History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 32

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During this time there have been associated with me, in the work of instruc- tion, seventy-two teachers, fourteen in the classical and higher English, ten in the modern languages, and thirty-nine in the English department. The number of students in attendance, taking the sum of the yearly rolls, during those twenty- three years, is four thousand two hundred and one, and the whole number since 1837, the time of my first acquaintance with the academy, is seven thousand five hundred and seventy-five.

The average attendance during the last twelve years of Mr. Howe's adminis- tration was two hundred and twenty-four; during the four years of Mr. Willson's was one hundred and seventy-one, and during the term of my service is one hun- dred and eighty-three. The largest attendance during Mr. Howe's time was three hundred and twenty in 1838, in Mr. Willson's was one hundred and ninety in 1850; in mine, was two hundred and sixty-two in 1866. Of those four thou- sand two hundred and one students above referred to, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-nine were from abroad, and of the whole seven thousand five hundred and seventy-five since 1837, three thousand five hundred and ninety-four, or forty-six per cent. of the whole, were from out of town. Hence, it appears that the academy has had a large support from those outside our village and town, from all sections of the country, especially from the great West.

In these twenty-three years two hundred and fifteen young men, or about ten a year, have gone from the academy to college, or to higher professional schools, and of most of them it can be said that they have reflected great credit upon the academy in which their preparatory studies were pursued. Adding to the seven thousand five hundred and seventy-five, the whole number above men- tioned, one thousand four hundred and forty, about the number in attendance during the first nine years of Mr. Howe's service, makes a total of nine thousand and fifteen. I have no means of knowing the number of pupils during the preceding thirty-three years of the academy, but it would be safe to say that it could not have been less than two thousand; so that without doubt, if the records of the academy could all be restored, there would be found upon them as yearly totals the names of over eleven thousand pupils, making probably more than seven thousand different individuals, of whom more than five hundred have gone from the academy to college, or to higher professional schools.

In closing this recital of facts we are justified in the inquiry, After this eighty

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PLATE XXI.

DAVID Caooza, the father of David K., Whose portrait appears here, wa a native of Blanford, Massachusetts, from which place be emigrated to western New York. His first visit to Richmond oo- OurTed in 1799, while returning from a prospecting tour through Ohio. He reached the valley of the Honsore in the midst of one of those besattfal Indian Summers which need no uniformly to prova !! throughout this section during the late sutama months, and which rendered the country delightful beyond measure by lighting up the dense forests, in valley and upon hill-top, with hues es bright and varied as over fall upon the vision of man. His dreams of a home in Oblo at once vanished, and he fimmediately purchased the farze now owned by the Wright heirs at Richmond Centre, and long known as the " Dencon Gilbert pisos." He settled there in February of the fol- lewing year, and upon the 3d day of the next September was born the subject of this sketch,-at present the oldest native-born citissa of the township.

After living upon this place for several years, the father sold to Descon Etas Gilbert, and parchased of Judge Oliver Phelps & grist- and & now-taill erected by him upon Mill creek, and seven hundred acres of land lying adjecent. Here the son learned something of milling as well as farming, and remembers well, at this late day, not only of bestowing upon the Indians for their porridge the daily sweepings of the mill, but recalle holding the trees, when a mere lad, while setting out the orchard yet standing onst of the residence of Mr. Myron Blackmore. His school days, which were somewhat limited, were presed in a log school-house opposite the Deania Pen- sell residence, and at a select school taught in the basement of his father's house.

At the age of twelve, his father died ia consequence of an injury received at the grist-mill, and four years later, through an imper- thet titis, the farm and milla became the property of strangers. Daring these great calamities the sterling worth of the mother became manifest. With the firmness and decision of her great uncle, General Kaoz, she kept the family together antil, with characters well forased under Some infnences, they catered earnestly nad suo- cessfully upon the battle of 1Lfo.

Is 1828, Mr. Crooks married the eldest daughter of John Abbey,

DAVID & CROOKS.

Enq., an early pioneer; and in 1829, having somewhat receperated his fortune, be purchased and settled upon a farm in Oakland county, Michigan. In consequence of the unhealthfulnem of the climate his stay there was brief, and he returned to his native township, purchasing the farm now owned by Mr. John Abbey, and known as the Lemuel Hassa pisos, and three years subsequently buying of his father-in-law one hundred sod forty seres more, upon which he now resides. He made these parobases largely on credit, and at high prices for the times, and although the energy and economy of his wife nad himself are proverbial, he did not complete bis pay- ments and erect the house in which he now lives until the year 1850. Yet, notwithstanding a score of years peseed in the barsering grasp of debt, he and his faithful companion, in the decline of life, have al- ready been blessed with a longer period of peace and quiet "under their own vine and fig-tree."

His life has been a long, sotive, and blamelem one, in which the " golden rule" has been the guiding principle. With his neighbors he has always lived in harmony, never having been known to differ seriously with any ; still his strength of will, physical and moral courage, and persistence of purpose are quite remarkable. As an early illustration of these peculiarities, when but a boy thirteen years of age, and unaccompanied by any one, he drew from Reed's Mill in Richmond, with a sleigh and double ox-team, seventeen bar- role of four to the United States army in camp at Buffalo; and upon his return loaded with munitions of war for the arsenal at Batavia! In politics, although an ardent Democrat, and having voted that ticket for over half a century, he has bad but little to do with office, and with office-seeking nothing, as this be has over most heartily despised. During the Rebellion he was s war-Democrat, and halled with joy the restoration of that Union for which his ancestors fought. In the church to which he belongs (Protestant Episcopal) he is an earnest and consistent member, always giving liberally to advance the cause of his Master. He is still bale and hearty, quite six feet in height, and as erect as a youth of twenty ; Hving quietly, yet industriously, beside his two sons (who are his only offspring), patiently awaiting that sammons which comes sooner or later to

RES. OF DAVID K. CROOKS, TOWN OF RICHMOND, ONTARIO CO., N. Y.

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PLATE XXII.

SHOTWELL POWELL.

MRS. SHOTWELL POWELL.

SHOTWELL POWELL, son of James and Martha Powell, was born in Clinton, Dutchees county, New York, October 2, 1808. He spent some time with his uncle, H. Townsend, in New Jersey, and at the age of fifteen years returned and lived with his mother. He made good use, of the district school, and was soon qualified for teaching. He actively engaged in agricultural pursuits during the summer, and spent the winter in teaching school. In 1832 he went to Michigan, then a territory, and purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land for the small sum of four hundred dollars, lying adjacent to the village of Adrian. In consequence of ague he removed to Dutchess county, and purchased sixty acres at thirty dollars per acre, and in 1844 sold the same for three thousand dollars, and came west and located in South Bristol. When in Canandaigua, en route to Bristol, he was told that he "ought to be ashamed of himself to go there, as they could raise nothing but a little spring wheat." But thirty years has demon- strated the fallacy of that remark, as Mr. Powell's threshing bill last year amounted to one hundred and twenty dollars.

Mr. Powell was educated to believe slavery the sum of all villainies, war but blindfold mutual butcheries, intemperance a crime, and the legalized rum traffic

the curse of all curses, and capital punishment judicial murder. He has occupied many official positions, and among them that of member of the legislature of this State. While in the legislature he was active in the performance of his duty, and introduced bills to prevent slave-hunting ; also for the repeal of capital pun- ishment, and various others. He opposed the corruptions of the legislature in city railroads, ferry bills, and other schemes for plunder. He was a member of the Whig party, and subsequently became a Republican, and remained with that organization until it became an ally of the rum power, when he abandoned it, and espoused the prohibition cause, and became an active member of that party. He has successively received from the Prohibition party the nomination for member of assembly, senator, and canal commissioner. Mr. Powell has a home in Vir- ginia, where he spends the inclement season of the year. He was married to Sarah G. Clapp in 1835. Their eldest son, T. J. Powell, was born in 1837, and has invented several important improvements for unloading hay. I. M. Powell was born in 1839, and is the occupant and owner of the farm and a practical agriculturist. Their daughter, born in 1841, is the wife of William E. Lincoln, also a successful farmer.

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

years of service, what has Canandaigua Academy accomplished ? I have already referred to the number of pupils who have been taught here, and I believe I can say, without fear of contradiction, that the academy has maintained a reputation for sound and substantial instruction in contradistinction to that which is super- ficial and showy ; thoroughness in all the departments of an English and classical course of study has been secured, though with how much labor none but a teacher can have any adequate conception. The tendency of the times (and it has been increasing of late) is to haste and unsoundness in school-work. The times are fast, and boys must be ready for business at twelve or fourteen; hence, time is too valuable to be spent in school, and consequently many of its better schools, in- cluding even the high schools of the cities, are made up in their higher grades of men-children; hence the multiplication of simple text-books, keys, and translations to make the road short and easy: and to hold a steady hand against this tide of popular feeling has been no easy task.

The education of the day has been fast becoming showy and demonstrative in its character. Exhibitions, parades, class-excursions to watering-places and to Europe, class-suppers, and expensive social organizations, including ball- and boat- ing clubs, and the like, make up considerable of the work of many of our schools. Extravagance of outfit in buildings, apparatus, and furniture, with all the para- phernalia which looks to a grand show, makes no small part of the educational policy of the day. The same spirit shows itself, though not in so marked a degree, in our religious work. The churches are working very much by conventions, by mammoth ses-side and lake gatherings, where, amid display and show, with music and banners, demonstrations are made in behalf of the Most High. I would not wholly condemn these things, but so far as they divert the mind from earnest individual and personal work they are an evil which ought to be expurgated from our religious and educational systems. In this respect our academy has been truly conservative, and nothing has been allowed to interfere with its proper and legitimate work, and there is no one thing which to-day affords the friends of the institution more profound satisfaction than this feature of our academic labor.

The academy has ever been . patriotic institution. Its very foundations were laid in a patriotic devotion to the new government, whose origin was coeval with its own, and a special provision was made for promoting in the minds of the youth to be educated here an ardent attachment to national liberty and the just rights of man; and nobly has it ever responded to the spirit of these provisions. When the great rebellion of 1861 broke out,. the academy was first and foremost among the schools of the State in a voluntary service to support the flag and to preserve the integrity of the government. The young men gathered here at that time were stirred with patriotic impulses, and it was not in my heart to forbid ·them. I readily yielded to their desire to enter the service, and so many left school for that purpose that during a portion of one year it had scarcely any young men left. Teachers and scholars went together, and one class which I had formed with great satisfaction went bodily, and left but a single member, and he remained only because he was too young to enlist. During the years 1862 and 1863 the number of pupils was considerably lessened by the war, but in 1864 the number was greatly increased, and in 1866 we were overwhelmed with pupils so that we had not sufficient place for them. Two of our teachers that year, Major C. S. Aldrich and Lieutenant E. C. Clarke, and twenty-three pupils, were returned sol- diers. In our annual catalogue of 1864 there was published a "roll of honor" containing the names of one hundred and twenty-five who had gone into the ser- vice and who had been students in the academy during my administration, or the ten years previous, which list did not probably include more than half of the actual number, or the names of any who had been students previous to 1853, who are reckoned by hundreds, and who poured out their blood like water upon nearly every battle-field of the war. Among those who fell in that conflict we recall the names of Henry Willson, Captain Charles Wheeler, Sergeant Augustus T. Wilder, one of our teachers, Edward Chipman, Captain Herendeen, Frederic Jeffrey, James and Greig Mulligan, and many others who gave promise of eminent usefulness, and whose deaths show to us the cost of that sacrifice by which we preserve our national life.

In pursuance of a resolution offered in the University Convocation, which meets annually in Albany, by General Prosper M. Wetmore, of New York, a committee was appointed to secure from the colleges and academies of the State the names and a brief history of those who had gone into the service from their institutions. As one of that committee I undertook the gathering of such a history of our students; and, although it is not yet completed, I have done considerable in collect- ing brief records of their military life, a labor in which I have taken a great though a sad pleasure. I have in this record one hundred and thirty-seven names, and I design to extend it so as to embrace the names of all who represented us in the army during the war.

Another feature of our academic labor which should be mentioned, is its normal labor in the education of teachers. The preparation of teachers for our common

schools has for many years engaged the attention of the leading educators of the State and country, and more than forty years ago special provision was made by the Legislature of this State for this purpose. The academy was among the first eight selected for this work, and the appointment has been renewed almost with- out interruption till the present time. In the catalogue of 1848, the principal, Mr. Howe, reported that " a teachers' class was first organized in the academy in 1830, and that since that time five hundred young men have entered that depart- ment." And in the twenty-three years of my service here as principal more than four hundred more have been members of the teachers' class; so that during the forty years of the working of this department more than a thousand young men have been aided in their preparation for the teachers' work.

It is proper to allude to what it has done in the matter of gratuitous instruction. As has been stated, it was in the original plan of the academy that provision should be made for aiding meritorious young men or lads who, by reason of pov- erty, were hindered from pursuing such a course of study as they would be glad to do, and hence the academy has always granted her tuition to such as seem to need it and were worthy of it. During the twenty-three years of my service as principal a considerable number each year have thus been aided, many of whom have been the sons of poor but patriotic men who fell or were broken down in health in the conflict of the great rebellion.

It would not be inappropriate to close this brief sketch of the academy by a reference to some of those teachers who are best remembered, and those students who subsequently achieved a fair renown in some field of human labor. Among the former, in addition to those already referred to, may be mentioned Mr. Mar- cius Willson, who, as principal, succeeded Mr. Howe in 1849. He entered the academy in 1830 as a student, prepared for Union College, at which he gradu- sted, and afterwards taught in New York and New Jersey before he assumed the charge of the academy. He was very successful as a teacher, a man of great cul- ture and of ripe scholarship, the author of " Willson's Histories" and " Willson's Readers," the most beautifully illustrated books of the kind that have probably ever been published in this country, and from the sale of which he is receiving a handsome income.

His present residence is at Vineland, New Jersey, upon a plantation devoted to fruit-culture, for which he has great taste, and in the management of which, and in literary labors, he finds his time occupied.

Among other classical teachers may be . mentioned Alvan Lothrop, John M. Greene, now pastor of a Congregational church at Lowell, Massachusetts; A. S. Zeike, late pastor of St. Peter's church, of Rochester; assistant principal Wm. M. M'Laughlin, since principal of the Mexico Academy, and at present principal of an academy in Connecticut; Mr. Chas. S. Halsey, now principal of the High School at Schenectady, New York.

Of the teachers in the mathematics and the natural sciences, H. N. Robinson, the author of Robinson's mathematical works, is best remembered by students thirty or forty years ago. Later, Moses H. Wells, now a pastor of a Congre- gational church in New Hampshire, was very much beloved as a teacher and as & man.

Among those whose names are cherished with great affection as teachers in the intermediate department since my own connection with the academy are Frederic S. Jewell, Daniel L. Kiehle, the former of whom is a clergyman of the Episcopal church, and the latter of the Presbyterian church, in Wisconsin, Major C. S. Aldrich, now a merchant of Bloomington, Illinois, Lieutenant E. C. Clarke, now of Naples, New York, and Frank H. Wisewell, now secretary of the New York department of Missions of the American Sunday-School Union.

Of students, I have already mentioned Marcius Willson, who entered the academy November 15, 1830, and remained there until he completed his pre- paratory studies to college.

A few days later, Stephen A. Douglas, from Brandon, Vermont, at the age of seventeen, became a student, and remained until the last of December, 1832, or about two years. Mrs. Douglas, the mother of Stephen, was a widow, and married a Mr. Granger, of Manchester, in this county, and hence made that her future home, bringing her son and daughter, afterwards Mrs. Julius N. Granger, with her. The record shows Douglas to have studied, in the two years he was in the academy, Latin grammar, Latin reader, Latin tutor, ten books of Virgil, Greek grammar, Greek reader, six Cicero's orations, algebra, etc. After lesv- ing the academy he entered the law-office of Walter Hubbell, Esq., where he re- mained until June, 1833, when (I copy from a letter of his to his former teacher, Mr. Howe, dated Jacksonville, Illinois, January 14, 1836) "I left for Cleve- land, where a few weeks after I was taken sick with bilious fever, and was con- fined to my bed until some time in October, when I took a boat to Cincinnati, thence to Louisville, St. Louis, and to this place, where I have since remained. Upon my arrival here I was reduced in funds to less than five dollars, and was under the necessity of teaching a common school for one quarter, at the expiration

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

of which time I obtained a license to practice law, and opened my office in March, 1834. I pursued my profession with sufficient success to yield me a handsome support until February, 1835, when I was elected by the State Legislature to the office of State's Attorney, which station I now occupy." With Mr. Douglas' sub- sequent history all are familiar, as he rose to a commanding position among his fellow-men, being the recognized leader of the Democratic party of the country for many years, and the candidate of that party for the presidency in 1860. Mr. Douglas as a student was earnest, industrious, and thorough ; more distinguished as a debater, however, than a scholar; and in the struggles of his early manhood furnishes a fair picture of the means by which, and through which, young men of purpose and ability rise to distinction and honor. As classmates of Mr. Doug- las may be mentioned Elbridge G. Lapham, of Farmington, who afterwards became a distinguished lawyer, and is now the representative in Congress, and Rollin Germain, afterwards a lawyer of distinction at Black Rock. These were students in the old building. Among those a little later were Gideon Granger and George Willson, the former a graduate of Yale, and the latter of Union, whose deaths in early manhood were felt in the community as an affliction of un- usual severity. Of the same time may be mentioned James Rankine, now Rev. James Rankine, D.D., formerly president of Hobart College, and now rector of the Memorial church of Seneca; Edmund B. Hunt, afterwards Lieutenant Hunt, of the government service, and a prominent member of the Coast Survey Corps. In later times still, and since my connection with the academy, may be mentioned Benjamin T. Gue, of Farmington, since lieutenant-governor of Iowa; William W. Howe, son of Mr. Henry Howe, since a member of the Supreme Bench of Mis- souri, and now a prominent lawyer in New Orleans; D. Fernand Henry, now City Engineer of Detroit, who is favorably known both at home and abroad as the inventor of an apparatus for determining the amount of water discharged by rivers, etc .; Charles E. Cheney, since the assistant bishop of the Reformed Epis- copal church; George A. Forsyth, who, during the late war, as also subsequently among the Indians, was a member of General Sheridan's staff, and who was an apt disciple of his master in all that relates to dashing and brilliant warfare. But this list will increase by hundreds if I repeat the names of but a tithe of those who have been found among the eminent and noble men of many a community in our broad land, or who are just coming into the activities of young manhood with the brightest promise for the future. It will belong to some future historian to write up the records of the academy in these later years, and with such an one I am content to leave it.

CHAPTER XXX.

ONTARIO IN THE WAR FOR THE UNION.

WHEN the tidings of Fort Sumter's fall came flashing along the telegraph wires, and, close following, the call by President Lincoln for men to put down organized rebellion, the pariotic spirit of old Ontario was most thoroughly aroused. Feeling was deep, intense, and painful; then it found vent, not alone in Canan- daigua and Geneva, but in every village and town in the county. Thousands of dollars were subscribed as a volunteer fund. A splendid banner was prepared by the ladies of Canandaigua for the Ontario regiment. Flags were everywhere thrown to the breeze. The young men formed in companies, martial bands paraded the streets, and the din of preparation everywhere resounded. The his- tory of events in Ontario would fill volumes-the heroism of the soldiers, the lib- erality of the citizens, and the noble efforts early instituted of the " Ladies' Army Hospital Aid Society" and kindred organizations. To furnish supplies for the sick and wounded there was no effort neglected, no sacrifice not cheerfully made; and whether on the field of battle contending with the enemies of the country, or at home awaiting with untold anxiety the dread report of mighty battles, the pulse of this noble old county has always beat time to the music of the Union. Within a brief interval companies of volunteers had been recruited, officered, and placed at the service of the government. War was the all-absorbing topic, and the feel- ings there and then aroused never found rest till, with joy too deep for expression, the tidings came of Lee surrendered and the Union saved. Limited in space, but brief record can here be given of the soldiers of Ontario; but so far as possible the various organizations shall have fitting mention, and this in extent according to the numbers from this county.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 32

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 391

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 391