Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 46

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094

USA > New York > Jefferson County > Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894 > Part 46

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"Resolved that a committee of five, con- sisting of three ministers and two elders, be appointed to confer with a committee from the Black River Association, on the expedi- ency of establishing a religious and literarary school in this region, and to report to this body as soon as may be convenient." The Rev. Messrs. Smith, Hoyt and E. H. Snow- den, and Messrs. Camp and Grenell were ap- pointed this committee.

A special meeting was convened at the Second Church in Watertown, March 21st, to consider the subject of establishing a semi- nary, and a joint committee of the two bodies agreed upon a report, which was adopted, and was follows:

"Your committee were instructed to bring in a re- port to the two ecclesiastical bodies, on the expedi- ency of establishing a literary and religious institu- tion for the education of the young, to suggest their views as to the plan of its location, the character of the school, the mode of commencing it, and the out- lines of its constitution. These several considerations have been before your committee, and the following has been the result of their deliberations.

Your committee feel that the churches have too long slept over this subject, many of us have often committed our sons and daughters to the instruction of those who have not aided, but retarded us in re-

deeming our pledge which we gave in consecrating them to God We wish our children trained in the Christian religion, in the doctrines and duties of the gospel ; we therefore deem it expedient that an institution be erected, calculated to secure the fore- going objects. Your committee are unanimously of the opinion that the people of the counties of Jeffer- son and Lewis, and a part of Upper Canada. are the population whose convenience is principally to be consulted in the location of the institution We deem it expedient to put up the location at auction. The enterprise we consider too sacred, and aside from the alienation of feeling which might result from competition, and those complaints which might em- barrass the fellowship and co-operation of its friends, we think that it ought to be located in the most convenient and acceptable place. Your com- mittee, therefore, unanimously advise that its loca- tion be in or near the village of Watertown."

Jason Clark, Esq., and Rev. G. S. Board- man were appointed to procure an act of in- corporation. Jason Clark, of Plessis, J. H. Whipple, of Adams, and E. Camp, of Sackets Harbor, were appointed to select a site. Ap- plication was accordingly made, which pro- cured the passage of an act (May 25, 1836), for the incorporation of the BLACK RIVER LITER- ARY AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTE. Its first trustees were Marcus Smith, James H. Mon- roe, Eli Farwell, Jason Clark, George S. Boardman, Hart Massey, Rowell Kinney, Crafts P. Kimball, Elisha Camp, Lewis A. Wicks, Henry Jones, George W. Knowlton, Ebenezer H. Snowden, John Covert, E. M. Adams, Elisha P. Cook, David Spear, Chas. B. Pond, Artemas Crittenden, John A. Cath- cart, David Granger, Abel L. Crandall, Ros- well Pettibone and William Chittenden.

These trustees were authorized to establish a seminary of learning in Watertown, wliose annual income should not succeed $4,000, and who were to elect the faculty, and supply vacancies in their board. On the 4th of June the trustees met and adopted a constitution, which provides among other rules, that the board of trustees shall consist of six clergy- men and six laymen of each denomination in charge of the institution, and in supplying vacancies, the rule was to be observed, that a person of the same class and sect should be elected, and that the Presbytery or the Association, as the case might be, should have the sole right of nominating the candidate. The faculty was to consist of a principal, vice-president, preceptors, and as many assist- ant teachers as the board might deem neccs- sary, and a board of visitors was to be ap- pointed annually, to attend all examinations, to hear, adjudge and determine all appeals from the decisions of the faculty, to advise, and to administer the formula of confession of faith and the pledge of religious fidelity to the faculty. A male and a female depart- ment were instituted, to be kept in separate buildings at a convenient distance from each other, and under the government of the same principal. This article did not prevent attendance at recitations and public lectures together, under the direction of the teachers.

The following persons were elected the first faculty : Rev. James R. Boyd, principal; Rev. John Covert, vice principal; Mrs. Covert. preceptress. The Rev. Marcus Smith and S. F. Snowden, of the Presbytery, and N.

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CITY OF WATERTOWN.

Dutton, and J. HI. Monroe, of the Association, were appointed the first visitors. The lot oc- cupied by the institution, on the corner of State and Mechanic streets was purchased for $4,500, a wooden building 28 by 56 feet, for students, and other improvements were erected, and in the spring of 1837 was com- menced the erection of a building of stone and brick, 40 by 75 feet, two stories high, besides the basement, at a cost of $6,500. The corner stone of this edifice was laid with religious ceremonies on the 5th of June, 1838, in the presence of a large audience, among whom was Governor Marcy. After prayer by the Rev. I. Brayton, addresses were delivered by the Rev. George S. Boardman and Marcus Smith. Among the articles deposited under

resolution of the Black River Association was concurred in, in whick the by-laws were so far amended as to requre the principal only to be a minister or member of the Congregational or Presbyterian chureh, in good standing, but that the other teachers be selected without this restriction by a committee of the trustees appointed by the board for that purpose, of which the principal shall always be a mem- ber. In January, 1847, a portion of the real estate previously occupied as a boarding house was sold to liquidate the debt of the institu- tion. The premises sold are the same now occupied by the State Street Methodist Church.

Mr. Boyd, who had filled the office of prin- cipal of the institution from the beginning,

BLACK RIVER LITERARY AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTE.

the corner stone, were copies of the village papers, by-laws, map, assessment roll of 1832, catalogues, and reports; a history of the in- stitution, list of trustees, teachers, donors, &c.

The inauguration of the faculty occurred on the 13th of September, 1836; it was received under the visitation of the Regents on the 30th of January, 1838, and shared in the dis- tribution of the the literature fund.

A special meeting of the trustees was called, February 23d, 1846, at which was voted an application for a change of name, which was granted by the Legislature on the 12th of May following, when it was changed to the Jeffer- son County Institute.

At the annual meeting, July 23d, 1846, a

resigned June 28, 1848, with the design of again engaging in the ministry.

Mr. D. M. Linsley was next employed, and continued to be principal until the spring of 1853. when the Rev. Alvan Parmelee was employed. The last faculty consisted of the Rev. A. Parmelee, principal; Rev. James H. Carruth, teacher of natural science; David L. Parmelee, teacher of languages and elocution; Avery S. Walker, teacher of mathematics and librarian; George D. Mann, teacher of instru- mental music ; Miss A. E. Parmelee, precep- tress and teacher of English literature; Miss H. M. Searle, teacher of French, drawing and painting; Miss L. M. Hastings, teacher of the primary department; Amasa Trowbridge,

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

M. D., lecturer on anatomy and physiology. A later catalogue gives the names of 264 male, and 258 female pupils attending during the year ending December, 1853. Upon the establishment of a graded school, in 1840, the Institute property was transferred to the city of Watertown. The Jefferson County Insti- tute turned out many thousands of bright young students, many of whom have achieved high honors and distinguished fame.

THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Our common-school system comes so closely in touch with every intelligent father and mother and their children that a short account of the system and its growth and present character will suffice for this local history. In the early days after the establishment of American Independence the State of New York by legislative act organized the present system of public or common schools, and pro- vided a fund from the sale of State lands and other sources, the interest of which should be sacredly applied annually to aid in the keep- ing up of district schools throughout the State. What this lacked of keeping up schools in every convenient neighborhood was made up by the rate-bill system, parents and guardiaus paying the necessary quota for the children they sent to school. John A Dix, when Secretary of State (before he was Governor), did very much by his intelligent administration of the system and his earnest- ness, to broaden and intensify public attention to the subject of education, to increase the capital of the school fund, and otherwise stimulate public zeal for the improvement of our schools.

The distribution of the public money was at first and for many years based on the number of children of school-age residing in the several districts, until some time in the fifties, when it was seen by a Watertown school teacher, Mr. L. Ingalls, that this method of distribu- tion of the money was not on the right basis, and might be made much more stimulating and effective by being distributed on the basis of attendance at school for a given num- ber of months of the year.

The presentation of this subject was so clearly and forcibly set forth in the columns of the Watertown Reformer, and otherwise presented to the Legislature by the gentleman named, that it was carried in that body at the second or third session after it was conceived. Some years afterwards, owing to the establish- ment of many graded schools in large villages and cities of the State, where many teachers were employed, the distribution of the public money was again modified by setting apart a given portion of each district on the number of teachers quota, and a quota on the attend- ance at school also, and a small library fund. The State common school fund has been greatly increased in later years by direct taxa- tion, several million dollars being annually raised for that purpose. What this lacks of supporting free schools in the several school districts of the State is made up by the school

district tax. This in brief is the system. Jefferson county, from all accounts, takes a front rank in the excellence of her schools and the energy with which they are conducted. The supervision is by school commissioners, of which this county has three. They ex- amine and certify teachers, visit the schools, advise and aid trustees and teachers in their management.

WATERTOWN CITY SCHOOLS.

In the city of Watertown the graded system prevails, in which over 60 efficient teachers are now employed under the supervision of a superintendant whose duty it is to act as a clerk of the school board, and also to visit the schools, advise teachers, harmonize difficulties and keep the financial accounts

This system was adopted in the year 1865 after quite a severe struggle. It did not come by voluntary evolution. It required the ap- plication of some moral and political force to bring the system into existence-the credit of applying which is chiefly due to the Hon L. Ingalls, who from having taught school a num- ber of years in the large but not wealthy district of Factory street, saw the great inequality and rank injustice of the then existing condi- tions in the village, in the fact that the dis- trict with the least population, embraced more assessable property than the other two, each of which was much more populous than the wealthy one. To overcome this injustice he conceived the idea of consolidating the three districts into one

A few years prior to the act of incorporation in 1865, the question was locally considered and discussed in the newspapers and at large village meetings, and a large majority of the people favored the plan. A bill was prepared and sent to Albany which passed the Assembly but was defeated in the Senate, through the influence of our then Senator, Hon. Alanson Skinner, of Brownville, who was then Presi- dent of the Jefferson County Bank, which was located in a small but wealthy

district.

But

the

election

new

senator brought about more favorable conditions at Albany, and the subject was again revived; John Felt, Jr., then a teacher in the city, joining Mr. Ingalls in a new effort, which secured the passage of a bill establishing the graded system.

The act, passed April 21, 1865, authorized the then village of Watertown to elect 9 school commissioners, and also authorized the trus- tees of the Jefferson County Institute, so long as the Institute building should be leased or transferred by proper conveyance to the village of Watertown for school purposes, to designate two members additional, who to- gether should constitute the Board of Educa- tion for the management of the public schools of Watertown.

The first regular meeting of this board met June 12, 1865, and was composed of the following named gentlemen: Dr. W. V. V. Rosa, Rev. Theo. Babcock, Lotus Ingalls, L. F. Lyttle, Delano C. Calvin, Rev. J. W. Arm- strong, Solon B. Hart and Chas. A. Sherman.

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CITY OF WATERTOWN.

Lotus Ingalls was made temporary chairman, and L. F. Lyttle, clerk pro tem. Rev. Theo. Babcock was elected president of the Board.

A committee was appointed to confer with the trustees of the Jefferson County Institute in regard to leasing their building for a High School. This committee reported that the terms of the lease of the Jefferson County Institute by its trustees were satisfactory, and John C. Sterling and Milton H. Merwin were chosen as the two additional members of the board.

At the regular meeting July 26, 1865, John Felt, Jr., was elected as the first superinten- dent and clerk of the board.

Subsequently a set of by-laws and course of study for the High School were adopted, and Wm. Reed, Jr. was appointed as its first principal, with 2 assistants, Miss M. Annie Allen and Miss Emily M. Griswold. Later Mrs. A. B. Mosier was appointed to teach German.

Wm. G. Williams was appointed principal of the Arsenal street school, including the first 9 grades, with 6 assistants. Miss S. Augusta Strong was appointed principal of the Lamon street school, with 5 assistants; Miss Mary E. Walling principal of the Sterling street school with one assistant; Miss Emma M. Gurney was placed in charge of a. small primary school on Massey street and Miss R. A. Yendes a similar one on Sherman street. There was a small school on Academy street and a mixed school of several grades with 2 teachers on Boon street-24 in all. This constituted the teaching force of the public schools of the village of Watertown in 1865, at the beginning of the new system.

There were registered this year in all the schools, 1287 pupils. The schools of North Watertown were not included in this estimate, as they were not under control of the Board of Education until the incorporation of the city in 1869.

The only school buildings of any preten- tions at that time was the Jefferson County Institute. The Arsenal street and Lamon street school buildings were then about half their present capacity. Besides these there were the one story brick structure on corner of Jay and Sterling streets, now used for church purposes; a small frame building of one story on Sherman street formerly used as the session house of the First Presbyterian Church; the little old red school house on Massey street, and the small building on Boon street, used jointly for school and church purposes. The board purchased the old stone academy building on Academy street afterwards.

In 1869, by act of incorporation, Watertown became a city, and the jurisdiction of the Board of Education was considerably enlarged by adding the schools of North Watertown.

The principals of the High School since the organization of the present system have been as follows: Wm. Reed, Jr., 1865; M. M. Merrill, 1866-67; Edwin P. Nichols, 1868; Geo. B. Manly 1869; Hannibal Smith, 1870-74; W. K. Wicks, 1874-89; H. M. Nill, 1889; F. D. Shaver, 1890-91; Jas. G. Riggs, 1892; T. F. Kane, 1893; Eugene W. Lyttle, 1894.

The following gentlemen have served as presidents of the Board of Education: Rev. Theo. Babcock, Allen C. Beach, Theo. Bab- cock, Beman Brockway, Wm. W. Taggart, John Lansing, Wm. W. Taggart, Edmund Q. Sewall, Hannibal Smith, John Lansing, A. H. Sawyer, T. C. Chittenden, Dr. C. M. Rex- ford, Henry Purcell.

The present (1894) Board of Education con- sists of the following named gentlemen: Henry Purcell, President; S. T. Woolworth, Geo. S. Hooker, Geo. Adams, Chas. E. Hol- brook, Henry D. Goodale, Geo. A. Lance, Louis C. Greenleaf, Wm. D. Hanchett, elected members, and Jno. C. Knowlton and Dr. C. M. Rexford appointed by. the trustees of the Jefferson County Institute; Wm. G. Williams superintendent and clerk. The course of study, from the primary to graduation at the High School, extends over a term of 12 years, 4 years primary, 4 grammar and 4 High School grades.

There are now employed 10 teachers at the High school, Prof. E. W. Lyttle, principal.

Principals.

11 at the Academy St. school, Miss M. E. Pool. 11 Lamon " M. M. Phelps.

10 « Arsenal 66 Mrs. S. A. Mundy.

66 Mullin " Wm. G. Williams.

Cooper 66

66 Miss Della V Smith.

00 Boon 66

66 " M. D. Connor

34 .6 Mead " Norah Pearsall.

¥ 3 . . Pearl Mrs. M. E. Turner.

3 " " Night school U. C. Walker.

Mrs. A. E Woolley special teacher of Drawing. Thomas Powers " Writing.

The present (1894) attendance at all the schools, including night schools, amounts to 2900 scholars. A very large attendance for a total population of 20,000. It may be justly concluded that the public school system of Watertown is well organized with an efficient corps of able teachers.

THE CAVERNS ON BLACK RIVER.

These are well described by Mr. Wm. Fayel. He says that about 1852 or 1852, Dr. Frank- lin B. Hough commenced gathering material for his History of Jefferson County. He was calculated from qualifications and industry to perform such a work, and it is now a source of great satisfaction that he did it at a time when so many of the old pioneers and actors were still on the stage. In order to get accurate in- formation, I spent a week with him in explor- ing the caverns of Jefferson county. We ex- plored the cave at Watertown (at one time I think called Bonaparte's cave, from a visit to it by Joseph Bonaparte,) and also the caverns at Brownville and Dexter. The Watertown cave we found very much contracted in area, - from the exaggerated reports of its extent, and we took the unnecessary precaution of unrol- ling a ball of twine as we progressed, in order to find our way back to the entrance. There were few stalactites, they mostly having been broken off and removed, but in one apartment there was a tabular block, white as the purest alabaster, on which was set a profusion of little wine-shaped cups, fashioned by the drip- pings from above and filled with limpid

208

THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

water, pure as nectar, fit drink for the gods. Dr. Hough gathered up a quantity of what he called "agaria mineral," a substance resem- bling the white, crumbling cheese made from loppered milk.

The cavern at Brownville is in the southern bluff of Black River, a mile and one half above the village, and seemed little known to the inhabitants in the vicinity. The remark- able feature of this cave is the series of par- allel avenues large enough to drive a horse and buggy through them, and these are crossed at right angles by other avenues like the streets of a city. The cave at Dexter is but a narrow gorge in the rocks, partially open to the sky and roofed with large frag- ments of broken strata. I contributed to the Journal two or three separate articles respect- ing these caves, referring to the object in ex- ploring them, and Dr. Hough said the refer- ence to him materially assisted him among the people in prosecuting his researches. Hough's sketch of the caves in his book was very brief. I was with him when he wrote it. He spent on the description about half an hour, which cost us three separate days to obtain.

ANCIENT LACONIA.

But to come to matters above ground, in which the historian is more particularly inter- ested. Portions of the present territory of Jefferson county have been camping grounds of Jesuit missionaries and of war expeditions under Champlain, Frontenac, De La Barre, and others, of which few memorials remain, as their occupation was but transient. Such facts which have been preserved belong to the history in common of that section of the country, and may be found in the Document- ary History of New York and other like publi- cations. In reverting to this period, that of the early French and Indian wars and that in which the great English grants were made, Jefferson county (then a territory) was once a part and included in the province of Laconia by virtue of the grant made in 1629 by the Plymouth Company to Sir Ferdinand George and Captain John Mason. The grant em- braced all the vast tract of land between Lakes Champlain and George and the centre of Lake Ontario. The grant actually raked in Jefferson county, and took it in on the same principle that Massachusetts and Con- necticut were granted western limits to the Pacific seas. The Laconia grant was suffered to lie dormant on account of the continued wars between the French, English and Dutch, the latter being then in possession of the east- ern portion of New York. Long preceding the advent of Europeans, a people existed of whom we know very little. In the western country they erected mounds, but in the east they built earthworks, of which traces remain in Jefferson county.

BROOKSIDE CEMETERY.

Nothing so quickly indicates the status of any civilization as the care manifested for its dead. The most enduring monuments of

Egypt and Assyria are those erected to com- memorate their illustrious dead, and to deco- rate their final resting places. Even the pyramids are supposed to mark the spot where some great king lies buried. Em- balmed bodies that are over three thousand years old can be found along the Lower Nile, buried in excavations in the solid rock-the work of a people whose learning and love of art speak from these very tombs. The proudest monuments at Rome are the re- mains of a splendid edifice erected by a loving husband to commemorate the virtues of his young wife. The refinement and cul- ture of these ancient peoples have left their best and most enduring evidences in the monuments and mausoleums which loving hands have erected over graves that may not even bear a name; but, though nameless, these tombs serve perhaps a higher purpose still, in telling posterity of the enlightenment and learning of the era in which they were constructed,

And this criterion holds good to-day, as it has held good through thousands of years. Name the most cultivated and Christian city in America and you may he sure that it can show a noble place of sepulchre, where sympathetic hearts may pour out their love for kindred, amidst monuments that dignify and ennoble grief.

Brooklyn has its Greenwood, the boast of all its citizens. Philadelphia has its Laurel Hill, where rest so many whose illustrious names add to the glories of our national achievements in arms and science and states- manship. Nor is this sentiment lacking in the South. The city of Savannah, in its Buena Ventura, shows a cemetery that is a source of pride to all its people, possessing a weird beauty where glistening marble shines amid a wealth of live oaks entwined with festooned and clinging mosses, a sight not to be witnessed in any other part of the world.

Judged by this somewhat severe standard, the people of Watertown seem to take high rank in the scale of civilizing influences, for competent judges who have seen nearly all the leading cemeteries in the United States, unhesitatingly say that for natural beauty none are superior to and but few the equal of Brookside. The monuments there, too, are very much above the average in beauty and solidity of construction, as well as in the taste shown in the selection of their sites.

ITS HISTORY.

The Watertown Cemetery Association be- came incorporated under the general ceme- tery act of the Legislature, passed April 27, 1847, and the first meeting for organization was held at Perkins' hotel, September 1, 1853, Joseph Mullin, being chairman, and Robert Lansing, the Secretary. Nine trustees were agreed upon, and the following were unani- mously elected: Talcott H. Camp, Hiram Holcomb, Frederick W. Hubbard, James K. Bates, Francis H. Gregory, Willard Ives, Daniel W. Rickerson, Joseph Mullin and Thomas Baker. Only two of these are now

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 46

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823- Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094