A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 51

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273

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was that of a woman whom he found in her barn milking her cow. She owned the cow and sold milk for a living, but said she was glad of all she could get. There is a charity circle in La- Porte, and doubtless also similar organizations in Michigan City. The one in LaPorte is com- posed of some of our best young ladies, who have been instrumental in doing some real good. But speaking in general, poverty is not here. Even in a rural and farming community some will be improvident, or really unfortunate, and the com- munity will have to help them. In proportion as that community approaches to the condition of a city, and industries and factories come, bringing with them the improvidence which too often ex- ists among the laboring classes, poverty and suffering increase and there are need of chari- ties and corrections. It has been so with Mich- igan City, and probably it will be so with La- Porte. New factories are coming, there is a new influx of strangers and of the industrial classes, and the rural, quiet days of LaPorte are past.

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CHAPTER XXIX.

EDUCATION .- THE COUNTY SCHOOLS.

"Culture's hand

Has scattered verdure o'er the land, And smiles and fragrance rule serene Where barren wilds usurped the scene. And such is man; a soil which breeds Or sweetest flowers, or vilest weeds; Flowers lovely as the morning's light, Weeds deadly as the aconite, Just as his heart is trained to bear The poisonous weed or flow'ret fair."

BOWRING

In America the introduction of schools is not far behind the settlement of the country. The first constitution of Indiana, adopted in 1816, provided for education. Yet in an early day the cause advanced slowly. The first constitu- tion made provision for the appointment of super- intendents of school sections to take charge of and lease the school lands in the townships. In 1824 the general assembly passed an act to in- corporate congressional townships and provide for public schools therein. The act provided for the election in each congressional township of three persons of the township to act as school trustees, to whom the control of the school lands and schools generally was given; and for the building of school houses. Every able-bodied person in each school district who was over twenty-one years of age must work one day in each week, or else pay thirty-seven and one-half cents in lieu of a day's work, until the school house was built. Almost every session of the legislature or general assembly witnessed some addition to or modification of the school law. Provision was made for the appointment of school examiners but the examinations might be private, and the examiners were quite irrespon- sible. Under such circumstances it could not be

expected that competent teachers be employed. Often the most trivial questions were asked a teacher, and this was called an examination. In many instances there was no examination at all -the teacher was simply engaged to teach. How- ever, it must be said that there was generally an endeavor on the part of the trustees to do the right thing ; the fact is that, generally competent teachers were not to be had. The original scheme of education embraced the district schools, the state university and the county academy as intermediate between the two and as a preparatory school for the latter. In some instances county academies were built and a few became famous and gave to the state some of her strongest men. But those institutions were sold and the proceeds added to the permanent school fund of the state. In 1841 there was some agitation in LaPorte county about building a county academy. At that time the fund which had been provided by law for the purpose amounted to $2,000. Under the laws regulating this fund, trustees were to be appointed and the names of Samuel Treat, John C. Reed, and James H. Andrews, of Rolling Prairie, were suggested for that office; but little ever came of it.

In LaPorte county much attention was given

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to the school laws and the subject of education. In 1842 there was much complaint against the district schools and the practice of employing incompetent teachers. Up to this time and later, no provision was made by law for the pay of the teacher and the support of the schools, but now the subject began to be agitated of levying a tax for that purpose. In the August election of 1848 a vote was taken in the state to try the minds of the people as to levying such a tax, and in this congressional district-then the ninth-there was a majority of 10,451 in favor of it, one of the largest majorities in the state. LaPorte county gave a vote of 1,715 in favor of levying a tax to support free schools, to 207 against it. This was the largest majority of any county in the district-and there were fifteen-except Wabash which gave a vote of 1,887 for, and 309 against. LaPorte county gave a larger proportionate majority than even Wabash.

By 1850 union schools had been established; that is, several school districts would unite and combine their funds and forces, and establish a union school at some center convenient to all. Little was done in this direction by LaPorte county, but the subject was agitated, and had it not been for the meeting of the constitutional convention which was to frame a new constitu- tion providing for a new school law, doubtless union schools would have sprung up all over the county. Under the new constitution the legis- lature of 1852 enacted a liberal school law which embodied principles of practical excellence ; and from that time, notwithstanding the selfishness of a few retro-actionists, and the stupidity of certain courts, the educational affairs of the state have progressed wonderfully.

But it may be well to glance at the schools of the county as they were before the year 1852. Undoubtedly the first school ever taught in the county was that of the Carey Mission at Du- Chemin or Hudson lake. In the year 1833 an- other school house was built there, in which a school was taught by a man named Edwards. One of the most interesting schools of the earliest times was that taught by Rachael B. Carter in the settlement in New Durham township, near West- ville. It was taught in Aunt Sally Eahart's loom house. Here Miss Carter gathered the children of the settlement around her and taught them the

rudiments of an education. She began on January I, 1833. She had eighteen scholars, among whom were Levi J. Benedict, William Garwood, and scholars by the name of Morgan and Eahart. This teacher was a strong character. The In- dians of all ages would sometimes come to her school wrapped in their blankets, and stand for hours without uttering a word or making a motion while they gazed curiously at the pro- ceedings. Then they would glide away as noise- lessly as they came. On one occasion an Indian woman called "Twin Squaw" told Miss Carter that the Indians intended to kill all the whites as soon as the corn was knee high. The teacher replied that the white people were well aware of the intentions of the Indians. "But," said she, taking up a handful of sand, "the white soldiers from the East are coming as numerous as these grains of sand to destroy the Indians before the corn is ankle high." The next morning there were no Indians to be found in the vicinity, and it was several months before they returned. Miss Carter afterwards taught in Noble township. A G. Webster, E. S. Harding and John Wakefield built a school house on Webster's farm, in the fall of 1835, and she became the teacher, begin- ning the school in January, 1836. This school in early times was very jealous of its reputation, and particularly in relation to spelling correctly. In those days a scholar was not taught to read unless he could spell correctly. Doubtless this was carried too far, but it is a question whether we have not swung to the other extreme, especially in view of the fact that some of our best educators declare that according to careful tests the at- tainments in spelling by pupils in schools and col- leges are now very unsatisfactory. Miss Carter's school in Noble township was for a long time the champion in spelling, and many were the inef- fectual attempts of schools in the neighboring districts to spell it down .. This school was es- pecially distinguished for the number of persons who in the little log structure prepared them- selves for teaching. The furniture was made of logs split with axes and planed off with grub hoes. From such material the seats and desks were manufactured. The fireplace and doors oc- cupied one entire side of the house. The floor was made of puncheons manufactured in the same manner as the desks and seats. Yet in this

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school room many of the active business men of LaPorte county received the rudiments of their education. It is said that in November, 1834, Miss Carter married a man named Jacobus. This name figures in the early affairs of the county, but the marriage does not appear on the mar- riage record of that year. Richard Jacobus died in 1876 or 1877. In 1832 the first school house in Springfield township was built, about eighty rods west of the village of Springfield. This school house was burned in 1835. . During the year 1834 a school house was put up on the Michigan road, in Kankakee township. It was constructed of logs, opposite the place after- wards occupied by John Provolt. Difficulties arose with regard to its location. From every point of the compass there were settlers who wanted it near their dwelling. After it was finished a man named Emerson was employed to teach. Before his term was completed the school house was burned in the night. Another was soon erected in the same spot afterwards occu- pied by a frame school house. The first school house built in Pleasant township was known as "Old _Charity." A number of those interested were opposed to having it on the site where it was built, and they put it on wheels or rollers and moved it to another place which suited them better. Then the other party hitched to it one night and pulled it back to its former location. A second time it migrated and this time it was run on the top of a stump so as to fasten it. But it was afterwards got loose and made to take two or three more journeys before the dispute was settled and the migratory school house was permitted to have a permanent abiding place.

What has been written will give a fair idea of the schools of that early day. More might be given, but it would be of the same piece. It is surprising, on studying the records, to find how many districts and townships built school houses at almost identicallv the same time, with- out any communication with each other or pur- pose of concerted action. There was great unanimity of spirit in this respect. The school houses were rude structures in fit harmony with the dwellings. The accommodations were not good. Stoves and such heating apparatus as are now used, were unknown. A mud-and-stick chimney in one end of the building with earthen

hearth and fireplace wide and deep enough to re- ceive a six-foot back-log and smaller wood to match, served for warming purposes in winter and a sort of conservatory in summer. For win- dows, a part of a log was sawed out in two sides of the building and the space filled with a light of glass; or, if that was not to be had, with greased paper or cloth. If a spelling match or other meeting was held in the schoolroom in the evening, the old tallow dips were brought into requisition. Everything was rude and plain. Yet from out of just such schools houses came some of the greatest men of America and of the world, a long list of whose names might be given. The teachers were put to great inconven- ience in "boarding around." They had to "bunk with the children ;" or, where a spare room was afforded, the teacher was cheerfully informed how many and what members of the family had "died in that bed;" and when in winter he got into a bed that perhaps had not been slept in for six months, he thought, as his teeth chattered and his frame shook for a few moments, that he was in a fair way to add to the number. Yet from just such experiences came some of the ablest educators of the state and nation. En- vironment is something; but if it is true that the individual mind is from the environment, it is a larger, stronger and deeper truth that the en- vironment is from the collective or social mind, of which the individual forms a part. All told, one age is much like another and it is neither wise nor safe to decry the past.

The schools of those days were dependent upon local taxation. In 1840 one seventh of the adult population of Indiana could not read nor write, and many of those who could were densely ignorant. In education Indiana stood sixteenth among twenty-three states; in 1850 she was twenty-third among twenty-six states. Now, though twenty-fourth in area, she is first in her invested school fund, fifth in population and number of schools, sixth in churches, seventh in wealth, and the most typically American state of the Union. Her population and development furnish data which form an index to the history which the country has already written. Nowhere else in the United States except in West Vir- ginia and Missouri, which in other respects are less characteristic of the nation, is so large a

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percentage of the population native born. More than ninety per cent. of the inhabitants of Indi- ana are American by birth, while in the states north of it more than ten per cent. are foreign and in the states to the south the same propor- tion of the negro race obtains.

Well settled in the early '20s of the last cen- tury her farming lands did not attract the strong stream of immigration which presently overran the western mines and ranches and the northern wheat fields of the country. Her lack of great cities of national importance protected her from the later immigration which turned the larger centers of the east and middle west into little Europes. Add to this the fact that Indiana was originally settled along lines of immigration which ran north and south as strongly as east and west, and we have another explanation of the reason why to-day the state is typically American.

The golden era of progress in the LaPorte county schools has been since the year 1852. From that time the county school examiners have been, in their chronological order, F. P. Cum- mins, John C. Reid, Henry Safford, John Sailor, M. K. Farrand, S. L. Trippe, Jasper Packard, W. B. Biddle, A. P. Bliss, J. G. Laird, and Joel Foster. Until the year 1860 there were three school examiners each year ; but at that time the board of three was abolished and one single ex- aminer substituted in its place. Jasper Packard was appointed school examiner in 1861, and after him J. G. Laird and William P. Phelon. But each of these served more than one year. In 1872 the office of county examiner was abolished and that of county superintendent took its place, since which time the incumbents have been James O'Brien, W. A. Hosmer, O. L. Galbreth, Charles A. Zeigler and E. C. Bunnelll.

These men have labored assiduously to ele- vate the standard and enlarge the scope and in- tensify the usefulness of the county schools, and every district in every township has felt the ben- eficial effects of it. Even those townships which as yet were hardly settled soon had school build- ings. One was built in Johnson township on sec- tion sixteen about a mile and a half south of the river. John B. McDonald, who came to the county in 1836, was one of the first teachers in the township. In Wanatah a stock company was formed in 1870 which built what was called the

"Enterprise" school house. F. McCurdy after- ward owned most of the stock. Soon there were seven good schoolhouses in the township of Cass, showing the interest of the people in education. In 1856 a schoolhouse was built on Hog island in Dewey township, with a Miss White for teacher ; a township settled largely by Germans. In Center township every school district soon had a good schoolhouse. In the village of New Dur- ham the frame schoolhouse of 1854 gave place to a brick structure. Clinton had good schools and school buildings. The schoolhouse at Hud- son burned by an incendiary in June, 1874, was replaced by a brick one, and all over the county were seen the quickening effects of the new sys- tem of education, and of the supervision of the new officers.

In 1863 the new system of education was well under way, having been in progress for eleven years. In that year Mr. J. G. Laird, then county examiner, made a tour and a thorough inspection of the county schools. A few extracts from his report are given here. He says :

"The first school I visited was Mount Pleasant in Galena township. I found a school of thirty pupils in a nice and well arranged room. The school is conducted by William A. Coombs. I stayed here half a day and heard several classes read and recite in arithmetic and grammar, and was well pleased with all the recitations, and especially with the government of the school. I consider the house, school and teacher number one.

"I next visited the Ross school in Springfield township and found the school in charge of Mr. I. Austin, a young man of fine abilities. This is his first attempt at teaching. Here I spent half a day. The school numbers about forty- all crowded in a small and poorly arranged room, and considering the circumstances, I think the school is doing well. I learn that they intend to build a large brick house soon. I really hope that they will let some practical teacher get up the plan for them.

"A school known as the Byron school I then visited. Here I found a large school, sixty in number, in charge of Mr. I. T. Lloyd. The school is too large considering the variety of the text books and scholars. A half day convinced me that the teacher and a majority of the scholars were industrious: and that the order

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was good considering the large number of small scholars in attendance. Here they have a large, commodious and well arranged house (at least I think so for I drew the plan myself.) Here as elsewhere there is too great variety of text books, which is perplexing to the teacher and detrimental to the school. Parents and especially school officers should attend to this matter.

"I next visited the school known as the Hunt school. Mr. McDonald, the teacher, does not enjoy good health ; yet I think the school is mak- ing good improvement. At this house there is a feature I do not like, which is a large mud hole right in front of the house. And to this point I wish to call the attention of the school officers in this county. All schoolhouses should have a good and substantial fence around them ; and yet nine out of ten in the county are unfenced. Hogs and cattle are allowed to roam to and about the schoolhouses that we send our children to. Here I saw some modern Hieroglyphics upon the walls, which I do not think very ornamental to a schoolroom.

"From here I went to Door Village. This school is in charge of Mr. Vickery, and is small, numbering twenty-five. I heard several classes recite. The recitation was not as good as I could wish ; yet the teacher is not to blame, for he in- formed me that the scholars came very irregu- larly to school. Parents can not expect their chil- dren to make much improvement, unless they are in regular attendance. While I was present the best of order was maintained and I was pleased with the technicality of the teacher; ev- erything had to be just so. And to this point I would respectfully call the attention of several teachers of the county. Whatever is worth do- ing is worth doing well.

"I then went half a mile west, and two miles north, and stopped at - schoolhouse, in a grove. Here I found my friend Everhart teach- ing the young idea how to shoot. Here they have a house large enough in size, but poorly seated. There were about forty pupils in at- tendance. Mr. Everhart is an active and wide- awake teacher, and judging from what I saw and heard, parents and pupils will be satisfied with the school.

"I then, according to promise, visited the school at Beatty's Corners, on New Year's day. Here I found a large school, sixty in number. An elderly man (fifty-six years of age) by the name of Bull is teaching the school. Here I spent a profitable afternoon, hearing them read. and recite in geography, and spell. Several of

the patrons were present (a very uncommon occurrence in all our schools) during the after- noon. I have been engaged in teaching most of the time during the last twenty years; I have visited a large number of schools, and I must say as to government, this school excelis all ; not a whisper, not a jar, no noise (useless,) such industry, and eagerness to learn, and harmony of feeling between teacher and pupils, I never saw before. When the time came for dismissal all the scholars put their hats and bonnets on, in a quiet and orderly manner, and then the teacher placed himself at the door, and one by one, bidding him good afternoon ; and he return- ing the compliment, all in perfect order. I then went and took supper with Mr. and Mrs. Doing (thanks to them for kindness). By re- quest I delivered a lecture on education in the evening."

In this manner Mr. Laird went over the schools of the county, publishing his observa- tions on each school. His report makes very in- teresting and useful reading as indicating the condition of the schools at that time; they were constantly improving.

Not only so, but the township libraries were improved. These were well under way as early as 1856. In that year the state superintendent of instruction published a circular calling for statistics concerning them. At times interest in them has lagged, but again it has revived, and especially of late years an effort has been made by the county superintendent to improve the town- ship libraries, which has met with good re- sults. In 1900 the number of volumes in town- ship, town and city libraries in LaPorte county was 15,345. Only seven counties had a greater number. The number of volumes added during the year was 1.748. Only three counties had added more. This made a total for LaPorte county, in 1901, of 17,093. In the township libraries in 1901, there were 2,108 volumes. Only fifteen of the ninety-two counties had more. This shows something of the comparative intelligence of the county.

The importance and growth of the State Teachers' Reading Circle is shown in figures re- cently compiled, showing the number of books from the circle lists purchased and read by In- diana teachers. Up to 1904, 352,481 books had been circulated, and up to April. 1904, this num- ber has been increased to 466,613, a gain of 114,-

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132 which have been added. LaPorte county leads with 16,369 books, the lowest county hav- ing 631. Each county's average is 5,07I.

In the atmosphere of the new system of edu- cation, teachers' institutes, school exhibitions, literary and debating societies began to be formed, in connection with the public school work. In 1852 Mr. Hawkins, of LaPorte, Dr. Boynton, who used to illustrate his lectures, with a manikin, and others, were interested in institute work. This work was voluntary then, and entered into from the love of it; but now it is one of the re- quirements of the Indiana school laws that an institute be held in each county during one week of each year, and it is to be feared that institute work is not in all cases entered into from the love of it. There were also literary societies, etc. For instance, in 1862 there was a young men's liter- ary society regularly organized and meeting statedly at Farnsworth schoolhouse. All were invited to become members and "assist in the diffusion of knowledge and the exchanging of ideas." The exercises of each evening consisted of a criticism, an essay, an oration, a declamation, and a discussion. Mortimer Nye, afterwards lieutenant-governor of the state, was secretary. In this manner the young men of the county were educated for important positions in life. Mr. Nye was eminently a self-made man, be- ginning his public career as a school teacher, for which he had fitted himself by his own exertions.

In the fifties and before, there were teachers' associations which used to meet at different cen- ters in the county, not only in the winter but even during the hottest months of the summer. There were long and cosy rides to the jingling of merry bells in winter, or to the scent of flowers and new- mown hay in summer. There were feasts of the soul, delightful repasts of the body, and pleasant associations were formed which in many cases ripened into closer ties of life-long friendship, and in some into marriage union. Occasionally the state superintendent of public instruction would put in an appointment in the county, and then there would be a big meeting, and a grand rally of the educational forces, in some central place, and the whole county would feel the im- petus of it.

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A Twentieth Century History and Biographical Record of Laporte County Indiana, Part 51

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels Publication date: 1904 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1273

Author: Rev. E. D. Daniels
Publication date: 1904
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1273