USA > Missouri > DeKalb County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 39
USA > Missouri > Andrew County > History of Andrew and De Kalb counties, Missouri : from earliest time to the present; together with sundry personal, business and professional sketches and family records. besides a condensed history of the state of Missouri, etc > Part 39
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It will be readily inferred from the foregoing brief accounts of the several killings that took place that Andrew County's con- dition, during the years 1863 and 1864, was most deplorable.
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HISTORY OF ANDREW COUNTY.
No man considered his life safe, and, as already stated, many of the best citizens and their families were compelled to seek safety by removing from the county. "A company of the Provisional Regiment, commanded by Capt. Woodruff, became very annoying, and gangs of thieves came at night, within half a mile of Savan- nah, on their thieving excursions. Woodruff's men broke up the office of the Plain Dealer, edited by Charles H. Whittaker, scattered his type, and broke out all the windows of his house." Hunter's new company, of the Ninth Missouri State Militia, was then sent to Savannah with orders to arrest all the men charged with the crime and send them to the provost marshal in St. Joseph. They made a number of arrests, but the balance of the depredators left for Kansas, and joined some regiments there.
In the meantime, what was known as the " Paw Paw " militia, composed largely of ex-Southern sympathizers and those in- cluded in Order No. 24, called the disloyal list, together with quite a number of original Union men, were organized and armed by Gov. Gamble for home protection. These troops were officered by loyal men, and among them were many of the very best citizens of the country, whose object was to suppress the prevailing state of lawlessness, and restore peace and order to the people. On the 7th of October, 1863, Capt. M. R. Singleton's company of Paw Paws, Col. Scott's regiment, came to Savannah from St. Joseph, and within a short time thereafter a feeling of security returned, such as had not been enjoyed in the county since the breaking out of the war. There were two companies of Paw Paws in the county, one at Savannah and one at Rochester. As will be readily supposed, the arming of these men caused great dissatisfaction among a certain class, who looked upon them as Southern sympathizers and rebels. The following from the testimony of John R. Carter, before the Com- mittee of Investigation at Jefferson City, relative to the condi- tion of affairs in Andrew County during the war, relates to the Paw Paws in Savannah:
"I know most of the men in Singleton's company. It num- bers about ninety. I know they are called Southern men. The Radicals call them rebels. I do not think there is a man in it
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who ever sympathized with the destruction of our Government. I do not know that any of them have ever been in the rebel army. Capt. Singleton was an original Union man until Fre- mont's proclamation appeared, which he denounced. He was then called a rebel, and a very strong feeling existed against him. Many of the Union citizens protested against the arming of the Paw Paws. Myself, Dr. Smith and Samuels went to Col. Will- iams and protested against his sending any Paw Paws to Savan- nah; such violent threats had been made that we were really afraid of serious consequences. We are all Union men now, but there are a few Radicals in the county who are governed by pas- sion. The Conservatives extend the hand of fellowship to every man who is for sustaining law and order, etc. There is a smoth- ered feeling of irritation existing, which will not break out as long as we keep those men (Paw Paws) in order. We fear noth- ing from the Paw Paws; the bad state of feeling is smothered- a great deal of pent up passion; but so long as we keep these men in arms there can not be an outbreak. There is a rabid feel- ing against the good men of law and order and the Paw Paws; and the bad men who can not go about stealing horses and rob- bing for money, or drive men out to buy up their property cheap, can not gain their ends. No acts of violence have been com- mitted. I do not think there will be an outbreak among the cit- izens unless men that fled to Kansas should return. Several bills were found, and other persons arrested for murder and rob- bery at the regular October term of our circuit court. Others are under bonds for trial at the spring term. On election day the Paw Paws staid in their quarters. I think they were not at the polls."
Charles H. Whittaker, of Savannah, in his testimony before the same tribunal, stated that when the Paw Paws were organ- ized and went on duty quiet was immediately restored, murder- ing ceased, houses were no more burned, and general security and protection were afforded all good citizens.
" I do not believe peace could have been restored in my county, life and property protected, at least in so short a time, as by the organization of the Paw Paw militia. Men who behave themselves in Andrew County have nothing to fear from Capt.
.
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HISTORY OF ANDREW COUNTY.
Singleton or his Paw Paws. I believe they will shoot a rebel as quick as any company of soldiers in the State, and there is no discount on the moral character or courage of the men; they are almost brave to a fault, and will have peace in the county or arrest the outlaws who disturb the public tranquility. Honest Union men can have no just cause of complaint against Capt. Singleton or any of his men, but rogues, rebels and outlaws, no matter where they belong, may fear him, for he and his command are enemies to them. The condition of Andrew County before the Paw Paw organization was indeed deplorable, men nightly and daily were being shot down and robbed, houses and stock yards were being burned, and defenseless women of high virtue and respectability, insulted by armed bands of soldiers. Since the new organiza- tion, none of these nefarious outrages have occurred, so far as I know, and I believe upon the sincerity of an honest heart that the Paw Paws have been the salvation of the county."
It only remains to be said of the soldiers of Andrew County, both Federal and Confederate, that at the close of the war they returned to their homes and the better occupations of peace, resolved to let "bygones be bygones," a spirit which they have wisely maintained to the present time. It is now nearly twenty-two years since the war closed. We are told by those who have revisited some of the terrible scenes of carnage that kind nature has there been busy covering over and hiding from sight the signs and marks of the fell strife and slaughter. Even the long, slim trenches, where were buried both the " Blue" and "Gray," as they were laid to rest wrapped in the simple dra- pery of their blankets, are now difficult to trace. So let the bit- ter animosities and sectional hatred of the past be baptized in everlasting forgetfulness, and may the white robed angel of peace drop a tear upon all unhappy memories of the late bloody strug- gle and blot them out forever.
EDUCATION.
The crowing glory of American institutions is the public school system, without which the Government would lack one of its chief supports. The public school is essentially an American institution, nothing else in our country being so intensely Amer-
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
ican. The public schools are the people's colleges, and if this Government is to remain a republic, ruled by enlightened states- men, it is from these institutions that they must be graduated. The amount of practical knowledge obtained by the masses in the common schools is important beyond measure, and forms one of the principal factors in the problem of material prosperity ; but it is not so much the practical knowledge which is the osten- sible mission of the public schools to impart that makes this system the sheet anchor of our hopes. It is rather the silent social influence which these institutions incidentally exert.
The schools of the country are sharing with the newspaper boy's package the title of the universities of the poor. The close observation of the working of our public schools shows that they turn out more men and women better fitted for business and the practical duties of life than the majority of our col- leges. The freedom and liberty of the common schools afford less room for the growth of effeminacy and pedantry. They edu- cate the youth among the masses, and not alone among a caste or class; and since the man or woman is called upon to do with a nation in which the people are the only factor, the education which the public schools afford, especially where they are of the superior standard sometimes reached in this country, does fit their recipients for a sphere of usefulness nearer the public heart than can be attained by colleges or academies.
That the early law-makers of Missouri recognized the great importance of a system of public instruction is demonstrated by a review of their deliberations, although for many years the State had the reputation of being indifferent if not hostile to the public school idea. To prove that this is a misrepresentation, and that her attitude toward an interest so vital and popular does not admit of a doubt, it is only necessary to say that the consti- tutions of 1820, 1865 and 1875 make this a subject of great im- portance, and guard the school funds with the greatest care. The fact is, the constitution of no State contains more liberal and enlightened provisions relative to popular education than the constitution of Missouri, adopted in 1875. During the past sixty years not a line can be found upon her statute books inimi- cal to the cause, and in nearly every gubernatorial message from
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HISTORY OF ANDREW COUNTY.
1824 to the present time have been earnest and effective argu- ments in favor of a broad and liberal system of public instruc- tion. As early as 1839 the State established a general school law and system of education, and in 1853 one-fourth of her annual revenue was dedicated to the maintenance and support of the free schools. The people of the State have taxed themselves freely for the support of the system, and the amount of her available and productive permanent school fund at this time surpasses that of nearly every other State in the Union. The following statement from the State superintendent's report of 1886 will give a clear idea of Missouri's school fund.
Certificates of indebtedness, at 6 per cent. $2,909,000 00
Certificates of indebtedness, at 5 per cent. 225,000 00
In treasury to credit of State school fund. 414 80
Total amount to credit of State school fund
3,134,414 80
University or seminary fund. 519,095 08
County public school fund.
3,300,668 39
Township public school fund.
3,441,048 16
Special school fund .. 71,455 44
Fines, penalties, forfeitures, etc.
121,279 94
Total school fund of Missouri. $10,587,961 81
It may not be known that Missouri has a greater number of schoolhouses to the population than Massachusetts, yet such is the fact. The amount she expends annually for public education is nearly double the rate, on the amount of her assessed valuation, that the amount expended by the latter State is on her valuation, while the public school funds of Missouri exceed those of Massa- chusetts by nearly $6,000,000.
No doubt the system of education in Missouri is as good as that of any other State, and is becoming more effectively en- forced each succeeding year.
EARLY SCHOOLS OF ANDREW COUNTY.
The history of education in Andrew County dates from the earliest settlement of the country, although no official action toward establishing a system of public instruction was attempted for a number of years thereafter. Nearly every community sup- ported schools which were in a condition corresponding with the idea of school work in the backwoods settlements-without system except in rare cases, irregular and barren of results. While it is
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
true that some of the teachers connected with the primitive schools of the country were zealous and energetic in their fields of labor, much the larger portion of them were selected, not because of their known, but for their supposed qualifications, and for the further reason that during the winter season, when the schools were generally in progress, these candidates for pedagogic honors had nothing else to do. As a consequence, therefore, the schools, in the main, were wholly without system or discipline, and were allowed to move forward in the channels in which, from force of circumstances, they involuntarily drifted. Among teach- ers no consultations were had, and hence no concert of action, and few of the appliances incident to successful school work. Some of them, possibly many of them, may have enjoyed the privilege of a slight "polish" in a term or two at some seminary or high school, but much the larger portion were never so favored. The meager opportunities, enjoyed at home or at the old-time, country school where they formerly lived, and their own native energies, made them what they were.
At first, and for many years, there were in most communities only subscription schools presided over by the lucky "school mas- ters" or "school mistresses" who, by dint of perseverance or especial favor, were delegated as the instructors of youth, advantageous privileges of the free school system being then in an undeveloped state. The salaries received by these self-sacrificing benefactors were in keeping with the existing state of things, and consisted of a small pittance per scholar, including board, which the peda- gogue was to receive by making his rounds from house to house at stated intervals, " putting " up so many days with each patron. It is reliably stated that many of these disciples of the birch were compelled to take their pay in produce, deer skins, etc., and it is also said that some of the old accounts for tuition remain unpaid to this day.
Educational appliances, such as black-boards, charts, wall maps, etc., were then unknown, while the text books used were few, varied, and in the majority of cases unsuitable. Many of the early sessions were taught in private dwellings, the family generously giving up the kitchen or some other apartment for the purpose. The first houses erected especially for school pur-
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HISTORY OF ANDREW COUNTY.
poses were constructed upon the most primitive plan, and were uniformly inconvenient and generally uncomfortable. They were mere pole cabins, chinked with " cat and clay," covered with rough clapboards held to their places by heavy weight poles, and supplied with rough puncheon floor and an enormous fireplace, the latter occupying nearly the entire end of the building. Light was allowed to enter the room through a long opening in the wall, made by removing one of the logs, glass and sometimes greased paper being fixed in the aperture; rough puncheon benches without backs, a small unplaned stand, and a large desk made by a heavy board resting upon pegs in the wall completed the furniture of these primitive colleges, where the good old fathers and mothers of the county received their first lessons in the mysteries of the alphabet.
Indeed when we recall the opportunities and experiences of the past, and what came of them, it is a source of wonder that so many and such valuable results had been attained, for true it is that many of our most active and successful business and pro- fessional men came up from these same log-cabin country colleges. But a change has been wrought, however, by the onward march of improvement, which has marked the progress of time during the past third of a century of our local and State history. The average length of a district subscription school, before the advent of this new era, was frequently less than sixty days, while the average length of district schools, supported by the magnifi- cent tuition fund of the State, at the present time in Andrew County, is 120 days. The character of the schools has greatly improved, also, through the developing modes of the present educational system. School houses, school furniture, school teachers and school discipline have all advanced as by a common impulse. The means whereby these great results have been accomplished are attributed to a wise legislation, the increasing interest of the masses in the public schools, and to a higher standard of scholarship and teaching capacity, by means of which a class of instructors has been brought into the field who are able to accomplish infinitely better and more munificent results. And, of course, with the change from the pole-cabin of the early settler, with no window but greased paper or a hole between two
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
logs near the fireplace, and with only a single door, to the modern residence costing thousands of dollars, has come also, yet with less rapidity than we could have wished, a similar change in the construction and cost of public school edifices.
COUNTRY SCHOOLS.
It is impossible at this late date to tell where, when, and under what circumstances the first school in Andrew County was taught, as comparatively little has been made a matter of record relating to the early teachers or their work. One of the first schools in what is now Lincoln Township was taught by a Mr. Wilson, in a small cabin which stood a short distance northwest of Savannah, on the John Cox land. This was as early, perhaps, as 1839 or 1840, and for several years thereafter Mr. Wilson con- tinued to wield the birch in the same place with what is reported very gratifying success. Another early school was taught about six miles west of Savannah by John D. Boland, who had the repu- tation of being one of the best qualified and most successful instructors in the county during the years he was engaged in school work. The building in which he taught was not erected with the expectation that it would ever become the receptacle of an educational institution; the nucleus, indeed, of the excellent schoolhouses and school system which the experience of nearly half a century has developed. The building was originally con- structed as a family residence, the early home of one of the pioneers in that locality. Rev. E. A. Carson began teaching in 1841, and followed the profession thereafter for a number of years. He taught the first term in Savannah in the old court- house, and was prominently identified with the development of the county's present efficient system of public instruction. A teacher of some prominence in a later day was Prof. J. M. Ewing, who taught a number of years in different parts of the county. A Mr. Baldwin taught in Nodaway Township a number of years ago, and is remembered as a very competent and popular instructor.
One of the first schools in Jefferson Township was taught by a man by the name of Jackman, in a small log building which stood on the place settled by Zachariah Moreland. This house
16A
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HISTORY OF ANDREW COUNTY.
appears to have been erected especially for school purposes, and was one of the first buildings of the kind in the Southern part of the county. Mr. Jackman's school was sufficiently popular to keep up ordinary vitality during the short period of its existence, some three months, at the end of which time neither the teacher nor school were retained in the memory of patrons or pupils. The next school in this house, about the year 1840, was taught by William Hudson, whose success was a little more apparent than that of his predecessor, yet it was a school of the magnitude of those days, and he filled his place in the long catalogue of teachers, or rather schoolmasters, who in times past have wielded the birchen rod in Jefferson Township. A man by the name of Daniels taught school in Jefferson Township many years ago, and one of the early schoolhouses in the same part of the county was erected a short distance east of the village of Jamestown, early in the forties. Other buildings of the character of those described were erected in different parts of the township from time to time, the early teachers in which are now no longer remembered. A school was taught in Lincoln Township by Ray Taylor in the winter of 1839-40, a part of his residence answering the pur- pose of a schoolroom. The record Mr. Taylor left of his teaching qualities gives him a fair reputation. The school was attended by the neighbors' children for several miles around, but at no time did the number exceed one dozen and a half. In 1842 the first house devoted to school purposes was erected in the south- eastern part of the township, and was known as the Greenwick house. It was a substantial hewed-log building, and for a num- ber of years answered the two-fold purpose of church and school- house. It was first used in the year 1843 by a stranger whose name has long since been forgotten. A man by the name of Hedding was employed to teach in the same building early in the forties, as was also a Mr. Ferguson, who was followed by other instructors during a long series of years.
The Goodlow school, in the northwest corner of the township, and the Crooner building, in the southern part, were erected many years ago. The former stood on land now owned by Sarah Mackey, and was originally known by the name of the Wrightsman schoolhouse. The Brand and Liggett school-
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STATE OF MISSOURI.
houses, in the northern and central parts of the township, re- spectively, were both erected in an early day. John D. Bow- land, Charles Hall, William Owsley, Robert Goodlow, William D. Goodlow, and S. R. Cox, were early teachers in the former, while Elsie Van Buskirk, Dr. Cox, and a Mr. O'Neal, were among the early pedagogues of the latter building. These buildings were all log, and constructed upon the most primitive plan.
Now the township is supplied with a better class of buildings and teachers who, with additional facilities at command, are able to do excellent work in the several districts.
Schools were established in Jackson Township at a very early date, but the names of the earliest teachers are not remembered.
One of the first school buildings in the township was erected about the year 1841 or 1842, and stood on the David Wardlow land, not far from Fillmore. David Tate was employed to teach in said building in an early day, but it is probable that there were pedagogues in the township before his time.
Another house was built on the Lincoln farm, two miles south of Fillmore, in an early day, and about the year 1844 a small log building was erected on the Joseph V. Berry farm, a short distance east of the village limits. Among the teachers in the latter building are remembered a Mr. Whittington, Mr. Hall, William Bradford, all of whom appear to have discharged the duties of their calling in a satisfactory manner. Early in the forties a small log building was erected on the Foultz place, three miles southeast of Fillmore, which, for a number of years thereafter, answered for both school and church purposes. The first schoolhouse in Fillmore was erected in 1850, and was used until the increase of population necessitated the construc- tion of a more commodious edifice. The second house was a building of two rooms, which was subsequently exchanged for the Methodist Church-the latter being still in use. It has been thoroughly remodeled and, with three good rooms, makes one of the best" school buildings in the county. There are at this time eight schoolhouses in Jackson Township, and the cause of edu- cation receives the proper amount of attention from the people.
The subject of education early occupied the attention of the
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HISTORY OF ANDREW COUNTY.
settlers of Rochester Township, and provisions began to be made with that end in view, as soon as buildings could be erected and teachers procured. Among the first efforts in this direction was a small miscellaneous school taught in a little cabin near the southern boundary of the township, early in the forties, by Eliza Hunt, who wielded the birch successfully for two years. The building, which was erected especially for school purposes, was subsequently moved a short distance northwest, where it stood until about the year 1853.
Denis Smart and a man by the name of Keetle taught east of Rochester village in an early day, but any facts as to the ability of these gentlemen can not now be ascertained. The pre- sumption is, however, that they, as well as other pioneer peda- gogues of the township, belonged to the class who thus labored in the winter season, because there was nothing else at which they could so profitably employ their time and exercise their talents.
About the year 1847 a man by the name of Martineau, who had started West with a company of emigrants, became sepa- rated from his companions, and being penniless drifted into what is now Rochester Township, in search of employment. In con- versation with Mr. White, he said he would do anything for a livelihood, and, upon being asked if he could teach school, re- plied that he could try, although he had never exercised his tal- ents in that direction.
Mr. White procured him a few scholars in the neighborhood, and he agreed to teach for the sum of $8 per month. He proved to be a good scholar and an excellent teacher, and at the end of the term was solicited to remain another year, which he refused to do unless paid a more munificent salary. He soon left the country, since which time nothing has been heard of him.
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