USA > New York > Orange County > The history of Orange County, New York > Part 55
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
In the western part of the county, in what is now the town of Deer- park, the first settlers were Dutch and Huguenot families, who came from Kingston and New Paltz. In the eastern part the settlers came up the Hudson River and consisted almost entirely of English speaking people from New York and the Long Island towns. In fact, so close was the association with New York, that for some years the New York reports included Orange and our county had no independent county government.
In 1693, according to the report of Governor Fletcher, made by Mat- thew Clarkson, secretary of the province, there were in "Orange County not above twenty families, for the present under the care of New York."
In 1698 there were reported to Governor Bellomont about thirty fami- lies and 140 children in Orange.
These children were scattered over a wide district, in pioneer homes, where luxuries were unknown and where even the necessaries of life were difficult of attainment. There were no schools for their instruction at this time, nor for a number of years afterward, but it is evident that many of them at least did secure the elements of an education, either from their parents or from some other source, for we find them later, in the Dutch and Huguenot settlements at any rate, as the men of affairs, prominent in the church and in the community, able to read and write and to trans- act business in a business-like manner.
By 1723 a second generation had grown up and new settlers had come into the county. In that year 543 children are reported. By this time the pioneers had overcome the greater difficulties of the early settlement. Their farms yielded abundant supplies and there was opportunity to make provision for the instruction of their children. That this oppor- tunity was made use of and that some provision was made, in most parts of the settlements, for the instruction of the boys and girls, there is little reason to doubt.
The young people of this generation learned "to read and write and cast accounts," at any rate. There were few, if any, schoolhouses, and tradi- tion has it that the teachers, like the tailors and the shoemakers, went about from house to house, giving instruction in the three R's.
At this time no text-books had been published in America and books
603
SCHOOLS OF ORANGE COUNTY.
of all kinds were very scarce in the frontier settlements, so that the few books attainable were quite generally provided by the teacher as the tools of his profession. The hornbook was used for teaching beginners. This was a flat piece of wood with a handle. On the flat part of this there was fastened a piece of horn, scraped thin to make it transparent. A strip of paper on which the lesson was written or printed, was placed between the horn and the wood. These lessons, protected by the horn, would last a long time and could be used by many different pupils. The hornbook was used for teaching the letters, some of the combinations of vowels and con- sonants and either the Lord's Prayer or some other verses of easy reading. A copy of the Bible was often the only printed book in the school and was used as a reading book.
The material for the instruction in arithmetic, in language and the more difficult words in spelling were contained in the teacher's note-book, which he had carefully prepared. under the direction of some other teacher. similarly equipped. These note-books contained the rules and tables in arithmetic, many problems, lists of words for spelling and selec- tions for memorizing. In fact, the teacher's note-book was his tool-chest, and its size and completeness were his recommendations. The posses- sion of a Bible, a psalm book, a copy of Dillingham's arithmetic or some other English work, and a few books of general literature were sufficient to mark the pioneer pedagogue as a man of great distinction in his pro- fession.
On the hornbook the letters of the alphabet were usually followed by the character &, to which were added the Latin words per se and the English word and, making & per se end. Many of the teachers knew no Latin and condensed this into "Ampersand," and this word has come down to us meaningless, except as we know its origin.
When the pupils had learned to use the quill pen, which the teacher fashioned for them with his penknife, they were provided with a few sheets of paper, bound together in strong covers, and they proceeded to make, more or less carefully, a note-book like the teacher's. Some of these note-books, still preserved, show the character of the work done in these early schools. Besides the matters enumerated above some have riddles and anecdotes, evidently intended as practice in language. One which I . have seen, written by a young lady, has the following exercise for punctu- ation :
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
"There is a lady in this land Hath twenty nails upon each hand. Five and twenty on hands and feet And this is true without deceit.'
Much attention was paid to penmanship, and the copies prepared by the teacher were often as perfect as the engraved copies of the modern copy-book. These copies were kept by the pupil and practiced with painstaking care. A reproduction of a copy written by Joseph Dolph. with a quill pen of his own make is given to show the skill in lettering with which some of these old schoolmasters prepared their copies.
05588330772408113200120
It would be of great interest if we could know more of these pioneers of the teacher's profession and their work. But there are few records of them left. They were generally men, in the early days always men, and probably few of them possessed much learning beyond the rudiments which they taught.
There was no opportunity for higher studies and the few young men who desired to enter college had to find a tutor, usually a clergyman, who could give him instruction in the preparatory studies.
When the first schoolhouse in Orange County was built I do not know. It is possible that there was a building used for this purpose on the Quas- saick, now Newburgh, during the occupancy of the Palatinate colony, pre- vious to 1730. It is certain that a building for school purposes was erected there soon after 1752, although it is not possible to determine when this school was opened. There is reason to suppose that a teacher was in- stalled soon after the transfer of the Glebe lands to Alexander Coklen and Richard Atherton "as trustees thereof, for the sole use and behoof of a minister of the Church of England. as by law established, and a school-
005
SCHOOLS OF ORANGE COUNTY.
master, to have the care of souls and the instruction of the children of the . neighboring inhabitants." This transfer was made in 1752.
The land known as the Glebe was part of a grant of 2190 acres on the west side of the Hudson River, "beginning on the north side of Quassaic ('reek and extending up the Hudson 219 chains and into the woods 100 chains." made for the benefit of a colony of Lutheran refugees from the Palatinate of the Rhine. They had crossed over to England and Queen Anne directed that this grant be made for them. From this tract 500 acres were set apart, "according to the queen's pleasure." for the support of their minister and 100 acres for the schoolmaster's lot. . \1- though the Queen's interest had been manifested in 1708, the patent was not issued until 1719, and then the land soon passed into other hands.
After the transfer of the Glebe lands in 1752 as mentioned above. a house was built for the schoolmaster. "with a school-room in the rear." Little is known of this school. Ruttenber, in his history of Orange County, gives the names of some of the teachers who were in charge of it at different times before the Revolution, as follows: Lewis Donveur, in 1768; Joseph Penney, in 1769: Thomas Gregory, in 1773. In 1774 John Nathan Hutchinson became the teacher and continued in the school until shortly before his death, which occurred in 1782.
There were other schools in various parts of the county, previous to the Revolution. One James Carpenter, a teacher at or near Goshen, is mentioned in certain records in 1702.
In the town of Deerpark, as it is now constituted, there were at least two school buildings which were erected before the war. One of these was located about a mile from the boundary of the city of Port Jervis. on the east side of the Neversink River, and the other where the village of Cuddebackville now stands. In this latter building Thomas Kyte taught for some time. In 1775 he married Lea Keator and removed from the valley to the town of Wantage, Sussex County, New Jersey, where he became a prosperous farmer and where some of his descendants still re- main. In 1776 Thomas White, an Englishman, was employed as teacher in the same district. He came, with his wife Elizabeth, and lived at the home of Ezechiel Gumaer near the Never-ink River. The school was also conducted in one of the rooms of the Gumaer house. Later, when the 1 ouse was reconstructed as a fort. for the better protection of the people
606
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
of the neighborhood, and several families had gathered there, the school was continued in the fort. Mr. White remained throughout the entire period of the war, and the children who were so fortunate as to be his pupils, enjoyed advantages which very few could have at that time. He was a man of some literary attainments, small in stature, but quick and active in body and mind.
Mr. Peter E. Gumaer (1770 to 1869) who was one of his pupils, says of him, in his history of Deerpark: "I conclude that Mr. White had been taught in one of the best of the common schools of England, and in a very perfect manner so far as he had progressed. He was a very eloquent reader and could perform the same with an air suitable to the nature of the subject on which the reading treated. I have always con- sidered him as the equal of the best readers I have ever heard."
Commenting on the advantages which Mr. White gave his pupils and the value of his services to the community, Mr. Gumaer says, "This man's services have been a greater benefit to the third generation of the descen- dants of this neighborhood than those of any other individual, in conse- quence of which he ought to be held in remembrance by our descen- dants and be incorporated in our history, as the first important originator of education among us."
Mr. White spent his old age on a farm in the town of Wallkill and is buried in the churchyard of the Presbyterian church at Otisville. In his will he left a sum of money from the proceeds of which there should be paid $to each year, to the minister of each of four different churches, for preaching a special sermon, to be known as The White Sermon. The four churches benefited are the Dutch Reformed church of Port Jervis, the Congregational church of Middletown, and the Episco- pal and Presbyterian churches of Goshen.
The school on the east side of the Neversink River, near Port Jervis, was in session at the time of Brant's raid on Tuesday, July 20, 1779. The Indians and Tories under Thayandanega, or, as the whites called him, Joseph Brant, came down the Delaware valley and separated into two divisions. One party followed the river and the other crossed the point of land between the two rivers, keeping near the base of the mountain and crossed the Neversink near the old Indian burying ground. The object of the raid, as stated by Brant in his report to the commanding officer, was to secure booty, especially beef cattle. But it would appear
60;
SCHOOLS OF ORANGE COUNTY.
from the method of attack that there was another object, that of capturing or killing Major Decker.
The attack was made simultaneously upon the home of Major Decker and upon the farms four miles down the river across the State line, in New Jersey. The men of the Major's family were away attending a funeral and the house, although it was surrounded by a stockade, was easily taken and burned. It is probable that the most of the men were at- tending the funeral when the attack was made. This funeral, or at least the burial, was held at the meeting house of the Dutch Reformed church, which stood on East Main street, near the culvert over which the Eric Railroad crossed that street. This also was burned later in the same raid. One of these bands came upon the school house with the school in session. The teacher, Jeremiah Van AAuken, grandson of James Van Auken, who was the first magistrate of the Minisink region, was killed and scalped and the children scattered. According to the deposi- tion of Mehary Owen, one of the Tories who accompanied Brant on this raid, that chieftain had issued strict orders that no women nor children should be injured. This deposition was taken by Henry Wisner, Esq., at Goshen, and, while there is little dependence to be put upon the word of such a renegade, there is no proof that any of the children were harmed.
The story so often told and sometimes discredited, that Brant himself came upon the party that had killed Van Auken, and put paint upon the clothing of the children to protect them, is too well authenticated to be rejected. It is more than tradition.
There are persons still living who have heard the story told by those who were there, on that day. Among others, Margaret Decker, daughter of Major Johannes Decker, born in 1770, was there at school that day. She afterward married Benjamin Carpenter and left many descendants. She told the story many times to children and grandchildren, substantially as it has been told by the people of the valley since 1779. Several of these grandchildren are still living and agree in all the main points of the story as she told it to them. This is only one of many cases where the story is a family tradition.
Peter E. Gumaer was a lad nine years old, at the time this occurred. He was a neighbor and playfellow of those children in the other district. who were in school that day. He grew up with them and knew them
608
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
intimately all their lives, for he outlived them all, dying beyond the mid- dle of his ninety-ninth year. In his account of Brant's raid, given with slight alterations in Eager's History of Orange County, he tells the story substantially as it is told by the descendants of these children. The addi- tion of a brush and the color of the paint are touches not found in the orig- inal story.
This sketch of the schools in colonial times is fragmentary and unsatis- factory, but, there is so little that has been preserved concerning them, that no account can be other than fragmentary.
THE PERIOD OF THE PRIVATE ACADEMIES.
3
The movement for the establishment of schools of higher grade began with the people themselves. They knew what they wanted and pro- ceeded to obtain it in the most direct way. The method was much the same all over the State. The farmers and other well-to-do people of a considerable section subscribed the money necessary to put up a building and to provide the furniture and equipment needed. Then. when the building was ready for occupancy, it was leased to some teacher, whose compensation was the fees for tuition, paid by the students who attended. More than 300 of these institutions were established in the State.
In this movement for improved schools, the county of Orange was one of the first in the State to act. There were two other schools of this type which were incorporated before The Farmers' Hall Academy in Goshen, but the incorporation was not until several years after these schools had been in operation. The Clinton Academy at Easthampton and the Eras- mus Hall Academy in Brooklyn, were both chartered by the Board of Regents in 1787, while the Goshen school was not chartered until April first, 1790.
The building for the Farmers' Hall was erected in 1773 and the school was maintained as a school for instruction in academic subjects during the Revolution, with some interruptions.
To this school, in 1781. there came a man who was to do more for the cause of education in this county than any who had preceded him. Noah Webster had graduated from Yale in 1778 and had begun the study of law at Hartford. The invasion of New York from the north, by Bur- goyne, called for the services of every able bodied man, and young Web-
SCHOOLS OF ORANGE COUNTY.
ster marched to the valley of the Mohawk, as a private in his father's com- pany of Connecticut militia. After the campaign was over, he returned to the study of law and was admitted to the bar in Hartford in 1781. Instead of waiting at Hartford for a practice, he decided to enter the profession of teaching and probably came to Goshen in the fall of the same year.
The following letter of introduction, written by Henry Wisner, Esq .. a magistrate of Goshen, would seem to indicate that Mr. Webster was not a new comer in Goshen at that time and he had probably completed his first year in the school when it was written:
GOSHEN, N. Y .. August 26th, 1782.
Sir :
The bearer, Mr. Noah Webster, has taught a grammar school for some time past, in this place, much to the satisfaction of his employers.
He is now doing some business in the literary way, which, in the opinion of good judges, will be of great service to posterity. He. being a stranger in New Jersey. may stand in need of the assistance of some gentlemen with whom you are ac- quainted. He is a young gentleman whose moral as well as political character is such as will render him worthy of your notice.
Any favor which you may do him will be serving the public and accepted as a favor done your friend and very humble servant.
HENRY WISNER.
HIS EXCELLENCY, GOVERNOR LIVINGSTON.
During the preceding year, Prof. Webster had prepared the manuscript of the first part of his "Grammatical Institute of the English Language," the first text-book for the use of schools published in this country. This first part was the Webster Speller, not only the first school book published in this country, but also the most popular one.
Mr. Webster's object in leaving Goshen at this time, was to show these manuscripts to people acquainted with the educational situation through- out the country and to get their opinions on the probable demand for the work.
He visited Philadelphia and met a number of the members of Congress. among whom was James Madison, afterward president of the United States. Mr. Madison was himself, a thorough linguist and deeply inter- ested in the subject of schools. He also showed much interest in Mr. Webster and his proposed work. From Philadelphia, Mr. Webster went to Princeton and showed his work to the Rev. S. S. Smith, then a profes- sor and afterward president of Princeton College. Everywhere the pro-
610
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
ject was enthusiastically received and the young author returned to Goshen, greatly encouraged to complete his series of texts and to pub- lish it.
As we have already stated, no text books had been published in America. Moreover, at this time a widespread awakening to the importance of edu- cation was manifest throughout the country and the demand for books suitable for the instruction of the children, both in the elementary schools and in the academies was great. Accordingly, Prof. Webster returned to Goshen, continued his work there another year, during which he re- vised and completed his manuscripts, and in 1783, returned to Hartford and began their publication. The Grammatical Institution of the English Language was published in three volumes. The first was the speller, the second the grammar, and the third, the reader.
They seem poor and printed withi wretched type, when compared with the workmanship of modern text-books, but these little volumes, produced by an Orange County teacher, while teaching in its earliest academy, were most enthusiastically received and the demand for them taxed the capacity of the publishers to the fullest extent.
The speller, the first part published, was an immediate success. In fifty years, about twenty-five million copies were sold, and for a part of this time the sales exceeded a million copies a year. The royalty on this book was one cent a copy, and, for many years this royalty yielded the author a very comfortable income. The other parts of the work never had so large a demand as the speller, but the reception accorded them and the demand for them which followed, induced the young author to devote liis entire time to authorship, so that his two years in the Farmers' Hall Academy, at Goshen. comprised his entire work as a teacher.
What other teachers conducted this school before the date of its incor- poration under the university law, is not definitely known. The charter was issued April Ist "in the fourteenth year of American independence," or 1790. The school, however, had been in operation at least sixteen years, before this date, and ten years before the university law was passed.
The first principal of the school, after its incorporation was Benjamin Carpenter, who remained only one year, and then removed to the Mini- sink valley where he established a ferry over the Delaware and gave his name to the village of Carpenter's Point. A Mr. Minor succeeded him and he in turn, was followed by John K. Joline, who was said to have
SCHOOLS OF ORANGE COUNTY.
been a soldier of fortune, and, as such, had visited the Spanish Main and several of the Central and South American State .. He was not a young man at the time of assuming the principalship and tradition tells many stories of his eccentricities. He had charge of the school for several years and when he retired from the principalship, he remained in Goshen, living at one of the hotels until the time of his death. By a benevolent fiction he was supposed to deliver a course of lectures each year. The tickets were purchased by those who had been his pupils and by others who were benevolently inclined, and the proceeds were generally sufficient to defray his expenses, but few of the lectures were delivered, and these to very small audiences. Occasionally he would fill an engagement to teach for a few weeks, away from his beloved Goshen, but he could not be per- suaded to stay away long. He taught at different times, in the Minisink valley, in what is now the town of Deerpark, but for short periods only. He was erratic, leaving without notice, and returning when he pleased, and always going back to Goshen when he had earned money enough to relieve his present necessities.
There he would sit in his chair, on the porch of the hotel, always ready to tell of the many and varied experiences of his life to any who cared to listen.
One day he did not respond to the call of the gong which announced that dinner was ready, and they found him, sitting in his chair. dead. He had died without a struggle and unnoticed, sitting in his accustomed! place.
Some time previous to 1820, the Female Academy was established and became a part of the institution, controlled by the same board of trus- tees as the Farmers' Hall. William Ewen was the first principal in this department. Among the many teachers who had charge of this school during the earlier half of the nineteenth century were: Nathan Stark. Horace Sweezy. Victor M. Watkins, Rev. B. Y. More. David L. Fowler, Stephen D. Bross and Nathaniel Webb.
The last mentioned. Nathaniel Webb, became principal of both de- partments about 1835. Mr. Webb's influence, not only in this school, but also in the educational interests of the entire county, was such that he is worthy of more than a cursory notice in any account of educational matter- in this county.
He was a graduate of Union College and had caught some of the
612
THE COUNTY OF ORANGE.
enthusiasm of Dr. Nott in the cause of education. He had prepared for the ministry, but, on the completion of his studies at Union, he found his health so impaired that he had to give up work and spend some time in the South, recovering his lost vitality. He never became robust, but enjoyed a fair degree of health and was an indefatigable worker.
After leaving the principalship of Farmers' Hall, Mr. Webb estab- lished a boarding school for young ladies at Goshen, which had, for many years, a wide reputation and patronage. It was noted for its thor- oughness, its high moral tone, and for the real culture of its graduates. This school, which was later known as the Goshen Female Seminary, under the efficient management of Professor Webb, became one of the best schools of its kind in the State, and sent out many cultured women into the homes and schools of this section.
In connection with his school work, Mr. Webb was also one of the proprietors and editorial writers of the Democrat and Whig, a local paper published in Goshen, and continued his connection with that paper until the time of his death, which occurred in 1855. As an editorial writer for a political paper, he was so fair and impartial that he frequently became the trusted friend and adviser of both sides of a political controversy and his judgment had great weight on all political questions. As a teacher ; as a man of affairs in both the social and political world; as a Christian gentleman, interested in every good work in the community in which he lived and as an exemplar of true living and Christian manhood, he was a worthy example of what the teacher should be in any community.
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.