USA > New York > Genesee County > Our county and its people : a descriptive and biographical record of Genesee County, New York, v. 2 > Part 3
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A physician who was widely beloved and very successful was Dr. William M. Sprague. He was born in New Marlborough, Mass., in 1803; removed with his father to Covington in 1812; attended Middle- bury Academy; took a course in medicine at Pittsfield, Mass., after studying with Drs. Daniel White and Warren Fay, and in 1829 was licensed to practice by the Genesee County Medical Society. After practicing for three years, he engaged in manufacturing and agricul- tural pursuits until 1849, when he resumed the practice of his profes- sion. He died in 1868, mourned by thousands of friends and acquaint- ances.
Dr. Silas Taylor is believed to have been the first practicing physi- cian in the town of Byron, his location there dating from the year 1812. The following year Dr. Samuel Taggart was also engaged in practice there. Little is known of the careers of these men. Dr. Oliver Hulett followed in 1821 and Dr. Landon D. Woodruff in 1828. Dr. Sanford Emery, who came in 1840, was a native of Vermont and a graduate of the Burlington Medical College in the class of 1838. His practice in Byron covered a period of about thirty years. Subsequently he located in Alabama, and still later in the northern part of the town of Batavia,
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where he continued in practice until a short time before his death in 1880. Dr. J. D. Fowler came from Covington, Wyoming county. He began practice in Byron after having prepared himself for the profes- sion under the direction of Dr. Eben Warner, his brother-in-law. He was yet a young man when he died, in 1843, from blood poisoning con- tracted while making a post mortem examination. Dr. Appleton W. Billings located at South Byron in 1851. He was born at Barre, N. Y., in 1821, and studied medicine with Dr. Willard Eaton of Orleans county. He retired from active practice in 1888, after a successful and honorable career. Dr. Homer P. Smith was in practice here in 1846 and for several years thereafter.
One of the most eminent physicians and surgeons to practice in the town of Byron was Dr. C. C. F. Gay, who became a member of the county society in 1852. He was born at Pittsfield, Mass., in 1821, re- ceived his preliminary education in the schools of Lebanon Springs, N. Y., and the Collegiate Institute at Brockport, N. Y., and in 1844 began the study of medicine under the guidance of Dr. Joseph Bates of Lebanon Springs. He attended lectures at Woodstock, Vt., and was graduated from the Berkshire, Mass., Medical College in 1846, after which he took a course of lectures at the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia. After practicing a short time at Bennington, Vt., he located in Byron, where he was very successful. In 1853 he removed to Buffalo, where he soon attained a high position in the ranks of his profession. For many years he was surgeon to the Buffalo General Hospital, was a prominent member of the Erie County Medical Society and of the Buffalo Medical and Surgical Association, a permanent member of the New York State Medical Society and also of the Amer- iean Medical Association. During the War of the Rebellion he was surgeon in charge of Fort Porter. In 1883 he became professor of operative and clinical surgery at Niagara University of Buffalo. His death occurred at Buffalo March 27, 1887.
Dr. Earl B. Lounsbury, whose location at East Pembroke has been noticed, canie to Byron in 1864, where he continued in practice for ten years. He then removed to the West, where he died eleven years later. In 1823 Dr. B. A. Fuller located at Byron Centre and Dr. George U. Gleason at South Byron. The former removed to Le Roy soon after the death of his father, Dr. A. W. Fuller, in 1st ?.
Little is known regarding the careers of the earlier physicians of Darien. Dr. James E. Seaver, who was in practice in that town in
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1817, is generally believed to have been the first physician there. Dr. William P. Harris was located there in 1829, Dr. Erastus Cross in 1830, Dr. John M. Harrington in 1832 and Dr. Isaiah Rano in 1836. Dr E. W. Marsh is reported as having become enrolled on the membership list of the county society from that town in 1870.
Dr. Benjamin F. Fuller of Le Roy, who died in that village August 7, 1891, was born in Providence, R. I., November 17, 1845, was edu- cated in the Middlebury, N. Y., Academy, and in 1862 went to Le Roy and began the study of law with Gen. C. Fitch Bissell. He was grad- uated from the Albany Law School in 1865, but the legal profession not proving congenial, in 1850 he began the study of medicine, being graduated in 1813 from the Buffalo Medical College. In 1877, after a brief period of practice in Byron, he located in Le Roy, where he re- mained in practice until the time of his death.
Dr. Ganson W. Croff was born in Bethany April 1, 1845, and died March 22, 1893. He studied medicine under the direction of his father, Dr. Orlando R. Croff, attended lectures at Ann Arbor, Mich., and was graduated from the Buffalo Medical College in the class of 1861. His practice was always confined to the town of Bethany.
Dr. Howard W. Vickery was born in Yates, Orleans county, N. Y., August 29, 1834. In 1852 he entered the office of Dr. Ballard of Buf- falo, and in 1803 was graduated with the degree of M. D. from the Buffalo Medical College. He practiced for many years at Darien Cen- tre, and was successful. His death occurred March 16, 1892.
Dr. David C. Chamberlain, who died in Detroit, Mich., June 3, 1896, at the age of eighty-one years, was for thirty-five years engaged in suc- cessful practice in Le Roy. Early in the Civil war he was commis. sioned surgeon in the One Hundred and Fifth Regiment, N. Y. Vols .. serving until the close of the war. After retiring from practice of his profession in Le Roy he removed to Charlevoix, Mich. Dr. Chamber- lain was the successor to the practice of Dr. William Sheldon, an early practitioner in Le Roy.
Dr. John Follett Baker, who practiced in Batavia continuously from 1848 to within a short time before his death, which occurred May 15, 1898, was born at Roxbury, Delaware county, N. Y., September 14, 1815, and was graduated as an allopathic physician from the Geneva Medical College in 1839. In 1817 he became a homoeopathic practi- tioner, locating in Bat wia the year following. He was not only the first of that school to engage in practice in Batavia, but he was credited with being the oldest " new school" physician in New York State.
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CHAPTER XIX.
EDUCATION IN GENESEE COUNTY.1
REVISED BY PROF. JOHN KENNEDY.
A record of the details of the early efforts to establish means for the education of the young in Genesee county unfortunately has not been very carefully preserved. Early school records were either poorly kept or not preserved at all, in many localities, In the eastern section of the State records which throw considerable light on the important sub- jeet have been preserved. The Dutch West India Company, which for a period of about fifty years completely dominated the Hudson valley, realized that its own interests and the interests of the colonies would be best subserved by fostering the cause of education. Consequently one of the first persons it sent over to New Netherlands after a trading post and little colony had been established at Manhattan was a schoolmaster -- Johannes Megapolensis. This teacher was not only an instructor of the young, but a preacher and small farmer as well. The careers of most of the other early teachers corresponded with his in part. They not only taught school, but they did anything else, in conjunction with the practice of this precarious profession, which their hands found to do, in order to keep body and soul together.
With the end of Dutch rule in New York and the accession of the British a considerable improvement in educational affairs was brought about. While the Dutch permitted almost anybody to teach. or attempt to teach, the English required pedagogues, at first, to seeure licenses from the governor of the colony.' The English government was very
I For much of the information contained in this chapter, especially for the data regarding the union free school system of the village of Batavia, the writer is indebted to a pamphlet published in 1-66 by John F. Lay. Esta, for many years secretary of the Board of Education of Batavia. The more recent history of this system has been sapp hed principally by P. P Brandtsh, Esq. the present: Secretary of that body. The offer information regarding the educational institutions of the county has been drawn from various sources.
2 The license granted to 'ne fir -. finghy' teacher in Albany, a quaint document, read as fol- lows.
" Whereas, the teaching of the Englishtongue is necessary to this government ; I have, there- fore, thought ht tr &'ve L' ense t. John Shutte to bee the English S. nosimaster at Amany; And upon cou lition that the said John Shutte shall not demand any more wages from each scholar
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strict in regard to the qualifications of teachers. In the instructions given to Gov. Thomas Dongan in 1686 the following appears:
And wee doe further direct that noe Schoolmaster 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.
The cause of education in the colonies was also enhanced by one of the orders of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, incorporated in 1:01, relative to the qualifications of teachers :
1. That no person be admitted a Schoolmaster. till he bring Certificates, with re- spect to these Particulars following. 1. The age of the Person. 2. His condition of life. whether married or single. His Temper. 4. His Learning. 5. His Prudence. 6. His sober and pious Conversation. 7. His zeal for the Christian Re- ligion and diligence in his Calling. S. His Affection to the Present Government. 9. His Conformity to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England.
Previous to the Revolutionary War most of the teachers were men. But with the close of the Revolution the cause of education was rapidly advanced. The Regents of the University of the State of New York were incorporated in 1:34, and in their report for 1793 they called atten- tion to the benefits likely to accrue from the establishment of more schools in various parts of the State. In 1795 the Legislature, in re- sponse to the suggestion of Governor Clinton, appointed a committee to consider the subject. The report of this committee became a law. It appropriated fifty thousand dollars annually for five years for the gen- eral support of common schools. The act provided for the election of not less than three nor more than seven commissioners in each town, who had supervision of the schools of each town. The inhabitants in the different sections of the towns were authorized to meet for the pur- pose of procuring "good and sufficient schoolmasters, and for erecting and maintaining school houses in such and so many parts of the town where they may reside, as shall be most convenient," and to appoint two or more trustees, whose duties were defined by the law mentioned.
Early in the history of the State, lotteries were instituted by the State for the support of the schools. The first of these was that of 1799, when the sum of one hundred thousand dollars was to be raised, twelve
than is given by the Dutch to their Dutch schoolmaster. I have further granted to the said John Shutte that hee shall bee the mely English Schoolmaster in Albany
"Given under my hand, at Fort James, in New York, the 12th day of October, 195. " RICH'D NICOLLS."
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thousand five hundred dollars of which was to go to academies and the remainder to common schools. In 1805 a law was passed providing that the net proceeds of the sale of five hundred thousand acres of unappro- priated State lands should be made a permanent fund for the support of schools, the proceeds to be invested until the interest amounted to fifty thousand dollars, when that sum should be annually distributed among the schools. In 1811 a law was passed authorizing the Gov- ernor to name five commissioners to report a system for the organiza- tion of the common schools. The commission appointed consisted of Jedediah Peck, John Murray, Jr., Samuel Russell, Roger Skinner and Samuel Macomb. The bill they reported became substantially the common school law which continued in effect until 1838. This law pro- vided, in brief, that the several towns in the State be divided into school districts, and three commissioners elected in each town; that three trustees be elected in each district, to whom should 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; that the proportions re- ceived by the respective towns be sub-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 pay- ment of teachers; and that the whole system be placed under the super- intendence of an officer designated by the Council of Appointment. Gideon Hawley of Saratoga county became the first superintendent of common schools under this law, holding office from 1813 to 1821.
The founding of this system was an educational movement of tremen - dous importance to the State. Its benefits became instantly apparent. As Superintendent Hawley said in his second annual report, the great- est benefit of the system lay " 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 year 1838 the sum of one hundred and sixty thousand dollars, of the annual revenue of the United States deposit fund, was added to the amount to be appropriated among the various school districts. Up to this time the increase in the number of school districts was as fol- lows: 1798, 1,352 districts; 1816, about 5,000; 1820, 5,363; 1825, 2,642; 1830, 8, 812; 1835, 9,865; 1838, 10,583.
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Various important changes in the school law were effected from time to time. The subject of teachers' institutes was brought forward in 1842 at a meeting of the Tompkins County Teachers' Association, and the first institute in New York State was held at Ithaca, April 4, 1843. While the commission which framed the constitution of 1846 was at work a persistent effort to incorporate a paragraph providing for a free school system nearly succeeded. The friends of this important move- ment prepared a clause reading as follows:
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 thereafter be es- tablished therein.
The commission actually adopted the section by a vote of fifty-seven to fifty three, whereupon a provision was added directing the Legisla- ture to provide for raising the necessary taxes in the districts to carry out the plan. The convention then took a recess for dinner. At the afternoon session the clause relative to schools was referred to a com- mittee of one, with instructions to strike out the last two sections relat- ing to free schools. By this act the proposed measure was defeated.
November 13, 1842, the Legislature passed a law abolishing the office of county superintendent of common schools, directing appeals author- ized 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. But the measure, for the time being, was diastrous to the wel- fare of the common schools. Consequently, on December 16, 1847, the various statutes relating to common schools were consolidated into one act, with several amendments. By the latter town superintendents were to hold office for two years; the library law was modified so that library money might be used for teachers' wages, provided the number of volumes in the library had reached a certain proportion to the nun- ber of children.
But the day of free schools was near at hand. March 26, 1849, the Legislature, after receiving the report of the state superintendent on this question, passed an act "establishing free schools throughout the State." The question, it was provided, was to be submitted to the people at the ensuing general election, and if a majority voted against it the act was to be void. Fortunately for the cause of education, the proposition was carried by the decisive vote of 249,872 to 91.951. Still the public was not satisfied with its own action. The practical applica tion of the system met with widespread and intense opposition from
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the start, and it soon became evident that the voters would have to be given an opportunity to repeal the law. Therefore the question of its repeal was submitted to popular vote in November, 1850; but the good sense and judgment of the people, or a majority of them, prevailed, and the proposition to repeal the law was lost by a majority vote of 25,08S. By this aet the free school system was established for all time-almost half a century ago.
In 1853 a law was passed providing for union free schools, authoriz- ing the inhabitants of two or more districts to elect trustees and levy a tax on the property in the united districts for the payment of teachers' salaries and other expenses. The union free schools in Genesee county are noticed further on in this chapter. In 1856 the provision of the law of 1851 appropriating annually eight hundred thousand dollars was repealed, and a tax of three-fourths of a mill on the dollar on real and personal property was substituted for payment of teachers' wages. The rate bill was continued, and school commissioners, who previously had been appointed by boards of supervisors, were to be elected on a separate ballot. In 1867 the rate bill was abolished and a tax of one and one-fourth mills on the dollar was substituted. Since that time there have been many changes in the school law, but it is not desirable or necessary to note them here.
It is a misfortune to the present and future generations that the rec- ords of the pioneer schools in Genesee county were so meagerly kept, if kept at all; and still more unfortunate is it that in some cases there are in existence actually no official records. It is known, however, that as early as 1801 a log school house was built at Ganson's (now Le Roy), and that the first person to engage in instrueting the youth there was Luseba Scott, who afterward became the wife of James Ganson. In 1802 she was succeeded by Phoebe Bates. In 1803 Mrs. Stephen Wol- cott was in charge. In all probability this was the first school taught in Genesee county. In the year 1804 a frame school house was erected there by a stock company organized at Le Roy. This was the first frame school house west of the Genesee river. The first teacher em- ployed there was a man named Pomeroy, who came from Albany. Da- vid Hascall succeeded him. The third school house in town stood op- posite the old Lent tavern. It was used for the triple purpose of school house, church meeting house and Masonic hall for several years. The famous Round House', as it was known, was erected in 1825 by the
I See the chapter on Masonry in Genesee county.
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Masonic fraternity at Le Roy. It was intended for use as a Masonic temple. But the local lodge became practically extinct upon the out- break of the anti-Masonie agitation following the disappearance of Will- iam Morgan; consequently the Round House was never used as a Ma- sonic hall. In 1828 the second story was converted into a school room and occupied by a select school until 1859, when it was razed to make room for the Universalist church ereeted in that year. In 1834 William Le Roy Annin of Le Roy, who in that year had been graduated from Harvard college, rented the Round House and opened a classical school. His efforts met with great success. Among those who studied under his supervision were many youths who became some of the fore- most men of Genesee county. Later on schools were conducted sue- cessfully in the building by Messrs. Daniels, Olmsted, Whiting, Brooks, Reed, McCall, Beckley and others. The destruction of the Round House led to an immediate demand for another classical school, and the result was the founding of the Le Roy Academie Institute, to which more extended reference will be made later on.
The exact date of the establishment of the earliest school in Batavia cannot be learned from the records. Thomas Layton, the pioneer teacher at this point, located in Batavia in 1801, and soon afterward opened a private school " east of the land office." The next school of which any record has been left was that established in 1822 by Mrs. Benjamin H. Stevens, who continued it until 1849. Two private schools were opened in the village in 1825 by the Rev. James Cochran and Miss Gardner. A year later Messrs. Nixon and Stearns founded an institution known as the Batavia Academy. Reference to the files of the newspaper of that year (1826) shows that select schools were also conducted by Miss L. Starr, Mrs. Aikin, Mrs. Winchester, Miss Colton, Miss Deshon and Miss Plumb. In 1827 M. W. Fletcher and Mr. Hovey advertised that they would give instruction in all the common branches, and many advanced studies. In 1828 Horace U. Soper opened a pri- vate school, which he conducted successfully for several years. In 1829 Miss Colton's school passed under the management of Miss Blanchard. In 1832 and 1833 Mrs. Ford, Miss Burnham and H. H. Smead advertised for pupils. Lester Cross and E. C. Porter also ad- vertised "select schools " in 1835. In 1841 Mrs. J. F. Ernst opened a boarding school at what is now 422 East Main street; and in the same year schools were also established by S. E. Hollister and C. N. Chand- ler. Mrs. Rathbone opened a private school in 1842; D. E. Walker
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one in 1843; and Young and Oliphant one in 1844. In the latter year the Batavia Female Seminary threw open its doors, under the manage- ment of Miss Beardsley and Miss Smith.
In 1848 Mrs. William G. Bryan, who is still remembered by many residents of Batavia, some of whom were her papils, established a suc- cessful academic school in the former residence of David E Evans. This school was one of the best-perhaps the very best private school ever conducted in Batavia. The sons and daughters of many of the most prominent residents, and numbers from out of town, received their education within the walls of this time-honored building. After Mrs. Bryan's retirement Miss E. Y. Thrall taught in the same building, from 1875 to 1889. In 1864 a college preparatory school under the management of E Wildman was opened in the village, but its career was brief and not successful, from a financial view point In the same year a private school was established by Miss McCully. The well known Park Place School, the last of the more prominent and success- ful private schools of Batavia, was established in 1883 by Miss Ellen K. Hooker. In 1887 she was succeeded as principal by Miss Mary J. Stevens. In the meantime the union frec school system of the village had advanced to a position where it was prepared to offer educational advantages entirely beyond those which might be extended by even the most carefully conducted private school having but one or two instruc- tors. The inevitable result was the upbuilding of the public school and the decay of the private institution-and the career of the Park Place School ended, for the want of financial support, in 1890.
The first school in Alabama probably was that opened by Henry Howard in a log school house in 1817.
Charles Austin was the pioneer teacher of Alexander, but when he began his career there is unknown.
The first school in Bergen was taught by Harvey Kelsey, a graduate of Yale College. Within a few years after his advent Titus Wilcox, Joshua Field, Chloe Wright (daughter of Deacon Benjamin Wright). Lucy Hill and Elizabeth Pierson also conducted schools in that town. Just when Kelsey's school was opened cannot be learned. But it prob- ably was between 1803 and 1805. In 1808 Hamilton Wilcox, who came from East Guilford, Conn., opened a school, which was largely attended. Ile was then but sixteen years of age. He continued teaching until 1813, when he joined the American army in the war of 1812-14 At Black Rock he received wounds from which he died.
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