USA > New Hampshire > Hillsborough County > Mont Vernon > History of the town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire > Part 16
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"It is also expected that he will remain at least five years."
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PROF. LUCIEN HUNT.
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
In April, 1879, the length of the Fall and Winter terms was made thirteen weeks each, and the Spring term twelve weeks, thus length- ening the school year by two weeks. Capt. John Trevitt and the Rev. W. H. Woodwell, the latter having succeeded the Rev. Dr. Keeler as pastor of the church, now appear on the list of Trustees, though no record of their being elected is found. Daniel R. Baker, Treasurer, having died, Capt. John Trevitt was chosen in his place.
Mr. Ray resigned in February, 1881, to take effect at the end of the school year, and the school was kept through by Mr. William Whiting of Dartmouth College, Mr. Ray going to a position in the public schools in Yonkers, N. Y.
The catalogue for 1878-80 shows that Mr. Ray was assisted by Miss Mary A. Loveland, Miss Ellen F. Conant, Mr. George W. Putnam, A. B., and Miss W. Farwell. It was the most elaborate catalogue ever published of the school, and contained an earnest appeal for an addition to the funds and equipment. Mr. Ray was an accomplished teacher, and held several important positions after he left Yonkers, being finally at Hyde Park, Ill., a suburb of Chicago, where he died.
Mr. Lucien Hunt, who was the eighth principal in 1869-70, was invited to return and take charge of the school as the eleventh prin- cipal after Mr. Ray's last year. He was to have eight hundred dollars a year from the income of the fund for two years, and after that seven hundred dollars. He was to have all the tuition, all income from any use of the hall, and was to pay all the expenses of the school, the Trustees to keep the building repaired. The Trustees put this declaration on record: "We hope this arrangement will be so satisfactory to both parties that it will be a permanent one, and for the lasting benefit of the institution."
January 22, 1882, the board chose the Rev. C. C. Carpenter, president, and Prof. Hunt, a member of the board.
Mr. Hunt was a most excellent teacher, and a very valuable man for the social as well as material interests of the town and school. He bore an active part in everything, and was much esteemed. His assistant was Mr. Arthur V. Goss, of Chelsea, Vt., a Dartmouth graduate.
The hope of permanence, however, failed again, and Prof. Hunt declined to serve longer than two years.
The next principal was Mr. Hiram Q. Ward of St. Johnsbury, Vt., a Dartmouth graduate. He remained but a single year. His
158
HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
assistant was a Miss Doane. The school seems to have fallen to an average of about thirty pupils each term, though no catalogues were published.
Mr. Ward was to have seven hundred dollars from the income of the fund, the three hundred dollars appropriated by the town to pay tuition of town pupils, all tuitions received from out of town pupils, and all income from use of hall, and he was to pay all expenses.
Prof. Hunt remained in town for some time after his connection with the school had ceased, and was active on the board of Trustees. Mr. Ward was succeeded as principal by Prof. Cassius S. Campbell, Prof. Hunt having presented a strong endorsement of him from a friend in Hastings, Minn., where Mr. Campbell had served as super- intendent of schools for some time. He was born in Windham, N. H., Nov. 19, 1845, which town was originally a part of Londonderry, and his first paternal ancestor in America emigrated from London- derry, Ireland, in 1733, settling in the New Hampshire town of the same name.
Cassins fitted for college at Pinkerton Academy, and graduated at Dartmouth in the class of 1868, and at once became superintend- ent of schools at Hastings, Minn., where he remained for ten years. He then became Principal of the High school at St. Paul, which place he held for five years, and then came to McCollom Institute, where he did as good work as the school had ever known; and where he remained until 1888, when he became one of the faculty at Pink- erton Academy, where he remains at this writing (1906.)
Mr. Campbell's forte was in Physics, Mathematics and the natural sciences. The school flourished with new vigor under Prof. Campbell's all-round ability, and his pervasive energy and enthu- siasm. Everybody liked him, and his rare acquirements and ability made a lasting impression. Especially did he set about putting the school-building and its equipment in order. The following resumé of what was accomplished during his term of service was furnished by him at the special request of the editor of this history :
"The condition of the building was not attractive when I took possession of it. The basement was nearly full of all kinds of rubbish apparently dating from its erection, and was used by the school instead of outbuildings without any provision being made therefor. One of the rooms was filled to the ceiling with disabled settees and other rubbish, etc., etc. Fortunately the wind and snow had the freedom of the basement so that the health of the school did not suffer except from occasional colds through the winter. A cam-
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
paign of repairs and improvements was at once begun, and at the end of my four years the building was clean and wholesome throughout ; every foot of plastering in it, if I remember rightly, had been newly papered by Mr. Mixer ; the building fully equipped with new stoves, lamps and automatic electric bells for the school programme; an up-to-date chemical laboratory and other apparatus fully equal to the demands of the school ; the library newly arranged and a new catalogue made and printed ; the piazza and porte-cochere built.
"All this was paid for primarily out of my pocket, with the distinct understanding that the Trustees should never be under the least obligation to make up to me any deficiency that might exist.
"The following is an abstract from my personal account of the whole matter :--
Chemical laboratory and apparatus, $871
Programme clock, Electric bells, Stoves and pipe, Plumbing materials, 85
Paint, Paper, Shades, Desks, Cases, Carpet, Glass, Hard- ware and Piazza, 629
$1585
Trustees of McCollom Institute,
$100
24 Lectures and School Entertainments, 297
Materials sold and unsolicited donations, 77
$474
"When I left Mont Vernon I took with me the three principal pieces of apparatus I had bought and the Trustees gave me a check for $435, which came within about $125 of balancing the account. This was abundantly satisfactory to me, and if it was not satisfactory to the Trustees it was their own fault."
The amount which Mr. Campbell was to receive from the income of the fund was only six hundred and seventy-five dollars. The other conditions were substantially as with his predecessors.
It was he who proposed the piazza in front of the building, and the porte-cochere, which was a great convenience, and the Trustees voted that he might build it "at his pleasure," adding : "the under- standing is that he will not hold the Trustees, as such, responsible for any expense that may be incurred."
At this same time the following significant vote was passed by the board : "That Prof. Campbell may allow the Academy bell to be rung only for one hour at sunrise and sunset on July Fourth, and that the Trustees will prosecute any person who shall break into or. enter the building at night, for any purpose."
160
HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
May 9, 1886, the Trustees authorized the Treasurer to expend one hundred dollars for tables, chemical apparatus, etc.
Dr. Frederick H. Chandler having come into town as a practising physician, he was at this time elected a Trustee.
Prof. Campbell carried on many enterprises to raise money for improvements and apparatus during his stay. The Trustees seem to have thought he was not giving quite as much attention to the "classics" and some "practical" branches, as they should receive, and suggested certain changes in this regard. But Prof. Campbell's administration was considered almost a new era of prosperity, and when he resigned to accept a place in the Pinkerton faculty, his leav- ing was very much regretted.
August 3, 1888, the Trustees accepted Mr. Campbell's resigna- tion as Principal, and that of Prof. Lucien Hunt as a Trustee. The matter of selecting a new Principal was delegated to a committee, and Col. William H. Stinson was elected a Trustee.
August 11, it was voted to engage Mr. Oscar F. Davis of Bellows Falls, Vt., as Principal, on same conditions as previous principals, except that the amount allowed from the income of the fund was reduced to seven hundred dollars. Mr. Davis was a graduate of the University of Vermont. His wife was his assistant. The school was fairly prosperous. He remained until 1891, when he resigned to accept the position of the head of an important educational institution in Salt Lake City.
Mr. Davis afterward entered the ministry, and was for some time settled at Plymouth, Mass., and later removed to Vermont. He was later located in New Richmond, Wis.
John B. Welch, A. M., a veteran teacher, succeeded Prof. Davis in 1891. He was a native of Onondagua County, N. Y., a graduate of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., and had been teacher for a period covering twenty years at Willimantic, Conn., and West- field and Pittsfield, Mass. Mrs. Welch was his assistant the first three years, and the last year George S. Chapin. Prof. Welch was a thorough scholar and rigid disciplinarian. He left here in 1895 to take charge of Marmaduke Military Institute, Sweet Springs, Mis- souri. He was later principal of a preparatory school at Columbia, Missouri, for Missouri State University.
The terms under which Prof. Welch was engaged were like those of former principals, except that the amount granted him from the fund income was increased to eight hundred dollars, "for the first year only."
161
HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
In November, 1891, Charles H. Raymond and Henry F. Dodge were elected Trustees, and Hon. George A. Marden of Lowell, Charles M. Kittredge, M. D., of Fishkill, N. Y., and William F. Pinkham of Mont Vernon were chosen honorary members of the board
On the first of August, 1892, Messrs. Albert Conant and W. F. Pinkham were chosen active members of the board, and the latter was chosen President, but declined to serve.
August 13, 1892, the Trustees voted "that the Trustees hereby express to Prof. Welch their confidence in him as a competent teacher, and desire that he will remain with us as Principal of McCollom Institute at least five years ; and if, to that end, he will purchase or build a permanent home among us, they will loan him for that pur- pose a reasonable amount on mortgage of the same at five per cent. per annum ; and that the Clerk forward a copy of this vote to Prof. Welch."
No response to this communication is on record, but a proposi- tion was received from Mr. W. F. Pinkham who had some time before purchased the Dean place, so-called, to sell the buildings and about one acre of the land of said place to the Trustees "for the use of the Institution." This proposition was accepted, and the property was bought for two thousand dollars, and was occupied by Prof. Welch and his family as long as he remained Principal. This no doubt accomplished the purpose of the above-named "proposition." Prof. Welch inaugurated, in his new home, the practice of taking a few boys into his family to be specially instructed, and made more of an income than any previous Principal. Of course he paid a rental for the Dean place, which was at the rate of one hundred and twenty-five dollars per year.
The changes made in the personnel of the Trustees are not all accounted for in the records. At the beginning of the school year, August, 1894, the list appears as follows : F. O. Kittredge, Clark Campbell, Charles H. Raymond, William II. Conant, Albert Conant, George A. Marden and John H. Colby. It was voted that John H. Colby and George A. Marden be a committee to secure a new charter for the corporation, if necessary, and take measures to legalize past acts of the corporation. This was to enable the corporation to acquire more real estate than the charter already allowed, and to cover any possible illegality in the methods of electing Trustees.
The committee referred to at the next session of the Legislature (1895) secured the passage of the following act:
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
CHAPTER 201.
An act to authorize McCollom Institute to acquire, hold and convey real estate, and receive donations.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened.
SECTION 1. That McCollom Institute, which was incorporated by the laws of 1850, chapter 1051. under the name of Appleton Academy is hereby authorized and empowered to acquire by purchase or otherwise suitable buildings for academical purposes, and may hold real estate to the amount of ten thousand dollars, and the same may sell, convey and dispose of at pleasure, and may receive by donation or otherwise personal estate to the amount of fifty thousand dollars, the interest of which shall be expended to defray the expenses of said academy.
SECTION 2. The trustees of said institute shall be elected annually and shall hold their office until their successors are elected.
SECTION 3. The acts of the acting trustees heretofore within the scope of the powers of actual trustees are hereby ratified and confirmed.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect upon its passage. (Approved March 5, 1895. )
The original corporators were shareholders in the original build- ing, and others were afterwards voted in on payment of a certain sum.
Of late years it had been found difficult to secure the attendance of any considerable number of the members of the corporation at the annual meeting, and accordingly the names of nearly every one of them, who survived, was obtained to a petition to the Legislature to have the Trustees incorporated, with the power to fill vacancies, in order that there might be a certain perpetual, definite and accessible body to hold the property belonging to the institution, and to execute its purposes.
The result was the passage of the following act :
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE.
In the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety- seven.
An act to incorporate the Trustees of McCollom Institute.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened.
SECTION 1. William H. Conant, Franklin O. Kittredge, Clark Campbell, Charles H. Raymond, George A. Marden, Albert Conant and John H. Colby, and their successors, are hereby made a corporation by the name of the "Trustees of McCollom Institute," for the purpose of maintaining a school in the town of Mont Vernon, with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, restrictions and liabilities set forth in all general laws, which now are, or may hereafter be in force and applicable to such corporations.
SECTION 2. Said corporation shall have authority to receive, hold and manage the funds and property now held by McCollom Institute, and any other donations or bequests which may be made for its benefit, and may hold, for the purposes aforesaid, real and personal estate to an amount not exceeding One Hundred Thousand Dollars.
163
HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
SECTION 3. The said Trustees shall have the power to adopt such by-laws as may be useful or necessary, with authority to elect one of their own number as President, also a Treasurer and a Secretary who may or may not be members of the corporation. Whenever a vacancy shall occur in the Trustees by the death, resignation or disability of any member, a successor shall be elected by the remaining Trustees, who shall thereby become a member of the corporation.
SECTION 4. All the acts and transactions of the Trustees acting under supposed authority as said Trustees, up to the present time, are hereby legalized and made valid.
SECTION 5. The purpose of this act is to continue the work con- templated in the establishment of the McCollom Institute under Chap. 1051 of the Laws of the year 1850 and acts amendatory thereof and additional thereto.
SECTION 6. This act shall take effect on its passage.
The first meeting of the corporation under the act above quoted, was called by George A. Marden, the President of the old Board, and assembled at Institute Hall on Wednesday, September 8, 1897, at four o'clock, all the corporators named in the act being present.
Mr. Marden called the meeting to order, and read the act of incorporation.
Mr. Colby thereupon presented for consideration the following by-laws, which were unanimously adopted :
TRUSTEES OF THE MCCOLLOM INSTITUTE.
BY-LAWS.
ART. 1. The officers of this Corporation shall be a President, a Treasurer and a Secretary, all of whom shall be members thereof.
ART. 2. The officers of this Corporation shall be elected by ballot each year at the annual meeting, to hold office until their successors are duly elected.
ART. 3. The annual meeting, after 1897, shall be held in Mont Vernon on such day in August as may be designated by the President of the Corporation. Special meetings may be called by the President whenever he deems it necessary, and he shall call a special meeting whenever three members of the Corporation shall so request in writing. Special meetings may be held elsewhere than in Mont Vernon.
ART. 4. Notice of meetings shall be given either by personal service on each member by the Secretary or President, or by mailing notice a sufficient time before the meeting is to be held.
ART. 5. The Treasurer shall have the custody of all the funds and securities of the Corporation, shall collect all money due the Corporation and disburse all moneys to be paid out, under direction of the President and Secretary, but he shall make no permanent change of investment of any money in the funds without the authority of the board. He may be required to give such bond with such securities as the board may determine.
ART. 6. Four members of the board of trustees may be a quorum to do business.
ART. 7. Any of these by-laws may be suspended or amended by a three-fourths vote.
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
George A. Marden was then elected President of the Corpora- tion by ballot, having six votes which was the total number cast. Albert Conant was in like manner elected Secretary and Treasurer, Deacon William H. Conant, who had for many years served the old corporation in those capacities, declining further service.
On the 6th of February, 1895, at a special meeting of the Trus- tees held in Boston, it was voted inexpedient to retain Prof. Welch another year, and G. Wilbert Cox, a graduate of Harvard, 1895, who had been graduated from Acadia College, Wolfeville, N. S., was hired as teacher, remaining here three years; his wife, Mrs. E. D. Cox, furnishing such assistance as he required. The last year of his residence here, he supplied the pulpit to the acceptance of the church. He was a patient, faithful and laborious teacher much beloved by the students. He took an active interest in town affairs and was much respected by all. He left here in 1898 to accept a more lucrative position of Superintendent of Schools at Bellows Falls, Vt.
He was succeeded in September, 1898, by George S. Chapin, who was an assistant under Prof. J. B. Weleh. a graduate of Bowdoin (1893), an accomplished seholar, who designed to pursue teaching as his life vocation.
At the first meeting of the new corporation, September 8, 1897. it was voted to sell the Dean place so called to Mrs. Ellen F. Stinson for two thousand dollars, and to take a mortgage for that amount on the place at five per cent, the taxes to be paid by the mortgagor. Mrs. Stinson either managed the place or rented it season hy season as a summer boarding-house, until 1905, when the Trustees again came into possession through a deed from Mrs. Stinson.
Mr. Chapin remained in charge of the school, which was small in numbers, and consisted only of pupils resident in the town, until the end of the school year of 1898-99.
At the annual meeting Angust 25. 1900, it was voted to put the building in charge of a janitor "until a school is opened," and though various plans for op ning the school were considered with some arrangement between the town and the Trustees, nothing came of them, and there was no school during the year 1900-'01.
Extensive repairs were made on the building during the inter- regnum, a new furnace was put in, and the premises were put in most excellent condition, which used up a good portion of the income of the fund during the school suspension.
The regular triennial alumni meeting was due to have occurred
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
in 1899, but as the next year would be the semi-centennial of the founding of the school, it was voted to postpone the alumni meeting till 1900.
During the year while the Institute was closed, the board of education of the town undertook to provide suitable school privileges for the town pupils who would have attended the Institute, and the Trustees voted one hundred dollars toward paying for the same.
For the school year beginning September 3, 1901, an arrange- ment was made with the Rev. H. P. Peck, pastor of the Congrega- tional church, to conduct the school in connection with his pastoral work, he to act as Principal, and to receive five hundred dollars from the Trustees, together with any sum appropriated by the town for the Institute.
And Mr. Peck was also authorized to make such arrangements with the town board of education with reference to the joint use of the Institute building by such of the town schools as they may mutually agree upon.
June 28, 1902, an informal conference was held by the Trustees and the town board of education as to what should be done with the school the coming year. The arrangement of the previous year had not proved satisfactory, because it did not furnish full High school privileges, without which, approved by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, any parent might send a child competent to enter a High school, to any High school in the state, and the town would have to pay the tuition therefor. There was an animated discussion, but no action.
At the annual meeting held August 16, 1902, it was voted that owing to the complete and long-continued disability of W. H. Conant, which rendered him incapable of performing the duties as a member of the board, this position was hereby declared vacant; and a highly complimentary resolution to the retiring member was passed.
A resolution expressive of the valued services of F. O. Kittredge, one of the charter members of the Trustees, who had recently died, was passed. Dea. William H. Kendall and Mr. Willard P. Woods, both residents of Mont Vernon, were elected to fill the vacancies, and on the organization of the board, Mr. Marden was re-elected Pres- ident, and Mr. Woods Secretary.
The report of the conference between the town school board, and the Trustees was then taken up, and a proposition to be made to Rev.
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HISTORY OF MONT VERNON.
Mr. Peck to take the school another year was read and discussed, but no final action was taken.
September 1, 1902, a plan was adopted to provide such a curric- ulum and such instruction as should meet the approval of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and required by law for a High school. This plan was jointly signed by the Trustees and the town board. The Trustees were to pay towards the expenses five hundred dollars from the income of the fund, and to allow the use of the Institute building and its appurtenances. The town was to pay the two hundred dollars appropriated already, and to use its best endeav- ors to secure a further town appropriation of three hundred dollars for the balance of the year. The Trustees were to hire a Principal and an Assistant, satisfactory to the town board, and the Assistant was to be satisfactory to the Principal. The balance of the money, after reserving a sufficient amount to pay for heating, lighting, care and school supplies, was to be divided between the Principal and Assistant, as the Trustees might deem best. If the town should fail to appropriate the three hundred dollars. then the school was to be closed after as inany weeks as the money provided would pay for; and the arrangement was to last but one school year, unless renewed.
A course of study was made up from suggestions of the State Superintendent, which was approved by him, and McCollom Institute was designated as an institution acceptable as a High school.
Rev. Mr. Peck was engaged as Principal, and Miss Annie Louise Williams of Brattleboro, Vt, a graduate of Brown University, as Assistant. The nine hundred dollars remaining after the expense of care, heating, etc. (which was fixed at one hundred dollars) was divided equally between the Principal and Assistant.
Miss Williams proved a teacher of rare ability, and it was with regret that the Trustees received her declination to serve another year, which she offered in order to accept a better position in the High school of Whitefield.
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