Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 27

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374

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But what mean these words, "leave taking " ? Simply that the time has expired for which we were pledged to conduct a monthly periodical connected with the Albany Female Academy. For good and sufficient reasons we decline the re- newal of that pledge, as none of our friends seem to court the inheritance of the editorial mantle, the Monthly Rose will be discontinued after this present year.

And, with this graceful farewell, the Rose folded its petals, and mod- estly withdrew from public gaze.

The last periodical to make its appearance before the Albany reading public, was The Fort Orange Monthly, published by the Riggs Print- ing and Publishing Company, and under the editorial management of Joseph A. Lawson, a member of the Albany bar, who sought to diver- sify his calling by incursions into the realms of literature, and inci- dentally, to develop the latest talent of the capital city. The first num- ber appeared in February, 1886. The valedictory appeared in the issue of September of the same year, when the advertising contracts had all expired. 'O tempora, O mores!

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CHAPTER XV.

GENERAL EDUCATION.

Though the men of Holland who were directly responsible for the first settlements along the Hudson River and in the territory now em- braced inAlbany county, seem to have possessed the wisdom to realize that one of the principal factors of prosperity and advancement in this far-off country would be the education of children, yet their ideas of ways and methods for the accomplishment of this purpose were at that early date necessarily crude and imperfect, and seem to have been carried out in careless and ineffective manner. In the charter to the West India Company is found the following pertinent section :

XXVII .- The Patroons and Colonists in particular, and in the speediest manner, must endeavor to find out ways and means whereby they may supply a minister and schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected among them, and they shall, for the first, procure a comforter of the sick there.

Furthermore, in the charter of Exemptions and Privileges under which Patroon Van Rensselaer established his "Colonie," we find the following :

The patroons shall, also, particularly exert themselves to find speedy means to maintain a clergyman and schoolmaster, in order that Divine Service and zeal for religion may be planted in that country, and send, at first, a comforter of the sick thither.

The West India Company was at a later date bound by the following regulations :

Each householder and inhabitant shall bear such tax and public charge as shall hereafter be considered proper for the maintenance of clergymen and comforters of the sick, schoolmasters, and such like necessary officers.

It is known that this office of "comforter of the sick " was often, and probably nearly always, combined with that of schoolmaster. The incumbent aided the minister of the gospel in his charge, and gave such time as he could to teaching. Much of that teaching was of a religious character, and outside of inculcating the youthful mind with

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the Scriptures, the Dutch teacher worked in the most primitive man- ner.

Adam Roelantsen, who had taught school in Amsterdam, came to Rensselaerwyck in 1639. He undoubtedly taught a short time at New Amsterdam before coming up the river, and was probably the first school- master there. The masses of the immigrants of the early years were unable to read and write, and the immorality that always accompanies ignorance prevailed. Dr. O'Callaghan is authority for the statement that "the state of morals in New Amsterdam was, at this period [1638] by no means healthy-a statement which applies as well to Beverwyck. The early schools were not eagerly sought nor liberally supported by the people, and the teachers were frequently ignorant and sometimes unprincipled. The records of the Dutch period are almost bare of the mention of schools. While the community were required to have their children instructed by good schoolmasters, the requirement was little heeded. A schoolmaster in 1644 received thirty florins a month, board- ing himself; this was only one-fourth what was paid to a minister; but quite likely it was more than he was usually worth. By 1661 his pay had advanced to eighteen guilders per month and his board."

In a remonstrance against the management of the West India Com- pany, made in 1649 (one of the many alluded to in early chapters of this volume), is found the following paragraph :

There ought to be, also, a public school, provided with two good teachers, so that the youth in so wild a country, where there are so many dissolute people, may, first of all, be instructed and indoctrinated, not only in reading and writing, but also in the fear of the Lord. Now the school is kept very irregularly, by this one or that, according to his fancy, as long as he thinks proper.

There is an epitome of the whole situation in that pregnant para- graph; and it indicates to what an extent scriptural teaching, such as it was, was combined with the secular. It would appear that the West India Company cared more for new and profitable schemes for obtain- ing furs from the Indians than for education. The reply to the above mentioned remonstrance was made in the same year by Secretary Van Tienhoven for the Director-General; it is admitted therein that the new school house had not been built and that "there is no Latin school or Academy;" but asserted that a place for a school to be taught by Jan Cornelissen had been selected, while other schools sufficient for "the circumstances of the country," were being taught in hired houses.

Further complaint of the neglect to build a school house was made in

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1650, and it was probably in that year that a committee was appointed for that task and to collect the necessary funds. Andries Janse was appointed to take charge of the school when the building was ready; he probably served only a short time. Rev. Gideon Schaets was called to Rensselaerwyck as a minister in 1652, and a little later was directed to teach the catechism in Beverwyck and Fort Orange, and "to pay attention to the office of schoolmaster for the old and young."

The early wretched condition of education in the colony was slow to to change. Regarding the subject as it was in 1656 Dr. O'Callaghan remarks:

Bad as it was with the churches, it was worse as regards schools; not one of all these places, whether Dutch or English, had a schoolmaster, except the Manhattans, Beverwyck and Fort Cassimer.

Revs. John Megapolensis and Samuel Drisius wrote in the same strain in 1657. Stuyvesant knew the value of learning and the neces. sity for schools, for he employed a private tutor; but he was the sub missive agent of the West India Company. If that company did not advise or order the building of school houses and the employment of teachers, he certainly would not, so that at the close of his administra- tion in 1664 there had been little improvement.

Educational affairs improved under the English. John Shutte was the first teacher at Albany after the change, as is shown by the follow- ing license :

WHEREAS, the teaching of the English tongue is necessary in this government; I have, therefore, thought fitt to give License to John Shutte to bee the English Schoolmaster at Albany; And, upon condition that the said John Shutte shall not demand any more wages from each Schollar than is given by the Dutch to their Dutch Schoolmasters, I have further granted to the said John Shutte that hee shall bee the onely English Schoolmaster at Albany.

Given under my hand, at Fort James, in New York, the 12th day of October, 1665. RICH'D NICOLLS.

An order is on record of May 16, 1670, signed by Francis Lovelace, the preamble of which says: "Whereas, Jan Jeurians Beecker [ Bleecker or Becker] had a Graunt to keep ye Dutch school at Albany for ye teaching of youth to read & Wryte ye which was allowed of and con- firmed to him by my predecessor, Coll. Richard Nicolls," etc. On the 4th of April, 1676, Gerritt Swartt, Jan Becker (probably the one above named) and Arien Appel were chosen schoolmasters at Albany, and soon afterward in the same year, Luykas Gerritse (Wyngaard) was added to the teaching force. These men had other business besides teaching, and

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it was probably necessary that they should have, in order to live. Becker formerly kept a tavern at Fort Cassimer, on the Delaware River, and was there convicted of selling liquor to the Indians, but his fine was remitted because it was shown he was no worse than many others. Swartt was high sheriff of Rensselaerwyck from 1668 to 1673. Appel had a lot in Beverwyck in 1654 and bound himself to build thereon an inn for travelers and not for an ordinary tippling house. He taught from 1676 to 1686. Wyngaard became a baker and had his shop in 1715 on the south corner of Broadway and State street.

In the instructions given to Governor Dongan at Windsor, May 29, 1686, was the following :

38. And wee doe further direct that noe Schoolmoster bee henceforth permitted to come from England & to keep school within Our Province of New York without the license of the said Archbishop of Canterbury; and that noe other person now there or that shall come from other parts bee admitted to keep school without your license first had.

Similar instructions were given to his successors in that office. As a departure from the regular custom of issuing licenses only by the colonial officials, the following is of interest :

Att a meeting of ye Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council held in ye Citty Hall of Albany, ye 23d of Jannary 1498.

The request of Cornelis Bogardus by ye mouth of Mr. Willm de Meyer to be ad- mitted a schoolmaster for ye Citty is taken into consideration and unanimously doe graunt ye same, as also a freeman of this Citty upon his arrivall.

The following is from the records of the Common Council of the date given :

Att a Common Council held in the City Hall of Albany, the 8th day of April, 1721. -

Whereas it is very requisite and necessary that a fitt and able Schoolmaster settle in this city for teaching and instructing of the youth in speling, reading, writeing and cyffering, and Mr. Johannis Glandorf having offered his service to settle here and keep a school if reasonably encouraged by the corporation. It is therefore Re- solved by this Commonalty, and they do hereby oblidge themselves and their suc- cessors to give and procure unto the said Johan's Glandorf free house rent for the term seaven years next ensueing for keeping a good and commendable school as becomes a diligent Schoolmaster.

The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, in- corporated in 1701, accomplished something for the cause of education in the colonies. One of their orders as to qualifications of teachers contained the following :

I. That no person be admitted a Schoolmaster, till he bring Certificates, with re- spect to the Particulars following :

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1. The Age of the Person.

2. His Condition of Life, whether Single or Married.

3. His Temper.

4. His Learning.

5. His Prudence.

6. His sober and pious Conversation.

7. His zeal for the Christian Religion and Diligence in his Calling.

8. His Affection to the present Government.

9. His Conformity to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England.

This society also published an extended code of instructions for its teachers, covering every possible contingency and phase of their calling.

A grammer school was opened at New York in 1702 and continued to 1709, and at about that time attempts were inaugurated to found a col- lege in this province. In 1773 there was established under an act of the General Assembly "a public school to teach Latin, Greek and Mathematics in the city of New York."

Most of the school teachers prior to the Revolution were men. Down to that time less attention was given to the education of women than of men, and many young women possessed of brilliant natural talents, were taught only to read and write and a few simple accomplishments. These unjust conditions have all happily passed away. With the close of the Revolutionary war and under the civilizing influences of free- dom, the cause of education was rapidly advanced. The Regents of the State of New York were incorporated in 1784, (reorganized 1787) and in their report of 1793 they called attention to the benefits likely to accrue from the establishment of more schools in various parts of the State. "The mode of accomplishing this object," said the report, "we respectfully submit to the wisdom of the Legislature." At the opening of the session of 1795, Governor Clinton thus alluded to this subject in his message:

While it is evident that the general establishment and liberal endowment of acad- emies are highly to be commended, and are attended with the most beneficial conse- quences, yet it cannot be denied that they are principally confined to the children of the opulent, and that a great portion of the community is excluded from their im- mediate advantages. The establishment of common schools throughout the State, is happily calculated to remedy this inconvenience, and will therefore engage your early and decided consideration.

These were the first steps taken directly toward the establishment of the common school system of the State. On the 11th of January, 1795, the Assembly appointed a committee of six to consider the school subject, and on February 19 they reported "An Act for the Encourage-

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ment of Schools," which became a law on the 9th of April. This act appropriated $50,000 annually for five years, for the general support of common schools, which sum was at first apportioned to the several counties according to their representation in the Legislature; later it was apportioned according to the number of electors for member of assembly, and to the several towns according to the number of taxable inhabitants. The act provided for the election of not less than three nor more than seven commissioners in each town, who should have super- vision of the schools in each town. The inhabitants in different sec- tions of the towns were authorized to meet for the purpose of procur- curing "good and sufficient schoolmasters, and for erecting and main- taining schools in such and so many parts of the town where they may reside, as shall be most convenient," and to appoint two or more trus- tees, whose duties were defined by the act. The public money paid to each district was to be apportioned by the commissioners according to the number of days of instruction given in each of the schools. Provi- sion was made also for annual returns from all districts, towns and counties.

Lotteries were early instituted by the State for the support of schools, first in 1799, when $100,000 was to be raised, $12,500 of which was to go to academies and the remainder to common schools. Again in 1801 an equal amount was raised, one-half of which went to common schools.

On the 2d of April, 1805, an act was passed providing that the net proceeds of the sale of 500,000 acres of unappropriated State lands should be made a permanent fund for the support of schools, the avails to be invested until the interest amounted to $50,000, when an annual distribution of that amount should be made. By February, 1807, re- ceipts for the school fund in the treasury had reached $151,115.69.

In 1811 a law was enacted authorizing the governor to appoint five commissioners to report a system for the organization of the common schools. The commission consisted of Jedediah Peck, John Murray, jr., Samuel Russell, Roger Skinner, and Samuel Macomb. Their report, made February 14, 1812, was accompanied by the draft of a bill em- bodying the main features of the common school system as it existed until 1838. One feature of the bill was, that each county should raise by tax an amount equal to that apportioned by the State. Following is a brief outline of the system :

That the several towns in the State be divided into school districts, three commis-

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sioners elected by the citizens qualified to vote for town officers, that three trustees be elected in each district, to whom shall be confided the care and superintendence of the school to be established therein ; that the interest of the school fund be divided among the different counties and towns, according to their respective population, as ascertained by the successive censuses of the United States; that the proportions re- ceived by the respective towns be subdivided among the districts into which said towns shall be divided, according to the number of children in each, between the ages of five and fifteen years; that each town raise annually, as much money as it shall have received from the school fund; that the gross amount of moneys received from the State and raised by the towns, be appropriated exclusively to the payment of wages of teachers; and that the whole system be placed under the superintend- ence of an officer appointed by the Council of Appointment.

Gideon Hawley was made the first superintendent of common schools and held the office from 1813 to 1821. In the first report (1814) he called attention to the fifth section of the law under which it was a possibility that a single town in a county might receive the whole of the public money for that county; and to other provisions giving each town the choice of complying with the law and receiving its benefits and bearing its burdens, or of refusing such compliance. Under these provisions many towns had refused compliance with the act, to the great detriment of the system. The superintendent suggested that it be made obligatory upon the towns to comply with the act, and also on the Boards of Supervisors to levy on the respective towns a sum equal to the sum "which shall be apportioned to such towns out of the public money to be distributed." These suggestions were promptly carried out by amendments to the act.

The founding of this school system was an educational movement of the greatest importance and its benefits became at once apparent. In his second report (1815) Mr. Hawley said :

But the great benefit of the act does not lie in any pecuniary aid which it may afford. . . It consists in securing the establishment of common schools wherever they are necessary; in organizing them on a suitable and permanent foundation ; and in guarding them against the admission of unqualified teachers.

In the mean time, in 1813, the Albany Academy was incorporated, as described further on, and was succeeded later by those at Rensselaer- ville, Knoxville, and Coeymans. (See town histories).

In his sixth annual report the superintendent renewed his recom- mendation before made, for a revision and consolidation of the existing school laws. On the 19th of April, 1819, accordingly, the Legislature re-enacted the "act for the support of Common Schools," making the various amendments suggested by Mr. Hawley. To him is given the

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honor and credit of having done more than any one person in the founding of the common school system in this State. John Van Ness Yates was secretary of state and superintendent ex officio of common schools from 1821 to 1826, the separate office of superintendent of schools having been abolished by the Constitution of 1821. The Con- stitution, provided, also, "the proceeds of all lands thereafter to be sold, belonging to the State, with the exception of such as might be re- served for the public use or ceded to the United States, together with the existing school fund, were declared to constitute a perpetual fund, the interest of which should be inviolably appropriated and applied to the support of the common schools."

In 1820 Albany county had 155 common schools, exclusive of parts of districts adjoining other counties. Of this number twenty-five were in Albany, twenty-five in Bethlehem, fifteen in Coeymans, sixteen in Westerlo, eighteen in Rensselaerville, thirty in Berne, seventy-four in Guilderland, and twelve in Watervliet.

Azariah C. Flagg held the office of secretary of state and superin- tendent of schools from 1826 to 1833, and was succeeded by John A. Dix (1833-39), during which period great improvements were made in the details of the school system. In 1827 the sum annually distributed to the various districts was increased to $100,000; in 1837 it was $110,000. On the 13th of April, 1835, an act was passed which laid the foundation of district school libraries; it authorized the taxable in- habitants of each district to impose a tax of not more than $20 the first year, and $10 each succeeding year for the purchase of a district library. Under this act libraries were established in very many dis- tricts of the State and the resultant benefit is beyond estimate.

In 1838 $160,000 were added from the annual revenue of the United States deposit fund to the amount to be apportioned among the various school districts. In the following year the number of districts in the State was 10,583. The increase in the number of districts from time to time is shown as follows: 1798, 1,352 districts; 1816, about 5,000; 1820, 5,763; 1825, 7,642; 1830, 8,872; 1855, 9,865.

On the 4th of February, 1839, John C. Spencer was appointed sec- retary of state and superintendent of common schools, and he con- tinued in the office until 1842. He advocated several changes in the system, the most important being, perhaps, the county supervision of schools by regular visitors. These visitors reported to the superin- tendent, and one of the results of their early reports was the plan of

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appointing county superintendents, which went into effect in April, 1842, and resulted in a great improvement in the general character of the schools. The office was abolished March 13, 1847, during which period the following persons from Albany county held the office: Royal Shaw, Francis Dwight, Rufus King, Horace K. Willard, Abra- ham Van Vechten, Henry S. McCall.

In his annual message of 1844 Governor Bouck treated largely the school question, stating among other things the following :

The substitution of a single officer, charged with the supervision of the schools of each town, for the board of commissioners and inspectors formerly existing, in con- nection with the supervisory and appellate powers of the several county superintend- ents, as defined by the law of the last session, seems to have met with the general approbation and concurrence of the people.

Samuel S. Young was secretary of state and superintendent of schools from February, 1842, to February, 1845, when he was succeeded by Nathaniel S. Benton, who continued until 1847, when the new Consti- tution was in effect.

The subject of Teachers' Institutes was first brought forward in the Tompkins County Teachers' Association in the fall of 1842, and the first institute was held in Ithaca, April 4, 1843; they soon became a powerful auxiliary in elevating the teacher's profession.

A persistent and nearly successful attempt was made to engraft upon the new Constitution of 1846 a free school system for the State. The section under which it was to be accomplished was the following :

The Legislature shall provide for the free education and instruction of every child of the State in the common schools, now established: or which shall hereafter be established therein.

This section was adopted by a vote of 57 to 53, and a provision was then added directing the Legislature to provide for raising the necessary taxes in the districts to carry out the plan. The convention then ad- journed for dinner. After reassembling the school article was referred, on resolution, to a committee of one with instructions to strike out the last two sections relating to free schools. This was done and the pro- vision for the establishment of free schools was defeated.

On the 13th of November, 1847, the Legislature passed an act abol- ishing the office of county superintendent of common schools, direct- ing appeals authorized to be made by law to be made to the state superintendent, and the annual reports of the town superintendents to be made to the county clerk. This measure was adopted largely in

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response to popular clamor, and was in many respects temporarily disastrous to the welfare of the schools. Reports of town superintend- ents were often superficial and incomplete, while they were "wholly incapable of supplying the place in the system which had been assigned to the higher class of officers."

On the 16th of December, 1847, the various statutes relating to com- mon schools were consolidated into one act, with such amendments as seemed expedient; town superintendents were to hold their office two years; the library law was modified so that library money in any dis- trict might be used for teachers' wages, with the consent of the state superintendent, provided the number of volumes in the library had reached a certain proportion to the number of children, etc.

Christopher Morgan was state superintendent of schools and secre- tary of state from 1847 to 1851, when he was succeeded by Henry S. Randall, who held the office until 1853. In the message to the Legis- lature of 1849 Governor Fish expressed his belief "that the restoration of the office of county superintendent would be productive of good to the school system." He recommended two measures, either of which would improve the situation :

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Landmarks of Albany County, New York, Part 27

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Parker, Amasa Junius, 1843-1938, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1374