USA > Pennsylvania > A history of the Juniata Valley and its people, Volume I > Part 32
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Dr. Isaac Snowden, who located at Millerstown about 1826, was a son of Rev. Nathaniel R. Snowden, who was at one time a professor in Dickinson College, at Carlisle. He received his preparatory education in that institution and graduated in medicine at the University of Penn- sylvania. Shortly after receiving his degree he was appointed surgeon in the United States army and was with General Andrew Jackson in the war with the Seminole Indians in Florida. In 1823 he retired from the army and after practicing a short time in Mifflin county and at Williams- port settled at Millerstown. Some years afterward he took up his residence at Hogestown, Cumberland county, where he practiced until his death in June, 1850.
Other physicians who practiced in Perry county before the middle of the nineteenth century were: John Irwin, Samuel Stites, and John . M. Laird, at Millerstown: James H. Case, William Cummin, Thomas G. Morris, John Wright, and Dr. Fitzpatrick, at Liverpool; Joseph Speck, Philip Ebert, and A. J. Werner, at Duncannon; John Creigh. John Parshall, James T. Oliver, and Samuel A. Moore, at Landisburg, Dr. Isaac Lefevre, at Loysville: Lewis Heck, G. W. Graydon, and Dr. Rogers, at Marysville; Frederick Klineyoung, at Shermansdale; Jonas Ickes, Thomas Simonton, and a Dr. Black, at Ickesburg; Frederick Oberholzer (also a Lutheran minister), at New Germantown; John Eckert and Dr. Ward, in Milford township; John H. Doling, T. L.
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Cathcart, and Dr. Vanderslice, at New Bloomfield. Dr. Jonas Ickes was the first physician in New Bloomfield, having located there in 1825, soon after the place was designated as the county seat. Dr. Joseph Speck and Dr. John M. Laird also practiced for a time in New Bloom- field.
Dr. Thomas Van Valzah, mentioned above in connection with the physicians of Mifflin county, was born in Union county, December 23, 1793, and was a surgeon in the army during the War of 1812, when only twenty years of age. In 1818 he graduated at the University of Pennsylvania and began practice at Lewisburg, Union county. From 1837 to 1842 he practiced at Freeport, Illinois, then returned to Penn- sylvania and located at Lewistown, where he followed his profession until his death in May, 1870, having been engaged in active practice for nearly sixty years. He was especially skilled as a surgeon and was the third man to perform what is known as the "high operation" for lithot- omy.
On November 1, 1825, a number of physicians from Huntingdon, Mifflin and Center counties met at the residence of Alexander Ennis, in Barree township, Huntingdon county, to consider the question of or- ganizing a medical society. The meeting lasted two days and on the second day the Union Medical Society was organized with Dr. John Henderson as president ; Daniel Dobbins and Joseph B. Ard, vice-presi- dents; Constantius Curtin, corresponding secretary ; James Coffey, re- cording secretary ; Jonathan H. Dorsey, treasurer. Physicians in good standing in the profession and residents of either of the three counties were eligible for membership and for a time the future was full of promise for this first association of physicians in the Juniata valley. The second meeting of the society was held at Lewistown, beginning on November 6, 1826, and the third was held at Huntingdon in November, 1827. At the Huntingdon meeting Dr. Ezra Doty, of Mifflintown, was elected president of the society, which is the last record of its transac- tions.
No further attempt was made to form a medical society among the physicians of this region until in 1845, when some of the Mifflin county doctors got together and organized the Mifflin County Medical Society. Dr. Joseph B. Ard, who had been one of the first vice-presidents of the Union Medical Society twenty years before, was elected president; Dr.
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Thomas Van Valzah and Dr. Joseph Henderson, vice-presidents; Dr. T. A. Worrall, corresponding secretary; Dr. C. Cameron, recording secretary ; Dr. James Culbertson, general secretary, and seven members in addition to the above officers. Six members were added at the next meeting, after which the society seems to have lapsed into a state of inactivity.
A medical society was organized in Huntington county on August 14, 1849, but all record of it except the date of its organization has disappeared. Not even the oldest physician in the county can tell who were the officers or what the society accomplished. The present Hunt- ingdon County Medical Society-termed a reorganization of the former one-was formed on April 9, 1872, with the following officers: Dr. John McCulloch, president ; Drs. J. A. Shade and J. H. Wintrode, first and second vice-presidents, respectively; Dr. A. B. Brumbaugh, secre- tary ; Dr. Henry Orlady, treasurer. For about three years the society prospered, but from 1876 to 1880 very little interest was manifested in its work. During that period two men-Dr. D. P. Miller and Dr. A. B. Brumbaugh-deserve great credit for their work in holding the society together by paying the state dues, etc. About 1880 a number of new members came in and since that time the society has been active in promoting good feeling among the physicians of the county and stimulating the interest in their professional work. Dr. D. P. Miller, now living retired in Huntingdon, is the only physician now living who assisted in the organization of the society in 1872, though Dr. G. W. C. James, of Orbisonia, retired, is the oldest living physician in the county and is an honorary member of the society. Membership in this society includes membership in the Medical Society of Pennsyl- vania and subscription to the Pennsylvania Medical Journal. Stated meetings are held on the second Thursday of each month. The officers for 1913 were: Dr. F. L. Schum, president; Dr. J. M. Steel, vice- president; Dr. J. M. Beck, secretary; Dr. G. G. Harman, treasurer ; Dr. J. M. Keichline, Jr., reporter ; Drs. W. J. Campbell, R. H. Moore and R. Myers, censors. The membership reported in 1913 was thirty- eight.
The present Mifflin County Medical Society was organized on March 4, 1874. at the office of Dr. Charles S. Hurlbut, in Lewistown, with nine members. Officers elected at that meeting were: Abraham Harsh-
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berger, president ; T. H. Van Valzah, vice-president ; George V. Mitchell, secretary; Abraham Rothrock, treasurer. For some time the society held meetings quarterly, but in recent years the meetings have been held on the first Thursday of each month, at such hour and place as may be designated by the president. Annual dues are three dollars, which includes the Pennsylvania Medical Journal. In 1913 there were thirty-two members in good standing and the following were then the officers of the society: C. H. Brisbin, president; T. H. Smith, first vice-president : C. J. Stambaugh, second vice-president : J. A. C. Clark- son, secretary; A. S. Harshberger, treasurer : F. A. Rupp, reporter ; S. W. Swigart, W. H. Parcels and V. I. McKim, censors.
Juniata county has the youngest and smallest medical society of any of the four valley counties. It was organized in 1907, and in 1913 numbered eleven members, with the following officers: W. H. Banks, of Mifflintown, president; Herman F. Willard, of Mexico, first vice- president : William H. Haines, of Thompsontown, second vice-president; Brady F. Long, of Mifflintown, secretary ; Isaac G. Headings, of Mc- Alisterville, treasurer. The fact that this county society has been organized only six years and numbers but eleven members is no reflec- tion upon the character of the Juniata county physicians, most of whom have as high professional standing as those of other counties. Member- ship in this society carries with it the same advantages, in the way of affiliation with the State Medical Society and subscription to the Pennsyl- vania Medical Journal, as in other county organizations.
The Perry County Medical Society is one of the oldest in the state. On November 19. 1847, eight physicians met at Millerstown, as the result of an understanding with most of the practicing physicians of the county, and organized by electing James H. Case, of Liverpool, president ; A. C. Stees, of Millerstown, vice-president; B. F. Grosh, of Andersonburg, and T. Stilwell, of Millerstown, secretaries; and Dr. J. E. Singer, of Newport, treasurer. In the constitution adopted at that time the official name of the society was given as "The Medical Society of Perry County," and the object defined to be "the advance- ment of medical knowledge, the elevation of professional character, the protection of the interests of its members, and the promotion of all means to relieve suffering, to improve the public health and protect the life of the community." The constitution was approved by the State
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Medical Society and since then official relations have been maintained with both the state organization and the American Medical Association. At one time the membership numbered seventy, but in 1913 there were but seventeen reported in good standing. The officers for 1913 were : E. Kenneth Wolff, Ickesburg, president; William T. Morrow, Loysville, first vice-president; Benjamin F. Beale, second vice-president; A. R. Johnson, New Bloomfield, secretary; W. Homer Hoopes, treasurer.
As a rule, the physicians along the Blue Juniata have been, and those of the present generation are, men of public spirit and progressive ideas outside of their profession. They have taken a commendable interest in every movement for the general welfare; have been associated with the organization of agricultural societies, banks, etc .; most of them have been affiliated with the leading fraternal orders and the church work of the valley, and in other ways have used their rights of citizen- ship to promote the interests of their fellow-men.
CHAPTER XVII
EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Character of the Early Schools-The Pioneer School House-Itinerant Teachers- Ideas of Discipline-The Pauper School Law-Private Academies-School for Soldiers' Orphans-Juniata Valley Normal-Free School System Inaugurated- Sources of Revenue-School Statistics-Juniata College-Apprentices' Literary So- ciety of Lewistown-Lewistown Library-The Press-Early Newspapers-Alexan- der K. McClure-Present Day Papers-Perry County Historical Society.
O NE of the early needs of the pioneers who settled in the Juniata valley was some means of educating their children. Many of the parents had only limited education and the constant de- mands of frontier life made effective teaching in the home circle an impossibility. The settlers had no public school fund, there were no school houses equipped with libraries and other aids as in the present day. well qualified teachers were exceedingly scarce. roving bands of Indians were not infrequent visitors to the settlements. and yet. in spite of all these conditions, the people made honest and sincere efforts to give their children sufficient schooling to help them along over "the thorny road of life." The first schools were taught in abandoned cabins or rooms of dwellings given up for the purpose and were often secured and fitted up by the teacher when he secured his subscribers. Sometimes the resident minister, if there was one in the neighbor- hood, acted as teacher, but more frequently the "school-master" was some itinerant Irishman, who paused in the settlement long enough to teach school for a "quarter" in order to raise the means for continuing his journey.
As the population increased, buildings were erected by the coopera- tion of the settlers in a given neighborhood and set apart as school houses, though religious services were often held in them on days when there was no school in session. These early school houses were crude affairs, built of logs, with a clapboard roof and often no floor but the mother earth. On each side of the house one log would be left out
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and the space covered with oiled paper to exclude the cold and admit the light, window glass being in that day too expensive a luxury to provide glass windows for school houses that were used for only a short season in each year. To provide seats for the scholars small logs would be split in halves, the inner surface smoothed with the "draw- knife," the half sapling would then be supported on pins driven into auger holes bored at the proper angle to hold the seat steady. At one end of the school room was a huge fireplace, capable of taking in sticks of wood four or five feet in length. On cold days the scholars sitting near the fire would become too hot, while those in the rear of the room would be suffering with cold. To alleviate this condition constant changes would be made. A pupil would receive permission to go to the fire, and as soon as he became "warm through" he would return to a seat in the rear and another would take his place.
The branches taught were spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic. Steel pens had not yet come into general use and one of the qualifica- tions of the teacher was to be able to make a pen out of a quill. Ink was frequently made at home by boiling the bark of the maple tree until the strength was extracted and then adding to the decoction a sufficient quantity of copperas to give the desired color. Copy-books were usually of home-made construction-a few sheets of foolscap paper covered with a sheet of heavy wrapping paper and sewed together. At the head of the page the teacher would write a line and the scholar would then fill the page, endeavoring to imitate in all its details the handwriting of the teacher. The next teacher might have an entirely different style of chirography and the pupil would have to unlearn much that he had learned in order to copy the new master's writing. Black- boards were practically unknown, the scholars doing their "sums" on slates. Even the slate pencils of commerce were rare, and it was no unusual sight to see a group of school-boys searching through a bank of slate or soap-stone for a piece soft enough for a pencil that would not "scratch."
With both teacher and patrons the idea seemed to prevail that if the rod was spared the child would be spoiled. Consequently the dis- cipline in those early schools was of the most despotic character, the slightest offense on the part of the pupil being punished by a whipping. And yet, notwithstanding all these drawbacks, some of the great men
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of the country received their early training in these rude and imperfect schools.
One of the first laws passed by the Pennsylvania legislature for the promotion of education was that of 1808, providing for the educa- tion of poor children at the expense of the county. While the intentions of the legislators were good, and the law was meant to prove of great benefit to the commonwealth by giving the children of the most indigent citizens an opportunity to qualify themselves for the duties of citizen- ship, all who accepted its benefits were stigmatized as paupers and the law finally became known as the "Pauper School Law."
Henry Beeson, who represented Fayette county in the legislature of 1825, introduced a bill providing for a system of free schools, but it failed to pass. It was widely discussed, however, both by the press and the public, and it contained the germ that nine years later developed into the free school system of Pennsylvania.
In the meantime the people, desirous of obtaining better educational facilities than were afforded by the low grade subscription schools, became interested in the establishment of academies. The oldest institu- tion of this character in the Juniata valley was the Lewistown Academy, which was chartered by the act of March II, 1815, for the purpose of educating the youth "in the useful arts, sciences and literature," and the act provided that five poor children were to be admitted to the school free for a term not to exceed two years. The first board of trustees was named in the act, and the first election of trustees was held on the first Monday of April, 1816. For several years the school was taught in rented quarters, wherever suitable rooms could be ob- tained, but the act of April 10, 1826, authorized the trustees to erect an academy building "in or near Lewistown." A lot was secured on Third street, near Brown, and the first term of school in the new structure was opened in the fall of 1828. About twenty years ago the old building was taken down and the Presbyterian Sunday school chapel now occupies the site.
The Huntingdon Academy was incorporated by act of the legislature on March 19, 1816, the state giving $2,000 to the institution. It con- tinued to receive aid from the state for a number of years. The trustees purchased the Dean Hotel property at the southeast corner of Second and Allegheny streets, where the school was conducted for
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many years. Two lots were then purchased on the northeast corner of Fourth and Church streets and a building erected thereon in 1844. A larger and better appointed building was erected in 1874, but after the establishment of the high school the attendance at the academy declined and the property was sold, the building being converted into an apartment for residences.
In 1837 the legislature granted a charter to the Tuscarora Academy, in Juniata county. Two years before that Rev. McKnight Williamson had opened a school, in which he taught the higher branches, and in 1837 his class numbered about fifteen students. His work stimulated the interest in education and led to the establishment of the academy, which was opened in 1839, with David Wilson as principal. For many years the institution prospered, but the improvement in the public schools from year to year made such inroads upon the attendance that it sank to a position of minor importance in the educational field. The build- ing is now used for the Beale township high school.
Robert Finley came from Connecticut to New Bloomfield in 1837 and opened a Latin school in a room of Jonas Ickes' tavern, his first class numbering six members. In the fall of that year he secured the indorsement of several of the leading citizens and advertised a high school, to open on "the first Wednesday of February next." The school opened at the appointed time in a building known as the "Barracks," and the same winter a petition was presented to the legislature asking for a charter for the New Bloomfield Academy. Accordingly, on April 13, 1838, an act was passed incorporating the institution, naming the first board of trustees and authorizing the state treasurer to pay to the board of trustees $2,000, "to be used toward the erection of suitable buildings and purchasing a necessary library, mathematical, geographical or philosophical apparatus for the use of the academy, on condition that $1,000 have been contributed for the purpose or purposes named."
The first term opened on May 21, 1838, with Robert Finley as principal. After some disagreement as to the location, the academy was finally placed at the north end of Carlisle street, where four acres of ground were purchased from George Barnett. On March 1, 1839, the board advertised for proposals for the erection of a "house of brick or stone, to be thirty feet by sixty feet from out to out and twenty-three feet high from top of foundation, to have a cupola and also a portico
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or vestibule in front of steps." This building was completed and occupied in 1840. In response to a petition, the legislature passed an act on April 4, 1852, directing the trustees to sell the school to the county, and the following December the property was conveyed to the county commissioners. Trouble arose over a legacy of $400 left the institution by Fenlow Mccown and the recommendation of the grand jury that a new building be erected for the better accommodation of the pupils, the commissioners refusing to erect the building or allow others to build on the grounds. By the act of April 3, 1855, the academy was ordered to be sold. In April, 1856, it was purchased by Rev. John B. Straw and R. G. Stephens, with a condition that the property should always be used for a high and normal school. In 1912 the academy was in charge of D. C. Willard as principal, assisted by a corps of competent instructors in the various branches.
A Boys' Academy and a Female Seminary were established at Shirleysburg at an early date and for a number of years each received a generous patronage, due in a great measure to the fact that the people of Shirley township were opposed to the introduction of the free school system. After all the other townships in Huntingdon county had accepted the common schools and provided for their support according to law, Shirley came into the fold and commenced the work of establish- ing free schools. As the patronage of the public schools increased that of the private institutions declined, and the academy and seminary at Shirleysburg finally passed out of existence.
MiĊnwood Academy, located at Shade Gap, Huntingdon county, was founded in 1849 by Rev. J. Y. McGinnes, the Presbyterian minister at that place. It soon became a popular school and enjoyed a prosperous career for about a quarter of a century. It was abandoned about 1871.
Mountain Seminary was incorporated in 1851 and buildings were erected by a stock company. Rev. Israel Ward was the first principal. Financial difficulties arose and in 1855 the property was sold at sheriff's sale. About two years later the property was purchased by Prof. L. G. Grier and the school was reopened. Associated with Professor Grier was Miss N. J. Davis, a graduate of the noted school at Mount Holyoke, Massachusetts, and the new management soon had the school on the highway to prosperity. New buildings were erected, steam heat pro- vided, a green house built on the premises, etc. This institution is
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located at Birmingham, Huntingdon county, and is a popular finishing school for young ladies.
In the fall of the same year (1851) the Cassville Seminary was founded by Rev. Zane Bland, George W. Speer and David Clarkson, who secured subscriptions to the fund and an association of stock- holders was formed late in the year. The following year buildings were erected and the school started off with flattering prospects. The school was under the supervision of the Methodist church and a term was taught in the church building while the seminary buildings were under construction. At one time the attendance numbered about 125 students. Then came a decline, due to various causes, and about the beginning of the Civil War the school was closed.
Airy View Academy was opened at Port Royal in the fall of 1852 by David Wilson and David Laughlin. The latter was the first county superintendent of the Juniata county public schools. This school con- tinued as a private institution until about 1908, when it was turned over to the Port Royal school board and is now the borough high school.
An academy was established at McAlisterville in 1855 and a three- story brick building was erected at a cost of about $3,000. Rev. Philander Camp, Presbyterian minister, was the first principal. George F. McFarland purchased the property from the stockholders in 1858, enlarged the building, employed some good teachers and conducted the school until 1862, when he and several of his students and teachers organized a military company, which was assigned to the One Hundred and Fifty-first Pennsylvania Regiment, of which Professor McFarland was made lieutenant-colonel. He was wounded at the battle of Gettys- burg and in the fall of that year reopened the academy as a school for soldiers' orphans. It was one of the three schools that visited the legislature in March, 1866, and influenced the members of the assembly to abandon the pauper bill and to continue the appropriations for the support of the free schools. The students also took part in the cere- mony connected with the reception of the battle-flags at Philadelphia on July 4, 1866. A new building was erected that year. On January I, 1876, the control of the school passed to Jacob Smith, who had been its steward for a number of years. Then came various changes in the management until about 1908, when it passed under the control of the Fayette township school board for the centralization of some of the
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district schools and also a township high school. Four teachers are now employed in the building.
In the spring of 1855 "Washington Academy" was opened in the old school house on the hill at Markelsville, with Rev. A. R. Height as principal. George Markel erected a two-story frame house for the school in 1867. Mr. Markel was the most generous supporter of the school and after his death it was discontinued, the building being con- verted into dwellings.
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