USA > Missouri > History of southeast Missouri : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 55
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
community to pay sufficient salary to attraet men of education and ability as teachers, even had there existed the ability to set up stand- ards by which to judge the work of the school.
In the more populous and wealthy eom- munities were to be found schools of a mueh better character condueted by men of learning and enthusiasm. Many of the educated min- isters of the country like Peck and Flint taught schools such as we have deseribed. Their work was of high grade and through their efforts there gradually grew up stand- ards by which the work of the schools was measured. Jackson early became famous for its good schools and had among its early teach- ers were Henry Sanford, Edward Criddle, Mrs. John Seripps, Mrs. Wathen, Mrs. Rhoda Ranney and Dr. Barr.
The most famous and perhaps the best of the early sehools was that known as the Asylum, condueted near Ste. Genevieve. It was opened in 1815 by Joseph Hertich. Her- tieh was a native of Switzerland and brought with him to this country the ideas of Pesta- lozzi. He seems to have been a born teacher and his sehool soon became famous on aeeount of the superior grade of teaching which he did. A large number of his pupils afterward became famous. Among them were General A. C. Dodge of the United States army, his brother, Henry Dodge, afterward a member of the United States senate, and Lewis F. Linn, the famous senator from Missouri. It is doubtful if any other school in Southeast Mis- souri since that time has had so large a num- ber of boys who afterward reached eminenee in one station or another.
These subseription sehools improved as the years passed and the country grew in wealth and population, making possible better sal- aries. The establishment of academies, sem-
inaries and colleges, in Southeast Missouri, to- gether with the more liberal salaries, made it possible for men who wished to teach to pre- pare themselves for the work. There was, however, still great room for improvement. In many of the communities of this part of the state, as well as in other sections, we find schools conducted by men of very little edu- cation. Sehools were conducted for but a short time and had only a very limited course of study. There is appended here a copy of an agreement drawn up between a teacher and the patrons regarding the conduct of school. It is inserted as showing some of the manner in which these sehools were arranged for, and also as easting light on the conditions of edu- cation in some parts of the state.
A true copy a Shool article Commenced on the 14th of July 1847 in Greenville Township Wayne County Mo. by Thomas Taylor for six months .--
Ist. I Thomas Taylor promise to teach they Chil- dren of this Neighborhood to the number of Twenty five if that many can be made up, or will commence with twenty to teach six months at the rate of Two dollars and fifty cents per scholar per quarter or three months. I will teach spelling, reading, writing, the rudiments of arithmetic, then the single rule of three, double rule of three Practice, Tare and tret, simple Interest and compound Interest, also teach the vernacular Language, teach five days in each week and if any time is lost by Thomas Taylor by sickness or otherwise to be made up before the Ex- peration of Teaching.
2nd. We the undersigned employers to this ar- ticle promise to pay to Thomas Taylor the above sum per scholar on or before the experation of teach- ing. I will receive Cash, Pork, Beefhides, Deerskins, Mink skins, Raccoon skins or any fur if good, also woolen Jeans Cloth, shirting cloth or Young Cattle one year not over, a young Beef Steer or Cow. The defirent articles as above to be delivered me at Mr. Eli Cowans an on or before the experation. the Schoolhouse to be Comfortably fixed with a good roof writing Tables or Benches. also seats Benches to sit on. Fuel furnished when needed.
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Employers Names No. of scholars
Remarks
Samuel Sutherlin 2
E. W. Cowan.
2
Conrad Shearheart. 2
Cornelius Mabrey 2
Isam Sutherlin. 1
James Kirkpatrick. 5
Andrew H. Forister.
1
Wm. Lee.
I
Ferbley Lee.
1
William Hawes 2
John Days (three months) 1
Samuel Baker 1
SCHOOL REGULATIONS
Ist They scholars to come to school at half past 7 o Clock in the morning or as soon after as cir- cumstances will permit.
2nd They will come with clean hands and face hair Combed.
3rd Whenassembled at the school house there will be no Discoursing of laughing, but every scholar to attend to their lessons and study
4th When at play they will play without hurt- ing one another. Climbing trees throwing stones or going into water will be prohibited
5th It is hoped that every scholar will be Guided by these Rules.
Signed T Taylor, tutor.
In judging these subscription schools it must be kept in mind that they were wholly voluntary schools. They were defective and failed in large part to accomplish the work which ought to have been done. Their terms were short, their equipment inadequate, and there existed no standards for those who taught in them; and yet they were the out- growth of a local feeling favorable to educa- tion. This part of the state was working out its educational problems for itself, every com- munity independent of every other com- munity and of the state. People devoted time and money to the solution of the prob- lem of education. Other schools organized on a different plan, better equipped with
standards imposed from above would have been much superior in many ways. It is doubtful, however, if such schools had been conducted whether they would have met the needs of the communities in which they ex- isted as well as did the crude and inefficient schools developed by the people themselves. Out of these schools there has grown a system of education which is justly the pride of Mis- souri. That system is a growth, it was not manufactured and imposed upon the people, but is the expression of their own feeling and the working out of their own ideas along the line of education.
Side by side with these subscription schools there were developed in certain communities, church or parochial schools. Wherever there were strong organizations of Catholics or Lutherans there were always to be found these schools. They were attached to the church in some way, usually a separate building was provided for them, and they were conducted by a priest of the church or by one of the nuns. These schools are still to be found in this part of the state. In all the Catholic communities are separate parochial schools conducted under the direct supervision of the church itself. The largest of these schools. as well as the oldest, is that at Ste. Gene- vieve. which has an enrollment of more than three hundred pupils every year.
ACADEMIES
The early settlers in Missouri were not con- tent with the establishment of subscription schools for elementary education, they also began the development of schools of secondary character as well. The south. from which Mis- souri received a large number of immigrants at the period when Missouri was being popu- lated. held to what has been denominated the academy idea; that is to say that education
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
was not necessarily provided by the state for the masses of the people but that provision should be made by private munifieence for the erection and maintenance of academies where were educated the children of the well-to-do. This idea was of course a development of the English notion concerning education. The academies that sprung up over the South and in the North also were feeble copies of the great English public schools which were of course not public schools at all, but schools in . which the children of the rich and of the noble were educated. This had developed in the South side by side with the idea of public education. We find the public schools spoken of somewhat contemptuously at times as the free schools. When serious attention began to be given to education in Missouri the earli- est attempts were to found academies. These academies were secondary schools according to the plans on which they were organized, but they all had attached to them a department for elementary instruction. It is estimated that within the whole state there were char- tered at least 110 academies before the year 1875.
The first academy chartered in southeast Missouri was that at Ste. Genevieve. In 1808 the governor and other territorial officers granted to certain citizens of Ste. Genevieve a charter for the establishment of an academy. Certain restrictions were placed upon the trustees. They were to make no religious test in the employment of teachers, they were not to have theology taught, and they were to provide free instruction to children of the very poor and of Indians. A stone building for the use of the school was begun at this time but not completed until later. No school was conducted under the charter until Bishop DuBourg opened a school in 1818.
In 1854 the old building which had been Vol. I-26
begun and only partly completed for the academy was finished by General Firmin A. Rozier, the school was conducted under his direction and was in a flourishing condition until it was suspended on account of the war; it was not reopened after the war. This building was remodeled and occupied by General Rozier as a residence. In 1837 the Loretto Sisters established a school for girls called the school of Our Lady of Mount Car- mel, this school was conducted in the building known as the Detchemendy house. In 1858 the Sisters of St. Joseph opened a school known as the St. Francois de Sales Academy ; it was conducted in a frame building until 1872 when a large four-story brick structure was erected.
In 1817 the territorial assembly chartered an academy at Potosi and another at Jack- son. The trustees of the school at Potosi were authorized to conduct a public lottery for its support.
From this time until 1875 academies flourished. Some account of the more im- portant and famous ones is given here.
The first school house in Jackson was a small log building erected upon the site of the present school lot, soon after the estab- lishment of the town. The commissioners conveyed this lot in accordance with the special act of the territorial assembly of January 30, 1817, to Joseph McFerron, Zenas Priest, Thomas Neale, Joseph Seawell and Thomas Stewart as trustees. In 1820 a char- ter of incorporation was granted to the Jack- son Academy with David Armour, Joseph Frizzell, Thomas Neale, V. B. DeLashmutt and William Surrell as trustees; nothing was done, however, concerning this school further than the simple act of incorporation. There were a number of private schools conducted ; the first grammar school was taught by Henry
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
Sanford, other teachers were Mrs. John Scrips, Mrs. Edward Criddle, Mr. Wathen and Miss Rhoda Ranney. The Jackson Acad- emy was incorporated again in . 1839, the trustees being P. R. Garret, Edward Criddle, Nathan Vanhorn, John Martin, Johnson Ranney, Charles W. Welling and N. W. Wat- kins. The academy opened with J. G. Gardi- ner as principal and Miss Elmira Gregory assistant; Mr. Gardiner was a very skillful teacher and the school became one of the lead- ing schools in this part of the state; he was succeeded, after five or six years, by Rev. D. E. Y. Rice. The academy was operated until the war; at that time it was transferred to the Methodist church but owing to some bitter feeling the act of transfer was not confirmed and after the close of the war the buildings and grounds were transferred to the trustees of the public school.
The Potosi Academy was rechartered De- cember 24, 1824. Like the other institutions of its kind it was empowered to take and hold property and to establish and conduct a school. No religious restrictions were made in employment of teachers and all students who offered themselves were to be received. The first body of trustees of this academy had among its members men who were very in- fluential in the early history of Missouri. These trustees were William H. Ashley, Lionel Browne, John Rice Jones, Moses Aus- tin, David Wheeler, Moses Bates, Benjamin Elliott, James Austin, William Perry, John MeIllvaine, Andrew Scott, John Hawkins and Abraham Brunke.
An academy was chartered at New Madrid January 11, 1841. It did not differ in the scope of its powers, its purposes or the limita- tions thrown about it, from the other acad- emies in the state; its trustees were Robert G. Watson, Henry Toney, Richard Jones
Waters, Alphonso Delorederi, Richard Bark- ley, Robert D. Dawson and Frederick C. Butler.
February 25, 1845, the general assembly in- corporated an academy to be conducted at Perryville, with the following trustees: James Rice, Reuben Shelby, Ferdinand Rozier, James A. Rutledge, Edward M. Holden, Hiram Block, Dr. Wheeler, Albert G. Aber- nathy, William McCombs and John Layton.
Three days after the incorporation of the academy at Perryville a similar institution was incorporated to be conducted at Point Pleasant, in New Madrid county ; its trustees were Urban C. Spencer. John Woodward. H. D. Maulsby, Thomas S. Bancroft, Godfrey LeSieur and John Martin.
In 1830 the people of Cape Girardeau elected George Henderson, Abner Vansant, Ezra J. Dutch, Alfred P. Ellis and Levi L. Lightner as trustees to purchase a lot and build a school house. They bought the lot at the corner of Fountain and Merriweather streets, now occupied by the Lorimier school, and on this lot erected a small brick building. In February, 1843, a school known as Cape Girardeau academy was incorporated, with Hiram L. Sloan, P. H. Davis, W. S. Watson, E. B. Cassilly, I. R. Wathen, Thomas J. Rod- ney and B. M. Horrell as trustees. In 1849 the school known as the Washington Female seminary was incorporated; its trustees were George Trask, Edward Dobbins, Noah Handy, John B. Martin, John D. Cook, Wilson Brown and Samuel A. Hill. Both these institutions were maintained until the Civil war. Among the principal teachers in them were Lyman B. Andrews, L. H. Andrews, and J. J. Gar- diner. They both occupied the old building known as the Ellis Hotel.
The first schools in Bloomfield were taught in the Methodist church. In 1853 the Bloom-
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
field Edueational Society was organized with S. G. Kitchen, Orson Bartlett, Henry Miller, D. B. Miller and Michael A. Wilson as trus- tees. They proceeded to ereet a two-story frame building and conducted a seminary until the war. After the close of the war the only schools in the town, for a time, were some private schools taught at the seminary building.
The first school in Poplar Bluff was estab- lished in 1869 by the Butler County Educa- tional Society, a corporate body, with Green L. Poplin, J. W. Baldwin, James Tolds, J. M. Henderson, J. M. Spence, B. F. Turner, J. S. Ferguson and G. T. Bartlett as trustees. The school which was conducted was known as the Black river Seminary ; the first principal
was II. MeKinnon, and was conducted in a two-story frame building erected for school purposes. This seminary was succeeded by the publie schools.
In 1870 the Charleston Classical Academy was opened in Charleston. It was the enter- prise of a number of leading citizens of the town that led to the formation of a company and the foundation of the academy. A large brick building was erected for the school, which was under the supervision of Justin Williams. The academy, however, did not prosper. The feeling among the people was in favor of publie schools by this time, so the academy was closed, and the building was rented to the public school.
CHAPTER XXXII
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
FOUNDATION OF PUBLIC SYSTEM-THE STATE COMMISSION-SALE OF LANDS-LAWS OF 1853- PROVISIONS OF 1874-GROWTH OF THE SYSTEM - SOUTHEAST MISSOURI TEACHERS' ASSOCIA- TION-FIRST SCHOOLS IN VARIOUS COUNTIES.
Jefferson's idea that the state, in order to preserve itself, must provide for the educa- tion of all of its children was brought to Mis- souri by immigrants from Virginia. It found expression in the act which provided for the transfer of Louisiana to the United States. In that act it was said that the government of the United States would care for the educa- tion of the people. When the dissatisfied settlers in the district of Louisiana assembled at St. Louis soon after the transfer and drew up a memorial of grievances to Congress, one of the things included in that memorial was a request that Congress should provide means of support for the public schools. The estab- lishment of the academy at Ste. Genevieve in 1808 by the governor and territorial judges, while not a provision for public education, expressed in part the desire of the people for schools which should be, to a certain extent at least, under public supervision.
FOUNDATION OF PUBLIC SYSTEM
In 1812 the Congress of the United States created Missouri a special territory of the second class and in the act it was said "that schools and the means of education shall be encouraged and provided for from the public lands of the United States within the terri-
tory as Congress may direct." Missouri re- mained a territory for eight years after this time but there was very little accomplished in the way of provision for the support of schools; some things, however, were done looking in the direction of public education. In '1817 the territorial legislature incor- porated the city of St. Louis as a special school district with seven trustees to manage affairs, and to this special school district Con- gress donated some valuable tracts of land which lay within and near the town and was known as United States common lands. This donation should have been of very great value in supporting the schools, but the lands were badly managed so that the income derived from them was very small.
When the Missouri Compromise was framed in 1820 and the state was authorized to frame a constitution it was declared in the act of Congress that schools should be forever en- couraged in the new state and the legislature of the state was directed to take steps to pre- serve from waste or damage such lands as have been or should hereafter be granted for the use of schools. A further provision of this act was "one or more schools shall be established in each congressional township as
404
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
soon as necessary and the children of the poor shall be taught free."
When Missouri was finally admitted into the Union in 1821, the act of admission set aside every sixteenthi section of land within the state, together with seventy-two sections of saline land for school purposes. The lands thus granted amounted to 1,254,200 acres and it was directed that the land was to be sold and the proceeds invested for the use of the schools. This was a princely donation and coupled with the direction to establish town- ship schools seems to have been enough to put a system of education in actual operation within the state. Several things prevented this, however, one of them was the inherent difficulty in creating a system of schools at a single stroke together with the fact that the lands, although vast in extent, were at that time not very valuable. The lands thus granted, however, have since become exceed- ingly valuable, but at that time it was prac- tically impossible to sell them at even a nominal price.
These things prevented any rapid progress among the schools for a number of years. In 1825 the state legislature made the first con- tribution to the school law of the state. The act was designed to carry out the provision in the congressional act of the admission and provided that each congressional township should form a school district to be under the control of the county court in school matters. A further provision set aside all rents from school lands and all fines, penalties and for- feitures as a school fund.
In this same period extending from 1820 to 1833 the legislature established about fifty schools similar in character to the one estab- lished in the city of St. Louis. The support of these schools, however, was a very great problem and a difficult matter owing to the
circumstances which we have mentioned. In almost every case they had to depend upon private donations and tuition fees.
THE STATE COMMISSION
In the year 1833 a great forward step was taken in the matter of public education within the state. On the 26th day of January of that year the legislature passed an act author- izing the governor to appoint a commission of three persons whose duty it was to study pub- lie education and to draw up a plan for public schools. This was during the ad- ministration of Governor Daniel Dunklin of Washington county, and he appointed as such commission Joseph Hertich, John J. Lowery and Abel R. Corbin. Hertich was the famous teacher of the private school called the Asy- lum, near Ste. Genevieve, and was perhaps as well informed on matters pertaining to ele- mentary education than any other man in the state. This commission made a report in 1834 to the governor and through his efforts it was adopted by the general assembly in 1835. This report, as adopted by the assem- bly, provided for a system of schools. Among its provisions were the creation of a board of commissioners for literary purposes ; it was to consist of the governor, secretary of state, anditor, treasurer, and attorney general. This was really the first state board of edu- cation, though it was not known by that name. It was further provided that schools should continne at least six months in each year and that school expenses should be paid from the school funds of each county, these funds to be the sums derived from the rent of the school lands and from fines and forfeitures, and the people of the county were authorized to vote, by two-thirds majority, a tax of three and one-third cents on each one hundred dol- lars for school purposes. The schools were to
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HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI
be under the official direction of a board of three trustees in each district, who were em- powered to employ teachers, appoint visitors, and make other necessary arrangements for the school. The report also arranged a cur- riculum for the schools and directed that reading, writing and arithmetic, geogra- phy, English grammar and other branches should be taught as the funds might justify. Theology was excepted and excluded in posi- tive terms from the list of subjects which might be taught in these schools.
SALE OF LANDS
In 1837 the general assembly provided that the funds derived from the sale of the saline lands and the fund known as the United States revenue fund, should be invested in stock of the Missouri State Bank. The in- come from this stock was set aside for school purposes, but it was directed by the legisla- ture that it should not be distributed among the schools until the amount invested amounted to $500,000. This amount was reached in 1842 and the first distribution of the fund among the schools was made in that years. Sixty cents for each pupil was dis- tributed among the thirteen counties of the state at that time.
In spite of these things which had been accomplished in the matter of education the people of the state were still concerned over the question and the legislature still gave attention and time to public schools. In 1839 it was enacted that a common school fund should be constituted and permission to sell the sixteenth section of the state lands was again given. Out of this provision of the law have grown the permanent school funds of the state. It was further provided that there should be chosen a state superintendent of schools who was to be elected by the senate
and house of representatives for a term of two years. One of the duties of this state superintendent was the distribution of the state school moneys among the several coun- ties of the state which maintained public schools.
LAWS OF 1853
These were the important provisions which laid the foundation for a public school system in the state, but they have been added to and the whole of the school law revised in 1853. At that time the schools were under the supervision of the state superintendent elected by the people and there was provided in each county a county commissioner of common schools. It was the duty of the latter officer to license teachers and to visit the schools in his county. The unit for the schools was still the congressional township, which, however, could be divided into school districts by vote of the people, and each dis- triet was authorized to select three trustees who were empowered to employ the teachers and supervise the financial affairs of the dis- trict.
It was provided, too, at this time, that twenty-five per cent of the general revenue of the state and the dividends from the funds invested in the Bank of the State of Missouri were to be apportioned to the several counties on a ratio based on the enumeration of chil- dren of school age. It was also provided that orphans and children of indigent parents might attend school free.
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