USA > New York > Oneida County > Utica > Outline history of Utica and vicinity > Part 7
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LEICESTER AMBROSE SAWYER, (1807-1898) ; Hamilton, '28 ; Princeton Theol. Sem .; Pres. Central Coll., O., (since absorbed by Wooster Univ.) ; 30 years resident in Whites- U. Herald, Dec. 30, 1898. boro ; Elements of Biblical Interpretation ; Organic Appleton's Christianity ; The American Bible ; A New Translation Cyc.Am. Biog. Vol. V., p. 407. of the New Testament and Vol. I. of the Old Testament ; Reconstruction of Bible Theories.
THOMAS JEFFERSON SAWYER, (1804-1899) ; Middlebury, '29 ; Prin. Clinton Liberal Institute, 1845-52 ; one of the Adams's Dict. founders of Tufts College, Mass .; from 1869 Prof. Theol. Am. Biog. and Dean of the College. Doctrine of Eternal Salvation : Appleton's Cyc.Am. Biog.
Who is God, the Son or the Father ? ; Endless Punish- ment.
EDWARD BRIGHT, (1808-1894). For many years Ed. N. Y. Examiner and Chronicle, the organ of the Baptist Pioneers, p. Church ; lived in Utica in his youth, and until about 1841 ; 528. Directory, 1834 from 1833 or -4, with Dolphus Bennett, printed and pub- Jones'sAnnals lished in Utica the N. Y. Baptist Register, (founded 1824 ; P. 583. A. M. Beebee, Ed). Pastor Bleecker St. Baptist Church, 1840-1841.
EDWARD GAYER ANDREWS, b. New Hartford, 1825.
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
Lippincott's Consecrated Bishop Meth. Epis. Ch., 1872 ; Diocese, Biog. Dict.
Who's Who in Iowa. Residence, since 1888, New York.
America.
MELANCTHON WOOLSEY STRYKER, b. Vernon, 1851; Nat. Cyc. Am, Hamilton, '72 ; grandson of Com. Woolsey ; Pres. Ham. og. Adams's Dict. Coll. since 1892. Miriam and Other Verse ; Hamilton, Am. Biog. Lincoln, and other Addresses ; The Letter of James the Just ; Lattermath.
Who's Who in America.
CHARLES FREDERICK Goss, (b. 1852). Hamilton, '73 ; Pastor Bethany Ch., Utica, 1881-5. The Optimist ; Hits and Misses ; The Philopolist. Residence, Cincinnati.
Ibid.
GEORGE HODGES, (b. Rome, 1856). Hamilton, '77 ; Dean Epis. Theol. Sch., Cambridge, Mass., since 1894. Christianity between Sundays ; In the Present World ; The Battles of Peace.
MOSES MEARS BAGG, M. D. (b. Utica 1816) ; Yale, '37; Med. Coll., Geneva, N. Y., '41 ; studied afterward in Paris ; established at Utica since 1846; Pioneers of Utica, 1877; Memorial History of Utica, N. Y., 1892.
Other Historians of Oneida County are : POMROY JONES, (1789-1884), Annals and Recollections of Oncida County, 1851. DANIEL E. WAGER of Rome, (1823-96), Our County and its People ; a descriptive work on Oncida County, 1896 ; and various historical addresses. REV. A. D. GRIDLEY, of Clinton, (1819-1876), History of the Town of Kirkland, 1874. HENRY C. ROGERS, (1832-1880) ; His- tory of the Town of Paris and the Valley of the Sauquoit, 1881.
MARC COOK, (1854-1882), and CHANNING M. HUNTINGTON, (1861-1894), were known as writers of verses, the former under the name of Vandyke Brown ; he also wrote The Wilderness Cure.
HAROLD FREDERIC, (1856-1898), b. Utica, d. London, England. Proof reader on the Utica Herald ; chief edi-
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NOTEWORTHY CITIZENS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
torial writer for the Utica Observer, 1880; editor Albany Evening Journal, 1882 ; on N. Y. Times, 1884 ; then went to England ; m. a granddaughter of Beriah Green. His stories were written in England ; their scenes laid in Amer- Daily Papers. ica, and usually in N. Y. State. Sethi's Brother's Wife ; The Lawton Girl ; In the Valley ; The Copperhead ; The Damnation of Theron Ware (English title, Illumination) ; left completed MSS. of two novels, Gloria Mundi and The Market Place.
CLINTON SCOLLARD, (b. Clinton, 1860). Hamilton, '81 ; Prof. Eng. Lit., Ham. Coll., 1891-6. Residence, Clinton. Pictures in Song ; With Reed and Lyre ; Old and New Adams's Dict. World Lyrics ; Songs of Sunrise Lands ; Skenandoa ; Am. Authors. Hills of Song ; also descriptive prose and prose romance ; A Man at Arms.
WOMEN WRITERS.
Mrs. CAROLINE STANSBURY KIRKLAND, (1808-1864). A resident of Clinton in her youth, and wife of Prof. William Griswold's Prose Writers Kirkland of Hamilton College ; wrote stories and descrip- of America. tions of pioneer life ; also other works. A New Home, Nat. Cyc. Am. Who'll Follow ?; Western Clearings ; Essay on the Life p. 356. Biog., Vol. V., and Writings of Spenser ; Personal Memoirs of Washing- ton ; Garden Walks with the Poets.
Mrs. FRANCES MIRIAM BERRY WHITCHER, (1812-1852) ; b. Whitesboro. A still popular humorist ; wife of an Episcopal clergyman settled at Elmira and later at Dict. Am. Allibone's Whitesboro. Widow Bedott Papers ; Widow Spriggins ; Adams's Dict.
. Authors. and an unfinished story, Mary Elmer, edited and com- Am. Authors. pleted, with biographical sketch of the author, by Mrs. MARTHA L. WHITCHER, author of Stray Leaves in the History of Whitesboro.
Mrs. EMILY CHUBBUCK JUDSON, ( "Fanny Forester " ), Authors. (1817-1854). While a teacher at Miss Sheldon's Utica Life and Let- Kendrick's Female Academy, wrote Alderbrook and other tales and E. C. Judson. ters of Mrs.
Allibone's Dict. Am.
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
verses ; m. Rev. Adoniram Judson, and went with him as missionary to Burmah.
The sisters, FRANCES and METTA FULLER. Lived at Rome and afterwards in Whitestown ; their earliest work a poem written in conjunction; both wrote novels and Adams's Dict. verses, and Frances became a large contributor to Ban- Am. Authors. Allibone. croft's History of the Pacific States. Born in the thirties, Metta died in '85, Frances in '98. They married brothers, Victor. All Over Oregon ; The New Penelope ; Two Mormon Wives ; The Senator's Son.
Griswold's Fem. Poets, pp. 246-9.
Mrs. ELIZABETH JESUP EAMES. Lived in New Hartford from 1837. Poems : The Crowning of Petrarch ; Cleo- patra ; Sonnets to Milton, Addison, Dryden, and Tasso.
Lib. Am. Lit.,
Stedman and Hutchinson. Adams's Dict. Am. Authors.
Mrs. MARY CLEMMER AMES, (1839-1884) ; b. Utica. Poems of Life andNature ; Ten Years in Washington ; Memorials of Alice and Phoebe Cary.
Ibid.
Mrs. THEODOSIA FOSTER, (" Faye Huntington "), (b. 1838). An educator of Verona, N. Y .; has written ex- tensively for young people. In Earnest ; A Baker's Dozen ; A Modern Exodus.
Mrs. ISABELLA MACDONALD ALDEN, (" Pansy " : (b. 1841 ). Lived in New Hartford, where her husband was Pastor Who's Who in Pres. Ch., 1873-6 ; began there the series of " Pansy Sto- America. ries," embracing about 75 titles, and edited S. S. Maga- zine ; Lesson Helps, for primary S. S. work. Esther Reid ; A King's Daughter ; Four Girls at Chautauqua, etc. Residence, Philadelphia.
ROSE ELIZABETH CLEVELAND, (b. 1846). Lives at Hol- Adams's Dict. land Patent ; George Eliot's Poetry and Other Studies ; Am. Authors.
The Long Run, a Novel.
Who's Who in America.
Mrs. FLORENCE MORSE KINGSLEY, (b. 1859). Daugh- ter of the artists J. B. and Eleanor Ecob Morse ; lived during girlhood at Utica ; m. Rev. Charles R. Kingsley. Titus, a Soldier of the Cross : Stephen ; The Cross Tri- umphant. Residence, Staten Is., N. Y.
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NOTEWORTHY CITIZENS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
EDUCATORS.
To the Educators already named we add the follow- ing :
THOMAS HASTINGS, (1784-1872). Father of Thomas S. Hastings of Union Theol. Sem .; began in 1805, at Utica, a work original and of great value. This was the estab- Pioneers, pp. lishment of a high standard of church hymns and music. 444-6. He held that religion has the same claim upon song as upon speech ; composed, published, and taught music continuously from 1823-32.
GEORGE WASHINGTON GALE, (1789-1862) ; Union, '14 ; P. H. Fowler's founded Manual Labor School at Whitesboro, 1835 ; at Presb'm in the head of a colonizing party of his old neighbors, Cent. N. Y., founded the town and college of Galesburg, Ill. PP. 552-4.
GEORGE ROBERT PERKINS, (1812-1876) ; Hamilton, '52 ; Teacher in Liberal Institute, Clinton ; Prin. Utica Acad- emy, 1838-44 ; Prof. and Prin. State Normal Sch., Al- bany ; Director Dudley Observatory, 1852 ; Regent of the Univ., 1862 ; resident of Utica continuously for more than twenty years before his death ; author of a series of mathematical text books.
M. H., p. 235.
WILLIAM HENRY CARPENTER, (b. Utica, 1853). Cornell, Leipzig and Freiburg ; Lecturer on N. European Lit., Cornell, 1883 ; Lecturer and Ass't Prof., Columbia, 1881-90 ; succeeded Prof. H. H. Boyesen as head of the Biog., Vol. Dept. German Languages, 1875 ; Grundriss der Nouis- landischen Grammatik ; Translation of an Icelandic poem, date, A. D. 1400 ; and many reviews and contributions to Cyclopædias and the Standard Dictionary.
Nat. Cyc. Am.
VIII , p. 116.
EDWARD NORTH, (b. 1820) ; Hamilton, '41 ; Prof. Greek Nat. Cyc. Am. and Latin at Hamilton, 1843-62 ; of Greek Lang. and ; Biog., Vol. IV, Lit., from 1862 ; in constant service of fifty years has in- P. 213. structed 2,000 students ; Necrologist since 1855. Trien. Cat. Ham. Coll.
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
1bid.
ANSON JUDD UPSON, (b. 1823) ; Hamilton, '43 ; active as educator ; held chairs of Logic, Rhetoric and Elocution at Hamilton, 1849-70 ; Sacred Rhetoric and Pastoral Who's Who in Theol. at Auburn Theol. Sem., 1880-7 ; Regent of the Univ., from 1874; Chancellor, froin 1892 ; Residence, Glens Falls, N. Y.
America.
HERMANN CARL GEORGE BRANDT, (b. 1850) ; Hamilton, '72 ; Assoc. Prof. German, Johns-Hopkins, 1876-82 ; Trien. Cat. Ham. Coll. Prof. Mod. Langs. and Philol., Ham. Coll., since 1882. Who's Who in German Grammar for Schools and Colleges ; German America. Reader ; also, (with Prof. H. C. G. Jagemann), German- English and English-German Dictionary.
ARTISTS.
HENRY INMAN, (1801-1846) ; b. Utica. Brother of Commodore Inman ; student under the artist Jarvis ; ex- celled in portraits, but was also distinguished for landscapes and miniatures. Most of his works are in England ; por- traits of Wordsworth, Dr. Chalmers and Macaulay; others are in this country. In the Capitol at Washington is his portrait of Chief Justice Marshall.
Tuckerman's Bk. of Am. Artists. U. Semi-Cent., P. 107. America.
ERASTUS DOW PALMER. (b. 1817). Came to Utica a lad in 1826, and is mentioned as a resident in the direc- tories for 1844-50 ; at first carpenter and pattern maker ; afterward executed portrait busts and bas-reliefs, and later ideal pieces. The Indian Girl ; The White Captive ; The Sleeping Peri, etc. The great gilded sheep that for thirty Who's Who in years adorned the Utica Steam Woolen Mill was one of Palmer's youthful creations ; specimens of his finer work are also to be found in Utica. His home has for many years been in Albany.
Dr. HENRY HOGEBOOM worked in clay and marble in Utica between 1850 and 1870 ; excelled in portraiture in intaglio.
Tuckerman's Bk. of Am. Artists. Drake's Am. Biog.
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NOTEWORTHY CITIZENS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
M. E. D. BROWN, (prob. 1810-1896). Painted portraits and landscapes for many years from 1850. GEORGE W. KING, J. B. MORSE and Mrs. ELEANOR ECOB MORSE have more than a local reputation.
LEMUEL MAYNARD WILES, (b. 1826). Taught drawing in Utica public schools for a number of years before 1864. School Rep't., 1869. Director College of Fine Arts, Ingham Univ., Leroy, N. Who's Who in Y. ; Director Art Dept. Univ. of Tenn., Nashville. Resi- America. dence, New York.
IRVING RAMSEY WILES, (b. Utica, 1861). Son of L. M. Wiles. Studied at Art Students' League in New York, and in Paris with Boulanger, Lefebre and Carolus Duran ; Ibid. portrait and figure painter, and illustrator for leading mag- azines. Residence, New York.
ARTHUR B. DAVIES, (b. Utica, 1862), of Welsh parent- N. Y. Eve. age. His earliest work was illustrating for The Century Post, Apr. 24, and St. Nicholas magazines. In his works landscape N. Y. Critic, 1897. broadly treated is subsidary to the human and poetical Apr. 1897. conception. Residence, New York.
ACTORS.
JAMES HENRY HACKETT, (1800-1871). Comedian and Manager ; merchant in Utica 1820-25 ; made his first es- Pioneers, p. say as actor in the part of "Dromio" in New York, 1826. Nat. Cyc. Am.
495. Later made a great success in London and New York as Biog. " Falstaff," a part in which he was said to be without a rival.
JOHN A. ELLSLER, (b. 1822). Actor and Manager. For two seasons from 1852 or 1853, associated in the manage- ment of the Utica Museum, (where is now the store of Buckingham and Moak.) Maggie Mitchell was in his com- G. E. Cooper. pany. His wife, FANNY, took the principal woman's parts. Who's Who in His daughter, EFFIE, has won a reputation in "Hazel America. Kirke."
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
WILLIAM H. CRANE, a native of Mass. Came to Utica about 1864 ; was engaged by the Holman Opera Co., com- posed chiefly of the young members of the Holman fam- ily, with headquarters at Utica, -their programmes opera bouffe ; remained with them for two seasons ; married in Utica ; has been an actor for the past ten or twelve years.
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS.
Of Oneida County men who have filled high civil or po- litical positions, we note :
Nat. Cyc. Am. Biog. Trien. Cat. Ham. Coll.
JOHN JAY KNOX, of Knoxboro, (1828-1864). Hamilton, 49. For seventeen years Deputy Comptroller and Comp- troller of the National Currency.
ELLIS H. ROBERTS, (b. Utica, 1827). Yale, '50 ; for many years editor of the Utica Herald ; Member of Con- gress, 1871-5 ; Ass't U. S. Treas., in charge of Sub-Treas- ury at N. Y , 1889-1893 ; U. S. Treas., 1898. Government Revenue ; The Planting and Growth of the Empire State.
Adams' Dict.
Am. Authors.
Lippincott's Biog. Dict.
THOMAS L. JAMES, (b. Utica, 1831). Postmaster of New York, 1873-81 ; Postmaster General of the U. S. 1881-2, under Presidents Garfield and Arthur. Residence, New York.
Appleton's Cyc. Am. Biog
GROVER CLEVELAND, (b. 1837). Governor of New York, 1882. President of the United States 1885-9, 1893 -7. Spent several years of his youth in Clinton. Residence, Princeton, N. J.
WILSON S. BISSELL, (b. New London, Oneida Co.) Post- master General 1893-5, under President Cleveland. Resi- dence, Buffalo.
WILLIAM H. WATSON, M. D., (b. 1829). Brown Univ., Nat. Cyc. Am. '52. Hahnemann Med. Coll., Pa., '54. Surgeon Gen. of Biog. the State of New York, 1880 ; Regent of the University, 1881.
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NOTEWORTHY CITIZENS OF ONEIDA COUNTY.
ELIHU ROOT, (b. Clinton, 1845). Hamilton, '64. Ap- Daily Papers, pointed Secretary of War by President Mckinley, July, 1899. July 22, 24, 1899.
DR. M. O. TERRY was appointed Surgeon General of the State by Governer Morton, and re-appointed by Governor U. Herald, Black. The new military code abolished the office at the Aug. 26, 1898. end of Governor Black's administration, 1898.
S. N. D. NORTH, (b. Clinton, 1848). Hamilton, '69. Ibid., Sept. 7, Son of Edward North ; was a member of the National Dec. 16, 1898. Industrial Commission by appointment of President McKin- ley, 1898 ; Assistant Director of the U. S. Census, 1899.
THOMAS R. PROCTOR is one of the Honorary Commis- Ibid., Dec. 26, sioners to represent New York at the Paris Exposition of 1898. 1900 ; appointed by Governor Black, 1898.
VISITORS.
There is a vague tradition that WASHINGTON once visit- Jones's Annals ed Old Fort Schuyler, and it is on record that, in con- p. 167. junction with Governor George Clinton, he owned land in Wager's Hist. Oneida Co., p. 52. Oneida County.
LA FAYETTE made an earlier visit to the County than that of 1825. In October, 1784, four months after Hugh
Pioneers, p. White had arrived at Whitestown, La Fayette, coming to 628. Fort Stanwix to assist at a treaty between the U. S. Gov- Mrs. Whitch-
er's pamphlet, ernment and the Chiefs of the Six Nations, was a guest of " A Few Stray the White family in their first log house. Forty years, Leaves," 1884, p. 13. later he recalled their hospitality, and visited the widow of the honored pioneer.
THOMAS MOORE lingered long in our valley in the early . " Lines Writ- years of the century. His reference "to the mighty Mo- ten at the hawk" recalls the time when the volume of water in the Cohos, "Moore. river was much greater than at present.
The visit of the Magyar Patriot, LOUIS KOSSUTH, in the interest of his country's freedom, is vividly remembered,
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
(See II.), and the presence of other public men is recorded under the appropriate dates.
We are glad also to recall that CLARA BARTON was once a student at Clinton.
DANIEL WEBSTER, WASHINGTON IRVING, JOSEPH BONA- PARTE, and CHARLES DICKENS, are to be numbered among the distinguished visitors by whose presence our history is enriched and endeared.
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Saturday Globe
UTICA FREE ACADEMY.
XII.
EDUCATION.
IN a summary of the schools of Oneida County, the point chiefly to be dwelt upon will be the gradual adoption and development of the Public School system. The sys- tem enjoys the sanction of the State of New York, and partial financial support from the State Treasury.
At the first meeting of the State Legislature, after the adoption of the Constitution of 1787, (George Clinton being Governor), an act was passed incorporating the Regents of the University in accordance with the scheme devised by Alexander Hamilton, and placing them in general charge of the colleges and academies of the State. The Regents, in their annual report for 1793, called the atten- tion of the Legislature to advantages which would accrue by the establishment, in various parts of the State, of schools for the instruction of children in the lower branches of education.
At the opening of the session of 1795, Governor Clinton initiated the great movement for a Common School sys- tem. A committee of the Assembly was almost im- mediately formed, and soon reported a bill entitled, "An Act for the Encouragement of Schools." Without delay this bill passed both Houses, and received the sanction of the Governor on April 9th, 1795. It appropriated $50, - 000. annually for five years, and county boards and super- visors were required to raise by tax a sum equal to one- half that allotted by the State, to be applied to teaching the "branches most useful to a good English educa- tion."
7
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
During the five years for which funds were provided, about fourteen hundred schools were successfully main- tained. Then followed a period of twelve years of strug- gle in the Legislature by the friends of Common School education to revive, and make permanent provision for, a school fund. In 1801 the Legislature directed the rais- ing by lotteries, known as Literature Lotteries, of moneys to be disbursed by the Regents for academies and schools, and this method was practiced until 1821, when a new State Constitution was adopted by which all lotteries were prohibited.
In the meantime the lottery funds had been invested in real estate, but many schools remained closed for want of Randall's support. Annually Governor Clinton renewed his ener- Com. Sch. Sys. getic plea for their reorganization ; his successors, Gover- nors Lewis and Tompkins, were equally urgent, and at last, in 1811, Gov. Tompkins was authorized to appoint five commissioners to report a system for the establish- ment of Common Schools.
State of N. Y .. pp. 5-17.
Ibid., p. 24.
Gideon Hawley, a young lawyer of Albany, was the first New York State Superintendent of Common Schools. He received his appointment from the Governor and the Council, in January, 1813. The famous Lancasterian system, recommended by Gov. Tompkins's committee and strongly urged by DeWitt Clinton, was, after thorough in- vestigation, ably enforced by the Superintendent. Gen- eral unity was secured, and the efficiency of the system was considered marvelous. Its most striking feature was that of mutual instruction by the pupils, who were by turns students and monitors under the larger supervision and instruction of the master.
Sch. Rep't., 1868, P. 5.
In the year 1814, on petition of a number of citizens, the Regents of the University granted a charter for an Academy for boys in Utica. "The first Common School
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EDUCATION.
of the city was established in the year 1816, Utica then Ibid., 1875-6, P. being a small village in the town of Whitestown, one year 18.
before it was constituted a town."
In 1817, the first Act of the Legislature in relation to the schools of Utica was passed. Section 28 declares : " All the property of the 12th district of Whitestown is vested in the Trustees of the village of Utica for said free 1868, p. 5. schools." By Section 29, the village was authorized "to raise not exceeding $100. per year for the support of such poor children as were entitled to a gratuitous education."
In 1818, the first Academy building was finished and served as Academy, Town House and Court House. In 1828, its pupils numbered one hundred and fifty. The Directory of this year says that the public appropriation of six hundred dollars a year for the Common School is not Pioneers, p. enough to make it free. That of 1829 states that gratu- Directory, itous instruction is furnished to as many students as possi- 1828. ble ; others pay from fifty cents to one dollar and a quar- ter per quarter. More than two hundred are in attendance, and many rejected for want of room. Tuition fees were paid until 1853. After this date the Academy was free, Address, J. W. and open to girls as well as boys. "Female pupils had Williams at from time to time been taught in the Academy, as well in Academy. Opening New the languages as in other branches of instruction." The Sch. Rep't., 1868, p. 84. matter of free schools for all was so urgently pushed by E. A. Wetmore, one of the first six commissioners, that he has been called "mainly the author " of the free schools of Utica.
In the meantime, however, in 1837, the need of a char- tered day and boarding-academy for girls induced a second petition to the Regents. This was granted. The school has flourished to this day and is still under the general di- rection of a board of citizen trustees. The first Prin- cipal was Miss Sheldon, who afterwards became the wife
M. H., p. 464.
Sch. Rep't.,
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OUTLINE HISTORY OF UTICA AND VICINITY.
of Dr. Nott, the father of Union College. Later, Miss Kelly and her sisters had a long and successful adminis- tration. The school has been thoroughly adopted as a highly creditable local institution. The formal title under which it was incorporated, the Utica Female Academy, has been modernized, and the school is well and widely known as Mrs. Piatt's School.
In 1826, Gov. DeWitt Clinton and the able chairman of the literary committee of the Senate, John C. Spencer, concurred in strongly recommending measures for securing a higher standard of qualifications for teachers. Among these were : I A seminary for the education of teach- ers. 2. Bestowing state bounty to academies, not as be- fore, in proportion to the number of classical students in each, but of their graduates who shall have been licensed as teachers of common schools. 3. Seminaries for the education of females in the higher branches of knowledge.
In the year 1827, the same Governor recommended pro- viding for the common schools " small and suitable collec- tions of books and maps, and periodical examinations to test the proficiency of the scholars and merits of the teach- ers," and the Superintendent of Schools declared that " Instruction should be co-extensive with Universal Suf- frage." Gov. Clinton's last message, written in 1828, the month before his death, urges a generous school policy which should "double the powers of our artisans by giving them a scientific education." The system of Joseph Lan- caster was retained until about 1827. It was found to be unsatisfactory for small rural schools, and not adapted to the higher branches of education. The better instruction of teachers became the pivot of the movement for improv- ing the school system.
In 1835, Gen. John A. Dix, Chairman, and a committee of the Board of Regents, in a report upon this subject,
IOI
EDUCATION.
advised the establishment of a teachers' department to be connected with the academy in each of the senatorial dis- tricts of the State. Following this a bill was brought be- fore the Assembly for the establishment of a separate Department of Public Instruction, whose secretary should be Superintendent of Common Schools, and ex-officio Chancellor of the University. The same year saw the founding of the School District Library.
In May, 1842, a notable convention of County Superin- tendents was held in Utica. Among delegates present were Horace Mann, Dr. Wm. Gallaudet, and Dr. Alonzo Potter. George B. Emerson, of Boston, made an earnest plea for Normal Schools for the training of teachers ; Hor- ace Mann supported him, while his own addresses turned chiefly on the need of making education universal. In December, 1844, the first Normal School, that at Albany, was formally opened with twenty-nine pupils. George R. Perkins, of Utica, was a member of its Faculty as Professor of Mathematics.
The Utica Directory of 1837-8 mentions two public Directory. schools ; that of 1839-40, four public schools.
In 1844, what is rightly termed the Free School campaign was opened. A committee appointed by the Onondaga County Teachers' Institute presented a report, the opening words of which were : "We maintain that every human being has a right to intellectual and moral education ; and that it is the duty of government to provide the means of such education to every child under its jurisdiction."
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