USA > Illinois > Winnebago County > Rockford > History of Rockford and Winnebago County, Illinois, from the first settlement in 1834 to the civil war > Part 28
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OLD SEMINARY BUILDING
[Began for the First Congregational church, subsequently owned by the county as a court house. Miss Sill began her preparatory school here. It was also occupied as a place of worship by several churches. Last stood on Gilbert Woodruff's grounds. Torn down autumn of 1899]
SCIENCE HALL, ROCKFORD COLLEGE
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THE PREPARATORY SCHOOL.
At this meeting it was resolved to attempt to raise the sum prescribed by the Beloit trustees as necessary-about three thousand five hundred dollars. A committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions, consisting of Jason Marsh, George Has- kell, Willard Wheeler, Asa Crosby, Anson S. Miller, P. B. John- son, and Horace Foote. The Forum of November 5, 1845, contains a full report of this meeting, also a lengthy editorial. Citizens pledged the required amount. The Forum of December 3d mentions, in a sketch of the city, that the trustees of Beloit college have located the seminary at Rockford. A charter was granted February 25, 1847, to the following gentlemen as incorporators : Aratus Kent, D. Clary, S. Peet, F. Bascom, C. Waterbury, S. D. Stevens, A. L. Chapin, R. M. Pearson, G. W. Wilcox, A. Raymond, C. M. Goodsell, E. H. Potter, L. G. Fisher, Wait Talcott, Charles S. Hempstead and Samuel Hinman. These same gentlemen were the incorporators of Beloit college. The board of trustees was to consist of sixteen members, with power to increase the number to twenty-four. But disasters affecting the business interests of the village prevented the fulfillment of the pledges which had been made, and delayed the enterprise for a time; but it was never abandoned.
Meanwhile, June 11, 1849, Miss Anna P. Sill began a pre- paratory school, under the name of the Rockford Female Semi- nary. The recitations were held in the old court house building on North First street. Miss Sill came to Rockford from the east, with the expectation that her school would develop into the seminary which had been planned by the trustees of Beloit. This preparatory school was not the seminary proper, but rather its forerunner, and entirely under local management. Miss Sill was assisted by the Misses Hannah and Eliza Richards. The number of pupils the first term was seventy, most of whom were under ten years of age. The opening of this school appar- ently gave an impetus to the consummation of the former plans for a seminary. The trustees were Rev. L. H. Loss, Jason Marsh, Anson S. Miller, C. A. Huntington, S. M. Church, Rev. J. C. Parks, Bela Shaw, T. D. Robertson, E. H. Potter, Dr. George Haskell, Asa Crosby. The academic year was divided into four terms of eleven weeks each.
In 1850 the citizens again made pledges aggregating more than five thousand dollars for buildings, and the ladies pledged one thousand dollars for the beautiful grounds. This original subscription list is still in existence, though eaten away in places.
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290
HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
It was found among the papers of the late Charles H. Spafford. The word original is here used because the subscriptions of 1845-46 were apparently never redeemed. Thelist is probably the only one in existence. Thus by September, 18, 1850, the seminary proper was assured as a permanent institution of Rockford, for the higher education of young women.
During the first two years of Miss Sill's residence in Rock- ford she continued independently her preparatory school. But in 1851 the school was formally recognized by the board of trustees of Beloit college as the preparatory department of Rock- ford female seminary, under the charter which they had already obtained. Full preparatory and collegiate courses of study were defined, and, upon examination, fifteen were admitted into the first collegiate class in September of that year. The year 1851 is thus regarded as the date of the founding of the semi- nary, according to the original design. The recitations were conducted in the old court house building, already noted. The seminary had been granted full collegiate powers by its charter, but it was called a seminary, as was customary for such insti- tutions at that time. The name was not changed to Rockford college until 1892. Seven of this first class of 1851 graduated in 1854. Only one, Mrs. William Lathrop, is now a resident of the city. The course then covered three years, and was later changed to four years.
The present seminary grounds were purchased from Buell G. Wheeler. The land originally extended to the river, but a portion was taken by the Chicago & Iowa railroad. The prop- erty was not condemned, as the trustees preferred to sell rather than enter into any controversy. The grounds never extended farther east or north. They were never enlarged, and were reduced only on the west. The deed to this property was also found among Mr. Spafford's papers, and apparently had never left his possession. The reason therefor may be explained. Mr. Spafford was county recorder at the time; he was also a trustee of the seminary, and the treasurer of the board. The document would thus naturally remain in his possession. This deed and the original subscription list, previously noted, were presented to the college at the last commencement season by Mr. Spaf- ford's family, and are now among its permanent records. The city of Rockford owes a debt of gratitude to three of its early citizens for the very existence of this institution. At a critical moment in the formative period, Charles H. Spafford, Eleazer
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SEPARATE BOARD OF TRUSTEES.
H. Potter and Dr. Lucius Clark mortgaged their homes and raised several thousand dollars to insure the success of the sem- inary. This self-sacrifice by these gentleman, who had faith in the future of Rockford, and who appreciated the value of higher education, has never been properly recognized, for the apparent reason that their course has not been generally known.
After the purchase of the grounds Mr. Wheeler said they were sold for much less than their real value. Mrs. Wheeler was deeply interested in the success of the seminary ; and thus the property was obtained at a low price. Mr. Spafford also pre- served a transcript of an itemized estimate of the cost of the first building, made by John Beattie. This document called for an outlay of seven thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven dollars and thirty-five cents.
July 15, 1852, the corner-stone of the first building was laid by Rev. Aratus Kent, president of the board of trustees. He spoke from the words: "That our daughters may be as corner-stones, polished after the similitude of a palace."
After the acceptance by the board of trustees of the finan- cial pledges of the citizens of Rockford in 1850, it was deemed best that each institution should manage its own affairs. A provisional local board appears to have been created at this time; and in 1852 the seminary passed into the control of a separate board of trustees. The principle of co-operation, how- ever, continued to prevail, and certain gentlemen were on the official boards of the college and the seminary. In the lapse of years this number gradually diminished, until now Thomas D. Robertson is the only one connected with the boards of the two institutions. The first formal appointment to the perma- nent faculty of the seminary was made in July, 1852, when Miss Sill was elected principal. In July, 1854, the collegiate course was divided into four departments : mental and moral philosophy ; mathematics and natural science; history and English literature; ancient languages. The department of mental and moral philosophy was assigned to the principal. Miss Mary White was chosen teacher in mathematics and natural science.
In 1854 work was begun on Linden hall, the western wing. It received its name from the residence of one of its New En- gland friends. From this place and from New York the larger part of the fund was obtained for its construction. In the fifties Miss Sill raised a large sum of money among her eastern
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HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
friends, especially in Boston, for the seminary, apparently to raise a deficit. Up to September 8, 1854, Miss Sill had secured in subscriptions the sum of three thousand six hundred and fifty-nine dollars and sixty-seven cents. This fact appears from a financial statement made by Charles H. Spafford. According to the Rockford Democrat of August 1, 1854, Mr. Milwain was the architect of Linden hall, and the plans and specifications called for an addition forty-one by sixty-four feet, and four stories. Linden hall was first separate from Middle hall, and then connected by a frame passage-way.
In 1866 a second addition, Chapel hall, with its connecting corridors, was begun, and completed two years later. In 1871 Linden hall and Middle Hall were connected by a corridor.
Of the first collegiate class admitted in 1851, seven were graduated in 1854, eight in 1855, sixteen in 1856, ten in 1857, . eleven in 1858, ten in 1859, eleven in 1860, and nine in 1861; a total of eighty-two in eight years. There were then three departments : collegiate, normal and academic. During that time there were eighty-five others who entered the seminary, but did not complete the course. Forty-one were in the junior class in 1861. The whole number who shared in the instruction of the collegiate course during the first ten years was two hun- dred and six. One hundred and eighty-three had received instruction in the normal course; and the whole number of pupils for a longer or shorter time connected with the institu- tion, including the preparatory courses, from the beginning in 1849, to July, 1861, was fifteen hundred and thirty. During this time there was contributed to the seminary from all sources the sum of thirty-nine thousand two hundred and twenty-eight dollars.
The influence of this seminary and later college upon the intellectual, social and moral life of Rockford may berecognized , and appreciated ; but it can never be fully estimated. The city does not contain a more enduring monument to the wisdom of its founders.
Many godly men and women have labored for the success of this Christian college; and those of a later day have reaped the harvest. This chapter would be incomplete without a more specific reference to Miss Anna P. Sill and Rev. Aratus Kent.
Anna Peck Sill was born in Burlington, Otsego county, New York, August 9, 1816. She was the youngest of ten children,
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MISS SILL'S EARLY LIFE.
and inherited the intellectual and moral qualities of a long line of Puritan ancestry. Her father, Abel Sill, was a farmer, who died in 1824, in his fiftieth year, when Anna was seven years of age. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Judge Jedediah Peck, who, it is said, was the first in New York to urge legisla- tive action for the establishment of common schools, and the abolition of imprisonment for debt. In 1831 Miss Anna made a public profession of religion. In the autumn of 1836 she taught a district school in the neighborhood of Albion. About six weeks of this time, during the vacation scason, she attended a school at Albion, and in November, 1837, she entered Miss Phipps' Union seminary, one of the first female institutions of the state, as a regular student. One year later she became a teacher, and probably continued her studies at the same time. Here she remained five years, until July, 1843. During her last year at Albion she wrestled with the problem of her life-work. She had a holy enthusiasm for humanity ; but a thick veil, which faith and prayer alone could rend, obscured her path of duty. She was inclined toward the foreign missionary field, if she could be accounted worthy of such honor. To her pastor she writes : "I have hardly dared to ask my Heavenly Father so great a privilege, but have prayed that at least I might be permitted after death to go as a ministering spirit and whis- per sweet words of peace to some poor heathen soul." When an opportunity came for her to go to India, however, she had become convinced that her mission was, in part, to prepare others for the field.
After some time Miss Sill's thoughts were turned from Albion toward the west as a field of missionary and educational labor. She corresponded with Rev. Hiram Foote, who was then at Racine, Wisconsin, with whom she had some acquaintance. The reply was not favorable, and Miss Sill opened a seminary for young ladies at Warsaw, October 2, 1843. This was the first seminary entirely under her control. She remained there until March, 1846. In the following August she was invited by the trustees of the Cary collegiate institute, in Oakfield, Genesee county, to take charge of the ladies' department. This invita- tion was accepted, and she taught there until the spring of 1849. At this time the location of a seminary at Rockford was again under consideration. Friends of the enterprise had heard of her success as a teacher. Among these was Rev. L. H. Loss, then pastor of the First Congregational church. He invited her
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HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
to come to Rockford and open a school for young ladies as pre- paratory to the prospective seminary. Miss Sill accepted the invitation, and arrived in Rockford May 24, 1849.
Miss Sill and the seminary are thenceforth so vitally related that the life-story of one is the history of the other. In the summer of 1884, after thirty-five years of successful leadership, Miss Sill resigned, and retired to the more quiet but not less honored position of principal emerita. She accepted the situ- ation as for the best interest of the seminary, with Christian fortitude. She who had been the directing force for so many years, must thenceforth live outside the circle, a passive specta- tor of the young and progressive life. This was perhaps the severest trial of her life.
Miss Sill lived five years after her retirement from active life. She died at her room in the seminary, June 18, 1889. The funeral was held in the chapel on the 20th. The introductory services were conducted by the Rev. Walter M. Barrows, pastor of the Second Congregational church, The funeral discourse was preached by her former pastor, Rev. Henry M. Goodwin, D. D. Prayer was offered by the Rev. W. W. Leete.
Anna P. Sill lived a life of entire consecration. Self was laid on the altar of sacrifice, that it might be wholly consumed in the holy flame. When the path of duty became clear, she threw the enthusiasm of her strong and generous nature into the founding of a school for the Christian education of young women. Its honorable history shows that her faith was not delusion nor mere enthusiasm; but that there was a providen- tial guidance of her way, and a divinely-ordered connection between the work and the instrument. At the alumnæ reunion immediately after her death, Mrs. Marie T. Perry paid her this noble tribute: "With her wondrous endowment of head and heart, and an indomitable will, she set up her standard in the wilderness, and with a courage that knew no faltering, a vigil- ance that was ceaseless, patiently, hopefully prayerfully, wrought out the dream of her life-the school of her love. Her power over her pupils was rare and marvelous. Day after day, by word, look and act, she forged the unseen chain that at last she riveted around them. The impatience of youth might seek to shake it off and break it; the pleasures of life and the dictum of the world might strive to undo its fastenings, but sooner or later, disloyal legions would wheel into line and do valiant service in the cause of truth and right." Emerson
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ARATUS KENT'S GREAT WORK.
observes that there is nothing so great as a great soul; and it may be said that upon the thousands who came under her benign influence, "light from her celestial garments streams."
Rev. Aratus Kent was born January 15, 1794. He was a son of John Kent, a merchant of Suffield, Connecticut, and a brother of Germanicus Kent, the first settler of Rockford. They belonged to the family from which came the famous Chancellor Kent, of New York. Mr. Kent was fitted for college at West- field academy. At nineteen years of age he entered the sopho- more class at Yale. He united with the church under President Dwight, August 15, 1815. Mr. Kent graduated from Yale in 1816, and then spent four years in theological studies in New York. He was licensed to preach by the presbytery of New York April 20, 1820. From November 21, 1822, until April 11, 1823, he was a student at Princeton theological seminary. He was ordained January 26, 1825, at Lockport, New York.
Mr. Kent subsequently applied to the American Home Mis- sionary Board "for a place so hard that no one else would take it." He was sent to Galena, Illinois, then a mining city, where he immediately began his labors. His first years in the west were spent in home missionary work. October 23, 1831, he organ- ized the First Presbyterian church at Galena. His three chil- dren died in infancy ; one in 1837, another in 1838, and a third in 1840. Mrs. E. P. Thomas, of Rockford, is an adopted daugh- ter. Mr. Kent was a leader in the founding of Beloit college and Rockford seminary, and out of a meagresalary he contrib- uted to Christian education. Mr. Kent died November 8, 1869, at the age of seventy-five years. He was honored in life, and his memory is held in reverence.
Around Mr. Kent was a senate of men like unto him. Eight of the sixteen incorporators were clergymen. Rev. Stephen Peet, father of the churches in Wisconsin, died in 1855; yet that brief remnant of his life enabled him to add the founding of Chicago theological seminary, as the completion of what he had done in aiding the building of the churches, and of Beloit college and the seminary. Rev. Dexter Clary, another incorpo- rator of the two institutions, died June 18, 1874. Charles M. Goodsell, of Geneva, Wisconsin, became one of the founders of Carlton college, at Northfield, Minnesota.
CHAPTER LVII.
STATE AND LOCAL SCHOOL FUNDS .- EARLY ROCKFORD SCHOOLS.
T "HE public school system of Rockford had its beginning in national and state legislation. The foundations of the system were laid more that a century ago, about four years before the United States entered upon national life under the constitution. May 20, 1785, an ordinance was passed by con- gress, then assembled in New York, for a system of rectangular surveys of the lands in the "western territory," and it was therein provided "that there shall be reserved the lot num- ber sixteen of every township for the maintenance of public schools within the township." The territory thus designated was the Northwest Territory, from which Illinois was created.
The Ordinance of 1787, for the government of the North- west Territory, provided that "religion, morality and knowledge shall forever be encouraged." Thus early was recognized the value of popular education .. The next step was in 1818, when Illinois sought admission into the union. In April of that year congress passed an act enabling the people of the territory of Illinois to organize a state. Certain propositions were therein made to the convention of the territory, which, if accepted, would be binding upon the state and the federal government. Three of these referred to education. First, that section number sixteen or its equivalent in every congressional township shall be granted to the state, for the use of schools in such township. Second, that three per cent. of the net proceeds from the sales of all the public lands in the state shall be given to the state for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or university. Third, that two entire townships in the state, to be designated by the president of the United States, shall be reserved for the use of a seminary.
These propositions were accepted by an ordinance adopted at Kaskaskia, August 26, 1818. December 3d following, con- gress approved the constitution. Thus Illinois came into the
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FIRST PUBLIC SCHOOL LAW.
union with these valuable grants of land for the maintenance of education.
By the term "early schools" is meant those schools which were maintained under various laws of the state prior to 1855. The first public school law was passed in 1825, seven years after Illinois became a state. Common schools were established free to white citizens between the ages of five and twenty-one. Dis- tricts containing not less than fifteen families could be formed by the county courts, upon petition of a majority of the voters thereof. Voters were authorized at the annual meeting to levy a tax in money or merchantable produce, at its cash value, not exceeding one-half of one per cent., subject to a maximum lim- itation of ten dollars to any one person. The state also appro- priated two dollars out of every one hundred dollars received into the treasury, and disbursed the interest on the school fund proper among the several counties; and these sums were dis- tributed by the counties among the respective districts.
This law was bitterly opposed, and in 1827 it was amended so as to be virtually nullified, by providing that no person should be taxed for the maintenance of schools, unless his consent was first obtained in writing. The state appropriation of two dol- lars out of every one hundred dollars received into the treasury, was also withdrawn.
The school laws were revised at nearly every session of the legislature. These were all radically defective in that the state did not impose a tax, but made it discretionary with the dis- tricts whether such tax should be levied. The law of 1845 made it optional with districts whether they would levy a tax. The maximum was fifteen cents on the one hundred dollars. Many important changes were made. By this act it was provided that on the first Monday in August, and biennially thereafter, there should be elected a school commissioner in each county. The law of 1849 limited the local tax to twenty-five cents per one hundred dollars. The statute of 1851 provided that a majority of legal voters could levy a tax not exceeding one dollar on every hundred dollars, for building and repairing schoolhouses.
The school fund proper of the state consists of three per cent. of the net proceeds of the sales of the public lands in the state, one-sixth part excepted. This is known as the three per cent. fund, or school fund proper. Under an act of February 6, 1835, this fund was loaned to the state at six per cent. interest.
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HISTORY OF ROCKFORD AND WINNEBAGO COUNTY.
The interest on this fund constitutes one of the sources from which the common school fund of the state is derived. The principal of this fund is now $613,362.96.
The college fund consists of one-sixth of three per cent. of the proceeds of the sales of public lands in the state. This fund was also loaned the state in 1835. In the same year it was provided that the interest on this fund should be annually loaned to the school fund, for distribution with other funds, among the several counties in the state. February 18, 1857, the interest on this fund, less one-fourth of one per cent., was set apart to the maintenance of the state normal university. The principal of this fund is $156,613.32.
The seminary fund is derived from the proceeds of the sale of "seminary lands," which consist of two townships given the state by the general government, for the founding and support of a state seminary. This fund was also loaned the state in 1835. In the same year it was provided that the interest on this fund should be annually loaned to the state school fund. In 1857 the interest on this fund, less one-fourth of one per cent., was devoted to the maintenance of the normal university. The principal of this fund is $59,838.72.
The surplus revenue fund was created by congress in 1836, by an act which deposited with the states, in proportion to their representation in congress, the money that had accumu- lated in the national treasury, mainly from the sale of public lands. Prior to this act an unsuccessful effort had been made to distribute this money among the states as a gift from the nation. The objections to this plan were overcome by deposit- ing the money with the states, subject to return upon call of congress. About twenty-eight million dollars were distributed among the states in this way, and none of it has ever been called for. Illinois received $477,919.24. A portion of this amount was expended in internal improvements, and the bal- ance, $335,592.32, was by an act of the legislature of March 4, 1837, made a part of the common school fund of the state, and loaned to the state at six per cent.
The most munificent donation from congress was the six- teenth section of every congressional township. This amounted to nine hundred and ninety-eight thousand four hundred and forty-eight and eighty-nine-hundredths acres. It has been said that if these lands had been properly cared for, they would have given the people such an ample public school fund as would
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