USA > Ohio > Darke County > The history of Darke County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its cities, towns, etc.; general and local statistics; portraits of early settlers and prominent men; > Part 40
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HISTORY OF DARKE COUNTY.
however, it weathered the storms incident to the times, and gained. as the years succeeded, in favor among the people of the county.
On the 14th of December, 1869, the Journal again experienced a change in ownership, by the sale by Mr. Craig of his interest to E. W. Otwell, his partner. who then became the sole owner, publisher and editor, which he has continued to be from that time to the present.
On the 8th day of August, 1873, the Journal was enlarged to a nine-column folio, making it, at that time, the largest paper published in the county. In this shape and size it remained until 1879, when. on August 28, it was enlarged to the proportions of a seven-column quarto, making it again the largest newspaper then published in the county, and containing the greatest quantity of reading matter. On the 1st of September, 1879, E. W. Otwell entered the law office of Judge William Allen, and turned over the publication of the Journal to his son Curt Otwell. In April, 1880, the paper is prosperous, influential, and has a cir- enlation of 1,176. with prospects of a steady increase in the number of its readers.
The Democratic Herald was started at Greenville, Ohio. in April. 1847. Previous to this date, the Democratic party in Darke had been without a home paper, the best and only paper in the interest of the party having been pub- lished about 1830, by C. B. Floyd, now of Columbus, and known widely as the veteran editor of the State. The Herald was published by Messrs. Mehaffey & Adams, and took for its motto, " The sovereignty of the people, the rights of the States, and a light and simple government." Its name and motto indicate its principles. James Mehaffey had expected before the end of the first year to become sole proprietor, and to renew the publication in the second volume as the Union Democrat, " augmented in reading matter and sound in politics ;" but the project failed, and instead he sold his interest to William Allen. Esq., who, in con- nection with Thomas Adams, conducted the paper as the Greenville Telegraph. Allen was then acting as Prosecuting Attorney. Both men were high in popular estimation, persons of integrity and sound Democrats. They asked a fair chance. declaring that they " will condemn no man because he honestly possesses political principles differing from theirs." In June, 1851, Adams sold his interest. and was succeeded by Dr. J. L. Sorber, who conducted the paper until the fall of 1852. when Rufus Putnam became the proprietor. The paper rapidly changed owner- ship and name, being by Putnam entitled the Mad Anthony. under which title it was issued until the summer of 1854. With the Know-Nothing excitement, young Putnam removed the press to Union City, Ind., where he started a paper in the interest of the American party, as it was called, in the fall of the same year.
In the fall of 1854, leading Democrats of the county raised a small sum by subscription. and Messrs. William Allen and Thomas Perry went to Cincinnati, and having purchased new press and metal, Mr. Perry was made the publisher of what was entitled the Greenville Eagle. But he suffered so many indignities at the hands of Know-Nothings, that at the end of six months he left in disgust. and the office was closed for a number of months. In the spring of 1855. A. G. Clark came from Hamilton to Greenville, and commenced the publication of the Darke County Democrat. At the end of a year or more, in July. 1856, Mr. Clark was superseded by Henry Miller, and the office was located over Messrs. Weston & Ullery's hardware store, on the corner of Broadway and Third street. Mr. Miller took for his motto : " Truth crushed to earth will rise again ; the eternal years of God are hers ;" and continued steadily to edit and publish the paper until March 20, 1861, when his connection ceased and his place was taken by Messrs. J. B. Price and George D. Farrar. Mr. Miller had been appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, in the place of Dr. W. C. Porterfield. deceased. The county which had been Whig till 1857, changed over during that year, and the Democracy succeeded in electing their entire county ticket, as they have done ever since. It was due to Mr. Miller that under him the Democrat was established on a permanent basis. Price conducted the publication until the
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winter of 1863-64, when a number of soldiers at home on furlough sacked the office and threw the metal into the street. Subsequently other parties procured an interest in what was left of the concern, and removed the office from the Weston building to Mechanics' building, where the paper was once more published. In a short time the paper was again sold to Messrs. Mckay & Kinder, who continued the publication until their interest was purchased by Charles Roland, who removed to Greenville from Lancaster in 1866. Mr. Roland became proprietor and editor. and has continued to publish the paper to this date, and is in receipt of good suc- cess and hearty support-the appreciation paid by the public to acknowledged merit.
The Greenville Sunday Courier was started May 22, 1875. by George W. Calderwood, and December 10, 1876, A. R. Calderwood assumed editorial control and the paper was published by the firm of Calderwood & Studabaker. The office is in the third story of the Hart & Wilson New Block, on the corner of Third street and Broadway. It advocates Republican doctrines and has a growing cir- culation. Its prospectus opened with the following: "The Sunday Courier lives a life of happiness and so will its readers. Consumptive men, on the verge of the grave, have recovered and are live and active men because they read it. Poverty- cursed individuals, almost at the door of the almshouse, have picked it up and saved themselves a life of wretchedness and woe. Statesmen have been brought from obscurity and elevated to position from casual glances over its columns."
The American Prohibitionist was published for a time by George Calderwood. and. after a few months. was removed to Columbus. Its brief career in Green- ville was promising. It waged an uncompromising war on saloons and gained rapidly in circulation. It was published at the office of the Daily Gazette, started in 1879 by the same publisher, Mr. Calderwood.
It is surprising how transitory is the existence of a newspaper ; it is the erea- tion and has the existence of a day. There are no complete files of Darke County papers to be found, and their value is not realized till the time to use them is at hand. The present publishers of Darke County are men of experience, promi- nence and means ; they are all persons of sterling principles, and few counties can boast of more energetic workers.
EDUCATIONAL-PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS.
In the early history of Darke County the schools were mainly supported by the individual contributions of the parents sending their children. The wages of teachers were low, averaging from $9 to $12 per month. The public fund received by each township was derived from Section 16, which was spoken of as the " school section." It was finally sold, the purchase money paid to the State Treasurer, and the interest on the same is still divided among the several school districts in the townships. The educational interests of the county have always received that attention from the people that their importance seemed to demand. Often. when the farmer had done his day's work. he would attend the evening school. organized by private enterprise, and not only become a student himself, but by his presence and influence encourage the children and youth to renewed dili- gence in acquiring even a limited education. Among the early teachers of the county we will mention Rev. Mr. Swallow, who preached in different localities, and at the same time taught grammar schools wherever he could collect a class. But grammar was a step in advance of the requirements of the teacher of the day school, who was only required to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic to the " single rule of three." We can certainly notice a contrast between the requirements of the teacher then and now. Henry D. Williams taught in 1830 and 1833. and after- ward became County Treasurer. Dow Roll, Mrs. McIntyre, John Townsend and Noah Arnold were among the pioneer teachers of the county, and did efficient work in the schoolroom. Schools were held about three months, and were supported by the income of Section 16, fines and individual contributions. until the
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HISTORY OF DARKE COUNTY.
present financial school-law went into operation. But fines only yielded a small sum, the proceeds of Section 16 were small, when apportioned among the several schools of the township ; money was scarce and difficult to obtain, either by labor or produce, for there was but little demand for either, and had it not been for the low wages of teaching. schools could not have been continued for three months. The first schoolhouses in the county were rude structures, built of round logs, covered by clapboards, held in their places by poles laid upon them. The writing desks were generally slabs, laid upon pins driven in holes bored in the wall, while the seats were rude benches made of slabs, with two holes bored in each end, into which the legs were driven. The floors were also made of puncheon, dressed on one side, and the writer remembers that the second house in which he taught had only a part of the floor thus made, while the other part was the ground leveled off to correspond with the puncheons, and ground-squirrels and rats would frequently come out of their holes, during school hours, and run across the floor, to the no small amusement of the pupils.
In many of the schools, pupils were required to study in a loud tone, and hence called a loud school, the object being to let the teacher know they were engaged upon their lessons, and not in mischief. Classes in arithmetic and writing were never formed, but each pupil "ciphered away at will," and received personal assistance from the teacher when the same was needed. Writing was taught by the teacher "setting the copy," and the pupil trying to imitate the same. The " quill pen " was used by the pupil, and the "master " was expected to make the pen, and mend the same when the pupil thought it unfit for use. The custom of " barring out " the teacher, and compelling him to "treat," about the holidays, was indulged in by the pupils as a general custom, and sanctioned by the parents ; but this relic of barbarism has almost entirely disappeared from our schools. Until the present school law went into operation, there were two County School Exam- iners, who examined applicants for certificates to teach school, at any time they were called upon. the fee being fifty cents, and the grade of qualification necessarily low, compared with the qualifications during the past twenty years. Among the early Examiners, we may mention John Beers, Dr. J. Briggs. C. F. Dempsey, J. R. Knox and A. L. Northrop ; the latter also taught school in 1844, and claims that he first taught mental arithmetic in the schools under his charge. He after- ward became County Auditor, and has ever been a warm friend of education. and a firm supporter of our common-school system. John Beers, John Wharry, J. R. Knox and William Allen were, respectively, members of the Board of Exam- iners until the year 1856. when C. G. Matchett, E. B. Putnam and .G. H. Martz constituted the board. This board required mental arithmetic to be taught, and made it a grade of qualification for the teacher. Many applicants for certificates were rejected for incompetency ; the standard of teaching was raised, and the schools necessarily took a higher standing in education and usefulness. A vacancy occurred in the board, by the death of E. B. Putnam, and A. T. Bodle was appointed a member of the same. At the breaking-out of the rebellion, C. G. Matchett raised a company of the Fortieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, served with honor and distinction during the war, and. at its close. located, as a lawyer, in Greenville, Ohio, filled the office of Prosecuting Attorney with fidelity, and is now a prominent member of the Greenville bar. G. H. Martz followed teaching for a number of years, served four years as Treasurer of Darke County, and is now serving his third term as County School Superintendent of Greenwood County. Kan. A. T. Bodle followed the profession of teaching for a number of years, and is now a prominent member of the Greenville bar. The first meeting of teachers was held about the year 1856, the object being the mutual exchange of views relative to the duties and responsibities of teachers. In 1859, A. T. Bodle. L. S. B. Otwell and J. T. Martz, being then School Examiners, in connection with other teachers organized the Darke County Teachers' Association, which was kept alive for some time ; and, after the enactment of the law creating a teachers'
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institute fund was passed, the association was re-organized, and has been kept in existence from that time to the present. J. T. Martz has been President of this association for a number of years, and, previous to March, 1879, was member of the Board of School Examiners for more than twenty successive years. He has taught a number of normal schools for teachers, in different parts of the county. With Prof. Lang, of Gambier, Ohio, A. J. Rickoff, Superintendent of the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio, and Rev. A. L. Mckinney, of Troy. Ohio. he held the first teachers' institute in the county. He has been one of the instruct- ors of the Darke County Teachers' Institute for a number of years, and has just completed his ninth successive year as Superintendent of the Greenville Union School. The last teachers' institute enrolled 150 members, and was one of the most successful held in the county. Hon. T. W. Harvey. John Hancock, Rev. J. F. Reinmund, and other distinguished educators of the State, have been teachers and lecturers at our institutes, and they have taken front rank with like institutes in the State.
Education in the county seems to be progressive. The public schools are generally well attended, and there seems to be a desire on the part of both teacher and pupil to make all possible progress in the acquisition of knowledge. Teach- ers make themselves acquainted with the modern methods of teaching. and adopt the same when preferred. Graded schools have been established at the following places, and under the control of the following Superintendents : At Bradford, D. S. Myers ; at Gettysburg, Rev. C. W. Shoate ; at Versailles, JJ. E. Polly : at Dallas, J. S. Royer, who is also a member of the Board of Examiners at Union City, Ohio side. B. F. Landis is Superintendent at New Madison ; Thomas Eubank, who is also a member of the Board of Examiners, at Arcanum. A goodly showing this, of nine graded schools in the county, together with 200 schoolhouses, requiring 250 teachers. It will be well in this connection to review somewhat the history of education in the State in order to understand how it has been possible to reach the present system of education in the county of Darke.
Ohio, educationally. has been a favored state. When, nearly a century ago, the Confederate Congress passed an act for the survey of Western lands, one section of each township was reserved "for the maintenance of public schools within said township." In the act for governing the Northwest Territory. passed July 13, 1787, it was provided : "Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of educa- tion shall forever be encouraged." Later, one-thirty-sixth of the entire land of the State was given to the State in trust for the support of schools. The State constitution of 1802 provided : "Religion, morality and knowledge being essen- tially necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision. not inconsistent with the rights of conscience." Despite these provisions for educa- tion. the schools of Darke, as intimated in carlier chapters, were for many years of little moment. The law of 1821 left it to the vote of each township whether school districts should be formed. Four years later. action in this regard was changed, and Township Trustees were required to divide the township into dis- tricts. A tax for schools was levied by the county and provided a fund of about $10 for one ordinary country district.
In 1838, the first efficient law was adopted by the General Assembly. It pro- vided that School Directors "may determine the studies to be pursued in each school, so that reading, writing and arithmetic may be taught in the English lan- guage." In 1849, teachers, in addition to examination in spelling, reading, writ- ing and arithmetic, were required to show qualifications in geography and gram- mar. The present cost, condition and value of Darke County schools may be ascertained by a consideration of the following statistics for the year 1879 :
The balance of school money on hand September 1. 1877, was $71,982.88 ; the State tax gave $19,899, the irreducible school fund added $4,553.69 ; the
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HISTORY OF DARKE COUNTY.
local tax for school and schoolhouse purposes gave $68,333.56 ; the amount received on sale of bonds was $940: from other sources, $1,611.49-thus mak- ing the total receipts $167,320.62. The following were the disbursements during the same year : The amount paid teachers was-primary, $58,276.99 ; high school, $6,095-total $64,371.99 ; managing and superintending, $675 ; sites and build- ings, $10.892.79 ; bond interest. $8,205.66 ; fuel and other expenses, $18,925.53 ; a total expenditure of $103,070.97-leaving a balance, September 1, 1878, of $64,249.65. The State received, during the fiscial year ending November 15, 1878. from the county, of common-school fund, $18,586.15, and paid to the county $19,899, or an excess of $1,312.86. The number of youths between six and twenty-one was 13,175. The Section 16 school fund amounted to $5,135.92.
Darke has 20 townships. 177 subdivisions, 9 separate districts and 9 subdi- visions, included in separate districts. During the year, 5 primary schoolhouses were erected in the townships, at a cost of $5,000. The value of school property is about $200,000 in townships and $130,000 in separate districts, or a total of about $330,000. There were 230 schoolrooms, requiring 231 teachers. There were employed, within the year, 186 gentlemen and 71 ladies, in primary schools ; 22 gentlemen and 24 ladies, in separate districts, or a total of 303 teachers. The number of teachers who taught the entire time the schools were in session were 154. The average wages of gentlemen, in primary township schools, was $38 : ladies, $26. In separate districts-primary, $49 ; ladies, $32 ; high, gentlemen, $61. The average number of weeks' schools were in session, was 28, 31 and 33. The local tax of townships, 1878-79, was 3.4 ; separate districts, 7. The number of pupils enrolled within the year was : of boys, 4,973 ; girls, 4,161-total, 9,124; in primary, in townships : separate districts-primary, boys, 1,050 : girls, 958 ; high, boys, 201 ; girls, 197-total, 2,406 ; grand total, 11.530. The average daily attend- ance was 6,918. the per cent, in townships, being 76, and in separate districts, 82.
The number in each branch of study is thus given : Alphabet, 1,767 ; read- ing, 8,988 ; spelling, 9,832 : writing, 7,826 ; arithmetic. 6,775 ; geography, 2,750 ; grammar, 1,830 ; oral lessons, 2,271 ; composition, 1,054; drawing, 436; vocal music, 1,395 ; map drawing. 373 ; history. 283 ; physiology, 28 ; physical geogra- phy, 13 ; natural philosophy, 23, and German, 145 ; algebra, 336 ; geometry, 26 ; trigonometry, 11; surveying, 2; chemistry, 11; geology, 11; botany, 10 ; astron- omy, 1; book-keeping, 22.
The School Examiners of Darke, in 1879, were E. B. Leitz, J. T. Martz and E. Lockett, the last named resident of Gettysburg. Eighteen meetings were held for examination of teachers ; 368 gentlemen made application for license and 187 ladies-total. 555 ; of these 205 were rejected. Fourteen persons, all gentlemen, received license for two years; 46 for eighteen months; 226 for a year, the remainder for six months ; entire number licensed, 350 ; 37 per cent were rejected. The institute. held at Greenville, commenced August 19. 1878, was in session eleven days, and 160 persons were in attendance.
Thus briefly we learn of the large sums annually paid for education, the full supply of teachers, the fair wages and the increasing exactions of the people for better qualifications. The institute, the high schools and the common schools provide means for acquiring that knowledge so indispensable to the control and instruction of the young. The schools are by no means perfect, but they are pro- gressive. and, as compared with the past, have shown surprising advance.
SOCIETIES.
The local historian nowhere finds a more interesting field for research, or one more fruitful, than that which embraces the experience of the pioneers of Darke -the men who literally hewed out the county from the sturdy and unbroken for- est, wherein the ax of the woodman had never before resounded ; who conquered a scanty subsistence from the unused soil which the plowshares of civilization
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had never disturbed ; who not only were hindered by these primitive and inert conditions, but positively opposed by the rigors of the climate, the malarial influences of the atmosphere, and the depredations of wild animals ; whose crops were even preyed upon by the birds of the forest and the smaller predatory animals. But " peace hath her victories," and adversity and savagery combined withstood not the constant onward march of the vanguard of the grand army of civilization, whose pioneers, discharging their daily routine of duty, unwittingly recorded their deeds in history.
Desirous of the benefits of association. the following-named pioneers met in Ilart's Grove, July 4, 1870, and there organized the first pioneer association of Darke County, viz .: Henry Arnold, Aaron Hiller, Israel Cox, John S. Hiller, David Studabaker. John Wharry, Josiah D. Elston, James Cloyd, John Martin, Robert Martin, Henry W. Emerson, John Stahl and William F. Bishop, in all thirteen. On motion, James Cloyd was elected President ; John S. Hiller, Vice President ; Henry W. Emerson, Second Vice President ; John Wharry, Secretary, and H. Arnold, Treasurer. The following was the preamble to the constitution and by-laws : "We, the undersigned, citizens of Darke County. Ohio, believing it commendable to collect and preserve all the incidents and reminiscences as con- nected with the early settlement of our county, and to preserve them, that those who follow us will, in some degree, be made acquainted with the manners, cus- toms, difficulties, hardships and trials incident to the settlement of a wilderness county, do establish this our constitution, etc." Again, in a year and a day, the pioneers met at the same place. There was singing by Greenville people, prayer by Rev. Levi Purviance, music by Arcanum Band, address by Hon. G. V. Dorsey, of Piqua, on " Pioneers and Pioneer History," and other music by band and choir, when "there was served just such a dinner as pioneers are capable of getting ; an overwhelming abundance of the best the land affords, prepared with a culinary skill and neatness peculiar to our pioneer mothers." In the afternoon, G. B. Holt and others gave voluntary addresses, then with due and appropriate ceremo- nies, the remains of the two Wilson girls, who had been slain by the Indians, were disinterred, buried in the Greenville Cemetery, and a suitable monument erected to commemorate them. The semi-annual meeting was held at the court house in Greenville. January 1, 1872. An address was delivered by Dr. I. N. Gard, and it abounded in historical allusions to events in the early day. It is a subject of deep regret that the addresses delivered before the association had not been writ- ten and the papers filed with the Secretary, as the subject matter, however interest- ing, was lost in its utterance so far as there was any benefit to posterity. A dinner was concluded by a dessert of corn-bread and milk. In the afternoon there was an "experience meeting," greatly enjoyed. Israel Cox presented the society with a cabin door made in 1816, of clapboards pinned together by wooden pins and hung on wooden hinges. The annual meeting was held at the fair grounds. The death of James Cloyd was formally announced. suitable resolutions were passed, the constitution was amended, and H. K. McConnell chosen Corresponding Secretary. This gentleman then delivered an address on - The Early History of the County," followed by H. W. Emerson. Dr. Gard, J. S. Hiller and others, when the roll was signed by quite a number of persons. On July 4, 1873, the associa- tion met at Morning-Star Grove, Greenville, President Hiller in the chair ; Will- iam Allen read the Declaration of Independence, when rain threatened and the meeting was adjourned to the court house, where addresses were delivered by Abner Haines. of Eaton. G. D. Hendricks and others. Again, January 1, 1874, the association met at Greenville and listened to a well-prepared, interesting address upon " The growth of the country, its resources, and future possibilities. A vote of thanks was tendered the Judge therefor. Aaron Hiller was chosen Secretary, vice Wharry resigned. A Bible presented by Mrs. J. W. Frizzell was placed in the care of the Corresponding Secretary. The constitution was amended to admit pioneer women as members, and true to the gallantry of "ye
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