USA > Mississippi > A history of Mississippi : from the discovery of the great river > Part 37
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In 1802 Jefferson College in Adams county was incorpo- rated, and in all these years has been a valuable institu- tion of learning.
From 1809 to 1815 charters were granted to schools in Claiborne, Wilkinson and Amite counties. While Lowndes county formed a portion of Monroe, Franklin Academy of Columbus was founded. This antedates any school of note in North Mississippi, and was a free school for a quarter of a century before any other of like char- acter in the State.
In 1826 the Port Gibson Academy, (first called Clinton), and what is now the Mississippi College at Clinton, (then
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Mount Salus), were incorporated. The latter was under the control of the Presbyterian church at one time, but forty years ago was transferred to the Baptist denomina- tion, under whose management it has been most successful, and contributed largely to the cause of education and is now under the management of Rev. Dr. Webb, a distin- guished Baptist divine and educator.
Among the seminaries of learning that have contributed largely to the education of the daughters of the State, is the Central Female Institute, at Clinton, under the direction of Rev. Walter Hillman, LL. D., president. This school was organized and founded in 1853. and three years later passed under the control of Dr. Hillman, who is a native of the Island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. Mrs.
Hillman, a lady of superior attainments, who has devoted her life to the cause of education, was a teacher in the col- lege one year before her husband was chosen president. Doctor Hillman is a thorough scholar, and the institute over which he has so long and successfully presided num- bers its alumnæ not only in many counties in the State, but quite a number in adjoining States.
It is a singular fact, that during the four years of war this Institute never closed its doors a day on account of it, notwithstanding both armies were a number of times in possession of Clinton. The Mississippi College and the Institute are under the supervision of the Baptist de- nomination and to their conduct and success Clinton is in- debted for the high character it enjoys as an educational centre.
Oakland College, in Claiborne county, was established in 1830, under the auspices of the Presbyterian church, its first president being Rev. Jeremiah Chamberlain, a gentle- man of superior scholastic attainments, under whose man- agement the institution prospered for many years.
Hon. Jas. M. Smiley, a native of the State, a lawyer by profession, who was chosen first as vice-Chancellor, and subsequently as Circuit Judge, received the first degree conferred by that institution.
Among the seminaries of learning largely patronized nearly fifty years ago was the Montrose Academy in Jas-
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per county, conducted by that distinguished divine and educator, Rev. Dr. John N. Waddel. Dr. Waddel was sub- sequently elected Chancellor of the University of Missis- sippi, in which position he remained for many years, honored and beloved by the student-body and highly es- teemed throughout the State.
Forty-five years ago, in Covington county, Zion Seminary was founded and placed under the control of Rev. A. R. Graves, a Presbyterian minister of learning and great energy of character. The location was healthy and the school was well managed and largely attended. At this day it may be safely said that no institution of learning in South Mississippi added more to the culture and im- provement of the country than did Zion Seminary. Mr. Graves finally moved to the State of Missouri, and one of his sons, born in Covington county, was chosen as a mem- ber of Congress from that State.
A number of schools were incorporated prior to and during 1829.
In the year 1830 the population of the State was 136,000. On the 28th of September of that year the treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was concluded between the tribe of Choctaw Indians and the United States, in which the Indians ceded the residue of their lands in Mississippi. The government was represented by John H. Eaton and Gen. John Coffee, and the Indians by the Mingoes, chiefs, captains and warriors of their tribe. On the 20th and 22d of October, 1832, at Pontotoc Creek, occurred the treaty between the government of the United States and the Chickasaw tribe of Indians, in which the Indians ceded their lands to the State. The government was represented by Gen. John Coffee, and the Indians by their tribe assem- bled at the council house on said creek.
The result of these treaties opened the entire State for settlement. The population doubled itself in the follow- ing decade, and ten years later, in 1850, was 606,050.
This enormous increase in the population gave addi- tional impetus to the cause of education. Schools and academies were incorporated in almost every county then organized, and the standard of the earlier institutions
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made higher. The interest manifested in education during the early history of the State, even before its admission into the sisterhood, accounts in some measure for the an- nual disbursement of a larger sum of money for education than, perhaps, any other State, taking the assessed value of property as a basis. In this connection it may be con- fidently stated that the funds thus devoted are judiciously expended.
THE COMMON SCHOOLS.
On the 4th of March, 1846, a law was passed by the Legislature of this State establishing a system of common schools.
To put the system in operation, a Board of School Com- missioners, to consist of five members, one from each of the five police districts, (now called Supervisors), were ap- pointed by the Board of County Police, whose duty it was to designate and superintend common schools, license teachers and fix their pay.
The Boards of Police were charged with the duty of levying a special tax for school purposes, and certain funds, such as escheats, fines, forfeitures and amercements, and all monies arising from licenses granted to hawkers, peddlers, billiard tables, retailers of liquor, etc., which, together with a special tax authorized, constituted the school fund of the respective counties, and to be paid out under the direction of the school commissioners. The fines, forfeitures and revenue arising from the sale of liquor, etc., did not apply to the cities of Vicksburg, Natchez and Yazoo City, and supplemental acts placed Canton, Lexing- ton, Jackson and some other towns in the list of excep- tions with the cities mentioned.
The provision levying the tax was by the statute made dependent on the consent of a majority of the heads of families in the respective townships, and not unfrequently majorities would withhold their sanction. With the light of to-day it may be said that the law, as a whole, was a failure.
The government had observed its custom by withhold- ing from sale the sixteenth sections and dedicating them
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to the cause of education-for the maintenance of public schools.
The scheme was to sell the lands thus reserved for a term of ninety-nine years, and invest or loan the funds thus realized, applying the interest for the support of the schools.
The lands in the main were disposed of, and the pro- ceeds in many counties, by injudicious management, lost. In some counties, where this fund had been fairly well managed, payments were made during the war, in Con- federate money, which resulted in a clear loss to the schools interested.
The law of 1846 was adopted in part upon the recom- mendation of Governor A. G. Brown, who was an earnest advocate of the common, or free school system. In sub- mitting his message to the Legislature on this subject, he said : "That the sixteenth sections set apart by a wise enactment of Congress for school purposes, had been most shamefully neglected.
"Of the ten or twelve hundred sections of school lands heretofore, and now under the control of the citizens of the townships, I have not been able to ascertain that one hun- dred have been well managed."
While the system had the support of both the Execu- tive and Legislative departments, still it was not attended with success. Governor McRae, in 1856, seemed to have no plan for its improvement, but suggested a State Super- intendent of Public Instruction, to travel over the State and gather up relevant information and submit the same, and any plans that he might formulate to the succeeding Legislature.
Very little was accomplished prior to 1861, when all questions of State policy were lost sight of in the prose- cution of the Confederate cause, which received the un- stinted support of all persons entrusted with the adminis- tration of public affairs in Mississippi.
In 1871 there were 66,257 white and 45,429 colored pupils enrolled, making a total of 111,688. In 1872 the enroll- ment of the two races numbered 148,000. In 1875 the en- rolled white pupils were 78,404 ; colored, 89,813 ; giving a total of 168,217.
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From 1879 to 1889, there was a large increase in the eu- rollment of pupils-the latter year, whites 148,435, colored 173,552. Total enrollment 321,987.
In 1875 there were employed 2,859 white teachers, and 2,109 colored teachers.
The average salary paid per month during 1875, was $55.47.
Ten years later the average salary was $28.74, and the number of white teachers 4,215, colored 3,124. In 1889, there were 3,557 white teachers, whose salaries averaged $33.97, and 3,558 colored teachers, whose salaries averaged $24.16.
In 1871, under Radical regime, with a total enrollment of white and colored pupils of 111,688, there was expend- ed $950,000.
In 1872 the enrollment of the two races was 148,000, and the expenditure $1,136,987.
Taking the years of 1880 and 1881, under Democratic rule, with a total enrollment in the former of 236,654, and the latter of 237,288, there was expended in 1880, $830,704, and in 1881, $757,757.
A further application of the test is found in 1872, as above stated, with 148,000 pupils, a Republican adminis- tration, disbursed $1,136,987, while in 1889, with an enroll- ment of 321,987 pupils, there was expended under Demo- cratic rule $1,117,111.
In 1888 and 1889 amount paid in salaries to white teachers $589,400.14 ; to colored teachers, $341,268.16. Number of private schools, white, 408; colored, 80. White pupils in attendance at private schools, 12,990; average salaries of teachers, $32.94 ; colored pupils in attendance at private schools 2,244 ; average salaries of teachers, $23.44.
There were 34 separate school districts in the State in 1888-'9, and the number of educable children of both races therein, 35,151, of which 18,714 were whites and 16,437 colored. There were 382 teachers employed in separate school districts, of which 233 were white, with average salaries of $51.84, and 149 colored, with average salaries of $31.73.
There has been since 1886 a marked increase in the en-
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rollment of pupils ; in the average attendance and number of schools ; as well as a large addition to the number of first-grade teachers.
There were built in 1888 and 1889 in the State, 826 school- houses. In the two years, the amount expended for school buildings approximated $333,000.
Twelve towns in the State erected during those two years, attractive and commodious school buildings, at an aggregate cost of $190,000.
Teachers' Institutes have contributed very largely to the general improvement of the public schools. The time thus devoted stimulates teachers to study and qualifies them for advancement.
The feasibility of establishing a chair of Pedagogy in the University, and one in the A. and M. College for the purpose of training teachers, has received the earnest con- sideration of the trustees of the two institutions, as well as the hearty endorsement of the Association of Teachers of Southwest Mississippi; and it is believed that ample pro- visions will be made in the near future to educate and train teachers within the limits of the State, and not com- pel them to go elsewhere to fit themselves for educational work.
The University of Mississippi at Oxford, is the bene- ficiary of 36 sections of land granted by the Congress of the United States to the State of Mississippi in 1819, the title being vested in the Legislature of the State, in trust for the support of a seminary of learning. All but a half section of this land was sold in 1833 for $277,332.52.
This amount, with $8,402.00, derived from rents, consti- tuted the endowment fund of the University. At the date of sale of these lands, the University had not been located. On the 26th of January, 1841, the Legislature met in joint convention to locate the college. The places voted for were Kosciusko, Mississippi City, Brandon, Louisville, Oxford, Middleton, and Monroe Missionary Station. It was quite a heated contest, reduced on the sixth and last ballot to Oxford and Mississippi City, the former receiving fifty-eight and the latter fifty-seven votes.
The two amounts above mentioned, aggregating $285,-
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734.52, was by an act of the Legislature, placed to the credit of the University by the State Treasurer, with inter- est at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum from the date of its receipt by the State to that of the enactment, and 8 per cent. interest from that date. Computing the interest thus fixed by the Legislature up to January, 1857, added to the principal, gave a total of $1,077,790.07; deducting the ap- propriations for the establishment and support of the University, allowing the State the same rate of interest, left a balance due the college fund, January, 1857, as com- puted by Gov. McRae, of $874,324.49. For the correctness of this calculation, Gov. McRae refers to his predecessors, Governors Runnels, Quitman and McNutt.
The land upon which the University is located was pur- chased from John D. Martin and Jas. Stockard by Thos. H. Williams and Jacob Van Hoosen, commissioners appointed by the Legislature, which purchase was confirmed in 1841.
The University was incorporated January, 1844, with James Alexander Ventress, John A. Quitman, Wm. L. Sharkey, Alex. M. Clayton, Wm. Y. Gholson, Jacob Thompson, Pryor M. Lea, Edward C. Wilkinson, James M. Howry, Jno. J. McCaughn, Rev. Francis Hawkes, Rev. Dr. J. N. Waddel and A. H. Pegues as trustees. The only one of these distinguished incorporators now living is Rev. Dr. Waddel. Since its organization it has moved steadily forward except during the interruption caused by the war, until now it stands on a plane with the best American col- leges. The present chancellor who directs its fortunes, Hon. Edward Mayes, is a fit representative of his distin- guished predecessors, a learned lawyer, who sprang from and is the youngest of a family of great lawyers, a thorough scholar and cultured gentleman; he has inaugurated important changes and given new life and vigor to this splendid institution. Under his auspices the attendance has been increased, and the student body never more con- tented. There has been probably five thousand young men educated at the University. They are found in all the honorable walks of life. in the ministry, on the farm, fill- ing exalted civil and political positions, and honoring the legal and medical professions, all of whom are proud of
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their Alma Mater. The campus and buildings of the University are admirably located on a plat of land em- bracing several acres. Its proximity to the town of Ox- ford, a community noted for its intelligence and morality, adds to the pleasure and improvement of young men attend- ing the College.
The University is supported by the interest, amounting to thirty-two thousand six hundred and forty-three dollars, annually paid by the State, augmented by from two to four thousand dollars by tuition and matriculation fees. The people of the State have abundant reason to be proud of their University.
The Agricultural and Mechanical College opened its doors for the reception of students in October, 1880. By an act of Congress in 1862, thirty thousand acres of public land were given for each Senator and Representative in the Congress of the United States to establish institutions for the benefit and encouragement of agriculture and the me- chanic arts in the several States and Territories. The por- tion given Mississippi was sold for two hundred and twenty-seven thousand five hundred dollars, and the amount paid into the State Treasury, for which amount the State issued her bonds bearing five per cent. interest per annum. This fund was divided equally between this College and the Alcorn University, which is also an Agricultural and Mechanical College, established for the education of the colored boys of the State. The interest annually paid by the State gave to each College five thousand, six hundred and seventy eight dollars and seventy-five cents. The A. and M. College, however, spent fifteen thousand dollars of its bonds, which reduces its annual interest to four thousand. nine hundred and twenty-eight dollars and seventy-five cents. This interest has been supplemented by liberal ap- propriations by the Legislature. The buildings are com- modious and were erected by the State at a cost of over two hundred thousand dollars. This estimate includes the residences of the professors, etc. The A. and M. College is perhaps the best equipped institution of its character estab- lished under the wise enactment before mentioned. The
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annual attendance during the last decade has been about three hundred.
Since the opening of its doors it has been under the di- rection and control of Gen. Stephen D. Lee, to whose wise management, in a great measure, is due its phenomenal success. The farm comprises eighteen hundred acres of land, a portion of which is in a good state of cultivation. Much of it, however, is devoted to grasses and clover, upon which the College has a large herd of blooded cattle.
A fund is annually set apart to pay students for labor performed on the farm. The object of the College is not only to give young men a good business education, but at the same time teach them scientific farming, as well as , other necessary work to be performed on well regulated farms. This prosperous institution has the confidence and support of the people of the State.
The State has also made very generous provision for the higher education of the colored race, in the establish- ment and support of Alcorn University in Claiborne coun- ty, the State Normal School at Holly Springs, and by an- nual appropriations to Tougaloo University.
Mississippi has contributed, since 1865, more than twice as much as any State in the American Union for the edu- cation of the negro ; and we have the testimony of Prof. Burrus, president of Alcorn College, that "Mississippi is ahead of her sister States in her efforts to put within the reach of her colored population liberal instruction in the principles of agriculture."
In the year 1858 Miss Sallie Eola Reneau, a teacher by profession, and for her years a young lady of rare accom- plishments, residing in Grenada, conceived and digested the scheme, and presented it in the shape of a memorial to the Legislature, of establishing and endowing a State Female College. She declared "that she was moved by a good intention," and that her object in agitating the meas- ure was the advancement and happiness of her sex-using her words, "improve woman and man becomes more re- fined." She held that private educational enterprises did not supply the wants advocated in her memorial, and accompanying plans, and emphasized the fact that Mis-
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sissippi had made liberal provisions for the education of her sons, "but withheld her munificence from her daugh- ters !" Miss Reneau protested against her sex being thus disinherited by their mother. Her plan embraced primary and academic departments, and in addition, an extended course, equal to that prescribed in male colleges; also a department for those who proposed to adopt teaching as a profession, and provided for ornamentals, music, etc. She insisted that rich and poor alike would be the recipients of such an institution, and many of the latter would qualify themselves as teachers ; that Mississippi should set the example which she predicted would be followed by other States.
Governor John J. McRae's message, in response to Miss Reneau's memorial and plan, said : "The proposition for the establishment by the State of a Female College for the thorough and accomplished education of the daughters of the State, has been brought prominently and interestingly before the public, and to the notice of the Executive, by Miss Reneau, a young lady of accomplishment, intelli- gence and talent, educated in this State, a resident of Grenada, engaged in the business of female instruction, and devoted to the intellectual advancement of her sex. I commend the subject to the favorable consideration of the Legislature."
In the Democratic Convention of the State, which assem- bled at Jackson in August, 1881, William H. McCardle, of Vicksburg, offered a resolution declaring that as Missis- sippi having made liberal appropriations for the educa- tion of her sons, that it was the sense of the Convention that like liberal appropriations should be made for the education of her daughters.
Under the rule this resolution was "referred to the Com- mittee on Resolutions," and was not reported back to the Convention.
Miss Reneau did not live to see the success of the en- terprise she so ably and enthusiastically advocated, but others of her sex, gifted and intellectual, took up the work and contributed to the establishing of the Industrial Insti- tute and College at Columbus-notably Mrs. A. E. Peyton,
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of Copiah county, who maintained with great earnestness and vigor a discussion on the subject through the public prints, with the late Judge H. H. Chalmers, of the Supreme Court, and Mrs. John G. Hastings, of Claiborne county, whose immediate State Senator, Hon. John McC. Martin, in- troduced the bill, which was passed, chartering the institu- tion. Co-education was adopted in 1883, at the University of Mississippi, which resulted at the opening of the session in the matriculation of twenty-two young ladies. The sub- ject of making provisions for them, by the erection of an additional dormitory at the University, Jed Governor Lowry in his biennial message of 1884, to say : "If the State is to assume the obligation of educating her daugh- ters, would it not be better to establish a Female College at once, than to risk the costly experiment of co-educa- tion at Oxford ?" The location of the College at Colum- bus induced a contribution on the part of the citizens of that cultured little city, in houses and lands, and bonds, equivalent to money, of near one hundred thousand dol- lars. The establishment of this institution not only met a popular demand, but at the same time relieved the State University of the doubtful experiment of co-education.
Time has demonstrated the wisdom of the scheme, and removed the charge of discrimination against womanhood. The college was organized six years ago by that distin- guished educator, Dr. R. W. Jones, and now pupils edu- cated at the institution can be found in various cities and towns employed in book-keeping, stenography, telegraphy, type-writing, printing, dress-making, etc. Dr. Jones, to the regret of the trustees and faculty, resigned the presi- dency of the college, and was succeeded by Mr. Chas. H. Cocke, a Virginian by birth, a Mississippian by adoption, a thorough gentleman of scholarly attainments and broad views, who kept in the line of his predecessor and added much to the interest of the college. He tendered his resignation and was succeeded by Prof. A. H. Beals, who came to the State with high and flattering testimonials.
The college is an honor to the wisdom of the law-makers of the State. It has already attracted the attention of other States and bids fair to be followed by similar insti- tutes to be established by other State governments.
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The Whitworth Female College, at Brookhaven, was founded in 1859 by Rev. Mr. Whitworth, a prominent min- ister of the Methodist church. It was for a number of years under the control and management of the late Rev. Dr. H. F. Johnson, who added largely to the buildings, property and prosperity of the college. Dr. Johnson was a native of North Carolina, came to Mississippi about the time he reached his majority, read law and soon became a prominent member of the bar. While enjoying a lucra- tive practice, he retired from the bar, joined the ministry, and was subsequently assigned to the presidency of the Whitworth College, which position he held until his death.
He was succeeded by L. T. Fitzhugh, A. M., a native of Rankin county. President Fitzhugh is a gentleman of scholarly attainments and stands high as an educator. He was for twelve years principal of the University High School in the University of Mississippi, and was esteemed as a vigorous and valuable professor. President Fitzhugh, with his business methods and constant attention to every department of the college, has increased the attendance and added to the prosperity of the institution. The vice- president of the college, Rev. W. B. Murrah, is among the ablest divines of Mississippi, and eminently fitted as a co- adjutor to President Fitzhugh. For the session of 1888-'89 235 pupils matriculated, 165 of whom boarded in the col- lege.
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