USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > Centennial history of Cincinnati and representative citizens, Vol. I, Pt. 2 > Part 17
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The first load of earth excavated for the cellar of the new building was drawn away by Mr. Woodward himself and he had the pleasure of living to see the opening exercises on October 24, 1831. He died January 23, 1833, and was buried in the cemetery on 12th street now Washington Park. Subsequently his remains with those of his wife were removed to the stone vault in front of the Woodward High School building over which was erected the bronze statue of William Woodward which was unveiled October 24, 1878, by Mrs. Samuel Lewis the widow of his dearest friend.
The first teacher selected was T. J. Wheelock, who accepted the position of professor of mathe- matics with a salary not exceeding $1,500 on June 6, 1831.
The school opened on October 24, 1831, with the faculty composed of Wheelock, professor of mathematics and natural philosophy ; Claudius Bradford, professor of languages; and H. L. Rucker, professor of the academic department. The tuition fee varied from five to nine dollars a quarter and the majority of the carly students paid tuition. No one but those who had charge of the admission knew who were pay students and who were charity students. Dr. Joseph Ray, subsequently so well known as the author of Ray's "Mathematical Series," was added as a teacher in the preparatory department. The charter was amended January 7, 1836, so as to provide for a collegiate department.
In September, 1832, Thomas Johnson Mat- thews was elected the first president of Wood- ward. This head of one of Cincinnati's most distinguished families was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, January 26, 1788, of Quaker parents. He came from Philadelphia to Cincinnati in 1818. He devoted himself to teaching and was associa- ted at times with John L. Talbott and Milo G. Williams. In 1823 he was elected to a professor- ship in Transylvania University and resided there until his election to the presidency of Woodward High School. During his residence in Lexing- ton he surveyed the line between Kentucky and Tennessee and the Cumberland Gap and Tennes- see River and also laid ont a railroad from Lex-
ington to Frankfort. After serving as president of Woodward for three years, he resigned to become an officer with the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company. In 1845 he became pro- fessor of mathematics and astronomy in the Miami University and retained this position un- til his resignation on account of ill health in June, 1852. He died in Cincinnati November 10, 1852.
Among his children were Justice Stanley Mat- thews, Judge Samuel R. Matthews, C. Bently Matthews and Charles E. Matthews, who was a pupil under his father at Woodward and some years later taught in that institution. President Matthews was succeeded by Benjamin P. Ayde- lott, a Philadelphian, born January 7, 1795. Ile first studied medicine and afterwards theology and came to Cincinnati as rector of Christ Church in May, 1828. He was elected president of Wood- ward High School in April, 1835, and retained the position for 10 years at the end of which time, having joined the Presbyterian Church, he became pastor of the Lane Seminary Church. Ile died in Cincinnati, September 10, 1880.
Thomas J. Biggs, the third and last of Old Woodward's presidents, born in 1787, was a Philadelphian, a graduate of Princeton and pas- tor of various Presbyterian churches and finally a professor in Lane Seminary. He subsequently was elected president of the Cincinnati College but at the burning of the College Building he was chosen in October, 1845, president of Wood- ward, which position he held until the school was reorganized in 1851.
Two of the best known of the instructors of Woodward were Dr. Joseph Ray and William H. McGuffey. Dr. Ray, a Pennsylvanian, born in 1807, and a graduate of the Medical College of Ohio in 1829, was induced to give up his medical career to accept the position of teacher of arith- metic at Woodward in November, 1831. Three years later he became professor of the subject and retained the position during the college or- ganization. He was also member of the Wood- ward High School faculty from 1851 to the time of his death in 1865. His series of mathematical text-books have been among the most successful educational works published in this country.
William Holmes McGuffey, also a Pennsyl- vanian, born in 1800, a graduate of Washington College and subsequently professor of ancient languages in Miami University, was for some time the most popular teacher and lecturer in the Western States. He was elected president of Cincinnati College in 1836,, of Ohio University
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in 1839, and occupied a professorship in Wood- ward from 1843 to 1845. During the last named year he accepted the chair of moral philosophy in Virginia where he remained until his death, May 4; 1873. McGuffey's "Readers" are known throughout the length and breadth of the land.
During this period several efforts were made to unite the Hughes and Woodward funds and also overtures were made to unite this school with the Cincinnati College but there were no results from these efforts at the time.
Samuel Lewis, to whom the city is so much in- debted in connection with the cause of education, was born March 17, 1799, at Falmouth, Massa- chusetts, and with his father's family settled in Ohio in 1813. In 1819 he entered the clerk's office under Maj. Daniel Gano. While there he studied the law and was admitted to the bar in 1822. Throughout his life he took a great in- terest in educational matters and on March 30, 1837, was appointed superintendent of common schools of the State of Ohio. While holding this position he laid the foundation of the common schools of the State of Ohio. He was also known as an ardent anti-slavery man, was chairman of an anti-slavery convention in 1841 and presided over the convention that nominated the "Liberty Ticket" of the same year. He was a nominee of this party for the governorship in 1846 and again in 1851 and in 1853. He was the president of the National Liberty Convention in Buffalo in 1847. In early life Mr. Lewis connected him- self with a Methodist Church and was licensed as a local preacher and became well known as a popular and effective speaker. Throughout his entire career he was a public spirited citizen of the best type. He died July 28, 1854.
Adjoining the farm of William Woodward in the early days of the 19th century was that of an English shoemaker whose name will ever belong in Cincinnati's hall of fame. Very little is known of the life of Thomas. Hughes: It is said that he was an Englishman born of Scotch parentage not far from the border line of Wales. Just when he came to Cincinnati does not seem to be known. He spoke but seklom of his carly life and the name of his wife who had died in early life he never mentioned. One reason for this common- ly given is that he was unhappily married. His friend and neighbor Woodward said that his reti- cence was due to the deep sorrow caused by the carly death of his wife. His little farm of some 30 acres was on the hillside north of the old corporation line and here Hughes lived alone in a humble log cabin a little north of Liberty and
west of Sycamore. His only companions were a sorrel dog "Dick," a sorrel pony "Joe" and a pet hen "Molly" and several other chickens. His sign hung up in the cabin told that he did repair- ing and mending of shoes. One morning, how- ever, a friend, Peter Melindy, happened to come upon him at his house and found him still in bed. He claimed not to be ill but was finally prevailed upon to go to Melindy's home and look at a horse. He was never able to return to his shop and in the house of John and Peter Melindy, west of Main and south of Liberty, he died September 26, 1824. He was buried in the old burying ground on 12th street and afterwards his body was removed to Spring Grove Cemetery where it is surmounted by the Hughes Monument. A few days before his death Hughes made a will by which he left all his property to William Woodward, William Greene, Nathan Guilford, Elisha Hotchkiss and Jacob Williams as trustees to be applied to the maintenance and support of a school or schools. This is the oldest of all bequests for education now available. In 1827 the land was laid out into lots and since that time has been leased on perpetual ground rents for the benefit of the school. During the first to years the income was used to pay for the education of indigent pupils in the Woodward College and it was not until after the time covered by this chap- ter that anything was done with relation to the building of a school house.
The property left by the will of Hughes was not considerable in value. It embraced 27 acres of hillside land worth five or six hundred dollars and it is said has never produced more than $2,000 annual income. It was at first valnable merely for pastures and stone quarries but after- wards when laid out in city lots it became more valuable. It covers about 10 squares extending from Schiller street up to Mount Auburn between Main and Sycamore with two lots below Schiller.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
Another successful institution of those days was. Dr. John Locke's Cincinnati Female Acad- emy which was established in 1823. The Direc- tory of 1825 tells us that this academy had met with uninterrupted success and had had two an- mual examinations at which gold and silver medals and premiums about 30 in number had been awarded. In addition to the principal, among the instructors were Col. Julien Denis teacher of French, and the Misses Mary Bliss, Sally Doug- lass, Sarah Loring, Amanda Wilson and Narcissa Ruter, teachers of music, needlework, penman-
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ship and the preparatory department respectively. In 1829 appears the well known name of J. Tosso teacher of music. Practical instruction in the science of botany was given in the summer sea- son at the garden of Nicholas Longworth, which contained a variety of ornamental, indigenous and exotic plants very suitable for the purpose. This institution was located in the new and com- modious building on Walnut street between Third and Fourth. The price of tuition was from four to ten dollars a quarter, exclusive of music and French. The fair pupils were given a va- cation of four weeks after the annual examina- tions in August. "The plan of the institution embraces an extended circle of female education. The Principal has adopted the demonstration method of teaching, by which the knowledge of things instead of words alone is imparted. The exercises, in relation to things of quantity, are such that the eye measures, the hand delineates, the reason compares and the tongue describes at the same moment." Certainly a most valuable series of accomplishments for any woman. This method of instruction was said to be on the plan of Pestalozzi; the public were given to under- stand that the idea. that this system tended to in- fidelity would seem to be unfounded. "Abstract- ly it appears to have no imincdiate connection with the doctrines of the Bible." (Cincinnati in 1826, p. 42.)
It took four years for the young ladies to achieve this astonishing series of accomplish- ments and it was noted as a remarkable fact that not one of the several hundred pupils who had been members of the academy since its establish- ment had died and but few during the period of their membership had been seriously afflicted with disease. This institution continued in existence for many years. The effects of the cducation so carefully described for young women are indicat- ed by Mrs. Trollope who visited the school :
"Cincinnati contains many schools, but of their rank or merit I had little opportunity of judging. The only one I visited was kept by Dr. Locke, a gentleman who appears to have liberal and en- larged opinions on the subject of female educa- tion. * I attended the annual public exhibition of this school, and perceived, with some surprise, that the higher branches of .sci- ence were among the studies of the pretty crea- tures I saw assembled there. One lovely girl of sixteen took her degree in mathematics, and another was examined in moral philosophy. They blushed so sweetly, and looked so beauti- fully puzzled and confounded, that it might have
been difficult for an abler judge than I was to de- cide how far they merited the diplomas they re- ceived."
The daughters of the most prominent citizens attended this school and at the close of the ex- amination in 1824 we find that prizes were award- ed as follows : The gold medal to Miss Amanda Drake for general scholarship, silver medals to Miss Mary Longworth for excellence in moral philosophy and to Misses Sarah Loring, Jane Loring, Frances Wilson, Jane Keyes, Eliza Long- worth, Celina Morris, Charlotte Rogers, Mary Rogers, Elizabeth Hamilton and Juliet Burnet for high standing in other subjects.
Another school mentioned in the early accounts was the Female Boarding School of the Misses Bailey on Broadway between Market and Co- lumbia streets which in 1826 was said to be the oldest school of the character in the city. In this school one of the instructors was Frederick Eck- stein, the "Father of Cincinnati Art."
Another well known institution was the Cin- cinnati Female School or Cincinnati Female In- stitution which, conducted by Messrs. Albert and John W. Picket, occupied quarters in the south wing of the Cincinnati College Building. In this institution the analytic or inductive system was followed as being peculiarly fitted to the minds of young women. The studies were divided into four departments comprising all the practical and ornamental branches of female education and the location of these gentlemen in Cincinnati was considered a matter of public interest. Both of the principals were men of standing in the edu- cational world where they were known because of a series of school books published by them. The elder was a member of that charmed circle known as the College of Teachers and of him Mansfield says :
"Albert Picket, president of the College of Teachers, was a venerable, gray-haired man, who had been for fifty years a practical teacher. * *
lle was a most thorough teacher, and a man of clear head, and filled with zcal and devo- tion for the profession of teaching. He was a simple-minded man, and I can say of him that I never knew a man of more pure, disinterested zeal in the cause of education. He presided in the college with great dignity, and in all the pet- ty controversies which arose poured oil on the troubled waters." ( Mansfield's Drake, p. 238.)
In 1836 this school, then called Picket's Female Academy, seems to have been located on the southeast corner of Vine and Fifth streets. This institution appears as the Cincinnati Female In-
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stitute in the Directory of 1840. We are told in a local paper of April, 1830, that the examina- tions and graduating exercises of the school were continued for three days. There were at that time 150 young ladies in the school. Eleven gold medals were gracefully distributed in the pres- ence of a crowded audience by D. K. Este and ad- dresses were delivered by Rev. Mr. Dennison and' Rev. Timothy Flint, both of which are sum- marized in the journal,-Flint's Monthly West- ern Review. For a time the Pickets edited the educational journal known as the Western Acad- emician and later the Educational Disseminator.
Rev. C. B. McKee kept the Cincinnati English and Classical Academy on Third street near the Post Office from 1826 to 1829. This school com- prised preparatory, English, scientific and classi- cal departments.
Another school mentioned in 1826 was that of Rev. Elijah Slack, president of the college, which occupied the rooms of the north wing of the Cin- cinnati College Building. This seems to have been distinguished for its valuable apparatus. We are told in fact that at this time there were about 50 schools in the city. In addition to those already named some of the more important ones were under the care of Mr. Cathcart, M. G. Will- iams (on Third between Main and Sycamore), Mr. Kinmont, Mr. Talbert (on Fifth between Vine and Race streets), Mr. Winwright, Mr. Chute, Mr. Wing and Mr. Morecraft.
The principal of these schools was probably that of Alexander Kinmont, the Scotchman who came to Cincinnati from Pennsylvania probably in 1826. His school in 1829 was at the corner of Sixth and Main and included a preparatory class and two departments, one covering mathematics, classics and the general branches of education and the other particularly devoted to the Spanish and French languages and the higher branches of English education. Of the head of this school, also one of the College of Teachers, Mansfield speaks as follows :
"Alexander Kinmont might be called an apostle of classical learning. If others considered the classics necessary to an education, he thought them the one thing needful, the pillar and the foundation of solid learning. For this he con- tended with the zeal of martyrs for their creed ; and if ever the classics received aid from the manner in which they were handled, they received it from him. He was familiar with every pass- age of the great Greek and Roman authors, and eloquent in their praise. When he spoke upon the subject of classical learning, he seemed to be
animated with the spirit of a mother defending her child. He spoke with heart-warm fervor, and seemed to throw the wings of his strong in- tellect around his subject.
"Mr. Kinmont was a Scotchman, born near Montrose, Angusshire. He very early evinced bright talents, and having but one arm, at about twelve years of age was providentially compelled to pursue the real bent of his taste and genius to- ward learning. In school and college he bore off the first prizes, and advanced with rapid steps in the career of knowledge. **
"Kinmont made a profound impression upon those who knew him; and to me he had the air and character of a man of superior genius, and (what is very rare) of one whose learning was equal to his genius." ( Mansfield's Drake, pp. 238-240. )
It is said when Kinmont first came to the city which must have been before 1827, a professor- ship was offered him in the Cincinnati College for a salary of $2,000 a year, a very high salary for that time. He preferred however to be in- dependent as he did not wish to be directed by a faculty or by trustees. "Think of my being told how to teach school by a set of professional don- keys." His academy was located on Race street between Fifth and Longworth streets and his name and fame survived long in the memory of his fellow citizens and of his scholars. After his death his widow continued as a school teacher for some years.
Another of the earlier schools for young ladies was that of Mr. and Mrs. James Ryland at the corner of Fourth and Sycamore which was es- tablished in the latter part of the "twenties" and was maintained for almost 30 years. It was af- terwards at Fifth and Vine streets and stood later on the west side of Walnut between Fourth and Fifth streets and later on Fourth west of Vine street. Mrs. Ryland who was the principal figure in this school was an Englishwoman of culture who succeeded in attracting to her school the larger part of the pupils of the Western Fe- male Institute founded by the two daughters of Lyman Beecher, Catharine and Harriet, about the year 1833. This institution was also on the corner of Fourth and Sycamore streets in the rooms originally occupied by the Ryland school. The school was subsequently carried on by Miss Mary Dutton of Hartford, Connecticut, who finally returned to New England, leaving her pupils to the care of the Rylands.
In 1829 a classical school was established by
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J. F. Finley in the Cincinnati College Building. This school apparently lasted but a short time.
Another school for young ladies was kept by Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Truesdell on Walnut street near the Enon Baptist Church while the Misses Wood kept a similar school on Pike between Symmes and Fifth streets and Mr. Dickinson kept the monitorial school in the Cincinnati Col- lege edifice. In the Directory of 1829 appears the name of L. C. Levin who kept a classical school we are told at Sixth and Vine streets. His pupils took part in a parade on July Fourth of that year. This school is supposed to have been on the site of the present Hulbert Block. An account of this corner where afterwards was the Gazette Building and now is the Hulbert Block was given in the historical number of the paper published April 26, 1879:
"The very first building on this lot was a school house, built more than fifty years ago. There are many men and women in Cincinnati who have vivid recollections of Wing's school house, which stood on the southeast corner of Sixth and. Vine. It was a frame building, a high story or story and a half. The entrance was on Sixth street, and the floor was constructed like that of a theatre, rising from the south end of the building to the north. The teacher occupied a sort of stage at the south end, and by this ar- rangement had before his eyes every pupil. The boys occupied the east side, and the girls the west side, next to Vine street. William Wing was the founder and builder of this school. He died soon after this school was opened, and then Ed- ward Wing, his son, took up the work and kept the school going for a long time. The house be- ing, well adapted to giving shows, or exhibitions, as they were called, Mr. Wing frequently gave that sort of amusement to his pupils and patrons. At one of these, Mr. W. P. Hulbert, then a mere lad, played the part of William Tell's son, to the late S. S. L'Hommedien's William Tell, in the thrilling drama which introduces the ex- citing scene of shooting the apple off the boy's head. . To the unerring aim of Master L'Hom- medieu's arrow, and to the heroic bravery of Master Hulbert, who endured the ordeal withi- ont putting himself in range of the arrow, are we, perhaps, indebted for the present Gazette Build- ing.
"This pioneer Wing school house became one of the first school-houses of the public or com- mon-school system. George Graham, a man who carries more knowledge of Cincinnati in his head than any man living, was one of the trustees of
the common schools, and he rented this school building for the use of the Second Ward school. Here Mr. Graham appeared frequently as an ex- aminer, for he was an active man in those days, and knew how necessary it was to inaugurate strict discipline. The common schools were new, and were not popular. The name 'common' was distasteful. Mr. Graham personally examined every pupil in the schools. He popularized the system by causing all the teachers and pupils to appear, once a year at least, in procession throughli the streets, and soon had the pleasure of seeing the common school system regarded as one of the institutions deserving the highest esteem."
Another school mentioned as early as 1829 was that of Nathaniel Holley whose academy on Western row between Fifth and Longworth con- tinued in existence for some years. The cele- brated novelist, Mrs, Caroline Lee Hentz, estab- lished a popular female seminary on Third street cast of Broadway. Associated with her was her husband Nicholas Marcellus Hentz, a French- man who had studied medicine and learned the art of miniature painting in Paris and emigrated from Paris in 1816 at the age of 19. He had taught French and painting in various parts of the East, being for two years associated with George Bancroft in his school at Northhampton. About this time he married the daughter of Gen. John Whiting. For the four years preceding 1830 he was professor of modern languages and belles lettres in the University of North Carolina. In the following year he moved to Covington and in 1832 or 1833 with his wife he took charge of the seminary mentioned above. Unfortunately they did not remain very long, but during their residence here they made a most marked impres- sion. Subsequently they conducted schools in Alabama, Georgia and Florida to which points they had been obliged to move on account of the health of Professor Ilentz. In the social circle described by Mansfield, Mrs. Ilentz was conspic- uous both in person and manners and none saw her without admiring. While at Covington Mrs. llentz, who had written a poem and novel and a tragedy before she was 12 years old, competed for a $500 prize offered for a play by the Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia. The prize was won by her for the tragedy of "Delara or the Moorish Bride" which was produced on the stage and afterwards published. Another tragedy "La- morah or the Western Wilds" was acted at Cin- cinnati and subsequently published. She also wrote another tragedy and many stories and novels of which 03,000 volumes were sold in
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three years, a large number for that time. The scene of her tragedy "Lamorah" was laid on the banks of the Ohio and the heroine was a love-sick Indian squaw. Two daughters of the Hentzes achieved distinction in later years in the literary world, one of whom, Carolina, was. born in Cincinnati during the residence of the parents here. Both Professor and Mrs. Hentz died at Marianna, Florida, in 1856.
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