USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume I > Part 50
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In the little school house on the Hurd property, Randolph Ave., the Rev. William W. Halloway, senior (Dr. Halloway's father) taught for one year, 1882-1883. My own school was held in my father's residence, 28 West Blackwell St., from 1891 to 1905.
Very sincerely, SUSAN H. CRITTENDEN.
List of the teachers of the private schools that I attended: I. Miss Caroline Breese. In second or third story of her father's store building, cor. of Blackwell and Sussex. 2. Mrs. Kyte (or Kite). In house nearly opposite Morris Co. Machine & Iron Co. 3. Miss Caroline Tompkins, of Morristown. In double house on Orchard St., adjoining cemetery. 4. Miss Susan Magie. In "Hill-Top Seminary." On site of present Presbyterian Manse. 5. Mr. Conant. "Hill-Top Seminary." 6. Mr. Howard Shriver. "Hill-Top Seminary." 7. Miss Abigail Forgus. In the Academy.
My aunt, Mrs. Noble, has written me that Mr. Charles E. Noble, in the Noble genealogy, says: "I taught school from 1847 to 1851 in Morristown and Dover." She is quite certain he came to Dover in the spring of 1848.
Mrs. Noble says: "My first teacher was a Miss Pike, who taught in the basement of the old church. Miss Pike was a niece of the Rev. Barnabas King of Rockaway. She taught only a short time, I think one summer. My next teacher was Mrs. Whittlesey. When she came from Ceylon she opened a school in the basement of Mrs. Allen's house. Then her father built the small school house on the hill." My mother thinks the school house Mrs. Noble refers to was on the present site of Mrs. Russell Lynd's house. Mrs. Whittlesey was a daughter of Mr. Jabez Mills, and afterwards married the Rev. Dr. Thornton Mills (not a relative).
Letter of Henry M. Worrell :
86 University Place, New York City, May 26, 1913.
Mr. Chas. D. Platt :
Dear Sir: Your letter of April 26 reached me, forwarded to the address above, on the eve of my departure from the city, when I had no thought for anything but the trip just ahead. It would afford me much pleasure to gratify you, and incidentally my good friend Mr. Chas. Applegate, with a large fund of information about the Dover schools, but my ability in that direction is very small, owing to my short stay in your town and my entire lack of acquaintance with the schools of Dover outside of my own.
In Sep., 1862, I was, fresh from college, employed as assistant by Mr. Wm. S. Hall, in his boarding-and-day school, called Dover Institute. He had conducted the school only one year, I think, previously to calling me to help him. His boarding department occupied the large, double, frame building (since burned down, I have heard) adjoining the cemetery, facing the west, on the street, running along the west shore of "The Lake," as Mr. Hall used to call the little pond. His day department was conducted in a very good frame building on the street running due south from the Presbyterian church, then under the care of Rev. Burtis C. Magie, and stood at the top of the hill, just south of the town. It faced the east, standing on the
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west side of the street. The names of all the streets in Dover have escaped me, except Main Street, on which stood Dr. Magie's church.
I remained in Dover only that winter, for in the spring of 1863 Mr. Hall removed his school to Orange and I went there with him. His effort to establish a private school in Dover had not been a success.
Of the public school system in the little town I had no knowledge. Our work was a very quiet one. The only contact I had with any teacher outside of our own school was with Mr. Calkins, whose name stands almost first on your list of teachers. (This was only a temporary, mixed up list.) Him I met just once. He was principal of the public school at that time, and was leader of the choir in Dr. Magie's church. In the absence of the organist one Sunday I was invited to take charge of the organ, and so met Mr. Calkins. The only recollection I have of him is a comical one. The little pipe organ had a freak feature that I never met before or since. The stops had slots running across them on the under side, which engaged the case below them and prevented opening them by a direct pull. Each stop had to be slightly lifted to release the little cog, before it could be drawn out.
The combination left drawn by the regular organist, Mr. Calkins said was the one always used, and I did not investigate. When I started to give out the first tune I was shocked to hear the pitch an octave too high. But it could not be changed then. During the first interlude Mr. Calkins leaned over me and tugged away at the stops to give me the pipes voiced an octave lower, as I had tried to do during the first verse. In vain. So we squealed and whistled on through the entire hymn. I can still see Mr. Calkins, slightly bald, hanging over my shoulder and pulling frantically at one stop after another, his New England face set with determination to get a stop out or pull the organ over !
Fifty years ago! The names of a few of our pupils I retain, but most of them have faded from memory. They are all Dover boys and girls. I could record the names of Mr. Hall's boarders and children, but they would have no interest for Dover people.
Dr. Magie's son William and daughter Abbie; Frank Berry, who was preparing for the ministry; Bert Halsey, the young son of a sea captain; Miss Olivia Segur, the young sister of the cashier of the bank at that time; Miss Clara Jolly, the daughter of I. B. Jolly (no joke), proprietor of the chief hotel of the town!
Frank Berry I afterwards met in Princeton College the night he appeared on the stage as Junior Orator. I sent him a note by an usher and we had a happy reunion. The others I have never seen since. Bert Halsey bears the distinction of being the only pupil I ever whipped in my 46 years of teaching.
Saturdays I used to wander out along the Morris Canal and sit reading in the silent woods. No sign of life appeared until a canal boat mysteriously glided around a curve among the trees without a sound, and vanished like a ghost. It wasn't exactly "Where rolls the Oregon," but the best I could do towards it-Where sleeps the Morris Canal. Other Saturdays we went nutting on the mountains, or wandered down the beautiful Rockaway.
Yours most truly, HENRY M. WORRELL.
R. D. No. 2. Box 85., Wharton, N. J., May 28, 1913.
In 1858 I attended school in the stone academy across the D. L. & W. track from an old public school. The principal was a man by the name of Dudley, the first Episcopalian preacher in Dover. The principal of the public school was a man by the name of Gage. In 1860 I attended a private school on Prospect St., principal was a man by the name of Hall. I have books with Mr. Hall's penmanship. Yours respectfully, JOHN C. GORDON.
Contributed by Marjorie Spargo, May 29, 1913:
Mrs. John Spargo, Jr., formerly Miss Mattie A. Taylor, went to school to the old building in back of Birch's coal office. Her first teacher was Miss Gussie Dickerson in 1865. The principal of the school at that time was Mr. James Cooper, who recently died at his late home in Mill Brook. Mr. Thompson, who resides in New Haven, was principal of the school, succeeding Mr. James Cooper. The school house consisted of two rooms, one a large, and the other a small one. The latter was used for the smaller pupils, while the former was for the larger pupils. There were two teachers, one Miss Dickerson and the other, the principal, Mr. Cooper. Every morning the pupils under Miss Dickerson went to Mr. Cooper's room for the
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morning exercises. Alongside the railroad ran a little brook, oftentimes the little boys and girls would be busy building dams and little houses and wouldn't hear the bell. This meant that they were either late or forgot to go to school.
If any one wanted a doctor, they would have to drive to Morristown or Succasunna for one. The railroads were only built as far as Morristown in 1848. Later they were built as far as Dover. They were completed at that rate.
The principle studies were: I. Reading. 2. Writing. 3. Arithmetic. 4. Spelling. Some pupils who attended school at the same time as Miss Taylor did are: Charles Rosevear, now residing in Morristown; Henry Dickerson; Sarah and Ger- trude Dolan, now residing in Texas. Mr. Dickerson passed away into his heavenly home a few years ago.
Mr. Thompson's wife was Miss Laura Garrigus, who taught in the select school on Prospect street, which was situated back of the home of Mr. and Mrs. Reese Jenkins. Miss Garrigus lived at that time where Mr. and Mrs. John G. Taylor live, next to Jenkins. Miss Garrigus was the governess of the daughters of Mr. Richard Pierce. When they were older, she started a select school and took these girls with her. There were six daughters of Mr. Pierce whom she taught.
Marjorie Spargo is the daughter of Mrs. John Spargo Jr., and has obtained the above information from her mother. The Mr. Thompson is Mr. Wilmot Thompson. He went to Orange later, and then to New Haven, where he resides, 1913. (See testimony of Mrs. Wm. Harris.)
Extracts from Letter of Mr. James Taylor :
Office of The Taylor Celery Box Co., Kalamazoo, Mich., May 26, 1913.
In regard to my school days at the Academy. Yes, I went there to school, and like a great many others, didn't know enough to take advantage of it. The teacher's name was Miss Forgus. It was the custom for the children to take their seats in the school room and after answering to roll-call we were all supposed to fall in line and march up stairs for prayers. So one morning in June, 1873, it was a beautiful morn, a boy by the name of Sam Ibbs and myself, instead of falling in line, we fell under the desk, and the rest of the school marched up the stairs to prayers. Sam and myself were going out. Just as we were going out of the door, we met the Episcopal Minister's two mooly cows. They each had a halter on and were very kind and gentle, so I said to Sam, "It would be a joke if they found the cows in the school room sometime when they came down from prayers."
Sam says, "Let's see if they would go in," and he took one by the halter and I the other and walked in the school room and I shut the door. We left then for a day's outing and visited the car shops. On our return home we were informed that Miss Forgus did not have any school that day.
My schoolmates were Lizzie Lambert, Sarah Overton, Gussie Lindsley, Jennie Richards, and a lot more that I do not remember. I got my diploma that day, June, 1873.
Letter from Miss Harriet A. Breese, May 26, 1913:
Redlands, California.
My dear Mr. Platt: There is very little I can add to the information you already have about the schools of Dover. I remember hearing my sister speak of a Mr. Babcock who taught, I think, before Mr. Pease. I never remember hearing of Mr. Spring-Rice, but as Dr. Magie was very much interested in the teachers, Miss Abbie would know about him better than I would. The teachers I do remember about particularly were Mr. Martin I. Lee and Miss Chapman, Mr. Hugh Cox and his sister, Mr. I. Harvey, Mr. Calkins, Mr. George Gage, Mr. Bancroft, and Mr. John Wilson. I think there was another Mr. Wilson taught there in the earlier times of the school. Miss Belknap and Miss Dalrymple and Mr. Wilmot Thompson also taught in the old school house for some time. Miss Phebe Berry, Mr. Stephen H. Berry's sister, had a private school in the basement of the old First Presbyterian Church.
Miss Abbott taught a private school in the McFarlan house. Mrs. Whittlesey was on Prospect street in the house where Mr. Russell Lynd now lives. Her father, Mr. Jabez Mills, built it for her after her return as a missionary from Ceylon.
There was a private school taught by a Miss Tompkins in the house on Orchard street by the cemetery gate. That house was also used as a boarding house for the boarders who attended Mr. Hall's school on Prospect street.
My mother told me that she went to school in a little school house that stood
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Stone Academy, Dover, built 1829.
Zenas Pruden Home.
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on the Zenas Pruden property, the corner of Morris and Dickerson streets; but I do not think it is the building that stands there now. My mother was a Hurd and was born in the old Hurd farmhouse and so remembered Dover when it was in its infancy.
Of the Prospect street school I remember Mr. Hall and his assistants, Mr. Saunders, and Mr. Remington and Mr. Worden (Wordue?), Miss Susan Magie, Mrs. James-taught there for some time, then Mr. Shriver and Mr. Conant. I taught there as assistant to Mr. Nevius. I think you might get some information from Mrs. Calkins and Mrs. Sarah Stickle, if you have not already talked with them. : am very much interested in your research and wish I might give you more help. HARRIET A. BREESE.
Note in above, what an extensive personal acquaintance.
Letter of Mrs. Louisa M. Crittenden, May 30, 1913.
Mr. Charles D. Platt : Dear Sir: * *
* I remember that Mr. Spring-Rice lived in Dover, but do not remember that he taught school. He lived, I think, over the river, in one of those houses just beyond the Methodist Church. Do you imagine he is in any way connected with our new ambassador ?
I forgot to mention Mr. Babcock, who taught in the school house, opposite the Academy. I attended his school just before I left home for boarding school, in the spring of 1842.
LOUISA M. CRITTENDEN.
Note-Among the popular teachers there may be mentioned Joseph H. Babcock, a promising young man. He while teaching studied law, but never entered on its practice. He studied theology and entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church and became an eloquent preacher.
Among the highly successful teachers of Dover should be mentioned the name of Darius Calkins, who taught a longer time than most teachers in this place. He was not only an able instructor, but a man of extensive knowledge and sound judgment. His influence over the young people was great, and always in the right direction. He also after a time changed his vocation and engaged in mercantile business in New York.
Miss Malvina Sutton attended school in the public school house on Morris street in 1857. Miss Josephine Belknap taught in the primary room, D. F. Calkins taught in the other room. Miss Malvina Sutton taught in the primary room of the same school house in 1868.
(Signed) MRS. MALVINA MONTONYE, Princeton avenue, Dover, N. J.
June 2, 1913.
Recollections of John Spargo Jr., Morris Street:
John Briant of Rockaway, now (June 2, 1913) nearly 94 years old, could probably tell a good deal about early days in Dover. (Would be born 1819.)
John R. Spargo, a Cornishman, came over in a sailing vessel and reached Dover in 1849, after a voyage of about four weeks. When his wife came over, later, it took six weeks. When he reached Dover with his brothers he had just 25 cents. They had great difficulty in finding work. Finally they obtained work at Berkshire Valley, on a farm for their board, and hard work it was, at that. After a while John Spargo got work at 75 cents and "find himself." This seemed a great advance. Later he was made a boss over 12 or 15 men and received $1.00 a day. This seemed great riches. In six months he had saved $100 and sent for his wife to come over. He was brought up in the old-fashioned, religious way. He was a student of the Bible and could talk well about it.
John Spargo Jr. went to school to Mr. William Conant, 1862, who
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was followed by Mr. Shriver. B. Fay Mills and Allen Mills were school- mates of his, also Guido Hinchman, Miss M. F. Rose, Maggie and Susie Crittenden, Edward Hance, Charles Hance, Trimble Condict (of Goshen, N. Y.)
Mr. James Cooper did not teach for an uninterrupted period in the Dover public school, but left and came back again, at different times, so that in constructing the list of teachers, some allowance can be made for this. Other names may fit in during the period that he was teaching off and on.
Wm. C. Spargo has the farm at Mt. Fern now ( 1913).
Once, during Mr. Thurber's time, there was a meeting of teachers at Morristown. The principals took their favorite scholars with them and had them show what they could do. Mr. Potter of Wharton was there, and Mr. Thurber took over Miss Mattie A. Taylor and had her read a piece. She read very well. Afterwards, at dinner, Mr. Thurber and Mr. Potter were at the table, and Mrs. Thurber sat beside Mr. Thurber, and Mattie Taylor beside Mrs. Thurber. Mr. Potter sat on the other side of Mr. Thurber and did not see that Mattie Taylor was at the table near by. He said to Mr. Thurber: "Well, I suppose you thought you were pretty smart to fetch over that Taylor girl and have her read. I bet she couldn't spell a word of all that she read."
Reading was a sore point with Mr. Potter, because he couldn't get his scholars at Wharton to read without dropping their "aitches," cockney style. They always heard that kind of English at home. When Mattie Taylor heard this speech of Mr. Potter, she spoke up and said: "Mr. Potter, I will spell with any of your scholars and the teachers and principal thrown in." Mr. Potter did not accept the challenge. Miss Taylor was a good speller as well as a good reader. She became Mrs. John Spargo Jr. (Perhaps she would make a good reader at a reunion.)
Miss Laura Garrigus lived in the little house where old Mr. Taylor lived at the head of Prospect street. She used to be bookkeeper for Mr. Richard Pierce, who lived where the Brothertons do, of late, and was the leading butcher of this town. He had a number of daughters and Miss Garrigus acted as governess to them, and afterwards admitted other chil- dren and kept a little private school in the (now) Brotherton house. She had as many as twenty children in her school. She afterwards taught in the Magie school, and later married Mr. Wilmot Thompson.
Mr. John Spargo Jr. was brought up in the strict old fashion, not al- lowed to go out of an evening, not even to church on Sunday evening unless he went with his father and sat with him in the same pew. This continued until he was eighteen years old. The result was that it put him at some disadvantage, perhaps, in society, at first; but compare it with the present system or custom.
He was a good scholar in his school days in Dover, and with three or four others always held the upper end of the class. He went into busi- ness working as a butcher and saved some money. Then he wanted to get more education. He went to Hackettstown, when Dr. Whitney was presi- dent of the Institute. At first it was hard for him to get down to study again, but after a while it began to come back to him, and he was getting along very well, when Peter C. Buck returned to Dover from a course at Eastman's Business College, Poughkeepsie. He persuaded Mr. Spargo that it was all foolishness to spend his time in this kind of an education that he was getting at Hackettstown-he had better drop it and go to Eastman's.
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So, in spite of all Dr. Whitney's kind and urgent advice, Mr. Spargo went to Eastman's. He says he has always regretted it. It was a great mistake not to finish his course at Hackettstown.
Letter of Henry M. Worrell :
86 University Place, New York City, June 16, 1913.
My dear Mr. Platt: Your cordial letter acknowledging mine of May 26 gave me much pleasure. To see "Dover, N. J." standing at the top of the page, just as I wrote it myself so often long ago, when I was 21 and joyous in my first position among the forest-covered hills drifting down from old Sussex, seemed like a call from the simple life of those early days.
Your two babies enclosed, the charming little odes (sketches, you modestly call them) to spring and fall as manifested in your favored region, fell in happily with this call and added to its force. Truly, Mr. Platt, they are real poetry, the natural flow of fine thought in rhythmic form, free from hint of the mechanical and of labored effort in the making. "The Sentinels" I especially enjoyed. Its appeal is very tender, very telling, in spite of the fact that spring is to me the delight of the year.
Granny's Brook, Indian Falls, and Hurd Park are all new names to me. I had only October and November of '62 to explore the woodlands about the little town, and no doubt I failed to discover many beauties lying among the hills. But in my short stay here, I became very much attached to the region in its wild loneliness. Dover seemed then to be the ne plus ultra of civilization, for there was actually nothing more beyond toward the west, east of the mountains. The railroad plunged into an uninhabited wooded hill-country, and seemed to say farewell to the human race for the long, lonely run over the crest to a new land, the sunny Hackettstown Valley. At Washington ended then the great Road of Phoebe Snow. Think of the change !
A winter delight that was new to me, reared in a flat country, was coasting moonlight nights down the long hill east of the pond. My pupil, Will Magie, was a big, stocky fellow, expert in handling a sled, quiet, and happily for me, rather afraid of the girls. As I was light and small, he found I fitted in neatly in front of him on his fine new oak sled, adding just the weight he needed to give him perfect control of his well-built sleigh, without being in his way. So he gave me a season ticket to that front seat, where he said I doubled up and clung like a leech, never disturbing his steering or his outlook by failing to adhere to the flying seat when he leaped over a big thank-ee-ma'am and struck the glassy snow a dozen feet down with a terrific thump. He declared I seemed to be part of the sled, as I never left it and came in with an afterclap, no matter what happened.
I often marveled at his power of vision when we dashed around the point of the mountain, out of the bright moonlight into the black shadow. Besides the sudden darkness, the snow-dust flew so that eyes had to fight for life. But he leaned away back, letting me break the storm, and ran his line of sight close down over my right shoulder.
We never had an accident. One night, though, we had a narrow escape. Just after plunging into the blackness, I noticed that Will's sturdy right leg was giving us a gentle curve toward "the gutter." Before I could ask what this change in course meant, we shot by the wheels of a carriage that was toiling up the hill in the middle of the road in dead silence. My quiet chauffeur never said a word.
One very satisfactory element of the fun was that, with his admirable skill and our perfect balance, we could run by every couple on the hill. In sport, you know, that feature is not to be forgotten. Often, waiting to start last with a purpose, we silently slipped by and crossed the Road of Anthracite ahead of the whole fleet of sleds. Such triumphs we gently ignored. When I urged Will to take some of the girls on his envied flyer, he vowed he wouldn't have anybody in front of him that would get scared and squeal and flop around and spoil his calculations. No "schones Madchen" for him. I often wonder whether he ever got over that. All these conditions combined to give me a glorious time that winter among my first pupils; and I both could and would hop on Will's sled just as alertly and just as gladly now at 71 as I did then at 21.
I hope you will reap the harvest at your Commencement that your efforts in working up the old schools richly deserve. It is a pure labor of love. May it not prove a case of Love's Labor Lost. My own movements are very uncertain. New Hampshire calls me to her granite hills, and I may go before the 21st. It depends upon others; therefore I cannot take in Dover, as I did 50 years ago. I have never
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been there since I left in 1863 with Mr. Hall's school. "Applegate's Apples" is surely the much-extolled "Efficiency" in advertising. Good luck to Milton !
Sincerely yours, HENRY M. WORRELL,
Phebe H. Baker's Copy Book, Dover, 1828:
Loaned by Mrs. J. B. Palmer, 157 East Blackwell street, Dover, N. J.
Dover, June 5, 1913.
Mr. Charles D. Platt :
Dear Sir: I saw in the paper that you would like to get information about the old school. I have a writing book that my husband's aunt wrote when she went to school in the old school house and his mother went to the same school. The teacher's name was Mr. Langmaid at that time and that was in 1828.
Yours truly, Mrs. J. B. PALMER.
The copy book is 61/2" x 8", of very good stock, being the old linen paper used for letter writing a century ago. The cover has a border with square corner pieces. A picture of a cow with background of farm house and farm appears at the top. Below it is the legend :
COW.
To the cow we are indebted for the most wholesome and agreeable beverage, as well as the most refined luxuries. The table of the poor, and the rich, alike exhibit their obligations to this generous animal. She furnishes daily stores of milk, cream, butter, and cheese; and like the ox, yields up herself at last, for the replenishment of the table, and numerous other accommodations to man. What can constitute a more charming and delightful scene than the actual view of a verdant landscape, with a herd of these creatures beautifully feeding, and meekly waiting the call of man! What a claim to our gratitude and respect !
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