USA > Indiana > Elkhart County > A twentieth century history and biographical record of Elkhart County, Indiana > Part 29
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In America the introduction of schools is not far behind the settle- ment 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 constitution made provision for the appointment of superin- tendent of school sections to take charge of and lease the school lands in the townships. In 1824 the general assembly passed an act to incorporate 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 schoolhouses. 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 schoolhouse was built. Almost every session of the legislature wit- nessed 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 irresponsible. 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 exam- ination at all-the teacher was simply asked to teach. However, 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
Victor MB. Hedgepeth.
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
schools, the state university, and the county academy as intermediate between the two and as a preparatory school to the latter. In some in- stances 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 the records of the board of justices and commissioners during the early years of this county there are frequent references to the " seminary fund " and to the trustees of that fund, but no disposition of these moneys was ever made for the purpose originally intended, and they were doubtless later turned into the general school fund.
From the days when schools were dependent upon local taxation to the present the Indiana school system presents a story of wonderful prog- ress. 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 Virginia and Missouri, which in other respects are less characteristic of the nation, is so large a percentage of the population native born. More than ninety per cent of the inhabitants of Indiana 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 proportion of the negro race obtains.
By 1850 union schools had been established in a number of counties ; that is, several school districts would unite and combine their funds and forces and establish a union school at some center convenient to all, this type being a forerunner of the present township high school. But just about this time a new state constitution was formed, and under it the legislature of 1852 enacted a liberal school law which embodied princi- ples 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.
The present generation has no conception of the state of education in general and the conditions of schoolhouses and methods of instruction which prevailed in the pioneer epoch of this county. It is the boast. indeed. of the American people that the church and the school have been
274
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
almost coexistent with settlement itself. And yet it seems true that edu- cation has not formed a part of the vanguard of our civilization ; its insti- tutions have always lagged behind the general level of culture and im- provement. To illustrate : The schoolhouses and their general sur- rounding, of the present as also in the past, with certain most notable exceptions in every county, have never shown the same evidences of taste, refinement and physical comfort that the average of homes in the same community have displayed. The average country schoolhouse of to-day is at best a drear and uncouth sort of place, lacking in those ex- terior surroundings which elevate the character, and the interior having nothing of the homelike charm to which most of the children are accus- tomed. Should the child pass five hours of the day, for at least half the days of the year and for a large part of the formative years of his life. in an atmosphere less congenial, in surroundings less inviting than his or her own home should be? AAfter all, have we so much to boast of in our " temples of learning "? But our forefathers, as well as the present generation, built no doubt according to the best wisdom given them, and those who would seek flaws in their work should remember that criticism is easier than action.
For the benefit of those who have always attended schools conducted along comparatively modern lines and equipped with the ordinary com- forts and conveniences of the present, this history should afford some brief and more or less complete picture of the places of learning such as our fathers attended, during what we have so often referred to as the pioneer epoch. It is surprising, on studying the records, to find how many districts and townships in this county and this part of the state built schoolhouses at almost identically the same time, without any com- munication with each other or purpose of concerted action. There was great unanimity of spirit in this respect. The schoolhouses were rude structures. The accommodations were not good. Stoves and such heat- ing apparatus as are now used were unknown. A mud-and-stick chim- ney in one end of the building with earthen hearth and fireplace wide and deep to receive a six-foot back log and smaller wood to match, served for warming purposes in winter and a sort of conservatory in sttinmer. For windows 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.
275
HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Yet out of just such schoolhouses 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 inconvenience 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 mem- bers 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 teethi chattered and his frame shook for a few moments, 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. Environment is something: but if it is true that the individual mind is from the environ- ment. it is a larger, stronger and deeper truth that the environment 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.
Among the excellent papers which have been read before the Elk- hart County Historical Society was one written by Mrs. Chauncey Has- call, describing the schools of sixty years ago.
"In the winters of 1839-40 and 1840-41," in the words of Mrs. Hascall, " I tanght school in the next district west from Goshen. I re- ceived 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 at- tached 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 op- portunity 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 intercourses ; consequently Eng- lish was almost a foreign language to many of the scholars.
" The Stouders, Studebakers. Cripes, Ulerys and Mannings I re- member 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 chil- dren, and must have been well trained at home. Those who are living
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
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 residents 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, among them the Bartness boys.
" The small scholars of that day, with their home-made garments, home-made from the shcaring of the sheep to the last stitch in the clothes, made after the same pattern as their fathers' and mothers' ap- parel. would make a striking contrast to the little people of to-day, 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 gradu- ates.
" There were none of the modern aids to teachers : even blackboards 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 town- ship institutes where teachers could meet and discuss the new ideas ad- vanced in educational lines."
To widen our conception of the contrast between educational oppor- tunities as they were in the pioneer epoch and are now in the year 1905, we quote another Elkhart county educator, Professor E. B. Myers, who, in a paper read before the Historical Society in January. 1900, says : " My first admission to one of the ' log seminaries ' of Elkhart county was in December, 1846. This spacious, well furnished 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
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IHISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
with clay ( there was no lime for schoolhouses at that time). a horizontal window on cach 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 sup- pose for two reasons : first, because in those days nails were scarce and cost money; second, 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 skil !. 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 over- crowded. During writing time the pupils all sat with their faces to the wall and the teacher marched around looking over their shoulder, criti- cising or commanding as the occasion required. There were no shelves under these desks for books, but what few we had were piled up on 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 win- ter 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. . \ 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 'Pottawatamies,' printed in large letters diag- onally across the page. The book undoubtedly saw the light long before
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
1 did. As I was the only pupil in the class I was always at the head. The recitations of those days were unique. The first class in the morn- ing 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 conformity 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 prin- ciple 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 thus described some of his early experiences in gain- ing 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 adaptability 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 re- marked 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."
Among the early special institutions of learning in the county was one at Middlebury. An advertisement in the Goshen Democrat in No- vember. 1847. informs the public that the " Middlebury Seminary."
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
tikler the direction of the Misses Casey, would be opened for young ladies and gentlemen on November 18, 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 enter- prise, is not yet so complete and comprehensive as to entirely displace a school conducted by individuals or certain societies.
The school system of Elkhart county has for many years been under the general direction of Superintendent George W. Ellis, who is a prac- tical educator of broad experience and has the confidence of the people and the teaching force alike. The schools of both town and country have been maintained at the high standards everywhere prevailing in Inchiana, and, although there is room for unlimited progress in the future, the present excellence of Elkhart county educational facilities must be a matter of satisfaction to all her citizens.
The county superintendent, who is general supervisor of the county system of education, is responsible for the condition of the county schools, directs their finances, selects sites and superintends construction of build- ings, conducts teachers' institutes and the teachers' examinations, and issues certificates, and discharges numerous other functions connected with the administration of the county's schools.
The officer next in importance to the county superintendent is the township trustee, whose duties in each township make his power prac- tically co-ordinate with the city boards of education. Indeed, the town- ship trustee is one of the most important officers in the educational sys- tem. His duties and responsibilities are such as to require a man of foremost ability and influence, one who is honest, intelligent, well edu- cated, possessed of good judgment and broad sympathies, progressive. It is the general opinion that, on the whole, men of such prominence and worth in community affairs have been entrusted with this office in the several townships of Elkhart county.
Uniortunately the statistics of education in this county have not been fully preserved during the past, and certain interesting comparisons between different periods cannot, on this account, be made. We reserve the account of the schools of Elkhart and Goshen for later consideration. and the schools of the smaller centers receive mention in the chapter de- voted to that subject, and conclude this general survey by giving the
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
school enumeration of Elkhart county by townships and towns, as ascer- tained in the census taken in the spring of 1905.
Townships.
Males.
Females.
Bango
So
87
Benton
154
146
Concord
217
231
Clinton
233
228
Cleveland
73
63
Eikhart
262
264
Harrison
339
334
Jackson
225
181
Jefferson
166
164
Locke
139
173
Middlebury
183
164
Olive
165
162
Osolo
108
100
Union
252
239
Washington
174
141
York
108
71
Towns and Cities.
Middlebury
74
95
Millersburg
51
56
Nappanee
320
336
WVakarisa
124
129
Elkhart
1919
1855
Goshen
1007
1141
There are six colored females and one colored male enumerated in the city of Elkhart. These are the only colored pupils in the county.
GOSHEN SCHOOLS.
Goshen and Elkhart prairie have been so closely identified through- out their history that a description of the life and affairs of one naturally merges into that of the other. The rudiments of education were taught on Elkhart prairie almost coincident with the first settlements. The first schoolhouse in the county is said to have stood on Wilkenson's Lane. on the prairie, and the school was held by a Mr. Potts. Among the families represented in that school were the Friers, Sparklins, Blairs, Thompsons. The second schoolhouse was on the school section that lies a mile south of Goshen. It was a log house, with greased paper for windows, and was heated by a large open fire-place. Captain Beane taught in a log schoolhouse on the prairie during the early thirties.
GOSHEN'S NEW HIGH-SCHOOL
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Some of the scholars at that time were John, Robert and Elisha Irwin; William and Joseph Weddel; John and David Weybright ; Daniel, David and John Durr; Ira and Amos Jackson; Daniel Steward and others. T. G. Harris, a well known pioneer, taught school, in 1836, in a building that had neither a nail nor a pane of glass.
In the years immediately succeeding the platting of the county seat at Goshen the children of many of its residents no doubt attended one or the other of the schools already established on the prairie, but at a very early year school began to be regularly held in Goshen.
In 1832 Samuel T. Young began teaching the first school in a log house at the corner of Washington and Sixth streets, on the site of the present First Baptist church. After teaching there for several years he left for another log building located on the corner of Fifth and Jefferson streets. Here he was followed by several men, among whom were John Sevey, a Mr. Massey and Thomas G. Harris. In 1834 the first Method- ist church was built in Goshen, on a lot adjoining the present Episcopal church property. It is still in existence and forms a part of the residence occupied by Mrs. T. B. Starr. In 1837 this church was used for school purposes, and thereafter during a number of years. Messrs. Green, Campbell, Lane and others taught there for longer or shorter periods. In 1837 Mr. H. W. Bissell came to Goshen and taught in this same church. Mr. Bissell was for twelve years, beginning with 1838, one of the school examiners of Elkhart county. In 1840 Nelson Prentiss began teaching in a building on Clinton street, opposite court square ; the build- ing was afterward moved to Pike street and used for a Mission Sunday school. A log house on West Washington street and another on Fifth street, where the residence of J. M. Dale now stands, were used by differ- ent persons for conducting schools. Among the teachers in those build- ings were Mr. Gray, Mr. Weed, Abner Stilson and George Taylor, who afterwards was elected to congress from Brooklyn, N. Y.
The first schoolhouse was built by subscription in 1841, on lot No. 54. where the Episcopal rectory now stands. It was a frame structure 20 x 30 feet, and was used for school purposes until the corporation built its first schoolhouse in 1857 on Madison street, on what had been the county fair grounds. This building was sold in 1857 to John S. Free- man, and thereafter resold to the Swedenborgian Society. After use as a church for a number of years, it was purchased by the late Jesse Fuson and converted into a residence.
In this first schoolhouse Abram C. Carpenter, Amasa N. Hascall,
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HISTORY OF ELKHART COUNTY
Melvin B. Hascall and others wielded the birch. In writing to the Daily Times in 1891, M. B Hascall said: " In October, 1842, I com- menced teaching, having been called from my home in western New York for that purpose. Forty to fifty pupils was about the average number enrolled. The books used were not uniform, but every scholar brought what he happened to have; if he had none, he came without, but Webster's Elementary Spelling Book. Daboll's Arithmetic. English Reader and Kirkham's Grammar were in the lead."
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