History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 27

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826

USA > Ohio > Licking County > History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present > Part 27

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CHAPTER XIV.

EDUCATION *- EARLY SCHOOL LAWS-NOTES - INSTITUTES AND EDUCATIONAL JOURNALS- SCHOOL SYSTEM-SCHOOL FUNDS-COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES.

W HEN the survey of the Northwest Terri- 'tory was ordered by Congress, March 20, 1785, it was decreed that every sixteenth section of land should be reserved for the "maintenance of public schools within each township." The ordinance of 1787-thanks to the New England Associates-proclaimed that, "religion, morality and knowledge being essential to good government, schools and the means of education should forever be encouraged." The State Constitution of 1802 declared that "schools and the means of instruc- tion should be encouraged by legislative provision, not inconsistent with the rights of conscience." In 1825, through the persevering efforts of Nathan Guilford, Senator from Hamilton County, Ephraim Cutler, Representative from Washington County, and other friends of education, a bill was passed, " laying the foundation for a general system of common schools." This bill provided a tax of one- half mill, to be levied by the County Commis- sioners for school purposes; provided for school examiners, and made Township Clerks and County Auditors school officers. In 1829, this county tax was raised to three-fourths of a mill; in 1834 to one mill, and, in 1836, to one and a half mills.

In March, 1837, Samuel Lewis, of Hamilton County, was appointed State Superintendent of Com- mon Schools. He was a very energetic worker, trav- eling on horseback all over the State, delivering ad- dresses and encouraging school officers and teachers. Through his efforts much good was done, and

many important features engrafted on the school system. He resigned in 1839, when the office was abolished, and its duties imposed on the Secretary of State.

The most important adjunct in early education in the State was the college of teachers organized in Cincinnati in 1831. Albert Pickett, Dr. Joseph Ray, William H. McGuffey-so largely known by his Readers-and Milo G. Williams, were at its head. Leading men in all parts of the West at- tended its meetings. Their published deliberations did much for the advancement of education among the people. Through the efforts of the college, the first convention held in Ohio for educational purposes was called at Columbus, January 13, 1836. Two years after, in December, the first convention in which the different sections of the State were represented, was held. At both these conventions, all the needs of the schools, both com- mon and higher, were ably and fully discussed, and appeals made to the people for a more cordial support of the law. No successful attempts were made to organize a permanent educational society until December, 1847, when the Ohio State Teach- ers' Association was formed at Akron, Summit County, with Samuel Galloway as President; T. W. Harvey, Recording Secretary; M. D. Leggett, Corresponding Secretary; William Bowen, Treas- urer, and M. F. Cowdrey, Chairman of the Executive Committee. This Association entered upon its work with commendable earnestness, and has since

* From the School Commissioners' Reports, principally those of Thomas W. Harvey, A. M.

NOTE 1 .- The first school taught in Ohio, or in the North western Territory, was in 1791. The first teacher was Maj. Austin Tupper, eldestson of Gen. Benjamin Tupper, both Revolutionary officers. The room occupied was the same as that in which the first Court was held, and was situated in the north west block-house of the garrison, called the stockade, at Marietta. During the Indian war school was also taught at Fort Harmar. Point Marietta, and at other set- tlements. A meeting was held in Marietta, April 29, 1797, to con- sider the erection of a school building suitable for the instruction of the youth, and for conducting religious services. Resolutions were adopted which led to the erection of a building called the Muskingum Academy. The building was of frame, forty feet long and twenty-four feet wide, and is yet (1878) standing. The building was twelve feet high, with an arched ceiling. It stood upon a stone foundation, three steps from the ground. There were two chimneys and a lobby projection. There was a cellar under the whole build- ing. It stood upon a beautiful lot, fronting the Muskingum River, and about sixty feet back from the street. Some large trees were

upon the lot and on the street lu front. Across the street was an open common, and beyond that the river. Immediately opposite the door, on entering, was a broad aisle, aud, at the end of the aisle, against the wall, was a desk or pulpit. On the right and left of the pulpit, against the wall, and fronting the pulpit, was a row of slips. On each side of the door, facing the pulpit, were two slips, and, at each end of the room, one slip. These slips were stationary, and were fitted with desks that could be let down, and there were boxes in the desks for holding books and papers. In the center of the room was an open space, which could be filled with movable seats. The first school was opened here in 1800."-Letter of A. T. Nye.

NOTE 2 .- Another evidence of the character of the New England Associates is the founding of a public library as early as 1796, or before. Another was also established at Belpre about the same time. Abundant evidence proves the existence of these libraries, all tend- ing to the fact that the early settlers, though conquering a wilder- negs and a savage foe, would not allow their mental faculties to lack for food. The character of the books shows that "solid" reading predominated.

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never abated its zeal. Semi-annual meetings were at first held, but, since 1858, only annual meetings occur. They are always largely attended, and al- ways by the best and most energetic teachers. The Association has given tone to the educational interests of the State, and has done a vast amount of good in popularizing education. In the spring of 1851, Lorin Andrews, then Superintendent of the Massillon school, resigned his place, and be- came a common-school missionary. In July, the Association, at Cleveland, made him its agent, and instituted measures to sustain him. He remained zealously at work in this relation until 1853, when he resigned to accept the presidency of Kenyon College, at Gambier. Dr. A. Lord was then chosen general agent and resident editor of the Journal of Education, which positions he filled two years, with eminent ability.

The year that Dr. Lord resigned, the ex officio relation of the Secretary of State to the common schools was abolished, and the office of school com- missioner again created. H. H. Barney was elected to the place in October, 1853. The office has since been held by Rev. Anson Smyth, elected in 1856, and re-elected in 1859; E. E. White, appointed by the Governor, November 11, 1863, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of C. W. H. Cathcart, who was elected in 1862; John A. Norris, in 1865; W. D. Henkle, in 1868; Thomas W. Harvey, in 1871; C. S. Smart, in 1875, and the present incumbent, J. J. Burns, elected in 1878, his term expiring in 1881.

The first teachers' institute in Northern Ohio was held at Sandusky, in September, 1845, con- ducted by Salem Town, of New York, A. D. Lord and M. F. Cowdrey. The second was held at Char- don, Geauga Co., in November of the same year. The first institute in the southern part of the State was held at Cincinnati, in February, 1837; the first in the central part at Newark, in March, 1848. Since then these meetings of teachers have occurred annually, and have been the means of great good in elevating the teacher and the public in educational interests. In 1848, on petition of forty teachers, county commissioners were author- ized to pay lecturers from surplus revenue, and the next year, to appropriate $100 for institute pur- poses, upon pledge of teachers to raise half that amount. By the statutes of 1864, applicants for teachers were required to pay 50 cents each as an examination fee. One-third of the amount thus raised was allowed the use of examiners as trav- eling expenses, the remainder to be applied to in-

stitute instruction. For the year 1871, sixty-eight teachers' institutes were held in the State, at which 308 instructors and lecturers were employed, and 7,158 teachers in attendance. The expense incurred was $16,361.99, of which $10,127.13 was taken from the institute fund; $2,730.34, was contrib- uted by members; $680, by county commis- sioners, and the balance, $1,371.50, was ob- tained from other sources. The last report of the State Commissioners-1878 shows that eighty- five county institutes were held in the State, con- tinuing in session 748 days; 416 instructors were employed; 11,466 teachers attended; $22,531.47 were received from all sources, and that the ex-

penses were $19,587.51, or $1.71 per member. There was a balance on hand of $9,460.74 to com- mence the next year, just now closed, whose work has been as progressive and thorough as any former year. The State Association now comprises three sections; the general association, the superintend- ents' section and the ungraded school section. All have done a good work, and all report progress.

The old State Constitution, adopted by a con- vention in 1802, was supplemented in 1851 by the present one, under which the General Assem- bly, elected under it, met in 1852. Harvey Rice, a Senator from Cuyahoga County, Chairman of Senate Committee on "Common Schools and School Lands," reported a bill the 29th of March, to provide "for the re-organization, supervision and maintenance of common schools." This bill, amended in a few particulars, became a law March 14, 1853. The prominent features of the new law were: The substitution of a State school tax for the county tax ; creation of the office of the State School Commissioner; the creation of a Township Board of Education, consisting of repre- sentatives from the subdistricts; the abolition of rate-bills, making education free to all the youth of the State; the raising of a fund, by a tax of one- tenth of a mill yearly, "for the purpose of fur- nishing school libraries and apparatus to all the common schools." This "library tax" was abol- ished in 1860, otherwise the law has remained practically unchanged.

School journals, like the popular press, have been a potent agency in the educational history of the State. As early as 1838, the Ohio School Director was issued by Samuel Lewis, by legisla- tive authority, though after six months' continu- ance, it ceased for want of support. The same year the Pestalozzian, by E. L. Sawtell and H. K. Smith, of Akron, and the Common School

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Advocate, of Cincinnati, were issued. In 1846, the School Journal began to be published by A. D. Lord, of Kirtland. The same year saw the Free School Clarion, by W. Bowen, of Massillon, and the School Friend, by W. B. Smith & Co., of Cincinnati. The next year, W. H. Moore & Co., of Cincinnati, started the Western School Journal. . In 1851, the Ohio Teacher, by Thomas Rainey, appeared; the News and Edu- cator, in 1863, and the Educational Times, in 1866. In 1850, Dr. Lord's Journal of Educa- tion was united with the School Friend, and became the recognized organ of the teachers in Ohio. The Doctor remained its principal editor until 1856, when he was succeeded by Anson Smyth, who edited the journal one year. In 1857, it was edited by John D. Caldwell; in 1858 and and 1859, by W. T. Coggeshall; in 1860, by Anson Smyth again, when it passed into the hands of E. E. White, who yet controls it. It has an immense circulation among Ohio teachers, and, though competed by other journals, since started, it maintains its place.

The school system of the State may be briefly explained as follows: Cities and incorporated vil- lages are independent of township and county con- trol, in the management of schools, having boards of education and examiners of their own. Some of them are organized for school purposes, under special acts. Each township has a board of edu- cation, composed of one member from each sub- district. The township clerk is clerk of this board, but has no vote. Each subdistrict has a local board of trustees, which manages its school affairs, subject to the advice and control of the township board. These officers are elected on the first Monday in April, and hold their offices three years. An enumeration of all the youth between the ages of five and twenty-one is made yearly. All public schools are required to be in session at least twenty-four weeks each year. The township clerk reports annually such facts concerning school affairs as the law requires, to the county auditor, who in turn reports to the State Commissioner, who collects these reports in a general report to the Legislature each year.

A board of examiners is appointed in each county by the Probate Judge. This board has power to grant certificates for a term not exceed- ing two years, and good only in the county in which they are executed; they may be revoked on sufficient cause. In 1864, a State Board of Examiners was created, with power to issue life cer-

tificates, valid in all parts of the State. Since then, up to January 1, 1879, there have been 188 of these issued. They are considered an excellent test of scholarship and ability, and are very credit- able to the holder.

The school funds, in 1865, amounted to $3,271,- 275.66. They were the proceeds of appropriations of land by Congress for school purposes, upon which the State pays an annual interest of 6 per cent. The funds are known as the Virginia Mili- tary School Fund, the proceeds of eighteen quar- ter-townships and three sections of land, selected by lot from lands lying in the United States Military Reserve, appropriated for the use of schools in the Virginia Military Reservation; the United States Military School Fund, the proceeds of one thirty-sixth part of the land in the United States Military District, appropriated "for the use of schools within the same;" the Western Reserve School Fund, the proceeds from fourteen quarter- townships, situated in the United States Military. District, and 37,758 acres, most of which was lo- cated in Defiance, Williams, Paulding, Van Wert and Putnam Counties, appropriated for the use of the schools in the Western Reserve; Section 16, the proceeds from the sixteenth section.of each township in that part of the State in which the Indian title was not extinguished in 1803; the Moravian School Fund, the proceeds from one thirty-sixth part of each of three tracts of 4,000 acres situated in Tuscarawas County, orig- inally granted by Congress to the Society of United Brethren, and reconveyed by this Society to the United States in 1824. The income of these funds is not distributed by any uniform rule, owing to defects in the granting of the funds. The territo- rial divisions designated receive the income in proportion to the whole number of youth therein, while in the remainder of the State, the rent of Section 16, or the interest on the proceeds arising from its sale, is paid to the inhabitants of the originally surveyed townships. In these terri- torial divisions, an increase or decrease of popula- tion must necessarily increase or diminish the amount each youth is entitled to receive; and the fortunate location or judicious sale of the sixteenth section may entitle one township to receive a large sum, while an adjacent township receives a mere pittance. This inequality of benefit may be good for localities, but it is certainly a detriment to the State at large. There seems to be no legal remedy for it. In addition to the income from the before- mentioned funds, a variable revenue is received

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from certain fines and licenses paid to either county or township treasurers for the use of schools; from the sale of swamp lands ($25,720.07 allotted to the State in 1850), and from personal property escheated to the State.

Aside from the funds, a State school tax is fixed by statute. Local taxes vary with the needs of localities, are limited by law, and are contingent on the liberality and public spirit of different com- munities.

The State contains more than twenty colleges and universities, more than the same number of female seminaries, and about thirty normal schools and academies. The amount of property invested in these is more than $6,000,000. The Ohio University is the oldest college in the State.

In addition to the regular colleges, the State controls the Ohio State University, formerly the Agricultural and Mechanical College, established from the proceeds of the land scrip voted by. Con- gress to Ohio for such purposes. The amount realized from the sale was nearly $500,000. This is to constitute a permanent fund, the interest only to be used. In addition, the sum of $300,000 was voted by the citizens of Franklin County, in consideration of the location of the college in that county. Of this sum $111,000 was paid for three hundred and fifteen acres of land near the city of Columbus, and $112,000 for a college building,

the balance being expended as circumstances re- quired, for additional buildings, laboratory, appa- ratus, etc. Thorough instruction is given in all branches relating to agriculture and the mechanical arts. Already excellent results are attained.

By the provisions of the act of March 14, 1853, township boards are made bodies politic and cor- porate in law, and are invested with the title, care and custody of all school property belonging to the school district or township. They have control of the central or high schools of their townships; prescribe rules for the district schools ; may appoint one of their number manager of the schools of the township, and allow him reasonable pay for his services; determine the text-books to be used ; fix the boundaries of districts and locate schoolhouse sites ; make estimates of the amount of money re- quired ; apportion the money among the districts, and are required to make an annual report to the County Auditor, who incorporates the same in his report to the State Commissioner, by whom it reaches the Legislature.

Local directors control the subdistricts. They enumerate the children of school age, employ and dismiss teachers, make contracts for building and furnishing schoolhouses, and make all necessary provision for the convenience of the district schools. Practically, the entire management rests with them.

CHAPTER XV.

AGRICULTURE-AREA OF THE STATE-EARLY AGRICULTURE IN THE WEST-MARKETS-LIVE STOCK -NURSERIES, FRUITS, ETC. - CEREALS-ROOT AND CUCURBITACEOUS CROPS-AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS-AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-

POMOLOGICAL AND HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES.

"Oft did the harvest to their sickles yield, Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke ; How jocund did they drive their teams afield ! How bowed the woods beneath their sturdy stroke."

T HE majority of the readers of these pages are farmers, hence a resume of agriculture in the State, would not only be appropriate, but valuable as a matter of history. It is the true basis of national prosperity, and, therefore, justly occupies a foremost place.

In the year 1800, the Territory of Ohio con- tained a population of 45,365 inhabitants, or a little more than one person to the square mile. At

this date, the admission of the Territory into the Union as a State began to be agitated. When the census was made to ascertain the legality of the act, in conformity to the "Compact of 1787," no endeavor was made to ascertain additional statis- tics, as now; hence, the cultivated land was not returned, and no account remains to tell how much existed. In 1805, three years after the ad- mission of the State into the Union, 7,252,856 acres had been purchased from the General Gov- ernment. Still no returns of the cultivated lands were made. In 1810, the population of Ohio was 230,760, and the land purchased from the Gov-

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ernment amounted to 9,933,150 acres, of which amount, however, 3,569,314 acres, or more than one-third, was held by non-residents. Of the lands occupied by resident land-owners, there appear to have been 100,968 acres of first-rate, 1,929,600 of second, and 1,538,745 acres of third rate lands. .At this period there were very few exports from the farm, loom or shop. The people still needed all they produced to sustain themselves, and were yet in that pioneer period where they were obliged to produce all they wanted, and yet were opening new farms, and bringing the old ones to a productive state.

Kentucky, and the country on the Monongahela, lying along the western slopes of the Alleghany Mountains, having been much longer settled, had begun, as early as 1795, to send considerable quan- tities of flour, whisky, bacon and tobacco to the lower towns on the Mississippi, at that time in the possession of the Spaniards. At the French set- tlements on the Illinois, and at Detroit, were being raised much more than could be used, and these were exporting also large quantities of these materials, as well as peltries and such commodities as their nomadic lives furnished. As the Missis- sippi was the natural outlet of the West, any at- tempt to impede its free navigation by the various powers at times controlling its outlet, would lead at once to violent outbreaks among the Western settlers, some of whom were aided by unscrupulous persons, who thought to form an independent Western country. Providence seems to have had a watchful eye over all these events, and to have so guided them that the attempts with such objects in view, invariably ended in disgrace to their per- petrators. This outlet to the West was thought to be the only one that could carry their produce to market, for none of the Westerners then dreamed of the immense system of railways now covering that part of the Union. As soon as ship-building commenced at Marietta, in the year 1800, the farmers along the borders of the Ohio and Musk- ingum Rivers turned their attention to the culti- vation of hemp, in addition to their other crops. Ina few years sufficient was raised, not only to furnish cordage to the ships in the West, but large quan- tities were worked up in the various rope-walks and sent to the Atlantic cities. Iron had been discovered, and forges on the Juniata were busy converting that necessary and valued material into implements of industry.

By the year 1805, two ships, seven brigs and three schooners had been built and rigged by the

citizens of Marietta. Their construction gave a fresh impetus to agriculture, as by means of them the surplus products could be carried away to a foreign market, where, if it did not bring money, it could be exchanged for merchandise equally valuable. Captain David Devoll was one of the earliest of Ohio's shipwrights. He settled on the fertile Muskingum bottom, about five miles above Marietta, soon after the Indian war. Here he built a "floating mill," for making flour, and, in 1801, a ship of two hundred and fifty tons, called the Muskingum, and the brig Eliza Greene, of one hundred and fifty tons. In 1804, he built a schooner on his own account, and in the spring of the next year, it was finished and loaded for a voyage down the Mississippi. It was small, only of seventy tons burden, of a light draft, and intended to run on the lakes east of New Orleans. In shape and model, it fully sustained its name, Nonpa- reil. Its complement of sails, small at first, was completed when it arrived in New Orleans. It had a large cabin to accommodate passengers, was well and finely painted, and sat gracefully on the water. Its load was of assorted articles, and shows very well the nature of exports of the day. It con- sisted of two hundred barrels of flour, fifty barrels of kiln-dried corn meal, four thousand pounds of cheese, six thousand of bacon, one hundred sets of rum puncheon shooks, and a few grindstones. The flour and meal were made at Captain Devoll's floating mill, and the cheese made in Belpre, at that date one of Ohio's most flourishing agricultural dis- tricts. The Captain and others carried on boating as well as the circumstances of the days permitted, fear- ing only the hostility of the Indians, and the duty the Spaniards were liable to levy on boats going down to New Orleans, even if they did not take it into their erratic heads to stop the entire navi- gation of the great river by vessels other than their own. By such means, merchandise was car- ried on almost entirely until the construction of canals, and even then, until modern times, the flat-boat was the main-stay of the shipper inhabit- ing the country adjoining the upper Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

Commonly, very little stock was kept beyond what was necessary for the use of the family and to perform the labor on the farm. The Scioto Valley. was perhaps the only exception in Ohio to this general condition. Horses were brought by the emigrants from the East and were characteristic of that region. In the French settlements in Illi- nois and about Detroit, French ponies, marvels of

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History of Licking County, Ohio: Its Past and Present, Part 27

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr. Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 826

Author: N. N. Hill, Jr.
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 826