USA > Maine > York County > Parsonsfield > A history of the first century of the town of Parsonsfield, Maine > Part 5
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50
Thomas Churchill (deceased),
36
HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
THE SCHOOLS OF PARSONSFIELD.
BY HORACE PIPER, A.M., LL.B.
Citizens of Parsonsfield, Ladies and Gentlemen: -
The subject assigned me by the Centennial committee is, "The Schools of Parsonsfield." The town of Parsonsfield, like the other towns of New England, is greatly indebted to Massachusetts, its parent state, for the excellent school system which it now possesses. To Massachusetts belongs the distinguished honor of being the first to announce to the world, in its broadest sense, the great idea of free schools for the education of all the people without regard to rank, race, color, or religion. It is true that there were free schools for the education of the people at a remote period of the world's history, and also in more recent time, but they were confined to scholars of the higher ranks in society, as in Sparta and Athens, or were charity or parochial schools, designed for the educa- tion of those belonging to particular sects or religious denominations, as formerly in England, and not for all classes, and supported by the people by tax, as ours are. "In ancient times," says the Cyclopedia of Education, " this principle was recognized by democratic states. It was, however, reserved for modern times, and for the free states of the American Union to carry this principle to its fullest extent, providing gratuitous education of every grade, for all classes, making common schools not eleemosynary institutions, but seminaries in which the chil- dren of the rich and the poor might meet together in common, and share alike in the blessings and advantages of education."
It was ever the custom in Puritan New England for parents to teach their chil- dren to read .* The first educational ordinance of Massachusetts is dated in 1642, although in 1635 the idea of free schools for all classes was recognized when " the people of Boston expressed by vote their appreciation of the need of a school," and employed a "school-master for the teaching and nurturing of children." This may be said to be the first movement looking directly toward the establish- ment of the common school system in this country, or in any other.t The ordi- nance required " the Selectmen of every town to have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors to see, first, that none of them shall suffer so much barbarism in any of their families as not to endeavor to teach, by themselves or others, their children and apprentices so much learning as may enable them perfectly to read the English tongue, and knowledge of the capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings therein." ¿
By the law of 1647, " it was ordered by the General Court that every township of fifty householders should appoint one of their number to teach all children that might be sent to him to read and write, the wages of such teacher to be paid
* Bancroft's History of the United States.
t Connecticut has sometimes claimed the priority, but I think that it is generally conceded to Massachu- setts. See Cyclopedia of Education, under Massachusetts and Connecticut.
# Cyclopædia of Education.
-
G.H.WawDo Boston
Horace Piper
HORAGE PIPER, A.M., LI.B.
37
HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
either by the parents or guardians of the children sent, or by the inhabitants in general; the penalty attaching to the disregard of this ordinance for one year to be ten pounds."* This law may be regarded as the beginning of the common school system as now developed in the different states of the Union, since it makes full provision for the education of all who are not able to educate them- selves. It also ordered " that every town of one hundred families should main- tain, in addition to the Common School, a Grammar School for the fitting of pupils to enter the University." "This school law, re-enacted in Connecticut in the very same terms, was adopted also by Plymouth and New Haven." t
The beneficial influence of this system of Common Schools, as now perfected in our country and especially in New England, where it has exerted its full power can be known only by contrasting ours with other countries in which it has not been adopted. " In these measures," says Mr. Bancroft, " especially in the laws establishing common schools, lies the secret of the success and character of New England. Every child, as it was born into the world, was lifted from the earth by the genius of the country, and in the statutes of the land received, as its birth- right, a pledge of the public care for its morals and its mind."
The proprietors of the town of Parsonsfield, being deeply imbued with the educational spirit, and the high moral and religious principles of the fathers of Massachusetts, made provision, among their earliest acts for the education of its children. Three lots of land, of one hundred acres each, were given " for the use and purpose of supporting a Grammar School in said town." As this land could yield no income for several years, the town voted March 27, 1786, at the first annual meeting after its organization, " to raise one hundred dollars in produce, to be laid out in schooling the ensuing year, to be proportioned by the Selectmen." In 1790, it voted " the sum of fifteen pounds to hire schooling." In 1791, " for schooling thirty pounds to be raised by tax." In 1792, " that the Selectmen be empowered to build schoolhouses in the districts now formed." In 1793, " to raise forty pounds for schooling, to be paid in corn at four shillings, and rye at five shillings per bushel.", In 1794, " to raise forty pounds for school- ing, and fifteen pounds to build schoolhouses." In 1795, " one hundred pounds for schooling." In 1796, " to raise one hundred pounds for schooling, and six hundred dollars for schoolhouses." The money raised annually was sometimes expressed in dollars and sometimes in pounds. # I have given it as found in the town records. In 1797, it voted " to sell the three school lots, and put the money at interest to support a Grammar School." The lots were sold for thirteen hundred and thirty dollars, and the next year an effort was made to appropriate
* Cyclopædia of Education. Also, Bancroft's History of the United States. Mr. Barnard represents the penalty as being five pounds.
+ Hildreth's History of the United States.
¿ A pound was worth, at that time, about three dollars thirty-three and one-third "cents. I am indebted to Mr. Harrison Gray Otis Smith for these facts and others which follow, taken from the town records.
38
HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
the interest on the money toward the payment of the salary of a teacher of an academy, if individuals would erect a building for the same, but the plan was not approved by the town. The proceeds of the land have been preserved to the present time, and the interest, amounting annually to sixty dollars, has been appropriated to the support of the common schools of the town. This was the most feasible thing that could be done at that time, for there was not then suf- ficient wealth in the town to support an academy or a grammar school with the aid of only this small income; nor were there scholars enough, who could be spared from their labors at home, to furnish the requisite number for such a school.
The school districts of the town first formed were the following: The Doe district, the Wiggin, the Morrison, the Parsons, the Middle Road, the Blazo, the Lougee, and the Weeks. These districts were all formed before 1795.
It appears, from the preceding statement, that the first money mentioned as being raised by the town for building schoolhouses was in 1794, nine years after the organization of the town. The power to build had been intrusted to the Selectmen in 1792. It continued in their hands till 1804. Previous to 1792, the schools had generally been kept in private dwelling-houses, a room being set apart for that purpose; or in temporary log-houses, erected by the people in the neighborhoods in which the schools were located. These were rude structures compared with those now in use, with blackboards, clocks, thermometers, globes, charts, philosophical and chemical apparatus, and libraries, costing from five hundred dollars to one hundred thousand, as some of the schoolhouses in our large cities. There were no chairs in schoolrooms then. Pine slabs, with four legs put into the rounded side, or the more primitive form of blocks of wood, sawed from the smooth trunk of some forest-tree, sufficed for seats; and long tables, made of unplaned boards, and supported by cross legs of joist, supplied the place of writing-desks.
It would excite a smile now to see those hardy boys and health-glowing girls, dressed in their neat homespun attire, entering those humble buildings from day to day, and finally completing their education when they had learned only to read and write, and to cipher through the four simple rules of Arithmetic; or perhaps, if they were very smart, as far as the " single rule of three." In our view, they must have been poorly prepared to enter upon the responsible duties of life, but with their vigorous intellects, and the careful moral and religious training which most of them received, their success was wonderful, and they have set noble examples of industry and virtue, worthy of the imitation of the most highly educated and refined.
My memory does not extend back to those ancient buildings, by many years, but I can faintly remember one of their successors, the old schoolhouse of my almost infant years, with its great fireplace, its andirons, backlog and forestick, and the pile of green wood, cut sled length, and the dry log for kindling-wood,
39
HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
all piled in front of the schoolhouse; and how the large boys were required to cut and split the wood for the fire, to the great interruption of their studies, and the annoyance of the teacher. Many were the joys and sorrows of that old-fash- ioned schoolhouse. Often for hours the fire presented little more than a blackened, sweating mass, while the whole school would crowd densely around it, shivering with cold; and when at last it was brought to a glowing heat, the situation was little improved, for the small scholars on the front seats were scorching with heat, while the large ones on the back seats were still smarting with cold. But this state of things was not to continue forever. One cold win- ter morning, the boy who built the fire having left the school-room for a few minutes to prepare additional wood, the burning brands rolled down upon the floor, and set the house on fire. All efforts to extinguish the flames were una- vailing, and the schoolhouse, which had withstood so many wintry blasts, was consumed, with its contents, in one general conflagration. It was succeeded by a new one, on a site a short distance from it, with all the improvements then known, - long seats and desks, each being sufficient for five or six scholars, and arranged in two tiers on both sides of the school-room, with a broad area in front, between them; a stove, dress-room, and wood-room for dry wood, to the great relief of the teacher and the joy of the boys, who were forever freed from the unpleasant and dangerous labor of cutting wood, and building green-wood fires.
But this schoolhouse has also passed away, and another, the fourth generation of schoolhouses, has succeeded it with many additional improvements. The long seats and desks have disappeared, and been succeeded by shorter ones, to accommodate only two scholars; and finally, these by the neat and comfortable school-chair and single desk; and I am pleased to say that some of the school- houses, recently built in town, are so neat and well-constructed that hardly any improvement is needed. The great want of schools now is apparatus to illus- trate the branches taught, and libraries of standard works for reference, not for general reading, as scholars have no time for that when pursuing a course of study. It was a happy day when our fathers learned that it is better economy, and better for humanity, to cut and dry their wood beforehand; and had the wis- dom to substitute the stove for the old fireplace, the backlog and the forestick.
Up to 1794 the management of the schools appears to have been left to the school districts, but in that year the town chose a committee of three citizens for each district, whose duty it was to hire teachers, provide fuel and other things necessary for the successful operation of the school. The names of the com- mittees elected for the several districts the first year are as follows: In the Doe district, John Doe, John Doe jr., and Jere Avery; the Wiggin, Joseph Parsons, Nathan Wiggin, and Noah Wedgwood; the Morrison, Elisha Piper, George Bickford, and James Morrison; the Parsons, Thomas Parsons, Esq., David Hobbs, and Joseph Granville; the Middle Road, Cutting Moulton, Job Colcord, and Taylor Page; the Blazo, Amos Blazo and Philip Paine; the Lou-
40
HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
gee, David Remick, James Mills, and Simeon Mudgett; the Weeks, Samuel Lougee, William Bickford, and William Fenderson.
In 1804, the town ceased to pay for building schoolhouses, and voted to assess the expense of building them on the districts in which they were located, and to allow the districts to build them themselves, as they thought proper. This prac- tice has continued down to the present time, with the exception that each dis- trict is now required, by the law of the state, to submit the plan of its school- house to the superintending school committee of the town, and it must have their approval before the building can be erected.
It was first left with the town to determine the amount of money to be raised annually for the support of schools, and this course. was pursued till 1821, the next year after the state had been separated from Massachusetts, of which it had been a part (and shall I say a great part ?) for nearly one hundred and fifty years, from 1677 to 1820. From the organization of the town up to this time, the sum raised annually for the support of schools, had ranged from one hundred and fifty dollars to six hundred and thirty. The wages of teachers had been very low, male teachers receiving, when boarding themselves, about fifteen dol- lars per month, and female, about ten dollars, board being about one dollar per week. In 1821, a law was enacted by the state, which required forty cents to be raised on each inhabitant of the town for the support of schools. Under this law the sum raised annually was considerably increased, and the wages of teach- ers advanced a little. The law of 1854 required sixty cents to be raised on each inhabitant; and that of 1863 seventy-five cents, and of 1868 one dollar. The effect of these laws in increasing the amount of money raised, was to increase the compensation of teachers, and make it, in some measure, correspond to the arduous labors performed; so that male teachers now receive, when boarding themselves, about thirty dollars per month, and female about twenty dollars, board being about two dollars per week. The sum raised for the year ending in February, 1885, by the town, by direct tax, for the support of schools was thirteen hundred dollars. A considerable sum additional was received from the state (seven hundred and fifty-four dollars), and from the school fund of the town (sixty dollars), so that the total amount expended for schools that year was two thousand one hundred and fourteen dollars. The number of scholars, between four and twenty-one years of age, was four hundred and seventy-one, and the number of school districts eighteen.
In the early years of the town, no specific qualifications were required of school teachers except a certificate of good moral character from the Selectmen of the town. At a later period an additional certificate of qualifications to teach was required of some liberally educated man. In 1821, a law was enacted by the state, requiring each town to elect annually Superintending School Commit- tees whose duty it was to examine teachers in the branches of learning required by law to be taught, and if found qualified, to give them certificates. They were
41
HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
required to teach reading, spelling, writing, English grammar, arithmetic, and geography. Some other branches have since been added. The names of the Committee * chosen in Parsonsfield for the first year were, Rufus McIntire, Moses Sweat and Jonathan Piper.
I am unable to ascertain certainly who was the first school teacher in Parsons- field. John and Gideon Doe settled in the western part of the town in 1775. I am informed by Capt. Ira C. Doe that he has often heard his uncle say that John Doe, Capt. Doe's grandfather, taught the first school ever kept in the Doe district, that being the first district formed in town. The districts were num- bered at a later period. He taught in a log-house. Of the character of his teaching and mode of school government, I am not informed. The branches commonly taught at that time were reading, spelling, writing, and arithmetic. There were few books in arithmetic then, and what was learned on that subject was taught directly by the teacher, who wrote questions for the scholars on their slates. The black-board was not known then, but was introduced many years later, in about 1830.
James Hart, or Master Hart, as he was usually called, was one of the early teachers of Parsonsfield. He came from Epping or Newmarket, N. H., about 1790, and left the town in 1807, having remained about seventeen years. He taught in the western, middle, eastern, and southern sections of the town, changing his residence to accommodate himself to his business. While teaching in the southern section, he kept his school in Jesse Wedgwood's dwelling-house, as I have heard my father say, who attended his school there when a small boy, probably about 1796. He was an Englishman, born in Berkeley in 1748, and governed his schools in the rigorous style of the school teachers of England. He used the rod and ferule freely. Few scholars dared to lift their eyes from their books, during study hours, in his school. He was not, however, altogether to blame for his severe mode of school discipline. It was largely the fault of his time and his English training. Corporal punishment was then much more fre- quently employed in the school-room, in the family, and everywhere than now; and perhaps scholars then required severer discipline. Young men were famous then according as they had lifted up axes upon the thick trees, and listened to the echo of the forest, as they, crashing, thundered down. Master Hart must have been a good teacher for his time, or he could not have continued his busi- ness for so many years, in succession, in the same town; but happily for anxious mothers and for the world, those days of severity have passed away. Teachers have now become better acquainted with the philosophy of the mind, and have found out a more excellent way of school government. They have made the school-room a place to be remembered with delight, rather than to be hated as a place of confinement and terror.
Corporal punishment is now generally disapproved by our best teachers, except
* See Superintending School Committees of Parsonsfield, Part V.
42
HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
in extreme cases of persistent disobedience, in which the scholar, if not restrained, must be suspended, or expelled from school, and be left to grow up in ignorance and insubordination, with all their evil consequences. It is found that kind treatment, commendation of good qualities, withholding privileges granted to obedient scholars, private admonition, and appealing to the moral sense, are more pleasant both to teacher and pupil, and generally more effectual in securing good order and kind feeling, than physical force. After leaving Parsonsfield, Master Hart taught a while in Sanford in this county, and after- ward probably moved to New Hampshire, and died there.
Doctor Graves was another of the early teachers of Parsonsfield. He was a young man, and probably began to teach a short time before Master Hart left. As to the length of time he taught, his mode of teaching, and government, I have not been able to learn anything. He probably taught only a short time. In 1834 he was practicing medicine in Lowell, Massachusetts, and was the leading physi- cian in that place.
Among the native teachers, * with one or two exceptions, who commenced the business of teaching at a later date, and pursued it as a profession for a long time, the following may be named. In speaking of the number of years taught by any teacher, I shall call four terms of twelve weeks each a year.
Asa Burnham began to teach in 1806 in the Morrison district, I think, and taught a part of the time till 1819. How many years he taught, I have not been able to learn. He was a teacher of good judgment, well qualified for his busi- ness, and excelled in penmanship. His discipline was mild but firm, and scholars under his teaching improved in deportment, and made good proficiency in their studies.
Jonathan Piper, my father, also commenced teaching in 1806, and tauglit sev- eral alternate winters in the same district as Mr. Burnham. He taught also in various other districts in Parsonsfield, the whole time of his teaching amounting to about eight years. He was a good disciplinarian, excelled in penmanship, was quick in figures, a good grammarian, and a successful teacher.
Samuel Wiggin began to teach in 1817, and taught in Parsonsfield, Alfred, and other places. He took a deep interest in his business. He made English gram- mar a prominent object, and taught it philosophically and practically. The struc- ture and idioms of the language were carefully explained, and the difficult por- tions were required to be parsed. In order to make the study practical in secur- ing correct speaking and writing, numerous examples in false syntax were required to be corrected, and the reasons for the corrections given. His mode of teaching this important branch of study is worthy of imitation by all institutions of learning, from the common school to the college. The old. idea of learning the English language by studying the Latin and Greek is now generally aban- doned by all good English scholars. The idioms of the English language are * See Native School Teachers of Parsonsfield, Part V.
43
HISTORY OF PARSONSFIELD.
different from those of the Latin and Greek, and can be learned only by studying them in the English grammar and in English books. When the history, litera- ture, and beauties of the language are taught so carefully, as they now generally are, the more difficult and important work of studying the structure of the lan- guage, and of analyzing and parsing, should not be omitted, even in the highest institutions. If this method of critical teaching were generally adopted, we should have a better class of English scholars, and school committees would not so often find candidates, offering themselves for examination as teachers, so deficient in a knowledge of their vernacular tongue as they now frequently are. His teach- ing in all the branches was accurate, and his discipline good. I had the good fortune to attend his school several terms, and I can truly say that I was never better taught. He was engaged in the business about eight years.
John Garland began to teach about 1823. He belonged to a large family, of whom, beside himself, no less than seven were teachers. David (who taught ten years with eminent success), Jonathan, Thomas, Edmund, Joseph, Clarissa, and Abigail. He was accurate in scholarship, and whatever he did was done thoroughly. His views of education were broad, and he taught his scholars not only the branches of learning required by law to be taught, but also good deport- ment and the moral duties and responsibities of life. He was a believer in good order in schools and always maintained it, although his government was not se- vere, but judicious and firm. He taught in Parsonsfield, Cornish, Limington, and Effingham, N. H., in all, about six years. His schools took a high rank.
George W. Bickford taught about nine years. He began, I think, about 1826, and taught for a long time in Calais and Eastport. He was a good disciplinarian and successful teacher. He secured the respect of his scholars by judicious treatment, and associating with them freely out of school,. sometimes taking part with them in their sports; but, when he was in school, showing them that he was master. His favorite branch of study was arithmetic.
Ira C. Doe began teaching in 1829 in Dover, N. H., and taught thirty-one years, principally in Saco-a longer time than any other teacher of Parsonsfield. He was a popular teacher, and especially distinguished as a disciplinarian. Scholars who were ungovernable in other schools were turned over to him, and, after they had been under his training a few days, nothing more was heard of their disorderly conduct. He believed that the idea inculcated by Solomon had not yet become. entirely obsolete, and thought that it is better, in some extreme cases, to apply the rod and save the child, than to spare it and spoil him. No school in Saco was. better taught than Mr. Doe's.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.