USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > History of Lancaster County : to which is prefixed a brief sketch of the early history of Pennsylvania > Part 32
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Population of Lancaster county in 1790. Free white male persons of 16 years and upwards, including heads of families, 9,713 ; free white males under 16 years, 8,070; free white females, including heads of families, 17,471; all other free persons, 545; slaves, 348-total 30,179.
Members of Assembly from Lancaster county :- 1789, James Clemson, John Hopkins, Henry Dering, James Cunningham, Jacob Erb, John Miller. 1790, James Cunningham, William Webb, Abraham Carpenter, Jacob Erb, John Breckbill,
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CHAPTER XI.
EDUCATION :- Preliminary remarks; Importance of general education -.
Views of the colonists-Mennonites' views of education-Scotch-Irish settlers, made at first little preparation, &c. till 1798-First schools in the town of Lancaster-Lutheran and German Reformed churches have schools under their auspices-Rev. M. Schlatter indefatigable in his efforts to establish schools-Extract from Coetuale proceedings of 1760-Trustees and managers of public schools-Germans patriotic, modest and unas- suming, &c .- Ludwig Hacker establishes a Sabbath school at Ephrata- German classical school at Ephrata-Academy at Ephrata-Academy at Litiz-Select Academy at Lancaster-Franklin college, &c .- Private schools and acadamies in various sections of the county-An act for the education of children in the borough of Lancaster-The Mechanics' So- ciety - Classical Academy ; Lancaster County Academy ; Classical Acad- emies in the county-Seminaries; Common Schools; Sabbath Schools, Lyceums, &c.
THE permanency of all Republics, depends upon the en- lightenment of the people. As education is therefore encour- aged or neglected, so will their foundations be sure and stable, or loose and unsettled ; and it is difficult to say, whether in their moral relations or political privileges, this truth is most self-evident. The certainty, stability and perpetuity of a re- publican government, with all its vast machinery of offices and officers, such as the efficient administration of the government by the Executive, the judicious and wholesome exercise of its powers by the Legislature, the prompt and energetic adminis- tration of justice by faithful Judges, and above all, the just de- termination of the rights of parties by impartial Jurors, must depend alone upon the people. There is no other foundation upon which the structure can rest. This constitutes its chief excellence, its greatest strength.
In a government then such as ours, based as it is upon ac- knowledged democratic principles, in the theory and practice of which, it is admitted that the people are the source of all power, making and unmaking at stated intervals all their func- tionaries, from the Chief magistrate of the nation, down to the
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humblest officer created by a Borough charter, the necessity of having that same people educated, will not for a moment be questioned. For, as they are enlightened or unenlightened, so will their government be elevated in character, or depressed in a corresponding degree. Called upon as they are, to the frequent exercise of the elective franchise, and thus necessarily to judge of men and measures, their course of action must be determined, either by each man's own personal examination into the character of the one, and a careful investigation into - the propriety or expediency of the other, or else it must be suggested and fixed by the advice and opinions of others. And what a prolific source of abuse is this. It is seldom indeed that such advice is honest, for the most part it is the gratuitous offering of interested men. How shall those whose minds are „obscured by the clouds of ignorance, be capable of discrimina- ting between the correctness and incorrectness of questions of public policy ? How shall they judge between the patriot and the ambitous, self-aggrandizing demagogue ? Are they competent to arrive at a proper decision of the various compli- cated questions, necessarily arising for their determination, and by a reference to which, their choice is to be regulated in the selection of officers and representatives ? Let the people be educated, and thus each individual will be rightly impressed with the important truth, that his own interests are identified with those of the State. For no government is so free as that which is upheld by the affections of the people, and no com- munity so happy as that in which the youth, by proper educa- tion, are disciplined to the exercise of all those moral virtues that ennoble human nature.
So thought and so acted, almost all of the early settlers of nearly every state in the Union. Although Colonists it is true, and perhaps entertaining not even the most remote idea of a separate existence, at any period of time, as a nation, they were in their Colonial government, if not essentially, at least partially Democratic. Returning by a popular vote, their own Representatives, and-with the exception of their Governors- the greater part of all their prominent officers, they felt the necessity of so enlightening this first great power, that at a very early day, schools and institutions of learning were estab- lished and founded by voluntary contributions among them .-
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Such is the history of the Puritans of New England, the Roman Catholics of Maryland, the Quakers of Pennsylvania and the Huguenots of the Carolinas. True, their first efforts in this respect were feeble. The country was new, and surrounded as the inhabitants were by savage foes, the first elements of education which the children obtained, were communicated by the parents themselves, in the midst of dangers and unexam- pled hardships. By degrees however, as the different settle- ments increased in number and strength, schools were establish- ed for the instruction of the children, in the ordinary branch- es of the education of the country from whence the parents had emigrated ; and as in time, wealth began to flow in upon the Colonists, schools, academies and colleges came to be endow -. . ed either by individual liberality or Legislative munificence .- Truly the good seed sown thus early by the settlers, has yielded abundantly, "some thirty, some sixty and some an hundred fold."
In general terms and fewer words, we have thus described the progressive history of the education of almost every com- munity in the United States. In some parts we admit, the ad- vance has been accelerated more perhaps by the comparative extent of the information of the first emigrants and the dimin- ished number of obstacles encountered by them in subduing the country, than from any other cause. Under ordinary cir- cumstances, this might therefore suffice for the object to which the present chapter is devoted ; but as it is intended to pre- sent to the reader, a detailed account of all matters of sufficient importance and worthy of being embodied in a work of this. kind, it is our duty as a faithful historian, to enter into details.
As has been already shewn in a former part of this work,* the first settlement of any extent in Lancaster county, was made by the German Mennonites in 1709 and '10 in the neigh- borhood of Willow-street, in Lampeter and Conestoga town- ships. They were-as their descendants still are-a highly moral and religious people. Holding Peace-principles, and taking very little if any part in the affairs of government, they taught their young men, that the first great duty of life, was for each man to mind his own business. Practising upon this. maxim, they encouraged industry by their own examples, and
"Page 74 antea.
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discouraged ambition by a representation of the evils neces- sarily following in its train. Devoting themselves and their families to religion, they labored and were happy. Spurning alike the honors and emoluments of office, they kept on in the even tenor of their way, rejoicing. Why then should they spend much time in Literary pursuits? They were farmers, why waste time precious to them, in the acquisition of that which when obtained, to a people of such simple habits of life and so unassuming, could be of no present or conceiv- able advantage? Thus reasoned the father, so argued the sons, and as a consequence, learning was-with the exception of so much as barely enabled them to read the Bible and the Psalm- book, to write a little in the German and master the three first rules in Arithmetic-not only neglected but absolutely dis- couraged by them. Although there has been a vast improve- ment in the Society for the better in this respect; and notwith- standing many of its members possess superior abilities and attainments, still the same opinions are entertained by the Society at large ; and while almost every other sect has made its efforts towards the establishment of Academies, Colleges, and Theological Seminaries, they have been content to walk in the ways of their fathers, and to hear "the word of life" expounded, by men of as simple tastes and habits as them- selves, Let no man here reproach them with hostility to learning for learning's sake, for such a reproach will be as unjust as it is undeserved. They oppose its extension among their youth, beyond what we have already stated, simply because in their estimation, it begets a state of life inconsist- ent with their profession of religion. Of them it may be truly said, they worship God, not only in the " beauty " but also in the simplicity of " of holiness."
In the year 1717* a settlement was commenced on the banks of the Octorara Creek, by a party of what are now known as " the Scotch-Irish." They had many difficulties to encounter, for besides being destitute of any large amount of this world's goods, they had the misfortune of settling upon a soil by no means so fertile or so kind as that secured by their more for- tunate fellow emigrants-the German Mennonites. From ne- cessity and poverty, they made but little progress in the estab-
*Page 117 antea.
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lishment of schools for the education of their youth; and at no time until about the year 1798, was there any effort made to support a classical and mathematical school among them .- Their progress however in this respect, on a comparison, will be found to be but little behind even the boasted efforts of the colony at Plymouth. They and their descendants have always been justly regarded as among the most intelligent people of Lancaster county.
The Borough, now the city of Lancaster, as we have seent was originally founded in 1730. The first lot holders were Quakers and English Protestants ; but before any settled plan, other than the ordinary schools supported by voluntary sub- scription could be adopted by them for the education of youth!, German Protestants from the upper and lower Palatinates, holding the doctrines of the Lutheran and German Reformed Churches, with all their attachments-strong and powerful as they are-emigrated to this flourishing and prosperous town. Entering at once upon the business of life as Tradesmen and Mechanics they labored with all the indomitable perseverance of the Saxon character, until by an increase of numbers from additional emigrations and the accumulation of a little wealth, they were enabled to build a Lutheran and also a German Reformed church for the accommodation of themselves and those holding the doctrines of these respective churches, The first great duty with these people, was the erection and dedi- cation of Houses of Worship to Almighty God. The next, was to supply them with those who should minister to their spiritual wants in holy things; and the third but co-equal duty with the latter, was to secure the services of a competent School-mas- ter, to instruct their children in the elements of a good German education.
At no part of this History better than the present, can it with greater propriety be observed, that almost co-existent with the establishment of the first Lutheran churches in Ger- many and of the Reformed churches in Switzerland and Hol- land, there sprang up a custom among their members peculiar to themselves. Each congregation was regarded as a spiritual municipal corporation, and among other duties performed by those having its controul or government, in order that "the
+ Page 242 antea.
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word might not perish for lack of knowledge among the people," they employed a competent teacher, to instruct the youth of both sexes, without any regard whatever to the wealth or standing of the parents in society. Generally each church was supplied with an organ-indeed this instrument was re- garded as indispensable to the proper worship of the Almighty, and the person employed to perform upon it during divine service, was required to unite with his skill and knowledge as a musician, the profession of a School-teacher. He usually received a stated salary, and was furnished with proper accom- dations for his school, himself and family at the common cost of the congregation. In return for this, and in addition to his duty as an organist-as has been shewn-he was required to teach the children of the congregation upon such terms as the vestry might from time to time determine. The sum thus fixed, was paid to him by the parents of such of the children, as were able to afford it, while the children of those who were in indigent circumstances, were taught the same branches without charge and in consideration of the salary paid by the congregation. This mode of educating their own poor, by a system so simple, was regarded as a religious duty. It was so taught from generation to generation, through successive years ; and when the two churches we have referred to, were founded in Lancaster, the Lutheran A. D. 1734 and the German Re-, formed A. D. 1736, it was not forgotten.
As may well be supposed, the schools thus established were® not at first very far advanced, beyond the ability to impart a knowledge of what are now known as the first rudiments of a. common education, but in a few years, they attained to some eminence, and from being originally intended only for the benefit of the children of their particular churches, they came to be multiplied and extended, for the benefit of all the inhabi -. tants of the Borough and adjacent country. So rapidly indeed had the scholars increased, and with so much success were the schools conducted, under the united efforts and persevering industry of the Pastors of the Lutheran and German Reformed congregations, that from about the year 1745 to 1784, they were almost the only schools of characterin the county-except those at Ephrata and Litiz, of which we shall speak hereafter. During the earlier part of this time, great interest was taken in the es-
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tablishment of Schools in America, by the Highest Ecclesias- tical bodies of these two Churches in Europe. By the Reform- ed Synod of Amsterdam, Schoolmasters were sent out for the instruction-and German Bibles and other religious books for- warded to meet the wants of the community not only at Lan- caster but throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York.
In the Cœtuale proceedings of the Reformed church in Hol- land, for the year 1760, we find a Report dated May 20, A. D. 1760, in which, among other things, it is stated as follows: "We begin with Lancaster. After Mr. Stoy came here, A. D. 1758, in the month of October, he found about one hundred families that belonged to the church. He has baptized since that time to the month of May, 1760, one hundred, instructed forty young persons in the confession of faith, and received them as communicants. At present sixty children attend the school."*
For years anterior to the time we are writing of, the minis- ters of the German Reformed church in America as well as in Europe, were among the most learned of all Divines. Essen- tially Calvinistic in their doctrines, they were necessarily able and astute polemics. Called upon as they were daily to combat the errors of the Romish, and to explain the difference and defend their doctrines from those of the Lutheran church- which also ranked among its ministers men of great learning and erudition-t they were constrained to search the Scrip-
*It is worthy of remark here, that all the proceedings, reports, &c., of the Synods of this Church were, until toward the close of the 18th Century, con- ducted in the Latin or Dutch languages : The report spoken of in the text, is in the Dutch and as follows, viz:
" Wy maken den et begin met Lancaster. Nadien Domine Stoy. A. D. 1758 in de Maand Octob : daar hen quam, zoo vond hy omtrent een hundred Huishoudingen, die tot die Kerke behooren. Hy heelft zint die tyd tot de Maand Mey 1760 daar gedoopt 116 Kinderen ; 40 jongs personen in die Geloofe Belydenisse onderweeren, en tot Ledematen aangenomen, In die School gan tegenwoordig 60 Kindere :
+The Rev. Henry M. Muhlenberg, for a long time the pastor of the Lu- theran Congregation at Philadelphia, spoke the Latin with great fluency. He also preached in the Sweedish, Dutch, German, French and English languages. He was a profound linguist, and was familiar with the Greek and Hebrew.
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tures and to read the Fathers in the original .* To do so effectu- ally, they devoted themselves to the study not only of the dead but also of the living languages ; so necessary was this know- ledge considered, that with but few exceptions, none but rare and ripe scholars were found in her pulpits. Hence, the deep and intense interest manifested for the education of the youth, in such of the Lord's vineyards as were planted by their hands.
We have already shewnt that about the year 1752, the Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania, Chief Justice Allen, Mr. Peters, Secre- tary of the Land Office, Messrs. Turner, Benjamin Franklin and Conrad Weiser, were appointed trustees and managers of the public schools, which it was intended to establish in the province. Previous to this time however, a large number of schools were in successful operation in several counties, and in the town of Lancaster particularly, through the active exer- tions of the Rev. Michael Schlatter. He was a German Re- formed minister, and came out at the expense of the Reformed Synod of Amsterdam, A. D. 1746, for this single purpose. It is more than probable, that the schools which it is alleged these trustees established at Lancaster and elsewhere, were only branches of those already in operation under his auspices, and the enterprise of the Lutheran and German Reformed con- gregations, for it is a well known fact, that the plan of the trus- tees named, did not succeed, and the schools soon fell back under their original charge.
" The Germans are a patient, modest and unassuming peo- ple. Their character is either imperfectly understood or wil- fully misrepresented. For their attachment to learning and their untiring efforts in the cause of education, they receive but little credit, even from those whose acquaintance with the facts-independent of their German origin-should prompt them upon all occasions, to become their readiest defenders .- How many valuable hints have we-whose mother tongue is the English-not received "from this too-lightly estimated peo- ple ? How many schemes for the dissemination of knowledge among men," have they not successfully devised, and other nations as well as ourselves, as successfully put into operation,
*They not unfrequently conversed in Latin and all their correspondence was conducted chiefly in that tongue. Vide also page 225 antea.
+Page 259 antea.
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without so much as crediting the source from whence derived ? Nay more, how often is it that they and we have seized upon a plan devised by them for the education of youth-crude, and it may be ill-digested, because of its novelty-and im- proving upon it, have as unceremoniously and unblushingly claimed for ourselves, the credit of the discovery? With no other people would it have been attempted; and they have submitted to the moral wrong, only because they re- joiced more in the good that followed to others, than in the en- joyment of the honor that was due to the discovery, for them- selves."*
We are led to introduce these remarks, in consequence of our now approaching a period in the history of education in Lancaster county, where we are, as a faithful historian, to claim for-comparatively speaking-an obscure German, the honor not only of suggesting, but also of successfully carrying into practical operation, the never-to-be-too-much-encouraged Sab- bath Schools of the present day. About the year 1740, at German by the name of Ludwig Hacker, a man of much learning and great piety, the teacher of the school which had been previously established by the society of Seventh-day Baptists at Ephrata, proposed the plan of holding a school in the afternoon of their Sabbath, which was and is, the seventh instead of the first day of the week. It was at once carried out by the brethren into practical operation, and continued to dis- pense its blessings among the children of the neighborhood, until September 1777, when-after the battle of Brandywine- the room used for the school, was with the whole building, con- verted into a military hospital for the accommodation of the American soldiers wounded upon that sanguinary field. After this event, the school was never again opened; but the plan years afterwards, was revived in England ; and the poor Ger- man scholar, Ludwig Hacker who sleeps in the bosum of his mother earth, without a stone to mark his resting place, is for- gotten in the praises and blessings which are lavished upon the memory of himt who but resuscitated and improved upon his plan.
*MSS. by GEORGE FORD, Esq.
+Robert Raikes.
#Page 224 antea.
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In a former part of this work* the efforts of this society in the extension of knowledge, have been already shewn. Co- existent with their change of life from a conventicle to a mon- astic one, A. D. 1733 a school for the education of themselves and their youth in German and Classic Literature, was estab- lished. It was of course local in its operations, and its advanta- ges never became to any extent known to the public ; but its reputation and the ability of its teachers, are attested by the many evidences of their skill and proficiency, remaining among the archives of the society. The school thus estab- lished, continued its beneficial operations until with the grad- ual decay of the society, it was finally suspended. Thus it remained until after the passage of an Act by the Legislature of the State, February 21, 1814, incorporating the few members which yet remained of the society. With a pious reverence for the memories and virtues of their fathers, and desirous of emulating, as far as practicable, the efforts made by them in their day and generation, these survivors, chiefly through the active exertions of Mr. William Konigmacher, by virtue of the provisions of the act referred to, and also of others subse- quently passed for the purpose, started an acadamy where the English and German languages, mathematics and other branches are successfully taught.
Like their German brethren at Ephrata, the Moravians at Litiz, were and still are the devoted friends of Education .- Their first settlement at Warwick, A. D. 1742, was marked by the establishment of a school under the charge of their min- ister, the Rev. Leonard Schnell, a German of considerable literary attainments ; and when at length in 1754, a monastic life was determined on, and the village of Litiz in consequence thereof founded, their school had attained to some local emin- ence. In the year 1762, it was removed to the latter place, and there continued until A. D. 1794, when it was divided into two departments, one for each sex. Out of the Female department, the now justly celebrated Young Ladies Semi- nary, sprung into existence as a Boarding school, with what
*Page 216 antea. +Page 310 antea. #Page 316 antea.
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success and how much benefit to the community, its present widely extended reputation will best attest.
The school for the education of the male youth of the soci- ety and adjacent country, continued its operations until in the year 1815,* when it was assigned to Mr. John Beck, the pre- sent able and indefatigable principal-a gentleman of ac- knowledged ability, of great goodness of heart, enthusiastical- ly devoted to his profession, and remarkable for the fatherly care and affection which he has always evinced for his pupils, the school grew rapidly into public favor under his superin- tendence ; and at this day, its reputation is deservedly high as an academy where the English and German languages, Mathe- matics, Chemistry, Astronomy and all the sciences are taught with unsurpassed skill, to young men from almost every State in the Union.
We now return once more to the movements of the friends of education, in the borough of Lancaster. Being the metrop- olis of the county, we must judge of the progress of know- ledge in the rural districts by the encouragement given to learning in this local Capital. About the year 1780, Jasper Yeates, Esq., Casper Shaffner, Esq., Col. George Ross, Charles Hall, Esq., and other gentlemen of the place, finding that the existing Schools under the charge of the Lutheran and German Reformed Congregations, as also the one established a number of years previous by the Moravians, and conducted upon the same plan, were inadequate to the growing wants of the people, and incapable of teaching the higher branches, engaged the services of a teacher of recommended abilities, to conduct a select academy for the education of their male children. This Academy continued in existence for several years, as the High School of the place, until, owing to the violent temper of the teacher and the many indignities which he offered to the pupils under his charge, it was finally suspended. This school sugges- ted the idea of establishing another; but upon a surer basis, under the control of Trustees by an act of incorporation, and ultimately begat the application to the Legislature for the incor- poration of " Franklin College."
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