. William H. Poor, A. M., as principal of the seminary and this selection was approved by the Upper Iowa conference at its first session held at Maquoketa in the fall of 1856, the conference having at this session adopted the school. The first term of school was advertised to begin January 1, 1857, but owing to the incomplete condition of the build- ing, school did not begin until January 7th.
Work continued on the second and third stories until they were finished in the summer of 1857. The limestone used in the construction of this building was gotten from the quarries immediately around Fayette. The dimension lumber is oak cut from an eighty acres four miles east of Fayette and sawed in what is now known as Grannis's mill. The pine used in finish- ing the floors was bought at Saginaw, Michigan, floated down the river to Dubuque and hauled from there by teams to Fayette, a distance of about eighty miles. It cost sixty-six dollars per thousand feet at Dubuque.
Only one serious accident occurred during the construction of the build-
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ing. While completing the cornice, and only about an hour before it would have been finished, the staging gave way on which Charles West and his brother were working and fell to the ground, a distance of about thirty-five feet. Mr. West's brother caught hold of the third story window sill and held on until rescued, but Charles fell with the staging to the ground. He was carried to his boarding place in an unconscious condition, but within two weeks was able to be at work again.
When the building was nearly completed there was still due the con- tractors, Griffith and West, the sum of twelve thousand dollars and there were no funds with which to pay the obligation. The agents of the school were unable to secure any more money. The obligation must be met or the doors remain closed. It seemed that the undertaking must come to naught.
At this juncture Robert Alexander came to the rescue. He had no ready money, but he had land. He called in the agent, Rev. E. C. Bryan, and gave him power of attorney, instructing him to go east and mortgage whatever was necessary to secure the needed amount. Mr. Bryan succeeded in borrowing the twelve thousand dollars from one G. A. Austin, of Vermont, giving him a mortgage on one thousand five hundred acres of Alexander's land. It was expected that the amount would be secured and Mr. Alexander repaid before the maturity of the mortgage, but such was not the case. His loan became a forced contribution to the school and on September 24, 1860, Mr. Alexander deeded over four thousand acres of land to Mr. Austin to satisfy the mortgage, which by this time amounted to nearly seventeen thou- sand dollars.
The beautiful element in this whole transaction is that Mr. Alexander did not regret or chafe under the loss of this property in the least. The reason is not difficult to find. £ After the mortgage had been given and dur- ing the first term of school he had found his Saviour as a result of evangel- istic meetings held in the chapel of the very building for which he had done so much. It was therefore the best investment he had ever made.
Let him who thinks that Mr. Alexander was really poorer for what he gave to Upper Iowa University reflect a moment. How could he possibly have done better with his money? He made it possible to found and open an institution which has been a blessing and benediction to the rising generations from the day of its opening. Its influence has extended beyond the state to the nation and even to the uttermost parts of the earth. What better gift could he have left to posterity.
Culture, civilization, Christianity have all been increased by his gifts. His friends were multiplied and their friendships deepened. He found his
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God and possessed an abiding faith which carried him through the hour of death into the very presence of his Lord. Is this failure? Rather is it the highest possible success.
The school began as "Fayette Seminary" and so continued until 1858, when, a collegiate organization having been effected, the name was changed to Upper Iowa University.
Rev. William H. Poor was succeeded by Rev. Lucius H. Bugbee, D. D., who was elected principal of the seminary in the fall of 1857 and president of the college in 1858. He served the institution for three years, retiring in I860.
These early years of the history of the institution were years of great dif- ficulties and embarrassments. The doors had hardly been opened when the panic of 1857 swept over the country, making it quite impossible to secure funds so sorely needed. Many who had made pledges found it impossible to make payment. The country was new; no railroad reached Fayette; a threatening cloud was rising; the need of college training was not yet felt. The faith of the trustees and others who stood by the school during those days is the faith that can remove mountains of difficulties and obstacles.
In 1860 Rev. William Brush, D. D., succeeded to the presidency and re- mained the vigorous leader of the institution until 1869. Dr. Brush brought to the school an enthusiastic and forceful administration. Under the most trying circumstances he never lost heart or hope, but labored on with an energy and power seldom equaled. With his mule 'team he traveled the country far and near, soliciting funds and seeking students. Of the former he did not secure much, but was successful in materially increasing the student body.
The influence of the war spirit, or the peculiarly pugnacious temperament of Dr. Brush, or both combined, made his administration the period of more or less crude pranks on the part of the students. It was the period of putting sheep on the roof, cows in the chapel, stealing the bell clapper, disposing of the presi- dent's carriage, etc.
The most important incident or series of incidents in connection with his administration began in 1861. The interesting and patriotic act of the college boys in leaving their books for the defense of their country-the best in the world- cannot be better told than has been done by Major D. W. Reed in the Appendix to his "Twelfth Regiment Iowa Veteran Volunteer In- fantry." I quote him in part :
"Early in the summer of 1861 the students of Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Iowa, organized a company for drill, calling themselves 'Univer-
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sity Recruits,' and resolved: That whenever the occasion demands it we will drop our books to fight our country's battles. Several members of this organiation entered the service during the summer in the Third and Ninth Iowa, but at the opening of the fall term, September 2, 1861, the company was still intact and daily drills on the campus were at once resumed.
"The call of President Lincoln for three hundred thousand men con- vinced the boys that the time had come for them to carry out their resolutions, and at a public meeting in University Chapel in the afternoon of September 15, 1861, twenty-three members enrolled their names and pledged themselves to answer the President's call for troops. One of those who signed the roll, after deliberation, asked to be excused 'because he had married a wife and could not go.' Two joined other organizations, and one was rejected by the mustering officer. Nineteen became members of Company C, Twelfth Iowa.
"Immediately after enrollment all the members left school under an agreement that each should go to his own home on recruiting service, and should return to Fayette in one week with recruits obtained. At the ap- pointed time one hundred and one men, the full complement allowed in a com- pany, reported for duty, and on the 28th, just thirteen days after the first name was signed to the roll, the service of the company was accepted by the governor, and the company was ordered into quarters at the Fayette House and commenced the regular routine of drill. The election of officers was had with result as follows : Captain, W. W. Warner; first lieutenant, D. B. Hen- derson ; second lieutenant, A. M. Smith ; sergeants, G. W. Cook, Gilbert Hazlet, Emery Clark; James Stewart; corporals, David Connor, Thomas Henderson, P. R. Ketchum, S. F. Brush, J. F. Hutchins, D. D. Warner, G. L. Durno, James Barr.
"Twenty-two students leaving the school in a body made sad havoc with the classes, and President Brush undertook to counteract the patriotic tend- encies of the students by writing letters to parents urging them to use their paternal authority and forbid the enlistment. His efforts were counteracted by the preceptress, Miss E. A. Sorin, who gave the boys her sympathy, be- came their champion, and remained their true friend during the war. No better record of woman's devoted service to the Union can be shown than was shown by her in her interest for 'her boys.' Calling the young ladies of the university together, she interested them in her plans, and they purchased material and with their own hands made a beautiful flag for the company, upon which they embroidered the name in full 'University Recruits 101.' This flag was presented to the company by Miss Sorin in behalf of the ladies of the Upper Iowa University in a very patriotic and touching address.
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"Captain Warner responded very appropriately as he received the flag. The position of fifth sergeant was not filled at the time of election of other officers, but was by unanimous vote of the company left to the choice of the donors of the flag, with the understanding that the one elected by them should be color bearer for the company. In a spirited contest, the secrets of which have never been fully revealed to the company, Henry J. Grannis was duly elected color bearer. It will not be inappropriate to say here that no election ever gave better satisfaction or proved more completely the wisdom of the electors. Upon the organization of the regiment this company was assigned as color company, Grannis was appointed as color sergeant, and carried the colors of the regiment in every battle in which the regiment was engaged during the war, and no one will say that the flag of any regiment was ever more gallantly borne, or that any color bearer in any war was more devoted to his trust than was the one elected by the ladies of the Upper Iowa University.
"The University Recruits remained in quarters at the Fayette House, drilling, until October 16th, when at eight A. M. the company was paraded on the campus and many assembled friends passed along the line and bade each one good-bye, and the company marched away to the hill south of town where seventeen wagons were waiting to convey the boys to Independence. As the company marched from the campus and until it disappeared from sight over the hill, the friends continued to waive their adieus, while some one, more zealous than thoughtful, set the old university bell tolling as if it were a long farewell, as, indeed, it proved to be to many of those who marched so gallantly away that bright October morning."
The gallant record of the Upper Iowa University boys and Company C cannot be given here. Only one more quotation from Major Reed's work concerning the color bearer :
"Henry J. Grannis, first lieutenant Company C, was a native of Indiana, born in 1841. He was one of the original members of the University Re- cruits and enlisted in the United States service September 15, 1861. He was elected fifth sergeant and color bearer of the company by the ladies of the university upon presenting a flag to the company and upon the organiza- tion of the regiment, when his company became color company. Grannis was designated as regimental color bearer, which position he held through the war. He carried the colors of the regiment at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh and was taken prisoner on that field, remaining prisoner until October. On the reorganization of the regiment he resumed his old position and car- ried the flag on every march in every campaign and during every battle in which the regiment was engaged from enlistment to muster out, a record we
(18)
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venture to say made by no other color bearer in the service. In several en- gagements the colors were riddled in his hands. On one occasion every guard was killed or wounded, yet, strange to say, Grannis never received a scratch nor suffered the flag to go from his hands. That it was always at the front and carried with the greatest gallantry every official report from the regiment testifies, for every one of them makes special mention of 'Our Gallant Color Bearer.' "
Every patriot connected with or interested in Upper Iowa University should read the portion of Major Reed's work, "University Recruits," a copy of which is found on the shelves of the college library. Few of the boys were permitted to return to college after the war. It had taken too long and cost too much. The plans of youth were changed. But they did their duty. Let them never be forgotten, but rather let them be loved and respected more and more as the years go by.
This sketch would not be faithful to the truth did it not record the work and influence of the preceptress, Miss E. A. Sorin, during these years. She was not only an educator, but a patriotic woman who did more than any other person to encourage the boys in their loyal act of 1861. Her address to them as they left for the field of conflict lingered in their hearts and minds a blessed and sustaining influence and memory throughout the desperate struggle, keep- ing them pure in their lives and true to their country.
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