USA > New York > Erie County > Our County and Its People: A Descriptive Work on Erie County, New York (Volume 1) > Part 74
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The State Normal School in Buffalo was founded in 1870 and the building was finished and accepted on the 7th of September of that year. The local board, consisting of nine members, was appointed on the 14th of September. The board held a meeting and chose
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Henry B. Buckham the first principal. The school was opened on the 13th of September, 1871. It was open only three weeks when the first report was made showing an attendance of sixty-eight students. The members of the first local board were Nathan K. Hall, William H. Greene, Joseph Warren, Thomas F. Rochester, Francis H. Root, Henry Lapp (Clarence), Allen Potter (East Hamburg), Grover Cleveland and Albert H. Tracy. In the year 1872 the State appropriated $6,000 for the institution and a little over $1,600 was expended for books and apparatus. In 1875 the building was repaired and improved at an ex- pense of $5,000. In 1880 the attendance was reported as 259 with five academic students. There were seventeen graduates in that year. The total number of graduates at that time was 185 and 17 academic. The salary list was $14,175. In 1890 the number of graduates was 477 and 46 academic. The salary list in that year was $14,550. In the year 1885 about $1,500 was expended in improving the ground. In 1887 the building was extensively repaired and the Legislature appropriated nearly $26,000 for the erection of a building for a gymnasium, natural science department, etc. The first president of the local board was J. B. Skinner, who died about the time the school opened; he was suc- ceeded by Nathan K. Hall, who held the office until 1874, and was succeeded by Oliver G. Steele. In 1880 Francis H. Root was chosen and was succeeded in 1884 by Thomas F. Rochester. He died in 1887 and Stephen M. Clement was chosen. In 1892 he was succeeded by David F. Day. Henry B. Buckham resigned in 1886 and James M. Cassety was appointed principal. The total graduates in 1896 was 896; attendance 900.
The following is a summary of the educational institutions in Buffalo and Erie county, exclusive of country district and graded schools:
In Buffalo .- One university (University of Buffalo); one State Normal school; two medical colleges (University of Buffalo and Niagara University); one law school (Buffalo Law School, a department of the University of Buffalo, organized in June, 1887, by Hon. Charles Daniels and others); one dental college (University of Buffalo); one college of pharmacy (University of Buffalo); one school of pedagogy (University of Buffalo); two high schools; sixty-two brick and eleven wooden public school buildings; seven advanced private schools; six ordinary and two advanced German Protestant parochial schools; twelve kindergartens; thirty-one ordinary and eight advanced Roman Catholic parochial schools, of which eight are German, four Polish, and one French; eight orphan asylums; and five business schools, including Bryant & Stratton's, established in 1854. There are in the various parochial, private, and orphan schools about 20,000 pupils and 500 teachers.
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EDUCATION IN ERIE COUNTY.
In Erie county, outside of Buffalo (from the report of the State Su- perintendent of Public Instruction, 1897, covering the school yeer 1895-96):
FIRST DISTRICT.
TOWNS.
No. of districts
with school houses.
No. of teachers
employed.
No. of scholars
taught.
Value of
school houses
and sites.
Alden
12
15
454
$14,660
Amherst
17
22
992
25,750
Cheektowaga
9
18
990
36.100
Clarence
13
25
785
17,615
Grand Island
10
10
225
5,000
Lancaster
10
18
891
21,225
Newstead
13
21
867
23,450
Tonawanda
6
42
1,973
54,150
Totals
90
171
7,207
$197,950
Number of union free school districts, 6.
Number of private schools, 8; scholars, 472.
District libraries, 11,109 volumes; value, $7,191. Assessed valuation of districts, $22,630,500.
SECOND DISTRICT.
TOWNS.
with No. of districts school houses.
No. of teachers
No. of scholars
Value of
and sites.
Aurora
12
25
995
$51,595
East Hamburg
12
15
526
12,135
Eden
12
15
480
7,660
Elma
10
10
393
7,500
Evans
14
21
724
25,800
Hamburg
13
22
872
38,400
Marilla
9
10
316
6,510
Wales
9
10
270
4,345
West Seneca
8
12
593
12.000
Totals
99
140
5,169
$165,935
Number of union free school districts, 6.
Number of private schools, 8; scholars, 235.
District libraries, 8,040 volumes; value, $1,236.
Assessed valuation of districts, $13,407,579.
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school houses
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
THIRD DISTRICT.
TOWNS.
No. of districts
school houses.
No. of teachers
employed
No. of scholars
taught.
Value of
and siteu.
Boston
8
8
215
$3,825
Brant
6
7
317
7,800
Colden
10
11
315
5,970
Collins
10
13
497
10,275
Concord
15
29
955
26,050
Holland
11
13
405
9,035
North Collins
11
14
400
7.790
Sardinia
13
14
365
6,055
Totals
84
109
3,469
, $76.790
Number of union free school districts, 4.
Number of private schools, 3; scholars, 200.
District libraries. 3,775 volumes; value, $1,976.
Assessed valuation of districts, $7,328,127.
The first election of school commissioners after the change in the law abolishing their appointment by the boards of supervisors was held in November, 1859, the term of office being three years. Following is a list of commissioners for Erie county from that year to the present:
First district (now including the towns of Alden, Amherst, Grand Island, Cheek- towaga, Clarence, Lancaster, Newstead and Tonawanda)-Moses Lane, E. Danforth, Garret K. Lester, David W. Hershey, Buradore Wiltse, Benjamin F. McNeal, Gar- ret K. Lester, Henry Lapp, Charles A. Young, A. McC. Ball, Ernest Wende, H. K. Fullerton, John J. Lentz, Christopher E. Smith, Irving D. Eckerson.
Second district (including the towns of Aurora, East Hamburg, Eden, Elma, Evans, Hamburg, Marilla, Wales and West Seneca)-Amos Freeman, Byron Pratt. Thomas J. Powers, Ebenezer Holmes, James F. Crocker, George Abbott, George W. Holmes, George Abbott, Charles H. Ide, Leslie W. Bake, Willard F. Russell, James F. Ryther.
Third district (including the towns of Boston, Brant, Concord, Colden, Collins, Holland, North Collins and Sardinia)-Hiram A. Curran, V. Rensselaer Cary, Henry S. Stebbins, Pulaski L. Leggett, S. W. Soule, Russell J. Vaughan, Mark Whiting. John A. Wells, Gurney O. Dillingham, William A. Staffin, Wesley C. Dud- ley, Charles W. Ticknor.
Buffalo-E. S. Hawley, Joseph Warren, Sanford B. Hunt, J. B. Sackett, Henry A. Garvin, John S. Fosdick, Samuel Slade, Thomas Lothrop, J. A. Larned, William S. Rice; after this time the office became that of city superintendent; Chris. G. Fox, James F. Crooker, Henry P. Emerson.
In addition to the public schools in Buffalo and Erie county there are
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EDUCATION IN ERIE COUNTY.
a large number of parochial and private institutions, especially in the city, which are worthily carrying out the purposes of their founders, .and accomplishing a most beneficent work in their respective fields. These are noticed in other pages of this volume and need not be detailed here.
COUNTRY SCHOOLS.
Outside the city of Buffalo in the various towns of the county, there are many union and graded schools which are conducted under modern methods and by teachers and principals of ability. Brief notes of most of these schools have been gathered for the closing pages of this chapter.
Angola (town of Evans) has a Union School and Academy for the accommodation of which the school building was enlarged in 1894 to nearly double its former capacity; for this the district was bonded for $6,000. This school was organized in October, 1870, and the academic department was opened in October, 1874. The list of principals is as follows; J. W. Barker, A. A. Weaver, William Fox, G. L. Weeks, E. T. Lockard, W. H. Benedict, Ward Platt, J. H. Selden, M. J. Morse, Robert Bussy, F. W. Hebard, C. W. Vandegrift and Cyrus S. Palmer. The faculty now includes a principal, a preceptress, and five teachers. There is a graded school at North Evans for which a building was erected in 1895. There is an old graded school at Evans Center, with two departments; the building was erected in 1857.
The Farnham village graded school (town of Brant) is in district No. 5; a new building was erected in 1892, being a frame structure of two stories. The school has two departments and two teachers.
East Aurora Union School and Academy is one of the most flourishing educational institutions in the county. Previous to the organization of the Union School, the old academy was conducted under the methods prevailing in former years. The Union School was organized in 1883, with Prof. Howard Lyon, principal. There were at that time four teachers and the registration was about 175. In the follow- ing year the present efficient principal, Charles Goldsmith, was installed. In 1886 there were fourteen teachers and the registration was 625. In 1887 an addition was made to the old building at a cost of $12,000, and in 1896 a second addition was built at a cost of $20,000. At the present time the faculty includes fifteen teachers.
Alden has a Union School, the first board of education for which was elected De- cember 13, 1883, and was composed of Dr. Levinus W. Cornwell (president), Alois Bohner, jr., Dewitt C. Skeel, Joseph E. Ewell (clerk), Benjamin Gifford and George T. Bentley. By the year 1885 the school had nearly doubled in size. The school building was erected in 1879, at which time a graded school was maintained. The list of principals is as follows: F. W. Lindsley, I. B. Smith, J. C. Shadduck, Joseph A. Hall, John W. Curffey, Charles D. Coon, Wesley C. Dudley, - Flannigan, H. W. Adams, W. A. Torrance and J. P. Abbott. The school was placed under the Regents in 1897; there are now four teachers.
The Union School of North Collins was organized March 20, 1890. The buildings
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE.
were erected in 1882. The principals have been A. E. Dye, 1890-93; Lewis L. Shove, 1893-96; Frederick L. Gressman to June, 1897; and A. C. Miller. There are four teachers. The school building is now in process of improvement.
The village of Gowanda (town of Collins) maintains an excellent high school on the Cattaraugus county side. Union Free School, district No. 6, at Collins Center, was organized in 1883. The building is a two story frame structure erected about 1885. The first board of education were William. A. Johnson, Herbert A. Reynolds, and Matthew Beverly. John Garrett Smith is principal and has two assistants.
Akron Union High School was organized December 18, 1883, and occupied the old brick school house in which a graded school had long been taught. In 1890 a new brick structure was erected near the former one; the old one was burned in 1893. On this site the west part of the present building was erected. The principals have been F. W. Lindsley, George W. Watt and Orson Warren. There are eight grades in the school, and the principal has eight assistants.
A Union School and Academy is conducted at Orchard Park, East Hamburg; it was organized as district No. 6. The academic department was organized in Jan- uary, 1894, at which time the institution was placed under the Regents. The school has three departments, with Allen K. Hoag, principal. The building is a two story frame structure erected about ten years ago. This school stands very high and is a source of pride to the community. Webster's Corners, in East Hamburg, has a graded school, with A. H. Chamberlain, principal.
The old district school in Lancaster village was maintained as such until February 3, 1894, when a Union Free School was organized and a board of education elected. An academic department was at once established and in May, 1894, the school was placed under the Regents. The building is a three story brick, with modern im- provements. A good library and a fine collection of physical and scientific apparatus belong to the school. The following persons constituted the first board of education: John O. Garretsee, Dr. John G. Miller, Thomas Leary, Jacob Gottschalk and John Leininger. Twelve teachers are employed, with Burt B. Farnsworth, principal. The first high school class was graduated in June, 1897.
Union school district No. 5, in Sardinia village, was formed by a consolidation of the district at the upper end of the village and the one at the lower end. The school building was erected in 1882 and is well adapted for its purpose. There are two departments in the school and two teachers, with Charles Bernard, principal.
Colden village has a graded school which is taught in a two story frame building erected about 1885. The present principal is Alton Bates.
There is a Union graded school in Wales village, for which a two story frame school building was erected in 1892. The Union district was formed in 1896 by the consolidation of three former districts.
A graded school with three departments and three teachers is maintained in Hol- land village, with Frank B. Wilbur, principal. The school building is a frame two story structure erected about 1887.
A sketch of the Parker Union School and Academy in Clarence has been given in an earlier page: the academy was established about 1841, and efforts were made for about twenty five years to maintain the institution, but without permanent suc- cess. In 1869 a Union School was organized under the name Clarence Classical Union School, to which the trustees of the academy transferred the building. The
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EDUCATION IN ERIE COUNTY.
district is a very large one. In 1872 Jared Parker gave liberally towards the proper equipment of the school, and his name was incorporated in the name of the institu- tion; he also gave land to enlarge the grounds, and finally gave $15,000 for a perma- nent endowment fund. provided the district would raise an equal amount; this was accomplished in 1882. In 1896 the school went under care of the Regents. In 1897 an addition was erected to the building at a cost of $5,000 and an observatory built. After the expiration of Mr. Bissell's term as principal he was succeeded by Herman C. De Groat, 1870-80; John J. Morris, 1880-85; Edward A. Parks, 1885-94; George A. Bolles, 1894-97. Professor Bolles has eleven teachers associated with him.
The territory embraced in the present school system of Tonawanda was organized as Union School district No. 3 about 1866, and the several smaller schools were abandoned upon the completion of the three story brick building on Clinton street in 1870. This building continued to answer the purposes of the entire district until the spring of 1891, when five classes were temporarily provided for elsewhere pending the erection of the two eight-room buildings, the Delaware street and Murray schools, which were finished early in 1893. In 1892 the schools were first placed under a superintendent, and the work of the high school was placed upon a perma- nent basis. Regular courses were then provided, and competent instruction, gener- ous library facilities and laboratory equipment were supplied. Several classes of graduates have already been sent out from this department. The growth in popula- tion and school attendance cannot be better shown than by a comparison of the number of teachers in 1885, which was then eleven, with the present number, thirty- nine. Tonawanda has a school population of 2,250. In place of the old building on Clinton street, before mentioned, and which was burned December 26, 1896, there is now in process of erection a modern and commodious high school building which will provide for 300 pupils in the high school department and for 500 in the grades, with all necessary additional facilities. Its cost will be about $65,000.
In Williamsville village the schools were graded for several years, both the one in the old stone school house (which has been described), and the other in the old academy building. Williamsville Union Free School district No. 3 was organized May 7, 1892, and a board of education elected consisting of Henry W. Dodge (presi- dent), Adam L. Rinewalt, James Chalmers, Demeter Wehrle, Philip J. Snyder, John Hoffman. The principals have been George E. Smith, W. M. Pierce and D. B. Albert, who now has five assistants. The school is under the Regents.
The Union Free School at Eden Center was long a graded school with two, later with three, and finally with four teachers. It was organized as a Union school in the fall of 1895 with four departments and four teachers, and in 1896 was placed under the Regents. In 1897 the old school house was rebuilt, and a branch school is main- tained three miles southeast of the village. Louis E. Boutwell has been principal since 1895, and has three assistants; it is one of the best schools in the county.
In 1849 a large two-story brick school building was erected in Hamburg village, and the school was divided into two departments. This finally proved inadequate and in 1868 the present structure was built, to which an addition was made in 1889. The Union School was organized at that time and the following board of education elected: Rev. A. J. Wilcox, president: S. E. S. H. Nott, secretary; Dr. George Abbott, Dr. G. A. Schmidt, Dr. L. R. Leach, A. C. Calkins, Charles Sigel, Allen K. Dart, Joseph Kronenburg, O. C. Pierce and George Federspiel. The
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OUR COUNTY AND ITS PEOPLE,
school was opened under charge of C. W. Richards and two assistants. Suc- ceeding principals have been Fred H. Dick, Philip A. Lang, Fayette Kelly, Frank H. Briggs, Andrew H. Spencer, Byron H. Heath and T. F. Kane. Besides the principal there are now seven teachers. An academic department is maintained, and there is a free library and reading room connected with the institution. The village of Blasdell, in the town of Hamburg, has a graded school.
The Springville Academy was founded in 1829, at which time the sum of $2,000 was raised for the purpose, one-third to be paid in grain, one-third in live stock, and one-third in cash. A building was completed and the school opened in 1830 with Hiram H. Barney as principal; he was followed by Lorenzo Parsons, 1831-34; Edwin E. Williams, 1834-38; Alexander Hurst, 1842-44; Ephraim C. Hall, 1844-45; Will- iam Mosher, 1845-46; J. W. Earle, 1846-51; Moses Lane, 1851-58; Ezekiel Cutler, 1853-54; Eden Sprout, 1854-55; William S. Aumock, 1855-57; Rev. David Copeland, 1857-59; Rev. C. R. Pomeroy, 1859-65; Rev. William H. Rogers, 1865. In 1865 Archibald Griffith gave the academy $10,000, the interest of which was to be used mainly for the education of orphans and indigent children, and the Legislature authorized the adoption of the name Griffith Institute, which it has ever since borne. The later principals were A. R. Wrightman, 1866-70; Rev. W. W. Rogers, 1870-72; Rev. Mr. McIntyre, 1872-73; J. W. O'Brien, 1873-75; S. W. Eddy, 1875. In 1875 common school districts seven and eight were united as Union school district No. 1, and in 1876 Griffith Institute became a Union free school, but retained its former name. The remaining principals have been S. W. Eddy, 1875-79; George W. Ellis, 1879-82; Elbert W. Griffith, 1882-88; Robert W. Hughes, 1888-98. About 1885 a second brick school building was erected, doubling the original capacity, and in 1894 an old hotel was purchased and used as an annex. Besides the principal there are fourteen assistants; the school has about 500 scholars.
In Cheektowaga there is a graded school at Sloan, the building, a large two-story structure, being erected in 1890. Union free school district No. 7, Cheektowaga, comprising the village of Depew, was organized in 1893, and includes a part of old district No. 4, of Lancaster. In 1894-95 two brick school houses were erected at a cost of $10,000 each.
The town of West Seneca has three graded schools, one at Ebenezer, one at West Seneca, and the other at Gardenville; the former has been in existence about six- teen years and has two departments and two teachers. The first principal was Paul Metzger. The Gardenville school was organized in 1895, and is taught in a fine two-story frame building erected in 1896; there are two departments and two teach- ers; Albert E. Cook, principal.
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OLD COURT HOUSE AND JAIL.
First occupied in 1817. Abandoned March 11, 1876.
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JUDICIARY AND BAR OF ERIE COUNTY.
CHAPTER XXX.
JUDICIARY AND BAR OF ERIE COUNTY.'
In the earliest years of the Dutch and English settlements in America, the constituted authorities were invested with broad powers; but these could be exercised only within the restrictions of the laws of the mother country. By the terms of its charter the West India Company was supreme in the territory now included in this State, and all power was vested in the Director-General and Council, who were to be gov- erned by the Dutch (Roman) law, the imperial statutes of Charles V and the edicts, resolutions and customs of the United Netherlands, in all cases not otherwise provided for. The Dutch at home were gov- erened by a league of commercial guilds, represented in the States- General, that the organized interests of each class of people might be protected. The principle of conserving the ancient and vested rights of all the people as against any portion thereof, even a majority, and as against a government itself, was the foundation principle of the Dutch provincial authority on this side of the water, as well as in the mother country, and distinguished it from any of the English colonies.
It was not until 1624, a year before the accession of Charles I and the beginning of the second period of the Thirty Years war, that gov- ernment was actually established in New Netherland. In 1629 the manorial system was introduced, under which Patroons were invested with the powers and privileges of feudal barons, but no political or judical changes could be introduced without consent of the home gov- ernment. In Massachusetts the Puritans were then just beginning to organize a government having in view as a principal object "the pro- pagation of the Gospel." This was the parent colony of New England. The colonists on the Connecticut River were first governed by com-
1It is hoped that the bench and bar will approve the devotion of so much space to the history of the origin and development of our courts; the purpose being to thereby give this chapter ad- ditional interest and value to the non-professional reader, and at the same time correct an erroneous impression that widely prevails outside of the profession, and perhaps to a consider- able extent in it, that we are indebted principally to England instead of to Holland, for many of the laws and institutions we prize so highly.
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missioners appointed by the General Court of Massachusetts. In 1637 delegates from the three towns of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield were associated with the commissioners, and in 1639 a written consti- tution was adopted under which all freemen of the three towns were made equal before the law. In June, 1639, the government of the colony of New Haven was organized, the Bible was declared to be the constitution and none but church members were admitted to citizen- ship, the government being vested in seven men called Pillars.
In 1638 and 1640 the privileges of the Patroons (before mentioned) were considerably abridged, while those of free settlers were corre- spondingly extended. Wherever the people settled in sufficient num- bers the West India Company was bound to give them a local govern- ment, the officers to be appointed by the Director-General and Council, as in the Netherlands.
Upon the breaking out of the Indian war in 1641 Director Kieft was seriously alarmed and invited all masters and heads of families residing in New Amsterdam and its vicinity to assemble in the fort on August 28th. That was the first official recognition of the existence of "the people " in New Netherland. The freemen assembled and obtained something of the rights enjoyed by other colonists around them. They expressed themselves on the questions submitted to them and then appointed Twelve Men to represent them. These were as follows:
David Pietersen de Vries, president; Jacques Bentyn, Jan Jansen Dam, Hendrick Jansen, Maryn Adriaensen, Abram Pietersen (the miller), Frederick Lubbertsen. Jochim Pietersen Kuyter, Gerrit Dircksen, George Rapalje, Abram Planck, Jacob Stoffelsen, Jan Evertsen Bout, Jacob Walingen.1
They complained to Kieft of the arbitrary constitution of the gov- ernment and asked that such reforms be introduced as should prevent taxation of the country in absence of the Twelve; also that four men be chosen from the Twelve each year who should have access to the council. Thus they sought representation by the people. Kieft prom- ised these reforms, and then reminded them that they were called to- gether simply to consider how to escape the vengeance of the Indians.
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