USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve of Ohio and some of its pioneers, places and women's clubs, Vol. I > Part 10
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Cassius Clay asked him to come to "The Glades" and give a series of sermons, which he did, saying, "There was no law above the law of God." Mr. Clay said, "The law of the country should be obeyed," and on this they separated. Many of his friends went with Mr. Clay.
James Scott Davis studied at Knox College, Galesburg, Ill., and theology in Oberlin. He was a Virginian by birth. He married Amelia Rogers, only sister of Alamanza Rogers, and went directly to Kentucky, sent by the American Missionary As- sociation. His grandfather edited a literary magazine in Phil- adelphia. His father owned and edited a paper in Peoria, Ill. He was a worthy successor of Dr. Fee. His wife, of superior piety, was always caring for the poor, and teaching in the Sab- bath School; she was of no less importance than her husband. After the "John Brown Raid" they went to Southern Illinois.
The American Association sent many young men into the Kentucky mountains. One was George Candee, a devout Chris- tian, who spent four months with Rev. Fee, then returned to Oberlin, but after his graduation and marriage went back to
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Kentucky. Otis B. Waters went to the "Cummings neighbor- hood," built a log schoolhouse, and as his pupils did not know the alphabet, he gave out words and sentences and then analyzed them; thus his pupils made great progress in this our modern method of teaching to read. William E. Lincoln was one who came with Mr. Finney to Oberlin from London. He preached and taught in Madison County, Ky. Also John White from Cincinnati, and Mr. Richardson, who was mobbed. Also several colporteurs, Peter West, Mr. Jones and Mr. Gilespie.
Rev. J. Alamanza Rogers graduated from Oberlin College in 1851 and from theology in 1855. He went to Roseville, Ill., for business reasons, and built up a church, but felt his work was with a school like Oberlin. He married Miss Embree from Phil- adelphia. Pa. She was willing to go where they could do the most good. So in April, 1858, they went to Berea, Ky. The school building was low, unpainted, unplastered and of a single room. To build buildings without money, to create a desire for knowledge, to supply books and needed helps was their task. They began with fifteen pupils. Mrs. Rogers left her babe with Mrs. William Wright and taught school many hours of the day. It was a new experience to one raised to all the comforts of a Philadelphia home. But her executive ability and ready wit were very important factors.
Pleasing music was introduced. Pupils learned to keep time in the old round of "Scotland is Burning" or "Do Not Be Discouraged for God Is Your Friend," or "I Am a Pilgrim, I Am a Stranger," which brought a sense of a future life before them. A five-minute respite coming often through the day was a re- lief both to pupil and teacher. Spelling classes and the multi- plication tables sung to Yankee Doodle made a refreshing change. Teachers and pupils were eager for new improvements
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of all kinds. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers were invited to the homes of all pupils and they went as gladly to the tables of the poor as to the rich. At the end of the term they had an exhibit and rhetorical exercises under a leafy bower, and friends and parents came in large numbers. It made the school popular and has been continued ever since at all their Commencements. They drew up a constitution that said, "This is a Christian school for all peoples without respect to race or condition." Heretofore few colored people had asked to be admitted, but soon they came with their families, hoping to pay expenses by working for the students. Some objected and when "The John Brown Raid" was made there was great excitement at Rich- mond, the county seat, fourteen miles distant. A meeting was called there, and it was said, "That Kentucky was a slave state according to the United States constitution; that Berea College was putting the blacks on an equal footing with the whites." About sixty signed the petition and they came to the home of J. A. Rogers, formed as a wedge; one man presented the peti- tion. Mr. Rogers said, "We have done nothing to disturb the government," but the leader left the petition and ordered his men to go to other objectionable citizens. They were to leave the state in ten days. Mr. Rogers called a meeting and a pro- test was written and taken to Governor Magoffin. He listened respectfully and replied, "I can do nothing for you." They re- turned home and after a counsel decided to leave at once. They left their homes with the expectation of soon returning to them. They went direct to Cincinnati. There the churches were open to hear their complaints and called it "an outrage." Mr. Fee left his family in Clermont County on the Ohio River above Cincinnati. Mr. Rogers was asked by the American Missionary Society to speak through New England and New York.
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In the summer of 1862 they thought the way was open to return to Berea. When they arrived in Richmond they found a Union army of 10,000 to oppose General Kirby Smith advancing through the Cumberland Gap. With difficulty they convinced the Union officers they were true Union blue. They began re- pairing the house of Mr. Rogers for the return of his family when firing was heard. The battle of Richmond had begun, one of the worst battles of the war. Then came a reign of ter- ror to Union men. Mr. Rogers and Mr. Thompson often hid in a pine thicket. Mr. Thompson was taken prisoner and sent to Libby Prison. Mr. Rogers mounted his faithful horse Rosa and by circuitous routes reached the Ohio River and swam his horse across it and late at night reached his family who feared his principles had cost him his life.
After six years the school was again opened. There was a great influx of students; some came from the North on account of the cheapness of living and the cheerful atmosphere. The Housan Saw and Planing Mills gave employment to many, for new college buildings and residences. President Henry Fair- child came in 1869. Mr. Williston of Northampton, Mass., gave $1,800. Mr. Lemuel Foster of Peoria, Ill., gave $1,800. Mr. H. R. Graves of New York gave large sums and the Freedman's Bureau, after investigation, gave $18,000 for a dormitory for young men and for recitation rooms. Various publishers gave books until it has one of the best libraries in the state. A meet- ing at Cooper Institute heard addresses by Rev. Howard Cros- by, Henry Ward Beecher, Dr. Storrs and others. It led Mr. Abner Beers to give thousands to Berea College. No one who was not connected with the Berea School in those days can have any idea of the force of its life. Life in any form is known only by its results. Only those visible can be described. The
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dominating spirit was "Trust in God." Those driven from their work believed it was God-given and returned to impart courage to every scholar. One manifestation was hopefulness-the pres- ent trials seemed so trifling, compared to those before the war; they were not even mentioned.
Visitors came in great numbers and as there was no hotel they were entertained by the teachers who could give but the plainest fare. No one thought of the numbers of hours that must be spent in teaching, but how the needs of the pupils could be met. The students caught the spirit of the teachers; girls were busy cooking for hungry students. Mountain picnics, spending the day in the hilltops or social gatherings at the pro- fessors' houses or citizens', restored the equilibrium of life. They said, "Thanksgiving was almost as good as Christmas." The unity of the school was thus promoted. Many whose ambition was to teach a district school, toiled on for a college education. To God belongs the glory, as is evident by the instruments he used.
Sabbath School was sustained by Bereans. Troops of teach- ers would go into the mountains and valleys. Mr. William Em- bree went forty miles to hold Sunday Schools and give helpful talks. Thus their own spirits were lifted up after preaching forgiveness and help for every time of need.
For many years there was but one church. Baptist and Methodist were eager to bring the young people into their churches but were also eager for church unity. There is no better way than to have one preaching service. The use of an organ or immersion was silenced by the people being willing to do their own singing or choose their own baptism, for the com- mon interest of all, was centered in the college.
The differences in scholarship were often that of heredity
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or early advantage, but not on account of color. In discipline, every one was too busy to indulge in pranks or to notice drunken men, who rode through the street in hilarious mood. Opposition came mostly from this class. Students were slow to make trou- ble for the teachers, for their teachers at once came forward to defend them.
When the college was reopened it had 169 acres of un- cleared woodland, no credit, no buildings, no endowment. Now it has $25,000 in buildings and owns a large tract of land, mostly cleared. It has no endowment but many contribute to its fund regularly. A Normal Department, Freshman and Soph- omore classes. During President E. H. Fairchild's term it built Ladies' Hall, College Chapel, Lincoln Hall and other small build- ings.
President Frost, with his experience in Greek in Oberlin, his acquaintance with the educational work in Europe, his abil- ity as orator, in managing students and the manual labor, now called industrial education, as a part of the college, caused the pioneers of Berea College to rejoice and it is now on a sub- stantial basis.
JOHN RAPHAEL ROGERS
Son of Alamanza and Sallie Embree, was born in Roseville, Illinois, December the 11th, 1856. He took his preparatory course, freshman and sophomore years at Berea, Kentucky. He came to Oberlin for his junior and senior studies. He graduated in 1875. He married in 1878, Miss Clara Saxton of Oberlin. He was superintendent of schools in Lorain from 1882 to 1888.
Thirty years ago he was shown through the building of the Philadelphia Times, where his brother labored. He saw a new invention for folding newspapers, turning out eight-page newspaper 30,000 an hour. On the top floor fifty compositors slowly putting type into a stick, while some were throwing back the type of a previous edition. The contrast between the ma- chine in the basement and this work led him to study the pos- sibility of a type-setting machine. He made a crude model with his own hands and took it to Cleveland and to his surprise a company was formed, which gave him opportunities to work out his ideas. He found himself in patent suits because of his lack of corporation methods. He never received a fair share of the money which should have gone to him, but a great fund of experience which will be of benefit all through his life. He invented the linotype and has taken out more than one hundred patents.
He is generous; he is atrustee of Berea College, a trustee of Oberlin, and on executive committee of American Missionary Association. His address is 251 Gates avenue, Brooklyn, N. Y. -From May, 1911, Oberlin Alumni Magazine. John Raphael Rogers, by Rev. Charles J. Ryder.
A LIFE OF LIBERTY
By Rev. John W. Chadwick and Caroline F. Putnam-1898.
This life of Sally Holley has many references to noted men and women who promoted reforms. William Lloyd Garrison, whose wife was Helen Benson, and her sisters, Sarah and Anna Benson, were in perfect sympathy and made his home "a garden of refreshment."
Wendell Phillips, whose wife was Anna Greene, was always ready with some restorative and bracing word. When going to a convention, she was heard to say: "Now, Wendell, don't shilly- shally, but be brave as a lion."
mary Grew, cousin of Wendell Phillips, was eloquent in her pleadings for all women, as well as slaves, to the right of their own labor, flesh and votes. Sarah Pugh and Margaret Bur- leigh were her best friends, as well as Harriet Martineau and other English women.
Angelina Grimke, of South Carolina, published an "Appeal to the Women of the South." It was read by Elizur Wright, secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society of America, and he wrote her to come to New York, which she did, accompanied by her sister Sarah and her brother.
Angelina married Theodore D. Weld, author of "Slavery as It Is." He convinced the students of Lyman Beecher's School in Cincinnati that the black race should be educated. His talk led to a division of sentiment and three of the Cincinnati men came to Oberlin, which had opened this school to both sexes and all races.
Samuel T. May, whose sister was the wife of Bronson Al- cott, said: "I greatly admire these three from South Carolina."
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Lydia Maria Childs wrote a book on "Progress of Religious Ideas," also An Appeal to that Class of Americans, called Af- ricans, in 1833. "The Appeal" stirred the heart of Dr. Chan- ning as no other had done; and Wendell Phillips said: "This "Appeal' will make me an abolitionist." She also wrote to John Brown: "I would like to suffer in prison for the cause." At the close of her long life she said: "I want to die, I have so many things to tell David" (meaning her husband).
Luther Holley of Connecticut was not an educated man himself, but he desired to fit his sons to do the best work pos- sible; he sent Myron Holley to Williams College; Horace to Yale, and Oliver to Harvard.
Myron Holly married Sally House, daughter of Captain John House. She was a village beauty and he was her lover to the last; they had six sons and six daughters; one daughter married a Mr. Chapin of Black Rock, N. Y., and her son, Eu- gene Chapin, spent a winter in the Oberlin school. Sally Hol- ly's mother was a Methodist and three of the daughters joined their mother's church in 1838.
Myron Holly was a member of the New York Legislature, when a bill to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie was passed. He was made Chairman of the Commissioners-it cost five millions. "At the wedding of the waters" in 1825, it was found there was a deficit of thirty thousand dollars. Mr. Hol- ly made an appeal to the Legislature for half of one per cent commission, which was not granted. He therefore gave up his beautiful home at "Rose Ridge" and removed to Lyons, where he did gardening; he would peddle his own produce in Roches- ter. Mothers would say, "What a refined gentleman," and when the cause of his situation was learned, he had hosts of friends.
In 1839 he lectured in Cleveland and other places on the
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desirableness of forming a New Party, it fell flat. He was made a lecturer for New York, at a salary of forty dollars per week, to speak "On the necessity of a Liberty Party."
James G. Birney was nominated for President on the Lib- erty Ticket; only one-tenth of the abolitionists voted; the votes for Birney were 7,069. The strain upon Mr. Holly led to a sickness of which he died; but he had paid every cent of the deficit of $30,000.
Sally Holly attended an anti-slavery convention in Buf- falo; no building could be rented for it, so it was held in an old warehouse. Frederick Douglass was the speaker for six days. One elegantly dressed woman came to all the meetings leading a little girl; it was Sally Holly who was not ashamed of the cause or her company. Now, the question was, What should she do. with herself? She had many suitors, but her father's life was her guide. She took a class of sixty Irish children. It was not her forte; then it was often said, "Should woman learn the al- phabet?" She knew many women who could not repeat the multi- plication table. She ought to be better educated if she entered the lecture field. The minister of the Unitarian church of Roch- ester told her to go to Oberlin and gave her $40.00. S. D. Por- ter, one of Oberlin's trustees, gave her a scholarship and she entered the school in 1847. The writer remembers her in the Colburn's arithmetic class taught by Miss Cone.
When a question like this was given out: What is one-third of four-fifths of 25, and the formula used, or some similar frac- tions, Miss Holly would say: "What nonsense. Who will use that in after life? Prove it to me." Then it would be put on a small blackboard. Her sharp and constant questions were a delight to all of the class.
Her graduating essay of 1851 was "Ideals of Womanhood."
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In it she consecrated herself to the abolition of all kinds of slavery. She excelled the best writers in composition. She boarded with Mrs. Parmelee. She and Miss Putnam did the family ironing, thus helping to pay for their weekly board. George M. Kellogg, a brother of Mrs. President Fairchild, would read out of books to them while they ironed and their laughing could be heard across Tippan hall square.
The two attended an Anti-slavery meeting at Akron (drove a livery stable horse of Mr. Munson's) and later with the same outfit they went to Litchfield, Medina County. There they met Abby Kelley Foster, whose refined manner won Miss Holly, and when Mrs. Foster asked, at the close of the meeting, "Who will plead the cause of the slave woman?" Miss Holly said "I will." She considered it a sacred vow.
She was active in making Lucy Stanton, a colored girl, president of the Ladies' Literary Society, where she presided with grace and dignity. Miss Stanton married a printer, L. M. Day, and he afterward published a paper in Toronto, Canada.
Miss Holly spoke at a meeting in Sandusky. Mrs. Foster wrote her: "You shall have ten dollars a week and your ex- penses; meet me in Syracuse, where we will begin our meetings."
In Buffalo Miss Holly went with Parker Pillsbury, of Sa- lem, O., Charles C. Burleigh and Sojourner Truth. In a shoe- maker's shop they held a meeting, for no hall would be given them. Parker Pillsbury said: "A negro slave is kept down in ignorance and chains to the level of the brute beast, denied mar- riage, or knowledge to learn the Bible or wages for labor." Then Sojourner Truth would rise and tell of her slavery in New York state before 1828. When they went to Rochester Samuel J. May opened his church and Abby Kelley pleaded for the slave woman. At night Mrs. Foster said, wiping her eyes: "I was so
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glad to hear you, Miss Holly, in this hated cause; I am weary, but I can rely on you."
Daniel Webster said to Congress: "The United States Con- stitution solemnly guarantees slavery." The Free Soil party said: "Slavery should be prohibited in the territories, the states could vote it in or not as they pleased." The Liberty party was divided.
Miss Holly's itinerary was made out by Samuel J. May; she was to visit in Pennsylvania, New England and New York.
On May 27, 1852, she was at Gerrit Smith's at Petersboro. He said to her: "If I had my money to give over again, I would give it all to women; they are more economical and would use it to better purpose." His daughter, Mrs. Miller, wore the bloomer costume to please her father and he said: "She was the best dressed woman in America." He also said: "The re- quests for money I receive in a single month would cover the whole amount of my property."
June 10, 1852.
I am now at Mrs. Foster's; she is a very neat housekeeper; her little girl, five years old, knows the names of all the gar- den plants, and the food for the chickens, and a great deal about cats, dogs and horses; she has picked this up from her own observation.
I spoke at Concord. Mrs. Emerson was in the audience: she is a delicate shrinking woman. I have good meetings wher- ever I go. We visited Daniel Webster's farm of fifteen hundred acres. He was in Washington, but returned September 8 and died October 28, a sad and disappointed man.
Philadelphia, October 24, 1852.
I am here at Lucretia Mott's. Oh, the comforts, the con- veniences and so beautifully neat, too! Lucy Stone is here; she
-
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is a great talker; I saw some young ladies from Oberlin-dear old Oberlin, it has many fond recollections for me.
Yesterday we rode to Valley Forge and was in the house where Washington staid ; it is built of stone and has win- dows of thick glass. Quaker Potts thought Washington was a Christian, because he saw him behind a rock, praying.
We met a Mr. Purvis (a colored gentleman). He took the highest premium on poultry at the fair. He was educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, and he is a fine looking colored gentleman. A man admiring the exhibit and standing by Mr. Purvis (not knowing him) said: "These belong to that black nigger down in Byberry." Mr. Purvis replied: "Friend, you put it rather strongly, I am that man," and he turned and went away.
May 10, N. H., 1853.
I had the happiness of talking with Mrs. Fuller, mother of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. She said: "When I listened to you, I thought, how my daughter would have taken an interest in your mission." Her son is buried in Mt. Auburn.
Cambridge, Mass., May 23, 1869.
Miss Putnam's youngest sister, whom she educated in Ober- lin for three years, is now lady principal of the Olean Acad- emy. The negro is not yet where I wish to place him. It seems to me a great mistake to discontinue the Anti-Slavery Society. The American nation is not good enough to be trusted with the care of the black race.
Miss Putnam had a negro school at Lottsburgh, Va., sixty- five miles south of Baltimore. Should Miss Holly spend her life in teaching negro children?
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August 3, 1875.
It is seven years since we settled here. We came out of love and pity for the colored people. Upon a two-acre strip of this desolate land, exhausted one hundred years ago with mis- erable tobacco raising, we have built a cheerful Teachers' Home; a spacious, airy schoolhouse; made a flower garden with borders of strawberry beds, melon patches, grape arbors and fruit trees.
There are seven hundred colored people in the town; we have no vacations; most of our pupils work in the corn fields; hundreds have learned to read and write who did not know a letter of the alphabet, or the names of the days of the week; could not count on their fingers or name the state they lived in. As we have no salary, we can offer none, but we have a mild, delightful climate. We have no white society and the poor peo- ple come to us nearly every hour in the day; every want is theirs. We clothe them from the boxes and barrels sent down from the North; in return they weed our gardens; cut our fire- wood, and bring water from the spring. When a box comes they will gather around and offer chickens, eggs and services in ex- change. We never encourage pauperism. One said: "Gi me dat coat, I'se build a heap of dat fence"; another, "Gi me dem col- lars and neckties and I done pull the weeds outer dat straw- berry bed o' yourn." Some of the best things we kept for Christmas or Emancipation day. When she asked them to make a garden for themselves, they said: "Oh, a heap of trouble; corn pone and pork is good enough." Their love of tobacco began when they stopped nursing, and therefore they care for no variety of food.
Among those devoted to the Holly School were Louise M. Alcott and her mother, and Mr. Rooker of Brooklyn. Mr.
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Rooker sent her one hundred dollars and often had some short notice in the Tribune, being on the staff of the New York Tribune.
On the death of Gerrit Smith, Miss Holly wrote his daugh- ter, Mrs. Mary Miller: "It has been the delight of my life, as it was my dear father's, to believe in immortality, and in the human soul I see its proof. I bow before the Great Father to thank Him for Everlasting Life."
Lottsburgh, December, 1878.
It is pitiful to see these poor whites with their blank, lean faces. At the holiday time they come in to get a present. They will not allow their children to come to our colored schools and they are growing up without knowing the alphabet.
July 8, 1879.
I seldom get a sight of any money here, as it is all barter. A friend sent us a box of hats, with which we got lumber, nails, firewood and other necessaries. We gave out three hundred presents at Christmas time.
These white women who hold themselves high are sick with bilious fever; they eat fat bacon, poor black coffee, bread made of saleratus and eaten hot from the fire, they use immense quantities of tobacco-men and women both smoke.
Steptoe Bill says: "Befor de war at sunrise, the horn blow and we had to go to work, whether we eat or not. We had no time to look at morning glories or night glories before you ladies come. Awful times then; nobody knowed A and B. Now everybody knows A and B."
July 13, 1886.
Yesterday a nice cook stove was at our door. I must thank somebody for the needed comfort.
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