USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 61
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"'SECTION 4. The said board may employ a carrier or carriers for the conveyance of said bodies, which shall be well enclosed within a suitable encasement, and carefully deposited free from public observation. Said carrier shall obtain receipts by name, or if the person be unknown by a description of each body delivered by him, and shall deposit said receipt with the secretary of the said board.
" ' SECTION 5. No school, college, physician, or surgeon shall be al- lowed or permitted to receive any such body or bodies until a bond shall have been given to the Commonwealth by such physician or surgeon, or by or in behalf of such school or college, to be approved by the prothon- otary of the court of common pleas in and for the county in which such physician or surgeon shall reside, or in which such school or college may be situate, and to be filed in the office of said prothonotary, which bond
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shall be in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, conditioned that all such bodies which the said physician or surgeon, or the said school or col- lege shall receive thereafter shall be used only for the promotion of medi- cal science within this State ; and whosoever shall sell or buy such body or bodies, or in any way traffic in the same, or shall transmit or convey or cause to procure to be transmitted or conveyed said body or bodies, to any place outside of this State, shall be deemed guilty of a misde- meanor, and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars, or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year.
"'SECTION 6. Neither the Commonwealth nor any county or munici- pality, nor any officer, agent, or servant thereof, shall be at any expense by reason of the delivery or distribution of any such body ; but all the expenses thereof and of said board of distribution shall be paid by those receiving the bodies, in such manner as may be specified by said board of distribution, or otherwise agreed upon.
"' SECTION 7. That any person having duties enjoined upon him by the provisions of this act who shall neglect, refuse, or omit to perform the same as hereby required, shall, on conviction thereof, be liable to fine of not less than one hundred nor more than five hundred dollars for each offence.
"'SECTION 8. That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act be and the same are hereby repealed.
"' Approved-the 13th day of June, A.D. 1883. "' ' ROBERT E. PATTISON. '
" In closing this narrative I quote a paragraph from my remarks in the Senate in support of the passage of the law and in reply to the speeches of other senators :
"" Where would the humanity exist then, especially that kind of which so much is said in regard to the dead ? Humanity, I think, should first be shown to the living, and the Great Physician, whom senators quote on this floor as having had a regard for humanity, said, " Let the dead bury the dead." He took the same practical view that humanity should be practised for the living. We take a harsh view as medical men in regard to the dissection of dead bodies. We consider subjects just as clay. I know this is repugnant to the common idea of mankind, but it is the true idea. It is the idea that will enable a medical man to be of sound, practical good, professionally, in the world. For the crushed, relief in life is the great object, not relief after death. We have nothing to do with that. Beautiful poetry and nice homilies can be delivered here by senators about death, but it is the living that we want to be humane to and not the dead, and if it requires the dissection of ninety- nine dead persons to relieve one living sufferer, I would dissect the ninety-nine dead persons and relieve the one living person. Other
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senators here would have us do just the reverse of that. I repeat, Mr. President, this measure is in the interest of the laboring man; it is in the interest of the mechanic ; it is in the interest of science ; it is in the interest of the poor the world over ; it is in the interest of the man who gets torn and lacerated in our mines and workshops, and who is too poor to travel to Philadelphia for his surgical aid. Enact this law, and the young man can go from Allegheny, from Jefferson, and from Armstrong Counties to Philadelphia, and he can legally take the human body, which is the A B C of all medical knowledge, and he can dissect it there, and learn by that means just where each artery is, and where each vein is, and where the different muscles lie and the different relations they sus- tain to one another, and then he is qualified to return to Allegheny or Jefferson Counties, locate at the crossroads or in the village, and per- form the operations that are so much needed there for the relief of suffer- ing humanity and the suffering poor.
""' You all know that the surgeons of Philadelphia are famous, not only in Philadelphia, but throughout the world, and why ? It is be- cause they have studied the anatomy of the human body so thoroughly and so perfectly.
""' We must have anatomical dissections. No man learns anatomy in any other way in the world than through anatomical dissections. Pic- tures, models, and manikins won't do. He must not only dissect one body, but he must dissect a large number of bodies. He cannot dissect too many, neither can he dissect too often ; therefore humanity requires that this dissection be legalized and go on.
"' Of course, we must have some regard for the sentiment of the living, and to respect that, we, in this bill, only ask that the unclaimed bodies of paupers be given to the medical colleges, not the bodies of those having friends. No body can be taken if any one objects.'
" We have now, in 1897, legalized dissection of the human body in twenty-four States, and, as a result, the skill of the physician in the future ' shall lift up his head, and in the sight of great men he shall stand in admiration.' "-Jeffersonian Democrat, January, 1897.
THE TEACHERS' INSTITUTE.
The following is an extract from the proceedings held in Brookville, Pennsylvania, November 23, 1896 :
" The Jefferson County Teachers' Institute met in the court-house, Brookville, on Monday, at two P.M. After the enrollment of teachers and the selection of T. T. Millen as secretary, the following address of welcome to the teachers was delivered by Dr. W. J. McKnight, of Brook- ville :
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"' MR. CHAIRMAN AND TEACHERS,-This is an assemblage of teachers, called an " institute"-the institute of Jefferson County. What is its his- tory ? Let us lift the veil from the past and ascertain. The Rev. John C. Wagaman, of Punxsutawney, was our first county superintendent, elected in 1854, and paid a salary of three hundred dollars a year. He resigned in 1856, and Samuel McElhose, of Brookville, succeeded him by appointment. Our first county institute was held by McElhose, in the old Academy building, in Brookville, in October of 1856, continuing two weeks. The published call for it read as follows :
"""TO TEACHERS.
""" " Believing that much good can be done to the cause of common school education by means of a county institute for the benefit of teach- ers, I hereby issue this call to teachers and those who wish to teach, re- questing and urging each one of them to meet in Brookville on Monday, the 20th day of October, at which time will commence in the Academy the first session of the Jefferson County Teachers' Institute. It will last two weeks.
"' " Professor S. W. Smith will be present during the session. He is a graduate of the best of the New England schools, and has the advantage of several years' practice as a teacher. The course of instruction will extend to a general review of the branches required to be taught in our common schools. It will be our leading object to treat at large on the subjects of school government, classification of scholars, and the im- proved methods of teaching.
" ' " Persons who attend the institute will be at no expense except for their own boarding. Several gentlemen have tendered their services and will deliver lectures on topics connected with education at the proper times in the session. We again solicit the attendance of those who de- sire to teach in this county, and also extend a cordial invitation to the friends of education in this and other counties to be present.
"'"S. MCELHOSE, "" " County Superintendent.
"" " BROOKVILLE, September 22, 1856."
"' This institute was opened with prayer by Professor Smith. The work consisted largely of daily class drills, conducted by Professor Smith and Superintendent McElhose. Professor Smith was an educated gentle- man, and died in Brookville a few years ago, after serving two terms as county superintendent most acceptably.
" ' The evening lectures before this first institute were free, delivered in the Presbyterian church by local talent. They were by Rev. Thomas Graham, on "The Duties of Teachers ;" A. L. Gordon, Esq., on "Self- Knowledge," and I. G. Gordon, Esq., on " Discipline." All these even-
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ing entertainments were announced to be held at " candle-lighting." Day lectures were given before the institute by Superintendent McElhose, Professor Smith, on astronomy, and Dr. Cummins, on physiology. Nu- merous essays were read by the teachers present, on the beauties of nature, on education, on teaching, etc. Of the forty-two teachers who attended, I can recall but these: A. H. Brown, A. L. Gordon, J. C. Wilson, William Monks, T. Evans, John H. McKee, A. J. Monks, R. A. Travis, J. Kelso, Misses Maggie Polk, Jennie Craig, M. Kinnear, Abbie Mc- Curdy, Martha Dennison, Emma Bishop, Mary McCormick, H. Thomas, Martha McCreight, and Messrs. C. M. Matson, David Dickey, and S. A. McAllister. The last three named are present with us to-day.
" ' Extended discussion was had, and resolutions were passed, in regard to the construction of school-houses and concerning school furniture and school-books. The county then had one hundred and five school-houses and sixty-eight male and fifty female teachers.
" ' Samuel McElhose served as superintendent a part of a term by ap- pointment and two full terms by election, at a yearly salary of five hun- dred dollars. He was an educated and popular gentleman, a great worker, and the first in the county to agitate institutes. He held many of these,-sometimes three or four in a year, -some lasting three or four weeks. He was a good citizen and a patriot, and died a private soldier in the army in 1863.
"' Ninety-two years ago, in the winter of 1804, John Dixon, father of the venerable John Dixon, of Polk township, taught the first school in this county. It was a subscription school, and the term was three months. The " school-house" was two miles east of Brookville, on what is now the McConnell farm. It was twelve feet wide and sixteen feet long, was built of rough logs, and had no window-sash or glass. The light was admitted to the school-room through chinks in the walls, over which greased paper was plastered. The floor was of " puncheons," and the seats of broad pieces split from logs, with pins underneath for legs. The roof was covered with " clapboards" held down by poles. Boards laid on pins driven into auger-holes in the walls furnished writing-desks. A log fireplace, occupying an entire end of the room, supplied warmth when the weather was cold.
"' The second school was taught by John Johnson, in 1806, on the old " State road," near the present residence of William C. Evans, be- tween Port Barnett and Brookville. The house was similar to the first one named, with the exception of a single window of six lights of eight- by-ten glass. This school cabin was heated by a ten-plate wood-stove, the invention of Franklin in 1800, and called by the people " The Little Devil." This was a subscription school also, and was known in those days as a " neighborhood," to distinguish it from the " family" school. The building was erected by those interested. The tools used
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in constructing it were a pole-axe and an auger. The master was hired by a committee of three, elected by the people at their own time and in their own way. This committee supervised the school. Children had to travel three or four miles, in some cases over trails and paths where the Indian lurked and the wild beast prowled.
" ' Although Penn had declared in founding his colony that " wisdom and virtue must be carefully propagated by a virtuous education of the youth," and although the constitution of 1790 declared in favor of the establishment of schools throughout the State that the poor might be taught gratis, yet it was not until 1809 that the Legislature attempted to obey this mandate. Colleges and academies were, it is true, sparsely inaugurated, but they were not for the poor. Education was carried on by voluntary effort. The law of 1809 simply provided that it should be the duty of the county commissioners and assessors of the townships to ascertain from the parents the names of all the children between the ages of five and twelve years who reside in each township, and whose parents were unable to pay for their schooling. These children then had the privilege of attending the nearest subscription school, under the restric- tions of the committee, and the county had to pay for each pauper scholar by the month, the same as the subscribers paid. This law was in existence for twenty-five years. It was despised by the poor and hated by the rich. The poor would not accept it because it declared them paupers. Its existence, however, kept up an agitation for a better system, which culminated, in 1834-36, in what is known as the common school law.
""' In 1833, Governor Wolf ascertained by careful inquiry that under this law of 1809, out of four hundred thousand children in the State be- tween the ages of five and twelve years, only twenty thousand attended any school whatever.
" ' The pioneer school-house in the southern part of the county was built of logs, in the fall of 1820, near John Bell's, a little more than a mile northeast of Perrysville. It was built after the fashion of the first school house in the county,-lighted, warmed, and furnished in the same manner. John B. Henderson taught the first school in this pioneer house in the winter of 1820.
" ' Our oldest school-master in the county is Joseph Magiffin, hale and hearty at the age of ninety. He taught near Dowlingville in 1827. The books used in the pioneer schools were generally the Bible, Columbian Reader, Murray's Grammar, Pike's Arithmetic, Catechism, United States Speller, and New England Primer. As a matter of care and economy these books were covered by the mothers with paper or cloth, generally calico or bed-ticking. The pioneer school-masters were nearly all Irishmen, and, as a rule, well-educated. In the winter they usually wore a red flannel warmus, and sometimes white flannel pants. They
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taught their scholars from the proverbs of the poets, from the maxims of the surrounding forests, and from the tenets of the blessed Bible, whose apocalypse is love. Is it any wonder, then, that the log cabin and log school house proved to be the birthplace and nursery of mental giants, of men who have blessed our country as rulers, statesmen, soldiers, scholars, orators, and patriots ? What nation, old or new, has produced the equal of our Washington ? What nation has equalled our Jefferson, with his declaration " that all men are created free and equal" ? What nation has equalled our Lincoln, born and reared in a cabin, one of the people and for the people ? With a heart alive to pity, like an angel of mercy, he was ever at home in his office of President to the most humble citizen. This I know by personal experience. What nation has pro- duced the superior of Chief Justice Marshall ? What orators have been more eloquent than Clay or Webster? What nation has produced a greater than our military chieftain, Grant, who commanded larger armies, fought more battles, and won more victories than any other general his- tory records ? Napoleon's career is pigmy-like when compared to Grant's successes. What nation has equalled our inventors ? Fulton, born in Pennsylvania's woods, who harnessed steam to water-craft ; Whitney, who invented the cotton-gin : Morse, who sought out the telegraph ; McCormick, who made the reaper; Howe, who made the sewing-ma chine, and Edison, the intellectual wonder and marvel of the world,- born in Ohio and reared in the woods of Michigan ? Such a mental genius as he is could only be the son of an American " school.marm."
" ' I have not time to recapitulate the history of our country and its achievements. I can only say that what we are to-day we owe to the log cabin, the log school house, and the pioneer school-master.
" ' We live in the age of steam and railroads, telegraphs, telephones, and of a free school system. " We live in an age on ages telling ; to be living is sublime." Yet you are pioneers, pioneers of a new era, an era of moral courage, of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man ; an era of honesty, of temperance, of plenty, of virtue, of wisdom, and of peace. And you, teachers, are the leaders in this grand new era. As such we welcome you to Brookville. We welcome you most heartily as friends and neighbors. We welcome you as citizens of our county, whose hills and valleys are sacred to us. We welcome you as the chil- dren of noble, courageous, patient, toiling pioneer heroes and heroines, who subdued the savage and the wild beasts of the forest and reclaimed these lands. We welcome you as teachers under the free school system of the great State of Pennsylvania, made great by her forests, her fertile valleys, her mountains of coal, rivers of oil, and the enterprise of her sons and daughters, and whose free school system is the continued as- surance of American liberty. We welcome you as teachers in an empire whose State insignia proclaims to the world Virtue, Liberty, and Inde-
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pendence. We welcome each one of you to Brookville for your indi- vidual worth, and we welcome you as an aggregation of intelligent force assembled in our midst for the public good. Finally, we welcome you as teachers convened to learn more thoroughly how to impart intelli- gence, teach virtue, wisdom, and patriotism under our flag, the emblem of all that is dear to man and woman in and for the best government on the face of the earth.' "
ORGANIZATION OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN JEFFERSON COUNTY-THE PIONEERS AND FATHERS.
On February 22, 1856, a number of self-appointed delegates from all parts of the republic,-
Men of principle, " Men who had opinions and a will, Tall men, sun-crowned, who lived above the fog, In public duty and in private thought,"-
met at Lafayette Hall, Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and organized the National Republican party, the first national convention of which was held that year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There was then in exist- ence two other parties,-viz., the Democratic and the American Na- tional. This gave the country in the Presidential race of that year three candidates for the Presidency,-viz., Buchanan, Democrat, Fill- more, American, and Fremont, Republican. The Democrats were suc- cessful and Buchanan was elected. The Republicans were next strongest, and the Americans third in the race. In 1856 the Republicans in our county had more votes than the Americans, yet they had no organization. In 1857 the Republicans of Jefferson coalesced with the Americans and swallowed them by organizing a party in the county as the American Republican. The pioneer primaries for this organization to choose dele- gates were held on the last Saturday of June, at each election precinct, between the hours of two and six P.M. The county convention was held in the court-house at Brookville on the first Tuesday of July following. Each township or borough was to elect two delegates, except Heath and Polk, and they but one each.
There were then twenty townships and two boroughs in the county, and at the county convention, held July 7, 1857, the following delegates were present,-viz. :
Beaver .- G. Montgomery, R. Dinger.
Barnett .*- Not represented.
Bell .- John Grube, James Miller.
Brookville .- A. B. McLain, D. C. Gillespie.
Clover .- C. Mccullough.
Eldred .-- William Hall, J. B. Graham.
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Heath .- Not represented.
Knox .*- M. E. Steiner, William Davidson.
Mc Calmont .- J. P. North, S. McGhee.
Oliver .- J. P. McKee, W. P. Gastin.
Porter .- Jacob Howard.
Polk .*- Not represented.
Perry .*- C. R. B. Morris.
Pine Creek .*- Oliver Brady, J. P. Black.
Rose .*- E. P. Cochran, T. Witherow.
Ringgold .- R. T. Perry, J. A. Frees.
Snyder .*- Not represented.
Punxsutawney .*- J. R. Reese, W. A. Dunlap. Union .*- John S. Barr, John Gibson.
Washington .*- John Crawford, Robert Morrison.
Il'arsaw .*- I. M. Temple, Emory Bartlett.
Winslow .*- G. Burrows, R. Ross.
Young .- S. B. Hughes, Thomas North.
The nominees of that convention were : Sheriff, Lawrence McQuown ; Prothonotary, etc., Joseph Henderson ; Treasurer, Samuel Craig ; Com- missioner, Jolin North; Auditor, John Thompson. The townships marked thus * were carried for the Republicans in 1857, therefore the pioneer Republican townships in the county.
The election on the second Tuesday of October went Democratic, both State and county. Our county was carried by the Democrats by majorities ranging from six to one hundred.
The campaigns then were educational, and conducted by oratory in school houses, etc. The pioneer "stumpers" in the county for the Republican party were I. G. Gordon, B. F. Lucas, A. A. McKnight, A. P. Heichhold, A. B. McLain, D. C. Gillespie, W. W. Wise, L. D. Rogers, Dr. W. J. McKnight, and J. K. Coxson. All evening meetings were announced to be held at "early candle-lighting." In stumping the speaker gave his own time and furnished his own transpor- tation. If too poor to do this, some Republican would convey him in a hack, free of charge, or a number of workers would chip in and hire a team and go along. There was no campaign boodle to draw upon. We always had a begging committee ; A. B. McLain was always on it, and the best beggar I ever knew. When we imported a " foreign speaker," McLain had to hustle to get money for the speaker's expenses, and he never failed. We had a county vigilance committee of one or two in each township. This committee was appointed at the county convention by the presiding officer, and was usually selected from the delegates present.
State delegates were selected as follows: An editorial notice was pub- lished in the Star that a meeting would be held at the court-house in
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Brookville on the evening of -, at " early candle-light," to appoint a delegate to the State Convention. The crowd that gathered elected him viva voce.
EARLY HISTORY OF RIDGWAY -SOME SKETCHES ABOUT THE TOWN AND VICINITY FROM 1852 TO 1856 .*
In the fall of 1852 I made my pioneer trip as a mail-boy on the " Star Route" from Brookville to Ridgway, Pennsylvania. In 1852 this was still a horseback service of once a week, and was to be performed weekly, as follows : Leave Brookville Tuesday at five o'clock A.M., and arrive at Ridgway same day at seven o'clock P.M. Leave Ridgway Wednesday at five o'clock A.M., and arrive same day at Brookville at seven o'clock P.M.
The proprietor of the route was John G. Wilson, then keeping the American Hotel in Brookville. To start the service on schedule time was easy enough, but to reach the destined point in the schedule time was almost impossible. The mail was usually from one to three hours late. Indeed, it could not be otherwise, for the route was through a wilder- ness, over horrid roads, and about seven miles longer than the direct road between the points.
It was too much work in too short a time for one horse to carry a heavy mail-bag and a boy. On my first trip I left Brookville at five A.M., James Corbett, the postmaster, placing the bag on the horse for me. I rode direct to Richardsville, where William R. Richards, the pioneer of that section, was postmaster. From Richardsville I went to Warsaw, where Moses B. St. John was postmaster. He lived on the Keyes farm, near the Warsaw graveyard. From St. John's I rode by way of what is now John Fox's to the Beechwoods McConnell farm, or Alvan post- office, Alex. McConnell, postmaster. From Alvan I went direct to what is now Brockwayville for dinner. Dr. A. M. Clarke was postmaster, and it was at his house I ate, to my disgust, salt-rising bread.
The doctor and his father lived in a large frame house near where the old grist-mill now stands. The old up and-down saw-mill across the creek was then in operation. C. K. Huhn, I think, lived near it. The old frame school-house stood on a prominence near the junction of the Brookville and Beechwoods roads. Henry Dull, one of the pioneer stage drivers in Jefferson County, lived in an old frame building near where D. D. Groves now resides, and John Mclaughlin lived in an old log house down by the Rochester depot.
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