USA > Pennsylvania > A pioneer outline history of northwestern Pennsylvania > Part 35
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
usual rates of charging for tuition in the said school, subject to the examina- tion and revision of the trustees of the school where there are any; but where there are no trustees, to three reputable subscribers to the school; which ac- count, after being so examined or revised, he shall present to the County Commissioners, who, if they approve thereof, shall draw their order on the county treasurer for the amount, which he is hereby authorized and directed to pay of any moneys in the treasury.
" Approved-the fourth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and nine.
" SIMON SNYDER."
Each of these acts compelled parents to publish to the world their poverty and to send their children to school as paupers.
Governor Joseph Ritner
The method of organizing schools and hiring masters under these laws was as follows : A school-meeting was called by a notice posted in the district. The inhabitants then met and elected in their own way three of their number to act as a committee or as trustees with power to hire a master or mistress. and this committee executed a supervision over the school. A rate bill was always made out by the master and handed to the committee, who collected the moneys and paid it to the master.
The pioneer and early modes of school discipline were the cat-o'-nine- tails and the rod, carrying the offender on the back of a pupil and then
23
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
flogging him, setting the boys with the girls and the girls with the boys, fastening a split stick to the ear or the nose, laying the scholar over the knee and applying the ferule to the part on which he sat. These punishments lasted for years after the common schools came into use. For the benefit of young teachers I will give the mode of correction. The masters invariably kept what was called toms, or, more vulgarly, cat-o'nine-tails, all luck being in odd numbers. This instrument of torture was an oaken stick about twelve inches long to which was attached a piece of raw-hide cut into strips, twisted while wet, and then dried. It was freely used for correction, and those who were thus corrected did not soon forget it, and not a few carried the marks during life. Another and no less cruel instrument was a green cow-hide. Comment upon the above is useless, as the words cruelty and barbarity will suggest themselves to the minds of all who read it. For our text-books we had Dil- worth's and the " United States Speller," and our readers were the good old Bible and Testament. The " Western Calculator" was all the arithmetic that was in use, and the one who got through the "rule of three" was called tolerably good in figures, and the lucky wight who got through the book was considered a graduate in mathematics. Grammar and geography were not taught in common schools, being considered higher branches.
Not one of the governors of the State during the time the law of 1809 was in force believed it met the requirements of the constitution, hence in 1824 an act was passed repealing it and another one substituted. The new act was violently opposed, never went into effect, was repealed in 1826, and the act of 1809 was re-enacted. The policy enforced in our State for fifty years after the Revolutionary War was the endowment of academies and the free instruction of poor children in church and neighborhood schools.
Governor Wolf, in 1833-34, made education the leading topic of his message. Among other things he said,-
" To provide by law 'for the establishment of schools throughout the State, and in such a manner that the poor may be taught gratis,' is one of the public measures to which I feel it to be my duty now to call your attention, and most solemnly to press upon your consideration. Our apathy and in- difference in reference to this subject becomes the more conspicuous when we reflect that whilst we are expending millions for the physical condition of the State, we have not hitherto appropriated a single dollar that is available for the intellectual improvement of its youth, which, in a moral and political point of view, is of tenfold more consequence, either as respects the moral influence of the State or its political power and safety.
" According to the returns of the last census, we have in Pennsylvania five hundred and eighty-one thousand one hundred and eighty children under the age of fifteen years, and one hundred and forty-nine thousand and eighty- nine between the ages of fifteen and twenty years, forming an aggregate of seven hundred and thirty thousand two hundred and sixty-nine juvenile per-
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
sons of both sexes under the age of twenty years, most of them requiring more or less instruction. And yet with all this numerous youthful population grow- ing up around us, who, in a few years, are to be our rulers and our law- givers, the defenders of our country and the pillars of the State, and upon whose education will depend in great measure the preservation of our liberties and the safety of the republic, we have neither schools established for their instruction nor provision made by law for establishing them as enjoined by the constitution."
In 1827 William Audenreid, then a senator from Schuylkill County, introduced a bill into the Senate, the title of which was, " To provide a Fund in support of a General System of Education in Pennsylvania." This bill
Governor George Wolf
passed the Senate that session, but was defeated in the House, but being urged and pressed every session it became a law on April 2, 1831. This law entitled Senator Audenreid to be called the author of our school system. The law read as follows :
"SECTION 1. That there shall be and there hereby is established a fund, to be denominated a Common School Fund, and the Secretary of the Com- monwealth, the Auditor-General, and the Secretary of the Land-Office shall be Commissioners thereof, who, or a majority of them, in addition to the duties they now perform, shall receive and manage such moneys and other things as shall pertain to such fund, in the most advantageous manner, and shall receive and hold to the use of said fund all such gifts, grants, and dona-
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
tions as may be made ; and that said Commissioners shall keep a correct record of their proceedings, which, together with all papers and documents relative to said fund, shall be kept and preserved in the office of the Auditor-General. " SECTION 2. That from and after the passage of this act, all moneys due and owing this Commonwealth by the holders of all unpatented lands ; also all moneys secured to the Commonwealth by mortgages or liens on land for the purchase money of the same; also all moneys paid to the State Treas- urer on any application hereafter entered, or any warrant hereafter granted for land, as also fees received in the land-office, as well as all moneys received in pursuance of the provisions of the fourth section of an act entitled 'An Act to increase the County Rates and Levies for the Use of the Common- wealth,' approved the twenty-fifth day of March, 1831, be and the same are hereby transferred and assigned to the Common School Fund; and that at the expiration of twelve months after the passage of this act, and regularly at the expiration of every twelve months thereafter, the State Treasurer shall
Pioneer school-house
report to the said Commissioners the amount of money thus received by him during the twelve months last preceding, together with a certificate of the amount thereof, and that the same is held by the Commonwealth for the use of the Common School Fund, at an interest of five per cent.
" SECTION 3. That the interest of the moneys belonging to said fund shall be added to the principal as it becomes due, and the whole amount thereof shall be held by the Commonwealth, and remain subject to the provisions of an act entitled ' An Act relative to the Pennsylvania Canal and Railroad,' approved the twenty-second of April, 1829, until the interest thereof shall amount to the sum of one hundred thousand dollars annually, after which the interest shall be annually distributed and applied to the support of common schools throughout this Commonwealth, in such a manner as shall hereafter be provided by law.""
In 1834 there were four thousand school-cabins like the accompanying
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
illustration in Pennsylvania, built on the neighborhood plan under the law of 1809.
About those little school-houses were formed many ties which bound men and women together as friends in long succeeding years. Around those little temples of learning I have seen
" The hoop, the bow and arrow, The soaring of the kite and swing, The humming of the 'over-ball,' And the marbles in the ring ; The sleds, the rope, and sliding-boards, The races down the yard, And the war of snow-ball armies, The victors and the scarred."
The creation of the common schools in Pennsylvania was not the work of any one man or set of men, nor was it imported from any other State. It
FreshMenter
Hon. Thaddeus Stevens
was the outgrowth of freedom. In a book like mine I cannot enumerate all the glorious workers in the fight. The Pennsylvania Society for the Promo- tion of Public Schools, organized in Philadelphia in 1827, was a great factor in the work. Senator Audenreid, Dr. Anderson, and Senator Smith, of Dela- ware County ; N. B. Fetterman, of Bedford; Samuel Breck, a senator from Philadelphia ; and Thaddeus Stevens, all deserve to be forever remembered for their able and untiring labor in this direction.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
The pioneer school in the United States for the education of teachers was the model school of Philadelphia, established and opened in 1838. The finest and most costly educational structures in the world are the Girard Col- lege buildings in Philadelphia. The pioneer law enacted in the interest of female education was by New York State in 1818. The first female assistant in a seminary was in 1822.
In the session of 1834, Samuel Breck, a senator from Philadelphia, was made chairman of a joint committee on education. The members of this committee on the part of the Senate were Samuel Breck, Charles B. Penrose, William Jackson, Almon H. Read, and William Boyd; of the House, Samuel Anderson, William Patterson, James Thompson, James Clarke, John Wie- gand, Thomas H. Crawford, and Wilmer Worthington. This committee secured all possible information on the subject from all sources. The author of the bill as passed was Samuel Breck. It was but little discussed and met with but little opposition in the Legislature.
COMMON SCHOOL NOTICE
" For the purpose of settling controversies, of collecting and imparting information connected with the Common School System, so as to produce harmony and vigor in every department of its operations, the Superintendent will be at the county towns mentioned in the following lists on the days therein designated at ten o'clock A.M.
" Directors, Teachers, and all others who may have business to transact with the Superintendent, under the 4th paragraph of 10th section of the school law, will meet him at their proper county towns on the days respec- tively named. As the chain of appointments now made will not admit of more than one day's delay at each place, early and punctual attendance is earnestly requested.
" Beaver, Wednesday, August 23. Butler, Friday, August 25. Mercer, Monday, August 28. Meadville, Wednesday, August 30. Erie, Saturday, September 2. Franklin, Monday, September 11. Brookville, Thursday, September 14.
" THOS. H. BURROWS, " Superintendent Common Schools.
" SECRETARY'S OFFICE, HARRISBURG, July 18, 1837."
THE LAW OF 1834 AND ITS WORKINGS
" WHEREAS, It is enjoined by the constitution, as a solemn duty which cannot be neglected without a disregard of the moral and political safety of the people ; and
" WHEREAS, The fund for the common school purposes, under the act of the 2d of April, 1831, will, on the 4th of April next, amount to the sum
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
of $546,563.72, and will soon reach the sum of $2,000,000, when it will pro- duce at five per cent an increase of $100,000, which, by said act, is to be paid for the support of common schools; and
" WHEREAS, Provisions should be made by law for the distribution of the benefits of this fund to the people of the respective counties of the Com- monwealth; therefore,
" SECTION I. Be it enacted, etc., That the city and county of Philadel- phia, and every other county in this Commonwealth, shall each form a school division, and that every ward, township, and borough, within the several school divisions, shall each form a school district.
" SECTION 2. It shall be the duty of the sheriff of each county, thirty days previous to the third Friday in September of the current year, 1834, to give notice, by proclamation, to the citizens of each school district to hold elections in their respective townships, wards, and boroughs at the places where they hold their elections for supervisors, town councils, and constables, to choose six citizens, of each school district, to serve as school directors of said districts respectively ; which elections shall, on the said day, be conducted and held in the same manner as elections for supervisors and constables are by law held and conducted; and on the day of the next annual election of supervisors in the respective townships, and of constables in the respective cities of the Commonwealth, a new election for directors shall take place in the said townships, boroughs, and cities, at which election, and annually there- after at that time, and in manner and form aforesaid, two directors shall be chosen, who shall serve for three years; the sheriff giving thirty days' notice previous to such election."
The law of 1831, of Senator Audenreid, is the foundation-stone, and that of 1834 and the act of 1837 completed our common school system, erroneously called " the free school system."
The pioneer and early State appropriations to the common schools were as follows : 1835 and 1836, each, $75,000; 1837, $700,000; 1838, 1839, 1840, each, $108,919; 1841, $330,000; 1842, $200,000 ; 1843, $250,000; 1844, 1845, 1846, 1847, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1851, 1852, 1853, each, $200,000; 1854, 1855, each, $230,000 ; 1856, $231,500; 1857, 1858, 1859, 1860, 1861, each, $280,000.
TEACHER'S INSTITUTE AND ACADEMIES
The pioneer Teachers' Institute in the United States was held in Connec- ticut in 1839; in New York in 1842; and in Massachusetts and Ohio in 1845.
The pioneer institute in Pennsylvania was in Lawrence County for one week, October 27, 1851.
In Crawford County a female seminary was incorporated at Meadville, in 1802. In 1806 the State gave one thousand dollars.
At New Castle, Lawrence County, a female seminary was chartered in 1838, and flourished for ten years.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
The Tioga County Academy was incorporated in 1817, and received State aid.
Smethport Academy, in Mckean County, was chartered in 1829, but not opened until 1837.
Mercer Academy was chartered in 18II.
Potter County Academy was incorporated in 1838.
Venango Academy was chartered in 1812; building erected in 1815.
Warren County Academy was chartered in 1822. The first building was one story. The second building was erected in 1834-35.
It was the rule in this wilderness for any boy who wished an education to attend the winter term of school at home until fit to teach a country school, then to teach in winter and work in summer until he could earn and save enough money to attend an academy. Well, but how did he get to the academy? Why he simply walked a hundred miles or more if necessary.
H
CHAPTER XX
STATISTICS OF 1840
IN 1840 there were in the northwest purchase but nine erected and com- plete counties,-to wit, Butler, Crawford, Jefferson, Mckean, Mercer, Potter, Tioga, Venango, and Warren. Butler County had twenty-two thousand three hundred and seventy-one people, and the county contained fifteen towns, townships, and boroughs,-to wit, Buffalo, Clearfield, Donegal, Centre, Parker, Venango, Mercer, Middlesex, Cherry, Slippery Rock, Butler Borough, Butler, Muddy Creek, Conoquenessing, and Cranberry. In that year Butler County had three charcoal furnaces, with an output of six hundred and twenty- five tons. The amount of coal mined in the county was one hundred and two thousand three hundred bushels; number of miners employed, thirty-one. Retail stores in the county, fifty-five, with a capital of $172,850. Value of hats and caps manufactured in the county, $3750. Number of tanneries, twenty-two; number of men employed, thirty-one. Number of distilleries, thirteen. Number of breweries, two. Number of printing-offices, two. Num- ber of oil-mills, four. Number of saw-mills, sixty-four. Number of grist- mills, fifty-four.
CRAWFORD COUNTY
In 1840' Crawford County had thirty-seven thousand seven hundred and twenty-four people, and the county contained twenty-seven towns, townships, and boroughs,-to wit, South Shenango, Greenwood, Venango, Fallowfield, Randolph, Woodcock, Vernon, Mead, Summerhill, Sadsbury, Meadville Borough, Sparta, Oil Creek, Richmond, Rome Cossawago, Beaver, Wayne, Bloomfield, Rockdale, Athens, Troy, Hayfield, Spring, Conneaut, Fairfield, and North Shenango. In that year Crawford County had two charcoal fur- naces. The coal output was two thousand tons ; number of miners employed, six. Retail stores in the county, sixty-two, with a capital of $196,200. Value of hats and caps manufactured, four thousand. Number of tanneries, four- teen; number of men employed twenty-six. Number of distilleries, fourteen. Number of breweries, one. Number of paper-mills, two. Number of print- ing-offices, two. Number of grist-mills, thirty-nine. Number of saw-mills. one hundred and twenty-nine. Number of oil-mills, two. These were flax- seed mills, making linseed oil. These mills were quite numerous in North- western Pennsylvania, and an industry of importance and profit.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
JEFFERSON COUNTY
In 1840 Jefferson County had seven thousand two hundred and fifty-three people, and the county contained thirteen towns, townships, and boroughs,- to wit, Brookville Borough, Rose, Washington, Snyder, Ridgway, Eldred, Tionesta, Barnett, Jenks, Pine Creek, Porter, Perry, and Young. The output of coal that year was two thousand five hundred tons; number of miners employed, two. The total sale of furs and pelts was $1029. Number of tanneries, six; number of men employed, seven. Number of distilleries, two. Number of grist-mills, fourteen. Number of saw-mills, sixty-eight. Number of stores, nineteen. Maple sugar, twenty seven thousand and sixty-seven pounds. Value of lumber output, $50,603.
M'KEAN COUNTY
In 1840 Mckean County had two thousand nine hundred and seventy- five people, and the county contained nine towns, townships, and boroughs, -to wit, Keating, Ceres, Bradford, Corydon, Sergeant, Liberty, Norwich, Shippen, and Hamilton. The amount of coal mined that year was one thou- sand bushels; number of miners employed, two. Salt manufactured, one thousand bushels; number of men employed, two. Number of retail stores, ten ; amount of capital invested, $28,100. Total value of lumber, $88,700. Sale of furs and pelts, $963. Number of tanneries, two; number of men employed, four. Number of grist-mills, nine. Number of saw-mills, thirty- three. Maple sugar manufactured, sixty-nine thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds.
MERCER COUNTY
In 1840 Mercer County had thirty-two thousand eight hundred and sev- enty-three people, and the county contained nineteen towns, townships, and boroughs,-to wit, Springfield, West Salem, Pymatuning, Delaware, Wolf Creek, Hickory, Slippery Rock, Salem, West Greenville, Mahoning, Neshan- nock, New Castle Borough, Shenango, Lackawannock, Cool Spring, Sandy Lake, French Creek, Dandy Creek, and Mercer Borough. In that year Mercer County had four charcoal furnaces ; total output of iron, fifty-nine tons. Total output of coal mined, one hundred and forty-one thousand eight hundred and sixty tons ; number of men employed, twenty-one. Maple sugar manufac- tured, one hundred and twenty-one thousand two hundred and fourteen pounds. Retail stores, ninety-three ; capital invested, $214,893. Value of hats and caps manufactured, $6770. Number of tanneries, thirty-five; number of men employed, one hundred and thirty-one. Number of distilleries, twelve. Num- ber of printing-offices, one. Number of grist-mills, seventy-three. Number of saw-mills, one hundred and twenty-eight. Number of oil-mills, two.
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
POTTER COUNTY
In 1840 Potter County had three thousand three hundred and seventy-one people, and the county contained fifteen towns, townships, and boroughs,- to wit, Eulalia, Harrison, Bingham, Ulysses, Alleghany, Genesee, Sharon, Hebron, Oswego, Clara, Sweden, Wharton, Roulette, Hector, and Pike. In that year the output of coal was one hundred bushels. Maple sugar manu- factured, one hundred and three thousand one hundred and ninety-nine pounds. Retail stores, six; capital invested, $11,700. Value of lumber products, $25,038. Number of tanneries, one ; number of men employed, two. Number of printing-offices, one. Number of grist-mills, eight. Number of saw-mills, thirty. Value of furs and pelts, $855.
TIOGA COUNTY
In 1840 Tioga County had fifteen thousand four hundred and ninety- eight people, and contained twenty-one towns, townships, and boroughs,-to wit, Jackson, Liberty, Union, Middlebury, Morris, Delmar, Tioga, Lawrence, Elkland, Farmington, Chatham, Westfield, Rutland, Sullivan, Richmond, Covington, Charleston, Shippen, Deerfield, Brookfield, and Gaines. In that year the output of coal was thirty-six thousand bushels; number of men employed, one hundred and four. Maple sugar manufactured, one hundred and eighty-one thousand and sixty-four pounds. Retail stores, fifty two; capital invested, $III,800. Value of lumber produced, $37,189. Number of tanneries, thirteen; number of men employed, thirty-three. Number of dis- tilleries, two. Number of printing-offices, two. Number of grist-mills, twenty- six. Number of saw-mills, one hundred and forty-five. Number of oil- mills, one. Value of pelts and furs, $1415.
VENANGO COUNTY
In 1840 Venango County had seventeen thousand nine hundred people. and contained twenty towns, townships, and boroughs,-to wit, Scrubgrass, Irwin, Sandy Creek, Paint, Farmington, Tionesta, Corn Planter, French Creek, Cherry Tree, Richland, Beaver, Sugar Creek, Plum, Pine Grove, Alleghany, Canal, Rockland, Cranberry, Elk, and Franklin Borough. In that year Venango County had sixteen charcoal furnaces. One bloomary, with an output of cast-iron of six thousand five hundred and forty-six tons, and of bar iron of two hundred and eight tons. Coal mined, thirty thousand three hundred tons; number of men employed, fourteen. Maple sugar manufac- tured, seventeen thousand five hundred and sixty-one pounds. Retail stores. forty-three ; capital invested, $120,000. Lumber products, $24,204. Value of hats and caps manufactured, $1200; number of people employed, five. Nun- ber of tanneries, seventeen ; number of men employed, twenty. Number of distilleries, four ; number of men employed, four. Number of printing-
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HISTORY OF NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
offices, one. Number of grist-mills, forty-nine. Number of saw-mills, fifty- nine. Number of oil-mills, two. Value of furs and pelts, $746.
WARREN COUNTY
In 1840 Warren County had nine thousand two hundred and seventy-eight people, and contained fifteen towns, townships, and boroughs,-to wit, Warren Borough, Connewango, Broken Straw, Columbus, Sugar Grove, Pine Grove, Freehold, Elk, Spring Creek, Deerfield, Kinzua, Pleasant, Southwest, Shef- field, and Limestone. In that year Warren County had three charcoal fur- naces, with an output of thirty tons. Coal mined, seven hundred and fifty bushels ; miners employed, one, in Elk Township. Maple sugar manufac- tured, ninety-one thousand three hundred and eighteen pounds. Retail stores, twenty-eight ; capital invested, $65,750. Value of lumber produced, $88,062. Furs and pelts. $513. Hats, caps, and bonnets manufactured, $2200. Number of tanneries, six; number of men employed, ten. Number of printing-offices, two. Number of grist-mills, sixteen. Number of saw-mills, one hundred and twenty-three. Number of barrels of flour manufactured, five hundred.
NEGRO SLAVERY IN NORTHWESTERN PENNSYLVANIA. CENSUS RETURNS
County.
ISIO.
IS20.
IS30.
Butler
. .
4
Crawford
2
. .
Jefferson
I
McKean
I
. .
Mercer
3
I
6
Potter
.
Tioga
. .
. .
Venango
3
Warren
In 1809 James G. Heron, who lived in Franklin, had two slaves, both negro girls.
In 1807 Collender Irvine had one slave, Black Tom, in Warren County.
In 1802 William Hillis Wells settled near Wellsboro, Tioga County, and brought with him four slaves.
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