History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 44

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140

USA > New Jersey > Sussex County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 44
USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 44

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In the year 1837 a considerable fund remained in the treasury of the United States not required for the expenses of the Federal government. It arose mainly, if not entirely, from sales of the publie lands of the United States. Congress that year, by law, ordered the distribution of this fund (which was called "the

172

SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

surplus revenue fund") among the several States of the Union. The same year (March 10th) the Legis- lature of New Jersey, by law, ordered the distribution of her share of this fund among the several counties of the State. The share of Sussex County was $38,689. The law directed that the board of chosen freeholders of each county should loan this fund within this State, "giving a preference to the citizens of their respective counties," and should apportion and pay the interest to the several townships in the ratio of their State tax. By the school law, the town- ships are required to appropriate the interest of the surplus revenue received by them for the support of public schools, and the county superintendent appor- tions this interest to the several school districts upon the basis of the last published school census.

The portion of this fund belonging to Sussex County was loaned out by commissioners for a long time, but has been called in and most of it used by the county. In 1858, as appears by the minutes of the board of chosen freeholders, the county had used $21,616.24 of the principal, leaving an unexpended balance of $17,072.76. Since that time the county has used the balance of the principal fund, excepting the sum of $842.38, which remains uncollected. The county, however, pays the interest annually to the several townships, and the same is still employed in the support of public schools.

Among the staunch advocates of a normal school for the education of public-school teachers was Gov- ernor Daniel Haines, of this county, who took strong ground in favor of it in his message in 1847. The act was passed in 1855, and on the 24th of April of that year the first board of trustees of the normal school was organized. Hon. Thomas Lawrence, of this county, was among the early friends of the insti- tution, and is the only member of the original organ- ization still remaining in the board. The whole prop- erty of the institution, now owned entirely by the State, including normal and model school buildings and the boarding-houses, is valued at $250,000.

The State board of education was established in 1866. In 1867 the present public-school law, in most of its essential features, was passed by the Legisla- ture, the amendment making the schools of the State entirely free being adopted in 1871.

PUBLIC SCHOOL FUNDS.

The funds for the support of public schools are as follows :

State Funds .- The trustees of the school fund are the Governor, President of the Senate, Speaker of the House of Assembly, Attorney-General, Secretary of State, and Comptroller. All moneys received from the sale and rental of lands under water, from the tax on the capital stock of banking and insurance companies, and all gifts and legacies are invested and form a permanent fund, and out of the income of said fund there is appropriated $100,000 annually, which

is apportioned among the several counties on the basis of the school census. The amount of the State school fund is now $1,660,502, and it is continually increasing. In addition to the above State appropriation there is a State tax of two mills on each dollar of valuation of all the taxable property of the State, which is ap- portioned among the several counties in the same manner. The amount derived annually from this source and appropriated by the State for the support of schools is about $1,000,000.

County Funds .- The interest arising from the sur- plus revenue of each county is appropriated to the support of public schools. The amount derived an- nually from this fund is about $30,000.

Township Funds .- The townships are authorized to raise by taxation an additional amount for school purposes, if necessary. The amount raised in 1878 was $24,199.

Distriet and City Funds .- Each district and city has power to raise funds, by taxation or by the issue of bonds, for the erection and repair of school-houses. About $400,000 is annually raised in the State for this purpose. Each district and city has also power to raise by taxation funds to pay teachers' salaries. About $300,000 is anuually raised for this object. All the money derived from the State appropriations, surplus revenue, and township school tax, except twenty dollars for each district for incidentals, must be used for the payment of teachers' salaries and the purchase of fuel. Each district must provide suita- ble buildings and maintain free school at least nine months in each year to entitle it to a share of the school moneys.

The Two-Mills Ta.r .- A writer in the New Jersey Herald for April, 1879, gives the following on the workings of the two-mills tax in Sussex County and in the Newton District from 1873 to 1878, inclusive. It is an instructive illustration of the operation of the school law :

" It is provided by law that there shall be assessed, levied, and collected, annually, on the inhabitants of this State, and upon the taxable real and personal property therein, two mills on each dollar of valuation contained in the last abstract of ratables furnished by the board of assessors of the several counties. This two-mills tax is paid by the several township collect- ors to the county collectors of each county. The county collectors, in their turn, pay to the treasurer of the State the quotas due from their respective counties of this two-mills tax on or before the first day of January, annually, next ensuing the assess- ment thereof. Then the State superintendent of pub- lic schools, on or before the first day of January of each year, apportions the money received from all the counties, raised by the two-mills tax, among the sev- eral counties, in proportion to the number of children included in the last published school census of the counties respectively. The census is taken between the first and the twentieth days of July of each year,

173

EDUCATION IN SUSSEX COUNTY.

by the clerk of each school district, and shows the number of children in the district between the ages of five and eighteen years. The State superintendent, on or before the tenth day of January of each year, draws orders on the comptroller of the treasury in favor of the county collectors for the payment of the money thus apportioned. Then the county superin- tendent of cach county is required to apportion the money received from the State treasurer by the county collector of his county to the towns and cities, and also to the several school districts, upon the basis of the last published school census. On or before the tenth day of February of each year the county super- intendent is required to draw orders on the county collector in favor of the township collectors of his county for the payment of the money so apportioned.

" It will be seen that the two-mills tax is assessed on the basis of the ratables, and after being collected into one grand mass (if I may use the expression ) the money so raised is apportioned at Trenton among the counties according to the number of schoolable chil- dren. It will be seen from this, at once, that the operation of this plan results in a gain to the poorer counties, unless the richer ones can hold their own by showing a census of children corresponding in point of number to the excess of their taxable wealth.

"The following statement shows the outgo in Sus- sex County of the two-mills tax for each year since 1873, and the income (so to speak) received by the county (after apportionment by the State comptroller) for the corresponding years :

Outgo, 1873 $32,424.40

Income, 1873

33,428,21

Outgo, 1874 .

32,116.74

Incomo, 1×74 32,740.19

Ontgo, 1875

32,116 98

Income, 1875.

31,754.16

Outgo, 1876

31,134.47

Incomo, 1876

30,141.38

Outgo, 1877

29,895,50

Incomo, 1877

28,550,11

Outgo, 1878 ..

26,421.58

Incomo, 1878.

26,4336.36

" It will be observed that in 1873 this county re- ceived $1003.84 more than it paid ; in 1874 it received $633.45 more than it paid; in 1875 the tide turned, and it received $362.82 less than it paid ; in 1876 it received $993.09 less than it paid ; in 1877 it received $1345.39 less than it paid; in 1878 the tide turned again, and it received $14.78 more than it paid.

" The difference between the two-mills tax for 1873 and that for 1878-to wit, $6002.82-marks, though it does not measure, the rate of shrinkage in values during that period.

"To show the working of the two-mills tax sys- tem in the Newton District, I subjoin n statement showing the produce of that tax in the town of New- ton for the last six years, and the portion received each year by the same town in the distribution of the money raised by that tax. Newton ' town' and New- ton 'School District' may be considered for this pur- pose as identical in extent, though, in fact, Newton

School District laps over a little on both Andover and Hampton :

Paid, 1873. .....

$1054.80

Got back, 1873

2469.65

Paid, 1874.

4011.42

Got back, 1874. 3264.61

Paid, 1875.

3864.61

Got back, 1875,

2613.36

Paid, 1×76.

3009.90

Got back, 1876

2025,39

Paid, 1877

3284.44

Got back, 1877.

1958.22

Paid, 1878 ..

2213.50

Got back, 1878.

1501.63

" This shows that a considerable portion of the two-mills tax raised in Newton School District goes to the support of other districts in the same county. Last year (1878) there came back into the county only $14.78 more than went out of the county, yet Newton District received that year (1878) $711.87 less than it paid. Of course, this difference went to the support of some of her weaker sister-districts.

" The State is divided into school districts, number- ing now one thousand three hundred and sixty-seven. These districts are corporate bodies, consisting of the inhabitants who are legal voters therein. The exec- utive officers of these corporations are trustees, three in number, one of whom is chosen by each board as district clerk, who is, in effect, the secretary of the board, and by whom, with one other trustee, all or- ders on the township collector for the payment of money must be signed. The township collectors are the depositaries of the school moneys for final distri- bution, and that distribution is effected through the instrumentality of orders from the trustees on the township collectors.

" The law provides that if the two-mills tax-money received by any township shall be insufficient to maintain free schools for at least nine months in each year, the inhabitants of the township shall, by town- ship tax, raise such additional amount as shall be ne- cessary for that purpose, and upon their failure to do so the county superintendent shall, unless the State board of education shall for good cause otherwise di- rect, withhold from such township all that part of the State appropriation derived from the revenue of the State, and shall apportion and distribute the same among such of the townships in the county as shall have complied with the requirements of the law.

" In addition to the two-mills tax-money and the State appropriation, each school district may raise by tax such other sums of money as they may need for school purposes. The sums to be so raised, and the purposes to which, when raised, they shall be ap- plied, are to be determined upon by a majority of the legal voters of the district, in district meeting assem- bled, and this district tax is assessed, levied, and col- leeted by the township officers on the inhabitants and property of the district in the same manner as other taxes are assessed, levied, and collected.

" It is further provided that no district except those which have less than forty-five schoolable children shall receive less than $300 out of the State school

174

SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

money and the surplus revenue interest, and such moneys as may be raised for school purposes. There are many districts which would not be entitled to as mneh as this sum under the apportionment upon the basis of the last published school census. To each district, therefore, having forty-five schoolable chil- dren, $300 is first apportioned; then the residue is apportioned among them all upon the basis of their eensus. The result is that a large number of the small district schools are supported in part by the larger and stronger districts. The apportionment of the State school money (including the two-mills tax- money) upon the basis of the school eensus, in con- neetion with the $300 limitation, results in an annual loss to Newton District for the benefit of other dis- triets in the county, weaker in point of wealth and possibly stronger (proportionally) in the number of schoolable children. This loss varies from year to year as the ratables, upon which taxes are assessed, vary in the several townships and counties, and as the eensus of schoolable children varies in the respective school districts.

"Until this year (1879) the school law provided that in the apportionment of sehool moneys districts having forty-five children or more should receive no less than $350. Accordingly, all distriets with a school census ranging from forty-five to about ninety received this fixed sum. This provision was incor- porated in the school law in 1871. In consequence of the yearly increase in the ratables of the State, the receipts from the two-mills tax continued to increase till the year 1875, when they reached the maximum. Since then there has been an annual decrease in the ratables, and a corresponding decrease in the amount of money received. In 1875 the two-mills tax amounted (in the whole State) to $1,238,115.80; last year (1878) it was but $1,132,501.38, being a decrease of $105,614.42. The school eensus in the mean time has increased from 298,000 to 321,166, an inerease of 24,166. These two causes combined have reduced tlie apportionment per head of the two-mills tax to the counties from $4.16 to $3.56,-a deerease of sixty eents per child in the amount received by the counties. In consequence of the provision of the law referred to remaining unchanged, the $350 districts received, until this year, the same as theretofore, and the entire loss fell upon the remaining distriets. In order to equalize this loss, the Legislature last winter reduced the amount to be apportioned to the weak districts to $300. The loss in the apportionment per head to the large distriets since 1875 is seen conspicuously in the case of this, Sussex County. Here the number of $350 districts has inercased since 1875 from fifty-five to seventy-five, and the maximum census in those $350 districts from cighty-seven to one hundred and ninety-five. The reduction in the apportionments for the remaining districts is remarkable. In 1875 it was $4 per child, and last year it was but $1.80. Pro- fessor Apgar, from whose last annual report I take

these statements touching the operation of the $350 district clause of the school law, says that the appor- tionment to the larger districts will be increased (by the reduction to $300) to the sum of $3.80, making a difference (gain) to those districts of $2 per child.

"The school tax is felt to be a heavy one in these dull times, but it is cheerfully borne. Resting its elaim to public support upon its tendeney to promote the general welfare, the public school system should be administered in such a manner as to insure thor- ough instruction in those practical studies which have a direct bearing upon the business of life,-studies which lie at the very foundation of finished seholar- ship, and at the same time furnish the best equipment for the every-day business of this intensely practical age."

SCHOOL STATISTICS (1879).

The following table, taken from the report of the county superintendent, Mr. Luther Hill, for 1879, gives the school census and the amount of money re- eeived by Sussex County from the two-mills tax, State appropriation, and surplus revenue combined, from 1871 to 1879, inelusive :

Report of

School Censns. Public Fund.

1871

7790

$39,112.30

1872

7725

39,435.04

1873

7652

38,518.45

1874

7640

37,733.00

1875

7691

36,619.75

1876.

7530

34,922.34

1877

7432

33,263.26

1878

7382

31,091.04

1879

7054

28,829.30

"It will be seen," remarks Mr, Hill, " that we have lost during this period more than seven hundred chil- dren from the census, and more than $10,000 in the publie money. By reducing salaries we have made an average of nine months in which the schools of the county have been kept open for the year, a frae- tiou less than last year. Of the loss in the census, more than three hundred falls in the present year, and the result is seen in the several columns indiea- ting attendance. Three new school-houses have been built during the year,-to wit, at Tuttle's Corners, Tranquillity, and McAffee. These buildings have taken the place of very poor ones, and have been erected at a moderate expense to the distriets.

"We have a surplus of teachers. Our own publie schools and private institutions are furnishing many of them. Their averages at examination give evi- dence of good scholarship. Some of them are teaeh- ing with marked sueeess, and others lack experience, chiefly, to render them effective and useful. The few normal graduates teaching in the county are suceess- ful, almost without an exception. . .. Nine districts have made application for and secured the metric ap- paratus furnished hy the State. Several new libraries have been proeured, and additions made to those al- ready established under the library act. ... The work done in the schools and advancement made by the pupils are not below that of any previous year,"

175

EDUCATION IN SUSSEX COUNTY.

Number of districts In the conoty ......... 11x

children of school age ....

....

enrolled

6,050

Average attonilance for nine months and over.

3,145

Attondanco for ovor eight months, and less than ten Number who have attended ten months and over ...

six months nud over ....

1,177

four months and over. 1.3-19

less than four months.

Amount apportionod of Stato appropriation $20,407.96

7,700.00

District tax for tenchers' salarles .. building repairing, etc .. 4,816,45

22,221.34

Total district school tax ordered to be miseil. 9,366.45

Total revenue from all sources for schools. 45,895.75

35.13

Average salary of malo teachers .. female teachers ..

20.17

The school-houses now in the county are gener- ally of a good class. Their improvement is briefly shown by the following statement :

Value of school property in 1866 ... =

......

$39,000

1876 .......................... 154,000

The amount since the last date has somewhat de- clined, owing to a lower valuation, as will appear by the report of 1879.

Teachers' institntes have been held annually in the county for the past ten or twelve years, and have been very profitable as means of elevating the standard of education.

V .- COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS.

The county superintendents of schools for Sussex County since the passage of the act of 1867 have been the following: Nathaniel Pettit, Newton, 1867-68; Edward A. Stiles, Deckertown, 1869-75; Luther Hill, Andover, 1876-81. Rev. Nathaniel Pettit be- came rector of Christ Church, Newton, in 1857, and officiated in that capacity till 1867 .*

EDWARD A. STILES.

Mr. Stiles died while in office in 1875; to his report of that year was appended the following brief but just tribute to his memory :

" For the first time since the enactment of the law ereating the office of county superintendent deith has entered this corps of school officers and taken one of their number. Before Mr. Stiles could finish his re- port, which terminates abruptly, he was called to his eternal home. Mr. Stiles, during his term of office, was faithful in the performance of every duty. He ! was elected to this office in 1869, and the tabular state- ment given in his brief report shows what progress was made in his county in educational matters under his administration. He was beloved by all who knew him, and his death occasions profound regret. The following obituary notice appeared in one of the county papers :

"'The parents of Mr. Stiles moved from Morris County into Vernon township when he was but two years old. Nine years later, or in the year 1819, they settled on the farm where Mr. Stiles died, and where he spent the greater part of his active years as prin- cipal of Mount Retirement Seminary. This school

arose from the humblest beginning. In 1833 a half- dozen of boys were instructed in a room of the farm- honse. But the teacher had found his calling, and as he developed with his work his school rapidly in- creased to a size and reputation far beyond his early hopes. For many years there was an average of sev- enty-five pupils under his tuition, and it was in full vigor when he relinquished its control in 1865. The graduates of this seminary are to be found in every part of the country, many of them filling high posi- tions, and all ready to testify to the singleness of pur- pose, the steady devotion to duty, and to the consid- erate kindness of his supervision, as well as to the thorough and practical tone of his instruction. In 1869 he was appointed to the superintendency of this county, and the constant growth in all matters ma- terial pertaining to the educational system of the county, the gradual elevation of public sentiment, the increased efficiency of teachers, all bear witness to the success of his administration. For more than forty years he has been devotedl to the work of edu- cation, and, whether estimated by his capability ur his devotion or ample success, he well deserves the title of "Educator." He had excellent common sense and a most reliable judgment, and behind all his words and netions was a character so far beyond reproach that his purity of motive was never ques- tioned. His last illness was long and most painful, but the religion which had been his life was his sup- port in death. The promise did not fail, but once more the Psalmist's word was verified, and "the end of the upright man was peace." Retaining his fac- ulties in full vigor and giving counsel as to school matters up to the final day, at last he passed away so gently that his watching friends were scarcely aware of his departure.'

" At a meeting of the county superintendents, held soon after the death of Mr. Stiles, the following pre- amble and resolution were passed :

"' WHEREAS, This association of county school superintendents of New Jersey has heard with deep emotion of the demise of one of its members, Mr. E. A. Stiles, superintendent of Sussex County, and belng deeply in- pressed because of the fact that in this event death for the first time hos entered our circle, and has taken uway one of the earliest workers in the feld; AND WHEREAS, wo recognize in the death of thila co-worker the removal of one who, by his unobtrusive manners, his steady devotion to duty, and his gentle nature had commandod our admiration and esteem ; therefore, be it

"' Resolved, That wo hereby express our alncere condolence with his bereaved family, and we tender them our assurance that wo regard this loes as not theirs alone, but ours also.'"

LUTHER IIII.L.

Mr. Hill was born in Green township, in this county, in March, 1834. He was a pupil of Mr. Stiles at Mount Retirement Seminary, in Wantage, previous to his entering the public schools as teacher. After teaching at Springdale, Sussex Co., he engaged in mercantile business, which he pursued till 1873, when he taught the public school at Andover up to the time of his appointment as county superintendent.

* Seo history of Christ Church, Newton.

731

Apportionment of township tax.

4,550,00

Appropriation from surplus revenue.

176

SUSSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

CHAPTER VII.

BENCH AND BAR OF SUSSEX COUNTY.

I .- LAWYERS AND COURTS BEFORE THE REVO- LUTION.

IN his "Centennial Address," Mr. Edsall gives the names of the first lawyers who practiced at the Sus- sex bar as follows :

"The names of the lawyers who first practiced in our courts were Bernardus Lagrange, John Smith, Abraham Cottnam, John De Hart, William Pidgeon, Jasper Smith, and Aaron Doud. None of these prac- titioners resided in our county except Doud, who acted as deputy to De Hart while the latter held the office of county clerk. De Hart belonged to Eliza- bethtown, and there, I believe, he remained, notwith- standing his official position in Snssex. The attorney- general of the province, Cortlandt Skinner, attended our courts pretty regularly. In his absence Aaron Dond or Jasper Smith acted for him. This Skinner was a zealous royalist, and became a brigadier-general under Sir Henry Clinton in the war of the Revolu- tion, in which position he rendered himself forever infamous by his attempts to procure the kidnapping of William Livingston, the first republican Governor of New Jersey. About the time the court-house was completed in this town, Thomas Anderson, a young lawyer, who studied under Abraham Cottnam, of Trenton, came to Newton and settled here perma- nently, and proved himself a useful and patriotic citizen. Robert Ogden, Jr., another man of merit and public spirit, subsequently became a resident of Sussex and a practitioner in our courts. Judges Neville, Saltar, and Read, of the Supreme Court, attended in this county when it was necessary to hold Courts of Oyer and Terminer, and the county paid their bills for food, lodging, and drink, the latter item being by no means the smallest in the 'account rendered.'

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 44

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1140

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140