USA > New York > Oswego County > Landmarks of Oswego County, New York > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140
Much credit is due Prof. Charles W. Richards for the high standard of education maintained in the public school system of the city. Sec- ond only in length of service to the venerable E. A. Sheldon, who is fully noticed in the subjoined sketch of the State Normal school of Os- wego, he has devoted to the work a brilliant intellect, a critical judg- ment, an impartial assistance, and a marked personality. He has been intimately identified with the schools here since 1873, and has aided in every project looking towards the improvement and advancement of educational matters.
Reference has been made to the connection of E. A. Sheldon with the " Orphan and Free School Association " of 1848-50. Mr. Sheldon was superintendent of the city schools from 1853 to his resignation in
445
OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.
September, 1869; and it was while he was occupying this position that he became dissatisfied with results of the methods of teaching then used. He had already made some study of the so- called objective methods of teaching founded by Pestalozzi, and a visit to the Normal School in Toronto gave him further insight into the system. Procuring books containing object lessons, he discussed their merits with the various teachers. The following document, dated November I, 1860, is self- explanatory and is copied because it constituted the foundation of the present Normal School of Oswego, the foremost institution of its kind in America.
The undersigned Committee of Teachers desire to call the attention of the Board of Education to a subject, which they deem of vital importance to the interest and pro- gress of our public schools. It is known, at least to some members of this Board, that it has been a part of the plan, in connection with the High School, to have a teachers' class formed from members of the graduating class, composed of those who design to teach, who should spend a portion of their time during the last year of their course in some model class exercises for the primary and junior department, in addition to es- pecial instruction in the theory and practice of teaching. This plan your Committee regard as an excellent one; but for several reasons, with the present arrangement, they deem it impracticable, and experience has thus far proved it to be so. In the first place the course of study, as prescribed, leaves no time for additional studies or duties. It is as much as the class can do to accomplish all that is required in this direction ; and it seems to us that there is no study there required that can be omitted ; but, on the other hand, there are some subjects not here pursued, that would be of great utility to every person and especially to teachers.
In order, however, to make these Model Class exercises of great utility, the teacher who has the charge of them should be a person of large experience, eminently success- ful and in every way a model of excellence in his profession, a person of good judgment and great discrimination, one who can criticise closely, point out defects and show the remedy.
As it is well known to the Board, we have been introducing into our Primary schools a system of instruction in many respects quite new to our teachers; and while they are for the most part working into it very well, much better even than we could have an- ticipated, yet they feel a greater or less degree of awkwardness and diffidence in con- ducting the new exercises, and are not prepared to interest others. The pupils coming from our High School and applying for situations as teachers are mostly quite young and without any experience, and if we should put those pupils with their youth and in- experience into our Primary schools, the very place where even under the old system the greatest degree of judgment, discretion, patience, ingenuity, experience and skill are demanded, with all our new methods, as now adopted in these schools, we could expect but failure as the result. These new methods also require a thorough knowledge of Natural History, in its various departments, together with a quick and ready hand in
446
LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.
linear drawing, subjects, with which, in the present course of study, they have compar- atively little acquaintance.
To obviate all these objections and carry out the original plan of a model school de- partment, your Committee would offer the following resolutions and move their adop- tion :
1. Resolved, That in connection with the High School there be organized a department com- posed of graduates of this school and graduates from abroad who. may apply for admission, to be styled the Model Primary Teachers' Department, the object of which shall be, to prepare teachers for the important work of primary instruction.
2. Resolved, That no person shall be admitted to this Department who does not hold a cer- tificate of graduation from the Oswego High School, or from some other institution whose course of study and mental discipline are equally thorough, or who shall, on examination, give evidence that he has thoroughly matured the English branches generally taught in our academies and high schools, and that he sustains a good moral character.
3. Resolved, That this course shall be one year and shall embrace the following subjects of study :
1st Term. Botany, Mental Physiology, and Linear Drawing in its practical application in de- lineating objects from Nature on the blackboard.
2d Term. Mineralogy, Review of Botany, Moral Physiology, Linear Drawing continued.
3d Term. Moral Physiology and Mineralogy continued; also Drawing.
Resolved, That a diploma or certificate of graduation be awarded to all those who pass through the required course of this department, and show by their practice in the school room an aptness and ability to teach, and that the necessary steps be taken, to entitle the holder of such certificate to equal rank and privilege with those holding State certificates.
Resolved, That the Secretary of this Board be directed, to correspond immediately with the Principal of the Training school for the preparation of teachers for primary instruction under the patronage of the Home and Colonial School society, in the city of London, with a view of obtain- ing a teacher of high order, one familiar with the system of primary teaching as now adopted in our schools and capable of taking charge and instructing a teachers' class, such as the foregoing resolutions contemplate; and that he make all the necessary arrangements for entering upon the proposed plan at the opening of the spring term.
Ayes-Talcott, Oliphant, Doolittle, Mattoon, Allen. No-Richardson.
The consequence of this action was an invitation to Miss M. E. M. Jones, a teacher in the Home and Colonial School, England, to come to Oswego, which she did, beginning her work here May 1, 1861, thus founding the Oswego Training School. This movement, of course, received the unqualified support of Mr. Sheldon, and in spite of the fact that much local indifference was manifested toward the school, it pros- pered. Pupils began to attend from a distance, some of them being graduates of Normal Schools. In connection with this we quote the following from one of the school publications :
From the effect produced by the new method on pupils and teachers, Mr. Sheldon came to the conclusion that its adoption into the schools of this country was a matter of vast importance.
To promote this end he issued, in December, 1861, an invitation to come to Oswego, in order to observe the practical working of the method. This invitation was cordially responded to by W. F. Phelps, D. H. Cochran, David N. Camp, Thomas F. Harrison, H. B. Wilbur, W. Nicoll and George L. Farnham.
447
OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.
There is something almost touching in the introductory words of Mr. Sheldon's ad- dress. Far from boasting of great results already obtained, or giving vent to an ex- cited imagination in regard to hoped for results or laurels, he seems rather to be thrilled by the greatness of the task, and long for the sympathy and co-operation of kindred souls; we give it in full :
For more than eight years we have been striving to improve our schools, and when we com- pare them with what they were at the time of their organization, we feel that a decided progress has been made; but never have their deficiencies been so apparent as at the preset moment. Whatever the improvement, it certainly has not kept pace with our ideas of what it ought to be.
We have asked you here to examine a system of instruction we have been endeavoring to incorporate into our schools, for the origin of which we claim no credit; neither do we claim that the principles of this system are new in this country. For years they have been quictly and imperceptibly creeping into our educational theories; and have, although in an isolated and dis- jointed manner, made their way into our best schools. Good teachers everywhere are working more or less in accordance with these principles-modified perhaps in some degree-and are there pre- paring the way for a system of primary education, of which they constitutute the very web and woof. It is this feature which we claim as new in this country. We have never had any system of primary education based on sound philosophical principles, and practically carried out in a definite and well arranged curriculum. Whether such is the system to which we now call your attention, we leave you to judge; it is for this purpose we have presumed to invite you here to- day. Should your judgment, after a careful investigation, accord with our own, it can but lead to a complete revolution in our methods of teaching; it will make teaching a profession, a title it has yet to earn.
Miss Jones finished her work here in the summer of 1862, and from that training school grew the present Normal School, State connection with which began in 1863, when the Legislature, on recommendation of Hon. Victor M. Rice, of Buffalo, superintendent of public instruc- tion at that time, and through the inspiring influence of the training school which had met with unqualified success under Miss M. E. M. Jones and Edward A. Sheldon, made an appropriation of $3,000 a year for two years for its support, provided there should be fifty pupils in attendance and that each senatorial district in the State should have the privilege of sending two pupils free of charge. The school remained under control of the Oswego Board of Education, and occupied a building on East Fourth street, afterwards occupied by one of the city schools.
The following gentlemen were members of the Board of Education at the time of the introduction of the new programme, which led directly to the establishment of the Training School:
E. B. Talcott, Robert Oliver, C. T. Richardson, Benjamin Doolittle, James Doyle, A. C. Mattoon, Simeon Bates, E. C. Hart.
At the time of the adoption of the resolution for the organization of the Training School, the board consisted of the following gentlemen :
448
LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.
E. B. Talcott, Richard Oliphant, C. T. Richardson, Benjamin Doolittle, A. C. Mat- toon, James Doyle, Simeon Bates, Charles E. Allen. Members of the Board of Edu- cation at the time of the opening of the Training School in 1861: Richard Oliphant, E. B. Talcott, Benjamin Doolittle, M. Doyle, A. C. Mattoon, James Doyle, Charles E. Allen, George Talcott.
The success of the school was most gratifying, and during 1864-65 the number of pupils rapidly increased and far surpassed the minimum number required by the Legislature. This success induced the Legis- lature to appropriate (act of April 4, 1865) $6,000 annually, provided each Assembly District might send one pupil free, and provided the city should provide suitable buildings and grounds for the institution. The immediate control remained with the Oswego Board of Education, who were to act under general direction of the superintendent of public instruction in their management of the school.
The city accepted the proposition, and in the summer of 1865 the Board of Education purchased the old United States Hotel property, on the north side of Seneca between Sixth and Seventh streets. About $14,500 were expended in adapting the buildings to their new uses, making the total cost, exclusive of furniture, $26,000.
The school first occupied its new house in February, 1866. A few rooms on the first floor were used for recitations by the Normal pupils, the larger part of the building being devoted to the "Practice School," which was an important feature of the original training school The children of the district in which the school was established attended in the same building and were taught by the Normal students, under direction and instruction of competent teachers appointed by the Board of Education.
On the 17th of April, 1866, the General Normal School Act was passed providing for six new Normal schools, each to be governed by a local board appointed by the state superintendent. By an act of March 27, 1867, the Oswego institution was accepted by the State as one of its Normal Schools, and the superintendent appointed the follow- ing named persons as the first local board, which remained unchanged until 1870 :
Delos De Wolf, Daniel G, Fort, Samuel B. Johnson, David Harmon, John M. Bar- row, Gilbert Mollison, Benjamin Doolittle, Theodore Irwin, John K. Post, Abner C. Mattoon, Thomson Kingsford, Thomas S. Mott, Robert F. Sage.
449
OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.
The local board and its officers for 1894 were as follows :
Gilbert Mollison, Frederick O. Clarke, Alanson S. Page, John C. Churchill, Benjamin Doolittle, John Dowdle, John A. Place, Abner C. Mattoon, Laurence Clancy, Edwin Allen, George B. Sloan, S. Mortimer Coon, Theodore Irwin. Gilbert Mollison, presi- dent ; Theodore Irwin, treasurer ; John Dowdle, secretary.
The whole number of graduates from the Normal School to 1894 is 1,780.
The Oswego Normal School has now been in successful operation about thirty years and it is still at the head of the Normal School sys- tem of this State. Its graduates have gone out in successful educa- tional work to all parts of the country, and point with pride to the in- stitution that fostered and developed their talents.
The six new Normal Schools of the State went into operation from 1867 to 1871, leaving the Oswego School as the parent of the system in New York State.
Mr. Sheldon was continued as principal and was given competent assistants. It soon developed that many scholars who were able to pass an examination in elementary branches, were still defective in other necessary studies and in general thoroughness, necessitating pro- vision for their more complete instruction. There also arose a constant and increasing demand for teachers who had been favored with normal training, to take charge of the higher schools throughout the State. To meet these demands two courses were arranged in 1866, one for training common school teachers, occupying one and a half years, and one especially for teachers of higher schools, covering two years.
The school was eminently successful and soon acquired fame far be- yond the bounds of this State. What became known as "the Oswego school system " was held up as a model for emulation everywhere in educational circles, and calls from near and distant States became numerous for teachers who had been trained under that system. From Maine to California are schools that have been or are officered from this parent institution.
In the year 1868, the old school building having become inadequate for its purposes, it was taken down, with the exception of the rear of the west wing, and the present commodious and handsome structure erected, at a cost of about $60,000. In 1885 further improvement 57
450
LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.
was made by removing the old wing and building the present wing in its place, at a cost of about $20,000.
Considerable changes have been made in the courses taught, which have finally been resolved to the present single English course, though diplomas are granted in the classical and scientific courses. The change abolishing the classical course was made in 1890. It was the original intention of the law that two pupils from each assembly district in the State should be taken free. The law as it now exists admits free two pupils from each school commissioner district. As matter of fact the school has practically been free to State pupils from the first, while those from other States are required to pay a tuition of $40 per year.
The school of practice, which constitutes so important a feature of the Normal School, was organized in May, 1861, under the following resolution : " Resolved that Primary School No. 2, located in the High School building, be regarded as a model or experimental school, to be taught by the members of the model teachers' class, under the superin- tendence of such a teacher as the board shall provide." In 1865 the junior department was added, and after fifteen years of successful work, the need of giving practice in higher grades to teachers led to organ- izing the senior department. In October, 1885, the kindergarten, which had for a number of years been a private school, was made free and joined to the school of practice, thus completing the line of work from the home to the High School.
Following was the faculty of this school for 1894 :
Edward A. Sheldon, A. M., Ph. D., Hamilton College, Oswego State Normal and Training School; didactics.
Isaac B. Poucher, A. M., Hamilton College, Albany State Normal School ; arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.
Charles S. Sheldon, Oswego State Normal and Training School ; biology.
Charles B. Scott A. B., Rutgers College; geology and mineralogy, astronomy, phys- ical geog., methods in nature study.
Richard K. Piez, Baltimore Manual Training School ; drawing and manual training, physics.
Amos W. Farnham, Oswego State Normal and Training School; methods in arith- metic and geography, superintendent of School of Practice.
Margaret K. Smith, Normal School of New Brunswick, Canada, Oswego State Nor- mal and Training School ; philosophy and history of education, English language and methods of teaching the same and criticism work in School of Practice.
451
t
OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.
Lydia E. Phoenix, Mansfield (Pa.) State Normal School, Oberlin (Ohio) College, Emerson's School of Oratory, Boston ; reading, vocal music and physical culture.
Caroline L. G. Scales, Wellesley College; history, literature, rhetoric, and composition. Annie L. Harwood, Oberlin College; assistant in English literature.
Mary H. McElroy, Oswego State Normal and Training School; principal of Senior School of Practice and assistant in composition and rhetoric.
Elizabeth Salmon, Oswego State Normal and Training School; principal of Junior School of Practice.
Amanda P. Funnelle, Oswego State Normal and Training School ; principal of kinder- garten department.
Anna J. Flynn, Oswego State Normal and Training School; physical culture, principal of the Primary School of Practice, and assistant in kindergarten department.
Mary L. O'Geran, Oswego State Normal and Training School; general assistant in School of Practice, penmanship.
Anna E. Manktelow ; general assistant.
Edward A. Sheldon, A. M., Ph. D., was born of New England parentage in Genesee county in October, 1823, and there began his elementary education, attending first the common schools of the com- munity and subsequently the private academy of Charles Huntington. At the age of twenty one he entered Hamilton College with the inten- tion of fitting himself for the bar. He entered the classical course and while preparing for a prize oration to which he was appointed, his health failed and he was forced to leave the institution at the close of his junior year. While here he distinguished himself as a scholar of unusual intelligence, ability and studious habits. He then spent a short time with the famous horticulturist, Charles Downing, of Newburg, where he met a gentleman who induced him to come to Oswego and engage in the nursery business. This enterprise, however, proved a failure, and during a state of suspense respecting his future he familiarized himself by a thorough study with the condition of the poorer class of the city. The result was the formation, with the assistance of some influential friends, of an " Orphan and Free School Association," of which he was asked to become the teacher. He had at this time completed arrangements for entering the Auburn Theological Seminary, but he promptly relinquished whatever ambition he cherished in that direction, and at once entered the work to which he has ever since given his best energies, and highest attainments. This was in the winter of 1848-9 and his school was known as the "ragged school." In May, 1849, he married Miss Frances A. B. Stiles and the next year opened a private
452
LANDMARKS OF OSWEGO COUNTY.
school in the old United States hotel. Soon after this he became superintendent of the public schools of Syracuse, a position he held two years, during which time he consolidated, graded and or- ganized the lower schools and brought together various collec- tions of books into what is now the Central Library of that city. In May, 1853, he became a permanent resident of Oswego and from that year dates his long and successful connection with the public and nor- mal schools of the city. Mr. Sheldon is one of the oldest and best qualified educators in the State, and is conceded to be the father of the present educational system of Oswego. He has refused many offers to go elsewhere, notably in 1867, when he was invited to take charge of a pedagogical department in the University of Missouri and also to be- come the principal of the State Normal School at Albany. Both of these offers he refused, preferring to devote his energies to the con- summation of plans which he had practically inaugurated. His princi- ples and methods of education had been formally accepted as sound by the National Convention in 1865. In 1869 he received the degree of A. M. from Hamilton College, and to this in 1875 was added the de- gree of Ph. D. from the Regents of the University of New York.
By 1880 years of toil and labor began to tell upon his firm constitu- tion and he felt he must resign his place as principal of the school, which had become part of his very life. But strong friendships came forward to sustain him ; the Normal School Board would accept only a temporary resignation and insisted upon continuing his salary His health became shattered and he turned to country life, where he fully recuperated, and resumed the full duties of his principalship in 1881. Since then he has unceasingly devoted his time and remarkable energies to the maintenance and ever increasing importance of the leading Nor- mal school of the State.
Libraries .- Oswego was without public libraries until 1853 except such small collections as were connected with the schools of the city. The first library movement was inaugurated in the latter part of the year 1852. At a meeting held at the city hall December 9 an organ- ization styled the Oswego Atheneum was effected and the following officers were chosen :
John C. Churchill, president; Zina D. Stephens, first vice-president; William H.
453
OSWEGO AS A VILLAGE AND CITY.
O'Gorman, second vice-president; Charles T. Richardson, recording secretary ; Samuel R. Beardsley, corresponding secretary ; directors, George Skinner, Cyrus K. Stone, J. D. Culver, William T. Mason, and William H. Wheeler.
Their object was, first, the founding of a library, then the establish- ing of a reading room, and finally the inauguration of a lecture and de- bating course. Shares were placed at $20 each, bearing seven per cent. interest.
The movement never got beyond its organization. Under date of July 17, 1853, Gerrit Smith, the noted public benefactor and a large property owner in Oswego, addressed a letter to a number of the lead- ing men of the city, offering the sum of $25,000, for the purpose of found- ing a public library. His sole stipulation was to the effect that it should be situated on the east side of the river, where his property interests were mainly located, and which had recently been terribly devasted by a sweep- ing fire. His only other injunction specified that the privileges and bene- fits of the library should always be conferred upon all persons without regard to race, color, or condition. He also declined to have the institu- tion called by his name. The trust was accepted, and April 15, 1854, the Oswego City Library was incorporated by Alvin Bronson, James Platt, George H. McWhorter, Henry Fitzhugh, Edwin W. Clarke, John B. Edwards, James Brown, and De Witt C. Littlejohn. Later Mr. Smith donated $5.000 more to the institution. The trustees purchased a lot on the corner of East Second and Oneida streets, erected upon it the present substantial library building, and appointed George C. Mc- Whorter, who has since purchased the books, and who has ever since been one of its principal managers. Mr. Brown died in 1857 and was succeeded as trustee by Hamilton Murray, who served until his death in 1869. George H. McWhorter died and was succeeded by his son George C. Henry Fitzhugh removed from Oswego in 1865 and James Platt died in 1870; the former's place was filled by the election of Gil- bert Mollison. D. C. Littlejohn removed to Buffalo in 1867 and was succeeded by Thomson Kingsford ; and upon his return to Oswego in 1870 again became trustee in place of Mr. Platt. Upon the death of Mr. Murray in 1866 Theodore Irwin was elected. In 1880 Edwin W. Clarke resigned and was followed by Frederick O. Clarke. Alvin Bronson died in 1881 and was followed by Charles Rhodes, whose
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.