USA > New York > Oneida County > Kirkland > History of the town of Kirkland, New York > Part 11
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As Harvard College was nourished and strengthened in its infancy by the labors and sacrifices of benevolent men, so the history of Clinton Liberal Institute, like that of many other literary institutions whose beginnings were small and when money was scarce, is the history of a struggle. It is well understood and acknowledged that . Rev. Stephen R. Smith, for many years a resident and preacher in Clinton, was the founder of the Institute. Associated with him was Mr. Joseph Stebbins, whose first subscription was larger than any other person's, and who advanced from his own purse as funds were needed to complete the buildings, more than $5000. " To these two men," says Dr. Sawyer, in his memoir of Mr. Smith, " the denomination owes a debt of gratitude which few at this day can fully appreciate. Others, it is true, labored with them, but they stand preëminent."
The library of the Institute was commenced by Mr. Smith taking a basket on his arm and soliciting books from his friends in this vicinity, and by obtaining dona- tions in books from publishers in Boston and New York.
This school, thus founded, was commenced in the stone building, December 10, 1832. The Faculty consisted of
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TEACHERS OF THE INSTITUTE.
Rev. C. B. Thummel, Principal, and Professor of Lan- guages, George R. Perkins, Professor of Mathematics, and E. W. Manley, Assistant. During the first year there were in attendance one hundred and eight pupils, most of whom studied the higher branches.
In the Female Department, after brief terms of princi- palship by Misses Burr, Dean, and Fosdick, the services of Miss Almira Meech were secured as preceptress. The institution was chartered by the State in 1834, and in 1836 it was put under the visitation of the Regents, re- ceiving its share of the public money. In 1836 a lot of six and a half acres of land called " The Knob," bought of William T. Richmond, was presented to the Institute, together with valuable apparatus, estimated at about $800, by Mr. R. W. Haskins, of Buffalo. It was de- signed by the donor to build an observatory on the top ; but, owing to various hindrances, this generous project was never carried out.
Early in the year 1838, Mr. Thummel was succeeded by Rev. Timothy Clowes, LL. D., and Miss Meech by Miss L. M. Barker. It is due to Miss Barker to state that this was the beginning of a career as instructor in Clinton, which lasted thirty years, excepting, however, a short period spent in New York, and at Whittemore Hall, Massachusetts. She was successful as a teacher and an exemplar to young ladies ; and her pupils in large numbers are now exerting a happy influence in society as the result of her excellent instructions. Clinton fails to appreciate fully its indebtedness to her efforts in building up and beautifying the place. She collected about $2000 of the fund for erecting the present Ladies' In- stitute. She built the house now occupied by Mr. Peter Fake. After years of experience she felt that she could
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
not realize fully her idea of a true school while it was un- der the control of a board of trustees ; and so she planned and built the " Home Cottage " for a new seminary, it being the school property now owned by Dr. J. C. Gal- lup. This enterprise, however, proved too large for her means and her failing energies, and she sold the building to its present proprietor. After this she built a smaller school-house, calling it "Cottage Seminary " (which is now owned by Miss Anna Chipman), and where, sur- rounded by friendly hearts, she at length passed away. Her grateful pupils have recently erected a beautiful monument to her memory in the Clinton Cemetery.
Rev. T. J. Sawyer, D. D., became Principal of the Male Department in 1845, and held the position some twelve or fifteen years. During this period, and largely by his efforts, the present building of the Female De- partment was erected, in the year 1851. It is of a sub- stantial character, one hundred and thirty-six feet by forty-six, is two stories high above the basement, and contains all the necessary rooms and fixtures to make it a pleasant home and school for young ladies. It stands on a slight eminence in the southern part of the village, commanding a view of the village and the valley of the Oriskany, and of the college hillside dotted here and there with residences, and with the institution crowning its summit.
A debt of some magnitude having been incurred in erecting this building and in other ways, Rev. D. Skin- ner, of Utica, volunteered to raise funds sufficient to discharge it. He did even more than this ; for he not only enabled the trustees to pay the debt of $12,000, but obtained money enough to repair the buildings, and to replenish the library and the stock of apparatus. He
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MR KELLOGG'S SEMINARY.
performed this labor without compensation, and in his will left $1000 to the institution.
The school still continues to flourish. Mr. F. L. Backus is now (1873) the Principal of the Male De- partment, and Miss Mary S. Bacon is Principal of the Female Department. The last Annual Report of the treasurer, Mr. Edwin J. Stebbins, states that the receipts from the school for the past year, were $18,678.52, and the disbursements, $19,322.42. During the past year, the Institute has received a donation of $25,000 from John Craig, of Rochester, N. Y.
VI. THE YOUNG LADIES' DOMESTIC SEMINARY.1
In the year 1832, Rev. Hiram H. Kellogg commenced in Clinton the establishment of a seminary for young ladies which, while furnishing facilities for a thorough, christian education, should be conducted on such a method as to enable persons of limited means to enjoy its advantages. The rates of tuition were placed at the lowest sum by which such an institution could be sus- tained, and besides this, compensating employment was furnished in domestic and other avocations, adapted to the age and condition of each pupil, by which the scholars might reduce the cost of their board and tuition to a considerable amount.
Having erected and furnished his building, Mr. Kellogg opened his school in the spring of the year 1833, under the name of The Young Ladies' Domestic Semi- nary. The school was full at the beginning ; and such was the pressure of applicants beyond its capacity, that the building was materially enlarged during the first year.
1 Prepared by Rev. H. H. Kellogg, the first Principal.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
During the first eight years of its history, its rooms were uniformly filled, the usual attendants numbering from seventy to eighty. The whole number educated here during those years, was upwards of five hundred. Notwithstanding its peculiar features which commended it especially to the poor, it was liberally patronized by the wealthy families of central New York, and was as universally popular as any similar institution in this part of the State. The full amount charged for board and tuition never exceeded $120 per year. The amounts deducted from this in compensation for work performed, usually ranged from ten to fifty per cent of the face of the regular bills. And so it came to pass that a large number of christian ladies were here educated at an expense of only from fifty to sixty dollars a year, who afterwards became eminently useful in missionary work at home and abroad.
But the amount of good accomplished by this seminary was not limited to the education and usefulness of its pupils. It is due to the truth of history to record that this school was visited by those who were maturing plans for the establishment of other institutions in Illinois, Ohio, and New England ; and that its peculiar features were, to some extent, adopted by thiem. One of these instances may here be recorded : In the summer of 1834, Mr. Kellogg visited the Female Seminary at Ipswich, Massachusetts, then conducted by the Misses
Grant and Lyon. At the request of the teachers, he addressed the collected school, and sketched the outline of his plan and its results. Miss Lyon was so deeply interested in the project that she resolved to visit Mr. Kellogg's Seminary at an early opportunity. During her next vacation, she came to Clinton, and after a full
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HOME COTTAGE SEMINARY.
examination of the practical workings of this institution, went home resolved to establish a new seminary in which the leading features of this school should have a promi- nent place. Hence arose the Mount Holyoke Seminary, at South Hadley, Massachusetts, whose fame is in all the land. If the facts were fully known, it would appear, also, that the Seminary at Monticello, Illinois, and the Female Department of Knox College, and of Oberlin College, and the Elmira Female College, N. Y., and other similar institutions have been moulded and encouraged by the seminary which for eight years was so successfully conducted among us.
In 1841, Mr. Kellogg having been elected to the presidency of Knox College, sold his Seminary property to an association of Free-Will Baptists, and removed with his family to Galesburgh, Illinois. The Baptists, after conducting the school for three years on a different plan, relinquished it; when it was reopened by Mr. Pelatiah Rawson as a private school. The failure of Mr. Rawson's health caused the school to be closed.
In 1847, in consequence of his infirm health, and his property here falling back into his hands, Mr. Kellogg returned to Clinton and attempted to resuscitate the seminary, and to make it a school for both sexes. It was not so easy to revive a decaying school as to create a new one ; yet some considerable success attended the effort. In 1850, Mr. Kellogg deemed it best, for reasons which need not here be stated, to close the institution.
VII. HOME COTTAGE SEMINARY.
This institution was established by Miss Louisa M. Barker, in the year 1854. The building is situated on a picturesque hill south of Clinton, overlooking the Oris-
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
kany Valley, and commanding a fine view of the surround- ing country. It is one hundred and fifty feet in length and fifty-four in width; is two stories high above an elevated basement, and has two towers three stories high.
Miss Barker had been for some years Principal of the Female Department of the Liberal Institute ; and now, in the maturity of her powers, sought in this institution to carry out more fully her ideas of education. Her great strength as a teacher lay in her power to rouse the mind of her pupils to a just appreciation of the various branches of literature. Having herself an extensive acquaintance with English classical writers, she imbued all who came within the sphere of her influence with a love of the best books in our language, and will be remembered by many as having awakened in them new powers to perceive what was quite hidden from them before.
Here, associated with competent assistants, she re- mained until the year 1861, when she sold the seminary to Dr. J. C. Gallup. Since it passed into his hands, it has been 'known as Houghton Seminary. After retiring from the above institution, Miss Barker established a family school for the accommodation of fourteen boarders. Its capacities have since been somewhat enlarged. It is situated on College Street, and bears the name of the Cottage School. Since the decease of Miss Barker, it has passed into the hands of Miss Anna Chipman, who was for many years an associate Principal with Miss Barker, and who has since maintained the school with a very high degree of efficiency and success.
VIII. HOUGHTON SEMINARY.
As it has been stated in the preceding chapter, Dr.
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DWIGHT'S RURAL HIGH SCHOOL.
John C. Gallup took possession of the property heretofore known as the Home Cottage Seminary, in August, 1861. Since that time, it has been styled Houghton Seminary, in honor of his wife, Mrs. Marilla Houghton Gallup, the associate principal. The grounds, consisting origi- nally of eight acres, have been enlarged to twenty acres. Much has been done also of late to augment the value of the buildings, and the beauty of the lawns, the garden, and the entire premises.
The institution is now under the care of the Regents of the University of the State of New York ; has a large and valuable library ; has an efficient Faculty of seven instructors ; and its collegiate course requires four years of study in the classical and higher English branches. During the past ten years of its history the average num- ber of pupils has been ninety, of whom sixty-three have been graduated and received the diploma of the institu- tion. This seminary is in all respects highly prosperous.
IX. DWIGHT'S RURAL HIGH SCHOOL.1
This school was opened in May, 1858, by Rev. Benja- min W. Dwight, its principal and proprietor, with Rev. David A. Holbrook, and Henry P. Bristol, as associates. It occupied the ground - eighteen acres and more - on the corner of Elm Street and Factory Street, and faced with two imposing fronts these two avenues. It stood one hundred and fifty feet back from the former, and two hundred and twenty-five feet from the latter, on a pleas- ing, artificial slope. The grounds were laid out in ample style, with walks and carriage-drives, and were planted with ornamental trees. A large gymnasium, seventy
1 This paper was prepared by Rev. B. W. Dwight, LL. D.
10
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
feet by thirty-two, stood at the southeast, at a distance of some three hundred and fifty feet.
The building was erected in the years 1857-58. Dr. Dwight, who had been for several years conducting a large and flourishing high school in Brooklyn, came to Clinton for the purpose of combining the influence of fine rural surroundings with educational labor. He believed that he could achieve much higher physical, intellectual, and moral results in such a school than in any other.
The school opened with nine boarders and eighteen day scholars, and rose, when at its greatest height, to over eighty pupils, some fifty-three of them being board- ers. The school was a place of abounding physical healthfulness, of earnest intellectual work, and of warm religious life. Students came from far and near, all over the land, and went from the school to a dozen different colleges. Beside giving earnest attention to classical and mathematical drill, full courses of daily study were ap- pointed in history, physiology, and the modern languages. During the last three years of the school a number of young ladies were admitted to it, and with good effect in every way.
The school building, which was expensive for those days, having cost nearly $20,000, was large and showy. Four distinct buildings were in fact harmonized in it into one. The combined structure was on every side of it picturesque in appearance, and imposing in all its propor- tions, and pronounced by all who saw it one of the largest and finest buildings in the county. Its entire front was fifty-six feet, and its greatest length one hundred and six feet.
In the year 1864, Mr. Henry P. Bristol died, after a short illness. He was a man of thorough principle and
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COMMON SCHOOLS.
of exact scholarship, and was always respected and es- teemed by the pupils whom he sought to improve and bless. Dr. Dwight, in the hope of benefiting the declin- ing health of his wife, went to New York in the spring of 1863, and opened there a school at No. 1144 Broadway, leaving the school here in the hands of Rev. Mr. Hol- brook, who, after two years, resigned the charge into the hands of Mr. Ambrose P. Kelsey. In April, 1865, after having been only a few months under the care of the lat- ter, the building caught fire in the roof near one of the chimneys, and burned slowly down, in the absence of an efficient fire-engine in the place, before the eyes of a great crowd of spectators.
MRS. MARR'S SCHOOL.
A select school was opened by Mrs. Elizabeth D. Marr, in May, 1861. It was commenced in the building for- merly occupied by Rev. Mr. Kellogg's seminary, and was transferred the following year to rooms in the Clinton Grammar School. A building was then erected for its permanent occupancy on Meadow Street, to which it was soon after removed, and where it has since remained.
At this school, instruction is given in all the English branches, and in the Latin, French, and German lan- guages, and in drawing and painting.
Mrs. Marr is assisted by two or three associate teachers. The present number of pupils is twenty-six.
COMMON SCHOOLS.1
At the time when most of the school districts of this town were organized, Kirkland was included in the town
1 This paper was prepared by Mr. Gaius Butler.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
of Paris. But as the settlement began at Clinton, so let these brief sketches commence here.
The first building erected in Kirkland for the purposes of a common school, stood on the east side of the Village Green, upon the spot now occupied for a similar purpose. It was a frame building one story and a half high. This was afterwards removed, and now stands on the north side of Kellogg Street, and is occupied by Mr. James Hughes. This original school-house was succeeded by a brick building. The bricks used in this structure were made on the farm of Gideon Cole, now owned by James Elphick and Dr. G. I. Bronson. In the spring of 1840, this house having become somewhat dilapidated, was sold at public auction for some $300, and soon afterward the present frame building was erected on or near the same spot. It is worthy of note that a Mr. Fillmore, brother of President Fillmore, was one of the early teachers in this school-house.
It was originally a very general practice to measure the lot by the size of the school-house, as if a sufficient margin for a play-ground was land thrown away. The school-house on Utica Street was built on a. steep bluff, at an angle on two sides of some forty-five degrees, with not one spare foot of ground. A school was sus- tained on this spot for many years, but a bright light one evening many years ago, showed that the old build- ing was being reduced to ashes.
The first school-house in the eastern part of Kirkland, near Mr. Pickett's, was built by a Mr. Willard, at the contract price of $150. Low price and poor work. It was attempted to warm the building in winter by a Rus- sian stove, of which Dr. Backus said, " One might about as well warm his feet by a tombstone." Another and
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COMMON SCHOOLS.
better building was afterwards put up on the same site, but ere long it went by fire, and the district itself was dis- solved.
The school in Chuckery district appears to have been for many years in a prosperous condition.
The Franklin district is a large and populous one. The first school-house was destroyed under circumstances bordering on the ludicrous. It may suffice here to state that for a certain cutaneous disease sulphur was regarded as the best remedy ; and that, in order to its being well rubbed in, a large fire was considered necessary. Well, the boys got better, but the red-hot stove-pipe set the building on fire, and the boys were not in a condition to put it out. The present school-house is only an apology for one, and should give place to a better.
The house by the toll-gate, near Mr. Gruman's, has a tolerably spacious play-ground, and is kept in uniformly fair condition.
The district on Brimfield Hill does not seem to enjoy a vigorous life, though it has given to the world some very good men.
Manchester district was originally a large one, and had its school-house. at the junction of the Clinton road with the Seneca turnpike. It was subsequently divided, the Oriskany Creek being the line between the districts, and new school-houses being built centrally in each of the new districts.
The first school-house on Post Street was burnt some years ago, but its place has been supplied by a new and suitable structure.
The school-house on the Paris Hill road, near Curtis S. Parmele's house, has been much improved within a few years. The same may be said of the one at the foot of College Hill.
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
Some three or four districts have been dissolved or annexed to others within the past fifteen or twenty years. Of a few others not herein reported, the history would probably vary but little from those already referred to.
In one respect, at least, the school-house on Prospect Hill, in the western part of the town, is worthy of its high position. For more than fifty years a Sunday- school has been sustained under its roof, with the help of teachers from Hamilton College.
Within the last fifty years, important changes have taken place in the superintendence of our common schools. 1. A board of three inspectors and three com- missioners was chosen at the annual town meeting. 2. A town superintendent was substituted. 3. We have a commissioner to supervise all the schools of each Assem- bly district. It does not appear that all of these changes have been improvements.
CHAPTER VI.
AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL EMBEL- LISHMENT.
AGRICULTURE.
THE husbandry of this town, for some time after the first settlement of the place, was necessarily of a mixed character. The land must needs be first cleared of a heavy growth of timber, and a short period must elapse before the plow could with much effect be introduced. The implements used in clearing the forest and subduing the soil were brought from New England, and were heavy and rude as compared with those of the present day. The work to be done required resolute minds and sturdy arms ; and these the pioneer settlers possessed. The soil was rich, and soon after it was opened to the sun, waving fields of wheat and grass and corn sprang up on all sides.
When the products of grain began to exceed the wants of the population, the nearest and best market for the sur- plus was found at Albany, to which place wheat and pork were carried in sleighs every winter. And when the hills and valleys became clothed with pastures, horned cattle and sheep and horses were raised and driven to the same mar- ket in large numbers. While these things were going on out of doors, those who live mostly within were not idle. Almost every farmer kept sheep enough to produce a little wool, and raised a quantity of flax, and from these
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HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF KIRKLAND.
products female industry carded and spun and wove the common wearing apparel of the household. The buzz of the spinning-wheel was heard as commonly in every dwelling then, as the tinkle of the piano is now.
The town of Kirkland has always had a good reputa- tion for its stoek of horses and cattle. It is true that some of the earlier specimens were sorry scrubs, of no high extraction ; yet hardy they must have been, or they could not have endured the exposures and rough usage to which they were subjected. After a time, however, marked improvements began to appear, especially in horned cattle. Devons were introduced here about the year 1814, from the herd of Chancellor Livingston, of Dutchess County. Short Horns, or Durhams, appeared in 1818, being brought from Springfield, Mass. The famous Holderness breed was introduced about the same time, by Lewis Pond.
In general, it may be said that the principal agricul- tural productions of the town have been from an early date Indian corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, grass, and clover, buckwheat, peas, beans, potatoes, carrots, and turnips. In later years, hops and tobacco have been introduced. Hops, though sometimes very remunerative, have proved quite an uncertain crop, owing chiefly to the variable seasons, and the frequent prevalence of insects and other forms of blight.
KIRKLAND AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.
This Society was formed in the winter of 1861-62, and has held ten autumn exhibitions. It has accomplished a good work by promoting social freedom, and by bringing about a friendly interchange of ideas and experiences, and a healthy competition between the productive indus-
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HORTICULTURE.
tries of the town. At its annual fairs the Society has been favored with agricultural addresses by Hon. Henry P. Norton, Dr. Thomas J. Sawyer, Dr. Samuel W. Fisher, Prof. Charles Avery, Prof. Edward North, Dr. John C. Gallup, Hon. Horatio Seymour, President Sam- uel G. Brown, Prof. A. P. Kelsey, and Rev. Dwight Williams. The list of presidents, annually elected, runs thus : Thomas J. Sawyer, John E. Elliott, Edward North, Levi Blakeslee, Edwin Gruman, George K. Eells, Lyman S. Harding, T. A. Gruman, George Griffin, C. W. Eells, Elias Stanton, and Charles L. Kellogg.
HORTICULTURE.
The orchard and garden have always been held here in high consideration. Orchards were planted at the first from seedlings raised on the spot, and then grafted with scions of the best apples and pears that could be found in New England. Some of these seedlings, however, were perpetuated, and a few of them have proved worthy of reproduction till the present day. Others were useful only for making cider. The peach, plum, cherry, and quince flourished here for a period in perfection, and yielded abundantly ; but within the past twenty years they have all gradually declined in vigor, or become the helpless victims of insects or blight, so that now they yield uncertain crops. From recent indications, it is feared that the pear will also soon disappear from the list of our re- liable fruits.1
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