History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 14

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 14
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 14

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There is no evidence that the okl academy was ever used as a parochial school, or ever intended for that purpose, in a sectarian sense. If the school taught therein was at any time regarded as parochial,

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CITY OF ORANGE.

the reason must have been simply that it was the most prominent one in the parish, which, at the erertion of the academy, and for more than forty years afterwards, included the whole settlement. It was always a sorular uffair, notwithstanding the pastor and influen- tial parishioners were its chief supporters.

NOTE. -- Just hore our chet inhabitant rominds us that very early in the prowent century a stone schindl-house which stood near what is now the Brick Church, in East Orange, was demolished. It is the clear that it was taken down because winn out but if that was the reason, it must have len built in the middle of the last century

TEACHERS,-It is to be regretted that the names of the first teachers in the okt academy were not pre- served, since we come so near to them in the follow- ing notice, which appears in an old copy of Wood's Newark Gazette and New Jersey . Advertiser:1

the 17th inst., under the immediate instruction of Mr. Wyckoff, who has taught the English and learned lan- guages, the arts and sciences, in this place with appro- bation and success a number of years," ctr. This notice is dated May 24, 1796, and signed Jedediah Chapman, pres't.

As the notice states that Mr. Wyckoff has taught in the academy a number of years, it is fair to infer that if he was not the first teacher, he was a very near she- cessor of the first.

The prices to be paid are not set out in the notice, but the prices in Newark at that time, as appears by a similar notice of the Newark Academy, were: For in- struction in the English language, writing, arithmetic and public speaking, two dollars per quarter ; geogra- phy, book-keeping, Latin, Greek and mathematics, $3.25; French, by a native, for one guinea. The quar- ters were twelve consecutive werks. The French study will no doubt raise a smile among the present mem- bers of the Board of Education of our city. Of the public speaking in the Newark Academy notice, it may be well to say that our parish voted in the year 1793, "that the public exhibition of the academy school may lw held in the meeting-house," which looks as though public speaking was taught in Orange as well as Newark.

How long this favorite teacher remained at the academy is not known.

Mr. Everett, a graduate of Dartmouth College, is the next man that appears as teacher in the old acad- «my. He is said to have taught the Academy School in the years 1801 and 1802.

Mr. Garrison, also n graduate of Dartmouth, sne- reeded Mr. Everett, and taught some three or four years.

Mr. Gillette, another Dartmouth graduate, sue- corded Mr. Garrison, and taught about one year. We would like to give the prenomen of the several stars in this galaxy, but it was not the fashion of the day to give them.

Abraham Harrison. - We must now introduce Abraham Harrison, the first teacher to the manor born that we hear of,-a graduate of the College of New Jersey, of the class of 1797. There is no doubt that Mr. Harrison was prepared for college in the okl academy, and not unlikely by Mr. Wyckoff.

Mr. Harrison's term of teaching extended from 1807 to 1810 or 1811, at which time he was succeeded by Caleb Quinby, another native teacher, who taught in the academy about a year. Mr. Harrison's teach- ing, however, did not terminate at this time. He taught a classical school in his own house, at inter- vals, for many years afterward, and there are not a few middle-aged men now in Orange who remember him with gratitude for his skill and faithfulness. His life closed in the month of November, Isol. The

" The Academy at Orange Date opened on Tuesday. late Mr. Daniel D. Reynolds was one of Mr. Harri- son's pupils at the academy, and spoke of a fellow- student named Elias Harrison, who afterwards br- came a very eloquent minister of the gospel.

Nathaniel Bruen .- The year 1812 gives Nathaniel Bruen in charge of the academy. Mr. Bruen became a relative by marriage of Mr. John Nicol, and owned and occupied the house now owned by Mr. Nickol, opposite Grace Church. How long Mr. Bruen held the position is not remembered. He resigned it and opened a store in the front part of his dwelling, which he conducted for a few years. Mr. Nelson Lindsley, now one of the old and respected citizens of Orange, was one of his pupils.

Polly Condit. - The time had now arrived when other schools were spoken of. During the war of 1812, or soon after its close, a school was opened by " Aunt Polly Condit," in her own house, which was a two-story building, standing on the north side of Main Street, on the site now occupied by the three- story brick building of Isaac Gans, Esq. Mr. Linds- ley was also one of her pupils.

The names of Andrew H. Clark, Mr. Ballwin, Mr. ()'Hara and Mr. Wood appear severally as successors to Mr. Bruen, and they cluster around a few of the following years until we come to the year Is18, during some part of which Col. Chester Robinson, a native of Massachusetts, taught the school in the academy.

Chester Robinson was born in Granby, Mas -.. on the 10th of January, 1793. After acquiring a thorough education he, in 1517, came to Orange as a teacher in the old academy, and at the expiration of an en- gagement of two years returned to his native State. In 1821 he was invited again to the principalship of the same school in Orange, and accepting the invita- tion, taught for a period of twenty consecutive years. He possessed signul ability as an instructor, and a rare faculty of discipline, which rendered his career an eminently successful one. Col. Robinson was very happy in his oratorical gifts, and as a public speaker forcible and impressive. His judgment was excellent, and his opinions in matters of civil and

Hoy's " History of the First Church."

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

social import greatly respected. He possessed a cul- | About the year 1831 he began to teach in Orange, at tivated literary taste, and was an influential member first in Masonic Hall, and afterwards in a building of his own, in the rear of his dwelling, on Main Street. This building he moved down to the bank of Parrow Brook, continuing his school in it. Formerly for a long time there stood on the lower end of the common, east of the brook, a number of willow-trees, and from these trees his school-boys named the building Wil- low llall. When Mr. Pierson erected the three- story brick building over the brook he transferred the name to the new building, which it still re- tains. of the Lyceum, as also actively identified with the town library. He was formerly a Whig in his politi- cal associations, and later became a Republican. IIe filled the office of commissioner of deeds, and held various minor township positions, being also skillful as a surveyor. C'ol. Robinson was a man of gener- ous instincts, and ever ready to extend a helping hand to the needy and deserving. He married, in 1-22, Miss Maria Peek, daughter of Stephen Peck, of Orange, to whom were born eight children, the sur-

G. Robinson

vivor> being two sons and three daughters. The latter occupy the homestead and inherit the ability of their father as instructors, being at the head of a flourishing private school in Orange. The death of Col. Robinson occurred at his home in December, 1870, in his seventy-eighth year.

Mr. Pierson as Teacher .- Albert Pierson, another teacher of the native stock, a grandson of the ancient trustee of the academy, Matthias Pierson, was a graduate of Princeton of the class of 1816, at the age of seventeen. He began his work of teaching, soon after graduating, in the Bloomfield Academy, where he spent ten years, part of the time as principal.

Mr. Pierson's teaching in Orange was generally of a classical character, and covered many years, but not continuously. He spent two years in Louisburg, Va., in teaching. In 1844 he commenced teaching as assistant in a classical school in Flushing, on Long Island, and continued there some two and a half years, making his home in Orange. In 1847 he engaged with Rev. Mr. Seymour to assist him in his select school at Bloomfield, continuing in it till the summer of 1850. Resuming his labors in Orange in his original Willow Hall, he taught a few years longer, until, on becoming invested with a justiceship, he bade the boys seek for themselves another teacher,

739

CITY OF ORANGE.

and applied himself to his judicial functions, Mr. These young ladies were the Misses Simpson, well Pierson died in 186.4.

During Mr. Pierson's first attempt at teaching, in 1831, in Masonic Hall, he had the assistance of a young man fresh from the Emerald Isle, who subse- quently became one of the heroes of the Mexican war, and afterwards gained a national reputation, in the person of Gen. James Shields, as an United States Senator from Illinois.

Mr. Bracket's Experience .- Alonzo Bracket, another man of Massachusetts, spent some ten years here as teacher. t'oming about the year 1810, he soon after began teaching in the old academy, continuing there several years. Purchasing the property on the west corner of South Main and Common Streets for a dwelling, which property is now owned by Mr. C'has. N. White and was latterly occupied by the late Col. Truman Hillyer, he either erected a school-house for his use, or finding a building on the ground, titted it up for the purpose. This building, thus supplied, was occupied by Mr. Bracket to the close of his life, and is yet standing. He usually had a few boarders, but his scholars were chiefly the boys of parents living in Orange.

Mbert Pierson's school was also in operation, and, us the two buildings were less than two hundred fret apart, we can imagine what were the sports at recess between these rival schools. Mr. Bracket died in the summer of 1853, at nearly forty years of age.

In 1850 or 1851, Mr. Bracket, feeling that his health had become inadequate to the proper performance of his duties, invited Mr. Charles W. Monroe to his as- sistance, to which invitation Mr. Monroe responded, and remained an assistant to the end of Mr. Bracket's life. Mr. Monroe afterwards, for many years, had charge of the school in West Orange, aear St. Mark's Church. For a few years he had charge of the public school in Franklin distriet, East Orange.

INCREASED SCHOOL ACCOMMODATIONS. - About the time that Mr. Wyckoff wasteaching with such success in the academy a young man was also teaching in that part of West Orange known as Tory Corners. The young man was one of Scotia's sturdy sons, Simon Simpson by name. How long he served the neighborhood is not a matter of record, but some- thing not taking on a shape suitable to his wishes. he resigned his position and returned to Scotland. In a short space of time he married a lady of good family ; was favored with children,-one son and three daughters. They were all well educated at Edin- burg, and, having arrived at their maturity, enme with their parents to this country, and settled near the locality of their father's early labors in education.

remembered by many as popular instructors in Orange for many years. At first their school occupied Masonic Hall, themselves residing in the Dr. Babbit house, above the First Church. Subsequently they dwelt and had their school in the house which M.r Bracket afterwards occupied, as already mentioned. Mr. Simpson returned to this country, as stated, with his family, in 1831 or 1832. In 1837 the family was induced to buy and build on the northwest corner of Hillyer and William Streets, and the school was von- tinued there nearly ten years. This building was till recently occupied by Miss J. B. Dearborn's school.

After the Simpson ladies relinquished their school, the building was occupied from the spring of 1847 to 1848 for a dwelling and school by Alfred S. Williams, a son of the late Ebenezer Williams. Mr. Williams' school was a select one for boys. lle continued it during a few months of 1818 on Main Street, leaving it in September of that year to take a position in an institution of learning at Lewistown, Pa.

Some little time subsequently Mr. Kelsey and an- other gentleman had a school in the same building, which was continued a year or so.

In October, 1852, Thomas (. Ingalls opened a school in the Simpson building, and his success was such that he was persuaded to build a house on the same lot in the following spring for the use of the school, he continuing to reside in the original structure. Mr. Ingalls' school was in operation about two years.

Our space will not admit of extended notices of all our schools ; therefore we must be content merely to name them, and that, too, without regard to chrono- logical order, and pass on.

Mr. E. L. Foote erected a school building near the cemetery, which was subsequently destroyed by fire.

Rev. Dr. Joshua D. Berry had a school for girls, with a sprinkling of boys, on High Street. William S. Hall afterwards had a school in the same building, and several years subsequently at his residence, on Main Street, where for several years before Mr. Hall's occupancy the Rev. Dr. Philip C. Hay had his school. had at one time an excellent boarding-school for boys.

Mr. Bracket had a remarkable fascination over his pupils, who were always ready to serve him in any enpacity, in season and out of season. They would hasten at his wink hither and thither, bring him this und that, saw his wood, dig his ditches, the idea of ' Mr. Ton Broeck in Simeon Harrisou's stone house. compensation being the last to interest them.

The school itself was kept in a nent little frame building in the curtiluge, a few feet from the dwelling- house ; Rev. S. S. Stocking had a school in the upper part of Main Street; Mr. Nott in Bodwell's Hall, where is now the German-English school ; and Miss Mary (). Williams' school was a little over the present Orange line, in Hillyer Street.

The Misses Bradshaw had at one time a very inter- esting school for girls in the near vicinity of the Bap- tist Church.

About 1870 or 1871 the Misses Stanley and Smith established a school, which was well patronized, and which they called the Orange Institute, in the old Dr. Pierson mansion, then standing on the site now occupied by the Central Presbyterian Church

740

HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

THE BRICK CHURCH YOUNG LADIES' SEMINARY .- An important enterprise, which drew much attention at its beginning and during the years of its con- tinuance, came to the front in the year 1847. Matthias (. Halsted, a prominent citizen of liberal views re- After a season of refreshment, and two years' man- agement of the Newark Academy, Mr. Adams resumed his labors in Orange, and for about twenty years conducted a select school for boys with such continu- ity and success as to fully justify the popular regard for him as the veteran teacher of the city. siding in the vicinity of the Brick Church, saw grow- ing up around him many young ladies of various ages not favored with educational advantages com- mensurate with their possibilities, and the claims which they had upon the society in which they moved. Regarding this state of things as furnishing Mr. C. J. Prescott, at one time associated with Mr. Adams in teaching, continued his English and classi- him up to within a few years, when he accepted a position as principal of a public school in Jersey City. some one an opportunity for usefulness, he conceived the idea of a seminary of a high order for the benefit ; cal school for boys in a very fine building erected by of this class of young people, as well for our own citi- zens as for any such who might be attracted from abroad.

In pursuance thereof, he fitted up a two and a half story building, standing upon the west corner of Main Street and Washington Place, a building which had been erected about twelve years before by Amos W. Condit, another prominent citizen of that neighbor- hood, for a store and manufactory. This building had fallen into disuse upon the death of Mr. Condit, and by a proper arrangement of partitions and stair- ways, with a hot-air furnace in the cellar, was soon in the condition for the reception of pupils.

Rev. F. A. Adams, a graduate of Dartmouth, was selected as the principal of the institution, and he was domiciled in the dwelling-house adjoining thereto, a building now standing, and in about 1875 converted into a store.

The seminary opened under the most favorable cir- cumstances. Thirty-six persons were enrolled the first day. Regarded as a necessity of the time and place, it was soon filled with the class of students for which it was designed, drawing also some from abroad, who were domesticated in the family of the principal.

Continuing for five years in its original location, furnished at the sole expense of the founder, it be- came necessary to have enlarged facilities for the grand purposes of the institution, which necessity led to the organization of a company of gentlemen for providing the means for placing the enterprise upon a larger basis. The company purchased the property extending from Main Street to the railroad, includ- ing a large and eligible vacant lot, upon which they erected a concrete building, planned to suit the wants of the school. In this building Mr. Adams continued as principal another five years, when finding rest and recreation to be a stern necessity, he retired from the position, with the regrets of patrons and pupils. After the retirement of Mr. Adams the institution passed to the management of other instructors, who, yielding to adverse circumstances. abandoned the field, and the seminary building is now occupied as a dwelling.

The ten and more years of this young ladies' insti- tute mark a very important era in our history. Its ailvent was exceedingly opportune, supplying a great popular want at a period in which the material nid

necessary to ereate and continue it was ready at hand. No one ever felt poorer for patronizing it, and all became richer for the intellectual stimulus and force which it was so highly instrumental in providing.

PRIVATE SCHOOLS-Orange has a number ofprivate schools of high grade at the present time, taught by ladies, first among whom are the Misses Robinson already mentioned. Within a few years these ladies built a model school building, two and a half stories high, with all the modern improvements indispensable in a well-ordered school.

Miss Mary Eveline Ward has a pleasant little school at her residence, on Park Street, near Ward.

Miss J. B. Dearborn had a flourishing school which occupied the whole of her large building (the Simp- son house, above mentioned). She afterward united with Miss Morgan, who had an excellent school on Main Street, and together they built an elegant and commodious school building on Main Street, near Hillyer, where they have one of the most flourishing schools in this section of the country, and known as the Dearborn-Morgan school.

The Misses Dobridge, Sarah and Selina, continued their labors in education at their residence, No. 18 Bell Street, Orange City, until within a few years.

About the year 1863 German citizens organized a German-English school, which was conducted in a rented building for three years, when they purchased the property on the corner of Park and Williams Streets, known as Bodwell Hall, of Philander .J. Bodwell, and, moving the school thereto, it has been conducted to the present time, and is well patronized.

LEGISLATIVE ACTION - ORANGE EDUCATIONAL FUND .- The history of public schools of New Jersey, if ever written, will be an illustration of our tradition- ary caution and the reluctance of the great body of the people to consent to the advancement of education at the public expense. From Feb. 9, 1816, and at various times since then, as will be seen in the General Ilistory, the State Legislature has contrib- uted towards the furtherance of educational interests. However slow it may have been, nevertheless it has been progressive.

Il' such was the temper of the State, it ought not to be considered surprising that the people of Orange participated in it. Why colonists from Connecticut, where public education was so carly provided for,

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CITY OF ORANGE.

should have entertained such a sentiment does seem strange, but, like emigrants generally, they appear to have adopted the ruling ferling and views of their new home. It is not to be doubted that our ances- tors believed that every parent was bound to see that his children were educated ; but as one settler was nearly as well off' as another, they naturally supposed it ought to be done at individual expense.

For the education of those children whose parents had come to be unable to pay Orange had provided a fund as early as 1817. It was founded on the voluntary contributions of the benevolent, who organized under the aet to incorporate societies for the promotion of learning.

This fund was nourished with great care by its patrons, chief among whom was Abraham Harrison. Its proceeds were carefully and annually applied as intended, and were the means of educating many children, who without it would probably have failed of obtaining an education. The fund is yet remain- ing, and the revenne therefrom is devoted to the education of children at the Orphans' Home. The people of Orange will not be accounted very peculiar if it should be said of them that this fund, and the academy and the school-houses which they built, to be used rent-free, expressed their highest idea of education at the publie expense, and were taken to cover all that could be required with equity for such purposes by the State.

The school officers of Orange availed themselves of the State appropriation at a comparatively early date, but twenty thousand dollars even at that stage of our population was a mere pittance among the school distriets, and when, in 1838, it was increased to thirty thousand dollars, it was yet scarcely appreciable. The form of the statute was always respected, school committees were chosen at the annual town meetings, and districts elected trustees. Since 1846, when the statutes created the office of town superintendents, Orange has elected the following-named persons as superintendents : Charles R. Day, Abraham Harrison, Horatio Groves, Jesse Williams, Albert Pierson, Alexander H. Freeman, Hiram Ingalsbe, Frederick A. Adams, Benjamin F. Barrett, James Hoyt and Richard Vanhorne who filled the position successively down to the advent of the Board of Education.

Most unfortunately and strangely, the record-book kept by the town superintendents is not to be found. The book kept by the town clerk, records that in the year 1845, the town-meeting having failed to make any appropriation for the poor, for roads and common schools, the town committee cured the ne- glect by voting the necessary appropriation, the sum for the support of schools being required to be equal to the State appropriation.

In the year 1851, as appears by the same hook, the town-meeting voted one and a half dollars per child within the lawful ages. In 1549, $154.81 was reeeivel from the State; in 1850, $170. In 1851,

$205. The amount raised by town, $1.50 per child, is not on record.

The year 1552 indicated the potency of the stat- ute of 1851 ; that year the town voted $2000; the next two years, $2500 each year; from 1555 to 1862 inclusive, $3000. In Is60 the town received from the State $762.94; in 1863, $620 was received from the State, while the town voted the sum of $2300. For the two years 1864 and 1865, 81414 was received from the State, the town voting each year $3500. In 1866 the town tax was reduced to $2500, and $759.1> was received from the State.

Schoot. BritptNos,-At the annual town-meeting in 1551, Abraham Harrison was elected town superin- tendent for the fourth time, his services being closed by death in November of that year. The town then comprised eleven districts, requiring a fraction of South Orange to complete one of them (now Clinton township).

The larger and more central districts availed them- selves promptly of the new legislative privileges, wrote out anew and with more precision the certifi- cates of their several boundaries in conjunction with the superintendent, and filing them with the county clerk, advanced at once to the dignity of corporations.

The loss or disappearance of the town superinten- dent's minute-book is a serious embarrassment to your historian. Precisely how the schools have been man- aged down to the period now under consideration was in that book a matter of record. Now recoller- tion must be substituted for record, and that just here seems to be provokingly faint; that the schools were managed as well as they could be under the cir- cumstances, and that the teachers worked cheaply, that the people paid, or as many of them as could be persuaded to pay, is about the sum of information from this source.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 14

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830