USA > Indiana > Johnson County > History of Johnston County, Indiana. From the earliest time to the present, with biographical sketches, notes, etc., together with a short history of the Northwest, the Indiana territory, and the state of Indiana > Part 33
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JOHNSON COUNTY.
ing, which was one fight to every ninth voter. And yet in the face of these figures, men whose memories took in the times when they were being made, were wont to say that " not half the fights in the county ever got into the courts," and I think their estimate was about right.
But the reader must not be misled by the figures. The county taken as a whole was far less given to turbulence than the figures would seem to indicate. There was relatively but little fighting done in the country neighborhoods. Most of it took place at the elections, at the musters, and at the towns. At the first election on Blue River, which was held at the house of Hezekiah Davison, the first keg of whisky ever brought to the county was on the ground in the interest of William Williamson, a candidate for clerk of the Circuit Court. Being free to all thirsty voters, during the day, many became intoxicated, after which a promiscuous fight was in- augurated, during which the combatants beat, bit, scratched and gouged each other, and wallowed in the mud and mire as was never known in the county before, and for that matter, for many years after. On the same day at the White River voting place, it is re- membered that John Doty and Permenter Mullenix had a hard fight over their respective candidates. Men fought over very triv- ial matters in those days, but to their credit be it written, they usually deferred their collisions till they could meet in some public place, and hence the country neighborhoods were far less pestered with brawls than the court records would seem to indicate.
Strange as it may sound to modern ears, it is nevertheless true that men fought for the sport of the thing. It was not uncommon for a lusty man, who, feeling the effect of a dram of ardent spirits, and taking pride in his manhood, to challenge the crowd he hap- pened to be in, and it was seldom some one did not accept his challenge, when a fisticuff at once ensued. A man yet hving, nar- rated a circumstance to the writer, illustrating in a high degree the spirit of the times. He was at a log-rolling when one of his asso- ciates began vaunting his powers. " I can tie your hands behind your back," said my informant. It was agreed that he might make the attempt. A rope was brought, and everything being ready, my informant, who was a large, powerful man, promptly knocked his man down and tied his hands behind him before he recovered. It was deemed a good joke. But the lawless element did not have it all their own way. In truth, the large majority of the people were law-abiding in all particulars. There were neighborhoods in which a personal encounter not only did not take place the year round, but in which no man lived who engaged therein at the elec- tions or musters. The truth is, a limited number of the people
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THE PIONEERS.
comprised the rowdy element that engaged in the most of the brawls. The fines constituted the seminary fund, and Thomas Calvin, a noted pugilist of the early days, used to say, he " carried up one corner of the county seminary." The repressing influence of the law was made to be felt from the beginning, while the senti- ment of the great majority of the people was unqualifiedly in favor of order.
With the first comers came the Christian Church. John P. Barnett, who came to the county in IS21, was a Baptist preacher, and finding others here of like faith, they organized in IS23 the first church in the county. Early in the history of Nineveh Town- ship, a Baptist Church, under the preaching of Mordecai Cole, was organized at the home of Daniel Mussulman; and when Rich- ardson Hensley moved into Hensley Township, he carried with him a Baptist faith, and a Baptist Church was soon planted on In- dian Creek. In 1824, the Presbyterian Church, the first in Frank- lin, was organized, and shortly after the Presbyterian Church of Greenwood, and in 1831, the Presbyterian Church of Hopewell, and in 1832, the Presbyterian Church of Shiloh in the western edge of the county. In IS23, the Rev. James Scott, an itinerant Metho- dist minister, traveling up White River and preaching to the set- tlers wherever he found them, came to the Bluffs, where he preached and ultimately organized the first Methodist Church in the county.
In this review, the social life of the pioneers deserves a word. Among the brightest pictures that have been handed down to us from their times, are those representing its social life, and many persons of to-day, led captive by them, long for the return of that social life, forgetful of the fact that by reason of changed condi- tions, it would be as much out of place now as would the return of the wild beasts that then inhabited the woods. The people in the beginning were dependent on each other. In sickness and in health, at home and abroad, they felt and realized this dependence. In sickness, the pioneer's neighbors volunteered to nurse him, and to plant or plow or harvest his corn, according to the season when his sickness came. If a doctor ยท was required a neighbor volun- teered to go after him, and if the sick died, he well knew that his neighbors would volunteer to dig his grave and lay his body to rest, and most likely show kindness to his family after he was gone.
The peculiar difficulties attending the labors of the pioneers re- quired the joining of forces. The men of the neighborhood had to unite to build their cabins and to roll their logs. It was quite common to swap work in order that the strength of two or more might be exerted to a common end. Even housewives not infre-
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JOHNSON COUNTY.
quently found profit in this kind of combination. In corn planting time, families frequently exchanged work, and old and young would drop and cover corn side by side. In the harvest field, reapers, cradlers, and binders marched in phalanx across the fields of grain. Men were wont to " splice" teams when they went to market at a river town. Now, out of all this interdependence and association, came sociability. Men and women who are a great deal together are quite sure to grow to like each other, and to love each other's society.
But other causes combined to promote sociability. The absence of newspapers and books promoted conversation. When the winter weather came and the fire was kindled in the wide-mouthed fire place, and sent its genial warmth to the remotest corners of the room, the tongues of those who sat around it were loosened. They had naught else to do, and so they talked to escape the pangs of their own inanition. The family circle was in truth the talking circle. And it was this love of conversation that led to the family visit- ing that was such a feature of the early times. During the seasons when the work was slack, neighbors visited each other till " bed- time," or longer, according to circumstances, and the visits were al- ways returned.
The social habit manifested itself in divers ways. Saturday was a day on which men went to the towns, or other central place, to hear the news. They talked of their crops, of the incidents occur- ring in the various neighborhoods, and thus was established a habit that is yet observed, although the cause has long gone by. All over central and southern Indiana, men frequent the towns on Sat- urdays as on no other day.
36I
SCHOOLS.
CHAPTER IV.
BY D. D. BANTA.
SCHOOLS -EARLY LEGISLATIVE ACTS IN RELATION TO - EXAMIN- ATION AND QUALIFICATIONS OF EARLY TEACHERS - PRIMITIVE BUILDINGS AND METHODS - FIRST SCHOOLS - LIST OF EARLY PEDAGOGUES - LATER AND MORE IMPROVED METHODS - PRO- VISIONS OF NEW CONSTITUTION - PRESENT SCHOOL CENSUS - FLANKLIN COLLEGE.
ONGRESS of the United States, in the month of April, 1819, passed an act to enable the people of the In- diana Territory, to form a state constitution and to organ- ize a state government. Five propositions were offered for the " free acceptance or rejection" of the people, through their delegates in convention assembled, two of which related to learning. In the first it was proposed to grant the sixteenth section in every congressional town- ship " to the inhabitants of such township for the use of schools," and in the fourth, to reserve an entire township " for the use of a seminary of learning." To the everlasting honor of the members of the first constitutional convention of the state be it written, they accepted these propositions in a spirit as broad and liberal as that in which they were tendered. The constitution they framed pro- vided that all moneys realized from the sale of school lands should " remain a fund for the exclusive purpose of promoting the inter- est of literature and the sciences, and for the support of seminaries and public schools." And it was further provided that " It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to provide by law for a general system of education, as- cending in a regular gradation from township schools to a state uni- versity, wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open to all."
Whatever may be said of the performance, the promise made by the new state was as liberal as the most zealous lover of learn- ing, of that early day, could have wished. The state stood com- mitted in her organic law to a free school system that should begin in the district school, and end in the university. But how utterly impossible it was to carry into immediate effect these commend- able resolutions. All of Indiana was a savage wilderness, save a narrow border along the southeastern, southern and southwestern
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JOHNSON COUNTY.
boundaries of the state. The population was less by nearly four thousand than the population of Johnson. Shelby and Bartholomew counties, at the time of the taking of the last census; and the cash value of all the property in the state was, doubtless, less than that within any one of the counties named, at the same time. The con- stitution itself wisely provided that "no lands granted for the use of schools" should be sold before 1820, the year in which the first settlers came to Johnson County. As a matter of fact, more were sold prior to 1828, at which time the first legislative act was passed, authorizing the sale. Prior to that time, the laws authorized the leasing of the school lands, and in some townships of the state, they never have been sold, but are still leased, and the proceeds turned into the school fund of the townships.
It would be a useless task to present, even an epitome of the many school laws that were passed from the organization of the state up to the time of the adoption of the present constitution, in IS50, when a radical change in educational affairs was brought about. Whether these laws were wise or unwise, it would be hard to judge, save from a speculative stand-point, for the funds derived from the school revenue sources, were in general, so meager that the maintenance of a district school depended more upon the en- terprise of the people in nearly every case, than upon the law. Yet the laws passed from time to time served one most excellent pur- pose; they pointed out a convenient line of action to the people who were desirous of maintaining schools, and gave a sanction to all their efforts.
The first comprehensive school law was passed in IS24. It provided for three trustees in every school district, a feature that was kept on foot up to the time of the adoption of the new con- stitution. These trustees were given authority to examine teach- ers in reading, writing and arithmetic, the only studies mentioned in that law or in any succeeding, for many years. For thirteen years the district trustees were the school examiners, and we may well imagine the character of some of the examinations. Hardly one in a hundred may be said to have been fitted to conduct a school, let alone pass upon the qualifications of another before hand, to do the same thing. We may readily see the course such an examination would be apt to take if made at all. While it was not uncommon to meet with trustees who could neither read nor write, it seldom, if ever, happened that there was not one of the three, at least, who did not make some claims to elementary book knowledge. The candidate's hand-writing could be seen of all, and in the early days a full, round, smoothly flowing hand was more than half the accomplishment. It opened the store door to a
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SCIIOOLS.
clerkship for the ambitious youth; it was pointed to as a master qualification in the candidate who was running for public office, and to the school-master it was deemed an invaluable acquisition. It is easy to see how the trustees would scan the candidate's chirog- raphy. They could do this and remain silent. Mentally, they could admire or criticise, and not subject themselves to criticism in turn. As to the rest, they talked with the candidate on various themes, judging of his general fitness for school teaching, from what he said. If they were not book-learned, they were, at least, fair judges of men. They could give an estimate of the applicant's general intelligence, more or less satisfactory to themselves, and one which nearly always had the merit of satisfying their con- stituency.
In 1837, the law was so changed that three county examiners were chosen to conduct examinations in lieu of the district trustees who were to be appointed by the circuit judge of the county. This system, with modification, principally affecting the appointing power, continued in vogue up to 1852. It was unquestionably a step up- ward. It afforded an opportunity of securing men, qualified to dis- charge the duty, which was a great deal. But such men were not always secured, if we may judge from contemporanious history. Barnabas C. Hobbs, a former superintendent of public instruction in this state, made application for a license to one of these county examiners. The only question asked was: " What is the product of 25 cents by 25 cents? " " We had then," says Mr. Hobbs, "no teach- ers' institutes, normal schools, nor ' best methods' by which nice mat- ters were determined, and precise definitions given. We were not as exact then as now. We had only Pike's arithmetic, which gave the sums and the rules. These were considered enough for that day. How could I tell the product of 25 cents by 25 cents, when such a problem could not be found in the book? The examiner thought it was 614 cents, but was not sure; I thought just as he. did, but this looked too small to both of us. We discussed its merits for an hour or more, when he decided that he was sure I was qualified to teach school, and a first-class certificate was given me."
The early laws provided for the erection of school-houses, but like every other public improvement of that day, the school house when made, represented the labor of the district applied to the ma- terial growing on the ground. Under the law the trustees were empowered to call out every "able bodied male person of the age of twenty-one or upwards, being a freeholder or householder, residing in the school district," one day in each week until the building was completed. Such person might, in lieu of work, pay in " plank,
364
JOHNSON COUNTY.
nails, glass or other materials," but if he failed to work or pay in materials, he suffered a fine of 3712 cents for each day lost. The law provided further that the school-house should be "eight feet between the floors, and at least one foot from the surface of the ground to the first floor, and finished in a manner calculated to ren- der comfortable the teacher and pupils, with a suitable number of seats, tables, lights, and everything necessary for the convenience of such school. These exceedingly general requirements were not always observed in the building of school-houses. All were not raised a foot above the earth, nor all eight foot from floor to ceil- ing, but so general was this last requirement observed in Johnson County, that the old school-houses, in general, bore strong resem- blance to each other on the outside.
In the beginning the few houses erected were of the most primitive style of log cabin architecture. Indeed, some were little or no better than the hunter's camp. The first school-house built in the south half of White River Township, was arranged for the fire to be kept burning in the center of the earthen floor. A chimney built on four posts planted in the ground, about six feet apart, and rising to the roof, was intended to carry the smoke away. The benches were arranged on the four sides of the fire. Usually the chimney was placed in one end. One house in the south part of the county, in very early times, was made without a window. It was lighted by the door and its very large chimney. As the children increased in a neighborhood, to a number sufficient to support a school, their fathers were quite sure to make provision for one. While they themselves were, in general, the most meag- erly educated, they, nevertheless, were anxious that their children should have good school advantages, and willingly they joined in providing school-houses. Whether made of round or hewed logs - whether eight feet between the floor and ceiling, or less, all school houses (save a few at the very first) had puncheon floors, capacious fire-places with mud and stick chimneys, long benches made of slabs or puncheons. Every house had a long window, made by cutting out a log the full length of one side or end of the house, beneath which window was the writing table. This was made by laying a plank on pins, driven with an upward slant into the wall, or if a plank was not to be had, which was sometimes the case, by laying smoothly shaved riven boards thereon, or even smoothly shaved halves of logs.
One of the greatest drawbacks to the efficiency of the pioneer schools, was the want of competent teachers. This want was felt in every county in the state with more or less severity. "The pioneer teachers were generally adventurers from the east, or from
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SCHOOLS.
England, Scotland or Ireland, who sought temporary employment during winter while waiting for an opening for business," says Barnabas C. Hobbs. The southern states furnished their quota, and western Pennsylvania was not behind any section of equal area in the number sent forth to become educators of the youth of the land. While there was one here and there of the early teachers who was well qualified for the work, the great majority, it must be admitted, were not. So loud were the complaints of the inefficiency of the school teachers throughout the state, that they reached the ears of the governor. In the annual message of Gov- ernor Noble, in 1833, he thus calls the attention of the General Assembly to the subject: "The want of competent persons to in- struct in the township schools, is a cause of complaint in many sec- tions of the state, and it is to be regretted, that in employing tran- sient persons from other states, containing but little qualifications or moral character, the profession is not in that repute it should be. Teachers permanently interested in the institutions of the country, possessing a knowledge of the manners and customs of our extended population, and mingling with it, would be more calculated to ren- der essential service, and be better received than those who came in search of employment." And he proposes as a remedy for the evil the establishment of a seminary for the special training of our native teachers or the incorporation of the manual labor system with the preparatory department of the Indiana College at Bloom- ington.
All sorts of teachers were employed in Johnson County. There was the " one-eyed teacher "; the " one-legged teacher"; the " lame teacher"; the " single-handed teacher "; the teacher who had "fits;" the teacher who had been educated for the ministry, but owing to his habits of hard drink had turned pedagogue; the teacher who got drunk on Saturday and whipped the entire school on Monday. Some are remembered for the excellence of their teaching, and some for their rigorous government. Some are remembered for their good scholarship and some for their incompetency. As late as 1848, teachers were employed in Johnson County whose license certified that they could teach arithmetic to the " Single Rule of Three." While the curriculum of studies was confined mainly to reading, writing and arithmetic, there were schools wherein no book was used but the spelling book. There were schools taught by teachers who did not claim to be able to teach anything beyond spelling, reading and writing. One such was taught by John Pruner in the northwest corner school house of Union Township. Pruner taught two or three terms in succession, and proved himself an acceptable and popular teacher. The children spelled and read
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JOHNSON COUNTY. 1
and wrote in accordance with the custom of the schools of the times. It came to pass, however, that some of his students wanted to study arithmetic, and there came a young man to the neighborhood, Abram Aten, who claimed to be able to teach it. He offered him- self as a candidate for the school against Pruner, and there was at once a great commotion in the neighborhood. Should the popular Pruner be thrown overboard to make room for a man who could cipher? was the all-absorbing question. A school meeting was held and the matter was thoroughly canvassed. Nothing could be said against the character of either candidate, and so the question was debated upon the square issue of arithmetic or no arithmetic. Fiery speeches were made extolling reading and writing and John Pruner on the one side, and reading, writing and arithmetic and the untried man on the other. A great deal of feeling was evinced, and it looked at one time as if the district would be rent assunder. On taking the vote, those in favor of the arithmetic carried the day by two or three majority, and Aten was given the school. Thomas Lynam was a popular pioneer teacher, but he made no pretense to a knowledge of arithmetic. One of his pupils, A. B. Hunter, ciphered through the arithmetic without any assistance from his teacher.
One of the curious chapters of the times, is the low wages paid for all manner of intellectual labor. The governor of the state re- ceived $1,000 per year, a supreme judge and a judge of the circuit court each $700, a member of the General Assembly drew $2 per day, and legislated on Christmas and New Year's days the same as on any others, except when they happened to fall on Sunday. Salaries of officers were even less in some of the eastern states. The governor of Vermont received $750 per annum for his ser- vices, the secretary of state $450, and the treasurer $400. Minis- ters, well educated, and of most excellent natural abilities, preached the year round for $300 or less; nay, the "Rev. Allen Wiley, a man of varied learning, deep in theology, strong in faith, and full of the Holy Ghost, received that year (1830) as his portion of the sum total, $20. My colleague, Rev. Amos Sparks, a most unique man, full of goon common sense, of marked eloquence and power in the pulpit, and popular with the people, received for his portion, being a married man with several children, $175, a part of which was paid in dicker."* An unmarried circuit rider of the times, who was paid $roo per year, was deemed to have been paid a good compensation.
Small salaries were likewise the rule with teachers. The Rev. B. R. Hall, the first principal of the Indiana Seminary, at
* Early Methodism in Indiana, p. 19.
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SCHOOLS.
Bloomington, which was the state school, received a salary of $250 per year. He was elected in 1823, and when two years after, the board of trustees elected John M. Harney to the chair of mathematics and philosophy, one applicant informed the board by letter that he was "educated in England, and would accept the situation at a salary of $250 and find his own family." For a great many years the pay of teachers was in general, kept at the lowest notch. The first school taught in Hensley Township, was by Jesse Titus, a "lame school-master," at $1.00 per scholar. This was in the winter of 1826-27. He could not have had over nine- teen scholars, which would reduce his compensation to $6.00 per month. Out of that he paid his board, which cost him $1 per month. The patrons of his school were all poor men, but anxious to afford means for the education of their children. John Stevens had three to educate, and as an inducement to Titus to teach the school, he proffered to set off the board against their tuition, and it was done. Ten dollars and $12 per month was quite frequently paid to teachers in Johnson County during the early days. Indeed, a sub- scription school of twenty-five scholars, at $1.50 per scholar, was long considered a well-paying school. The winter schools might go over this, but the few summer schools taught, so often fell below, that it was quite customary for the teacher to "board around," in order to make up the loss as nearly as he could.
In 1844, Anderson B. Hunter taught a school in Waggoner's smoke house, which had been fixed up for the occasion, for $8 per month, and boarded himself. In the spring of 1846, he taught for $14 per month, paying for his board 50 cents per week. A like condition of things prevailed elsewhere in the state. In Orange County, a subscription school was taught at " three bits per pupil for three months." In 1845, schools were taught in that county at $10 per month. Nor was this peculiar to Indiana alone. In Mas- sachusetts the school system had reached such a stage of develop- ment by the year the first settlers came to Johnson County, that the school-districts had been laid off in such a manner that " no scholar is obliged to walk further than three-fourths of a mile from the extremity to the center of the district where the school is situ- ated." Public schools were kept open from three to four months each winter, and a master was paid " from $10 to $20 per month,"' while a mistress for a summer school was paid " from $5 to $6 per month."* The wages paid to teachers during the formation period of our state's history are believed to have been in the main up to the level of the wages paid in most of the other states during the same period.
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