USA > Indiana > Decatur County > History of Decatur County, Indiana: its people, industries and institutions > Part 17
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Pupils studied "out loud," and the resultant bedlam was audible for some distance from the building. The experienced teacher could tell in an instant when some youth wavered in his pursuit of learning or sought to engage in conversation, at the expense of his lessons.
Sometime near 1840 Miss Jane Bartee taught a school in the southern part of the county. She must have possessed an ear for both rhyme and rythm, for she gave her school rules a metrical embodiment. The follow- ing classical fragment is still extant :
"No rippin', no tearin', No cussin', no swearin', No clingin', no swingin', to trees."
The father of this poetical school ma'am was a justice of the peace, and, by virtue of that office, a member of the county board, which performed the duties of the present-day county commissioners. When the board met in Greensburg, Mr. Bartee would walk thither, barefooted and garbed in undyed homespun, and, thus attired, enter upon his official duties with all due dignity.
Teachers were expected to treat their pupils at Christmas. Whisky and sugar were common delicacies for teachers to serve to boys and girls at this glad season. Sometimes a teacher, with more than ordinary moral and physical courage, braved public opinion and declined to treat on this occasion. Often it went hard with him. A Mr. East, teaching in Marion township, once declined to follow precedent in this respect. He was seized by the larger boys and hustled most ingloriously toward a nearby pond. He yielded to the inevitable just in time to escape a ducking.
Singing was a common method used by teachers in inculcating fami- liarity with multiplication tables and geographical facts. The pupils sang their tables through, from the "twos" to the "twelves," forward and back- ward, and then, with what spirit they had left, swept into the strains of the geography song, the first line of which went something like this :
"Maine, Maine, Augusta, on the Kennebec river; Maine, Maine, Augusta, on the Kennebec river."
Some of the early teachers who had charge of schools in Decatur county during the twenty years following its organization were: J. H.
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Rankin and William Marlow. Springhill; John Goddard, Clinton township ; "Uncle Jack" Bell and John Hopkins, Mt. Carmel; Sam Donnell, Samuel Henry, James McCoy, William Thomson, Kingston: Tom Peery, Elijah Mitchell, Enoch Tackett, J. S. Guant and Garrard Morgan, near Greensburg. and Joe Patton, Samuel Sebaugh and James Brockmare, in Greensburg.
QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS.
In the early days, not much preparation was required in order to "teach school." The pedagogue looking for a school for the winter, with an opportunity to "board round" and so eke out his scanty carnings, went to the township trustees, applied for a place, and if they liked his appearance he was hired without much of an examination into his qualifications. In most cases, the trustees themselves were men with very little education and would not presume to question the ability of anyone seeking a position as teacher.
When examinations were given, they were usually oral and, in most cases, delightful farces. In the early days, so the story goes, a young woman applied to Doctor Moody for a license to teach. Doctor Moody was a mem- ber of the board of county examiners. He asked her a few questions and then gave her the following certificate :
"This certifies that Miss -
can read a little and write a little."
In 1835 Dr. S. H. Riley, then a young man, wanted a license to teach and presented himself at the drug store of County Examiner Daviess Batter- ton, in Greensburg. Mr. Batterton wrote down a question upon a slate and Riley, seated upon a box, would write the answer upon paper. Meanwhile Mr. Batterton would wait upon a customer or two and then write down another question. When the examination was completed, Batterton wrote out a teacher's license for Riley.
Residents of Springhill called a meeting on July 2, 1843, for considera- tion of methods for improving the common school system. George Ander- son presided and E. Mitchell acted as secretary. The following organiza- tion was effected: Adams Rankin, president ; William Anderson, secretary; W. M. Herrick, Rev. James Worth and John Bell, directors. Rev. Hugh Maime and P. Hamilton were requested to address the meeting at a future clate.
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THE DECATUR COUNTY SEMINARY.
In 1818 the Legislature passed a law providing for a trustee for each county, whose duty it should be to accumulate and invest funds arising from exemption money and fines, for the establishment of a secondary school in each county, to receive pupils from township schools and fit them for the State University. This law was superseded in 1824 by an act providing for county seminaries. The Greensburg seminary was authorized by an act of the Legislature on January 20, 1832.
In 1833. eleven years after its organization, Decatur county availed itself of this law. A sufficient sum had been raised from sources mentioned to build a seminary. The location selected was the corner of Franklin and McKee streets, one square from the railroad. Contract for its erection was awarded to Jacob Stewart, who completed the building in 1834, at a cost of two thousand dollars. Stewart had formerly been a land surveyor under Colonel Hendricks.
The first trustees of the institution were : James Freeman, James Elder. Abraham Garrison, Benjamin Jones, Morton Atkins, David Montague, David Johnson and Samuel Donnell.
The old building, which is still standing, is a large, square, two-story brick structure, surmounted by a brick cupola. The grounds about the institution covered an entire block, giving the few pupils a considerable amount of territory over which to romp and play. The seminary was opened in September, 1834, but, like other institutions of this character in the state, it relied entirely upon tuition fees to pay teachers and meet other expenses. The day of free schools was still far distant.
James G. May was the first instructor. He had been employed as assistant teacher for a time at Salem and was well qualified to take charge of the institution. He was assisted by his wife and sister and Elias Riggs, a Princeton man and uncle of Riggs Forsyth, at one time head of the old First National Bank. The first pupils were Orville Thompson. Oriegon Thompson, Camilla Thompson and James B. Lathrop.
May was succeeded, in 1840, by Abram T. Hendricks, a graduate of Hanover College, who tanglit for one year and then quit to enter the ministry. While he was in charge of the seminary he had the valuable assistance of his younger brother, Thomas A. Hendricks, who later became vice-president of the United States.
Dr. J. B. Lathrop, who was one of the first students at the old seminary, remembers Mr. Hendricks very well, as he and the man who later became
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governor of Indiana and then vice-president, read Virgil together in the old building. The last time Mr. Lathrop met the distinguished man, Mr. Hend- ricks told him that, while he didn't know whether or not he had accomplished much good in the world, he did know that he had many pleasant recollections of days spent at the old seminary.
Speaking of Mr. May. the first instructor, Mr. Lathrop says: "He was assisted by his sister. Miss Elizabeth May. I can say for him that. while he licked them every day, the boys who went to school to him have a profound reverence for his memory. I remember that he was very anxious to organize a Latin class. I was nine years old and was one of its first members. Mr. May taught later in Salem and New Albany. Ile taught until he was eighty- two years old. When he became so old that he was no longer wanted in town, he went out into the country to teach."
The next superintendent of the seminary was Philander Hamilton, a product of the institution which was placed in his charge in 1841. When but a small boy, he met with an accident and was badly crippled. He first studied in the seminary under James May and later graduated from Hanover College. He managed the institution for one year and then retired to edit the Greensbury Sentinel. Hamilton turned a year later to the study of law and died after practicing a few years. He served one terin in the Legislature.
Francis P. Monfort, graduate of Oxford College, and later a Presby- terian minister, followed Hamilton. He is said to have possessed marked ability as a poet. Monfort was assisted by Agnes Neal until 1844, when he was succeeded by Dr. Andrew M. Hunt, later founder of Sioux City. Iowa.
Davies Batterton, an Indiana University man, was the last head of the seminary. He took charge of the institution in 1847. In 1852 the new state constitution abolished the seminary system, the building was sold and the money applied to the school fund. As Greensburg was not incorporated until 1859, the building was rented and maintained by private enterprise as a grammar school.
Among students at the seminary who achieved success in later life were : Thomas \. Hendricks. United States senator and vice-president of the United States : Dewitt C. Rich, who represented Jennings county in the Legislature : John F. Ewing, who became a successful lawyer at Burlington, Iowa ; James N. Sander, noted Presbyterian minister: Orville Thompson, printer, soldier and writer, and James B. Lathrop, minister and banker.
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PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
About 1840 Benjamin Nyce and his sister Elizabeth conducted a school in a small building on the site of the present county jail. Miss Nyce taught the smaller children and her brother the larger ones. Eight years later a subscription school was started on Jackson street by Miss Martha Ann Gageby. Dennis Coakley, an Irishman, had a school during the spring of 1849 on North Franklin street. Another school was opened in the base- ment of the Presbyterian church in 1850 by Rev. David Monfort and Miss Mary Carter. In 1851 Mrs. Luther taught a subscription school in a little one-room frame house on West Washington street.
Later, private schools were. started for those who wished to secure a higher education than they could obtain in the public schools. Miss Abbie Snell, a New Englander, taught a class of twenty regular high-school sub- jects in the rear of the present Greensburg National Bank building. Associ- ated with this school was one taught by Miss Hood, later Mrs. James Bonner. Miss Snell later married Judge Bonner. Miss' Hood, with the assistance of Belle Carroll, conducted a school in the basement of the old Presbyterian church. It was organized in 1869 and continued until 1875.
FIRST FREE SCHOOL.
The first free school in Greensburg was opened on July 20, 1857, with four teachers: Mrs. McCollough, Miss Eunice Paul, B. F. West and I. G. Grover. Text books used were: McGuffey's readers, Ray's arithmetic, Pineo's grammar, Goodrich's history, Bullion's languages, Comstock's philos- ophy and chemistry, and Davies's legends. The higher branches were taught by Mr. Grover. The first school trustees under the new system were W. W. Lowe, A. I. Hobbs and B. H. Harney. The primary department, taught by Mrs. McCollough, was located in the basement of the Baptist church; the next grade, taught by Miss Paul, met in the basement of the Presbyterian church, and the other two teachers held forth in the seminary.
GRADED SCHOOLS.
The first graded school in Greensburg was in 1861. It was conducted in the basement of the old Baptist church. Miss Drucilla Warthin was. prin- cipal and Miss Rebecca Richmond, assistant. The school was free for town pupils, but those coming from the country were charged six dollars for the
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three-months term. The curriculum embraced philosophy, algebra and ancient history, in addition to the common school branches of learning.
Upon the organization of this graded school, Doctor Moody. A. R. Forsyth and J. B. Lathrop were named trustees. There was only sufficient money to run the school for a term. with no allowances for incidentals. Money was raised to hire a janitor by assessing each pupil fifty cents.
It was during this term that Doctor Moody displayed true Solomonic wisdom in settling a rather delicate matter. One of the patrons of the school came to him and protested because a little negro girl was attending the school. He said he would take his own daughter out unless the colored pupil was removed. The colored girl was very light in color, while the pro- testing citizen's daughter was a very dark Brunette. "Very well." said Doc- tor Moody. "We will send a man around tomorrow to pick out the negro. If he picks out the negro. she goes out, and if he picks out your child, she goes out." The irate citizen was content to drop the matter.
By the school law of 1853. eivil township trustees were authorized to establish a sufficient number of public schools to care for the education of all white children. Negroes and mulattoes were not to be admitted; neither could they be taxed for school purposes.
The following old petition, presented by Greensburg colored people to the school board, is preserved in the public library: "We, the colored people of the city of Greensburg, respectfully ask you that our children be admitted to all the rights and privileges of the public schools. We beg to say that we make this request for the reason that there are not sufficient colored chil- dren in the city to justify the organization of a separate school for them." The petition was signed by J. W. Therman. Richard Lewis, Mitchel Tracy, W. B. Scott, S. Crewett. W. Sanders, John Morgan and George W. Lee. Richard Lewis was the father of a subsequent graduate of the Greensburg high school who became professor of mathematics at Hampton Institute.
In 1870 a separate school for colored children was operated for a time in rooms over the First National Bank, with a Miss Anderson as instructor. The project was abandoned after a short trial.
TEACHERS' GATHERINGS.
The first recorded gathering of Decatur county pedagogues took place in Greensburg in 1857. Two teachers in Sand Creek township. Kidd and Chaffin by name, had been raising a considerable amount of rhetorical dust in arguments on corporal punishment. Debates had been held in various
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parts of the township, and they arranged to conduct a debate in Greensburg. in order that teachers from all parts of the county might be present.
Fifteen teachers assembled in Harney's hall to hear the two worthies present their arguments. But, before either of them could take the floor and open the meeting, W. H. Powner arose and, after pointing out the futil- ity of such a discussion, proposed that an organization be effected for improvement of methods of instruction. The suggestion was followed and Davies Batterton was elected president and J. A. Dillman, secretary. Neither of the authorities upon corporal punishment was given an opportunity to loose their floodgates of oratory. The first teachers' association met in Greensburg the first Saturday in December, 1859. and the last Saturday of the same month a permanent organization was effected with Davies Batter- ton at the head.
This organization conducted the first teachers' institute in August, 1860. G. W. Hoss, later state superintendent of public instruction, was the lecturer. The following year an institute was held at Clarksburg.
Probably the first class of any kind to be conducted for the benefit of teachers was one held in Milford, in August, 1862. This institute was in session five weeks, with an attendance of forty-five. One of the members of this class was Elizabeth Riley, who later became Mrs. Elizabeth Stewart. The instructors were County Examiner William H. Powner, J. B. Mallett, G. W. Stotsenberg, Jacob Dillman and a Mr. Merritt. At the end of the term a written examination was conducted. Most of the male teachers left in the middle of the term, when news of a Confederate raid was received, to volunteer for home defense.
Those who were successful in passing the examination received a teacher's license, issued by the county examiner, which had been written by Mr. Sinks, a writing teacher. The county examiner delivered them in per- son and collected a fee of fifty cents from each person who secured a license. A local newspaper of that day made the following pertinent comment on the meeting: "Professors Powner and Merritt have solved two important problems : First, that institutes in this county are a fixed fact and will be held annually, and, second, that this county has no need to import teachers to conduct normal schools."
NORMAL SCHOOLS.
Need of some educational advantages for professional teachers was first officially recognized in 1870, when a county normal school was con-
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ducted by C. W. Harvey, although we find the following article in the Standard files of 1862: "The Decatur County Normal School closed its first session of six weeks on August 15, at Milford. Dr. D. S. Welling, Prof. G. Hoss and Prof. W. H. Venable were the lecturers, and held an examination the last week. There were enrolled sixteen males and thirty-one females, whose names are given. R. W. Miers, L. H. Braden and Misses Maggie Logan and Louisa Marshall and Mrs. Mary Sefton still survive."
Thirty teachers attended this training school of 1870, which continued for three weeks. Although the results accomplished were of great value, no effort was made to give another normal course until 1879, when E. L. Duncan and Dr. J. A. Carr. then county superintendent, conducted a six- weeks course at Adams, which was attended by thirty-five teachers.
In 1880 Messrs. Duncan and Carr held their first normal in Greensburg. It continued for six weeks, was attended by sixty-four teachers and closed with the county teachers' institute. The feature of this course was the pro- fessional instruction given by Mr. Duncan. The following summer, C. L. Hottell, principal of the Clarksburg schools, opened a normal school, which had only a fair attendance.
A third normal course was given in Greensburg in 1892 by W. P. Shannon, George L. Roberts and C. T. Powner. Other courses of a similar character were given in Greensburg in 1893 and 1897. Most of them lasted for six weeks and were held for the purpose of making an academic review of the common branches. Lectures were also given upon psychology and other subjects, with the idea of fitting those attending to pass teachers' examinations.
Since the passage of the act requiring all candidates for teachers' licenses to have taken a prescribed course in normal work, this training has been given at state institutions and other educational centers, and the county normal is a thing of the past. In its time it did a great deal of good, and many teachers received excellent preparation for the school room by attend- ing its sessions.
THE FLAG.
Today the American flag flies over every school house in the country. There was a time when it was not customary to display the national ensign from such places, and an attempt to fly it over the school house in Milford caused considerable trouble, resulting in the arrest of a number of promi- nent citizens there. In honor of the election of Abraham Lincoln, two of his ardent supporters raised a flag above the school house. That same night
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it was taken down by others, who saw in the action an affront to themselves. Another flag was secured and placed upon a pole in the school house yard. This pole was cut down and the flag removed. At the next session of court ten Milford men were required to answer to charges of riot.
During the Civil War the schools of the county were closed for one year, on account of financial troubles. Trustees had been hiring teachers a year before money with which to pay them became available. The Leg- islature passed a law requiring the necessary money to be in the township funds before teachers could be retained. This made it necessary to close the schools until operating funds could be secured. During this period a large number of subscription schools were conducted.
SCHOOL SUPERVISION.
Before the creation of the office of county superintendent by act of the Legislature in 1872, the duties of that position were discharged by school examiners. There were at first three examiners for each county, but later the number was reduced to one. The powers of the school examiner were slightly broader than those wielded by the board of examiners. The first examiner to be appointed was William H. Powner, who was given the office in 1860. J. B. Mallett took the office in 1866. He was followed by James R. Hall, who served until the reappointment of Mr. Powner in 1871. Pow- ner then held the position until it was abolished.
Establishment of the office of county superintendent in Decatur county did not work the marked changes which were experienced in other parts of the state. Powner, who had been school examiner, was continued in charge of the schools of the county, at a slight increase in salary, with but slight changes from the duties he had been performing during the ten years pre- vious.
In 1873, under the amended superintendency act, the board of county commissioners appointed Philander Ricketts superintendent. The amend- ment to the original law curtailed the salary of the office and also reduced its powers. Ricketts served for a year and then tendered his resignation. Meanwhile, the amended law had been declared unconstitutional by the supreme court. The board of county commissioners then, in 1876, appointed James L. Carr. John H. Bobbitt was appointed the following year, and, after serving for a short time, resigned. W. B. Ryan was appointed to com- plete the unexpired term. Mr. Carr then held the office for a term of two years. J. H. Bobbitt was elected in 1881 and served for three terms, or
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until 1887. He was again a candidate for the office in this year, but was defeated by Jolin W. Jenkins in a close contest. Eighty-six ballots were taken by the township trustees before either candidate secured a majority of the votes.
County superintendents elected since that time have been: L. D. Bra- den, 1889: John W. Jenkins, 1891 ; E. C. Jerman, 1897: Edgar Mendenhall, 1903, and Frank C. Fields, 191I.
The school enumeration for Decatur county for 1872, as taken by Superintendent W. H. Powner, was seven thousand and fifty-eight. The number of school children in the county, according to the latest enumera- tion is five thousand ninety-eight.
FIRST SCHOOL BUILDING.
The first school building in Greensburg was completed in 1863 by R. B. Thomson, contractor, at a cost of twelve thousand dollars. It was located on Monfort street, midway between North and Washington streets, on what was then known as the Luther lot. The erection of this building was begun by the town school board, composed of Samuel Christy, W. A. Donnell and Barton Wilson. Two additions were later added to this lot. The high school addition, a two-story affair, was erected in 1876. and used until the present high school building was opened.
When the first building was in the course of construction a workman fell from its walls and was killed. For many years the tradition lingered that the ghost of the unfortunate mechanic lurked in the basement of the building, and many a child held to the straight and narrow path of school discipline through fear of being sent to the basement in punishment for mis- (lemeanors.
The real beginning in earnest of the schools was not until 1862, when the "seat of learning" was transferred from the "old seminary" in the south- east part of the city, to the present site on West Washington street. The location of this site was made by popular vote.
B. F. Brewington was superintendent when the new building was first 11sed in the fall of 1862, and he remained four years, being succeeded hy J. R. Hall, who was at the helm in 1866-67, and J. W. Culley in 1867-68. The school had grown in 1867 until the enrollment was six hundred and sixty-nine.
A new era dawned on the schools in the fall of 1868, when Prof. C. W.
HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING. GREENSBURG.
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Harvey became superintendent. He remained at the head of the schools for thirteen years, and by his planning and firm executive ability he set the schools upon a higher plane of usefulness than they had ever been before. At the conclusion of his term in 1881 there were eight hundred and twenty-six pupils in the schools and fourteen teachers employed.
GREENSBURG HIGH SCHOOL.
Near the close of Professor Harvey's first year, 1869, the high school department was instituted in the same building where the common branches were taught. Until 1875, when the high school addition was erected, the school had the competition of the private school which was managed by Mrs. Abbie Bonner.
The Greensburg high school began its career on September 5. 1869, with Miss Rebecca Thomson as principal. Rev. J. R. Walker, a native of Ireland and a well-remembered United Presbyterian preacher, was professor of languages. Prof. C. W. Harvey was superintendent, but was ill and not able to be in school the first week. Miss Thomson came here from Rising Sun in 1868, and went from here to Franklin College.
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