USA > Indiana > Knox County > Vincennes > Historical sketches of Old Vincennes, founded in 1732 : its institutions and churches, embracing collateral incidents and biographical sketches of many persons and events connected therewith > Part 7
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show that the charter "had ever been forfeited by any act or omission of the board," and that the corporation had been in a state of continuity ever since the organization, the University board having been appointed by the Legis- lature to assume control of the "Knox County Seminary," the succession was maintained unbroken. This last attempt to extinguish the Vincennes University failed. Having forcibly seized the lands, lot, buildings, furniture, appa- ratus and even its records, so if possible to blot it out of existence ; having tried to discourage, demoralize and scat- ter, by circumstances and death, the members of the board, thus seeking to make a break in the succession, and thereby make void the charter, was an act of unjust procedure.
Baffled in this last effort to destroy the University, the Legislature in 1855 passed an indemnifying act, for the benefit of the University, which was less than one-tenth of its indebtedness.
The Knox County Seminary, having no funds with which to build a schoolhouse, borrowed some of the money arising out of the sale of their building from the Univer- sity trustees, and erected a house on the latter's lot, mort- gaging the property for payment of same. The mortgaged debt maturing, the house was sold, and reverted to the University.
It was in this building the academic department was re- instated in 1856, with the Reverend R. M. Chapman presi- dent, since which time the school has been in successful operation. In the same year the trustees bought the lot di- agonally across the street (corner Fifth and Busseron), and for $2,300 erected a building to be used as a female de- partment. This building was conducted successfully for
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some time, but several years later the schools were consoli- dated in the brick building. To resume the line of history of the contention of the University with the State, it was after a half century of enforced litigation by the former, in defense of its rights, its lands and its franchises, caus- ing thereby the expenditure of large sums of money in the way of court and attorneys' fees and the enforced sacrifices of its buildings and grounds, that the Legislature doled out, not what the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States declared was due the Vincennes Univer- sity, i. e., $200,000, but State bonds to the amount of $66,- 565 for lands already sold. This did not account for 2,200 acres of land unsold (and not accounted for to this day), and was not a tithe of the indebtedness.
After the long and costly fight for its rights it gained a victory of $41,565, inclusive of the court and attorneys' fees arising out of the original contract. Subtracting the amount of court and attorneys' fees in obtaining the latter settlement, the institution in fact realized not two-thirds of the award. It will be observed that after nearly half a century of contention for the magnificent endowment given by Congress, this small pittance was turned into the treas- ury of the University, as restitution money. In 1878, hav- ing well husbanded the money received from the State, and the school having outgrown its home, it was resolved by the trustees to erect a more modern and commodious building on its ground, the site of the "Knox County Seminary," which would be more suitable to the wants of advanced edu- cation. The present beautiful structure was completed in August, 1878, at a total cost of $14,616. The school pros- pered and the building was soon found inadequate to ac-
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cominodate the patronage of additional students. As a re- sult, in 1889, and at a cost of $4,180, an addition to the south and west end was erected. The War Department, having designated the Vincennes University as one of the institutions where military science might be taught, an officer was detailed for this instruction, and, so successful had this branch proved, that, when war was declared with Spain, in 1898, he had organized a full company of ca- dets, well drilled and fully equipped to enter into the fight for maintaining the prestige and honor of our country. This was the first volunteer company to offer its services to the Governor of the State, and the only full company of cadets sent by any State institution of learning in the Union to engage in the Spanish War. The company of University cadets formed a part of the 159th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers and was in service for one year, although they were not sent to the front on account of the speedy conclusion of the war. This was the first oppor- tunity the University had to return in any degree the fa- vors shown it by the Government for its magnificent dona- tion in 1806, and the episode will be recorded as one of the brightest in its history.
From time to time the Legislature has been petitioned for redress, but without avail until 1895, when an appropri- ation was made for $15,000, for which the State exacted a receipt in full of all demands from the University. As this sum did not pay the debt it was not accepted by the University, as an adequate settlement of the claim, and the Honorable Basil Gaither, Knox County's Representative, entered a formal protest, in behalf of the institution, to giving a receipt in full, and the protest was recorded in the
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House Journal of the Fifty-ninth General Assembly. In the Sixtieth General Assembly, 1897, another bill was in- trodneed for an additional sum with a view toward liqui- dating the State's indebtedness to the University, but the appropriation was defeated by a small majority. With the intention of liquidating the State debt to the University, the Sixty-first General Assembly, in March, 1899, passed a bill authorizing an issue of + per cent. bonds for $120,- 000, payable in twenty years. This bill was passed by almost a unanimous vote in the Senate, there being only four votes against it. The House passed it by 64 aves, 29 nays. Through some misinformation, or lack of a full knowledge of the real merit of the claim, Governor James A. Mount failed to sign the bill, and in the closing hours of the session the matter was referred to the next General Assembly, and, at the suggestion of the Governor, the presi- dent of the Senate appointed a committee of three to ex- amine into the merits of the claim and report the facts to the next succeeding Legislature.
The committee of the Senate appointed examined the claims of the University during vacation, and reported favorably, and the bill came up again the following session, in March, 1901, and passed the Senate by a vote of 30 to 15. The House committee to which the bill had been re- ferred strangled it, and it was never reported to the House for fear of its passage. Economy in this case usurped the place of justice, which must and will eventually prevail. The indebtedness of the State to the University, when this bill was presented, amounted to $703,695. It will be seen from the foregoing facts and figures, which can not be suc- cessfully controverted, that the great and prosperous State
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of Indiana is indebted to its first born educational institu- tion, which it warmed into life, then abandoned, after con- fiscating its inheritance, and has to the present time held back the dispensing hand of justice, and hesitates to re- store its rights upon the score of economy or that the indebt- edness is too old to pay. Honesty, truth and right are eter- nal principles, uninfluenced by time or circumstances, and will perish only with eternity. The University does not ask a donation, but pleads for only partial restoration of what is its due.
The State is not too poor to pay its debts, as it gives more than $200,000 annually to three institutions of learn- ing; and, during Governor Mount's term of office, Leopold Levy paid immatured bonds to the amount of nearly $700,- 000, ignoring for the time an old sacred debt. Governor Mount had a laudable ambition in trying to make his ad- ministration an economical one; but if $120,000 had been deducted from the amount paid bondholders and applied toward liquidating the University debt (as recommended by both the Senate and the House) the sum total of the canceled indebtedness would have been the same as it now stands. The State should be just first, and generous when able to be so.
In 1898, realizing the necessity for more room to accon- modate the growing patronage, the trustees purchased the adjoining lot, number 190, facing on Broadway, from A. Gimbel heirs, at a cost of $7,000, hoping to soon add a wing to the main building which would contain a large room suitable for an armory. Besides providing for more students by this purchase, the grounds are now enlarged to a full half square, surrounded by and ornamented with
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beautiful shade trees, most of which were planted in 1856.
Since the above was written the old Decker property has been acquired by the University, giving it still larger grounds for its use, for the sum of $4,350. All that is now lacking to have the Vincennes University enlarged and thoroughly equipped is the payment by the great and rich commonwealth of Indiana of its just and long-deferred dues. The University will then assert its power, and, with dignity, can take up its line of march abreast of the age, in all the branches of literature and art that beautify and enrich our civilization and our State. By such payment the State will have lifted from its shoulders a debt almost criminal in its effects, and enjoy the sweet peace of con- science in the act of having performed a long-delayed duty to the first established educational institution in the West ; and where our country's flag was first planted and, unfurl- ing, was first kissed by the glowing lips of American Lih- erty.
The University, although entitled by its charter to con- fer degrees on its graduates and persons who have distin- guished themselves in the field of literature, has been chary in the exercise of this right, and up to this time only two honorary degrees have been conferred ; the first of D. D., in 1842, upon one of its former presidents, the Reverend Killikelly, and the other, LL. D., in 1857, upon a former professor in the institution, the Reverend W. H. Carter. It still withheld printed recognition from its own pupils until 1874, when four students, having completed success- fully the course of study allotted to them, received di- plomas as evidence of their scholarship, and since that time
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the custom of giving diplomas has obtained. It has ad- vanced its standard of scholarship, as its funds would per- mit the employment of qualified teachers, and in 1884 the board of trustees decided that no grade of instruction be- low the academic would be embraced in its curriculum of study. As a result of this course, and thorough equipment, when the pupils receive their diplomas in the classic or scientific departments they are prepared to and do enter, without examination, any Western college as a junior. With the expectation of increased facilities, the Univer- sity will soon be able to throw off the last of the shackles which have impeded its progress, and take rank with its more fortunate sisters, who have not had to walk through the valley and the shadow of death. It will then become what Congress and the Territorial Legislature intended it should be when its patrimony and charter were given, a university in the fullest meaning of the word. In closing this sketch of the Vineennes University much eredit is due -more than they ever will receive-to the competent, faithful, indefatigable men who have ever formed the board of trustees.
In their long line of march, covering a period of ninety- six years, as one would fall along the way, by the stroke of time or eireumstanees, another volunteer would take his plaec. This with the knowledge that his only remuneration would be the conseiousness of having performed his duty in aiding the advancement of education and civilization, the beneficiaries being the young of the passing and future generations. During all these years, amid all the vicissi- tudes through which the institution has passed, no treas- urer has defaulted to the amount of a single penny, and the
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funds have been husbanded in the most businesslike man- ner. Time and talents have been lavished on the institution which would have brought to acting members of the board thousands of dollars if employed in business engagements. Some of the most distinguished men in national affairs have been on the roll of honor of the University's board of trustees. On that roll will be found the names of one President of the United States, several members of Con- gress, celebrated jurists, judges, clergymen, officials of the United States Goverment, authors, physicians, bankers, merchants, editors, mechanics and capitalists-men from all walks of life who have kept in close touch with the peo- ple in the progress of science, art and literature. Neither would this sketch be complete without according a place of honor to the long roll of distinguished men of learning who have graced and filled so well the office of president of the University, from its foundation to this year of grace 1902. In this list there could be named many distinguished divines and professors of science and literature, who have, since leaving the institution, filled and are now occupying professorships in many colleges.
In the interests of the present generation and pros- perity, and as no attempt has as yet been made to preserve many facts unknown to the general public and which soon would be lost in the flight of the passing years, I have as- sumed the task, in connection with this sketch, to record statistics relating thereto. I believe them to be practically correct, although some omission may have accidentally oc- curred, owing to imperfect records in the misty past.
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PRESIDENTS.
Names of the presidents of Vincennes University and the time of their inauguration :
1811. Reverend Samuel T. Scott.
1815. Professor Jesse Olds.
1818. Professor Jean Jean.
1823. Reverend Henry Shaw.
1840. Reverend B. B. Killikelly, D. D. -
1845. Reverend Geo. B. Jocelyn.
1850.
Professor Matthews, A. M.
1855. Reverend R. M. Chapman, D. D.
1867. Reverend O. C. Drake, A. M.
1868. Professor James M. Naylor, A. M.
1870. Reverend Geo. Parrott, A. M.
1872. Professor Louis Prugh, A. M.
1881.
Professor E. A. Haight.
1882.
Professor Pitt L. McCreary.
1883.
Professor Enoch A. Bryan, A. M.
1893. Professor Edward P. Cubberly, A. M.
1896. Professor A. HI. Yoder, A. M.
1900. Professor W. H. Hershman, A. M.
1902. Professor James E. Manchester, B.S., D.Sc.
Officers of the board of trustees of the Vincennes Uni- versity from its foundation, December 6, 1806, to Decem- ber, 1902, and when elected:
1806. General William Henry Harrison, Presi- dent.
1806. General George W. Johnson, Secretary. 1806. James Jolinson, Treasurer.
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1811. Benjamin Parke, President.
1813. Reverend Samuel Scott, Treasurer.
1812. George Gibson, Secretary.
183S.
A. T. Ellis, President.
183S. Reverend Thomas Alexander. President.
1839. Samuel Hill, President.
1820.
Moses Tabbs, President.
1838.
Samuel Judah, Secretary.
1839.
William Burtch, Treasurer.
1853.
Isaac Mass, Treasurer.
1850. Doctor John R. Mantle, President.
1841. Doctor W. W. Hitt, President.
1853.
George D. Hay, Secretary.
1855. Doctor Joseph Somes, Secretary.
1864. Harrison T. Roseman, Secretary.
1865. Doctor J. II. Rabb, Treasurer.
1855.
William Burtch, reelected Treasurer.
1867.
Doctor R. G. Moore, President.
1878. Smiley N. Chambers, Secretary.
1889.
W. B. Robinson, Secretary.
1888.
J. L. Bayard, Treasurer.
1897. Hubbard M. Smith, President.
Present Corps of Teachers :
James Engene Manchester, B. S. ,D. Se. (Tue- bingen); President and Professor of Mathe- matics.
Oscar M. Duncan, B. S., A. M., Professor of Nat- ural Science. Thomas J. Davis, A. B., Professor of English. Charles II. MeLawry, A. B., A. M., Professor of Greek and Latin.
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Margaret Manchester, Professor of Modern Lan- guages.
N. K. Flint, Principal Business Department. Cecelia Ray Berry, Director of Music.
Ida Margaret Berry, Principal Vocal Department.
Board of Trustees: Hubbard M. Smith, M. D., Presi- dent ; W. B. Robinson, Attorney-at-Law, Secretary; J. L. Bayard, President First National Bank, Treasurer; Wal- ter M. Hindman, Dental Surgeon; Edward H. Smith, hardware; W. C. Johnson, Attorney-at-Law ; Judge Ray Gardner, Washington, Ind. ; James W. Emison, Attorney- at-Law ; Charles Bierhaus, wholesale grocer; S. N. Cham- bers, Ex-United States Attorney, Indianapolis; H. A. Foulks, Esq. ; T. H. Adams, Editor Commercial and Post- master; Roval E. Purcell, Editor Sun; Major W. P. Gould, Paymaster United States Army.
ST. GABRIEL'S COLLEGE.
St. Gabriel's College was established in 1837, by the Reverend John August Vabret, who brought with him to this town a colony from Rennes, France, called Endists. He purchased the University of Vincennes property in 1839 and used the building as his school. He was succeeded as president by the Reverend John P. Bellier, in 1840. The school was maintained until 1845, when it was closed by an order from the Superior-General of the Eudists. The building was then occupied as an orphan asylum, and, afterward, by St. Rose Academy of Providence, under the management of Sister Cyrilla, until it was replaced by the present fine and commodious building, accommodat-
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ing 275 pupils. St. Vincent Orphan Asylum being built two and a half miles south of the city, the orphans were transferred to it, and one hundred are domiciled there, under Sister M. Carmel, a Sister of Providence. St. Vin- cent Orphan Asylum was built first in 1847. It was used at first as a diocesan seminary for boys, but it is now used also as an asylum for boys, since the erection of the present fine building, which was built in 1864. It con- tains a chapel and is served by a pastor.
St. Ann's Orphan Asyhim for Girls was situated near the cathedral. In 1849 it was removed to Terre Haute.
In addition to the schools noted, one is connected with St. Xavier's Church, with one lay teacher and two Sisters of Providence, and embraces 250 pupils; and another parochial school connected with St. John the Baptist Church, under the supervision of Reverend Meinrad Fleischman, and four Sisters of Providence, by whom 215 pupils are taught.
COMMON SCHOOLS.
The common school system may be said to have been in- augurated in Vincennes not before 1850, and then only in a feeble manner. The sentiment of the State before this period was against laws levying a tax for the support of free schools. When the present Constitution of the State was adopted, the right to inaugurate the common school system was acquiesced in by the people generally and soon efficient free school laws were enacted, and then public schools were established all over the State. The Legisla- turc, in 1824, made an attempt to blot out of existence
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the Vincennes University, the first educational institution established in this State, through and by its Territorial Legislature, endowed by Congress with one or more town- ships of land, by the establishment of a free school in this county under the title of the "Knox County Seminary." But as it appropriated the proceeds of the sale of the Uni- versity lands to establish Bloomington College, the effort proved an utter failure, and the "Knox County Seminary" died of inanition, the Legislature having failed to provide for the school's support. Hence for nearly a half century, and not until the State grudgingly had been compelled, after long and expensive legislation, to make a partial res- titution to the University, was there an effective revival of education in this town.
In 1853 the public school system was fully inaugurated here by and through the trustees elected by the people, composed of George D. Hay, John W. Canon and Lambert Burrois. For lack of funds the schools were inefficient, and even in 1855 only three months' tuition was vouchsafed to the pupils. In 1857 the duration of the school year was extended to five months, with Anson W. Jones as princi- pal, at a salary of only $50 per month. In 1860 the first school building was erected (now known as the Central School) at the corner of Buntin and Seventh streets, at a cost of $19,000, under the supervision of Trustees John D. Lander, William Williamson and G. H. Deusterberg. Pro- fessor A. W. Jones was elected superintendent, succeeding himself in 1863, and retaining this position until his death in 1873. This building has for its principal at the present writing, M. R. Kirk, with nine assistants. Another build- ing was erected on the south side of this city in 1878.
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E. A. Quigie is now principal, with three assistants. The third building was erected on the north side in 1885, and is now conducted by Miss Josephine Crotts, as principal, with five assistants. The building on the east side was erected in 1891, and is now conducted by Miss Melvina Keith, as principal, and four assistants. The present High School building was erected in 1897, at a cost of $30,000, on the corner of Buntin and Fifth streets, and is a beautiful mod- ern structure. All of the buildings are of brick, substan- tial, commodious, well equipped and furnished.
To the Central School there is attached a kindergarten department which is conducted by Miss Caroline Pelham with Mrs. Flora Andrus Curtis as assistant.
The building for colored pupils was erected about thirty years ago, on the corner of Thirteenth and Hart streets, with B. L. Anthony as principal, and two assist- ants as present instructors. The enrollment of pupils in the public schools of this city in the last report was 1,900.
The High School has a faculty of ten teachers, including Professor E. A. Humpke, the present superintendent.
The epithet applied to this region by Provisional Gov- ernor Arthur Sinclair, of the Northwest Territory, in his first report to the United States Congress in 1780, to wit, "The Wabash Valley has the most ignorant people on earth, and not a fiftieth man can read or write", has long since ceased to have any foundation in truth. When this expression was uttered, only one year had elapsed after the Wabash Valley had passed from the hands of Great Britain into those of Uncle Sam, and but few white persons, except soldiers, occupied it. The schoolmaster has been abroad in the land and the Vincennes University
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did much in the early part of the last century to dispel the cloud's of ignorance that had brooded over the Wabash Valley from time immemorial, and to make this place the radiating center whence the first streams of knowledge flowed over the great Northwest.
The common schools of Indiana, the sequence of ad- vanced education, are now the pride, not only of the State, but of the Nation, and illiteracy is the exception and not the rule. Could good old Governor Sinclair but awaken from his Rip Van Winkle slumbers and view our colleges and white school houses, which dot hill and valley like the cattle on a thousand hills, he would be astounded and con- strained to exclaim, "Great is Hoosierdom ; and her knowl- edge enlighteneth as the rays of the morning sun." Indiana claims to have the largest common school fund of any State in the Union, and possibly has, with the single exception of the State of Texas, which, upon its admission to the sister- hood of States, retained all her public domain for the use and maintenance of her public free schools.
Chapter VI.
CHURCHES-CATHOLIC.
T O THE CATHOLICS belong the honor of doing the first Christian missionary work in Indiana, at the Piankeshaw village, the site of the city of Vin- cennes, and the erection of the first house of worship dedi- cated to God.
It has been said that a Jesuit missionary Father visited the Indian village Che-pe-ko-ke, on the Wabash river, as early as 1702, but it has been shown in discussing the early settlement of this place that this statement is incorrect, and the mistake arose from an inaccuracy of some of the earlier explorers of the Mississippi Valley. For a long time the Ohio and Wabash rivers were confounded, they believing the former emptied into the latter, hence the name Ouabache was used for the Ohio. It is not probable that a mission was established here very much earlier than the advent of Morgan de Vincennes in 1731 or 1732. From that time on a priest was here occasionally until a church organization was effected and a house of worship erceted, about the year 1749, the resident priest being the Reverend Louis Meurin. The first entry in the church records is dated April 21, 1749," and embraces the follow- ing marriage certificate: "Julian Trotier, of Montreal, Canada, and Josie Marie, the daughter of a Frenchman and Indian woman." His last record was made in 1756.
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