USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and Its Centennial Celebration, Volume II > Part 53
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The teacher was always expected to treat his pupils to apples on Christmas and New Year's. If he refused, then "barring out" was the order, which sometimes had a disastrous finish.
The teacher's salary was of minor importance, being from fifty cents to one dollar per month per scholar, and "boarding round " among the patrons of the school. There were but few lady teachers in the early history of this county; they were always addressed as, "Mistress," the men teachers, always "Master." Among the early teachers were some of very superior worth and merit, whose names may be found in the following list :-
William Littell, father of Gen. John S. Littell, of Big Beaver township. taught about one hundred years ago in Hanover and Raccoon townships; William Reed, William Edgar, one of whose pupils was Mr. Nickum, Prof. J. G. Hillman's father-in-law; Smith McDanel, - Hinds, John Eberhart, father of Hon. Gilbert L. Eberhart, of New Brighton, - Stewart, - Herrington, -- Aiken, Robert Darragh, father of S. H. and M. Darragh, Robert Calvin, Samuel Thompson, Samuel Louthan, grandfather of Dr. J. S. Louthan, J. F. Reed, afterwards County Super- intendent, David Warrick, Kate Wilson, Mistress Thomas, John Foughty. The last four taught in the old "State Line " school, four miles north of Black Hawk. This school was patronized by the residents of South Beaver township, in Beaver County, and Middleton township, Columbiana
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County, Ohio. Among the patrons were the Davidsons, McMillens, Blisses, and Wilsons on the Pennsylvania side, and the Bairds, Todds, and Fitzsimmonses, on the Ohio side.
Other early teachers were Oliver Smith, Rev. Joseph S. Buchanan, uncle of John M. Buchanan, Esq., of Beaver, -Alter, son-in-law of Governor Joseph Ritner, Michael Nye, grandfather of Michael P. Nye, Esq., of Franklin township and Dr. Hiram Nye, of Enon, Pa., Larabie Boyd, who taught in Hanover township for upwards of forty years, Thomas Boggs, - McMullen, - Aidy, - McQuiston, - Greezil, Wm. Eckles, Wm. Onderdunk, Hiram Pryne, Wm. Strougham, Wm. Gredy, James Johnston, Henry Davis, Wm. McCallister, Archibald Harvey, Wm. Hood, Hugh McBride, John Moffat, John Brien, Wm. Spaulding, - Jordan, J. G. Shields, brother of our esteemed court-crier, Arthur Shields, Mary Beal, Sallie Dickey, Mistress McGeary, John Wade, John McKee, Jonathan Cross, Wm. Shannon, Elizabeth Hunter, Rev. John W. Scott, D.D., LL.D., father-in-law of Ex-President Benjamin Harrison, Wm. McFarland, James Boyde, grandfather of Harry J. Boyde, Beaver, Hugh Wright, M.D., David Nelson, uncle of David A. Nelson, Esq., Beaver, John Walker, Metcalf, John Mccullough, John Allison, J. L. Boyd, John Harsha, Thomas Nicholson, first County Superintendent of Beaver County, John Nicholson, Samuel Gibb, Samuel Bigger, uncle of Ellis N. Bigger, Esq., Beaver, Ellen McCombs, John Gladzan, Samuel Robb, S. Swearingen, Ellen Ramsey, Dr. James Ramsey, W. W. Frazier, Samuel H. Jeffries, Thomas Jeffries, Robert McFerran, Robert Edie, uncle of Mrs. Louis E. Grim, Robert McCauley, grandfather of Drs. John and E. H. S. McCauley, - McConahey, - Reed, - Baldwin, Hugh B. Anderson, Edward Crail, Mary Crail, Catherine Barnes.
Somewhere in the early thirties we find the following: Samuel English, Wm. McPearce, Samuel Magaw, Sampson Barris, Tobias Peirsol, Wm. Leet, Frederick Leet, Wm. Barnet, Edward Coleman, father of George Coleman and County Commissioner Coleman, Philip Grim, father of Louis E. Grim, Esq., Beaver, - Shields, also a brother of Arthur Shields, of Beaver, Eliza Harper, cousin of ex-county surveyor James Harper, John Todd, James Beatty, H. H. McMillen, Walter McMillen, James G. Bliss, Zadoc Bliss, James Dungan, John W. McClelland.
We have, perhaps, been so unfortunate as to omit names of other worthy teachers of the early time, but have given all of which we could gain knowledge
Rev. J. M. Wallace, D.D., pastor of the Eighth United Pres- byterian Church, Pittsburg, who was born in Hopewell township, this county, was the next speaker. His address follows:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am asked to represent the Wallaces. The Wallaces are of Scotch descent. It has been claimed that we are the direct descendants of Sir William Wallace, the noble hero and patriot of Scotland. However, we have met with a historical difficulty in establishing the claim. One fact VOL. 11 .- 35.
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weighs against it and that is-he had no descendants. There is a family tradition, however, that we are of the same ancestry as Sir William. This tradition is probably founded in fact. It will be remembered that Sir William won his fame from the fact that he had the courage to dispute the divine right of kings, and to this day, we find that the Wallaces in Beaver County are a very democratic people. In fact most of them have been voting the Democratic ticket since the days of Thomas Jefferson. Some of us, however, have shriveled into Prohibitionists. This dis- tinguished family settled first on the north side of the river. My ancestors, probably thinking that the Wallaces were needed on both sides to tone up society and preserve the morals of the whole community, settled in Hopewell township. And so. the Wallaces have taken root over a large part of the county and have helped much to make its history.
In view of the foregoing remarks, it may seem surprising to state that the Wallaces are no better than other people. They believe with all their hearts the statement of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created free and equal. They have never posed as aristocrats or taken on any high airs, but are humble, modest people, content to move in the humbler walks of life.
Rising now to the grander subject of the county, let me say that it was founded upon the great principles of Christianity. When the great apostle to the Gentiles wished to pay the highest compliment to the learned and cultured Athenians he said that he perceived that they were very religious people. The best thing that can be said of the pioneer settlers of Beaver County is that they were pious. When they came out here into the woods in the early times, they brought their Bibles with them. And even before they were able to erect churches, they began the wor- ship of God in tents and in the groves, God's first temples. And on Service they built the second Theological Seminary on the continent, if it were not the very first." And they had a short creed in those days called "The Shorter Catechism." and they taught it diligently to their children in their homes. And they gathered round the hearthstone morning and evening for family worship. Burns in his beautiful poem The Cotter's Saturday Night, after describing the devotions of the family says :-
"From scenes like these old Scotia's grandeur springs, That makes her loved at home, revered abroad."
And so in like manner we can say that it is from scenes like these that old Beaver County's true grandeur springs.
As this would indicate, the old settlers were people of sterling char- acter. This is obvious from the names they gave to various places in the county. On the back of the program of this Centennial there is a cut representing a little animal called the beaver. The beaver is noted in natural history for his industrious habits. Nothing but death can pre- vent him from working. If he is shut up ni a building he will at once proceed to build a dam across it with boots and shoes and books and any- thing he can get hold of. It is not that he needs the dam, but just because
1 See p. 918.
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he is so very industrious that he must be at work. And he has estab- lished such a reputation for diligence that, "to work like a beaver," has become a proverb. And I have no doubt that the old settlers called this section of the earth's surface Beaver County to show that they were a very industrious people. It is certain too that this applies to the town of Beaver. Some malicious person has called Beaver "The Saint's Rest." I am informed, however, by many of the people of the town that they are a working people and there is no need to change the name of the place. And then the fathers have named a little town down the river Industry as if to emphasize, if possible, the fact of their good working habits.
In the same way it is shown too that they were a liberty loving people, for they not only named one town Freedom, but they keep forever in memory the year of the Declaration of Independence by calling one of their post-offices Seventy-Six. If a man on the other side of the globe should direct a letter properly to Seventy-Six, it would come straight to Beaver County. And then I do not know that there is any other country or county in the whole world that has a place called Back Bone. (This is on the South Side. They have no back bone on the North Side. I mean that they have no place called Back Bone). And so if you want to find Back Bone you have to come to Beaver County. And this would indicate that the people that settled the county were sturdy, strong characters. It is related that a boy was reading that text in the Bible which says that Daniel had an excellent spirit in him. And he mis- took the word spirit for spine. And so he read it that Daniel had an excellent spine in him. But it was not much of a mistake after all. Daniel did have a good spine. He would stand up for the truth no matter what it might cost. An old farmer was hoeing in his field on the hillside and a traveler passing along the road called to him contemptuously and said: "What do you raise on these hills, old man?" And the old man straightened himself up to his full height and called back to him, "WE RAISE MEN." In our old county we go one better and raise MEN and WOMEN.
And, as the clergy say, this leads me to remark in the next place on the part the pioneer mothers have had in making the history of Beaver County. There is a familiar hymn that says: "O for a thousand tongues!" I have always thought that that language is very extravagant. I be- lieve that one tongue is as much as one man can manage. And from my experience, I believe that it would be absolutely dangerous for a woman to have more than one tongue. But if ever I could have a thousand tongues I would like to have them now to speak the praises of the pioneer mothers of Beaver County. Let a man inspired of God pronounce their eulogy. Favor is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman that feareth the Lord she shall be praised. She looketh well to the ways of her house- hold and eateth not the bread of idleness. She seeketh wool and flax and worketh willingly with her hands. Such was the pioneer mother in Beaver County. She moved in a quiet sphere. Her home may have been a log cabin but her presence filled it with sunshine and joy. There is a wonderful
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painting by Correggio representing the baby Christ in the stable with face so bright with heavenly light that it touches and beautifies every face and form and thing around it. And so it was with the pioneer mother. Everything became radiant and holy by association with her. It was her patient, loving life that made home to be the sweetest word in the English language. She was like a guardian angel to her children all the day and, when the evening shades gathered in the forest, she laid them down to rest and taught them to say:
"Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take."
And what a grand helper she was. I have seen it stated, as one of the triumphs of the closing years of this Nineteenth century, that in the South the cotton can be taken from the field and in the same factory ginned and carded and spun and made into cloth. But the pioneer mother could beat that a hundred years ago. With her own hands she clipped the wool from the sheep, washed it, carded it, spun it, wove it and made it into garments for her husband and children. She went to the field and pulled the flax, and watered it, and broke it, and scutched it, and spun it, and wove it and made it into clothes while her husband was wrestling with the roots and grubs. There never were more noble women than the pioneer mothers of Beaver County. They sleep in the quiet churchyards to-day but their influence lives. I never saw my father's mother. I never saw anything that belonged to her but the old Bible that she loved so well. And, although she died when my father was yet in his teens, yet he always said that he owed all that he was to the training he received when a child at his pious mother's knee. And I know that she trained him up with so high a sense of honor that I never knew him to speak an untruth. I never knew him to do a dishonorable act. And I know that I owe much to her for she molded him that molded me. And so it is with the people that are living in the grand old county to-day. The holy influence of the pioneer mothers is with us still.
We take pleasure too to-day in speaking of the patriotism of our people. No people are more brave. Her sons have followed the flag in all our wars. And our people are brave because they have strong relig- ious convictions. There are no soldiers in the world as brave as Chris- tian soldiers. Cromwell's "Invincibles " went into battle singing psalms. And they never lost a battle. They could not be conquered. I have seen statistics which show that some of the battles of the Civil War were the most destructive battles in all the history of the world. And it was because that there were Christian soldiers on both sides. General Toral, who commanded the Spanish forces at Santiago, published in the Spanish newspapers an unintentional eulogy on our soldiers. He said that when his men found our soldiers lying dead on the battle-field they found that almost every one of them had a Bible in his pocket. Our men found no Bibles in the pockets of the Spanish soldiers who were
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killed, and two thirds of them could not have read them if they had had them. But they did find bottles in their pockets. It is no wonder that our men were victorious for the Bible and the gun will always defeat the bottle and the gun. It takes soldiers with Bibles in their pockets and the hope of the gospel in their hearts to make such a charge as our brave men made at San Juan Hill. And such are the soldiers that we send from the grand old county to fight the battles of our country.
As a concluding word, let me say that there is hope for the future for the law of heredity is almost universal. Nobody has ever been able to account for the frequent bareness of the human cranium. Some evil minded person has said that the hair was originally intended for a cover- ing for the brain, but that in some cases the brain has gradually dis- appeared through the lapse of years, and the hair being no longer needed quietly disappears from the field. A more charitable theory, however, is that the brain has developed so rapidly that the hair has not been able to keep pace with it even by overlapments drawn from adjacent territory. This does not altogether cover the ground. The bald fact is that baldness is hereditary. The bald head has come down from former generations. Hence there is no cure for it. Nothing that has been invented since the creation of the world will make hair grow on the shining expanse of a bald head. There is nothing to do but to pass it on down. And so it is with the color of the eyes and the hair.
Well now I am glad to say that this law that is so universal and so sweeping applies to virtue. And it is a fact that righteousness is far more hereditary than sin. Some men are angry at the Second Com- mandment, because it says that the iniquities of the fathers are visited on the children unto the third and fourth generation, but they do not seem to know that God has said that righteousness shall go down to a thousand generations. Sin quits at the third or fourth generation but righteousness goes on forever. Fifteen generations after David was in his grave God said that he would bless Hezekiah and deliver Jerusalem for David's sake. And so it is a grand thing to have pious ancestors. Unspeakable blessings have come down to us from them and will go down to the latest generations. It is true that in some respects religion seems to be going down a little just now. We do not keep the Sabbath as well as our fathers did. We do not have their holy reverence for sacred things. Yet we have made great progress in reforms during the century. Slavery is gone; dueling is ended; polygamy is on its last legs and temperance is slowly but surely advancing. There is hope for the future. The golden age is dawning. The right will triumph. The Divine promise is that the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; and He shall reign forever and ever.
Rev. Harry C. Swearingen of Pittsburg spoke extempore on "The Character of Our Ancestors." This speech was followed by the singing of some old-time melodies by Mrs. Catherine
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Dungan of Pittsburg, the wife of a great-grandson of Levi Dungan, the first white settler. These were greatly appreciated by the audience.
At this point the audience was given a bit of fun and elo- quence which was not scheduled for it. Mr. John S. Duss, the accomplished leader of the Great Western Band, prefaced the rendering of the next musical number with an extempore speech which disturbed all somnolent tendencies that might have been felt by the audience and set them off into a burst of merriment. We give a synopsis of his remarks, which, of course, drew from the immediate conditions of the day their chief charm and humor. Their irresistible effect cannot be felt when they are read, since the "atmosphere" of the occasion and the unique manner of delivery cannot be reproduced in type. Mr. Duss thought that too much emphasis had been laid by the orators of the day on the claims of the "South Side," and so he made his "retort courteous" in the following speech:
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
It is with a heavy heart that I address you; indeed, I stand before you self-convicted of a great sin.
That is not all; the sin of which I feel myself convicted is no ordinary sin,-it is the sin of ignorance.
Nor is it the sin of ordinary ignorance of which I am convicted. Ah, no! my friends; the weight that I have on my conscience is that I am guilty of being ignorant of the geography of my own county. I confess to you, ladies and gentlemen, that never in my wildest fancies did it enter my imagination that Beaver County had so many sides!
Gentlemen come here and talk about the SOUTH SIDE and the NORTH SIDE and the WEST SIDE and the EAST SIDE and the what not, until my head is in a perfect whirl, and I am really at a loss to figure out whether our county is in the shape of a hexagon, or of a pentagon, or of an octagon, or some other kind of a "'gon."
And small wonder it is that I begin to feel as though I would like to know where I am really at.
One of the orators of the day, descanting on the mental character- istics of the early settlers of this county, told us that those people knew what they were about; that this was evidenced by the names they gave the different places throughout the county. That we have here the town of Beaver,-that the beaver is an industrious animal and stands for the type of industry; that the industrious character of the people was further upheld by the establishment of a town-right below here [indicat- ing direction by a gesture], by the name of Industry. That the people of that day were also a liberty-loving people, for right over here [indicating] we have a post-office called "'76," showing that the spirit of '76 was
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still alive, and that this love of liberty was further exemplified by the establishment of a town right above here [indicating] on the Ohio River by the name of Freedom.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, this may all sound very well, but let me ask you of what use is all the freedom-of what use is all the industry in the the world, if you have not Economy.I
My friends, certain of the gentlemen of this-the-the-oh, what it is? -the South side, I believe,-yes, the south side, informed us that that side had sent out over one hundred ministers; that that side had sent out many doctors; and that that side had sent out over one hundred lawyers; -this I presume, in order to prove the superiority of that side in the realm of said professions.
Well, now, I hardly know what to say about the-the-the-a (well, really, I do not know to what side I belong), at any rate, I have grave doubts as to our side (whatever it is) having sent out many ministers. I do, however, feel justified in asserting that it did send out but few doctors; I am absolutely positive that it did not send a single lawyer; but there is one thing it did do, and that is it-religiously and conscientiously -minded its own business and minded it well, and that is more than I can say for some of the other sides; in fact, it might be perfectly proper to state that through the meddlesome disposition of some of the people of the other sides we have actually been obliged, time and time again, to employ considerable of the great amount of legal talent which the other sides claim to have sent out.
And now, Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends and Children, if you will kindly bear with my shortcomings for the present, I promise you most faithfully that by the time the next Centennial rolls around, I shall make it my particular business to be fully informed in reference to the configuration of this many-sided county, if I have to survey every foot of it myself.
Of like character and effect was the speech of the veteran "schoolmaster," R. Gregor McGregor, who made an effective defense of the learning and teaching ability of the early men and women who "taught the young idea" of Beaver County school children "how to shoot." His address as delivered was largely extempore, but he has reduced part of it to the form in which it is herewith given, his topic being "The Evolution of the Institute."
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen:
I have selected this subject for the reason that I believe I am one of the only two persons living who attended the first Institutes held in Beaver County. Of that band of teachers, as far as is known, Prof. S. H. Peirsol and I are all that now survive. Nicholson, Coulter, Grim,
" Economy is the name of the town in which Mr. Duss resides .- ED.
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Anderson, McGoun, McClelland, the Reeds, the Blisses, and all whose names occur to me, are now with God. Each has entered upon a faithful teacher's reward in heaven. They are,
"On the other side of Jordan, In the sweet fields of Eden, Where the tree of life is blooming."
"Thus star by star declines, Till all are passed away, As morning high and higher shines, To pure and perfect day; Nor sink those stars in endless night, But hide themselves in Heaven's own light."
The meetings then held were not called Institutes. When they were held for the general discussion of educational topics, they were called "Educational Meetings"; and when they were held statedly for the dis- cussion of professional subjects, by practical teachers, they were called "Teachers' Associations." As the Institute of to-day is the natural outgrowth of these, I shall speak of them as Institutes. If I were to make a criticism, it would be that Association is generic; Institute, specific.
Those primitive Institutes had their mission. Their work was needed at that time. They admirably answered the purpose for which they were intended.
That was in the days of our transition from the United States Spelling Book, the English Reader, the Western Calculator, Kirkham's Grammar, Smith's Geography, and other authorized and unauthorized text-books.
At that time, the teachers had far greater merit than they now have credit for possessing. Their education did not usually embrace the classics, the higher mathematics, or the natural sciences. But a merit of their education was its completeness, as far as it went. What they knew, they knew thoroughly. They regarded good spelling as being at the foundation of a good education; they considered it a sin to misspell a word; they were good spellers. They were good writers, Samuel Magaw was one of the finest penmen of his day. If the penmanship of the others was not as ornate as his, it was of the kind that could justly be called a "copy." The teachers of that day were not accomplished elocutionists; but they were good and correct readers. They mastered the Arithmetic then in use in the schools. They usually knew every page of the Western Calculator as well as they did the one that contained the multiplication table.
If I were to make a criticism upon those old masters, it would be that they taught the book, rather than the subject. And they taught it as it had been taught to them by teachers that taught it as they had been taught. It is easy to see that we had run into ruts out of which it was the office of the Institute to lift us. Hence, we went to those primitive Institutes to find out how to solve difficult examples in the new arithmetics,
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