USA > Indiana > Jay County > History of Jay County, Indiana > Part 10
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Then, on the Wabash, Mr. Taylor would preach for the neighbors in the cabin of Robert Webster, where some of the most solemn and af- fecting scenes of his ministry were enacted. Here he was aided by the self-denying Missionary Pogue, who, then a student at Lane Seminary, Ohio, spent a three months' vacation in Jay County, and afterward went to the Sandwich Islands, withont a wife, because Miss Elizabeth Webster, the intelligent and Christian housekeep- er in that cabin, had gone to her grave and her home in heaven.
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REV. I. N. TAYLOR.
In 1845 Mr. Taylor, desiring to attend theolog- ical lectures at Lane Seminary, moved to Cin- cinnati. That movement he always regretted ; returned in two years and settled in Portland very early in the spring of 1847. For two years he was Agent of the American Sunday School Union, and he accomplished a great work in or- ganizing schools and awakening in the minds of the people an interest in that most useful and effective branch of Christian labor. While living in Portland he engaged in an unprofitable mer- cantile enterprise with Calvin D. Searl. Late in 1850 he became Principal of the Jay County Seminary, which position he held for two years. During these years, looking forward to the founding of a school, he selected the knoll on the Salimonie by the spring as a suitable spot, and purchased the land of John Smith. The remainder of Mr. Tay- lor's life in Jay is inseparably connected with Liber College, and will appear in the following chapter.
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CHAPTER XV.
· LIBER COLLEGE.
To build an institution of learning in some new region "where no man had laid a foundation," had long been a darling enterprise in the mind of I. N. Taylor. In many respects he was well fitted for the work. He greatly loved life in a new country. He has spent but a mere fragment of his mature life elsewhere than in the begin- nings of society. This region of tall forests and log-cabins, wide fire places and liberal chim- ney-corners, its germs of society planted with plain, genial, warm-hearted pioneers, was well suited to his tastes and talents. His early settle- ment here, extensive acquaintance and sympathy with the people, great influence, unflagging en- ergy, and, under adverse circumstances, obstinate will, all aided in adapting him to the work he was
9*
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LIBER COLLEGE.
about to commence. In autumn, 1842, in com- pany with Jacob Bosworth and Harry Reed, he first crossed, on foot, the present site of Liber.
" While these three men were sitting by the spring to which many scores now daily resort, the covenant of his boy- hood came vividly to the mind of the Missionary, then in his twenty-fifth year, and an impression sudden and overwhelm- ing as from the whisper or impress of a ministering angel, was settled on his heart, that on this spot he should dwell and execute his covenant with God and a sainted brother."*
Nothing, however, was done toward the enter- prise, then so dimly painted in the visions of the future, for ten years, except that Mr. Taylor ne- gotiated for the land. When he moved upon the ground he called the place Salem.
The first public meeting ever held to consider the subject of building a school there, assembled in the "old peeled-log meeting house," near by what was then known as the Salem Cemetery, February 5th, 1853. The persons present were Rev. I. N. Taylor, Jonathan Lowe, Jacob Bos- worth, J. H. Topping, Obadiah Winters, Wilson Milligan, David Hays, George W. Templer, Wil- liam McCormick, Joseph C. Hawkins, John G. Spade, Augustus Bosworth and R. S. Taylor. Mr. Winters was chosen Chairman and Mr. Tay- lor Secretary.
* Liber Lamp, September, 1858.
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LIBER COLLEGE.
" The day was bitterly cold ; the wind blew a heavy gale. and the snow drifted through the crevices of the cabin, so that not a spot could be found in the room where the Clerk could keep the paper dry. So unusually bitter was the cold storm that a large red-hot stove did not warm the ' peeled-log house.' "*
I. N. Taylor proposed an institution to be called Salem Academy, and argued that "such an en- terprise would be more in harmony with the un- developed state of the country and the concep- tions of the people, as well as within their means." Mr. Bosworth proposed a college, argu- ing that " no school of high grade could be made without foreign aid, and that such assistance could be more readily obtained for a college." This proposition prevailed, and the school was named "Liber College," by suggestion of Mr. Taylor. After this the village took the same
name. April 20th, 1853, a notice appeared in the Portland Journal giving notice of the first elec- tion of officers, and on the 3d of May the corpo- rators met and organized themselves into the "Liber College Joint Stock Company." Shares were placed at $20 each, and the payment of $100 entitled the holder to a perpetual scholarship. At this meeting the following officers were elected, being the first officers of the corporation : Trus- tees, Jacob Bosworth, Wilson Milligan, Obadiah
* Liber Lamp, October, 1858.
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LIBER COLLEGE.
Winters, Wilbur Morehous, Ebenezer Wood- bridge and Robert Huey ; Treasurer, G. W. Tem- pler. On the same day the Board of Trustees held their first meeting and elected I. N. Taylor President for four years. Afterward, A. Bos- worth was elected Clerk. During that summer the Board put forth a manifesto, from which the following are extracts :
" Liber is a latin word of four meanings, which the school-boy sometimes expresses in the rhyme:
' Liber is a child, And Liber is free ; Liber is a book, And the bark of a tree.'
"The significance of the title may be expressed in a sentence. We established, on liberal prin- ciples, in a new woodland, an institution for the education of our children, in books of practical Science, Religion and Liberty. * * *
Rarely was a College, or even a first rate High School, founded, furnished and finished in the time of one mortal generation. This we know, and are not crazed or gloomed. The growth of a good Institution is usually like that of an oak. As men in middle life and old age do not plant acorns expecting themselves to sit under the expanded and towering boughs of the embryo oak, so we are not oppressed with swollen fancies of speedy
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LIBER COLLEGE.
and easy maturity. We plant the acorn. It will germinate this very year. Henceforth our child- ren will defend the sappling, root, bark and blos- som. But the broad, deep shade of the great tree we willingly consecrate to those generations who will live and learn over our graves."
A college campus of six acres was donated to the company by I. N. Taylor and Jonathan Lowe.
Early in this year, (1853,) the Board contracted with I. N. Taylor to build a house, suitable for the preparatory classes, for one thousand two hundred dollars. The result was that in November of that year the house was ready to be occupied.
BAKER-CHICACO
LIBER COLLEGE.
In August the siteitself was cleared of its native beach trees and old logs.
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LIBER COLLEGE.
On the 5th of November, 1853 the school was opened; I. N. Taylor, President and Mrs. Julia A. Weber, Principal of the Primary Department.
During the first term Deacon Jonathan Lowe proposed to place in school a negro boy, living with him, called George Lowe, but whose real name was George Hunter. This displeased a number of the stock-holders, and they became di- vided on the question of admitting colored persons to the privileges of the school. At once the pre- vious harmony among the original founders was broken. The language of the Constitution of the College being that " the purpose of this Institu- tion is to furnish to any person whomsoever the facilities of a common and collegiate education," those stockholders opposed to the admission of colored persons ceased to co-operate in the man- agement of the College. Afterward (March 22, 1855,) the stockholders voted to reimburse those who had paid stock, not understanding that ne- groes could be admitted to the school. The result of the withdrawal of these persons was the foun- ing of Farmers' Academy, of which more will be said hereafter.
The first year the school opened with twenty scholars, forty-three being in attendance dur- ing the course of the year. The entire cost of teaching and agency during the first two years was only about one thousand one hundred and fifty
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LIBER COLLEGE.
dollars, during which time, for teaching the Pri- mary Department four months, Mrs. Weber re- ceived but twenty-seven dollars. Those were in- deed times of "small things."
At the opening of the third year of the school Miss Sarah Jane Miller was the Primary teacher, which position she held for three years. The number of trustees was increased to twelve. Dur- ing the year I. N. Taylor resigned his office as President of the Board and J. C. Hawkins was ap- pointed to the office. Two rows of rooms were built for self-boarding students, and several new residents came into the village and built houses. Nothing of especial interest occurred then until the fifth year, during which the teachers were as follows : President, I. N. Taylor, Principal Primary Department, Miss S. J. Miller, Assistants, R. S. Taylor, Pulaski Mills, Mattie Tyson, Ed- mund Lockett, W. G. Montgomery and Hattie A. Weber. The whole number of students during the year was one hundred and seventy-four.
The commencement exercises at the close of that year were distinguished by the graduation of the first class, consisting of M. W. Diggs, Pulaski Mills and R. S. Taylor. Immediately after the latter received his diploma, he stepped forward with Miss Fanny W. Wright, and the newly- crowned Bachelor of Arts lost the first part of his degree. -
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THE PIONEER COLLEGE.
The following is an extract from the peculiarly appropriate Baccalaureate Address of President Taylor :
"MISSION OF THE PIONEER COLLEGE.
" In new countries there is as much native mind, of good order, in proportion to the number of inhabitants, as in old countries; and, considering the degenerating influences of sumptuous and fashionable life in many places, there is even more. Uncouth men and women may become new settlers, but weak and cowardly men and women are not likely to brave the toils and dangers of pioneer life. Moreover, these toils and dangers invigorate the brain, and effectuate a strength of character which ease and luxury only hinder and prevent. Hence, the children of pioneers are more likely to exhibit that amount of healthy brain and active nervous or- ganization, which we call natural talent, than any other class whatever. It is my belief, after the observation of twenty years, that among the first and second purchasers of new ter- ritory, there is a higher order of vigorous mind than in any other condition of society. In old England there is a class- the real aristocracy of the kingdom-whose very aristocracy consists in superior physical and mental development. To this they are devoted. But in America there is no aristocra- cy but that of wealth and fashion, whose votaries, generation after generation, diminish in physical and mental power. It is left to the perils, privations and gigantic civilization con- flicts of the wilderness, to preserve a type of muscle and brain, undiminished in compass and vitality. But in such new regions as ours, this natural talent is covered up under the rubbish of mere neglect. The trees, and brush, and grass, and mud, are but the emblems of a more concealing intellectual and moral wilderness, in which the very germs of genius are buried from the world.
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THE PIONEER COLLEGE.
" Nothing but the broad and bright glare of High School and College light, will ever reveal these specimens of mental riches, even to the consciousness of the gifted sons and daughters of the forest. For, the drudgeries of pioneer life, the paucity of books, the inefficiency of common schools, the limitation of travel and conversation, the everlasting staying at home, the absence of all sight of great men and great things, the weakness of most professional efforts in the sick room, at the bar and in the sacred desk, the raillery of the po- litical platform,-all these conspire to show us not only the want of adequate causes, but the existence of hindering causes, respecting the elicitation of true talent and genius. Nothing short of an actual experiment, of advancing scien- tific and literary learning, will draw from their retreats the best specimens of mind. But this will; it will do it in any new country, and do it effectually. Many a brain of fine compass and vigorous pulse, throbbing under the compres- sure of miserable common school facilities, aches for a larger surroun ding, and turns to the young College, like steel to the magnet, the very day the opportunity is given to gratify the high impulsion.
"Generally, the circumstances of new settlers, for many years, do not suffer them to send their sons and daughters abroad, to the good Institutions of other places. And be- sides, there is a natural, and not much unreasonable reluct- ance, on the part of our youth, to go suddenly from the rude paths of new-land life to the gorgeous highways of refine- ment.
"In view of all this, it is simply certain that hundreds of the finest minds of the section, scattered about in all our new regions, must forever remain lost to the world and to them- selves, without the revealing presence and vivifying power of the Home College.
"But plant the College : open out to view the hitherto un- known beauties of Literature and grandeurs of Science ; fur- nish the facilities to home-born intellect, to unfold itself to
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R. S. TAYLOR.
kindred and to country ; and while you thus quicken the general pulse of society, you set on fire the best types of youthful mind, and dissolving the bonds that would other- wise have forever bound them to mammon and stupid world- liness, you redeem them to the glorious freedom and power of knowledge. With joy they hasten to the founts of truth, and drinking a little at first, then more and more, they rise to higher views of life and duty, and doom ; and vow, at the altar of truth, to spend their whole lives in helping through the earth the triumphs of wisdom. What a redemption ! No tongue can tell what an amount of personal joys and public influence are thus secured to society by the Home College.
" By the redemption of buried intellect, then, O heart of our country, cherish thy own Home College."
Rev. M. W. Diggs is now pastor of the Con- gregational Church at Pisgah, Mercer County, Ohio. Pulaski Mills has given his time chiefly to teaching, since his "graduation, and in June, 1864, was appointed by the County Commission- ers, School Examiner of Jay County for three years.
R. S. Taylor studied law with L. M. Ninde, at Fort Wayne, and is now partner in the law firm of Ninde & Taylor. He has always given much attention to music, and has acquired considerable well-deserved note as a musical composer. For several years before he graduated, the words and music for the College exhibitions were, most of them, of his composition. Many of his pieces have found their way into the later musical pub- lications, while others have been issued in sheet
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R. S. TAYLOR.
form. That touchingly patriotic piece, " Oh, Wrap the Flag around me, boys," which has a national reputation, is of his composing. His law-partner is also a Jay Countian. L. M. Ninde, Esq., was raised on his father's farm near Cam- den, graduated at Farmers' College, near Cincin- nati, and has since been a successful lawyer at Fort Wayne.
In 1855 the Liber Glee Club was formed, of which R. S. Taylor was chorister. In the sum- mer of 1856 it gave concerts at different places, which were the first ever given in the county.
During the summer session of 1857, Pulaski Mills was Principal of Liber College. For the year 1858-9, Miss Jane A. Montgomery was Principal of the Primary Department.
In March, 1857 Vynul Arnett was chosen Pres- ident of the Board, in the room of J. C. Hawkins, resigned, which position he held for two years.
With the close of the sixth year of the Institu- tion, President Taylor closed his official connec- tion with it, and, in September, 1859, moved to Illinois. For a paragraph, that he may not be misunderstood, the author must speak plainly.
Thus ended Mr. Taylor's fourteen years in Jay County. During all this time he devoted his great energies and talents to the intellectual and moral interests of her people. Unambitious of wealth or fame, he gave his time and means un-
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REV. I. N. TAYLOR.
reservedly to push forward the enterprises in which he was engaged. Especially is this true of his labors in converting the wilderness, on the Little Salimonie, into the village of Liber, and building there a school, at which hundreds of Jay County youths, otherwise ignorant and uninfluential, have tasted the higher branches of knowledge.
Many of these youths are now the, teachers of the county, many others teach elsewhere, and still others are filling various important positions in society. With small means, great obstacles and many other discouragements, he, nevertheless, accomplished a great work. But his usefulness was but beginning, had his course not been such, before his departure and since, as to deeply grieve and mortify his many former friends, and cripple. his usefulness.
He was a graduate of Athens College, Ohio, possessed a clear, strong mind, and profound knowledge of human nature. This attracted to him many warm friends, and gave him, for many years, great influence. His sermons were char- acterized by profoundness of thought and beauty of expression, but were long, and rather quietly delivered. He now resides in Nebraska, and is a surveyor on the Pacific Railroad.
Accompanying some statements of his early life in Jay, which have been substantially embodied in this work, President Taylor sent the following
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REV. I. N. TAYLOR.
note. Though intended to be private, no harm can result, or wrong be done, in giving it here, as a farewell glimpse of the workings of that mind which planned and hoped so much for the future welfare of Jay County. It cannot fail to awaken mingled emotions in the minds of his former numerous friends in this region.
ENASHVILLE, ILLINOIS, New Year's, 1862. MR. M. W. MONTGOMERY :
Dear Sir : I have spent my New Year's in preparing the rough sketch contained on these leaves. With much diffi- culty I compose my shattered nerves to write anything that brings up the events that so interested me in Jay-that dear scene of all my effective existence, and where my heart yet lingers in imperishable longings, but from which I am sun- dered forever * * *
Wishing you much pleasure and success in your good work, I remain,
Yours, very truly, I. N. TAYLOR.
In 1859 the Board of Trustees invited Rev. Ebenezer Tucker, of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, to become President of the College. He accepted, and moved to Liber that year. He has since been constantly engaged in the college, preparing scores of young men and women to be teachers of common and graded schools. He was educated at Whitesboro, New York and Oberlin College. Prior to his residence in Illinois, he was, for eight years, Principal of the Union School, at Spartans- burg, Indiana.
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REV. EBENEZER TUCKER.
During the first term of the college year of 1859-60, Elihu HI. Votaw, now a student at Wheaton College, Illinois, was the Principal. Since that time the Principals of the Primary Department have been Miss Edith S. Bailiff, of Fulton, Ohio, Miss Bell A. Johnston, now Mrs. G. W. Loofbourrow, and Miss Helen M. Johnston, of Bell Centre, Ohio.
The Presbyterian church in Portland divided in 1854, and the seceding members organized a Congregational church at Liber.
The first Musical Institute held in the county was at Liber, in December, 1863, by W. S. Mont- gomery, and M. Z. Tinker, of Terre Haute, In- diana.
Concerning the Liber Spring, now owned by D. C. Baker, Esq., the following letter em- braces all that need be said. It was writ- ten without the faintest idea of its appearing here, and is, consequently, as fresh and lively as the limpid waters that still rise from that dearly loved fountain under the hill. It is inserted without the knowledge of the writer, for who is so well pre- pared to speak of that Spring as he who, for more than ten years, made it daily visits ?
FORT WAYNE, Indiana, July 18th, 1864.
DEAR FRIEND M .: After" as much reflection as I can readily give to any one subject, with the mercury at 95°, I can think of nothing that I would particularly wish to have
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THE LIBER SPRING.
remembered in your history, that you would be at all likely to omnit, except the old spring, at Liber. I would give the price of two copies of your history for one good swig of its clear, cold water, now. I speak of it, fearing that since the town has been built up, with a score of wells in its immediate neighborhood, and since some of the old settlers have passed away, some to other scenes of earthly toil, and some to fields where yet purer water flows, and since the war has opened its ghastly fountains, to the flowing of which all our hearts contribute in some degree, the old spring may have lost somc of its ancient prestige. But it ought not to be forgotten ; it was once famous in its way, and the very object of your book is to perpetuate the memory of those humble things that made up the life of the pioneers of Jay County. When I first knew it, that Spring was noted for miles around. The eoun- try was thinly settled, and good wells were rare, and good springs still more so. 1
The numerous veins that oozed through the banks of the Salimonie, and painted their way to the water's edge with a slimy green and yellow glazing, seemed almost uniformly, judging from taste and odor, to have come from some locality where sulphur much abounded. A pure, clear, cold spring as this was, was rarely found, and was highly prized. There was no house very near it ;-- there had been one years before on the hill just above, but it was then a mere heap of rotten logs. It may have been a dwelling house, or only a hunter's lodge. I remember picking up some pieces of broken china near it. The painted flowers on them were as bright and fresh as new. The cheeks of the girl who washed them must have long since lost their roses. The old spring was then a mere hole in the ground ; it had not even the usual protection of a sycamore gum. There was a well-worn path leading to it, into which several others converged, and which was much traveled by those who lived up the Salimonie, on their way to and from the county seat. There was at one time a gourd supplied to it by some public-spirited person, and kept hang-
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THE LIBER SPRING.
ing on a bush that overhung the spring, for the accommoda- tion of thirsty passers-by ; but usually there were no such luxurious superfluities to be had : those who sought refresh- ment there had to get upon their hands and knees, like the cattle and deer, which were also equally welcome to its water.
But the circumstance most interesting to my mind of any connected with the old spring, and one which shows what little things determine the course of human affairs, is that its existence there determined the location of " Liber College" where it is. I well remember the day when my father and mother first went out to examine the land on which the Col- lege now stands, and with what glowing enthusiasm they spoke, when they came back, of the "pure, cold spring" that was there. There were a good many difficulties in the way of getting the land : the price asked was considered high, and the title was in the hands of several persons, so that it took many conveyances and considerable trouble and outlay to secure it ; and in the long and persevering efforts that re- sulted in its purchase, I know that the spring was a leading motive. If you will examine the original " manifesto" of the College you will find the spring prominently and honorably referred to.
I do request that if you have not already done so, and your book is not now in type, you will make some mention of the " old spring."
Yours truly,
R. S. TAYLOR.
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CHAPTER XVI.
FARMERS' ACADEMY-GENERAL ITEMS.
THE first meeting to consider the subject of founding this school was held at the house of G. W. Templer, then living at College Corner, in the spring of 1854. Another meeting was afterward held at David O. Whipple's. The members of the first Board of Trustees were Jacob Bosworth, President ; Obadiah Winters, G. W. Templer, James Templer, J. G. Spade, John J. Adair, Geo. Blazer, John Reed, Lewis J. Bell, Augustus Bos- wortlı.
James Templer, now a resident of Indianapolis, donated the site for the building, and Jacob Bos- worth built the house-a frame, twenty-five by fifty-six feet, and two stories high-for $900.
Mr. C. C. Chamberlain, a graduate of Antioch College, taught for the first six months, commen- cing December 10th, 1854, Miss Katurah Winters
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FARMERS' ACADEMY.
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