History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 7

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790

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County Superintendents .- J. A. Campbell, Rob- ert W. Smith, John A. Calhoun, James Richey, William Davis, Hugh McCandless, Samuel Mur- phy, A. D. Glenn, D. C. Stockdill.

Deputy Surveyors-General .- Robert Richards, J. E. Meredith, Jackson Boggs.

County Surveyors .- James Stewart, Robert S. Slaymaker, John Steele, Robert H. Wilson.

POLITICAL.

Armstrong county, 1825, Congress: Robert Orr, Jr., had 1148 votes, and Abner Lacock 111. Orr's majority, 1037.

Constitutional convention, 1825. Against, 921; for, 379 votes; majority against calling a conven- tion to revise the constitution, 542.

The foregoing statistics were obtained from papers published in 1825. From 1828 to 1854 there was uniformly a democratic majority of several hundred, except that a volunteer whig candidate was, now and then, elected to some county office. In 1854 a new secret political organization, commonly called " Know Nothings," swept the political field with, to the uninitiated, an unexpected and astounding majority.

In the campaign of 1856 the republican party, newly organized, entered the political arena with the following result in this county: Presidential- Fremont, Rep., 2,963; Buchanan, Dem., 2,680. Rep. maj. 283. In 1858: Judge of Supreme Court - Read, Rep., 2,386; Porter, Dem., 2,003.

ARMSTRONG COUNTY COURT HOUSE & JAILS. KITTANNING, PA.

STUDENTS AT LAW AND ADMISSION OF ATTORNEYS.

Rep. maj. 383. In 1860: Governor - Curtin, Rep., 3,474; Foster, Dem., 2,698. Rep. maj. 776. The presidential election was not earnestly contested by the democrats, so that the republican majority for Abraham Lincoln was large.

In 1862: Auditor General -Cochran, Rep., 2,250; Slenker, Dem., 2476. Dem. maj. 226. In 1863: Governor- Curtin, Rep., 3,146; Woodward, Dem., 2,977. Rep. maj. 169. In 1864: Constitu- tional amendment allowing soldiers to vote in camp and field. For, 2,466; against, 1676. Maj. for amendment, 790. In 1865: Auditor General - Hartranft, Rep., 2,810; Davis, Dem., 2,506. Rep. maj. 304. In 1866: Governor - Geary, Rep., 3,758; Clymer, Dem., 3,078. Rep. maj. 660. In 1867: Judge of Supreme Court - Williams, Rep., 3,439; Sharswood, Dem., 3,079. Rep. maj. 360. In 1868: Auditor General - Hartranft, Rep., 3,987; Boyle, Dem., 3,459. Rep. maj. 528. In 1869: Governor - Geary, Rep., 3,439; Packer, Dem., 3,079. Rep. maj. 360. In 1870: Assembly - Put- ney, Dem., 3,206; Steele, Rep., 3,197. Dem. maj. 109. In 1871: Auditor General - Stanton, Rep., 3,515; McCandless, Dem., 3,144. Rep. maj. 371. In 1872: Governor - Hartranft, Rep., 4,434; Buckalew, Dem., 3,469. Rep. maj. 965. In 1874: Lieut. Governor- Olmstead, Rep., 3,858; Latta, Dem., 3,523. Rep. maj. 335. In 1875: Governor - Hartranft, Rep., 3,605; Pershing, Dem., 3,121. Rep. maj. 484. Brown, Prohib., 196.

JUDICIAL AND LEGAL.

The learned judges who have presided over the courts of this county have adorned their positions by their ability, integrity, impartiality and pro- found and varied knowledge of the law, and the learned professions have not been barren of devoted, well-read and eminent members who have held a high rank in the esteem of their brethren in other counties of our state. To the heritage of this county also belongs some of the credit and use- fulness of inventive genius.

STUDENTS AT LAW AND ADMISSION OF ATTORNEYS.

Prior to September 1, 1873, any man, irrespect- ive of his literary attainments, was allowed to study law without being registered as a student by the prothonotary, and members of the bars of other counties could be admitted to practice gen- erally and permanently in this county on mere motion. At the time last above mentioned Judge Logan suggested and the court adopted a set of new rules, requiring all persons desiring to study law in this county to undergo a preliminary ex- amination in all the branches of a thorough

English education and the elements of the Latin language, by the board of examiners created by these rules, and cach to produce and file with the prothonotary a certificate, signed by at least a majority of the members present, that the applicant is prepared and qualified to commence the study of the law, and that they have received satisfac- tory evidence of his good moral character, and that each applicant give in writing one month's notice to the secretary of the board of his desire to be registered, before he shall come before them for examination, and making it the duty of every attorney of the courts of this county to register with the prothonotary the name, age and place of residence of every person studying the law under his direction, and the time of clerkship to be com- puted from the date of such registry. If the appli- cant is under the age of twenty-one years when registered, his clerkship is to be three years, and two years if he has then arrived at his majority, under the direction and in the office of a practic- ing attorney or a judge of said court ; but if he shall have studied in a law school of good repute, the time thus spent may be counted as part of the term, except the last year, which must be spent in the office of his preceptor. After the expiration of the term of his clerkship he must undergo an examination by the board of examiners on the principles and practice of law and equity, and produce and file with the prothonotary, when his admission is moved for, a certificate signed by all the examiners who were present at his examination, that he is sufficiently qualified for admission to the bar, and that they have received satisfactory evidence of his good moral character. Every such examination shall consist partly of written questions to be answered by the student in writing, which questions and answers are to be reported to the court. By a rule adopted and published December 6, 1875, each applicant for preliminary examination must pay to the sec- retary of the board of examiners the sum of $3, and each applicant for final examination the sum of $5, before he be entitled to his certificate of registration or a report in favor of his admission to the bar, for purchasing such books as the board may need and defraying such other expenses as may be incurred by the board.

Members of the bars of other counties of this state or of other states cannot be admitted to practice in the courts of this county until they shall have appeared before the board of examiners and produced a certificate signed by them, wherein all the examiners present shall certify that they have received satisfactory evidence of his moral

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

character and professional qualifications, includ- ing at least two years' diligent study or practice of the law, and recommending his admission to the bar. Written notice of any such applicant's intention to apply for admission must be given to the board at least two weeks prior to the applica- tion, accompanied with the certificate of the presi- dent judge of the court in which he last practiced of his good moral character and of the length of time he had practiced therein. An attorney of another court can be admitted for special cases without the foregoing requisites.

The board of examiners consists of five mem- bers, a majority of whom constitute a quorum. At September term, 1873, the court appointed as members thereof Darwin Phelps, Edward S. Golden, John V. Painter, John Gilpin and Robert W. Smith. At June term, 1874, James A. McCul- loch was appointed, vice John V. Painter, by reason of the vacancy occasioned by the latter's accession to the bench.

RELIGIOUS.

In the early part of this century the facilities for the enjoyment of religious worship and privi- leges in this county were, as is the case in newly and sparsely settled regions, very meager. Two Presbyterian churches were organized and two log church edifices, about eight miles apart, were erect- ed on the west side of the Allegheny river, in what was then Buffalo township, in 1802. From those two churches have sprung all the other churches of that denomination in this county. Those and other churches will be more specially noticed in the sketches of their respective localities.

Rev. T. M. Hudson, a venerable clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, had that portion of this county east of the Allegheny river in his circuit of three hundred miles, which he traversed fifty-four years ago. There were then, he informed me, no church edifices within that part of his cir- cuit included in this county. Meetings were held in private houses and in the open air, under trees, in pleasant weather, to which women, in some instances, went a distance of five or six miles with infants in their arms. The dwelling-houses did not lack ventilation. They were not as warm as modern dwellings. In one instance, said he, the feet of another clergyman were frozen while he was preaching in such a mansion.

Sabbath schools began to be organized in 1818- 20. They were at first regarded, by at least some of the pastors and church members, as innovations upon the proper functions of the church, as the writer is informed by a gentleman who was cogni- zant of their first establishment in this county.

That unfavorable view soon vanished, so that they have here, as elsewhere, been accepted and cher- ished, by pastors and people, for many years as important adjuncts to the church.

The number of churches in the county in 1850 was 65.

That the great interests of religion have been liberally fostered in this county is evident from the following statistics :

Presbyterian -1876-No. churches, 24; No. members, 2,989; No. Sabbath schools, 20; No. scholars, 2,097.

Methodist Episcopal-No. churches, 19; No. members, 1,814 ; No. Sabbath schools, -; No. scholars, about 1,523, exclusive of the number at- tending the Union Sabbath school at Worthing- ton.

United Presbyterian-1875-No. churches, 13; No. members, 1,038 ; No. Sabbath schools, 12; No. scholars, 744.

Episcopalian-No. churches, 5 ; No. members, 330; No. Sunday schools, 4; No. scholars, 265. (Number of members and Sunday school scholars partly estimated.)

Lutheran (both synods)-No. churches, 29 ; No. members, 2,672; No. Sabbath schools, 25; No. scholars, 1,907.

Reformed-No. churches, 12 ; No. members, 825 ; No. Sabbath schools, 11; No. scholars, 630.

Baptist-No churches, 10; No. members, 650 ; No. Sabbath schools, 12; No. scholars, 500.

Dunkard-No. churches, -; No. members, -; No. Sabbath schools, -; No. scholars, -.

Roman Catholic-No. churches, -; No. mem- bers, -; No. Sunday schools, -; No. scholars, -.

During the winter of 1876 there was a peculiarly deep and extensive interest awakened in religious matters, which resulted in considerable accessions to many churches of the different denominations.

THE ARMSTRONG COUNTY BIBLE SOCIETY.

The first meeting was held on Monday, Septem- ber 15, 1828, at the court-house. Thomas Hamil- ton was chosen president, and James E. Brown sec- retary. A series of resolutions were adopted indi- cating, 1. An approval of the benevolent object of the Philadelphia Bible society to give a copy of the Bible to every family in Pennsylvania unable or unwilling to pay for it. 2. That a society for this county be formed. 3. That the business of the so- ciety be conducted by a president, six vice-presi- dents, and twelve other managers, who were to choose from their own body a secretary and treas- urer. 4. The appointment of four for each town- ship to visit every family in their respective town-

EDUCATIONAL.

ships. A permanent organization was effected at the evening session by electing Rev. John Dickey, president ; Rev. John Reddick, Rev. Gabriel Adam Reichert, Rev. Henry Koch, Rev. John Core, Thos. Smullen, and Samuel Green, vice-presidents ; Thos. Hamilton, Simon Torney, Philip Mechling, Fred- erick Rohrer, Robert Brown, Sr., Samuel Mat- thews, James Green, John Monroe, James Brown, Jr., David Johnston, Alexander Colwell, and James E. Brown, managers. The committees for the sev- eral townships were also appointed. The society was made auxiliary to the Philadelphia Bible So- ciety.

The executive committee, D. Phelps, secretary, issued a circular November 17, 1841, inviting the aid of individuals in each township to distribute Bibles and Testaments, and visit each family in their respective districts. Application was directed to be made to Alexander Colwell before the 13th, and to enter upon their duties on December 27. Clergymen and church officers of all denominations were solicited to co-operate. The committee de- sired to ascertain the names of individuals in cen- tral situations who would be willing to keep depos- itories of Bibles and Testaments for the supply of their respective neighborhoods.

That society still exists. A special effort, the centennial year, to see that every family in this county is supplied with the Bible.

EDUCATIONAL.

The only educational facilities, except those afforded by the Kittanning academy, until after the passage of the act of Assembly of 1834 estab- lishing a system of free schools, were afforded by pay or subscription schools, sparsely located, kept in log shanties in some places, and in octag- onal log houses built expressly for school purposes, in other places, with puncheon floors, primitive desks and seats, and long openings in the walls, a little above the desks, which were attached to the walls, covered with greased paper for windows. Spelling, reading, writing and arithmetic-the last-named in many instances to a limited extent- were about all that was taught in most of those schools. The teachers were generally men of ma- ture age, of severe aspect and discipline. At least some of them were "Irish schoolmasters." The teacher in those pristine days, in most instances, might be described as Goldsmith describes the teacher of the village school :

" A man severe he was, and stern to view. * * * *

Well had the hoding tremblers learned to trace The day's disasters in his morning face; Full well they laughed with counterfeitcd glee At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;

Full well the busy whisper, circling round.

Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frown'd, * *

While words of learned length and thundering sound Amazed the rustics ranged around ;

Aud still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,

That one small head could carry all he knew. But past is all his fame. The very spot

Where many a time he triumph'd, is forgot."

Several academies were founded in later years, which will be elsewhere noticed. -

Among the county expenses for 1828 is the sum of $9.53 for teaching poor children. The mixed system of paying tuition by those who were able to pay, and the county paying it for those who were unable to pay, proved to be impracticable, and was rarely of any avail to those for whose benefit it was designed, on account of their strong and natural repugnance to attending school as depend- ents, unlike their wealthier companions, on public charity for acquiring an education.

The free-school system placed all on an equal footing, and it has steadily progressed in accom- plishing its beneficent purpose. When it was op- tional with each school district - i. e., borough or township - whether it would accept the system or not, it was readily accepted by all the districts in this county.

As required by the act of April 1, 1834, the connty commissioners and the delegates appointed by the several boards of school directors convened in the court-house on Tuesday, November 4, 1834. The number of delegates present was eleven. The Plum Creek district, and that consisting then of Kittanning borough and township, were not repre- sented. On the question : "Will the convention agree to appropriate for the establishment and sup- port of common schools?" the vote was :

Yeas-Jacob Mechling, Franklin township ; James Adams, Sugar Creek township ; George Means, Toby township ; Samuel Marshall, Perry township ; John Calhoun, Wayne township ; Jacob McFadden, Clarion township ; Sherman Bills, Kis- kiminetas township, and James McCall, Freeport. Nays - John Hidley, Red Bank township, and James Hindman, Franklin township.

A resolution was passed providing that a tax of $1,920.18, or double the amount of the quota ap- propriated by the state, should be appropriated for that year.

In the convention held on Monday, November 2, 1836, the vote to appropriate for the support of common schools was unanimous. The districts of Allegheny, Freeport, and Perry were not repre- sented. Double the amount of state appropriation to this county was ordered to be levied.

In 1840 there were fourteen school districts and

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

120 schools, which were kept open four months in the year.

By the general act of 1854 and its supplements each city, borough and township is made a district for school purposes, made subject to one board of directors or control, and causing to be selected, triennially, by the directors of the several school districts in each county except Philadelphia, a suit- able person to be appointed (by the superintendent of public instruction) a county superintendent, whose duties are to examine all the applicants for teaching the public or common schools in his county, no applicant being permitted to teach such a school unless he or she bas a valid certificate of qualification granted by that officer ; to visit all the schools in the county as often as practicable, and perform various other duties prescribed by the school law. The intent of the law requiring teachers to be examined and their schools to be visited by the county superintendent is to exclude from the useful, honorable and responsible voca- tion of teaching such as are incompetent morally, intellectually, and by the want of proper culture.

The number of school districts reported in this county in 1837 was 14; whole number, 61; number then required, 87; average number months taught, 43; male teachers, 58; female teachers, 10; average salaries of male teachers per month, $17.71; average salaries female teachers per month, $11.61; male scholars, 1,155; female scholars, 1,088; average number in each school, 463; cost of each per month, 524 cents.

In 1850 the number of pupils attending the pub- lic schools was 6,477, and the number attending academies and private schools, 135.

The number of common schools in this county in 1858 was 199; then still required, 12; average number of months taught, 4.52; male teachers, 163; female teachers, 50; average monthly salaries, male, $24.17; female, $18.18; number of scholars, male, 5,094; female, 4,472; average attendance of scholars, 7,323; cost of teaching each scholar per month, 48 cents. Tax levied: For school purposes, $22,970.26; for building schoolhouses, $5,235.07; total amount levied, $28,205.33. Mills on the dollar for school purposes, 8.72; for building schoolhouses, 3.96; re- ceived from state appropriation, $2,654.38; from collectors of school tax, $18,114.60; cost of instruc- tion, $19,358.11; fuel and contingencies, $1,593.22; cost of schoolhouses, viz, purchasing, building, rent- ing, repairing, etc., $5,192.66.

In 1876 the whole number of common schools in this county was 261; average number of months taught, 5.9; male teachers, 163; female teachers, 106; average salaries per month of male teachers,

$41.12; female, $34.40; scholars, male, 6,730; female, 5,933; average attendance, 8,252; cost of teaching each scholar per month, 76 cents; tax levied for school purposes and building schoolhouses, $75,- 719.25; received from state appropriation, $10,- 480.08 ; from taxes and all other sources, $87,854; total receipts, $98,334.08. Expended : For build- ing, renting and repairing schoolhouses, etc., $22,949.37; teachers' wages, $47,711.68; fuel, fees of collectors, etc., $21,068.53; total expenditures, $91,729.58, being $3,000 less than for 1875. Con- tribution to Centennial fund, $36.50.

Thus it appears by comparison that the interest of and facilities for popular education in this county have progressed with its increase of popu- lation and development of material resources.

It is a part of the educational history of this county that there was for awhile considerable opposition to the county superintendency on the part of many of the supporters of the common school system. It was at first so strong that the first convention of school directors, May, 1854, fixed the annual compensation of the first county superintendent at the meager sum of $300, some of them thinking, as the writer was informed, that no one would serve for that sum, and that they would thus discharge the duty imposed on them by law of selecting a suitable person and fixing his compen- sation, and in that way dispense with the superin- tendent. They did not seem to consider that the law also prescribed that every teacher of common schools must be examined by that officer, and that if any schools in a district should be taught by teachers not having proper certificates there would have been a forfeiture of the state appropriation to the schools of such district, which, for all the dis- tricts in the county, amounted to several thousand dollars. The gentleman then selected, Rev. J. A. Campbell, after deliberation, concluded that he could not devote the time, labor and attention which the law required for that compensation, but proposed to accept the position for a year if the amount fixed by the convention would be increased to $400. In order that the school districts of this county might not lose their state appropriations, several citizens- the writer does not remember the names of all of them-pledged the additional hun- dred dollars, which they paid out of their own pockets, and the first incumbent of the new and to some extent obnoxious office entered upon the discharge of his official duties, in which he con- tinned during the first two years and a part of the third year of the term, teaching part of the time a normal class and preaching to his congregation.

At the triennial convention of school directors in

JOURNALISTIC.

this county, May, 1857, the annual compensation of the county superintendent was fixed at $800. A ma- jority of the directors subsequently elected deemed that too large a compensation, some of them thinking it ought to be about the average salary of clergymen in the rural districts. On the other hand, a minority of the directors thought otherwise, and favored an increase. In the attempt in the trien- nial convention, May, 1860, to reduce it to $600, it was, in the clashing of resolutions for increasing and diminishing, through want of sufficient knowl- edge of parliamentary rules, unintentionally re- duced to $400, and thus it remained until May, 1865, when, on the petition of the requisite number of the board of school directors, the state superin- tendent ordered a reassembling of the convention, by which it was raised to the rate of $800 per annum for the rest of the term, which expired on the first Monday of June, 1866. It was afterward raised to $1000. For the present term it is $1200. The state pays the salaries of county superintend- ents out of state revenue, but allows them to be fixed by the conventions of school directors of the respective counties. There is now little if any opposition in this county to that office, which State Superintendent Hickok used to denominate the "right arm" of the educational service in Penn- sylvania.

TEACHERS' INSTITUTES,

district and county, are important features of our present school system. They have proved, when properly conducted, to be useful agencies in im- proving teachers. In conducting the former the teachers rely chiefly upon their own resources. Until the generous provision made by act of 1867, the county superintendent and teachers were obliged to rely principally upon their own mental and material resources in conducting the latter, which were, prior to 1868, local, that is, held in different parts of the county, and in which teachers were obliged to do a large part of the work. They were thus benefited, because " self-dependence is the great principle to be aroused," and because teachers will not attain their full statures if allowed to remain solely under the shadows of eminent instructors from abroad, however useful and serv- iceable the latter may be. The earlier county institutes, though less prominent before the public and more dependent on home talent than those held since 1867, were nevertheless busy, working, improving ones, which awakened a lively interest in both members and spectators. For instance, the one held at Worthington in April, 1860, attracted thither a certain candidate* for nomina-

tion as candidate for an important county office, who, supposing a large number of people would be there, which proved to be the case, thought that that would be an available point for electioneering. lle went into that institute and became so deeply interested in its proceedings that he didn't elec- tioneer worth a cent, or rather worth a vote. He afterward wrote a graphic account of what was done in the institute, which was published in the Free Press, and reproduced in the then next May or June number of the Pennsylvania School Journal.

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 7

Author: Smith, Robert Walter Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins Number of Pages: 790

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790