USA > New York > Orange County > Monroe > Chronicles of Monroe in the olden time : town and village, Orange County, New York > Part 8
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Chauncey B. Knight built the brick store on the railroad corner in 1853, and occupied it until 1858, when he moved across the track and entered upon the railroad business. William S. Howell succeeded him. He took Jesse Strong in partnership. Manning F. Ten Eyck and Horace Swezey were clerks. B. F. Montanye succeeded. Afterward the store was burned, and two handsome brick stores took its place, one built by Geo. Reed, the other by G. W. Conk- lin. These became, respectively, a drug-store and a store for general merchandise. The drug-store was burned, but has since been rebuilt, making altogether a noble block.
In the latter building are offices and lodge-rooms, toilet-room, and water-power for different uses. The department store of Paddleford & Co. is on the main floor.
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The moving spirit of this last enterprise is Geo. R. Conklin, who with Chas. T. Knight has a feed-store and steam-mill opposite, where from that centre they manage branch establishments at Chester, Goshen, Warwick, and Vernon in a neighboring State; while they advise with two of Monroe's sons in like busi- ness at Florida, N. Y. Thus this little village has wide-awake business men and appliances. Gilbert Carpenter, also on the diagonal corner, not to be out- done, has placed in his feed-store a telephone ex- change plant by which a dozen neighbors can not merely send orders, but converse privately together, even playing over a piece of music or detailing a bit of domestic news. Soon he expects to extend his line so as to take in the wide, wide world.
William Bertholf has his tin and stove store, but from it also go out the wires of the Postal Telegraph, operated by his brother Frank.
Thus Monroe is true to its antecedents, and follows up the footprints and spirit of the scientific minds of the olden time.
Henry Mapes dealt out drugs for many years, but has taken up business of a nature more grave.
John Gregory is worthy of mention. He is the only surviving merchant of the ancient past. He is upwards of eighty years of age, and conducted the har- ness business more than fifty years ago in the upper part of the village. About 1870 he built a fine store and dwelling nearer the railroad, and there has re- sided since. His son Lester has changed the busi- ness, but his venerable father now alone wends his way to post-office and church, to find in this last, as of yore, the rest that comes to the weary. We could speak of others, younger, but they must wait until some new historian is born.
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CHAPTER XX.
SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION.
THE earliest mention of a school in Monroe is of one held in the Presbyterian Church building at Seamanville. After that a log school-house was built just west of the church. John Brooks went to school here. Kinney McManus was the master, and he was a weaver by trade. He knew how to ply the shuttle of education as well, and fasten at least the three R's into the texture of the child mind. Here our poet and philosopher got his first start in education. The stone school-house followed, built of Houser iron-stone, a peculiar rock of this vicinage, well adapted for the purpose, because the irrepres- sible jackknife could make no impression upon it. Hiram Dean, or Danes, is remembered by some when a dreadful wen had driven him into retirement to a little cabin on Ryder Hill. He was a man of limited education, but a good penman. John Brooks was one of the teachers there; also his brother Fletcher. The former prided himself, next to scholarship, upon the art of making a quill pen. James Cromwell and John also wielded the sceptre here; also Simpson and O'Strander, David Lynch and Andrew Van Valer, Mccullough and Brewster Tuthill. These were followed by Murray, of whom the wits said :
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"Nothing was made in vain, since Murray could sing."
The teacher of that day, said one of them," ferruled the scholars, mended pens, set copies, and made his ink of white-oak bark, at the close of the school." He boarded around, and collected his own dues-namely, $12 a month. The school-house was heated by a fireplace. An incident is remembered of the cotton clothing of a little girl taking fire, after which the teacher requested the parents to dress their children in woolen clothes. The text-books were the Eng- lish "Reader," Daboll's " Arithmetic " and " Colum- bian Orator," and Murray's "Grammar." We have forgotten to mention that he said the teacher would sometimes thresh out several shocks of rye, to eke out a livelihood and keep his hand in good trim for discipline.
Education at that day was compulsory in a differ- ent sense from the present. The master's sceptre was the ferrule,- a rod bound at the end with a ring of iron,- hence called a ferrule, from ferrum, iron.
The iron-stone of the school-house was significant, and a type of the ages. Here the lines of Goldsmith well apply :
" There, in his noisy mansion, skilled to rule, The village master taught his little school. A man severe he was, and stern to view ; I knew him well, and every truant knew."
Playing truant was not uncommon in days when education was made so dreary, and was punished with severity. The swimming-pool, the orchard and the woods offered great temptations to the little pris- oners. On the other hand, the hill and toboggan-
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slide and the ball-game had their counter attractions, and many a jolly carnival had the boys and girls to- gether, raising shouts that made the very welkin ring.
Among them were scholars who caught a glimpse of the value of education, and prized the book more than the ball. Despite the obstacles that lie along the path of learning, nevertheless, they scaled its heights and enrolled their names in the Temple of Fame. The teacher often had as thorny a road as the scholar. When he had to board out his little stipend he sometimes had hard fare. One we knew was forced to take up his quarters in a log barn, and was tormented all night long by the serenading of the cats that haunted the place. Some made themselves at home anywhere, careful, however, to select the good places, where they were quick to find the apple- bin, nut-closet, and cider-barrel.
Nor was he slow to learn the good qualities of the farmer's daughter, and by and by come and claim her for his bride.
When the district grew larger there was a demand for more room. Then they rose up and built a new school-house, a few rods further south. This time they chose wood for the material. They set it on the roadside, far from the temptation of brook or orchard, and where the milk-wagon could easily pick them up at the close of school. They put a belfry on it, but hung no bell. The oaken benches of the old school-house were exchanged for seats and desks suited to the sizes of the children. But the A B C was still often driven in like nails, as the children sung, and one of the pupils who was polished off there testifies.
But mental, like vital, force is invincible, and out
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of this institute, as one of the teachers dignified it, graduated a goodly company who have done brave work in many walks of life. A remnant of these call themselves "the old school," and delight to meet occasionally and recall the episodes of school life over the historic cup "that cheers but not inebri- ates." The teachers of this day, too, were strong, enthusiastic, and made the best of the imperfect ap- pliances and methods of the time. At the head we place the name of Brewster Tuthill, a man of strong individuality and iron will, who would brook no drones in his little hive.
Among the many who taught in that school-house was one who, in the judgment of one of his pupils, excelled them all. This was the Rev. John J. Thomp- son, pastor of the Presbyterian church. He taught five days in the week, and preached on the Sabbath. His pupil says : " As a teacher he could not be ex- celled; as a man, noble, pure, unselfish, living only for the good of others. He was the type of a perfect Christian gentleman."
Daniel Hallock held the post for a number of years,-a man severe, but skilled to rule. Neil Camp- bell brought the fervor of the "canny Scot " to his task, loved his profession, and let his benevolent heart and hand reach to the poor during the plague of the cholera. He exchanged the teacher's vocation for that of merchant, married one of his pupils, and died early. Mr. Hawkhurst made companions of his pupils, took part in their skirmishes and sports, yet maintained all the dignity and authority of the master, and so was reckoned a successful teacher. He afterwards entered the ministry of the Methodist Church.
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Our friend George K. Smith brought the experi- ence of the farm into school life and established a reputation as a skilful instructor, securing for him- self the position of school commissioner, which he held for a number of years. He was playfully called Harvey Birch, because during the later years of peda- gogic life "the law of love outlived the rusted rod." With him teaching was not a stepping-stone to some- thing more lucrative, but he pursued his profession till he entered the shade of honorable retirement and cheery companionship, in a beautiful home near the scene of his toils.
Mr. Baker will also be remembered among the teachers of this time, from the circumstance of the change of his name to Knickerbocker, by the State legislature, for personal reasons.
After a while (1857) the district outgrows the yel- low school-house, and the demand comes for more room. Then occurs one of those disturbances of the public mind which always attends the discussion of the question of a new school-house. Some want the old enlarged; others want the old rebuilt on the same site. Villagers want it in the village; some are afraid of the gardens and the noise, and would see it as far away as possible. The stone-age people want it of stone; the wooden, of wood. A compro- mise was effected after a stormy time. A lot was bought from the Presbyterian Church, on condition of building a fence between the lots. The posts were set, nothing further done. The lower story of the building was built of stone, to please the stone- age people, and the upper story of wood, to satisfy the others. The abecedarians were under the care of a lady teacher below, and the grammar classes
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were upstairs, under the care of a male teacher, who was also principal. The method of education takes a stride forward now. It is more analytical. As one of the teachers said, " I teach my scholars to tear sentences all to pieces and get at their construction and meaning." It is now more of a system of edu- cation, drawing from the mind what it knows. In other words, it is taught how to think, the point at which true learning begins. A wide-awake teacher named Kane marked this period of transition from the old to the new. Mr. Robert F. Todd succeeded him. He was a most thorough educator and dis- ciplinarian. He married Miss Louisa McGarrah, entered mercantile business, and has since died. Mr. George N. Greene was a teacher much beloved. One of his favorite phrases for the profession was that of "mental gunnery," or "teaching the young idea how to shoot." He married Miss Mary Ann Seaman, and entered a partnership with her father, William Seaman, in mercantile business in the village.
Myron D. Stewart succeeded Mr. Greene, and left a good record both as a man and teacher. He pos- sessed considerable individuality, mental force and magnetism. He was a good disciplinarian, and yet his scholars loved him. His patriotism was very marked during the troublous times of the Civil War. He was called to be principal of one of the Middle- town, N. Y., schools, where he died at his post at an early age, and loftiest tributes were paid his memory by pupils and comrades of his profession as well as his pastors.
Then a candidate for the school, although a grad- uate of Yale, was refused, on account of his juvenile appearance ; Mr. Kirby was chosen, although he was 16
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still more youthful. He disappointed none. He, after years of service here, was made professor at Cornell, and sometime was geologist to the Emperor of Brazil.
Mr. Owen enlivened his instructions with the pop- ular college songs, and stepped from the birch to the quill, becoming editor of the "Fishkill Journal."
Mr. M. N. Kane was one of the most thorough and efficient of these teachers, a great enthusiast in his school work, and winning the encomiums of many pa- trons. He afterwards studied law and entered upon a large law practice in this village and in Warwick. He showed his appreciation of Monroe by wedding one of the former pupils of the school, Miss Emma Boyd. Mr. Arthur Knox followed his example by marrying Miss Sarah Charlton, eldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Charlton. He, too, did excellent work as prin- cipal of Monroe Academy. He afterwards studied law, but preferred the profession of teaching, which he has followed at the city of Binghamton, N. Y., with honor and success.
Mr. N. B. Chase was very highly esteemed as an accomplished teacher. After his term here he took charge of a school at Cornwall, N. Y., where his long continuance shows rare staying qualities.
Mr. J. D. Brownell was a scholar of winning mod- esty but high scholarship. He afterwards taught at Chester, N. Y., and turned his attention to the study of medicine, and is reported to have a good practice in Brooklyn.
Mr. A. Magoris must not be forgotten. After a splendid record as teacher, he studied medicine and became a specialist in his profession, giving atten- tion especially to the ear and eye. His office is at Binghamton, N. Y.
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The Academy had also many lady teachers who are held in high esteem-namely, Miss Mary Ann Seaman, afterwards Green; Miss Elizabeth Boyd, afterwards Still; Miss Elizabeth Webb, afterwards McGarrah; Miss Elsie Currington, afterwards Smith; Miss Mary E. Knight, afterwards Conklin ; Miss Carrie Conklin; and Miss Sarah Howell, who held her posi- tion as principal of the primary department for an unexampled term of years, thus showing her ability not merely to be content, but to please. Many are the graduates of the school to-day who hold her in loving remembrance, and are grateful to her for teaching them not merely how to navigate the sea of science, but to honor the needle in the home life. She emulated the example of Dorcas in having her class make up comforts for the poor. She thus showed that she had the right view of education, namely, not merely teaching the three R's, but char- acter-building, fitting them for this workaday world of want and suffering.
Now, in the year 1884, after the usual agitation, it was resolved to abandon the old stone and wooden structure and build a new one out on Main street, on the breezy hill north of the village. The new building is of comely architecture, commodious, well equipped with convenient class and assembly rooms, handsome furniture, and every appliance necessary for the present improved methods of education. It is well lighted, heated, and ventilated. It has been elevated to the rank of a Union Graded Academy, and attracts pupils from surrounding districts. Its principal, Eichenberg, is one who achieved distinc- tion in one of the schools of the old town, namely, Turners, and therefore may be supposed to be almost " to the manner born." He has an accomplished staff
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of lady educators, worthy successors of those re- cently mentioned, keeping up the reputation of Mon- roe for a desire to reach a high standard of education. An interesting ceremony of dedication was held, in which the clergy and prominent citizens took part.
One of the speakers said, "Let us call it the Tem- ple of the Wingless Victory ; for as at Athens it was said, Wisdom is now come to stay, and laid aside her wings. And so they built to her the little temple that bears that name on Mars Hill."
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CHAPTER XXI.
PHYSIC AND PHYSICIANS.
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THE Indians had their medicine-men, a strange mixture of empiricism and superstition. They did know the virtues of many herbs, and so far as this part of their pharmacopoeia was concerned, the practice based upon it was of value in the absence of more scientific knowledge. When the white man came, he had the same need, and even more, for the healing art. Bringing no physician with him, and remote from any, he would have recourse to the Indian to learn the names and uses of the herbs about him, and, if observing, would bring to his aid old remembered remedies, the nostrums of his ances- tors, and add a few discoveries or experiences of his own. Thus there would arise some men, and oftener women, who would be a sort of authority in cases of sickness or disease. The remedies and methods of some of these self-constituted doctors were often absurd and nauseating. One old dame cured burns with powwowing over the patient. Another applied a carrot poultice. Fish-worms dissolved in whisky was their sovereign remedy for fever and ague, but the patient preferred to bait his fish-hook with the worms and take the whisky straight. White-oak
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bark peeled upwards from the south side of the tree was given as an emetic, and peeled downward as a cathartic. Tansy, feverfew and catnip were favor- ite remedies of nearly every housewife, while hem- lock seed was sown by one at every corner, the minister getting a double portion. Picra was given every spring as a tonic. It came to be associated with the Shorter Catechism, because often adminis- tered together, the result being that both were put in the same category. It was some time before the educated physician came in, and when he did he had no little prejudice to contend with. He often found, instead of taking, they were ready to give advice. It was not unusual for the physician to find his prescriptions superseded by the nostrums of some grandam, or himself bowed out to make way for some charlatan, with his pain-killers and magic madstone and wizard oil. It was a common prejudice to regard the art of healing as a matter of empirical craft, rather than of scientific study and investigation. To some it was claimed it was a divine gift, and, if a seventh son of a seventh son, a touch was sufficient to heal even scrofula. These people knew more than all the doctors. It was enough for one of these magicians to hold a hair of a distant patient to diagnose the disease and pre- scribe unerring remedies. The mountebank once declared officially that quinine would eat away the bones if taken as prescribed by the regular prac- titioner. But there were often well-intended inter- ferences, by visitors or members of the patient's fam- ily, which were exceedingly exasperating at times. On one occasion one of the disciples of Æsculapius was portioning out a powder for a patient, when a
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kind-hearted little woman put her hand on the doc- tor's shoulder, and said, "Now, doctor, don't give him anything ha'sh." He sprang to his feet indignantly, and said, " Who is doing this?" In the olden time the physician carried his remedies in his saddle-bags, for he had to go on horseback to many places. When gigs and phaetons came in use, one had his made very narrow so that no one could ask to ride. Nevertheless, a lady asked if she could ride with him to her home. He told her to get in, while he leaped up behind and stood on the axle, holding the lines over the top. The pay was small at first. There is on the town books a charge of fifty cents for a "bleed" by Dr. J. R. Andrews. The profession was regarded as a benevolent one by some, who forgot that the physician, besides having obtained his knowledge at large cost, had a family to support and must keep up with the literature and procure the best appli- ances of the art. But, notwithstanding, many of his visits were gratuitous. He generously included the clergy and their families in his gratuitous list.
The earliest physician in the town of whom we have any knowledge was Dr. Baker, and of him we know little more than that he resided in the hamlet to which he gave the name of Bakertown.
The next in the memory of the old people was Dr. A. Gates White. He lived on the property now owned by the Brooks family. He exchanged it for the parsonage lot of the Cheesecock Patent, then owned by the Presbyterian Church, known later as the Van Valer Farm. He was regarded as a physi- cian of no mean skill, and was a man of such high character that his patients were willing to name their children after him.
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Dr. Joseph R. Andrews was the third in order of the physicians of the olden time. He was born in the town of East Haddam, Middlesex County, Connecti- cut, in 1778. He came to Monroe to practise soon after entering upon his profession, and married Julia, daughter of Nehemiah Clark and sister of Mrs. Stephen Bull and Nathanael and Henry Clark, well- known citizens of Monroe and Oxford. The doctor was quite tall, and when we knew him was erect in bearing, benevolent in countenance, with abundance of long, silvery hair. He visited his patients on horseback, with his medicines in a saddle-bag, a true physician of the old school. He was very highly es- teemed both as a physician and a citizen. He was honored with the office of justice of the peace for years. He died October 18, 1849, aged seventy-one years. He survived his wife but a few weeks; her death occurring August 30 of the same year. Their children were Fannie (Mrs. Elijah Smith), Sarah, Elizabeth, Andrew, and Joseph. His epitaph, "De- parted worth," is no false praise.
Dr. Ethan B. Carpenter was graduated at the Uni- versity of the State of New York and the College of Physicians and Surgeons in the year 1833. He prac- tised for six or seven years in Monroe. He retired from practice for five years, engaging in mercantile business at Elmira, New York. He then returned to his native town and engaged in farming, becoming an enthusiast in this new vocation. He was honored
with an election to the State legislature, occupying a seat in the Assembly during the winter of 1852-53. He was a man of intellect, strong character, and de- cided convictions. He was a warm politician of the Jeffersonian school, wielding the power of a leader
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over his constituency. As a practitioner he was re- garded as eminently sagacious, and was frequently called in council long after he had retired from prac- tice.
Dr. John C. Boyd was the only son of Rev. John and Margaret Gaston Boyd. He was born in Mon- ticello, New York, December 2, 1819. After his school education in the village he was matriculated at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. Before finishing his course, he entered Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia. He was graduated March 1, 1841. He entered upon practice at Monroe, where he pursued his profession until the infirmities of age compelled him to retire ; and even when too feeble to drive any distance, his old patrons would have no other, having such confidence in his skill. Dr. Boyd was a physician of rare gifts and qualifications for the opportunities of his day ; keeping himself well in- formed in all the fresh discoveries and advances of his profession. He was studious, a constant reader of the medical journals, and a member of the Medi- cal Society of Orange County, in which he took great interest. His constitutional temperament rendered him sometimes brusque, but it was usually toward those who put some real or fancied slight upon his professional etiquette. Those who knew him best found in him a warm friend, a cheery visitor, a faith- ful family physician of the old school, painstaking, and not merely sympathetic, but, when a case was critical, deeply anxious, watching the issue with a woman's tenderness. His field of practice was a wide and hard one, taking in the mountain and mining region, to cover which required many a weary drive over snow-clad hills and weary vigils in 17
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many a humble cabin. He was the warm friend of the Church, being a generous contributor of the Presbyterian Church, of which, late in life, he be- came a member. He placed the clergy of all denom- inations on his free list, and most assiduous were his attentions to them and their families. He died De- cember 8, 1892, in the seventy-third year of his age.
Dr. Emmet Seward Elmer was the son of Henry D. and Julia Ann Elmer, and was born at Unionville, Orange County, New York, December 30, 1849. After attending the schools in his own native village, he studied at Mount Retirement Seminary in New Jersey; then at Chester Academy, New York. In
1872 he was graduated from Ann Arbor Medical College. In 1874-75 he attended medical lectures in New York City, and was house physician in the hospital on Blackwell's Island for a time. His studies all the while were kept up either at Bellevue or the College of Physicians and Surgeons. About 1877 he settled in Monroe. He was highly esteemed by his fellow-practitioners and patients. His love for the microscope and readiness to explain its use greatly interested the young. October 18, 1887, he was married to Miss Sarah, daughter of Morgan Shuitt, Esq., and removed to Central Valley, where he pursued his practice till his death, October 26, 1893, in the forty-fourth year of his age. He was brother of the Rev. Oscar Elmer, to whom we are in- debted for these facts.
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