USA > Pennsylvania > Beaver County > History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, and its centennial celebration, Volume I > Part 45
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High School Building, Rochester, Pa. Müller & East, Architects, Pittsburg.
399
History of Beaver County
" Borough township-Daniel Agnew, Hiram S. Stowe; Moon- Joseph Phillis, William Elliott; Hopewell-David Scott, Thomas Bryan; Hanover-John Harsha, Robert Patton; Greene-Milton Lawrence, M.D., William McHarg, Jr .; Ohio-John Clark, M.D., George Dawson; Brighton-William Scott, Robert Potter; Fallston Borough-E. K. Chamberlin, M.D., A. W. Townsend; Chippewa-Capt. W. B. Osman, Joseph Niblock; South Beaver- John Martin, Esq., John McNickle; Little Beaver -Rev. George M. Scott, Dr. Joseph Frazier; Big Beaver-Rev. David Imbrie, Richard D. Hudson; North Beaver-Rev. James Wright, William Allsworth; Shenango-Rev. Robert Semple, Rev. A. Murray; North Sewickley-Dr. Robert Cunningham, J. A. Benson; Economy-John Hull, William Knox; New Sewickley-Edward Hoops, Matthew Champlin."
These names, being those of men who were among the most intelligent and progressive citizens of the county, gave assurance that the law as now established would be fairly interpreted, and that an honest effort would be made to carry out its provisions. But the project was as yet in its formative condition, and it was hard to get the machinery into smooth-working order.I
1 It may interest some of our readers to see the apportionment of the school tax made in the first year after the school system was established. We copy the following from the minute book recording the proceedings of the joint meeting of the common-school delegates and the county commissioners:
"Apportionment by the County Commissioners of the School Tax to the several School Districts (according to the number of Taxable Inhabitants in each township) in the School Division composed of the County of Beaver for the year 1835:
No.
Districts or Townships
School Tax
Taxables
Apportionment
Borough.
$ 248 51
313
$ 208 14}
2 Fallston.
181 60
220
146 30
3 New Sewickley
396 45
620
412 30
4 North Sewickley
280 27
537
357 10}
; Shenango
265 34
455
302 57}
6 North Beaver
474 15
434
288 61
7 Big Beaver.
158 05
277
184 20}
8 Little Beaver.
315 57
423
281 295
9 South Beaver.
91 34
22I
146 96}
Io Chippewa
91 47
I30
86 45
II Brighton.
144 94
192
1 27 68
12 Ohio.
157 81
236
156 94
13 Greene.
175 61
314
208 81
14 Hanover
15 Raccoon.
71 37
I39
92 434
16 Moon ..
104 61
232
154 28
17 Hopewell.
184 50
287
190 852
18 Economy
222 92
3II
206 814
1
$3564 51
534I
$3551 76
Surplus S. Tax.
12 75
$3564 51 "
340
.
400
History of Beaver County
The new school law proved cumbersome in some of its pro- visions, and there was developed in many sections of the State considerable hostility to it. From parts of the State persons were even sent to the Legislature pledged to work for its repeal. In Beaver County public meetings were called to discuss the subject of repeal, but to the honor of its citizens these meetings showed a strong sentiment in favor of enforcing the law. In South Beaver township a public gathering was held to discuss the issue. James Johnston was made chairman and George McElhaney and Dr. James Young, secretaries. The object of the meeting was stated by John Douglas, who also read a letter from General Abner Lacock and Dr. John Pollock, the represen- tatives of the district in the Assembly, who wrote jointly, urging the people of the district to give the new system a fair trial. The sense of the meeting was expressed in a series of strong resolutions against repeal, and in favor of an honest and earnest effort to establish the system in the township and throughout the county.
Amendments were made to the law as experience suggested changes, and opposition gradually subsided, so that in a few years all the townships of the county were working in harmony with its provisions. With whatever defects it may have, the free-school system is now deep-rooted in the affections of the people, and there has been constant endeavor to improve it in every direction. And there has been great progress made. This is strikingly shown in the improved construction of modern school buildings, with their sanitary arrangements, their pro- visions for the comfort and safety of teachers and scholars, and in the extent, variety, and perfection of all the furniture and apparatus of the schoolroom. The log-cabin schoolhouse was well enough in its day, and we may pay it our tribute for the part it played in "ye olden time"; but the superiority of the present structures will not need to be argued. In this county many of the buildings of recent construction, such as those at Fallston, Aliquippa, Daugherty, Patterson Heights, and in Greene township and South Beaver, are very neat and com- modious; while the new high school buildings in the larger towns, such as those of New Brighton and Rochester, are model structures. Plans for other modern school buildings of the better class are under way, as at Freedom. The condition of
40I
History of Beaver County
many of the buildings in the country districts, however, espe- cially in regard to ventilation, leaves much to be desired.
Several county teachers' associations have been formed in Beaver County. The first met in the Beaver Academy, Novem- ber 9, 1844, at the call of S. L. Coulter and Hugh Anderson. This was preliminary to the formation of a regular association. Another meeting was held in Beaver, January 4, 1845, the record of which is signed by William Reed as secretary, and which adopted and recommended for use in the schools of the county the following text-books: Davies's Arithmetics; Mit- chell's Geographies; Roswell C. Smith's Grammar; Cobb's New Speller; Willard's United States History; and Peter Parley's Common School History. This association seems to have been short-lived.
On the 6th of April, 1850, a meeting was held in Rochester to effect a smilar association, H. B. Anderson in the chair, and John McGoun, secretary. A temporary organization was made and on the 20th of the same month the teachers interested met in the Beaver Academy and formed a permanent organization. A constitution and by-laws were adopted, and the following officers were chosen: P. L. Grim, President; H. B. Anderson, Vice-President ; John McGoun, Recording Secretary ; Zadoc Bliss, Corresponding Secretary; J. McElrath, Treasurer; Execu- tive Committee: W. Y. Brown, A. H. Lackey, J. P. Reed, P. L. Grim, and J. G. Bliss.
A full, though not a complete, list of the early schoolhouses, with names of many of the early teachers, in Beaver County, will be found in the Centennial address of Prof. S. H. Peirsol in our second volume. In this chapter we shall give such addi- tional names and items of biography as we have been able to gather.
One of the earliest teachers in the territory that is now Beaver County was John Bean, who taught two years near the mouth of Big Beaver Creek. The time is fixed by an entry in an old ledger of General Abner Lacock, charging "John Bean, school master," in 1796, with "five gills of whisky, two shillings and four pence."
In 1799 or 1800 Miss Electa Smith opened the first pay school in "Beavertown." Her father, General Martin Smith, in mov- ing from Connecticut to Ohio, stayed a few days in Beaver, and VOL. I .- 26.
402
History of Beaver County
some persons becoming acquainted with her and finding her a lady of superior education prevailed on her to remain and open a school. This she taught in a small cabin that was built from timber obtained from the old barracks of Fort McIntosh, when the latter was demolished by order of the War Department in 1788. It was in this cabin, enlarged and remodeled, that Jona- than Coulter kept his tavern; and here, besides the school, was the "class" which was the beginning of the Methodist Episcopal congregation in Beaver. This building stood on Elk Street, just
THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE IN BEAVER. Built of logs from barracks of Fort McIntosh.
opposite the residence of the late Senator Quay.I Electa Smith married James Lyon, of whose interesting career we speak in the chapter on Beaver borough. After her marriage the school work was continued by Mrs. Dr. Catlett and her two daughters, Helen and Martha, who opened a boarding and pay school on Fourth Street, between Elk and Market. This family had traveled extensively in Europe. They taught all the common branches and music, French, and painting on velvet. Many of their pupils came from the Western or Connecticut Reserve in Ohio. Of her pupils were Lucy and Mary Hall, Lois Morse, and Mrs. Dr. George Allison. Mrs. Catlett and her daughters gave monthly parties to the scholars, at which dainty refreshments were served, and games, such as "honey-pot, scotch-hoppers, and jump-the-broom-stick" were played. Helen Catlett was the
1 This according to some of our informants.
Others say the location was on Second Street, on the middle lot between Elk Street and Branch Bank Alley.
403
History of Beaver County
first lady teacher in the Beaver Academy (1826-27). She is described as having beautiful golden hair, as wearing the smart- est of dresses and beaver-fur coats, and as having had many admirers.
Another of the early schoolmistresses was Mary Adams, who taught a pay school in the remodeled Coulter tavern. Miss Adams was noted for her beautiful penmanship, and wrote verse that was much admired. She married James Wilson, father of Samuel Beatty Wilson, a former recorder.
Margaret Hunter was one of the first teachers in the free public schools of the county established under the Act of April 1, 1834. She taught in a little schoolhouse at the western end of Beaver.
Miss Foley was also one of Beaver's early teachers. She established a large subscription school in the Hemphill tavern- building on Third Street, just opposite where Lawrence's drug- store now stands. Miss Phœbe Critchlow, too, kept a select school during the forties in a building which stood where Wil- cox's drug-store now stands, and during the same decade Miss Wishart had a private school in the same building. She was from what is now West Virginia, and was a very successful teacher.
David Johnson, the first prothonotary of Beaver County, taught a school from 1800 to 1805 in the log house, now owned by Mrs. Mary Shillito, corner First and Market streets. He afterwards (1815) was the first teacher in the Beaver Academy. He was a very able teacher, having left a position in the Jeffer- son Academy at Canonsburg, Pa., to assume the task of opening the books of the newly erected county of Beaver. He died in Beaver, March 6, 1837, and was buried in the old cemetery in that place.
Rev. Thomas E. Hughes was a pioneer educator in Beaver County. He founded the Greersburg Academy, a sketch of which will be found in the chapter on Darlington borough. In this academy taught also Robert Dilworth (1819), who after- wards became an efficient minister in the Presbyterian Church, and others whose names will be found in the chapter just re- ferred to.I
John Boyle taught in Little Beaver township during the 1 See Appendix No. X, containing extracts from Dr. Dilworth's Journal.
404
History of Beaver County
winter of 1800, and Joshua Hartshorne in the southwestern part of the same township in 1808. The latter was a popular bache- lor, who always dressed in silk or buckskin knee-breeches with silver buckles. He is remembered as having taught the alpha- bet by the use of sticks, making one cut in the shape of "d" represent b, p, and q by altering its position.
Other early teachers of Beaver County were John Kerr, Andrew Elliott, Samuel Sterrett, James H. Van Gorder, and John Hines, all in the northern part of the county and dating from about 1805 to 1812.
James Leslie, Peter Boss, and Thomas McMillan were well- known teachers in North Beaver township from about 1805 to 1808. Still others who taught in different parts of the county were William Arnold, John Gibson, James McCallaher, William Wigton, Jehu Lewis, and Cornelius Stafford.
Mary Townsend and Mary Reeves were two Quaker ladies who taught in what is now Patterson township about 1806.
Two brothers, Zadoc Bliss and J. G. Bliss, taught in the decade from 1839 to 1849, the former in old Brighton (now Beaver Falls), Sharon, Ohioville, and Smith's Ferry, and in South Beaver township. He afterwards entered the medical profession (see sketch, Chapter X.). His brother, James G. Bliss, taught principally in Bridgewater and in South Beaver and Ohio townships, and was at one time principal of the Beaver public schools. He became a member of the Beaver bar, and died in Sharon (Bridgewater) about the year 1859.
Robert Gregor McGregor, who took part in the Beaver County Centennial exercises, and whose address on an educa- tional topic will be found in its proper place in the second vol- ume of this work, was long a successful teacher in the county. He was born June 17, 1830, at Hazel Dell, then in North Se- wickley township, Beaver County, now Wayne township, Law- rence County. His father, Donald McGregor, was a native of Scotland, and emigrated to Beaver County about the beginning of the last century.
Mr. McGregor's education was obtained in the common · schools and at Beaver Academy. His first term of school was taught in North Sewickley township in the winter of 1847-48, before he was eighteen years old, and his last school was taught about fifty years afterwards in the same community. This long
PHOENIX ENG COPRITD .~
Prof. R. Gregor McGregor.
405
History of Beaver County
period, with the exception of a few years spent in the newspaper business, and as a mail agent, was occupied in teaching in the schools of North Sewickley and adjoining townships. In one school in North Sewickley township he taught three generations -that is, parents, children, and grandchildren. He was one of the founders of teachers' institutes in Beaver County, both county and local, and had attended and participated in more in- stitutes than any other man in the county. From 1853 to 1856 Mr. McGregor was editor and proprietor of the Beaver Star, and again for some time following 1864 was an editorial writer upon the same paper. From 1869 to 1872 he was engaged as edi- torial writer upon the New Castle Gazette, then under the man- agement of W. S. Black, and again in 1880 he was the editorial writer on the Star. He was recognized as a forceful and pithy writer. Mr. McGregor died in Pittsburg, Sunday, January 5, 1902, and was buried in Uniondale Cemetery, Allegheny City.I
Scudder Hart Peirsol was one of the most widely known edu- cators in western Pennsylvania, having been prominent in school affairs for the past sixty years. He was born in North Sewickley township, Beaver County, January 1, 1828, the son of Jacob and Rachel Peirsol. His grandfather was one of the pioneers of Beaver County and owned the land which is now the site of the village of Harmony. This he sold to the Harmony society, which later moved to Economy. Mr. Peirsol was educated in the public schools and was graduated from the Beaver Academy in 1843. Since that time he had devoted his life to teaching. He first taught in his old school in North Sewickley township and later near Parkersburg, W. Va. In the early fifties he served one term as county superin- tendent of public instruction of Beaver County. After that he was principal of the schools in Vanport, Beaver, and Rochester. Resigning from the Rochester schools he became, it is thought, the first government Indian teacher in the United States, starting a government school for the Wyandot Indians in Kansas in 1856. He left there to return to Beaver County soon after the close of the war, to become principal of the newly founded Soldiers' Orphans' School at Monaca, which was presided over by the late Dr. W. G. Taylor. He remained there until the school was burned in 1876.
1 A portrait of Prof. McGregor opp. this page shows him seated upon the foundation wall of the old schoolhouse in which he taught so long.
406
History of Beaver County
Prof. Peirsol then established Peirsol's Academy in West Bridge- water, which he conducted until the latter part of 1903. Prof. Peirsol was a Baptist in religion and a Democrat in politics. He was one of the oldest Odd-Fellows in the county. He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Elizabeth Weaver, daughter of Captain and Mrs. James Weaver, of Vanport. She died in 1870. Five children survive this alliance: Dr. John Peirsol, of Bellaire, O .; George Peirsol, of West Bridgewater; Mrs. Catherine Alleman, of Dallison, W. Va .; Mrs. R. J. Marshall, of East Liverpool, O .; and Mrs. Frank W. Neely, of Beaver. In 1876 he married Miss Mary Maxwell Chambers, who had been associ- ated with him as assistant teacher in the Soldiers' Orphans' School. She died in 1902. One son, Dr. S. H. Peirsol, practising in Rochester, survives this marriage. Prof. Peirsol died after an illness of several weeks at the home of his son-in-law, Frank W. Neely, in Beaver, on the 29th of December, 1903.
From Prof. J. M. Reed, formerly county superintendent of schools in this county, we have obtained some data concerning some of the early teachers of the county which is of value as supplementing our own researches, and giving many names in addition to those in Prof. Peirsol's paper referred to above. Prof. Reed's information was in part obtained from Mr. Andrew R. Miller, a remarkable nonagenarian resident of the county. Mr. Miller was born October 31, 1797, near Hickory, Washing- ton County, Pa., and when six months old was brought by his parents to Beaver County, they settling near where Tomlinson's Run church now stands. His grandfather died at the remarkable age of one hundred and two years, and his father at almost eighty-three. Andrew Miller himself at ninety-four years of age had his mental faculties perfectly preserved, and talked clearly and intelligently to Prof. Reed of his childhood recollections. He recalled distinctly, he said, starting to school on the first Monday of October, 1802, when he was less than five years old. The schoolhouse was a log cabin on the Blair farm near his home. His first teacher, to whom he went for two years, was William Douglas, whom he described as a white-headed old man, who had taught for many years. Mr. Miller remembered also his second teacher in 1804, Master James Allison, who came from York County, and remained here teaching for many years. He named also Samuel May, and his last teacher, Henry Wilson.
'
John Harsha.
Thomas Nicholson.
407
History of Beaver County
From the same data we learn also of the following persons who taught in the county before 1820: Thomas Murray and David Blair, who taught in New Sheffield and vicinity; Thomas Bryan, who taught near Service; John Murray, Robert Moffit, and Miss Mary Davis, in the central and eastern sections of the south side of the county. On the west side of the south-side section were Alexander McCollough, George McCollough, Eliza- beth McCollough, Paden Moore, John P. Hudson, Aaron Eaton, Matthew Anderson, Hon. John H. Reddick, and Samuel Pollock.
At the time of the adoption of the free common-school sys- tem there were about one third as many schools as now. From this time on the schools made rapid progress, which was due in large measure, so far as the south side of the county was con- cerned, to the influence of Frankfort Springs Academy, in which taught such men as Thomas Nicholson, the first county super- intendent of Beaver County, a distinguished teacher, and a member of the Assembly from 1844 to 1846 and in 1868 and 1869, and Rev. James Sloan, D.D., the first pastor of Frank- fort Springs Presbyterian Church. Within the period from 1834 to the beginning of the Civil War, the southern portion of the county shows as engaged in teaching Leonard Swearingen, Joseph Bell, Thomas C. Carothers (for two years county su- perintendent), John R. Carothers, James Matthews, James Whitham, Thomas Creswell, J. Martin Reed, Mary Jane Scott, William Withrow, William McFarland, William M. Reed, Ber- nard Binnet, William Spalding, Clemency Tucker, John Mc- Henry, Master Jordan, Presley Smith, George Moffit, Rebecca Taggart, James Langley, James M. Ewing, John Nelson, Robert and Samuel Leeper, the Misses Mary and Belle Miller, Eliza McCune, and Nancy Warnock.
A teacher of national reputation, who taught in the common schools of the county, and who was for a year and a half prin- cipal of the old Beaver Academy, was the Rev. John W. Scott, D.D., LL.D., father of the first wife and grandfather of the second wife of the late ex-President Benjamin Harrison. He was born in Hookstown, January 22, 1800. He was for over four years Professor of Mathematics in Washington College, Washington, Pa .; for over sixteen years professor in Miami University ; four years in Farmer's, now Belmont, College, which he aided in establishing; ten years in Oxford Female College;
408
History of Beaver County
eight years in Hanover College; two years in the Presbyterial Academy of the old Presbytery of Sangamon at Springfield, Ill .; and seven years in Monongahela College, Pa .;- in all an educa- tional career, including the period of four years in which he assisted his father, Rev. George M. Scott of Mill Creek, in pre- paring students for college, of over sixty years. He was at the time of his death probably the oldest educator in the land.
Other prominent educators who were born in Beaver County, but whose work was, for the most part, done outside of the county, were Rev. A. M. Reid, Ph.D., long the principal of Steu- benville (Ohio) Female Seminary; A. R. Whitehill, Professor of Physics in the West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va .; G. A. Langley, J. M. Schaffer, D. K. Cooper, S. B. Todd, William M. McCollough, and D. C. Coffee.
A very early and successful teacher on the south side of the county was James Boyd. Here taught also John Harsha, a man of great influence in the county in his day. Mr. Harsha was born in 1787, east of the mountains. He commenced teaching in the common schools of Hanover township in 1807 and con- tinued in the work for about twenty years, and for many years afterwards prepared at his home many students for college. He was educated for the ministry, but on account of a weak throat never preached. Mr. Harsha was a member of the Assembly from 1835 to 1838.
On the east side of the Big Beaver in New Sewickley town- ship, taught in 1833, at Crow's Run, John Deans, who was fol- lowed by Messrs. Donaldson, Keefer, Hornet, Shanor, Nye, Young, and Taylor, and Miss Esther Wolfe, the first lady teacher there.
One of the most important measures for promoting the advancement of education in Pennsylvania was the passage in 1854 of the Act of Assembly establishing the office of County Superintendent of Common Schools. The benefits of this system of supervision have been increasingly felt throughout the State, and in Beaver County the office has been held by a succession of able and conscientious men, who have earnestly devoted themselves to the improvement of the teaching force, equip- ment, and housing of its schools. (See list of names, Chapter VI.)
Out of this agency has been developed the very successful
Fourth Ward School, New Brighton.
Central High School, New Brighton.
History of Beaver County
409
local and county teachers' institutes, the former of which are held at intervals in different school districts throughout the county, and the latter annually at the county-seat. The County Teachers' Institute of Beaver County has been growing in in- terest and enthusiasm from year to year.
The following is a tabular statement of the school statistics of Beaver County for the school year ending June 3, 1901 :
Number of districts.
50
No. of males.
5,871
No. of mills levied for school pur poses
Schools.
Whole number.
318
No. of females.
5,915
No. of mills levied for building purposes.
1.82
No. of males.
83
Scholars.
Average ber attending school.
8,422
Total amount of tax levied for school and building purposes.
120,857 22
Average salary of males per month.
$44.98
Cost per month.
1.49
Receipts.
State appropri- ation.
$50,767.77
Average salary of females per month.
$36.23
Tax and Rate Per Cent.
3.47
Average num- ber of months taught.
7.91
Teachers
No. of females.
253
Average per cent. of attendance.
num-
83
In addition to the efficient work done in the high schools of the larger towns of the county, the higher education of the youth of both sexes is provided for in the academies at Bridgewater (Peirsol's), Frankfort Springs, and Darlington, and in Beaver College and Musical Institute at Beaver, and Geneva College at Beaver Falls (College Hill borough). These last-named institu- tions have all had an excellent standing for years, and their history is given in connection with that of the several boroughs in which they are located. There are also several business col- leges in the Beaver valley towns, as Butcher's Business College at Beaver Falls, Rochester Business College at Rochester, and the Beaver County Commercial College at Beaver, where oppor- tunities are offered for instruction in those branches requisite to a business career.
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