USA > Ohio > Hardin County > The history of Hardin county, Ohio > Part 48
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Wilson, William, Co. B. 118th O. V. I., e. Aug., 1862; dis. July, 1865. Wallick, Edward, Co. D. 36th O. V. I., e. Feb. 3, 1864; dis. May, 1865. Wood, D. J., Co. H, 21st O. V. I., e. 1862.
Corp. W. H. H. Wagner, Co. L, 1st O. V. Heavy Artillery, e. June 6, 1863; dis. Aug., 1865.
Wider, Fred, 15th U. S. A., e. 1861; dis. 1864.
Wies, Samuel, 4th O. V. I., e. April, 1861; dis. May, 1864. Wolgamot, H. G., Co. B, 177th O. V. I., e. Sept. 8, 1864; dis. Aug. 1, 1865. Wider, Joseph, Co. G, 34th O. V. I., e. Feb., 1864; dis. July, 1865. Sergt. Samuel Watt, Co. K, 33d O). V. I., e. Sept., 1861; dis. June, 1865.
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.
Wilson, I. E., Co. G, 4th O. V. I., e. April, 1861; dis. June, 1864. Welch, Philip, Co. B, 66th Ill. W. Sharpshooters, e. Oct. 12, 1861; dis. July, 1865. Wider, Frederick, Co. C, 15th O. V. I., e. Sept. 2, 1861; dis. Sept., 1864. Winder, E., Co. H, 135th O. N. G., e. May, 1864; dis. Sept., 1864. Wooley, John, Co. D, 45th O. V. I., e. Oct., 1862; died in Libby Prison April, 1864. Westhoven, J. D., Co. F, 46th O. V. I., e. 1861; dis. 1863.
Warnicks, Jackson, O. V. I., e. Sept. 4, 1864.
Weid, Frederick, Co. C, 36th O. V. I.
Warner, Curtis, Co. I, 45th O. V. I., e. July 25, 1862; dis. July, 1865.
Woods, W. W., Co. D, 34th O. V. I., e. July, 1861: dis. July, 1865.
Weller, John B., Co. D, 34th O. V. I., e. Aug. 30, 1861; dis. Sept., 1864.
Winslow, Philip, Co. G, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Wingate, Adam, Co. G, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Wable, Jacob, Co. G, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Wilson, Charles E., Co. G, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1961.
Corp. John Walker, Co. A, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Corp. Amos Wheeler, Co. A, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861. Wallace, James, Co. A, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Welch, Henry A., Co. A, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Williams, William, Co. A, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Williams, Joseph, Co. A, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Woodward, John H, Co. B, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Wolf, John, Co. B, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Wisant, William, Co. B, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Sergt. R. C. Wiley, Co. C., 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861. Wolford, J., Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Wolford, Hampton, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Whaley, Henry, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Williams, Harrison, Co. E, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Wilcox, Daniel, Co. E, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Wolf, William R., 18 months in Andersonville Prison. Williams, Amos, Co. E, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Williams, E., Co. E, 198th O. V. I., e. March, 1865; dis. May, 1865.
Wilson, J. H., Co. G, 135th O. N. G., e. May, 1864; dis. Sept., 1864.
Wilson, George W., Co. G, 4th O. V. I., e. June 3, 1861; dis. June, 1864, of wounds received at Gettysburg.
White, Isaac, Co. G, 40th O. V. I., e. Oct. 19, 1861; died at Brownslow, Ky., April 16, 1862.
Weise, Samuel, Co. G, 135th O. N. G., e. May, 1864; dis. Sept., 1864.
Williams, Anderson, Co. I, 45th O. V. I.
White, James, Co. I, 45th O. V. I., e. Aug., 1862.
Westbrook, Levi, Co. I, 45th O. V. I.
Wallingford, B. F., Co. E, 45th O. V. I.
Wilson, George, 8th O. V. Cav., e. Feb. 29, 1864; died at Beverly, Va., Nov. 27, 1864. Waxler, John, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov. 13, 1861.
Wineland, Jackson E., Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov. 13, 1861.
Willard, Simon, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov. 13, 1861.
Wineland, Washington, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Jan. 1, 1862.
Wolford, Hampson, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Jan. 6, 1862.
Wolford, Isaiah, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Jan. 6, 1862.
Wood, James J., Co. D, 34th O. V. I., e. Dec. 10, 1863; dis. Dec., 1864.
Yarnell, Alex., Co. F, 13th O. V. I., e. June 9, 1861; died March 19, 1862.
Yarnell, Jonas, Co. G, 82d O. V. I., e. Dec. 3, 1861; wounded and died May 12, 1862.
Yarnell, Aaron, Co. I, 135th O. N. G., e. May, 1864; dis. Sept., 1864.
Youngs, Henry V., Co. G, 11th Ind. V. I.
Yeazell, James, Co. G, 82d O. V. I., e. Sept., 1861; dis. June 28, 1865.
Young, William, Co. E, 136th O. N. G., e. May, 1864; dis. Sept., 1864.
Young, Elias, Co. F, 31st O. V. I., e. Aug. 2, 1862; dis. July, 1865.
Young, John, Co. K, 178th O. V. I., e. Sept., 1864; dis. May, 1865.
Young, Albert, Co. E, 19th O. V. I., e. Feb. 24, 1864; dis. Feb. 6, 1865; wounded at the battle of the Wilderness.
Yauger, Amos, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Yauger, Henry, Co. C, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Young, James, Co. I, 45th O. V. I.
Zimmerman, E. D., Co. E, 82d O. V. I., e. Nov., 1861.
Ziegler, S. A., died at Chattanooga, Tenn.
Zigler, Lewis, Co. B, 57th O. V. I., e. Nov. 15, 1864; died at Pittsburg Landing April 6, 1864.
Zehner, William, Co. E, 198th O. V. I., e. March, 1864; dis. June, 1865. Zahner, Josiah, Co. I, 1st Ind. Co. Sharpshooters, e. 1861; dis. June, 1865.
443
HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.
ABBREVIATIONS.
dis.
discharged.
e. .
.enlisted.
mo.
mustered out.
res.
resigned.
On the 12th of April, 1861, at 4 o'clock A. M., the first gun was fired by the rebels against the national flag flying over Fort Sumter, in Charleston Harbor; and on the 14th of the same month the flag was hauled down and the fort surrendered to the representatives of the slave power. That strange event was celebrated throughout the South as one that would lead to their . independence as a nation, and their greatness as a people. Vastly different was the feeling at the North, and, as the news spread from ocean to ocean on that fatal Sunday morning, there was no rejoicing; but a deep and firm resolve went up from the hearts of the loyal millions, that the flag which had been lowered should again float over the walls of Sumter or its ruins. How well that resolution was kept is known to all, for at 12 o'clock on the 14th of April, 1865, Gen. Robert Anderson raised again to its place on Fort Sumter the same flag that four years prior to that date he had been obliged to lower in token of surrender; while the Confederacy lay bleed- ing and powerless at the mercy of the victors. Her cities sacked and burned; her railroads and public work in ruins; her people in poverty and rags, and her system of human slavery forever destroyed. Such was the righteous retribution meted out to a rebellious people who sought to destroy this free government and upon its ruins found a slave oligarchy.
At a meeting of the citizens held at the court house in Kenton, on Tues- day evening, April 11, 1865, it was resolved to have an appropriate cele- bration on Friday, April 14, in honor of the recent Union victories and the surrender of Lee's army on the 9th of April, at Appomattox. Committees were appointed and every preparation made to insure a celebration worthy of the occasion.
At 6 o'clock A. M. on the day designated, the bells pealed out in glad- some notes, cannon was fired and flags thrown to the breeze in great pro- fusion. The people flocked in from the surrounding country for miles in every direction. Company A, Ohio National Guards, under the command of Capt. Bogardus, was called out, took position in front of the court house, fired several volleys and then returned to the armory. At 10 o'clock A. M., union services were held in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and ap- propriate addresses delivered by several of the ministers present. At 12 o'clock, the bells were again rung and salutes fired by Company A, Ohio National Guards, and the artillery. At 2 o'clock, P. M., the people assem- bled at the court house and listened to stirring speeches from J. C. Stevens, W. L. Walker and Rev. A. Harmount, who were repeatedly and enthusias- tically cheered. Large numbers could not gain admittance, and an outside meeting was organized, which was addressed by H. H. Ingersoll, William T. Cessna and Judge James Bain.
The scene in the evening surpassed anything of the kind that has ever taken place in Kenton. At 6 o'clock P. M., the bells once more rang out the glad news, while volleys from the Guards and the boom of the cannon added much tothe joyous occasion. As soon as it was dark, the buildings around the square were brilliantly illuminated, as was also the court house, and about 8 o'clock, Mr. Chapman sent up a large balloon, which sailed away to the northward and reached a great altitude. Immediately afterward, fireworks were set off from the top of the brick building then occupied by G. R.
444
HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.
Moore and others, while at the same time a cannon, which was placed at the southwest corner of the square, belched forth in thunder tones, making the scene decidedly grand. Calls were made for speeches, to which Judge Anthony Banning and Col. C. H. Gatch responded, entertaining the immense gathering until a late hour, and sending them to their homes thankful, joy- ons and happy over the termination of the greatest war in modern history. The numbers present in the evening equaled, if not exceeded any foriner gathering of the people within the history of Hardin County.
In the midst of this unbounded joy, when every loyal heart was thank- ing the God of battle for the end of the war and the dawn of a glorious peace, the terrible news flashed over the wires, "Lincoln is dead," assassinat- ed by a sympathizer of the great rebellion which he had crushed so com- pletely on the bloody field. The man who, but a few short hours before, was the hope of the nation-whose hand was never raised to smite in an- ger, and whose voice was heard only in kindness-lies stilled in death. He had fallen a martyr to his country in the hour of her triumph; but he left a name and a fame that has grown brighter and brighter with the lapse of time, and millions yet to come will praise him as the great, the wise, the good.
From the pinnacle of joy the people all over this broad land were plunged into an abyss of grief and despair. On Sunday, April 16, the services in the churches of Hardin County were of the most impressive character. Draped flags and emblems of mourning were conspicuously displayed, and a deep feeling of gloom pervaded the entire county. It was as though death had entered every home and taken therefrom the head of the family circle. On Wednesday, April 19, union services were held in the United Presbyterian Church, conducted by the several ministers of Kenton. Brief addresses were delivered on the life and services of Abra- ham Lincoln and his devotion to the great cause of human liberty. The speakers also referred touchingly to the many brave men from Hardin County, who, not unlike their martyred President, had sacrificed their lives on the altar of their country. Their records belong to the nation as dis- tinctly as the principles for which they fought belong to man. Participat- ing in all the sufferings and triumphs of the national army, their record is a record of the war. The result of their devotion is, therefore, national and universal, for they fought as man for man, the rights for which they shed their blood being the rights of the human race. They depend not upon local annals for the abiding history of their achievements, but find it traced in living characters upon the hearts of a liberty-loving nation. In this national capacity, they secured for themselves the grateful benedictions of that posterity for whom they preserved a land of liberty, unity and peace.
Samuel Sallenson
Jane patterson
447
HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.
CHAPTER XIII.
EDUCATION - SCHOOL LANDS- PIONEER SCHOOLS-GROWTH OF EDUCATION- SCHOOLS FOR COLORED YOUTH-PRESENT GOVERNMENT OF SCHOOLS.
THE men of to-day who were familiar with the olden time which they TE made and of which they were a part, and who grew up with the ever- enlarging civilization, are living in a changed atmosphere. So suddenly and so strangely has the genius of change and alteration waved his charmed wand over the land, that the early settler has changed and kept pace with the changing years, and the unwritten history of the early days is recalled, as one remembers a fading dream. The sharp and hard conflicts of life make heroes, and the fierce struggles of war and bloodshed develop them into self-reliant, stubborn and aggressive men, as fierce and sanguinary as their bitter foes. We are living in the age of invention and machinery. These have destroyed the romance of frontier life, and much of the strange, eventful realities of the past are rapidly becoming mythical, and the narra- tives of the generation that settled the Scioto Valley, abounding in rich treasures of incidents and character, are being swallowed up and forgotten in the surging, eventful present.
The most casual observer cannot but have noticed, notwithstanding the privation and discomforts attending the lives of the early settlers, the zeal they manifested in education, and that, as soon as a sufficient number of pupils could be collected and a teacher secured, a house was erected for the purpose. The period just preceding the Revolution was characterized by its number of literary men and the interest they gave to polite learning; and the patriots who were conspicuous in that struggle for human liberty, were men not only of ability but of no ordinary culture. We can readily un- derstand that the influence of their example had its weight in molding pub- lic sentiment in other respects, besides that of zeal for the patriot cause. To this may be added that, for the most part, the early pioneers were men of character, who endured the dangers and trials of a new country, not sole- ly for their own sakes, but for their children, and, with a faith in what the future would bring forth, clearly saw the power and value of education. Then we find, from the beginning, their object kept steadily in view, and provision made for its successful prosecution, and the express declaration of the fundamental law of the State, enjoins that " the principal of all funds arising from the sale or other distribution of lands or other property, grant- ed or intrusted to the State for educational purposes, shall forever be pre- served inviolate and undiminished, and the income arising therefrom shall be faithfully applied to the specific objects of the original grants or appro- priations, and the General Assembly shall make such provisions by taxation or otherwise, as, from the income arising from the school trust fund, shall secure a thorough and efficient system of common schools throughout the State."
SCHOOL LANDS.
The act of Congress providing for the admission of Ohio into the Union, offered certain educational propositions to the people. These were, first, that Section 16 in each township, or, in lieu thereof, other con -
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448
HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.
tiguous or equivalent lands, should be granted for the use of schools; sec- ond, that thirty-eight sections of land, where salt springs had been found, should be granted to the State, never, however, to be sold or leased for a longer term than ten years; and third, that one-twentieth of the proceeds from the sale of the public lands in the State should be applied toward the construction of roads from the Atlantic to and through Ohio. These propo- sitions were offered on the condition that the public lands sold by the United States after the 30th of June, 1802, should be exempt from State taxation for five years after sale. The ordinance of 1787 had already pro- vided for the appropriation of Section 16 to the support of schools in every township sold by the United States; this, therefore, could not, in 1802, be properly made the subject of a new bargain between the United States and Ohio; and, by many, it was thought that the salt reservations and one- twentieth of the proceeds of the sale of public lands, were inadequate equivalent for the proposed surrender of a right to tax for five years. The convention, however, accepted the propositions of Congress, on their being so modified and enlarged as to vest in the State, for the use of schools, Sec- tion 16 in each township sold by the United States, and three other tracts of land, equal in quantity respectively to one-thirty-sixth of the Virginia Military Reservation, of the United States military tract and of the Con- necticut Western Reserve; and to give 3 per cent of the proceeds of the public lands sold within the State to the construction of roads in Ohio, un- der the direction of the Legislature. Congress agreed to the proposed modi- fications, and, in March, 1807, offered to the State, in lieu of the one thirty- sixth part of the Virginia Military Reservation, eighteen quarter townships and three sections of land lying between the United States Military tract and the Connecticut Reserve. On the 14th of January, 1808, the State ac- cepted these lands and released all right and title to the school lands in the Virginia Military District. We here have the basis of the common-school fund of Ohio, never probably conjectured or intended to be sufficient for the purposes of education, but adequate to encourage broader and more liberal views.
We have seen in the foregoing how Congress by a compact with the people, gave them one thirty-sixth part of all of the lands northwest of the Ohio River for school purposes. The lands for this purpose set apart, how- ever, were often appropriated by squatters, and through unwise, careless and sometimes corrupt legislation, these squatters were vested with pro- prietorship. Caleb Atwater, in his History of Ohio, in speaking on this subject, says: "Members of the Legislature not unfrequently got acts passed and leases granted, either to themselves, their relatives, or to their parti- sans. One Senator contrived to get, by such acts, seven entire sections of land into either his own or his children's possession." From 1803 to 1820, the General Assembly spent a considerable portion of every session in pass- ing acts relating to these lands, without ever advancing the cause of educa- tion to any degree.
In 1821, the House of Representatives appointed five of its members, viz., Caleb Atwater, Loyd Talbot, James Shields, Roswell Mills and Josiah Barber, a committee on schools and school lands. This committee subse quently made a report, rehearsing the wrong management of the school land trust on behalf of the State, warmly advocated the establishment of a sys- tem of education and the adoption of measures which would secure for the people the rights which Congress intended they should possess. In com- pliance with the recommendation of the committee, the Governor of the
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449
HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.
State, in May, 1822, having been authorized by the Legislature, appointed seven Commissioners of Schools and School Lands, viz., Caleb Atwater, Rev. John Collins, Rev. James Hoge, N. Guilford, Ephraim Cutler, Josiah Bar- ber and James M. Bell. The reason why seven persons were appointed was because there were seven different sorts of school lands in the State, viz., Section 16 in every township of the Congress lands, the Virginia Military lands, Symmes' Purchase, the Ohio Company's Purchase, the Refugee lands and the Connecticut Western Reserve. This commission of seven persons was reduced by various causes to one of three, Messrs. Atwater, Collins and Hoge, who performed the arduous duties incumbent upon them with but little remuneration, and (at the time) but few thanks.
The Legislature of 1822-23 broke up without having taken any definite action upon the report presented by the commission, but, during the sum- mer and autumn of 1824, the subject of the sale of the school lands was warmly agitated, and the friends of this measure triumphed over the oppo sition so far as to elect large majorities to both branches of the General As- sembly in favor of its being made a law. The quantity of land set apart was ascertained, in 1825, to be a little more than half a million acres and was valued at less than $1,000,000.
Having now briefly related the facts connected with the school lands, we will pass on to the Legislative enactments through which they were dis- posed of. On the 17th of February, 1809, the lands belonging to the Vir- ginia Military District were authorized to be leased and the proceeds there- of paid into the State Treasury for the future use of the schools. From 1810 up to 1824, acts were passed at nearly every session of the Legisla- ture more fully describing the condition of those leases and disposition of moneys accruing therefrom. In 1827, a law was enacted directing a vote to be taken in the district as to whether these lands should be sold or not. The vote decided in favor of selling, and, January 28, 1828, the Legislature ordered them to be sold. In 1829, an act authorized the distribution among the several counties, or parts of counties, in said district, the sum of $54, - 000 of school moneys, then in the State Treasury, Hardin County receiv- ing her shareof these moneys. This distribution, however, was for some cause postponed by an act passed January 21, 1830, until May 1, 1830. The manner of apportionment was as follows: The School Directors delivered to the County Auditors a list of white children in their respective districts, between the ages of four and sixteen; the County Auditors transmitted said lists to the Auditor of the State, who divided the school fund among the several counties, or parts thereof, according to the foregoing enumeration. From that time up to the present this principle has been carried out, each county receiving annually its quota of moneys derived from this school fund. The reader must bear in mind, however, that the school age was changed whenever the General Assembly saw fit to do so, or considered such a change necessary or judicious.
PIONEER SCHOOLS.
In the early development of Hardin County, a great variety of influ- ences were felt in the way of general education. The settlements were, and for years continued to be, sparse. The people, as the pioneers of all new counties are, were poor and lacked the means of remunerating teachers. Their poverty compelled all who were able, to labor, and the work of the females was as important and toilsome as that of the men. Added to these, both teachers and books were scarce. This condition of things continued
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HISTORY OF HARDIN COUNTY.
perhaps for more than a quarter of a century Taking these facts into con- sideration, it is surprising that they had any schools whatever.
The interest awakened in literature and science immediately after the Revolution, followed the pioneers to their Western homes; but, to make their efforts productive of useful results, time became absolutely necessary. Just as soon as the settlements were prepared for the experiment, schools were opened; but at every step it was the acquisition of knowledge under difficulties. Everything connected with them was as simple and primitive as were their dwellings, food and clothing. Houses were built in the va- rious neighborhoods as occasion made necessary, not by subscription in money, but by labor. On a given day, the neighbors assembled at some place previously agreed upon, and the work was done. Timber was abund- ant; they were skilled in the use of the ax, and, having cut logs of the re- quired length out of it, the walls were raised. The roof was made of clap- boards, kept in place by heavy poles reaching the length of the building. The door was of clapboards and creaked on wooden hinges, the latch of wood and raised by a string. The floor was " puncheon," or trees split in the middle, tolerably true, the edge and face being dressed with the ax. The crevices between the logs forming the walls were filled with " chinks," or split sticks of wood, and daubed with mud. The fire-place was equally rude, but of ample dimensions, built on the outside of the house, usually of stone, 10 the throat of the flue, and the remainder of the chimney of split sticks of wood, daubed with puddled clay within and without. Light was admitted through the door and by means of an opening made by cutting out one of the logs, reaching almost the entire width of the building. This opening was high enough from the floor to prevent the boys from looking out, and in winter was covered with paper saturated with grease to keep out the cold, as well as to admit the light.
In the rural districts, school "kept" only in winter. The furniture corresponded with the simplicity of the house. At a proper distance below the windows, auger holes were bored in a slanting direction in one of the logs, and in these strong wooden pins were driven, and on these a huge slab or puncheon was placed, which served as a writing-desk for the whole school. For seats, they used the puncheon, or, more commonly, the body of a smooth, straight tree, cut ten to twelve feet in length, and raised to a height of twelve to fifteen inches by means of pins securely inserted. It has been said that not infrequently the pins were of unequal length, and the bench predisposed to "wabble." Many of the pioneer " masters" were natives of Ireland, who had fled from the cruel oppression of the English Government, prior to and succeeding the struggle for Irish independence, in 1798, and here in this land of freedom were putting to good use that education obtained in their native isle. Thus did the oppression of En- gland inure to the benefit of the young Republic; and the literary ability of Irishmen, like their military prowess in the Revolutionary war, do much toward founding and building up this great, free and enlightened nation. Dr. Johnson's notion that most boys required learning to be thrashed into them was practically carried out in the pioneer schoolhouse. The pupils sat with their faces toward the wall, around the room, while the teacher oc- cupied the middle space to superintend each pupil separately. In some rooms a separate bench was furnished for those too young to write. Classes, when reciting, sat on a bench made for this purpose.
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