USA > Illinois > Christian County > Past and present of Christian County, Illinois > Part 17
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This paper was published at Palmer for a year or two by H. E. Davis & Co. Mr. Davis was so unfortunate as to contract tu- berculosis and was forced to leave his plant and business some time during the year 1903. The paper was discontinued and Mr. Davis has since died.
THE STONINGTON STAR.
This paper was established about May I, 1896, by P. T. Danford & Son. After- ward the father withdrew and the son, H. A. Danford, continued its publication. It is neutral in politcs, has a good advertising patronage as well as a good subscription list and has been of great service to the rapidly growing town in which it is located.
THE SCHOOL NEWS AND PRACTICAL EDU- CATOR.
This is an educational journal for teach- ers, parents and school officers. It was es- tablished in the year 1887 by C. M. Parker, who is editor and proprietor. From a small beginning it has grown so that it now is one of the few leading educational publications in the United States. It is issued monthly. except during August. It has been a great success as a money maker. In addition Mr. Parker publishes many other books and magazines, among which are The State Course of Study, Select Rote Songs and
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Elementary Music Teacher, Gala Day Stor. ies, Persimmons, Longan's Primary Arith- metic, and others.
A review of the journals printed in Chris- tian county since 1857 shows that the great political parties, Democrat, Whig, Repub- lican, as well as the Independent and Green- back elements, have been ably represented by the newspapers.
The local newspapers are frequently se- verely criticised for the articles at times published by them, and in many instances these criticisms are well taken. Editors are not at all times sufficiently careful to ascer- tain the accuracy of the statements pub- lished before displaying them to the world, and too frequently does it happen that the reputation of an innocent person is injured by reason of the carelessness of the editor. In some cases he even so far forgets him - self as to permit malice and revenge to enter into his publication. An able editor of a newspaper is always, or should be, high- minded and broad enough to avoid unneces- sarily injuring the feelings or reputation of any citizen.
Newspapers of Christian county have for the most part been devoid of this narrow- contracted abuse of the peaceable and in- offensive citizen.
Newspapers when conducted upon the proper basis are a great benefit to the com- munity : they are educators, putting their readers abreast of the times, and even the local papers place in the hands of their pa- trons the means of ascertaining what is go- ing on in all parts of the world: an able press like that of Christian county should be encouraged and patronized by its inhabi- tants.
SCHOOLS.
Three quarters of a century have passed! since the first public school was conducted
within the borders of Christian county. It was held in a log-house which stood two miles northeast of the present site of Tay- lorville and which was built after the faslı- ion of the homes of the pioneer settlers-a rude building with the fireplace occupying the most of one end of the house, a log sawed out of one side to furnish light and ventila- tion, its only furniture consisting of rough puncheon benches and a slat fastened to one wall for a writing desk.
During the winter of 1826-27, Elijah Hanon taught here the first school of which we have any record. The district boundary seems to have been indefinite since it is known that Daniel and Martin Miller who lived near Elgan's mill in Southfork town- ship, fourteen miles away were two of his pupils that winter. They walked to school on Monday morning, boarded with a family near the school and walked home again on Friday evenings.
In 1831-32 Archibald McCollough, who is said to have been a fine scholar, taught at the same place, and again in 1832-33 a Mr. Crossthwaite, who was a professional teacher, conducted a school there.
The next school on record was held at Campbell's Point, in 1831-32 in a log house built on land owned by Joseph Matthews, and it is said to be the first house erected in the county, especially for a school house. The first teacher was Robert White. In the same year, Michael Archie taught a school in a house on his brother's farm in Mt. Auburn township near the Springfield and Decatur road.
In 1834-35 Hon. H. M. Vandeveer taught the first school in Mosquito town- ship in a house also situated on the Spring- field and Decatur road. He also taught in Southfork township.
Thus we see how the pioneers struggled
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CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
bravely to educate their children with the limited means afforded them. Whenever two or three families formed a settlement, a school was opened as soon as a teacher could be secured. Many of the first schools were subscription schools.
The work of the pioneer teacher con- sisted largely in teaching reading, writing and arithmetic ; schools were of short dura- tion ; books were crude and scarce and the older children could attend only two or three months of the term. The salaries of teachers in those days of pioneer life ranged from eight to ten dollars per month, or a dollar and a half per pupil.
From these small beginnings has been evolved the present day system of elemen- tary schools, and from such educational conditions, disadvantageous as they were, have come many of the most substantial professional and business men.
With the organization of the county in 1839 came the appointment of the first school commissioner, Hon. H. M. Vande- veer, who had been a pioneer teacher in Mosquito and Southfork townships.
The "Enabling Act" of 1818 appropri- ating section 16 in each township to the state for school purposes gave an impetus to education. In 1828 the Legislature au- thorized the sale of these lands, and bor- rowed the money. But the returns were too meager to support the schools and taxes had to be levied. In 1835, a county fund was created by an act of the Legislature which also provided that the teachers should not receive from the public fund more than half the amount due them, and that the surplus should constitute the principal of the county fund, which amounted to $348,285.75 and in the same year the interest on school moneys borrowed by the state was first dis- tributed to the counties.
In 1824, the balance of the overflowed and swamplands, after paying for drainage and levees, was granted to the counties for educational purposes. Thus gradually the state came to realize the need of fostering free public schools and gradually too im- proved methods for controlling them were adopted.
In Christian county the first township or- ganized for school purposes was Southfork. In 1839 the December term of the county court appointed as trustees Robert Richard- son, Sr., Benjamin Robertson and William Harvey, Esq. Council was appointed treas- urer and continued in that office for many years.
In 1866 the township organization was effected and trustees of schools were ap- pointed for the seventeen townships of the county. Each township was then divided into districts to accommodate the rapidly growing population and the log school house gradually gave place to the more comfort- able frame houses.
With the incorporation of the townships came the requirement for a certificate of qualification from the township trustees be- fore a teacher could be paid out of the school funds. Besides a knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic, the teacher was re- quired to have also an elementary knowl- edge of history and geography.
The spirit of progress was aroused and frequent legislation on school matters was demanded by an enlightened and earnest public. In 1854 the separate office of State Superintendent was created and Hon. Ninian Edwards was appointed at a yearly salary of $1,500.
To supply the demands for more efficient teachers, the first State Normal School was established in 1857, and the Southern Nor- mal in 1869; and since then the legislature
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has established three other State Normal schools. The Eastern Normal at Charles- ton, Coles county, the Northern at DeKalb, DeKalb county, and the Western at Ma- comb, McDonough county.
In a former sketch of the schools of Chris- tian county, given in 1880 by ex-County Superintendent R. W. Orr, and from which much of the data of the article was gath- ered, stress is laid upon the efforts made to encourage better and more thorough prep- aration for teaching by those who were en- gaged in the work as well as by those who expected to teach by insisting upon their attendance at county normals and institutes. But of all the excellent work done by Mr. Orr during his long term of office which extended from 1873 to 1898, with a break of only four years, the most important and most influencing act was the introduction into the elementary schools of the State Course of Study in 1889.
The Manual and Guide for the common schools had its beginning in Macon county about 1879 or 1880 with John Trainer who was then County Superintendent. His work soon spread to Piatt, Champaign, and other counties. As the idea developed it ap- pealed to the good judgment of educators all over the state and at a meeting of the Central Illinois Teachers' Association in March, 1889, the plan was discussed and Hon. Richard Edwards, Superintendent of Public Instruction. issued a call to county superintendents to meet in Springfield April 10, 1899, to discuss the advantages of a uniform State Course of Study.
As a result of that meeting a committee of county superintendents was appointed to compile a course of study for the state, con- sisting of eight years' work of eight months each. This course was completed and pub- lished in time for the opening of schools in
September of that year. Mr. Orr immedi- ately introduced the course in this county and most of the teachers strove zealously to adapt it to the needs of the schools under their control and to secure the aim which the friends of the course claim for it and which are as follows :
First : To furnish, as a basis for work, to superintendents, teachers and directors an outline of the various branches required by law to be taught in the schools of the state, arranged in the several grades, in accord- ance with established and approved meth- ods.
Second : To advance pupils, step by step, through his school life, giving him credit for work done, and thereby lessening the evil effects of a too frequent change of teachers.
Third: To unify the work in the com- mon schools of the county by furnishing the basis for a close and more effective direc- tion and supervision, and for comparing by means of examinations or written reviews the results in the different schools.
Fourth: To enable directors and parents to know better what the common schools are accomplishing for their children and to co-operate with teachers in the work.
By means of monthly examinations, which serve not only as tests but suggest good methods of teaching, the county su- perintendent who can visit the schools not oftener than once or twice a year has an opportunity for keeping in touch with the schools.
For many years central examinations were held in the center schoolhouse in each township. Here the advanced pupils of all the schools in the group met and compared work. In recent years the central exam- ination has been abandoned because of the almost unpassable road encountered in the
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months of March and April. Instead the examination questions are sent to each teacher, who holds her own examination and after grading the papers recommends those who have made the required grades to the final examination held later in Taylorville.
Since the adoption of the course of study in 1889, nearly 1,000 children have gradu- ated from the elementary schools and have a diploma of same. Since the days of the three R's, there has been an increase in the number of studies taught in school. The subject of language and grammar has be- come so generally recognized as important that no one now questions whether or not it should be a part of the course of study.
History and geography appeal- so strong- ly to the child mind that every school boy now knows at twelve years of age the lead- ing facts in American history, and the re- lation which the United States bears to the rest of the world.
The growing evils arising from the use of alcoholic drings and tobacco have led the State Legislature to pass a law requir- ing that physiology and hygiene shall be taught in the schools of the state. Later nature study, music, morals and manners, agriculture and domestic science are finding a place in many schools. In fact the times demand that a person now to be rated as intelligent as his fellows must know some- thing of many more subjects and facts than his father was required to know. Hence the course of study by suggesting broader and deeper lines of study has tended to im- prove the work done in the elementary school and bring it to the level of the work done in cities, where better teaching is nisu- ally required.
long and narrow-usually 26x30 feet, with three windows on a side, the stove in the middle of the room and no provision for ventilation except by the windows. These are an improvement over the log house, for they are warmer, better lighted and better furnished.
Many of these frame houses were built between 1860 and 1870 and are now become old and dilapidated, and are fast being abandoned for more pretentious houses which are not only more pleasing to the eye but are more sanitary. The puncheon benches have given place to patent seats and desks which provide for the physical rest and bodily comfort of the children.
At Willey Station in 1898 a new modern building 30x36 feet with a hall 12x24 and two porches, was erected at a cost of about $1,200. The interior arrangements pro- vide for the comfort and health of the chil- dren. The principal windows are massed upon one side of the room so as to bring most of the light over the left shoulder of the pupils; a jacketed stove sets in a corner of the room over a box which ad- mits fresh air from the outside. This fresh air is heated as it rises between the stove and the jacket and is diffused evenly over the room. Ventilators set in the floor per- mit the passage of the impure air from the room under the floor to an opening in the ventilating flue which is a part of the chim- ney. There are fly screens at windows and doors, sliding doors divide the cloak hall from the main room, the woodwork is fin- ished in oil, the walls are tinted; there are single desks, slate blackboards and organ, a well filled bookcase of reference and juve- nile books, and several appropriate pictures on the wall. Since this house was built. nine other districts have abandoned their
There has been a wonderful advance too in school equipment. The log school house gradually gave way to the frame house- old houses and have eercted new houses
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somewhat after the plan of the Willey Sta- tion House.
Eagle and Hedge Row districts in Mos- quito township; Davis, Blake, and Mont- gomery districts in Mt. Auburn township; George and Central Point in Buckhart township; Adams in South Fork, and Friendship in Taylorville township. In these buildings, the three essentials to health -light, heat and ventilation-have been carefully considered and the latest and best thought on these subjects has been cousid- ered. The buildings stand as a monument to the enterprise and advanced ideas of their respective communities.
Many other communities have greatly improved their schoolhouse by adding cloak rooms and porches, by changing the stove from the middle of the room, by putting in a ventilating system, by papering and paint- ing and otherwise cleaning the room, by adding blackboards and libraries and pic- tures.
Teachers, directors and patrons have all taken pride in most districts to make the schoolhouse as clean, as healthy and as at- tractive as the best homes in the community.
The rapidly decreasing enrollment in many rural schools is turning the minds of the people to the subject of consolidation of districts, which will certainly decrease the expenses of schools in many townships, but which can hardly be realized in this county until the roads are greatly improved.
There is no one other item on the tax list which shows so much expenditure of public money as for the support of the pub- lic school and from no other expenditure of money is so much expected. The state has undertaken the task of educating all of the children. When shall we consider that task completed? Shall it be when the child has learned to read, write and cipher ? Is
it fair that some communities furnish am- ple opportunities for high school privileges and others will furnish means for no more than a five months' term with an illy paid and poorly prepared teacher.
The educational demands of to-day have kept pace with the industrial and commer- cial demands; the boy and girl of to-day is no better prepared to meet the demands of modern life cducationally after comple- tion of a thorough course in a high school than were the boy and girl of fifty years ago prepared for the demands of life in that day who had merely learned to read, write and cipher.
"We do not seek education in order to earn money or accumulate property, but for the same reason as we seek money and property, namely, so as to possess and main- tain a more complete and happy life, to es- cape the pauperism of an impoverished mind, a destitute personality : to become the possessors of life's highest wealth."
It is the purpose of the public school system, which includes the rural schools, the graded schools and the high schools of the county, to furnish not only the facilities for study and recitation, but, through ear- nest, qualified teachers, to instill those ideas of culture and good citizenship which shall repay an hundred fold for every dollar ex- pended.
Daniel Miller, the fourth commissioner of schools for Christian county, reporting to Campbell Thomas, Secretary of State and ex-officio State Superintendent of Schools. in 1846, gives the following sta- tistics :
Whole number of schools in county 6 Whole number of scholars attending 173 Whole number of children under 21 .. 1,236 Whole amount of school funds. . .$69.03
-
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CHRISTIAN COUNTY, ILLINOIS.
Ave. paid male teachers per mo. .. . $14.00 Ave. paid female teachers per mo. . . $10.00
The annual report of Hon. Alfred Bay- liss, Superintendent of Public Instruction, for the year ending June 30, 1903 :
Number of school districts .. . . 142
Number of school houses 153
Number of pupils enrolled .. . 7,947
Whole number of males under
21 7,330
Whole number of females 111)- der 21 6,851
Number of teachers employed. 236
Amount of money used for school purposes $135,356.66 Estimated value of school prop-
erty $299,305.00 Average wages paid male teach- ers $55.38
Average wages
paid female
teachers $40 66
SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY SINCE ITS ORGANIZATION.
H. M. Vandeveer, appointed May 16, 1839. John W. Wheat, elected Aug. 2, 1841. Thos. S. Leachman, elected Aug. 7. 1843. Daniel Miller, elected Aug. 4, 1845. James C. Morrison, elected Aug. 2, 1847. James C. Morrison, elected Nov. 6, 1849. James C. Morrison, elected Nov. 4, 1851. Richard Sparks, elected Nov. 8, 1853. Jesse Hanon, elected Nov. 7, 1855. S. S. Cisna, elected Nov. 3, 1857. S. S. Cisna, elected Nov. 5, 1861. James A. Ryan, elected Nov. 3. 1863. A. McCaskill, elected Nov. 7, 1865. W. F. Gorrell, elected Nov. 2, 1869. R. W. Orr, elected Nov. 4, 1873. R. W. Orr, elected Nov. 6. 1877.
Francis W. Boyd, elected November, 1881. R. W. Orr, elected 1885. R. W. Orr, elected 1889.
R. W. Orr, elected 1895.
D. O. Witmer, elected November, 1898. Edith Witmer, appointed August, 1899. Anna L. Barbre, November, 1900. Anna L. Barbre, November, 1902.
CHURCHES.
As noted in a former chapter of this work, many of the early settlers were of a religious turn of mind, and believed in the due observance of the Sabbath, the estab- lishment of churches and Sunday schools. Church organizations and Sabbath schools were formed at a very early day, in the set- tlements of the county, notably, the Baptist church at Stonington, the Congregational church at Rosemond, and other congrega- tions which were established almost simul- taneously with the commencement of the settlement of these particular localities. These two are mentioned because of the fact that enough people were associated in the colonies that emigrated to these places to immediately begin the church work.
The facts are that the Methodist church, the Baptist church, the Christian church, the Roman Catholic church and the Cum- berland Presbyterian church, established congregations in many settlements at a very early day, and as soon as the congregations were of sufficient strength, either alone or united with other congregations, church houses were builded for the accommoda- tion of the church-goer.
In the early settlement of the county, at proper seasons when the weather would permit, camp meetings were held in the dif- ferent localities, and these camp meetings were a great source of pleasure to the re- ligious element of the county. At these camp meetings, the families would procure a tent and go and stay for a week or ten - days, services would be held in the open
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air sheltered from sun and storm by a brush covering, or under a large canvas: at these meetings, preachers of notoriety visited the people, and preached to them. Prominent among the ministers of the early day that delighted the people with their learning and the expounding of the divine word were the Rev. Peter Cartwright and Elder North- cut. Soon congregations were organized and churches built at Pana, Assumption. Mt. Auburn. Taylorville, Edinburg and Rosemond and other localities in the county. As time progressed and the people pros- pered schoolhouses and places of worship were matters to which the attention of the people would turn. The religious senti- ments of the different churches one toward the other were liberal. and in instances the same church house was used by different congregations as places of public worship. In some localities the schoolhouse was upon the Sabbath day converted into a meeting- house where Sunday school and church would both be held. People came there a great distance to attend these services. Min- isters of the gospel were zealous in the cause they had espoused, and the general rule was that the ministers preached to the people because they loved them, and be- cause they loved to expound to them the laws of God, even though they were unable to compensate them for their services.
It is true that in the earlier days, when starvation was staring the people in the face, they had practically all they could do "to keep the wolf from their own door;" they were not able to contribute to the salaries of ministers as they are now-a-days, and if a minister received a small compensation, or a few donations through the year. he was satisfied, and was content to till the soil and secure his living for the most part by "the sweat of his face." (The writer
would not be understood as condemning the payment of salaries to ministers; that is right and proper and should be encour- aged as, at this day and age, the whole of the time of the minister is required in his labor, and the only means he has of subsisting is through the salary he may receive. ) In those days when the meet- ings were held in the little log schoolhouse or log church and the people gathered in, they had familiar songs of praise that they loved to sing; many sweet and me- lodious voices joined together in this de- votional exercise: they sang with a spirit that made the welkin ring; the service and and the song were enjoyed by the happy throng; they listened with interest to the minister, who told them in plain, unvar- nished language of the golden streets of Jerusalem, and the pleasures of the happy throng that would by and by gather around the great white throne.
These people were in earnest, zealous, were not there for show, but to enjoy the hour in the worship of Almighty God.
Nothing can be more conducive to a real, live religion than to have a whole congrega- tion join with one accord in the exercises and in the songs of praise. Perhaps it would not do in this day and age for all the people to jon in the song, and for all the people when church was over to meet, shake hands with one another, renew their ac- quaintance and have a social minute or two, but I can not see why it would not do; I can not see why the choir in the corner should be called upon to do the singing alone and for the whole congregation : I can not see why so much formality should be observed in the pulpit and with the congre- gation ; it is not taught in the Bible ; it does not engender a spirit of kindness and good feeling and is not the way, in my judgment,
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