USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume I > Part 54
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1869 Feb. 26. Miss O. L. Minton closed her connection with school.
March I. Miss Malvina Sutton taught three days.
Miss Josephine R. Stites appointed to teach.
Aug. 9. Mr. W. H. Thompson appointed to teach.
Nov. 30. Miss Florence White, in charge of Primary dept. Mr. R. H. DeHart is Superintendent of the County.
1870 March 14.
Report of Committee on new school house. Have visited school houses at Morristown and Newton. Estimates of cost at $15,000 and $10,000 rejected. Much discussion about this time. Mr. George Richards favors a large and adequate building. Mr. A. G. P. Segur represents the other side of the controversy. The latter is elected trustee.
1870 Nov. Old building rented. John D. Reynolds of Andover, in Sussex Co. appointed to advanced dept.
Miss Florence White has primary dept.
1871 Jan. 18. Henry Allen of Millbrook appointed until April I.
April 18. Voted to assess the town to maintain a free public school, $2000. Estimate of Building Committee, $9,572.
May 26. R. Robinson Esq. is County Supt.
June
2. Mr. Rollf employed as Janitor at $300 per year.
Henry M. Spaulding is teacher elect.
June
9. Trustees met in upper room of new school house.
New school books are ordered.
1871 June 20. Miss Sarah E. Stansborough of Morristown, engaged as primary teacher, at salary of $500 per year.
Sept.
4. School opened. Henry M. Spaulding, principal, with assistant teachers :- Mrs. Elizabeth Gerlah of New York City, Vice-prin. Miss Susie B. Smart, Miss Kate Gerlah, Miss Sarah E. Stans- borough, Miss Emma M. Guile, and Miss Hattie Breese as- sistants.
1871 Nov. 3. Corporate seal adopted.
The new bell cost $200.
The old bell was sold to Mt. Pleasant District for $10.50. 1872.
Nov. 27. 50 ft. more were bought from J. A. Goodale, adding to the size of the lot bought from Mr. McFarlan.
Date not given. Henry M. Spaulding & others employed for next yr. 1872. End of Book II.
Dover School Records, Book III:
1873 Sept. I. Lewis W. Thurber of Connecticut, Principal. Assisted by Mrs. M. M. Gerlah, Miss Stansborough, Miss M. Boyd Everett, Miss Florence White, Miss S. E. Thurber, Miss S. Abbie Brown. Miss Stansborough resigned. Miss Fannie Le Port appointed in her place.
1874 Aug. I. Lewis W. Thurber, prin. Also in 1875.
1875 Aug. 6. Lewis W. Thurber appointed County Supt. (2 das.) Sept. Mr. Thurber resigned.
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Oct.
4. John D. Reynolds, began as principal.
1876 July
8. Salaries reduced, owing to reduced cost of living.
Sept. John D. Reynolds, prin. Miss M. J. Easton.
1877 July
2. John D. Reynolds elected again.
Miss Fannie E. Howell a teacher & Miss A. B. Condict.
1878 July
I. Mr. Naughright appointed principal. Miss Anna Kelly elected July 13. Mr. L. W. Thurber is Supt. of Dover Schools.
1879 July
8. Mr. John E. D. Nauright again appointed prin. Edward M. Young, Vice-prin. (Singer) L. W. Thurber, Supt.
1880 July 5. Mr. Nauright, prin. again.
1881 July
II. Ditto. Mr. Thurber, Supt.
1882 April
12. Motion to build brick addition to school house was carried, to cost 8000 dols. or more.
July
10. Mr. Nauright again app't.
1883 Aug. IO. George W. Gamble elected prin. Resigned in Dec.
1884 June
18. Mr. Demarest is prin. July 7. Elected prin.
1885 July
10. Peter E. Demarest, re-elected prin.
1886 July
I. J. O. Cooper, is County Supt.
1887 July
6. P. E. Demarest, re-elected prin.
1888
P. E. Demarest until Oct. Charles F. Merrill, next prin. until May 20, 1890.
1890 Feb. 22. Woman's Relief Corps place flag and staff on school grounds.
March 25. Committee on site for a new school house appointed.
June 10. Mr. J. T. Corlieu elected prin.
Nov. 20. A lot 200 ft. square purchased from Mr. Roderer for South Side School.
1891 Feb. 19. Above purchase confirmed by payment of $250.
May
13. Above motion passed again.
Aug. 7. Mr. J. H. Hulsart engaged as principal. Long Branch.
1893 Feb. 7. Flag presented by Senior Order of United American Mechanics, for Sussex St. School.
End of Book III.
1894 March
Frederick H. Beach, Prest, of Board of Trustees.
Henry W. Crabbe, District Clerk.
June 14. A graduating class of ten from the High School.
1895 Sept. II. Total enrollment 918.
1896
Total enrollment 1078.
1897 Feb. 2. Lease of Morris St. annex.
Private telephone line connected the school buildings.
1898 March 22.
Lease of Reese Jenkins' blacksmith shop as annex.
1899 May I. Foster F. Birch offered to donate land for school purposes, for new building, East Side.
Sept. 23. $22,000 voted for East Side building.
1900 May 8. Finance Committee directed to secure deed for the "Baker lot," East Side, the mineral right having been removed.
1901 March 31. Morris St. annex relinquished.
Sept. II. East Side Building crowded.
End of Book IV.
Reminiscences of Mrs. Jennie M. Chambre, July 28, 1913:
Mrs. Chambre is the daughter of William Young, who came to Dover in 1847, when she was five years old. In July, 1848, the railroad was com- pleted to Dover. In 1849 the Forty-niners went to California in search of gold. A number went from Dover, among them being Mrs. Chambre's brother, Alexander, or Sandy, as he was called. Samuel Searing and John W. Hurd were among the Forty-niners, also George Chrystal.
William Young was living in Brooklyn when a friend of his invited him to take a drive through northern New Jersey. This friend had es-
School Records of Dover, Book IV. March 20, 1894.
Martin Luther Cox, County Supt.
Oct.
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tablished a business of getting stationery supplies from the paper mills at Whippany and driving through the northern part of the state to sell his goods. As soon as Mr. Young saw Dover, he fell in love with it. There was a little place for sale on Dickerson street, then the main thorough- fare, and nothing would do but he must buy this place, although Mrs. Young did not like to leave "the city."
Mr. Young was Dover's first baker, and the shop later known as Martin's bakery was for many years his place of business. He also acquired a garden spot where the Orchard street cemetery now is. Here he took great delight in working after the day's work in the shop was over. When the town needed a new cemetery he saw that his garden was the best place for it and gave it to the town in exchange for two lots, then very poor looking lots, where Ford Smith and Dr. Le Fevre resided later. The old cemetery was at the foot of Morris street hill.
Mr. and Mrs. Young were Scotch-Irish, from the neighborhood of Bel- fast, Ireland, but he went to Glasgow to learn his trade and bound himself out for seven years. Meantime the future Mrs. Young came to America, but returned to marry her William when he had served his apprentice- ship; all of which reads very much like one of Grimm's Fairy Tales, except that I am making this story as brief as possible. The letters that passed between the lovers tell the rest of the story.
And, as I was saying, the result of this romance was the establishment of Dover's first bakery-and more, besides. Jennie Young went to school in the old Birch building. She often took her book and climbed the ladder to the belfry, so as to study all by herself. As we latter-day Doverites pass this historic spot we may picture to ourselves the little girl in that old belfry. We know from the old school records that there was a ladder, specified by the building committee, "to get up inside." But they did not know that it would become a ladder to be climbed in the pursuit of learning, a sort of "Jacob's ladder."
William Young was a public spirited man and became a trustee of the public school. He used to offer prizes for pupils who excelled in their studies. Being a baker he could offer prizes that appeal to the youthful mind. He may not have been versed in modern psychology, but when he offered a beautiful big cake as a prize it stimulated interest. The little girl in the belfry could get all the cakes she wanted at home, but a cake that was offered as a prize was a cake with a different flavor, and-"she took the cake." Her father wanted her to divide it up among the other scholars, when he found out what had happened; but, no, that prize cake was too precious to divide.
Jennie Young went to school under the regime of Charles E. Noble. Mr. Noble's name does not appear in the old school records, but personal testimony is often better evidence than mere records, as Cicero argues in behalf of Archias, the poet. The following incident vouches for Mr. Noble. As Mr. Noble was teaching here in 1849, this little girl must have been about seven years old at the time of this occurrence. She had been out coasting on the Morris still hill, at recess, and when she came in her shoes hurt her foot or something seemed to be out of order, so she sat down on the floor under her desk to investigate. The teacher's eye roved over the desks to see if all were present, but he missed little Jennie. So, being a long-legged man, he stepped right over the desks to where she sat on the floor, and when he discovered her he picked her up by the back of the neck and carried her dangling in mid-air, with one shoe and stocking off,
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to the front bench, to give an account of herself. She still remembers Mr. Noble.
Mr. Hugh N. Cox was another teacher whom she remembers. He was short, with red hair, and wore a high hat and a goatee. Mr. Cox made a good name for himself as a teacher, as you may read in other parts of this history, but this young critic thought that he boasted too much of his superior attainments. It is well for teachers to be modest, although it sometimes comes hard. One day he announced that he wished the pupils to write a composition, giving their idea of a "model teacher," saying that he would afterwards read these compositions before the school. Jennie Young wrote this brief character sketch-"One who does not keep boasting about himself." But opinions differ. Another girl wrote still more briefly, but effectively,-"A Mr. Cox." When Mr. Cox came to this composition, he stroked his goatee and blushed, and said he didn't know whether to read this one or not. But he seemed pleased. Scholars should always speak well of their teachers. One day the trustees came to visit Mr. Cox's school. He reminded the children to be on their good behavior, as all good teachers do, and then asked them to sing something for the trustees. 'What shall we sing?" "Oh, sing anything you like, something that you really like." So when the trustees appeared on the scene they were greeted with this ambiguous burst of melody :
"Curious beasts are here for show, Of all sorts and ages: See them pacing to and fro, Safe in iron cages."
It was a circus song that Mr. Cox had taught his pupils,-one that they loved to sing, in season and out of season; but there is such a thing as fitness, even in the choice of hymns.
Mr. Young was a strong temperance man, and an earnest worker in the good cause. One winter day, in the midst of a terrible snow storm, a drunken man came to his store. Mr. Young felt that he ought not to let this man go out in the storm that night, for fear that he might perish. But Mrs. Young objected. She did not wish to harbor such a visitor in hier clean beds. The man went out into the storm, but Mr. Young had no rest in his mind. He followed the man and brought him back. A place was made for him to spend the night on a settle in the kitchen, by the fire. A good fire was kept up in the stove to keep him warm. When the poor man awoke some time towards morning, he did not know where he was and inadvertently sat down on the redhot stove. The result was that he prolonged his visit for about six weeks, illustrating the conundrum, "Why is such a one like a locomotive?" This conundrum is generally given out after some man who is not used to it has taken a long ride on horseback. The poor fellow appreciated the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Young and wished to show his gratitude. He was an artist, so he asked permission to paint their window shades. He painted a beautiful picture of a large goblet with a snake coiled in the bottom of it. The forked tongue of the snake impressed itself upon the imagination of the little girl in the family, as she looked at this picture on the window shade. Under it was painted the legend, "Beware the sting lies in the bowl." Twenty years afterward the man came back. He had reformed and had been a school teacher in Sparta. And so we have another incident in the history of schools and another illustration of The Good Samaritan, in our Chronicles of Dover.
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NEW JERSEY
When Mr. Segur came to Dover he made a strong fight for the cause of temperance. Perhaps it was then (sometime after 1832) that the Sons of Temperance were organized. This society started a Free Public Library and had a little collection of good books which circulated among the people. When they were no longer able to provide for the care and distribution of these books, Mr. Young, thinking it a shame to have the good work cease, took the books into his bakery and attended to the business of lending them out. Among these books was a set of Prescott's Histories, very choice reading. They are now in our public library. This then goes to show that Dover had a public library in 1850 or thereabouts. Was there any other public library in New Jersey as early as that? This library may have been started by Mr. Segur in 1832.
Jennie Young remembers the bookcase which contained these books. At the top of it were printed the letters-S. of T., meaning Sons of Temperance. Hence the people sometimes referred to it irreverently, as "The soft library." Can it be that the term, "Soft" drinks, is derived from this same inscription, "S. of T .? " All honor to the man who honored these two good causes-a free public library and the cause of temperance. During the war William Young fed the families of many soldiers who had gone to the front. Among his beneficiaries was Aunt Polly Ford. When she came to the bake shop she would read the letters received from her son. After the news of a battle she was anxious about him, but he wrote home that he had crawled into a ditch when the bullets began to fly and remained there until the enemy "stopped ceasin'."
When Jennie Young was about fifteen years old she was a pupil of the Rev. H. C. H. Dudley, in the Stone Academy. This seems to have been a sort of "finishing" school for young ladies, in those days. Miss Mosher was then the teacher who set the copies for the children in their writing books. She became ill and was absent. Mr. Dudley asked Jennie Young to set the copies, for she was a good penman and this would greatly relieve him. She also assisted with the younger pupils for three weeks. The tuition fee was then $10 a term. When she brought her ten dollars to pay the bill, five dollars was given back to her. She brought it to her father and he told her to keep it, as she had earned it. This was the first money that she had earned.
The next term she was asked, in the absence of Miss Mosher, to teach an older class, containing Tommy Heaton (later Mayor of Boonton), William Waer, and John Gordon. They were in algebra, and the young teacher had to study nights to keep ahead of her class. But she was equal to it. Scotch grit and "soft drinks" will "tell" in the long run. She succeeded so well, that when summer was approaching and the boys must go to work on the farm or the canal, one of them, John Gordon, of Berkshire Valley, asked her to come over and teach school there. She said she had no "permit." "I will get you one," said he; "my father is a trustee." Soon after a "permit" was received in due form, and Miss Young took the school in Berkshire Valley, then more of a place than Dover. She had received fifteen dollars for her work in the Stone Academy, the second term.
At Berkshire Valley the school house was roughly furnished. The seats were made of slabs, with the bark on the under side. While there she boarded with Major Minton, who had then removed to Berkshire Valley.
In the opinion of the historian these incidents about the Young family
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are worthy of a place in the history of Dover. They illustrate the life lived by one of Dover's most respected families, and they throw light upon Dover's social life, its educational system, and other matters of those days. This is one of the fullest and most significant narratives that the historian has secured, thanks to the clear memory of a very charming old lady.
The story of "Billy Young's" dealings with Jabez Mills' new fence will be found under the testimony of David Whitehead of Boonton.
Mr. Wm. L. Young: This name appears as the heading of an old, worn and torn scrap of paper, part of a newspaper clipping. Must a good man's memory hang upon such a tattered, scarcely decipherable shred as this? Let us by all means secure a copy in some more durable form. I wonder if some of my readers think slightingly of me for dealing so much in obituary notices, as I strive to reconstruct the former days. Let me say a word in defense of my method, although it may be observed that I do not depend upon this source of information alone.
As I pore over the past and search for every available source of in- formation I become thankful for these obituary notices and a sense of respect for them grows upon me. They were often the work of the minister, who had been for many years an intimate friend of the person whose life and character he portrayed. And through long experience the minister learns how to do this work well. And the same may be said of the veteran editor. These memorials of our village folk, treasured up in frail clippings or in the faded pages of quaint scrap-books, remind me of Plu- tarch's Lives of ancient worthies. Who knows but that the world-re- nowned galaxy of Plutarch had some such humble origin. First, a man's memory is cherished by those who knew him most intimately, his family, his friends, his fellow-citizens. Then, as the art of writing supplies a means of perpetuating this memory to future generations, some one takes in hand to make a written record. Perhaps this is done by the priest or by the historian. The priest is likely to be the early historian. But the grandmother and the oldest inhabitant must have competed with him for the honor. And it is an honor to hand down the memory of that which is memorable in human life. It is a work worthy of a master hand and heart. Later the school teacher comes in for a share in this labor of love. But how remote from all this seems a modern High School examination in history! The school teacher should look to his origin; he is the priest of the past and the informer and molder of the future. In time a Shake- speare comes along, stumbles upon a volume of Plutarch and gives us the play of Julius Caesar and of Coriolanus. Last of all comes a Wagner, who puts into music what mere words can ne'er express. The opera of old Dickerson street has not yet been composed.
These newspaper clippings are often minus the date of the event which they commemorate. A visit to the Orchard street cemetery enables us to gather this information from a monument in the center of the grounds where William Young once delighted to cultivate his garden after the day's labor in bake-shop and store was completed. Here he rests from life's labors.
AN OBITUARY NOTICE.
William L. Young was born in 1802 in the north of Ireland, and was of Scotch and Irish descent, and of a Presbyterian family, as most of the inhabitants are in that part of the country. He moved to America in 1830, spent one year in New York City and sixteen in the city of Brooklyn. He
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moved to Dover in 1847. Here he carried on the baking business, which he attended to with such diligence and fidelity that it afforded him not only a comfortable living, but enabled him to assist others in need, which he was ever forward to do.
Mr. Young became an early member of the Total Abstinence Tem- perance Society, and with the principle of that organization he was thor- oughly consistent to the day of his death. About the time of his removal to this place, Dover had a high reputation for temperance, and was called The Temperance Banner Town of New Jersey. Mr. Young always main- tained that the temperance fame of Dover was the consideration which induced him to move here. And during his twenty-seven years abode here he has ever been a main pillar in the Temperance Organization.
He always had a good word to say for the good old cause. He did more, he visited the home of the drunkard and alleviated the evils con- sequent on this vice. Sometimes he prevailed on the drunkard to abandon his cups. I have seen his face radiant with joy as he announced the promise of some intemperate person to sign the pledge, and when he brought him in to join the society we were reminded of the lost sheep that the good shepherd found and brought on his shoulders back to the fold. His useful labors in this field were such that the blessings of those who were ready to perish came upon him, and no doubt the announcement of his death will evoke blessings on his memory from some of this class who are still living.
But temperance was not the only object which interested the heart and hand of Mr. Young. His beneficent character inclined him to aid any and every good cause. He was a friend of education. When the old school house was enlarged and remodeled and the cost defrayed by volun- tary contributions, Mr. Young, though not equal in ability, was equal in amount to the best contributors, and when a village library was purchased he was again a liberal contributor, and for years took charge of the books, and, to accommodate the community, attended to the circulation of the books at all hours of the day and week. The library referred to is that which is now, with additions, in the rooms of the Y. M. C. A.
Mr. Young was well instructed in his childhood in the Bible and the Westminster Confession and Catechism. Some months ago he was present in the Presbyterian Sunday School, where the children were reciting por- tions of both. After giving his testimony to the importance of such in- struction, he alluded to the fact that more than sixty years ago he com- mitted the catechism to memory and that he retained that knowledge at the present time. Curiosity tempted some one to test his knowledge. The readiness and accuracy with which he repeated the words of the venerable book surprised and delighted the audience.
But why should we dwell on the character of a man whose whole life was so well known to you all? His was a social nature and a sympathetic spirit. He lived and moved among you, participating in every public enter- prise, he excelled in acts of private kindness. Positive and firm in his con- victions, he cherished no enmity to whose who differed from him. Weak in hate, he had none to hate him. Strong in friendship, his friends were numerous.
We doubt if there has ever occurred in Dover a death which created a greater expression of sorrow and regret at the time than that of Mr. Wm. L. Young. He was one of nature's own noblemen, a man whose life was an exemplification of the golden rule so little followed in this age of
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greed and gain. His memory will live as a model of all that is pure and upright. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and his profession of Christianity was not a cloak for the promotion of wordly motives. Although quiet and somewhat retired, never seeking for political prefer- ment or personal popularity, he was nevertheless fully appreciative of the real interests of the town, and lent his active support to any measure pro- ductive of the public benefit. Realizing the inflammable character of the materials in the buildings of the place, he was one of the first to advocate the introduction of our effective fire department, and presided at the two meetings which brought about this result. He was also a member of Acacia Lodge Free Masons and held the office of Treasurer seventeen years.
A Christian in the highest sense of the term, a promoter of the public good, a friend to temperance and education, a charitable man and a kind friend-in how few are these virtues to be summed up! Yet such was William L. Young, and our entire population, for enemies he had none, mourn with unfeigned sorrow his sudden removal by death.
Mr. Young did not have the privilege of attending school after he. had reached the age of eleven. He spent seven years in Glasgow learning his trade, after his days in school were ended. The following original valentine must be judged with some allowance on account of his brief schooling :
For Marget McNaught.
This is the first Month of the Spring, When little Birds do couple, build & sing ; And as the grapes grows on the Vine, I Choose you for my Valentine. The time I ever will remember
I think it was in sweet September,
When you my love by Chance I saw, Walking on the Broomie-law Till then, I still Could pass you by,
Without a thought or languid sigh
But you sweet Maid, hath won the field
And I your Captive forced to yield. Accept this trifle that I send Tis from a Lover and a friend
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