History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 62

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Ohio > Delaware County > History of Delaware County and Ohio > Part 62

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ode by Dr. R. Hills : preliminary address, by Dr. R. Hills, President of the Association; dedicatory address, by Prof. F. Merrick; music, original ode by J. Larimore; benediction, by Rev. E. H. Pilcher.

The grounds thus dedicated lie onc mile south of the central part of the village, on the west side of the turnpike. It is nearly square in shape, being eighty rods on the road by one hundred east and west. About one-half has been cleared off, and has been cultivated; the rest is in its natural state, save where the hand of art has removed the signs of natural decay. The surface is undulating, abounding in situations, which are being admirably improved for the purpose to which it has been devoted, while through the northern portion runs a little rivulet which passes through the entire length of the grounds from west to cast, reaching out its branches into all parts of the tract. The grounds were transferred to the city in 1862, and are now cared for by a special tax, as are the other departments of the city. The appropriation is quite generous, which, expended by good taste, has rendered Oak Grove Cemetery a place where the last earthly home of loved ones may be made in "a sweet, secluded spot, where the green lawn beneath the sylvan oak or spreading elm, the cool shade, the rippling water and the rustling leaves, the cheerful song of the wild bird, and all the voices of nature in her own beautiful home, con- spire to render it a place where all may refresh wearied nature, and find food for profitable medita- tion." The scene, on a lovely summer's day, is fit to inspire in every heart the sentiment expressed in the closing ode of the dedicatory exercises :

"Beneath these shades. how sweet to sleep, And know affection's care Hatb made this home, this resting-place, And laid our bodies there. These evergreens shall emblems be Of that bright state above,

When truth and mercy concentrate, In one eternal love.

"Great God of love ! we dedicate These hills and vales to Thee, To hold Thy dead of every name; ' God's Acre' let this be, And may the souls whose bodies lie Within this beauteous calm,

Be resting in the hosom of The heavenly Paschal Lamb !"

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

CHAPTER XII .*

DELAWARE CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS-THE UNIVERSITY-MONNETT HALL-OHIO BUSINESS COLLEGE.

"'Tis education forms the common mind."

T THE early settlers in Delaware were mostly from the New England States, and were gen- erally educated and intelligent. They appreciated the value of education for their children ; but they were poor, and the schoolmaster had not yet fol- lowed them to the wilderness. Accordingly, what book-learning the children of the first generation got, was imparted to them by the parents in the long winter evenings. Sometimes, when families were close neighbors, the children, and even the older folks, would unite in these exercises, under the instruction of the best scholar of the neighbor- hood. Such for a number of years, from 1808, was the educational status of the community.

After the village became large enough to have day schools, and until the school law of 1825, the schools were subscription schools, and were held in private houses. During this time there were still but few professional teachers. The office was mostly held by some middle-aged person who had the physical, as well as the intellectual, ability thought to be necessary for this work. The first teacher whose name has been retained, and perhaps the first actually employed, was Pelatiah Morgan. He is represented as a man of sufficient scholarship, but of intemperate habits, and of harsh discipline. His school dated from.1815, and continued at in- tervals for several years; but, being a private school, " the record of its alumni is lost."

About the year 1817, Mr. Russell E. Post had a private school in a building on Winter street, a short distance west of Sandusky. Nothing further is related of this school.

In 1821 Mr. James B. Weaver was the only teacher in Delaware. He was a man of middle age and married, and had probably taught before coming to Delaware. His first schoolroom was in the upper story of a house belonging to the Rev. Jacob Drake, where now stands the Reid and Powell block, but he soon removed to the upper story of a building on the site of the city hall. Mr. Weaver was a man of violent impulses, and in one of his passionate moments fatally injured a

* Contributed by Prof. William G. Williams.

little. pupil in his school. No prosecution fol- lowed, but the act broke up the school, and drove the teacher from his profession and from the town.

In 1823, he was succeeded at the same place by Capt. Elias Murray, the son-in-law of Col. Moses Byxbe, original proprietor of the town. Capt. Murray was also a middle-aged man, but of kind feelings, and as indulgent in his discipline as his predecessor had been morose and rigid.

About the same date there was an instance of private tutorship that deserves mention. The tutor was John A. Quitman, then a young clerk in the United States Land Office, at Delaware. His pupils were the children of Platt Brush, Esq., an eccentric old gentleman, his superior in office. Mr. Quitman subsequently went South, studied law, and became noted as a politician ; and was afterward a distinguished General in the Mexican War, and then Governor of Mississippi.

In 1821, Miss Sophia Moore, sister of General Sidney Moore and of Emery Moore, . built the house now occupied by the Misses Welch, on Franklin, near William street, for an orphans' home and school. This was not a charity school, though undertaken with charitable intent. Miss Moore taught this school, including day scholars, very acceptably for some years, until her marriage to Mr. Gorton.

In 1825, Richard Murray, Esq., nephew of Capt. Murray, became associated with Miss Moore in the conduct of her school. After her marriage, he carried it on alone for two or three years, and then with his wife, formerly Miss Joan Hills. Mrs. Murray was a born teacher. When quite a young girl, in 1824-25, she taught in Berkshire, and after her marriage, in 1826-27, in Delaware, with her husband. In 1833, after the death of her husband, she resumed teaching, and taught continuously, with short respites only, until 1868, a period of forty-four years. A few years of this was in the public schools of the town, but most of the time was in her own private house, on Frank- lin street. In this unpretending, but admirable school, were educated many of the most cultivated ladies of the city.

363

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

A little later, somewhere from 1827 to 1830, Mr. Asa Messenger, another relative of Col. Byxbe, taught, for two or three years, in the house built by Miss Moore, on Franklin street. Mr. Messenger subsequently went South, and afterward became an editor, in Tuscumbia, Ala. Nearly at the same time, his sister, Miss Messenger, at- tempted to establish a girls"seminary, and taught a few terms, but the effort eventually failed.

Up to this time, in the history of the State, there had been no organic legislation on the sub- ject of schools. Special charters were granted to the cities, but no adequate provision had been made for the non-corporate parts of the State. All the schools in Delaware, thus far, as in the rural districts and smaller towns elsewhere, were pri- vate and independent. The population of the town was small, not yet reaching 500, and most of the time a single school met all the educational wants of the place. The tuition fees were very small ; at first scarcely reaching $1.50 per quarter of thirteen weeks, and, at the last, in the case of the best teachers, not exceeding $3 per quarter. Nor was the pay always certain, or generally made in money. "Store pay," or "trade," was a very common method of balancing accounts, and largely prevailed to a much later date than this.

Yet, even after the enactment of school laws providing for a public system of education, the private schools were long continued, until the new system was in complete working order. Of these later teachers of private schools, the following may be mentioned as most successful : Albert Pickett, Jr., had a reputable school from 1834 to 1836. He was a son of Albert Pickett, a famous teacher in Cincinnati, and inherited much of his father's genius for literary work. He afterward held office in the county, and died about 1850.

Horatio Sherman was a professional teacher, from the State of New York. He was in the prime of life when he brought his family to Dela- ware. Here he taught many years, at first in the public schools, but, in 1840 and afterward, a private school in his own house, on William street. His advertisement says : " Young gentlemen pre- paring to teach, will be particularly attended to ; tuition, $2.50 or $3 per quarter." At last he was laid aside by a failing of sight, and died, in Upper Sandusky, about 1870.

About 1832, two highly accomplished ladies from Ireland, Mrs. Howison and her sister, Miss Johnson, opened a girls' seminary in the house of Col. Byxbe. An extensive course of study was

marked out. Miss Meeker, afterward Mrs. Sprague, mother of our present Probate Judge, assisted them in the lower classes, and the able Rev. James McElroy, in the higher classes. But the school was not successful, and, in a few years, was discontinued. After the close of this school, Miss Meeker had, for two years, 1834-36, a very popular infant school in the town.

The school law of 1825 established a general system of public schools of low grade, which were destined largely to supersede the private schools of the same grade. But this result could not be effected at once. The tax which the Legislature of 1825 ventured to authorize was but one-half a mill on the dollar, one-fourteenth as much as school- boards are now empowered to levy. For many years, this tax was insufficient to maintain the dis- triet schools for the requisite time-rarely for more than two quarters in the year.

The schools had an average enrollment of about sixty pupils, of both sexes, and were ungraded as to age or attainments. The teacher's work was hard, and his pay light, being about $20 per month. This was drawn from the public funds as long as the money held out. When this was ex- hausted, voluntary subscriptions enabled the di- rectors to continue the public school another term; or the building was granted, free of rent, to the teacher for a private school, for the remainder of the school year.

Under this law, the first public-school buildings in Delaware were erected. One was a stone build- ing at the corner of Franklin and Winter streets, on the lot now occupied by Mr. H. G. Andrews. Another was a small frame house, also on Frank- lin street, at the northwest corner of the court- house lot.

Miss Eliza T. Thompson, afterward Mrs. Will- iam Carson, was the first lady that taught a district school in Delaware. The school was in the stone schoolhouse for the winter. The next summer she had a select school in the same house. Among her pupils were Rutherford B. Hayes and his sister Fannie. Mrs. Carson still lives with her son in Concord Township, at the ripe age of seventy-five years.

Some of the teachers already mentioned taught in the newly organized district schools; but it is impossible to name all who from this time forward helped to train the youth of Delaware in the paths of learning and of virtue.

As only primary or ungraded schools could be or- ganized under the law, the wants of the community

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

were not yet all met. Individual attempts to establish a seminary of a higher grade having failed, a number of public-spirited citizens, among whom were M. D. Pettibone, Sherman Finch and others, at length combined in 1834, to build up such a, school for the better education of their children. The attempt resulted in the erection of the Delaware Academy. It was a large frame building, two stories high, beautifully located on Hill street, in South Delaware, at that time quite " out of town." In this building there was a suc- cession of teachers, among whom were Giles M. Porter (1838-40), Rev. James McElroy, George S. Lee, Miss L. A. Emerson, afterward Mrs. Por- ter (1840), R. E. Rice, B. A. (1840), and Flavel A. Dickinson, a recent graduate of Yale College (1841). The tuition fee was $5 per term for languages; $4.50 for higher English, and $4 for elementary studies. But, laudable as was the attempt, excellent and inexpensive as was the in- struction, the time for these things was not yet, and the Academy was a failure. It not only paid no interest to the stockholders; it could not even support the teachers. The building long stood empty, then passed into other hands for a ladies' school, and finally was sold to the City School Board, and was occupied for some years as one of the ward schools. It was torn down in 1879.

In the year 1847, the Legislature felt strong enough to take an advanced step in school matters ; and the law was so improved as to permit the establishment of Union schools with graded classes. This is what is popularly known as the " Akron law." The town of Delaware was for this purpose made into one district, and the old Methodist church, at the corner of William and Franklin streets, was bought by the School Board, and re- constructed into suitable schoolrooms ; those below for the boys, and those above for the girls. Whether this separation of the sexes was an advanced step, we need not pause to discuss, as it was soon abandoned, and both sexes again united in the same rooms and in the same recitations.

The first members of the Board of Directors under the new law were Sherman Finch, Israel Breyfogle and Stephen W. Littell, and the first Superintendent was Lucius P. Marsh, a young man from the State of New York, then twenty- four years of age. His salary was fixed at $40 per month. The girls were placed under the spe- cial care of Mrs. Murray, at $25 per month. Their assistants were Mr. A. R. Gould, Mrs. Dr. Row- land and Misses Renette Brown, Charlotte Wash-

burn and Jennette Sherman. The salaries of the young ladies were $13 per month. After two years of service, Mr. Marsh, upon being refused an increase of salary, resigned his place and began the practice of law. He is now Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Zanesville District, Ohio. In like manner, Mrs. Murray was retired from service in these schools, after a tenure of five years. Her salary was reduced to $20 per month, whereupon she immediately opened a private school, from which she realized over $50 per month' for many years. These meager salaries were adjusted by the amount at the command of the Board. The funds were sufficient to sustain the schools for only seven months ; and a private subscription was raised to continue the schools for the normal period of nine months. When the income of the Board had grown larger, the usage of having a long vacation in the summer had be- come fixed, and the schools are held even yet for but about thirty-six weeks.

Before the adoption of the school law, any per- son, however incompetent, might take up the office and the ferule of teacher ; and often, no doubt, the office was thus filled by persons wholly un- worthy. Such persons might, indeed, even now, intrude themselves into the calling of teacher, if they could find private patronage. But the State common schools are so excellent, so satisfactory to the people at large, that private tuition has almost ceased, except in denominational or expensive select schools. This is owing to the legal exclusion of unfit teachers. No one is permitted to teach in the pub- lic schools, or draw pay therefor, who has not been examined both for scholarship and moral character. The first Board of Examiners in Delaware County, under the State law, was composed of Solomon Smith, Esq., Dr. Eleazar Copeland and Dr. Silas C. McClary. These were appointed by the Court of Common Pleas. The county owes much to these worthy gentlemen and their successors for their faithfulness in keeping out of the schools the dissipated and the ignorant. Among those subse- quently appointed were Drs. N. Spalding and Ralph Hills; Richard Murray, Sherman Finch, David T. Fuller, Cooper K. Watson and Homer M. Carper, Esqs .; and Revs. William L. Harris and James McElroy. The County Board now consists of William G. Williams, James S. Campbell and John Ufford. Until recently all the teachers in the city of Delaware, as well as in the county at large, passed this Board ; but in 1878, a City Board of Examiners was appointed, before whom the city

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

teachers are examined with more care and on more subjects than are required of the County Board.

In the central building, though ill suited to academic uses, the schools of the town were held for a period of about ten years from 1847. The records of the Board during the first part of this time have been lost, and the names and dates of service of the teachers cannot all be now recalled. Of those who taught during the later years, we give the names of Mr. John W. Hyatt, who was appointed Principal, in 1856, at a salary of $60 per month. He served one year, and then went into business in Toledo, where he now lives. After him, William F. Whitlock served one year, while carrying on his studies at the university. He is now Latin Professor in the university, and Dean of the Faculty at Monnett Hall. As the town grew, and the enrollment of pupils gradually increased, one or two other houses were occupied as schools. At length, the limited accommodations at the Central School compelled the Board to seek new quarters. In 1859, they bought a large lot of the Little estate, at the west end of William street, on which they erected a building of six rooms, larger and better adapted to school uses.

A better organization, and a uniform course of study, was now deemed desirable. To this end, uniform and efficient supervision seemed essential ; and William Carter, in 1862, was appointed Super- intendent, at a salary of $700, which was soon raised to $1,000. He brought the schools into a very good degree of efficiency. To provide for the increased attendance, the Board bought, for $2,000, the old academy building in South Dela- ware, and opened there two new rooms, which soon grew into four. After three years' service, Mr. Carter resigned for a more lucrative calling.

His successor was Rev. James S. Campbell, who entered upon duty in 1865, and still holds the same appointment. His salary was fixed at $1,000 per annum, but the next year it was raised to $1,200, and has, for a number of years, been $1,600. Ten other teachers were appointed at the same time, all ladies, with pay from $35 to $45 per month. The assessment for the support of the schools was four mills on the dollar.

The growth of the town, during the prosperous years after the war, was such that the Board of Education was compelled, in rapid succession, to double the accommodations of the schools. In 1869, a new schoolhouse of four rooms was built in North Delaware; in 1870, a house with the same number of rooms, but larger, was built in East

Delaware; in 1875, a yet larger building of six rooms was 'erected in South Delaware, and a year or two later two rooms were added to the Central Schoolhouse; and two more to the school in East Delaware. By a judicious economy, these improve- ments were all effected without the creation of a debt, and with but small increase in the rate of taxation. In the last ten years, the annual levy has but once reached the limit of seven mills on the dollar, authorized by law ; two years it was six mills, four years it was five mills, and, for the last three years it has ranged from three to four mills. The enumeration of youth of a legal school age is now 2.300; the number of teachers appointed in 1879-80 was 25 ; and the aggregate salaries paid to them are $10,500; and the incidental expenses of the schools are about $3,000 more.

The course of study is so arranged that pupils leaving the schools at the age of twelve, are able to read and write well, have an understanding of the fundamental principles of arithmetic, and a general knowledge of geography, especially that of their own country. Those who stay to complete the entire course, extending through eight years, get a very good general preparation for business, or for en- trance upon college studies. Graduates of the high school are prepared for the freshman class in colleges, with the exception of Greek.

The public schools of Delaware are popular and successful. They are patronized by citizens of all. classes and of all denominations. Sectarian and political biases have been sedulously avoided in their management, and it is the single aim of those in charge of the schools, and of the citizens alike, to give the youth of the city the best possible training both in intellect and in morals.

Among a free people, the thirst for knowledge and culture is unquenchable; if not satisfied in one direction, it will seek to be slaked in another. In the earlier years of this town the educational and literary cravings of the community were just as marked as they have shown themselves since, but the opportunities for indulging them were not the same as now. In the absence of public read- ing-rooms, schools, libraries, and newspapers, a tribune for public discussion was a pleasant and profitable form of entertainment and means of cultivation. Such was found in the " Delaware Lyceum," an organization formed by the young men, but largely attended by all classes of citizens. Of the date of its organization, and the length of its career, the writer has no information, but, as showing the character of its meetings, the grave

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HISTORY OF DELAWARE . COUNTY.

and practical matters discussed, the following illus- trations may be given. The notices are from the Olentangy Gazette ; and the meetings were held in the Thespian Hall, an upper chamber in the range of public buildings on the court-house plaza. This name indicates that the hall was originally designed for entertainments of a musical and dra- matic character.

Monday evening. February 1, 1841, a public discussion is appointed on the following resolution : " Resolved, That the right of suffrage should be extended to females.", Advocates, S. Dunham, P. Bunker, J. A. Barnes ; Respondents, R. Hills, T. C. Jones, R. E. Rice. I. RANNEY, Secretary.

From the names here and following, it seems, as might be expected, that the legal profession was most largely represented. All these gentlemen were lawyers or law-students, except Bunker, Sheriff ; Hills, physician ; and Rice, teacher.

Feb. 15 .- " Resolved, That the youth of the country should be educated at the public expense." Advocates, T. W. Powell, F. Horr, R. Hills ; Respondents, D. T. Fuller, I. Ranney, P. Bunker.

Feb. 22 .- "' Resolved, That capital punishment ought to be abolished." Advocates, T. C. Jones, J. A. Barnes ; Respondents, R. E. Rice, P. Bunker.

March 25 .- " Resolved, That the right of suffrage ought to be extended to females." Advocates, P. Bunker, T. C. Jones ; Respondents, I. Ranney, R. Hills.

Evidently this was a question of unusual inter- est. The discussion six weeks before had appar- ently not settled the matter in debate ; but it had at least wrought conviction and conversion in the mind of one of the champions; and he now appears in arms in the opposite camp. How the great debate at last terminated, the muse of history has not recorded, but the renewed struggle on this question in the Ohio Legislature, in this year of grace 1880, too plainly declares that the vote upon the occasion should have been made of record for the information and guidance of succeeding gen- erations.

July 12 .- " Resolved, That the legal rights of women should not be impaired by marriage." Advocates, T. C. Jones, I. Ranney ; Respondents, P. Bunker, C. T. Solace.

With this notice our extracts must close. But we need not doubt that the discussion of such questions by thoughtful and earnest men, and that the listening to such discussions by the reflecting part of the community, must have done as much in directing and molding thought as the more recent lecture system.

In regard to popular lectures, this community has been specially favored. For several years, a

citizens' lecture association existed, and was the means of introducing many distinguished men and women to Delaware audiences. These lect- ures have generally paid well, but the large num- ber of excellent addresses and lectures delivered annually at the university, and free to all listen- ers, has had a tendency, in recent years, to make a Delaware audience content to pay for nothing inferior to the best. So what has been made mat- ter of complaint against Delaware, is, in reality; when rightly understood, complimentary to the intelligence and taste of her people. This is a lecture-going community, but it goes to hear only first-class lectures.

The Ohio Wesleyan University, which is now the largest and most successful in the Methodist Church, owes its location, if not its establishment, to the famous White Sulphur Springs in Delaware. These springs had early attracted the attention of tourists and seekers after health. In order to ac- commodate these, and to encourage further patron- age, two enterprising citizens, Thomas W. Powell, Esq., and Columbus W. Kent, erected, in the year 1833, on a spacious lot, embracing the springs, a fine hotel, which soon became known to the citi- zens as the Mansion House. The waters were salu- brious, and the locality as healthful as those of the more famous Saratoga Springs; but the town of Delaware was not very widely known, and was not easily accessible ; and it was, perhaps, too early in the history of the State to hope for large returns from a business enterprise of this kind. For some years the Mansion House was kept in operation ; but, at last, in the summer of 1841, Mr. Powell, who had become the sole proprietor, concluded to abandon the attempt to establish a Western water- ing place.

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History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 62

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818