USA > New York > Yates County > History of Yates County, N.Y. : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of the prominent men and pioneers > Part 20
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Till the establishment of the Democratic Whig in 1837, by William Child, the Democrat had the field largely to itself. Its chief competi- tor had been the Yates County Republican, established by E. J. Fowle in 1824 and continued for ten years. In 1834 John Remmich bought it, changed its name to the Enquirer, and two years later it quietly died and was forgotten. The Republican, however, in Mr. Fowle's palmy days, was a good and substantial country weekly. It perhaps would not seem so now, for there were but five columns of reading mat- ter on each of its four pages, and these columns were largely filled with
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advertising matter. But sixty years ago publishing a country paper was a tiresome and expensive business. The cost of the white news paper on which it was printed was about four times what it is at present. All or nearly all news paper was then made of rags and cost more to manufacture than the better grades of correspondence paper now do. Everyone knows, too, that in those days there were no power or cylin- der presses in country newspaper offices. The old "Washington" press, worked by hand lever, was the only kind in use.
The year 1833 was a prolific one in the newspaper world of Yates County. A man named Gilbert started a periodical called the Western Star and Thomas H. Bassett established another, the Miscellany. Four newspapers in the Penn Yan of that day must have rendered the profit of each rather precarious; at all events three of them shortly died, and it was not till 1837 that a printer was found of sufficient temerity to establish a successor.
In that year was begun the publication of the newspaper which, take one thing with another, has been the most prosperous, best known, and widely read of all that have been produced in Penn Yan. William Child was the printer and the Democratic Whig was the newspaper. In 1839 it passed into the control of Nicholas B. Suydam and for six years he was its publisher. Then, in 1845, Rodney L. Adams assumed control. He made the newspaper a force in the political world and in 1852 sold it to Cleveland & Look. Four years later Mr. Look retired and Stafford C. Cleveland assumed entire control. Of all the printers who have graced Yates County with their presence he was easily cory - pheus. Of large statue and intelligent appearance Mr. Cleveland com . bined great strength of mind with an independent character, and soon won the respect and confidence of the people. His newspaper was changed in name upon his accession and became the Yates County Chronicle, a title it still retains. In 1881 Mr. Cleveland retired from the editorial position he had so long occupied and since that time the Chronicle has had two or three editors. Malcolm D. Mix was man - ager till 1883. Then Steven B. Ayres was editor till 1886. Samuel P. Burrill next filled the editorial seat till 1889. At that time the present proprietor, De Witt C. Ayres, purchased the newspaper, assumed its management, and has evidently settled down in the sanctum for a life-
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
long occupation. At present the Chronicle is the most widely circu- lated newspaper in the county and deserves the prosperity that attends it.
In 1844 Henry L. Winants began the publication of a journal called the Democratic Organ. After two years of effort the task of making it thrive was abandoned. Not disheartened by this failure Rodney L. Adams started a daily called the Telegraph, and while its publication was continued longer than might have been expected it succumbed in six months. This failure stopped the publication of new journals in Penn Yan for twenty years.
But meanwhile Dundee, the second village of the county, had an at- tack of the newspaper fever, and under the guidance of Gifford J. Booth the Record was first printed in 1844. This little newspaper has had a checkered career. In 1847 it was published by a man named Hoagland; then it passed into the control of John Diefendorf. Next, in 1857, it was owned by D. S. Bruner and then was edited by James Westcott. After his death the Record came near extinction, but was finally revived by two nephews of Mr. Westcott, sold by them to a syn- dicate of Democratic politicians, and finally in 1890 was bought by several influential prohibitionists and is now published as a temperance newspaper. Today it probably has a greater circulation than it ever before enjoyed. From the Record the name has been changed to the Home Advocate.
G D. A. Bridgman, who had sold the Democrat in 1865, began the next year the publication of the Penn Yan Express. In 1869 it was edited by Thomas Robinson. In 1870 Mr. Bridgman returned to the editorial chair and in 1872 the journal passed under the control of the present proprietor, Reuben A. Scofield. In his hands it has met with great success. The politics have been Republican, of which party Mr. Scofield is a zealous partisan. The newspaper has so prospered that today its circulation is second only to that of the Yates County Chronicle, and its owner has through it become well known throughout the county.
The only other newspaper deserving of extended notice is the Obser- ver, which is printed at Dundee. It was established in 1878 by Eugene Vreeland, its present proprietor. At first and till 1882 it was independ- ent in politics, but at that time it joined the Republican party and has ever
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since been an advocate of its doctrines. Its owner, Mr. Vreeland, is a young man of pleasing manners and some ability, and is well regarded by his neighbors and friends.
But of all the journals which have had their incipiency in our county the best known in other localities, the most unprofitable, and the short- est lived was the Penn Yan Mystery. It was a mystery indeed. For many years two writers, Leon and Harriet Lewis, had made Penn Yan their home. Their books, and those of Mrs. Lewis in particular, while not indicative of the highest creative power, still were readable and had great vogue among the class who perused with delight the old New York Ledger and kindred sheets. Mrs. Lewis died, and unsatisfied with his notoriety the survivor undertook the task of founding a weekly news- paper which should bring him fame and possibly fortune too. It was not an ill- advised scheme. A tremendous edition of the first number was sent out on January 4, 1879. It was read and liked. From New Hampshire to Alabama subscriptions and communications flowed in. Had the editor been a different man he might have succeeded. But as it was, discouraged by his financial condition or losing pluck, ere the second edition appeared he left Penn Yan between two days and has never returned.
A word should be said, in passing, with regard to the Vineyardist. This is a bi-weekly, began in 1887 by John H. Butler and Samuel P. Burrill as an exponent of the grape interests on Seneca and Keuka Lakes. Within its limited scope it does good work and is well thought of by its subscribers. Mr. Butler is now the sole proprietor.
The newspaper serves more than one purpose. Primarily it is to dis- seminate knowledge of the day's events, but in another way and as the record of times gone by and partially forgotten it is still more val- uable. Of all the sources whence the local historian draws his materials it is the best and fullest. Ten years or fifty years after being printed and cast aside it is some day resurrected from its resting place and shows as a faithful mirror the past that is gone forever. And, strange as it may seem, the parts least thought of by the average reader as he looks it over and grumbles, may be, at its brevity and lack of wit, have become the most interesting of all. The advertising with which the re- tailer has blazoned forth his trade is transmuted into the truest record of
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
the time. Here one may learn what once the people ate, what they wore, and with what they passed their leisure hours. Set forth in printed page is a record as to whether men drove in coach and four or ambled through the woods on horseback. Where they ground their grain, as to the wear of poplin and muslin and calico, as to what drugs they poisoned themselves with, and whether women decorated their back hair with silver combs-all here comes to light. The " notice " by which some farmer describes a runaway slave tells us that he owned one, and when another desires to hire laborers at $12 per month we are not at a loss in discovering the rate of wages. Thus, as in other lines of endeavor, the work that the printer does lives after him, re-awakening in after years a knowledge of events that else would be forgotten.
CHAPTER XV.
ORIGIN, GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS OF YATES COUNTY.1
" We live in an age of light and knowledge."
T HE rise and progress of the school system of the State of New York form an interesting chapter in its history. The wisdom of the fathers in laying broad and deep foundations in all that pertains to intellectual and moral culture is manifest in the school history of the Empire State. Thanks to a wise public policy the interests of the schools have not for a moment been lost sight of, but their value as an important factor in the development and perpetuity of our institutions have increased and grown just in proportion as the general public have been developed by culture and educational privileges.
The circumstances which have most influence in the happiness of mankind, the changes of manners and morals, the transition of commu- nities from poverty to wealth, from ignorance to knowledge,-these are
1 By Hon. George R. Cornwell, of Penn Yan.
TAGKOUMNI
George R.Comwell
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EDUCATIONAL INTERESTS.
for the most part noiseless revolutions. Their progress is rarely in- dicated by what historians are pleased to call important events. They are not achieved by armies nor enacted by the law-making powers; they are sanctioned by no treatise and recorded in no archives. They are carried on in every school, in every church, in every society for mu- tual benefit and improvement, and in every cultured and well ordered household.
In the study of the important events of the world's history the places where these events have culminated, or in which valorous deeds have been accomplished, are second in interest only to these events ; they " remain hallowed for all time." The student of history will search in vain for a more hallowed or sacred spot (except it may be the sanctuary or the home circle) than the school-room. "How beautiful and pleas- ant are thy memories !" The value of good schools cannot be over- estimated ; and it has been very truthfully said: "The public schools are the bulwarks of our institutions ; the palladium of our liberties." Right here let me say it is impossible to have good schools without faithful, conscientious, educated teachers. The public realize more and more the value of good instructors. The boy of today is the man of tomorrow. Time is more than money-absolute unrest is the order of the day. Our schools must keep pace with the general development of the times.
In the schools of the county of Yates there has been for more than eighty years a noiseless progression toward all that is good and high and noble in manhood, and in which ignorance has been supplanted by knowledge. The past ten years show a marked improvement over the twenty years preceding, and still the necessities and demands were never so great as now. This shows a healthful condition, and there is no question but that our schools will continue to grow better and better so long as there is desire.
It is the purpose of this chapter to give a general review of the school system of the State 'in connection with the public schools of the county of Yates, including a more detailed account of the several academies and institutions of learning in the several towns as well as a more par- ticular history of the schools of the village of Penn Yan. In the ac- count of the schools of the county at large this article must necessarily
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be brief, because data concerning them is meager and often unreliable. More attention, however, will be given to the principal institutions of learning as the information respecting them is better preserved and more readily procured. The facts recorded here are stated upon the authority of the State and county records, or, when because of the care- less manner in which many of these have been kept, or from the nature of the fact stated, nothing could be there found, the most authoritative attainable information has been sought. It is proper to state also that many facts here presented are from the pen of the late Hon. S. C. Cleveland, for many years the editor of the Yates County Chronicle and who was also publisher of a history of Yates County, and from other valuable records, the writer claiming no credit except as a compiler and gatherer of facts.
The common school system of the State of New York may be traced to a law passed by the legislature of 1812, which provided for the di- vision of the State into school districts. As early as 1795, however, Gov. George Clinton, in his message that year to the legislature, recom- mended to the people " the establishment of common schools through- out the State," and an annual appropriation of $50,000 for five years was made by the legislature of 1795 for the purpose of public instruc- tion. The enactments in relation to public instruction were revised and consolidated in the general law of 1864, which was several times amended until 1867, when the free school system of the State was fairly established. It may be proper to mention that in the early history of the schools of the State much inactivity was manifested, and in some quarters the movement was met with positive opposition.
In 1874 there were 11,299 school districts in the State and 18,605 teachers. In 1890 there were 11,675 school- houses in the State and 31,703 teachers employed. The value of school- houses and sites in this State in 1868 was $16,450,485. In 1874 it had advanced to $29,- 216,149 and in 1890 to $41,606,735. The total receipts for school purposes for the year ending July 25, 1890, were $20,473,660.92. The expenditures were a little less. State Superintendent of Public In- struction Andrew S. Draper, in his annual report to the legislature, ses- sion of 1892, says :
The total number of pupils in the schools during the past year was
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1,281,039. The whole number of teachers was 31,982. The amount of money paid them was $11,012,986.43. The average weekly wages of teachers in towns was $8.27, in cities $17.89. There are 12,072 school houses in the state, 45 of logs. The average cost of educating each child in the state at large has been $26 41. The cost to each in- dividual of the State was $2.66. The superintendent is of the opinion that the safety of the commonwealth depends upon the enactment of an effective compulsory education law. There are eleven normal schools in operation in the State, with a total expense last year of $227,686.81.
In 1890 there were in operation in the State eighteen colleges of arts and sciences for gentlemen, nine for ladies, and four for ladies and gen- tlemen, with a total attendance of 7,446 during the year. The total value of college property for arts and sciences was $8,485,868.45.
There are also within the bounds of the State five schools of law, sixteen schools of medicine, four schools of pharmacy, three polytech- nic schools, nine schools of theology, and eight schools of special de- partments. From the best obtainable information there are at present 8,500,000 children in the elementary schools of our country, 275,000 pupils in the secondary schools, and 60,000 students in the colleges. There can be no question but that our schools are assuming proportions to which they are entitled.
SCHOOLS OF YATES COUNTY.
The common schools of Yates County, including the higher academic institutions of learning, are among the very best of their class in the State. The school statistics show that Yates is not behind her sister counties in all that pertains to good schools. By the census of 1890 Yates County had a population of 21,001. By the School Commission- er's Report, dated June 30, 1891, there were in Yates County 5, 546 chil- dren between the ages of five and twenty one years; there were 127 teachers employed and 4, 12I scholars attending school during the year ending as above.
Number of volumes in school libraries, 3,715
Number of school-houses in Yates County, 108
Value of school libraries, exclusive of Penn Yan, . . $2,772 00
Value of school-houses and sites, $107,240 00
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
Assessed valuation of property in the school districts of Yates
County, . $11,702,733 00 There was expended for school purposes in Yates County dur-
ing the year ending July 25, 1891, $45,502 20
The State school tax paid by Yates County in 1890 was . $12,519 69
The common school fund received from the State by Yates County for 1890, exclusive of Regents' fund, was $17,III 12
In Yates County are 103 school districts and nine parts of districts, two union free school districts, and one school district organized by special act. The school districts are divided among the nine towns composing the county as follows : Barrington, 12; Benton, 12; Italy, II; Jerusalem, 19; Middlesex, 8; Milo, 12; Potter, 12; Starkey, II ; and Torrey, 6. The Penn Yan Union School District, organized by special act, is formed by a portion of the towns of Milo, Jerusalem, and Benton. There is one union free school district in the town of Potter. In the town of Starkey is Starkey Seminary, besides one preparatory school chartered by the Regents of the State University. Keuka Col- lege is located in the town of Jerusalem. The school-houses in Yates County are as a rule in first-class condition, with improved seats, and are furnished with all the appliances that are used in modern schools.
The Teachers Institute held regularly each year, together with the examinations held by the county commissioners under the rules of the Board of Regents of the State, have done much for the improvement of the schools. Naturally the more prominent and better equipped of the schools in the county are the Penn Yan Academy, Keuka College, Star- key Seminary, and the schools located in the following places, viz. : Branchport, Dresden, Dundee, Italy Hollow, Benton Center, Potter Cen- ter, Barrington, Middlesex Center, and Rushville. Of some of these in- stitutions of learning a more particular mention will be made. Since 1859 the schools of each county in the State have been more particularly under the care and supervision of a county superintendent or, as other- wise called, school commissioner. The school commissioners of Yates County have been as follows : Henry A. Bruner, Schuyler Southerland, Bradford S. Wixom, Harlan P. Bush, George P. Lord, Joseph W. Brown, William F. Van Tuyl, James A. Thayer, and Llewellyn J. Barden, the present school commissioner. All of these have performed valiant and loyal service and have done much for the lasting good of the schools of the county.
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PENN YAN SCHOOLS.
PENN YAN SCHOOLS.
The Penn Yan Union School District was established by Chapter 715 of the laws of 1857. By said act the following named persons: Levi O. Dunning, Benedict W. Franklin, Ebenezer B. Jones, Jeremiah S. Jillett, Darius A. Ogden, Charles C. Sheppard, Martin Spencer, Daniel W. Streeter, and George Wagener, were constituted a corporation by the name of the " Board of Education for the Village of Penn Yan." The corporation, upon its organization April 30, 1857, took possession of the schools of the district, consisting of the Head street and Maiden lane school property. The erection of the Penn Yan Academy was soon after commenced and was completed during the summer of 1859, and opened the Ist of September of that year. Its first catalogue was issued in the spring of 1860. The institution is described in that year's catalogue as follows :
" The academy is located on Main street, near the center of the village, and has ample grounds, neatly graded and ornamented with shade trees. The building is a new brick edifice two stories high, ninety feet long, and sixty feet wide. It contains two large school-rooms, five recitation-rooms, a chapel, laboratory, library, and music- room. They are heated throughout by furnaces, thoroughly ventilated, and in the selection and arrangement of desks, seats, etc., every modern improvement has been carefully consulted. In its internal arrangement it is regarded as a model. The in- stitution is furnished with a superior set of philosophical and chemical apparatus, to which additions are constantly made as circumstances demand ; and by a full course of experiments and familiar lectures every facility is afforded for the prosecution of the natural sciences. A perfect skeleton, a complete set of charts, models, etc., furnish good advantages also for the study of physiology. The library, accessible to all stu- dents, is open every Friday afternoon. The department of music is under the care of an efficient and experienced teacher. Drawing, painting, declamations, and written exercises, private and public examinations will receive especial care and attention."
The academy building is now (1892) heated by steam, with more perfect ventilation, and many improvements have been added. The first officers of the Board of Education were: Ebenezer B. Jones, president ; Daniel W. Streeter, secretary ; Oliver Stark, treasurer ; Morris Earle, collector.
The first faculty of the Penn Yan Academy was Rev. Otis L. Gib- son, A.B., principal, professor of ancient language ; Richard Green, B.S., professor of natural sciences and mathematics; Sherman Morse, teacher in English branches; Miss Frances A. Sweet, preceptress, teacher of
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HISTORY OF YATES COUNTY.
modern language and belles-lettres; Miss Susan R. Gibson, assistant ; Miss Sophia Travis, Miss Jennie M. Gibson, teachers in junior depart- ment; Miss Harriet Hopkins, teacher of vocal and instrumental music ; Richard Green, librarian. The enrollment at the academy during the first year (1859-60) was 126 gentlemen and 167 ladies ; total, 293. The average enrollment at the academy during the past thirty years has varied somewhat, averaging about 360, and some years considerably higher.
The presidents of the Board of Education of the Penn Yan Union School District have been as follows: Ebenezer B. Jones, 1859-61 ; Charles C. Sheppard, 1861-63 ; Benedict W. Franklin, 1863-65 ; Charles C. Sheppard, 1865-73; Darius A. Ogden, 1873-76 ; Levi O. Dunning, 1876-77; Stafford C. Cleveland, 1877-80; Darius A. Ogden, 1880-89 ; Benjamin L. Hoyt, 1889-91 ; George R. Cornwell, 1891-92.
The following gentlemen have served as secretaries of the board : Daniel W. Streeter, 1859-60; Jeremiah S. Jillett, 1860-63 ; Lyman Munger, 1863-65; Jeremiah S. Jillett, 1865-66; Levi O. Dunning, 1866-73 ; John T. Knox, 1873-74 ; Benjamin L. Hoyt, 1874-77; George R. Youngs, 1877-80; Reuben A. Scofield, 1880-82; Fred S. Arm- strong, 1882-84 ; George R. Youngs, 1884-92.
Members of the Board of Education .-- Ebenezer B. Jones, 1857-73 ; Charles C. Shep- pard, 1857-74; Benedict W. Franklin, 1857-74; Darius A. Ogden, 1857-89; Levi O. Dunning, 1857-78; George Wagener, 1857, 1870, 1871, 1882; Jeremiah S. Jillett, 1857, 1872; Martin Spencer, 1857, 1860; Daniel W. Streeter, 1857, 1861; Lyman Munger, 1862, 1867 ; John H. Lapham, 1863, 1870; Seymour Tracey, 1869, 1872; William S. Briggs, 1870, 1874; John M. Latimer, 1873-76; John T. Knox, 1873-79; Stafford C. Cleveland, 1874-84 ; William B. Sheldon, 1874, 1875 ; Samuel S. Ellsworth, 1875-78; John C. Scheetz, 1877-80; John P. Plaisted, 1877-80 ; Reuben A. Scofield, 1880-89; Fred S. Armstrong, 1880-85; Morgan H. Smith, 1885-88.
The present members of the Board are: Benjamin L. Hoyt, 1871; George R. Corn- well, 1873 ; John S. Sheppard, 1876; George R. Youngs, 1877-80, 1882; Perley P. Curtis, 1880; John T. Andrews, 2d, 1884; Silas Kinne, 1888; Edson Potter, 1888; Steven B. Ayres, 1889.
Oficers of the Board, 1892 .- George R. Cornwell, president ; George R. Youngs, sec- retary ; Morris F. Sheppard, treasurer ; E. Lewis Jacobus, collector.
The following have been the principals of the Penn Yan Academy since the founding of that institution of learning : Rev. Otis L. Gibson, 1859-61 ; Willard P. Gibson, A.M., 1861-63 ; Winsor Scofield, A.M.,
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1863-66 ; Cicero M. Hutchins, A.M., 1866-68 ; Rufus S. Green, A.B., 1868-69; John T. Knox, A.M., 1869-70; Samuel D. Barr, A.M., 1870-72; Burr Lewis, A.B., 1872-73 ; Rodolphus C. Briggs, A.B., 1873- 75 ; Francis D. Hodgson, A.M., 1875-83 ; Henry White Callahan, A.M., 1883-90 ; F. Theodore Shultz, A.M., 1890.
Preceptresses .- Frances A. Sweet, 1859-60; Mary E. Clark, 1860-61; Susan R. Gib- son, 1861-64; Louise F. Dana, 1864-67 ; Louise M. Randle, 1867-76; Helen M. Stark, Emma H. Murphey, 1876-79 ; Edith Van Dusen, 1879-80 ; Margaret A. Emerson, 1880- 87 ; Louise J. Starkweather, 1887-91; Estella Mullholland, 1891.
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