USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A standard history of Elkhart County, Indiana : an authentic narrative of the past, with particular attention to the modern era in the commercial, industrial, educational, civic and social development, Volume I > Part 11
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CAPTAIN BEANE AND OTHER PIONEER TEACHERS
A few years afterward a boy of six years, William A. Beane by name, was brought from Ohio by his parents and went to several of these pioneer schools at and near Goshen. In his school days the teachers of the neighborhood were Capt. Henry Beane, his father, E. D. Smith, John Deutrow, Sylvester Webster and Nelson Prentiss, afterward of Albion, Noble County. In the fall of 1843, young Beane, then in his sixteenth year, became a resident of Goshen, attended the school of A. C. Carpenter, and soon afterward became a printer in the Democrat office. Samuel T. Young and T. G. Harris were also early teachers of Prairie schools.
HON. E. M. CHAMBERLAIN
At Elkhart Town one of the first to teach was E. M. Chamber- lain, a young Maine man who had been admitted to the bar a short time previously. As is well known, he afterward became an honor to the bench, the Legislature and to Congress.
SCHOOL CENTERS OUTSIDE GOSHEN AND ELKHART
Then east of the Town of Elkhart and in the northern section of the prairie region, Middlebury and Bristol opened rural schools at an early day, while south of Goshen, Benton and New Paris came into the educational field. The first institution of the kind at Mid- dlebury was a little frame structure, built in the late '30s, which went by the unusual name of the Red Schoolhouse. Private schools had been previously taught in several residences, but this was a village affair.
Before Bristol was platted, in 1835, Miss Philossa Wheeler taught in a log cabin which stood on its site, the first schoolhouse erected in town being completed in 1838.
Benton, a short distance southeast of Goshen, just beyond the southern edge of the prairie and in an oak opening, was laid out by Capt. Henry Beane, the pioneer schoolmaster. In 1836 the post-
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office formerly known as Elkhart Prairie was moved to Benton and a schoolhouse erected in which said Beane presided as first master.
New Paris, which is directly south of Goshen, was platted in 1838, and a log schoolhouse was one of the first buildings erected John McGrew was the teacher who opened it.
MRS. CHAUNCEY HASCALL'S RECOLLECTIONS
Doubtless other schools were thrown open, away from these centers of population, large and small, but the educational move- ment throughout the county was sporadic, and not directed along continuous channels through an organized system. Among those who faithfully participated in such efforts, and bravely assisted in the task of tiding over the children of those times to the better period of organized and classified schools, was Mrs. Chauncey S. Hascall, wife of the pioneer merchant of Goshen. In a paper read before the Elkhart County Historical Society she says: "In the winters of 1839-40 and 1840-41 I taught school in the next district west of Goshen. I received twelve dollars a month, which was considered at that time a high salary for a woman. Of course it was the typical log schoolhouse, which the young people of the present day have read of, and the older ones hold in affectionate remembrance. The writing desks were shelves attached to the logs on the sides of the room, and the seats were long benches without backs, with a second row of the same kind, but lower, for the smaller scholars. A fire in a big box stove in the center of the room was kept in a roaring condition by the boys, who were glad of the opportunity of getting a change of position and a breath of fresh air. The patrons of the school were mostly Pennsylvania Dutch and spoke their own language in home and neighborhood inter- courses ; consequently English was almost a foreign language to many of the scholars.
"The Stouders, Studebakers, Cripes, Ulerys and Mannings I remember most distinctly among the scholars, as I boarded with each of their families a month, instead of taking, as was the custom, the rounds of the district. It was an experiment having the winter school taught by a 'schoolma'am,' and the trustees thought I might have some trouble governing it, but I had very little. The girls and boys were model children, and must have been well trained at home.
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Those who are living now are gray-haired grandparents, and many have passed to the other life.
"John and David Studebaker, Levi Ulery and Jacob Cline were the oldest pupils and were nearly grown men. All the older resi- dents will remember Dave Studebaker, whose residence was in Goshen many years and who died here esteemed and regretted. I think there were almost thirty scholars in the school, and among them the Bartmess boys.
"The small scholars of that day, with their home-made gar- ments, home-made from the shearing of the sheep to the last stitch in the clothes, made after the same pattern as their fathers' and mothers' apparel, would make a striking contrast to the little people of today, with their large collars, and knee pants of the boys, and the furbelows and fancy dress 'fixings' of the girls.
"The three R's were the principal branches taught ; in fact the only ones. Grammar was an unknown study in the backwoods. One or two little 'Mannings' may have studied geography. There were different classes in reading and spelling, and the monotonous round was only varied by an occasional call to help solve some problem in subtraction or long division. In arithmetic each studied by himself and could 'go ahead' as fast as he pleased without being kept back by slower ones in the class.
"Of course not one of the scholars could have passed a 'high school' examination, but the young farmers could 'reckon up' the value of their farm produce, read the Bible and weekly newspaper, properly sign all legal documents and spell better than half the high school graduates.
"There were none of the modern aids to teachers; even black- ยท boards were not in use in the country schools of that day. There were no normal schools for instruction in the art of teaching; no county or township institutes where teachers could meet and discuss the new ideas advanced in educational lines."
PROFESSOR MYERS ON "THE LOG SEMINARIES"
Prof. E. B. Myers, so long a teacher in the Elkhart city schools, when a boy of ten years was brought by his parents to the home farm in York Township, where he had a taste of the country school of those days. He describes his boyhood experiences and observa- tions thus : "My first admission to one of the 'log seminaries' of
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Elkhart county was in December, 1846. This spacious, well fur- nished seat of learning stood in York township, about two miles west of the village of Vistula. It was built of logs hewn on both sides, the cracks chinked and daubed with clay (there was no lime for schoolhouses at that time), a horizontal window on each of the four sides and a stove in the center. This was an aristocratic schoolhouse; it had a floor made of boards, not your rough puncheons so common elsewhere, but nice inch-boards laid loosely on the rough-hewn sleepers. The boards were not nailed down, I suppose for two reasons: first, because in those days nails were scarce and cost money ; secondly, anything that fell on the floor was pretty apt to go through one of the many wide cracks and could be recovered only by taking up one or more of the boards.
"The desks of this schoolhouse were marvels of mechanical skill. Two-inch auger holes were bored in the log walls, and large oak or hickory pins driven in, and upon these were laid boards, which were then called 'writing desks.' The seats were made of slabs, two legs in each and one in the middle to keep them from sagging when overcrowded. During writing time the pupils all sat with their faces to the wall and the teacher marched around looking over their shoulders, criticising or commanding as the occa- sion required. There were no shelves under these desks for books, but what few we had were piled upon the writing desks and around the corners, wherever convenient.
"When not writing or ciphering we were expected to sit facing the center of the room, and could then rest our weary backs against the edge of the board that was called the desk. In front of this and nearer the stove on each side of the room was placed a slab seat for the little folks who did not write. On these benches the . little ones were compelled to sit by the hour, swinging their feet and waiting for their turn to be called up by the teacher to 'say their letters' or spell their 'a, b, ab's.' Books or busy work for beginners were not thought of.
"If a child learned his letters the first term he was supposed to be making satisfactory progress. Especially was this true if it was a winter term, when the larger pupils were supposed to be entitled to the greater part of the time and attention of the teacher. The range of studies was not very wide. A grammar was not seen in that school till some years afterward. 'It wasn't worth nothing but to learn folks to talk proper,' and so was summarily discarded.
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A year later I took to the school a copy of Olney's Geography and Atlas which my oldest sister had used in Chicago. This atlas was very instructive to me in the way of local geography. All that the northern part of the map of Indiana contained was the word 'Pot- tawattamies,' printed in large letters diagonally across the page. The book undoubtedly saw the light long before I did. As I was the only pupil in the class I was always at the head. The recita- tions of those days were unique. The first class in the morning was the reading, the highest first and so on to the a, b, c's. Then followed the writing and the recess. After recess came more work for the little folks, the lowest first, and closing the forenoon session with the 'first class in spelling,' which was always an important event in the each half-day session.
"There were no recitations in arithmetic. As the work consisted wholly in 'doing sums,' and as there was no such thing as con- formity of text books, especially in arithmetic, each person worked away at his own sweet will. Such a thing as an explanation of a subject or principle was not thought of, much less considered necessary. If we couldn't do the sums we asked the teacher to show us how, but the showing how answered for that case only and gave us but little or no strength to cope with future similar difficulties.
"In those days blackboards and dictionaries were unknown in the ordinary country school. The teacher was supposed to know everything and freely gave of his or her knowledge. The teachers of those days never hesitated at the pronunciation of a long word, but spelled it through and gave us the pronunciation, which was law and gospel to us."
JOEL P. HAWKS DESCRIBES EDUCATION AT WATERFORD
Waterford Mills, now a southern suburb of Goshen, was quite an industrial center and had gathered considerable of a population by the late '30s. Judge Elias Baker founded the settlement in 1833 by the building of his log cabin and grist mill. Several fami- lies soon settled in that beautiful neighborhood of Elkhart Prairie, but the place did not show a decided growth until the coming of the Hawks families. In 1838 David Gallentine and the senior and junior Cephas Hawks laid out the Village of Waterford. The mill- ing firm of C. Hawks & Sons had succeeded to all of the Baker interests. Joel P. Hawks, the youngest son, in after years became
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the cornerstone of Waterford Mills, and when the family interests were transferred to Goshen was, for thirty years, one of the most prominent citizens of the county seat.
Mr. Hawks came to Waterford with other members of the family when he was about thirteen years of age, and thus describes some of his early experiences in gaining an education: "The first school I attended in Indiana was at Waterford, in the winter of 1838. The schoolhouse was a new frame affair and had been painted a gorgeous red. William Baker was the teacher. He was a man of superior education for those days, but lacked the adapta- bility for a teacher. Attention was principally given to the primary classes ; to spelling and arithmetic, neither grammar nor reading being taught. I suggested to the teacher the advisability of a class in reading, but he could not see the use of it; then stated that if I desired to read he would hear me. Accordingly I stood up alone and read from my old English reader, while the scholars listened. At the conclusion, the teacher remarked that he did not think he could teach me anything in reading, and that was the last that I heard of the matter. This omission was quite general in the schools of that day, and it has shown in later years as the scholars of those days are very poor readers, but fine spellers."
THE MIDDLEBURY SEMINARY
Among the early special institutions of learning in the county was one at Middlebury. An advertisement in the Goshen Democrat in November, 1847, informs the public that the "Middlebury Sem- inary," under the direction of the Misses Casey, would be opened for young ladies and gentlemen on November 18th, and offered a thorough course of English instruction at reasonable rates. Such private institutions no doubt furnished educational opportunities to many boys and girls of this county from that early day to the present time, and public education, which in the last century was so materially supplemented by private enterprise, is not yet so complete and comprehensive as to entirely displace a school conducted by individuals or certain societies.
SCHOOL LEGISLATION PREVIOUS TO 1830
Previous to 1830, when the population of Elkhart County had reached about 1,000 people, with perhaps 200 or 300 children of
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school age, various provisions had been made by the constitution of 1816 and special legislative enactments for the support of the public schools. Under the constitution provision was made for the improvement of school sections and to apply the fund arising from their sale to the establishment and support of township schools and county seminaries. But the settlers were poor and the school lands neither sold nor leased to advantage. Several academies and seminaries were incorporated in the older counties between 1816 and 1820.
"In 1821," says Smith's "History of Indiana," "John Badollet, David Hart, William W. Martin, James Welsch, Daniel S. Caswell, Thomas C. Searle and John Todd were appointed by the General Assembly a commission to draft and report to the next Legislature a bill providing for a general system of education ; and they were instructed to guard particularly against 'any distinction between the rich and poor.' The commission set about their work con- scientiously, and when it was complete submitted it to Benjamin Parke, who had been at one time a delegate to Congress and was then the United States Judge for Indiana. The bill so reported was enacted into a law, and became the first general law on the subject of education passed by the Indiana General Assembly. It was passed in 1824, and bore the title: 'An Act to incorporate con- gressional townships and providing for public schools therein.'
"After providing for the election by the people of each Con- gressional township of three persons of the township to act as school trustees, to whom the control of the school lands and schools generally were to be given, the law made the following provision for building school houses : 'Every able-bodied male person of the age of twenty-one years and upwards residing within the bounds of such school district shall be liable to work one day in each week until such building may be completed, or pay the sum of thirty- seven and one-half cents for every day he may fail to work.' The same act describes a school house as follows: 'In all cases such school house shall be eight feet between the floors, and at least one foot from the surface of the ground to the first floor, and be furnished in a manner calculated to render comfortable the teacher and pupils.' The trustees, in lieu of work, were required to receive lumber, nails, glass, or other necessary materials, at the current prices. No funds were provided for the pay of teachers; so the schools were not free, but they were made open to all, black as well
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as white, and it was not until about 1830 that colored children were excluded from the schools, and then the exclusion arose from a prejudice excited by the slavery agitation. Under the law of 1824 the schools were kept open just as long each year as the patrons could or would pay for their maintenance.
"At nearly every succeeding session of the General Assembly some law was enacted on the subject of education, but still no general system was adopted. There was always an element of opposition that would find some way to get the laws before the courts, and thus to hamper the attempts to establish schools. Pri- vate citizens did much, and public meetings of citizens did more, but little could be accomplished in a public way. School officers had no funds with which to erect houses, or to pay teachers. They could not levy a tax, except by special permission of the district, and, even then the expenditure was limited to $50 by the act of 1834."
PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS
In the meantime various funds to be used in the establishment and support of the public schools were being formed and consoli- dated. The principal of these were the Congressional Township fund, raised from the sale of the sections 16, donated by the general Government from the public lands; the Bank Tax fund, authorized by a provision in the charter of the State Bank of Indiana which taxed each of its shares owned by individuals 121/2 cents annually ( one-half of the stock was owned by the state) ; the Seminary fund, created by the sale of all properties of the county seminaries, ordered by the Legislature in 1832; the Surplus Revenue fund, donated by the general government in 1836 from the surplus in the national treasury, Indiana's share in the division among the states amounting to $806,000, of which the Legislature set apart $573,000 for the permanent school fund; the Swamp Land fund, which included not only that class of lands, but all other granted to the state for which special provision was not made; the Saline fund, which had been formed in 1816, when Congress gave the state all salt springs within its borders with the lands reserved for their use, and in 1832 authorized the state to sell these properties and apply the proceeds to the common school fund; and the Contingent fund, arising from fines, forfeitures and escheats. These funds were gradually collected, so that with the adoption of the constitution of
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1851, the educators of the state felt that the time had come to organize a system of popular education of a fundamental and far- reaching nature.
THE SCHOOL LAW OF 1852
Although this law was passed in 1852, it did not become prac- tically operative until the first Monday of April, 1853, when the township trustees for school purposes were elected throughout the state. The law committed to the township trustees the charge of all the educational affairs of the township. It gave them the control and disbursement of all the school funds; it intrusted them with the duty of determining the number and location of all the school- houses necessary for the accommodation of the children of the township; it left to them the making of all contracts for building, repairing and furnishing schoolhouses; the purchasing of fuel; the employment of teachers; and, lastly, they were to determine the time of commencing and the period of the continuance of the schools.
Immediately upon the passage of the law, it met with consider- able opposition in all parts of the state. It was claimed that it would not be possible to select men in all the townships of the state capable of discharging properly the various duties required of township trustees; and, that in many instances, the summary and discretionary powers with which they were to be clothed, would be injudiciously exercised. This opposition, however, resulted only in the complete success of the law, for through it the people of the state were awakened to the great importance of electing the ablest and best men to the office-a commendable practice to which they still earnestly adhere.
EXPLAINING THE LAW TO THE PEOPLE
The trustees, on entering on the duties of their office, were in nearly all cases, greatly embarrassed by the general want of correct information among the people concerning the new system of public instruction. The law, in all points, was radically new, providing for a system wholly different from any to which the people had been accustomed. Few of the trustees, and still fewer of the people, had ever read, much less studied the law, hence they were unable to
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operate properly under it. To remove these difficulties a pamphlet of upwards of sixty pages, embracing the law, with its amendments and copious notes, explanations, instructions and forms of proceed- ings, was issued from the office of the superintendent of public instruction. A large edition was printed and distributed to the several townships of the state, so that any person, by simply calling on any of the county officials, would receive a copy without charge. By this means all soon became acquainted with the whole system.
The first duty of the board of trustees was to establish and con- veniently locate a sufficient number of schools for the education of all the children of their township. In referring to this matter in his annual report of 1853, Hon. W. C. Larrabee, the superintendent of public instruction, made these remarks : "But the schoolhouses, where are they? And what are they? In some townships there is not a single schoolhouse of any kind to be found. In other town- ships there are a few old, leaky, dilapidated log cabins, wholly unfit for use even in summer, and in winter worse than nothing. Before the people can be tolerably accommodated with schools, there must be erected in this State at least 3,500 schoolhouses."
Previous to the enactment of the township system, schoolhouses were erected by single districts, but under this law districts were abolished, district lines obliterated, and houses previously built by districts became the property of the township, and all new houses were to be built by the trustees, at the expense of the township and through an appropriation of township funds.
DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF TAXATION
By the law of 1852, each township in the state was made a municipal corporation, with such powers and liabilities as, by com- mon usage, belong to such corporations. Every voter in the town- ship was made a member of the corporation. The business of the corporation was managed directly by the whole body of the voters; in regular or special township meetings, or by persons chosen by the people, as directors of the corporation, called township trustees. Among the inherent and necessary powers of such corporations, stood first and most important, that of raising, by taxation on the property and polls of the township, an amount of funds sufficient to defray all the legitimate expenses of the corporation.
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Under the new township system the authority to levy taxes, to build schoolhouses and to carry on all parts of the system of public instruction, might have been constitutionally exercised either by the majority of the members of the corporation, that is, by the voters of the township, or by officers elected by the voters, but no power was given to the township trustees to levy this tax without the consent of the voters of the township. This phase of the law, authorizing the vote of the township on a special tax was questioned, and gave rise, at first, to some impediment to the success of the system. Taxpayers who were opposed to the special township tax, refused to pay the assessment, thereby not only retarding the prog- ress of the schools, but causing an unusual delinquency in the col- lection of taxes for general purposes. Contracts for building school- houses were thrown up, houses half finished were abandoned, and all operations were suspended in several townships.
In some townships a rumor was circulated by the enemies of the law, that the entire school measure had been declared by the Supreme Court unconstitutional. Believing this, the township trustees actually dismissed all their schools, and even considered themselves summarily deposed from office.
In reference to this state of affairs, Hon. W. C. Larrabee, super- intendent of public instruction, spoke as follows in his report to the governor, in 1853: "As soon as information of these facts was re- ceived at this office, efforts were made, by private correspondence and by circulars, to correct public opinion and to arrest the down- ward tendency of the whole system. It is hoped that the real facts are now known and appreciated, and before any more serious evil shall arise, we hope for a decision to settle the whole question."
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