History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 34

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424

USA > Illinois > Mercer County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 34
USA > Illinois > Henderson County > History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc > Part 34

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HISTORY OF MERCER AND HENDERSON COUNTIES.

of spending his declining years in quiet rest. He was married May 19, 1846, to Sarah P., daughter of Dr. M. Farwell. She is a native of New Hampshire, and came with her parents to Mercer county in 1842 and settled in Pre-emption township. They are the parents of three children : Nancy J., now Mrs. William McHard, William E., now a resident of Keithsburg township, and Alvah J., who now lives on the old homestead farm in Perryton township. For many of the incidents related of the early settlement of Perryton township reference may be had to the Perryton township history. He and wife are pioneer mem- bers of the Presbyterian church as well as pioneer settlers. His son, Alvah A., was born in Perryton township in 1854. He was reared on the farm. His educational training was that of the district school and a few terms in the academy at Aledo. He was married in 1880 to Agnes Wallace, a native of Ohio, born in 1857, and a daughter of Joseph and Mary Wallace, both of Ohio, and came to Mercer county about 1860. A. J. Doak carries on the business of his father's farm. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian church.

T. GUFFY is a native of Pennsylvania, and was born in 1829. He is the son of Alexander and Catharine Guffy, both of Penn- sylvania. His father went to California in 1848, where he died in 1857, at the age of fifty-six years. His mother now lives in Pennsylvania and is in her seventy-ninth year. Both were members of the Lutheran church, but his mother is at the present a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Guffy was reared a mechanic, and came to Mercer county in 1855, where he engaged in farming, in which pursuit he is still occupied. He was married in 1857 to Margaret Gingles, daughter of James and Elizabeth Gingles. Mr. Gnffy has by this marriage one child, Harriet C., who was married in 1881 to John C. Lanon, a native of Pennsylvania, and son of Daniel and Sarah Lanon. He came to Mercer county from Michigan. Mr. Guffy has a well-improved farm of sixty acres. His son-in-law lives with him and carries on the farm. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian church.

The McHard family located in Perryton township in 1839. At that time there were but few settlers in this part of the country. Where William McHard located at the above-named date is now the finest part of Perryton township. In 1839 the surrounding country was a wild wilderness, over which the deer and wolves gamboled ; the coo of the prairie chicken and the quack of the wild duck made the music in the balmy spring morning air. Among the names of the pioneers of Perryton township belongs the name of WILLIAM McHARD. He was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1810, son of Joseph and

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PERRYTON TOWNSHIP.

Sarah (Adams) McHard, the former of Ireland, the latter of Scotland, both of whom died in Pennsylvania. William was brought up a wagonmaker. He was married in his native state in 1832, and came to Illinois seven years later, and located in Perryton township, where he engaged in farming, which pursuit he followed till his death, which Deeurred in 1870, at the age of sixty-three years. Ilis wife died in 1867, at the age of fifty-six years. They were both persons of high moral integrity and members of the Presbyterian church. His son, William McHard, Jr., was born in 1842, and reared on the farm, receiving such educational instruction as the schools of his neighbor- hood could give. He was married in 1873 to Miss Naney J. Doak, a native of Perryton township, born in 1845, and a daughter of William and Sarah P. Doak. By this marriage he has two children : Mary E., and Sarah. He has a fine stock farm of 330 acres, located in the south half of the township, a part of which belonged to the old homestead of his father. He keeps a good grade of stoek, and makes a specialty of feeding cattle. He and wife are members of the Presbyterian church. Samuel MeHard, son of William McHard, was born in 1833, is a native of Pennsylvania, and came to Perryton township with his father when six years old. He was reared on the farm and inured to all the privations of pioneer life. In 1862 he enlisted in the army, in com- pany G, 102d Ill. Vol., served two years and nine months, one year of which time he held the office of corporal. He was in the following engagements : Resacca, Burnt Hickory, Marietta, Peach Tree creek, Atlanta, Savannah, and Raleigh, and numerous skirmishes. He was married in 1866 to Mary Richmond, native of Ohio, and daughter of Joseph and Susan Richmond. They came to Mercer county in 1853, and were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Samuel MeHard has by this marriage six children : Franklin R., Susan L., Gertrude and Grace (twins), May, and William S. He and wife are members of the Perryton Presbyterian church. He has a farm of 200 acres, well improved and well stocked. He resides on the old home- stead where his father settled in 1839.

EDUCATION.

CONTRIBUTED BY MISS AMANDA FRAZIER.

The subject of education is so interwoven with the growth and progress of all enlightened communities that a full history of any people at the present day would be incomplete which omitted some mention of their public schools and other institutions of learning. It is a matter of regret that many of the records of the earlier schools of Mercer county have been lost by the carelessness or recklessness of a

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former county superintendent, as we are thus compelled to depend upon tradition, or the memories of the older settlers, for material from which to compile a sketch of our first school teachers and school- houses.

The original settlers of Mercer county were men of sterling worth, intelligent and enterprising, and when planting their homes on these wild prairies more than fifty years ago were not unmindful of the needs of their children ; and we find that as soon as three or four cabins were erected in any given locality, some provision was at once made to fur- nish the young people with some sort of school privileges. Sometimes it was a small log cabin which furnished teacher and scholar shelter, and sometimes a small room or addition to one of the prairie cabins was all the room obtainable for school purposes.

It is no disparagement to the people of those early days to say that in some instances the teachers were of an order quite in keeping with the school-room, cheap and unsatisfactory. There were no profes- sional teachers among the early pioneers ; but now and then a young settler, or the older son in some family, would undertake for small pay to "keep" school during the winter, while some pioneer's daughter would fill the same office for the summer to half a dozen or half a score of pupils. We have in mind the case of one young lady, a settler's daughter, who taught one summer for fifty cents per week and boarded around among the patrons. There were but four families in the dis- triet, and but eight pupils enrolled. The education of the young lady spoken of was not at all complete, but then the requirements of that school were limited as to qualifications and advancement.

The first school taught in Mercer county was held in a small log cabin erected on the claim of Erastus Dennison, about two miles east of the town of New Boston, near the present home of Mr. C. Rader. The teacher was Abram Miller, and the time the summer of 1833. Mrs. Ephraim Gilmore, now of Aledo, was one of the pupils in this pioneer school for a few weeks. Mr. Miller was a prominent character in the early settlement of the county, having been one of the principal actors in the organization of the county and the first county clerk. Abe, as he was familiarly called, had a strong dislike for the restraints of close-fitting garments, and it was no uncommon thing to see him marching to and from school in warm weather barefoot, with loose shirt and flowing pantaloons. This first school was attended by an average of about ten scholars, the total enrollment for the season reaching only about a dozen. The next year (1834), as near as we can learn, the first regular school-house was erected in New Boston town- ship, near the bluff, about three miles cast of the present village of

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New Boston, on the farm of William Willits. Abram Miller or Joshua Willits taught here in the winter of 1834-5. About the year 1835-6 George W. Julian, since a distinguished politician and member of congress from Indiana, wielded the birch in this, Mercer county's first regular school-house.

The territory now constituting the county of Mercer was stricken off from Warren and organized into a separate county in 1835, and soon after the organization was effected we find that John Long was appointed, April 13, 1835, by the county commissioners' court to the office of school commissioner. While the county thus early in its history provided herself with the proper official machinery for the organization of a more perfect school system, yet we find but very indifferent progress in the character of teachers or the modes of instruction for a number of years.

It appears that the school commissioner was also agent of the school lands, and the most of the reports from several of the earlier school commissioners pertained to the care and disposal of the school lands, and little or nothing relating to teachers or schools.

For nearly fifteen years after the appointment of Mr. Long, the school commissioner did not assume the duties of examiner of teach- ers. During these years the school board, consisting of the school trustees of the various precincts, were the board of examiners. These school trustees were not always elected on account of their educational · qualifications, but rather for their sturdy business qualities, and for the further purpose of having them properly distributed over the precinct.

As a matter of course the examination day, under such circum- stances, was an event in the career of the board which exhibited its dignified and ludicrous character, according to the particular qualifica- tions of the members of the given board.

An incident connected with one of these examinations is related by a gentleman now living in the eastern portion of the county. Some thirty-five years ago, this gentleman, then a young man, just home from a medical college, was requested to be present on a certain day to hear the examination of a small class of teachers, and to assist in the exercises. He attended punctually at the time and place appointed, and found three candidates for certificates, one young lady and two young gentlemen. The three trustees, the regular school board, were also present, but not in a well organized condition for the duties before them.

After some preliminary conversations of a general character with the candidates, the board retired to organize for the contest, and after a short caucus among themselves, they deputised one of their number

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to request the young doctor to join the caucus, which he readily con- sented to do. The young gentleman found the board to be composed of three sturdy and intelligent farmers, good, honest, capable men for all ordinary transactions, but honestly confessing their inability to per- form the duties required of them as examiners. They could "read, write, and cipher," but then the law required the teacher to pass exam- ination in geography and grammar, and these last branches of study were as Choctaw to them. At the request of the board the young doctor con- sented to conduct the examination, the board to hear the class and decide upon their qualifications. Hastily arranging a set of questions he began the examination, which was oral, except a few examples in written arithmetic. The board listened carefully to all the exercises, and when it was finished they again retired for consultation. After a short secret session the young doctor was again summoned in counsel, when one of the board acting as spokesman, said: "See here, we want you to go right straight through with this here thing. They all show a nice hand writin', and spell well enough and read and cipher fustrate, but then that gography and grammar is all Injun to us. You see we dont't pretend to know anything about it, so you jist give us your hon- est opinion about the whole thing, and if you say they pass muster, why we will give them all their papers and let them bang away."

To return to the main narrative, John Long served as school com- missioner until December 5, 1835, when William I. Nevins was appointed as his successor. Mr. Nevins was reappointed in 1837, and again in 1838 and 1839, serving until June 6, 1840, when Ephraim Gilmore received the appointment. In 1841 the office became elective, and Ephraim Gilmore, was again selected to fill the position at an election held in August, 1841, and was re-elected annually for five years, his last election occurring on August 3, 1845. The next to fill the office was Thomas Candor, who was chosen at the annual election on August 3, 1846. Mr. Candor served but one year when Benjamin D. Ellett was chosen his successor, August 5, 1847. From 1847 to 1865 the election for school commissioner was held bi-ennially, thereby giving the office a more permanent character. Mr. Ellett was suc- ceeded by Tyler McWhorter, who was elected November 6, 1849, and again on November 4, 1851. Mr. McWhorter was the first school commissioner who undertook the examination of teachers in this county, and to his administration, extending over a period of four years, is due the first real advancement in the character of teachers, as regards qualifications and modes of instruction. He was careful and pains-taking in all his official acts and was especially watchful and thorough in his inquiries as to the fitness of candidates for certificates.

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The scarcity of well-qualified teachers at that time forced him to grant certificates, in some instances, where the candidate got the benefit of a "reasonable doubt" as to their entire fitness for the high office of teacher, but many able educators were placed in charge of schools dur- ing his term of office. Among these we will mention the names of Simeon Smith, David Felton, Resin Kile and Harvey S. Senter.

After Mr. Mc Whorter comes John Ramsey, who was elected November 8, 1853, followed by Norman P. Brown, who was elected on November 6, 1855. Mr. Brown was a practical and competent teacher, but so far as we can learn, neither he nor Mr. Ramsey suc- ceeded in advancing the character of the schools of the county beyond the point attained by Mr. Me Whorter at the time of his retirement from the office in 1853. The successor of N. P. Brown was J. E. Harroun, who was elected November 6, 1857. The law had now clothed the commissioner with the full powers of superintendent and given him authority to visit schools. The personal visitation of schools gave to the new superintendent great advantages over his predecessors, as it enabled him to witness the every day work of the teacher in the school- room. It is not unfrequently the case that a candidate for teacher will pass with a high grade after a most thorough examination, and yet prove unable to impart instruction, or unfit to govern in the school- room. These faults or failures the visiting superintendent could detect, and remedy, provided the visitations were made in the right spirit and conducted with proper care for the good of the people. The truth of history constrains us to say that the greatest good possible under the new order of things was not attained during the administration of sev- eral of the successors of Mr. Harroun. Too little practical instruction was imparted by the superintendent in these visitations, too much time was spent in the exhibitions of the proficiency of certain advanced classes, and in the making of fine speeches by the visiting official. The visitations, instead of securing the good to teachers and people as designed by the law makers, degenerated in some instances into the veriest routine, measured, we fear, more by the per diem allowed than by the benefits which should have accrued.

Mr. Harroun filled the office for two years, and, by constant visita- tions and courteous treatment of the teachers of the county, inspired them, not only with the desire to excel in their calling, but with that esprit de corps which should ever prevail among professional educators in our common schools.

It was during Mr. Harroun's administration that teacher's institutes were organized, and the central ,or county institute was first attempted. He was also the first to attempt the introduction of any form of school

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apparatus in the common schools of our county, and although not always successful in convincing the patrons of their utility, he was enabled to scatter here and there a goodly number of these helps to study, giving an impulse to their use by explaining to teacher and pupil, in the school-room, the manner in which they should be employed.

Mr. Harroun was succeeded by Rev. James S. Poage, a prominent and deservedly popular Presbyterian minister, who was elected Novem- ber 8, 1859, and who served for two years. Mr. Poage was a highly educated gentleman, a fluent speaker and a most exemplary gentleman, but he was not a practical teacher, and while he made a creditable superintendent he did not succeed in advancing the character of the schools to that extent for which his learning and high character gave promise at the time he was elected.

Amos T. Waterman was elected November 5, 1861, as the suc- cessor of Mr. Poage, and served for two years. Mr. Waterman had formerly been engaged in teaching, but was at the time of his service a young practicing attorney of more than ordinary brilliancy. His administration of the office was creditable to himself and serviceable to the educational interests of the people. His examinations were conducted with more than ordinary care, thus, securing a better grade of teachers, and giving a new impetus toward a higher excellence in teaching.

Washington L. Campbell, the successor of Mr. Waterman, was elected November 6, 1863, and served for one term of two years, and was followed by Sylvenus B. Atwater, who was chosen at the election held November 7, 1865, being one of the first of a long line of county officials who have claimed the suffrages of the people of Mercer on account of their services in the late war. Mr. Atwater was a practical teacher of fair reputation before he entered the military service, and returning a few months before the election from his three years' service in the 27th reg. Ill. Vol. Inf., after participating in all the battles, marches and victories in which that gallant regiment was engaged, he was promptly elected as county superintendent of schools for the term of four years, the term of the office having just been extended from two to four years. To Mr. Atwater the people of Mercer county owe , a debt of gratitude for his heroic, but then most unpopular treatment of all school matters. He introduced a strict and searching system of examination of teachers, and insisted so strongly that his standard of fitness should be met that a large number of half-qualified teachers were either driven from the schools, or induced to re-enter school as students themselves for the purpose of improving their education, and

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their places were filled by a higher and better grade of teachers. IIe was the first to attempt the task of expurging from the school-room the antiquated text-books of the grandfathers, and introducing in their stead a uniform system of books so graded as to meet the wants of the several pupils, thus enabling the teacher to separate his pupils into classes by grades of proficiency ; in fact, establishing grades in many district schools, going so far in this direction that in several instances where the patrons refused to buy or order the purchase of new books, he furnished them out of his own private funds. Although partially successful in his efforts to secure a uniformity of text-books. there remained much to be done in this direction after his four years' struggle was ended by the expiration of his office. He labored assiduously to secure a black-board in every school-house, going so far as to carry his brush and slating into the remoter districts and painting the desired board with his own hands where the directors could not, or would not. get it done themselves. While Mr. Atwater won the hearty ill will of some would-be teachers and their friends by refusing certifi- cates to persons who had taught under other superintendents, and refusing like favors to new candidates who failed to pass his examina- tion, and while much discontent was engendered among the people in some localities on account of the increased expenses cansed by his unceasing efforts to secure new books and apparatus, and advancement of wages consequent upon the weeding ont of poor and cheap teachers, vet impartial history will compel the admission that Mr. Atwater did more to advance the educational interest, and to place the common schools upon a higher plane of excellence than any person who had preceded him in that office.

The successor of Mr. Atwater was Frederick Livingston, a graduate of Lombard college, of Galesburg, Illinois, and a teacher of some years' experience, who was elected November 2, 1869, and served for four years. His acknowledged learning, with a fair experience as a teacher, and courteous address, gave promise that in his election the schools of the county would be greatly benefited ; but his four years' service was a great disappointment to his friends and a misfortune to himself. Lacking in administrative ability, he soon lost his hold upon . the affections of the older teachers of the county, and the freedom with which he granted certificates to any and all applicants soon flooded the county with a new crop of teachers, many of whom were in no wise qualified for the duties of the school-room, thereby greatly imparing the standard of the schools generally throughout the county. During his administration many of the books and vouchers belonging to the office were lost or destroyed, including all the records of the school

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lands, and nearly all books and papers pertaining to county school funds. His bondsmen made good such loss of the public funds as was proven to have been lost or misused while in his charge. Mr. Living- ston was the first and only defaulter in this office in the history of the county. Mr. Livingston was the possessor of many qualities and graces calculated to win the confidence of the people and endear him to his friends, and we do not pen this sketch without a regret that one so liberally educated, so courteous and kind. and withal so well quali- fied for a useful life, should exhibit that lack of balance which caused the unfortunate miscarriage in his official acts.

[The following sketch of Miss Frazier's career as a teacher and county superintendent, is furnished us by a gentleman who is interested in education, and who has been long familar with her work .- ED. ]

During the administration of Mr. Livingston, our legislature en- acted a law making women eligible for all school offices. and at the first election held after the passage of this law, to-wit. in November. 1873. Miss Amanda E. Frazier. of Mercer county, was one of the eleven ladies who were elected to the position of county superintendent of schools in Illinois. Miss Frazier was re-elected in November. 1877, and at the expiration of her second term of office, was unanimously appointed by the board of supervisors in December, 1881. to fill the vacancy then existing by reason of the recent amendment to the stat- utes changing the time of election for this and certain other county offices. from 1881 to 1882. and quadrenially thereafter. She is there- fore filling the ninth year of her incumbency of that office. a fact which speaks in no uncertain terms of the confidence and trust which the people of the county continue to repose in hier capacity and official integrity.

Miss Frazier has long been identified with the schools and school work of Mercer county. and deserves no small measure of praise for the earnest and well directed efforts she has expended to elevate the standard of public instruction in the county. Entering upon her career as a teacher. in 1862. after completing the academic course in Mon- mouth college. and while vet a mere girl. she developed a remarkable · capacity for the government of pupils and for imparting instruction. and so complete was her success as teacher thus early in life. that dur- ing all the after years she gave to teaching she never was under the necessity of applying for a position. inasmuch as applications for her services came to her unsought. After teaching a few terms Miss Frazier concluded to more fully qualify herself for the profession which she had determined to follow, and with this view spent two years at the State Normal University at Bloomington. Illinois, and another

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History of Mercer and Henderson Counties : together with biographical matter, statistics, etc, Part 34

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.) Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co. Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Mercer County Historical Society (Ill.); Henderson County Historical Society (Ill.)
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Chicago : H.H. Hill and Co.
Number of Pages: 1424