USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume I > Part 12
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Total number, including officers, one hundred and ten.
THE FOURTH REGIMENT.
From official reports, the following is gleaned concerning the history of the Fourth Missouri Regiment, including Company E. from Nodaway county : Company A was made up at Carrollton : Company B, at Mound City: Company C. at St. Joseph : Company D. at Bethany: Company E. at Maryville : Company F. at Hannibal: Company G, at Chillicothe ; Company K. at St. Joseph.
All the commissioned officers of the Fourth Regiment Missouri National Guard, excepting the commanding officer of Company F. volunteered under orders from the adjutant-general of Missouri, dated April 2. 1898. The several companies were ordered to their armories and rationed and lodged by company officers and held in readiness for the call of the President. By telegraphic orders, dated May 9, 1898, the regiment was rendezvoused at Camp Stephens, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and mustered into the service by First Lieutenant Hardman of the Tenth United States Cavalry, assistant inspector National Guard of Missouri, on the 16th day of May. 1898, and was composed of forty-eight officers and five hundred and fifty-nine enlisted men. The regiment was then sent to Camp Alger, Virginia, leaving Jefferson Barracks May 25th, arriving at Dunn Loring. Virginia, at eleven o'clock in the morning of May 27th, marching from there to camp, a distance of two miles and a half. A week was taken to clean the camp grounds of pine thicket obstructions. The regiment was assigned to the Second Brigade. the corps commander being Major-Gen. William M. Graham: the division command was Gen. George W. Davis: the brigade commander was Col. John WV. Schall, of the Sixth' Pennsylvania Regiment, which was a part of this corps.
Saturday, May 28th. the Second Army Corps was reviewed by President Mckinley.
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On June 6, 1898, a new camp was started, this being ordered made in a piece of heavy timber a half mile to the south of the first camp. This con- sumed weeks of time, but was cheerfully done by the men, who needed the exercise and discipline. To go no more into detail, it may be said that Com- pany E was not called from this country into actual battle service, and that the following dates will show where they were stationed :
Left Maryville, Missouri, May 10, 1898; stationed at Camp Stephens, Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, from May 11th to May 25th ; at Camp Alger. Virginia, from May 27th to August 20th ; at Camp Meade (near Middle- town), Pennsylvania, from August 21st to November 14th, 1898. They were detached from the regiment from September 3d to September 29th, as "bakery guard." Were then camped at Wetherill. South Carolina, from No- vember 16, 1898. to February 10, 1899, and were mustered out of service on the last named date.
Of the transfers and casualties, it may be stated that Charles A. Awalt, of Maryville, was transferred to the United States Signal Corps, June 22, 1898; Russell W. H. Cleary, transferred to the Hospital Corps June 25. 1898; William E. Gordon, of Maryville, transferred to the United States Signal Corps June 22. 1898, and died after the war. November II, 1902 ; John W. Goforth, returned, but died June 7. 1904: Chandler P. Kinsey died June 6, 1898: Ira F. Kiser died February 5, 1905 : Charles F. Lippman was transferred to the band: Hubert J. Reese was also transferred to the band service. There was one desertion in this company. All returned except the one just stated as having died in service.
GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC.
At various times this military fraternity, the organization of the Union veterans of the Civil war, has had numerous posts in Nodaway county, but with the lapse of more than forty years since the Southern Confederacy sur- rendered to the Union forces, in the spring of 1865. the great majority of old Union soldiers have answered the last roll-call and passed on to their eternal camping grounds.
At this date (spring of 1910) there are three posts in existence in this county and one outpost, that of Ravenwood. The posts now in operation are the one at Maryville, the one at Burlington Junction and the one located at Hopkins.
Sedgwick Post. No. 21. of the department of Missouri, was organized on August 15, 1882, with a charter membership of forty-six. It has had
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on its rolls, at one time and another, three hundred and seventy-six different soldiers who wore the loyal blue between the years of 1861 and 1865. There are at present only one hundred members in the post in good standing. The remainder have either died or removed from the county. The present officers are George A. Hartman, commander, and Charles Hyslup, adjutant. The following have been commanders and are now titled "past commanders" : Lyman Parcher (deceased). Scribner R. Beech, J. B. Morrison, M. D., Ira K. Alderman, Jesse M. Goodson, M. D., Charles Hyslop, John G. Grems. Fred L. Shade, F. M. Cooper, H. E. Robinson (deceased), B. J. Benbow, Reuben Brown, John M. Kirkpatrick (deceased), Charles W. Messenger (de- ceased), N. Sisson, S. R. Rowley (deceased ). John W. Evans, A. R. Sowers, Charles Hyslop, N. Sisson, George A. Hartman. Several of these command- ers have served more than one term, succeeding themselves in office in several instances.
The posts at both Burlington Junction and Hopkins are weak and in all probability will soon have to surrender their charters on account of small membership. The several Womans' Relief Corps of these various posts have for years been strong auxiliaries, and the members of the posts have greatly encouraged and benefited them by their presence. The camp-fires of these once strong posts are becoming dim with the passing of the years, but as a fraternity, America has never had a better, more patriotic and praiseworthy fraternity.
MISSOURI NATIONAL GUARD.
Maryville is the home of Company F. Fourth Regiment Missouri Na- tional Guard. This is a military company, taking the place of old Company E. that was stationed here before the Spanish-American war. It is a well equipped, finely drilled company and it was organized June 25, 1909, with sixty-one members, including officers. They have their annual encampments and are frequently inspected by a regular United States army inspector. The state furnishes the commissary supplies, while the general government finds the arms and ordnance supplies. The company use a business block for their drill-room. The guns with which they are supplied are of the latest make and will carry a ball fully five miles, being of the improved Springfield make.
The officers of the company are as follows: Captain, E. S. Cook : first lieutenant, C. W. Bennett ; second lieutenant, Ezra Phipps: first sergeant. Lester A. Bennett : sergeants. Ed. E. Moore. Thurman L. Marsh, Burt C.
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Charles, John E. Rush. Ed. Gray ; corporals, John McDougal, Clare Conley, Richard Hunt. Guy Ray. Irvan Alkire, James Sage; lance corporal, I. O. Miller ; artificer, George Bedford.
Capt. Paul Sisson was the first captain of this company, and now holds the rank of battalion adjutant.
CHAPTER XI.
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNTY.
By Prof. B. F. Duncan.
To make an accurate and conscientious record of the important events that have occurred in the history of a people is to confer a permanent benefit upon them and supply material for profitable thought.
There is nothing in the progress of the civilization of a people the result of mere chance or that is not influenced by definite and fixed laws of develop- ment. from the study of which the welfare of a people is chiefly promoted.
History contributes, perhaps, more than any other branch of study to a proper understanding of these laws; and, in this, it performs its most im- portant function and aids most largely in the promotion of progress. He who so interprets the meaning of passing events as to be able through such interpretation to forecast the future, has caught the true historic spirit and become a benefactor to those who share in the results of his labors. It is, therefore, a matter of supreme importance to those who shall, in the future, inherit this goodly land with all its attendant blessings and privileges result- ing from the establishment of wise institutions, to know what their ancestors did and thought and felt in the execution of their purpose to transmit to their descendants this goodly heritage of laws, institutions, manners, customs and homes here in the heart of the Middle West.
One is bewildered in his effort to select from the vast aggregation of ma- terial at his disposal, on the subject assigned, the most important incidents and events as well as the best method of dealing with them. He will, there- fore, content himself with the selection of such material as, in his opinion. will be most serviceable to the end in view- an explanation of the general trend of the educational thought of this people as shown in the institutions established and in the rules and machinery with which they are operated.
However, the author of this chapter on the History of Education in Nodaway County congratulates himself on the fact that the subject has been considered of such importance and has been so amply and ably treated by educational experts of this section of the state, that he cannot go far astray
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in the selection of his material though he should not exercise the wisest dis- crimination in the use he may make of it.
The history of one's own country bears a proportionate importance to the history of the nation ; but the leading events in the progress of a locality are generally not so well known and preserved by the residents as are those of the nation, yet the interest taken in the former is greater than that taken in the latter.
A complete understanding of the history of the pioneer days of a Mis- souri county, with their explorations, hardships, adventures, pleasures and successes in a new land, followed by an appreciative knowledge of subsequent developments from immature and tentative conditions to that of permanent domestic, agricultural, mercantile and educational life, naturally leads up to a more intelligent conception of the history of the state, as a whole, or of the nation as an entirety. It tends, also, to create a healthful local pride and in- terest in the advancement and upbuilding thereof which aids in the welfare not only of the locality but of the nation as well.
It shall be the aim of the writer of this chapter to be accurate if not ele- gant ; to give in a fair and unprejudiced manner a true statement of facts relating to educational affairs; and, in the discussion of men and measures, if his too vagrant fancy shall lead him far into that fruitful field, to resist the common temptation to exaggerate the importance of his own pet theories while he depreciates those of others.
A government such as ours, to merit respect and perpetuity is essentially based on the intelligence of its people, who by their own votes make and un- make national, state and municipal administrations, and outline and determine by their ballots the policy to be pursued in any of these divisions of govern- mental power. Without intelligence a conscientious ballot cannot be cast, or. rather, an ignorant citizen with an honest conscience for a monitor will de- cline to vote at all, so that civic duty well discharged and intelligence enough to understand that duty are correlative terms. To train the youth of the land so that they may become useful, self-sustaining, patriotic men and women is the first duty of the state. It is obedience to the law of national self-pres- ervation as well as the creation of agencies by which the growing masses may enjoy the fruits of intelligently-directed labor, whether manual or men- tal. The safety of the state, the sanctity of the home, the progress of the age. the exalted standard of social and political example for which a self- governing people is looked to by less favored and differently governed peo- ples, all rest for support, in a very large measure, upon popular education, of which the public school system is the cornerstone.
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PAST AND PRESENT
Strictly speaking, a review of the educational progress of the state at large does not belong to the history of Nodaway county. yet the influences actively operating in the state are felt in each county and have produced, with here and there modifying local influences, very similar results. So that it is highly proper to show from a state-wide viewpoint the influences that have shaped educational progress in each county of the state.
My purpose is to so arrange the matter used in this narrative as to present in systematic order the most important facts connected with the development of educational affairs in Nodaway county and leave a permanent record of results attained .for the benefit of those who may have occasion to labor in this fruitful field in the future.
To accomplish this end I will speak first of the public school system of the state, embracing the rural schools, the high schools, the normal schools and the State University : and, while these are not all found in any one county of the state, they are so related to one another in their progress toward their present state of development that a general view of the system in its entirety is necessary to an intelligent view of any part of it.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF THE STATE.
The history of public school education in Missouri may, for the purpose of systematic treatment, be divided into six periods, as follows :
T. The Territorial Period, 1808-1820.
2. New State Period. 1820-1839.
3. Formative Period. 1839-1861.
4. Civil War Period, 1861-1865.
5. Period of Second Constitution, 1865-1875.
6. Period of Third Constitution. 1875-present time.
The best that can be done in following the above method of treatment is to merely summarize the chief characteristics of the several periods and furnish data for some more pretentious history of the rise and progress of the educational thought of the people of Missouri.
RURAL SCHOOLS.
The act of Congress in 1812 constituting Missouri a separate territory provided that "schools and the means of education shall be encouraged and provided for from the public lands of the United States, within said territory in such manner as Congress may deem best."
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The act authorizing the formation of a state government provided that every section numbered 16 be set apart to the use of the schools. This act added to the above seventy-two sections of saline land, making in all one million two hundred fifty-four thousand two hundred acres. This land formed the foundation of Missouri's magnificent permanent school fund.
Following the above plan then of indicating the progress of educational development in the state. let it suffice for the purpose of the present chapter that in 1808 the territorial Legislature incorporated the St. Genevieve Acad- emy, the first regularly organized school in the state.
During the Territorial period, then, we find that schools were established in accordance with the act of Congress cited above at St. Genevieve. St. Louis. Jackson, Potosi. New Madrid and a few other places along the Mississippi and in the lead regions of southern Missouri. But one special requirement was made in regard to teachers, equipment or course of study. The St. Gene- vieve Academy should teach French and English at all times.
The congressional act admitting Missouri to the Union said. "Schools shall be forever encouraged and the Legislature shall take steps to preserve from waste or damage such lands as have been granted, or shall hereafter be granted for use of the schools, and all school funds shall be applied in strict conformity to the grant. One or more schools shall be established in each township as soon as necessary and practicable, where the poor shall be taught gratis."
State legislation from 1820 to 1839. in compliance with the congres- sional act of admission, concerned the sale of school lands and the investment of funds. Many schools were incorporated during this period and the State University established.
In 1835. upon the urgent recommendation of Governor Dunklin, who may justly be called the father of the Missouri school system, laws were passed providing for the organization, regulation and perpetuation of the common schools of Missouri. These schools were to run six months in the year under the direction of a board of three trustees, with power to employ teachers, to appoint visitors and to make all necessary arrangements for the schools as far as justified by the funds.
The Legislature of 1837 provided for the investment of the saline land fund in Missouri Bank stock. This investment was augmented by the prof- its on deposits of surplus United States revenue apportioned to the school funds of the states. Under this law the interest was to be added to the prin- cipal until the permanent fund amounted to five hundred thousand dollars. after which the income was to be distributed to the schools annually.
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Under the provisions made during this new state period we note progress as follows :
1. State University founded.
2. Definite steps toward a uniform system of common school instruc- tion throughout the state.
3. A permanent school fund yielding an annual income.
4. School district officers with definite duties.
5. Prescribed course of study; reading, writing, arithmetic, English. grammar, geography and such other branches of education, theology excepted, as the funds justify.
By act of Legislature in 1839 provisions were made for :
1. District taxes for building school houses.
2. The sale of the sixteenth section of land in each township, the pro- ceeds to constitute a permanent township fund.
3. The establishment of a permanent county fund.
4. The creation of the office of state superintendent of schools, to be filled by joint ballot of the Senate and House of Representatives. Peter Glover served from 1839 to 1841, when the office was abolished and the duties assigned to the secretary of state. The office was re-established in 1853 and with well defined powers and duties. County supervision was also provided for at this time and every congressional township was made a school district unless the voters chose to divide it into not more than four sub-districts. The excellent provisions established by this law would have brought out splendid results but for the failure to provide for supplementing the public funds by local taxation adequate to the successful maintenance of the schools. This omission of course proved a fatal defect. There were two excellent reasons that strongly suggested the necessity for local taxation. The first and more apparent was the actual need for a larger school fund than that promised by the state and general government if the schools should fully meet the ends for which they were established. Another and a more deeply seated reason lay in the repugnance felt by an independent citizenship towards any system that looked like mendicancy.
That self-sustaining energy and thorough self-reliance characteristic of the hardy pioneer who built up our Western civilization instinctively revolted at the thought of becoming the recipient of benefits not gained by his own unaided effort. And then, too, there was still that feeling of caste inherited from Old World traditions hardly worthy, as we now think, of serious con- sideration, influencing the minds of the good citizens against that sort of promiscuous mingling of all classes of people such as became necessary in our public schools.
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NODAWAY COUNTY, MISSOURI.
Hence it came about that the local aid given to the schools later on made them efficient and adequate to the increasing demands upon them, and also reconciled the average citizen to a condition of society the propriety of which he at first had grave doubts.
We have all come at last to notice how beautifully and harmoniously our public school system aids in the development of our special type of civilization and in the preservation of our form of government through the assimilation of the heterogeneous elements that crowd upon us from every part of the old world. Someone has said, "We can hardly conceive of two grander and more potent promoters of civilization than the free school and the free press. They would indeed seem all that is necessary to the attainment of the happiness and intellectual growth of the republic and all that was necessary to liberalize and instruct.
"Every year commends them the more earnestly to the fostering care of our state and national legislatures, adds to their popularity and to the es- teem in which they are held by all classes of our people."
From 1854 to 1861. J. W. Henry, E. C. Davis and W. B. Clarke served as state superintendent of schools.
A brief summary of the formation period of our public school system exhibits progress as follows :
I. Establishment of both county and township funds.
2. District tax for building purposes and providing furniture.
3. Support of district schools from income of public funds, augmented by rate bills on resident patrons.
4. Free tuition for children of indigent persons and for orphans with- out property.
5. State and county supervision with definite powers and duties.
6. Uniform system of reports. Licensing teachers and selecting text- books, all in the hands of county superintendent.
7. Course of study for five classes, giving each class its due propor- tion. The following subjects were included : Orthography, reading, writ- ing, mental arithmetic, written arithmetic, geography. English composition. English grammar, declamation, natural philosophy, history, algebra, chemis- try, geology, mineralogy. surveying, rhetoric. intellectual philosophy, logic, astronomy, etc.
The founding of school libraries and teachers' circulating libraries, the establishment of five normal schools and the organization of teachers' insti- tutes by Superintendents Henry, Davis and Clarke.
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In 1855 the State Teachers' Association was organized. This has proved to be one of the most important factors in promoting the cause of education in the state. In these meetings subjects vital to educational interests are discussed, influences are brought to bear upon the legislation tending to mould and shape progress and enthusiasm is aroused that results in permanent uplift and intellectual betterment.
The first county association of teachers was held in Clay county in 1856. The Missouri Educator, a journal devoted to education, was started in 1858.
From 1861 to 1865 was a very gloomy period so far as the progress of education was concerned. Appropriation for school moneys were stopped, schools were suspended and school houses were destroyed.
During the period intervening from the reorganization of the schools immediately following the Civil war to the third constitution in 1875, much was accomplished. Laws were enacted by the Legislature. authorizing :
First. The establishment of graded schools of a high order, in cities, towns and villages and in country districts.
Second. The establishment of country schools for the free education of colored children.
Third. The establishment of normal schools.
In 1870. Superintendent Parker was succeeded by Ira Devol, of St. Louis, who soon after resigned and was succeeded by Montieth, who served until 1875, when he in turn was succeeded by R. D. Shannon, who served until 1882. Since then Coleman, Kirk, Carrington and Gass have suc- cessively served as superintendents of schools for the state, under whose intel- ligent and active supervision the schools have greatly prospered, until they have become not only the pride of her own citizens, but are recognized as among the best in the Middle West.
One of the most important movements inaugurated in the state system, about this time, was the establishment of graded schools of a high order, in cities and towns, villages and country districts.
The adoption of the present constitution marks a distinct epoch in the history of the schools of Missouri.
This chapter has concerned itself chiefly hitherto with the general trend of educational thought and the progressive development of the system in the state at large ; but, as it does not come within the scope or purpose of this work to proceed further with that history than is necessary to an intelligent appreciation of local progress, attention will now be called more particularly to the educational affairs of our own county.
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THE MARYVILLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
These schools have been noted for their efficiency and excellence of management from the beginning. As a rule, the care of these schools has been entrusted to the oversight of our most enterprising and public-spirited citizens, whose sole purpose was to make of them the very best possible.
The earliest authentic record of the public school buildings of the city dates as far back as 1867, from which the following is gleaned :
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