Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 154

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations > Part 154

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SCHOOLS AND OTHER LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.

discussed. Public lectures are given occasionally by scientists, and classes in botany, geology and other special topics in science are formed. Field meetings in the country are usually held in late spring and early autumn, oftentimes in connection with the Albany Institute and Troy Scientific As- sociation.

The number of members is not far from one hundred, including honorary members, among whom are Professors Dana, Hall, Peck, Lintner, Tenney, Ward, Boss, Perkins, Bradley, Prescott and other scientific gentlemen. Its Presidents have been Miss Lottie Titcomb, 1868 ; Mrs. David A. Thompson, 1869; Mrs. William Barnes, 1870-71; Mrs. Daniel J. Pratt, 1871-72 ; Mrs. Arthur Bott, 1873-74 ; Mrs. John E. Bradley, 1874-75 ; Mrs. Jonathan Tenney, 1875-82 ; Mrs. Robert D. Williams, 1882-85 ; Mrs Ira B. Samp- son, 1885-86. Annual meeting last Tuesday in November. It is a growing and useful institution, reflecting great credit upon its members and officers.

THE DICKENS CLUB

is the outgrowth of the Flower Mission of the Con- gregational Church, and its membership is confined to ladies who attend that church or its Sabbath- school. It originated in 1875, and has held stated meetings ever since for the study and rendition of English authors, beginning with Dickens. It has given several successful public readings and renderings of some of these authors in public. Its Presidents have been Miss Josephine B. Sedam, Mrs. J. E. Sherwood, Mrs. I. B. Sampson, Miss Anna MacNaughten, Miss Annie Kingsbury, Miss Harriet E. Ludington, and Mrs. J. M. Lawson.

JONATHAN TENNEY.

[Compiled chiefly from " Class Memoria!" and "The Academician."]

Jonathan Tenney was born in Corinth, Orange County, Vt., September 14, 1817, eldest son of Jonathan and Lydia Owen (Crane) Tenney. His father died in 1865, aged 69 years; his mother is now living, in her 91st year.

Thomas Tenney, the common ancestor of the Tenneys of this country, was an English Puritan, from Yorkshire, England; a member of the Rev. Ezekiel Rogers' colony of sixty families, which, in 1637, settled the "Rogers Plantation," now Row- ley, Bradford, Georgetown and Merrimack, Mass., and vicinity. His descendants have always been among the leading men of New England.

Hon. Samuel Tenney, his grandson, had twelve children. He was a truly great and good man. He was a member of the Colonial Assembly from Bradford, Mass., in 1725, when, 50 years before the Declaration of Independence, he was one of the 30 who voted against receiving the King's Charter, a step more bold than that of the 56 signers of 1776. Not a few of his numerous descendants inherit the same spirit of daring to do right.

From his early boyhood, young Tenney had his

home with his parents on a farm, and was attending public district schools. During these years, his paternal home was chiefly in Bradford and New- bury. In the Seminary in Newbury, under the tuition of Rev. Charles Adams and Rev. Osmon C. Baker, D. D., since a Bishop in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and in Bradford Academy, Vt., Rev. Franklin Butler, Principal, he pursued his studies preparatory to Dartmouth College, which he entered in 1839, and from which he graduated in 1843.

In 1846, he received the degree of M. A., and in 1880, the honorary degree of Ph. D. from Dart- mouth.

For the nine winters previous to his graduation, he was a popular teacher in the district and village schools of his native State.

The following is abridged from a sketch of Dr. Tenney prepared by Hon. Henry Barnard, late Commissioner of the National Bureau of Education, and published in the American Journal of Education. * * After graduating in 1843, he taught the Academy in Hebron, N. H., but resigned in order to establish a High School in Newbury, Vt., * which was successfully organized under his care. He was then five years Principal of Pembroke Academy, near Concord N. H., which attained under his management a very high reputation and popularity. Many of his pupils of this and other schools graduated from college, and are found in prominent positions all over the country. A portion of his time was here devoted to the study of law; but his success led him to adopt teaching as his pro- fession. From this time he lost no opportunity to extend his acquaintance with the best schools and educators, their principles and methods. A desire for wider experience, a spirit of independence and progress, and an unwillingness to become settled in any one routine of thought and action, have in- duced a frequent change of position by voluntary resignations, and have prompted the undertaking of much collateral work.

In August, 1849, resigning his place in Pem- broke, he became Master of the South Grammar School in Lawrence, Mass. Being elected Prin- cipal of the new Pittsfield High School, Mass., he entered upon this trust in November, 1850; organized the school, and remained in its charge until his resignation in March, 1853. The " His- tory of Pittsfield," lately published, speaks of Mr. Tenney, after an interval of thirty years, as the first principal of the school and "a teacher of very high ability." While there, he was actively engaged in the educational work of the State, es- pecially in Berkshire County. While in Dartmouth, he attended lectures in the Medical College there; and while in Pittsfield, he attended lectures in the Berkshire Medical Institute, and gave much spare time, then and since, to the study of medi- cine, especially to make himself more useful as a teacher.

Returning to New Hampshire, he was chosen Principal of the Manchester High School in April, 1853, and held the place until he resigned in November, 1854, to become Editor and Publisher

692

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

SULLIVAN NÍ

Omathan Janney~

of the Stars and Stripes, which he conducted with great success as an independent newspaper. Its influence resulted in placing the Republican party in power in the State. From 1855 to 1857, he was, at the same time, Chairman of the School Committee of Manchester, Commis- sioner of Schools for Hillsborough County, and Secretary of the State Board of Education. His reports in these several capacities were full,. able, and models of their kind. During this time he introduced various reforms in the city schools; visited many schools of the State; conducted Teachers' Institutes; and lectured upon and taught various subjects in all parts of the State.

In 1854, he was the originator of the New Hamp- shire State Teachers' Association, and was one of its most active and practical workers and supporters. He was elected its President in 1855 and 1856. After January, 1862, he was the resident editor of the New Hampshire Journal of Education. He prepared a catalogue of the teachers and schools of Massa- chusetts, with notes, the first that ever appeared in any State. He has contributed largely to the edu-

* * cational and other statistics of the country. *

During the years 1855-57, he was occupied chiefly in his duties as Chairman of the School Committee of Manchester; in visiting the schools of the thirty-one towns of Hillsborough Co .; in giving about seventy-five public addresses; in ar- ranging and conducting his own County institutes; in lecturing in those of the ten counties of the

State; in conducting correspondence as Secretary of the Board of Education; and in preparing the City, County and State School Reports. The work demanded great industry, system and energy.

In 1856, the Trustees of Boscawen Academy. New Hampshire, a school founded by Rev. Dr. Samuel Wood, and Daniel and Ezekiel Webster, having proposed to repair their buildings, lease the same free of expense for twenty years, and sur- render to him their trust, Mr. Tenney accepted the propostion; opened his school in 1857, under the name of Elmwood Literary Institute, and success- fully sustained it through the next nine years of financial depression and civil war.

During the War he was very active as an officer of the State Union League, in forming Town Leagues, over one of which he presided; in en- couraging enlistments in the Union service; and in furnishing aid to the soldiers. More than 100 of his pupils enlisted. The delicate duty of Enroll- ing Officer of his district was entrusted to him.

While in Boscawen he was Superintendent of the Schools of this good old town, the native place of John A. Dix and William Pit Fessenden; and also Commissioner of Schools for Merrimack County.

In September, 1866, having sold his interest in Boscawen six months previous, he purchased, in Newton Center, Mass., and opened a family and day school for girls, called Silver Lake Institute, five miles from Boston, which he disposed of in

693

SCHOOLS AND OTHER LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.

July, 1868; went to Albany, N. Y., the health of his family requiring the change. He had accepted, for one year, the State agency of a New York Life In- surance Company, with no idea of giving up his work as an educator.

From October, 1869, to August, 1874, he was a resident of Owego, Tioga County, N. Y., a part of the time as Superintendent of the Village Schools and Principal of the Owego Free Acad- emy. The rest of the time he was an Institute conductor.

In 1874, having been appointed Deputy Super- intendent of Public Instruction for the State of New York, he removed to Albany, where he has ever since had his home at 484 Madison avenue, opposite Washington Park. Two years later he was made Librarian of the Young Men's Association, the library of which was entirely re-formed, im- proved and catalogued by him, so that it is now a delightful and useful place of resort. In 1883, after seven years service, he resigned this place to enter upon the editorship of "New England in Albany," and the "History of Albany County and City.'

In civil affairs, besides being an officer in several political organizations, he was Moderator of Town Meetings, Coroner and State Justice of the Peace and Quorum, and held other civil offices in New Hampshire.

He is a Corresponding Member of the Vermont, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire Historical So- cieties; of New England Historic-Genealogical Society, New York Genealogical Society, and other literary and scientific associations.

He has lectured before academies and educa- tional associations in New England and New York. He has been an officer in Essex County, Middlesex County, Berkshire County, and Massa- chusetts State Teachers' Associations. In Man- chester, Lawrence, Pittsfield and Owego, and in every large town where he has taught, he has or- ganized and helped sustain Teachers' Associations. Out of the one in Manchester originated the New Hampshire State Association, which was organized at Concord in June, 1854, by a large Convention called by him, incorporated the next July, and has, ever since, been the most interesting and efficient agency in the educational progress of that State, through its annual meetings and publications. He was its first Secretary, then its President, Director, and Editor of its works, while he resided in that State.

Besides Institute work in New Hampshire, he has done the same work in Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine. From 1867 to 1874, he was Con- ductor of Institutes, with marked success, in many of the Counties of New York, under appointments from Superintendents Rice, Weaver and Ruggles.

In several of these counties he revived Teachers' Associations. In the work of education he has always been earnest, faithful and practical; partic- ularly zealous in his efforts to elevate the teach- ers by stimulating them to cultivate self-respect, sound scholarship, character, and best methods of teaching and government. School reports abound

in commendation of his labors, and he has a warm place in the hearts of thousands who have enjoyed his instruction.

Besides numerous contributions to newspapers, magazines and educational publications, he has written and edited "Septenary History of Dart- mouth Class of 1843;" Reports on the Schools of Manchester, N. H .; Six Annual Reports on Schools in Boscawen N. H .; Tenth and Eleventh Annual Reports of New Hampshire Board of Education; "Watch Repairer's Hand-book," Boston, 1868; "Class Memorial of Dartmouthi Class of 1843," Al- bany, 1869; Two Reports on Schools of Hills- borough County, N. H .; "Genealogical and Histor- ical Memoirs of the Tenney Family;" "History of Congregational Church, Owego, N. Y .; " " New England in Albany;" "History and Catalogue of Young Men's Association, Albany;" " History of the County and City of Albany;" also numerous catalogues, reports, papers and circulars on various topics.

He married in Boston, Mass., March 20, 1852, Harriette Ackland Bachelder, Preceptress of Pitts- field High School. She died in Boscawen, N. H., September 13, 1864.

He married September 19, 1866, Ellen J. Le Gros, of Great Falls, N. H., Associate Principal in Elmwood Institute, Boscawen, N. H., in Rhode Island Normal School; and in the Lincoln Young Ladies' School, Providence, R. I. Mrs. Tenney is a lady of rare gifts and accomplishments, and held in high estimation for her works' sake by all who know her. She is an excellent pianist and organist. Quick perceptions, ready tact, common sense, pure benevolence, delicate love of justice, womanly modesty and great energy, are united in her character in a wonderful degree.

His children are Calvin Pettengill, born Septem- ber 2, 1853; Harriette Lydia, December 7, 1857; Hermann Jonathan, March 29, 1860; Ellen Celina, June 30, 1864; Edgar Herbert Le Gros and Mary Laura Adelaide, December 20, 1870; Edbert Le Gros, March 14, 1875; Laurence Harlow, June 28, 1878. Four of these are now living.

Prof. Tenney was made a Mason in the Horace Chase Lodge, No. 72, Penacook, N. H., and rep- resented that Lodge several times in the Grand Lodge of the State. He is now a Member of Temple Lodge, No. 14, Albany.

Dr. Tenney is a man of quiet and retiring habits. He is exeedingly fond of domestic life and ardently devoted to his family. To him there is no place like home. In his friendships he is true and constant-intimate with few, but courteous to all. He is a reader of character; cordial and frank when approached by the whole- souled and honorable; distant and reticent with the artful and cold-hearted. Patient in details, diligent and methodical in work, without vain boasting and showy demonstration, he accom- plislies more than he promises. His efficiency is seen when results are reached. Deliberate, care- ful and conscientious, his conclusions can be de- pended upon. He unites in an unusual degree an excellent memory and sound judgment.

694

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

While a good conversationist, showing, when once engaged, a mind laden with valuable knowl- edge, as a public speaker he is not of the off-hand, flippant kind. He speaks only when he has some- thing to say. His well-studied lectures abound in brilliant thought, terse expression and pointed logic. Says one "they are solid gold." His mind is given to philosophy, but his action is exceed- ingly practical. His literary style is didactic, and his utterance direct and without attempt at orator- ical display. As a scholar he is accurate and sound, but never pedantic. He hates nothing more than sham and affectation.

In religious faith he is a Congregationalist, hav- ing for forty years been a member of that Church. But no man is more liberal and charitable. He has intimate friends among all creeds. He holds that home is the most sacred place on earth, and that the purest worship and noblest duty is to be done there, not "to be seen of men." He has been an active Sabbath School worker, holding for many years the office of Superintendent and Bible Class Teacher. He was licensed as a preacher, by vote of the Susquehanna Congregational Associa- tion, and was made Moderator of its meetings. He has often been delegate to Congregational State Associations and other religious bodies. He is a Life Member of the American Home Missionary Society and of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions. In politics he was first a Whig; then a Republican in the days of Lincoln, Grant and Garfield. But he has little confidence in the politics of partisan office-seekers of any name. He prefers country to party, and votes by his convictions of duty. He is a friend of all good causes, and does what he can to promote them, be they social, moral, benevolent, literary, patriotic or religious.

PUBLIC EDUCATION.

In the article on "Education in Albany County," the state of schools and of learning, as there given, includes the City of Albany. It is made evident that very little attention was given to these matters by the public, and that only the rich enjoyed the benefits of such teaching as there was. And it may be added, that, for many years after the Revolu- tionary War, the rich even gave more attention to making and hoarding wealth than to any learning, except what could be turned into good business account, and that the poor had no time or money to give to the education of their children.

Judge Campbell tells us that Rev. Mr. Dunlop had a school in Cherry Valley from 1744 to the Revolution, which was attended by boys from Al- bany. He took them under his paternal care in his own house, and it is said they often followed him as he cultivated his fields, and recited their lessons as he plowed, planted, hoed, and gathered his crops. The Judge calls this the first Gram- mar School in the State west of Albany.

Elkanah Watson, who came to Albany in 1788, observes in his "Reminiscences" that the schools were taught mostly in the English language.

As early as 1796, a movement was made by the Common Council of Albany in relation to free schools. During this year, an ordinance was passed authorizing their establishment; but beyond this passage of the law, nothing practical was done for a long time afterwards.

It is recorded in the Gazette, November 26, 1804, that in a school building erected by the contribu- tions of the benevolent for the benefit of helpless and neglected female children, were gathered a school of twenty-three such children, under the care of a discreet governess, who were daily in- structed in reading, writing, and plain work, and in the strict observance of every Christian and moral duty.

In Munsell's Annals, we read, under date of August, 1810 : "As yet it is believed there were no public schools in this city. The corporation had under consideration the project of establishing a free school on the plan of Joseph Lancaster." Twelve years later, fifty schools of all grades, both public and private. are reported, including a Lan- caster School, a Mechanics' Academy, the Boys' Academy and the Female Academy.

In 1813, we find the schools and teachers follow- ing as having a local habitation and a name : Widow Catherine Goheen, I Liberty; Widow Es- ther Bedford, 119 Washington; Catherine Peck, 39 Hudson; Widow Martha Wilson, 39 Steuben; Miss Brenton, 118 State; Catherine B. Thompson, Young Ladies' School, 38 Colonie; Sarah Mc- George, Young Ladies' Seminary, 66 Market; Mrs. Smith, School, 13 Washington; John Nugent, Young Ladies' Seminary, 81 Pearl; and the fol- lowing male teachers: Thomas D. Huggins, 43 and 45 Pearl; John Keys, 57 Church; Joshua Tinker, 16 Deer; George Upfold, 8 Van Tromp; William Andruss, 19 Pearl; Robert O. K. Bennet, 67 Pearl; James W. Blacket, 70 Hudson; John Brainard, 35 Chapel; Joseph Caldwell, 25 Steuben; Thomas Ennis, 48 Beaver. History doesn't tell us what they taught, or how they taught, or what they were paid. We have only their names, but these indicate that there was a demand for " school- ing," which was soon outspoken in the Albany Academy, the Female Academy, the Lancaster School, and other noted schools, some of which are having a green old age amongst us to-day. But the time for tax-supported public schools had not come to Albany in 1813.

LANCASTER SCHOOL ..

The nearest approach to a free school was made in 1812, when the Legislature passed a law incor- porating the Albany Lancasterian School Society. The trustees of this school were composed of thir- teen citizens, among whom was Mayor Philip S. Van Rensselaer, who was President of the Board. The members of the Common Council were also members of this society, ex officio. Any person contributing $25 to its benefit was entitled to the tuition of one child. Its first and only principal was William A. Tweed Dale, a Scotchman and a dis- ciple of Joseph Lancaster, England. Charles R.

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SCHOOLS AND OTHER LITERARY INSTITUTIONS.

Webster was one of the leaders in founding the school. The school was first situated in the upper part of the building of the Mechanics' Society on the corner of Chapel and Columbia streets. In 1815 the site now occupied by the Medical College

Lancaster School.

was purchased, and a school-house was erected thereon at a cost of $24,000, and opened April 5, 1817. It was capable of accommodating 500 pupils.

The income for the support of the school was derived from various sources. The Corporation made an allowance of $500 a year from the receipts of the Excise Board. About the same amount was appropriated from the school fund, and the tribute received from scholars amounted to $400, aver- aging $1 a piece yearly. All the expenses of the school were paid out of this sum.

The Lancaster School was continued until March 28, 1836, when it was closed by order of the Common Council. At this time the number of scholars in this school had greatly decreased, and it was found that they might be accommodated more cheaply in the common schools.

During the twenty-four years of the existence of the Lancaster School, it was stated that 10,000 boys had been educated at that institution. In Albany it paved the way for the present free-school system. Mr. Dale, who so long and acceptably held the position of preceptor, was a graduate of Edinburgh University, a man of strong will, great patience and persistence. His perfect control of 400 boys and girls gave evidence of his wonderful tact and knowledge of child-life. Mr. Dale died in 1856.

The Lancasterian system proposed the education of the masses of the children by means of few teachers and self-help. It made excellent readers and spellers, and ingrained the first principles and formulas of arithmetic so thoroughly that they were never forgotten. When the Lancaster School was discontinued, the school building passed into the hands of the medical faculty, and has since,

with some alterations, been used as the Albany Medical College.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

From 1830 to 1866, we can say little in com- mendation of the system of the Public Schools of Albany. The importance of the subject does not seem to have been considered by the citizens. They kept pace neither with the growth of the city nor the demands of the times.

The first important step toward the Free School system in Albany occurred April 17, 1830, when an act of the Legislature was passed, providing that a Board of School Commissioners and a Board of School Inspectors should be elected annually by the people-one Commissioner and one In- spector from each ward. By this act the city was divided into nine districts for common schools. The Commissioners had power to appoint three trustees for each school district. They appor- tioned the money received from the State, to which each district was entitled, on the basis of the num- ber of scholars of school age, and they fixed the rate of tuition so as not to exceed two dollars a quarter for each scholar. Under this law the Su- pervisors were directed to cause a sum of money to be raised to be paid to the Chamberlain for the support of the Common Schools in the City of Al- bany. The schools east of Perry street were to be kept nine months of the year, and those west of Perry street four months, in order to receive this ap- portionment of the public money. The Inspectors examined teachers and gave them certificates of qualification. The several Boards of Trustees at this date were compelled to supply the want of proper rooms or buildings for school purposes, for which no provision had been made by the city au- thorities. The school in the first district was kept in a building which had formerly been a stable. In the Ninth District, the cellar of the old Univer- salist Church on Herkimer street was used; but this school was soon removed to the basement of a church in Westerlo street. District No. 8 was held in the lecture-room of St. Peter's Church for some years. Another school occupied the upper part of the engine-house which stood back of where Martin Hall now stands, on William street, while the remaining schools occupied quarters equally unsuitable and incommodious.

Such was the character of the public school buildings until 1832, when the first building for school purposes, with the exception of the Lan- caster School, was erected by the Trustees of Dis- trict No. 2, at a cost of $22,000. It was three- stories high, and contained four large rooms for school purposes, two large halls, and a room occu- pied by an engine company. It was located at 218 State street. It was sold in 1884, when the present school building, 29 Chestnut street, known as No. 2, was erected, at a cost of $27,650.

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Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 154

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452