History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 35

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454

USA > Pennsylvania > Tioga County > History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania > Part 35

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

At the same meeting John Norris, Samuel W. Morris and Dr. Jeremiah Brown were appointed a committee "to draft a set of by-laws for the government of the institution." At an adjourned meeting held September 28, a resolution was adopted, "that the Academy be erected this (1818) fall."

At the next regular meeting, held December 19, the following resolution was adopted:

That the treasurer be authorized to receive from the subscribers to the Academy three-fourths in county orders and one-fourth in money, provided the same be paid before the next (February) court.

County orders were then the principal circulation of the county, and were at a heavy discount, being taken, however, at par for taxes and debts due the county, and sometimes for commodities, their price being marked up to meet the exigency.

The next annual election was held April 5, 1819, when the following eighteen trustees were elected: Eddy Howland, Ebenezer Seelye and John Knox, of the Cowanesque; Justus Dartt, Roswell Bailey, Oliver Willard, Nathan Niles, Jr., and David Henry, of Charleston; Daniel Kelsey, Samuel W. Morris, John Norris, William Patton, David Lindsey, William Bache, Ebenezer Jackson and Dr. Jeremiah Brown, of Wellsboro; Ira Kilburn, of Lawrenceville, and Richard Ellis, of Pine Creek.

Experience had shown that a board of eighteen trustees was altogether too cumbersome and inconvenient, and the legislature was asked to reduce the number to nine, which was done by act of March 27, 1819, to take effect after that year's election.

At a meeting of the board held May 3, 1819, Justus Dartt was elected president; John Norris, vice-president; Nathan Niles, Jr., treasurer, and David Lindsey, secre- tary. At an adjourned meeting held on the 15th of the same month the following was adopted:

Resolved, That the treasurer be directed to call on the subscribers for their respec- tive subscriptions, and that suits be commenced against all who shall not have paid on or before the first day of July next; that the treasurer be instructed to pay over all money that is in his hands, that has been collected from the subscribers of the Wellsboro Academy, to Samuel W. Morris, Esq., for the purpose of purchasing nails for said Academy.

The cost of nails was then twenty-five cents per pound in Wellsboro, as shown by bills found among the accounts of the old Academy. When subscriptions began for the $1,000 necessary to be subscribed before the $2,000 could be paid over by the State, many men became responsible for sums they were hardly able to pay, and many suits were brought and judgments obtained, which, under the then existing law, must be paid or the defendant imprisoned, or a resort be had to the insolvent court.

Under the law reducing the number of trustees to nine, at the election held April 3, 1820, John Norris, William Bache, David Lindsey, Dr. Jeremiah Brown, William Patton, Nathan Niles, Jr., Oliver Willard, Israel Greenleaf and Samuel W. Morris were elected trustees; and at the meeting May 1, following, William Bache

279

WELLSBORO (CONTINUED).

was elected president; William Patton, vice-president; Samuel W. Morris, treasurer, and John Norris, secretary. At this meeting a third committee was appointed to fix up the by-laws; the treasurer was urged to collect forthwith, taking county orders at par, and the building committee instructed to complete the Academy as soon as possible, having due regard to the state of the funds.

At a meeting held December 1, 1820, John Norris, William Bache and David Lindsey were appointed a committee "to engage a suitable person as teacher for one quarter; to make such a contract as they may deem conducive to the interest of the institution, and that they have a general superintendence over the conduct of the teacher and scholars, and are particularly desired to visit the school at least once in two weeks."

At this meeting also the stated meetings were reduced to annual meetings to be held the first Monday in May of each year. The bail of the treasurer was fixed at $5,000, and it was provided that no person should be entitled to vote at an election for trustees, unless he had paid the sum of $5 in aid of the funds of the institution.

The first person employed to teach in the Academy was Benjamin B. Smith, who came into Wellsboro about 1819. At this time only one room in the Academy had been completed so that it could be used. In some reminiscences of the first teacher, which have been preserved, it is related that he used to tell many anecdotes about his teaching in the Academy, for he seemed never to have been engaged in any kind of business without finding a vast amount of fun in it.

At the election held April 2, 1821, Oliver Wilson, Roswell Bailey, John Beecher, William Patton, William Bache, Sr., Samuel W. Morris, John Knox, B. B. Smith and David Henry were elected trustees; and at the organization of the board in May, Mr. Bache was chosen president; Mr. Patton, vice-president; Mr. Morris, treasurer; Mr. Smith, secretary, and Messrs. Willard, Henry and Beecher, building committee.

The building progressed slowly owing to the difficulty of raising money, and the trustees had to resort to various expedients to pay for labor and material. On Sep- tember 3, 1821, the following were adopted:

1. Resolved, unanimously, That the building committee be directed to proceed as expeditiously as possible in completing the Academy, and that the sum of $300 be placed at their disposal.

2. That the treasurer be instructed to proceed immediately against all delinquent subscribers in the collection of all arrearages of subscriptions that, in his discretion, together with the advice of the president and secretary, shall be collectable.

3. That the president and secretary be authorized and instructed to obtain by loan, at six per cent. interest, such sum or sums, in treasury orders, as shall be necessary to make up the residue of the $300 mentioned in the first resolution, after what may be collected by the treasurer from subscriptions.

In the fall of 1821 a strong effort was made to induce the trustees to start a common winter school in the finished room of the Academy, but without success. At a meeting held October 26, called mainly to consider that question, the following was adopted:

Resolved, That in the opinion of this board it is not expedient to occupy the room in the Academy this winter, and therefore the board refuse their assent to the same.

Mr. Patton then offered the following resolution:

280

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

Resolved, That the trustees pay a salary to teach English, writing and arithmetic in the Wellsboro Academy during the term of six months, and that the trustees apply the money arising from scholars to the fund granted by the legislature.

This resolution was defeated, only three voting in its favor. There was at the time a very strong feeling against employing any teacher except a college graduate. It is inferred that the three trustees in favor of the resolution were Messrs. Patton, Bailey and Henry, none of whom were re-elected the following year, the new mem- bers for that year being William Willard, Nathan Niles, Jr., Justus Dartt, Chauncey Alford and John Norris. Norris was elected president; Niles, vice-president; Wil- liam Bache, Sr., treasurer; Benjamin B. Smith, secretary, and Norris, Beecher and Dartt, building committee.

The new board re-adopted the resolution concerning collections and a loan, and appropriated $300 for use by the building committee.

In 1823 Samuel W. Morris was chosen president; John Beecher, vice president; Cooley Newcomb, secretary; Benjamin B. Smith, treasurer, and Nathan Niles, Jr., Amos Coolidge and Benjamin B. Smith, building committee. Ten per cent. of the premiums on loans was appropriated toward the payment of the debts incurred in building. The trustees again declined to permit the room in the Academy to be used for "a common English school."

In 1824 Morris and Smith were re-elected president and treasurer and Elijah Stiles secretary. On May 22 of that year the following was adopted:

Resolved, That it is the opinion of this board that a school ought to be kept in the Academy the ensuing season, and that a teacher competent to teach the Latin and Greek tongues, and otherwise well qualified to teach in the Academy, be employed to commence the ensuing fall; and that in pursuance thereof the president be authorized and requested to issue proposals to that effect, and when received to lay them before the board of trustees.

At the meeting held October 14, 1824, the president presented a letter from Jeremiah Day, president of Yale College, recommending James Lowrey, a graduate of said college, as a person qualified for teaching the various branches of academic education. The following was then adopted:

Resolved, That Samuel W. Morris, Elijah Stiles and Chauncey Alford be a committee to engage Mr. Lowrey to teach a school in the Academy for the term of six months, commencing the first day of November, with instructions to pay a sum that shall not exceed $225 for said term, exclusive of board, washing, etc., and that if the trustees are not satisfied with him as instructor, they shall have the right to dismiss him by giving six weeks' notice; and if he at any time shall be desirous of leaving the school, he shall be under similar obligations to give the trustees six weeks' notice of his inten- tion.

At a meeting of the trustees, held October 19, the committee reported that they had engaged Mr. Lowrey in conformity with the instructions. A committee was appointed to put the Academy in order for the reception of pupils, to furnish fuel and also procure board and washing for the instructor. The price of tuition per quarter was also fixed; Greek and Latin, $4.00; English grammar and the higher branches of mathematics, $3.00, and reading, writing and arithmetic, $2.00.

Mr. Lowrey entered upon the duties of his preceptorship Monday, November 1, 1824, a period of more than seven years having elapsed from the time the institution was chartered until it was formally opened as a classical academy by a graduate of

281

WELLSBORO (CONTINUED).

Yale. All through these years the trustees had been beset by difficulties and discour- agements. The people were poor and it was hard for them to meet their obligations. Tact and patience were necessary, and as a consequence the work progressed slowly. When Mr. Lowrey took charge only the lower rooms of the building were finished, so difficult was it to procure money to hire labor and pay for material.

To the honor of the men serving on the several boards of trustees, be it said, they held the interests of the institution sacred, and jealously guarded the funds entrusted to them. This is shown by their refusal, December 27, 1824, to exonerate Mr. Beecher, bail of Cooley Newcomb, constable of Delmar, from his liability for the amount of several executions in favor of the Academy, put into his hands and collected, the money arising from which he had neglected to pay over before taking his departure from the county.

At the end of the six months which Mr. Lowrey had contracted to teach, he retired from the Academy and commenced the study of law under Ellis Lewis. He was an excellent teacher, popular with his pupils, and the patrons of the school were loath to see him retire.

The successors of Mr. Lowrey as teachers were Rev. Benjamin Shipman and Charles Nash. They commenced in May, 1825, were paid $200, for a year, out of the funds and were allowed all the proceeds of tuition.

At a meeting of the trustees held March 4, 1826, Messrs. Shipman and Nash sub- mitted the following proposals to teach the second year:

That the building be put in proper order for the accommodation of an extensive school by the first day of June next; the term of a school quarter to consist of eleven weeks; the sum of $200 to be secured to them from the funds, to be paid in equal half- yearly payments; children in the vicinity be requested to attend the Academy at the expense of the county; all the contingent expenses of said school to be borne by its proprietors; Mr. Nash to remain in the school for the first half of the year, at the end of which the other will return if necessary or furnish other suitable assistant; to receive two scholars whose tuition shall be free, provided their bills do not amount in the aggregate to more than $400 per quarter.

To the above the following notice was appended:

If the above does not meet with your views, you are hereby notified that we shall leave you at the close of the present year.

This proposition was rejected, though some thought that it would be better for the school to accept it. It was impracticable so far as the tuition of pupils in the vicinity was to be paid by the county. It was objectionable as taking the control of the school out of the hands of the trustees, and the note appended was out of taste, as seeming to contain a threat.

At a meeting, however, March 20, the president was authorized to employ Mr. Nash on nearly the same terms as the last year, Mr. Nash to employ an assistant if necessary, and the requisitions of the act of incorporation in regard to indigent pupils to be complied with without further compensation; and in the event that Mr. Nash would not accept the proposition, the president was directed to advertise in the Pioneer for a teacher. The proposition, however, was accepted, and the con- tract was made with Nash and Shipman jointly. A similar contract was made with Mr. Nash, as principal, in March, 1827, it being stipulated, however, that "if he

282

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

wished to leave at the end of the year he should give three months' notice, or be under obligations to continue another term."

On March 20, 1828, Mr. Nash and Mr. Shipman having given notice of their intention to leave the institution at the end of the school year, the trustees adopted the following:

Resolved, That the Rev. Benjamin Shipman and Charles Nash have by their talents and industry rendered our Academy respectable and flourishing; and that the president be instructed to wait upon the gentlemen aforesaid with a copy of our resolution and a tender of our thanks.

At the same meeting the president was directed to write to Yale, Union and Dickinson Colleges in order to procure a teacher.

There appears to have been an organized opposition to Messrs. Nash and Ship- man, and to Mr. Nash in particular, by some of the young men in Wellsboro and some of the "Charleston friends," on account of an alleged interference with certain amuse- ments of the young, but not at all connected with the Academy, for as teachers and managers of the school no one found fault with them. It was in consequence of this opposition that they determined to leave, and the foregoing resolution was deemed but fair to them, as expressing the sentiments of the trustees and patrons of the Academy.

In accordance with a resolution of the board of trustees adopted March 20, 1828, Judge Morris wrote to Dr. Nott, president of Union College, Schenectady, New York, to send them a teacher. Dr. Nott selected Josiah Emery, a graduate of Union College, who had previously passed through Dartmouth College, New Hamp- shire, and proposed to him the propriety of accepting the offer. Judge Morris' letter stated the average number of pupils during the past two years, the prices of tuition for the different grades, and the amount, $200, out of the permanent fund in addition to the full avails of tuition, which they were willing to pay. Dr. Nott and Mr. Emery made a calculation of the probable amount a teacher would realize, and they figured it out at from $1,200 to $1,500 a year ! They, however, made their calculation on the basis of New York and New England academies, and very much overestimated the proportion paying the higher rates of tuition, as subse- quent experience proved.

Mr. Emery* accepted the situation and started for Pennsylvania as soon as he could complete his arrangements. He arrived in Wellsboro on Wednesday evening, April 23, 1828. The next morning he presented a letter from Dr. Nott to Judge Morris recommending him as a competent and experienced teacher, and the Judge at once called a meeting of the old and new boards. The following entry is found among the records of the Academy:

At a meeting of the trustees at the house of James Kimball on Thursday evening, April 24, called on account of the application of Mr. J. Emery as a teacher, the following members present of the former and present boards: Samuel W. Morris, John Norris, Daniel Kelsey, William Bache, Chauncey Alford and B. B. Smith, of the old board, and of the new board, to wit: those elected on the 7th of April instant, were present, Daniel Kelsey, C. Alford, Amos Coolidge, B. Gitchell and Francis Wetherbee. The question arising which of the two boards was the legal one and ought to act in the application

* Mr. Emery, who was a very methodical man, wrote out a minute history of the Academy, and published it in the Agitator many years ago, from which this sketch has been condensed.

283

WELLSBORO (CONTINUED).

aforesaid, on motion, the following resolution was unanimously adopted by the vote of all the members present of both boards:

Resolved, That Daniel Kelsey, Chauncey Alford and Amos Coolidge be authorized to contract with Josiah Emery to take charge of the Academy for the term of one year from the first Monday in May next, on the following terms, viz: to pay him $200 in semi-annual payments out of the Academy fund in addition to the tuition bills; the quarter to consist of twelve weeks, and in other particulars to be governed by the late contract with Messrs. Shipman and Nash.

The contract was executed, and on Monday, May 5, the school was opened. From the very commencement of his connection with the Academy Mr. Emery in- sisted that the upper part of the building should be finished, and some time in June, at his request, a meeting was called at which all the resident trustees were present; a committee was appointed to raise funds for that purpose, and the membership to entitle a person to vote for trustees was reduced from $5.00 to $2.50. The necessary funds were raised, and the upper rooms were finished; thus, at the end of eleven years, completing the Academy.

On February 12, 1830, Mr. Emery resigned, having in the meantime married and entered his name as a law student in the office of James Lowrey.

Mr. Emery ever dwelt with pleasure upon his early days in the old Academy, and it was his delight to recall the names of his pupils and their success in life. In his reminiscences of the Academy he thus refers to some of them:

I would like very much to give the names of all my pupils, or at least of those who occupied prominent and influential positions afterward; but I find that my memory is at fault, and I can recall only a very few names. All the older members of Judge Morris' family, of Mr. Bache's, Mr. Beecher's, Mr. Jackson's, and, indeed, of all the families living in Wellsboro and vicinity, were members of the school, as well as pupils from all parts of the county. William E. Morris became a practical and able engineer; Benjamin W. Morris, who, I used to think, was not inclined to study, but who could write a good composition, is now Episcopal bishop of Oregon and Washington; and a sister of his wife, who, so far as talent was concerned, was at the head of the family, used occasionally to deal in light literature and poetry, and is now one of the most practical women of the country, but might have occupied an important niche in the literary temple had she devoted her whole life and soul to literary pursuits.

But it is not always the most brilliant student in youth that becomes most useful in after life: neither is it the man or woman who climbs up the ladder of fame or notoriety that is generally the most useful. * * I have seen many very brilliant, * precocious boys who excited high hopes for their future, and in their manhood I have looked for them in vain among the talented and useful classes, and succeeded at last in finding them in some obscure and uninfluential positions. My experience and obser- vation have taught me that the steady, industrious and conscientious boy makes the practical and useful man of the world. And it is such men that the world most needs.

Mr. Emery was succeeded as principal of the Academy for a short time by a gentleman named Upson. On January 10, 1831, Henry Barnard, a graduate of Yale College, took charge at $500 per annum, with the addition of $21 for board per quarter. No student was permitted to enter the academic department unless able to read in school books in common use. For those excluded, however, an usher was provided who occupied one of the lower rooms. Mr. Barnard's engagement was but for three months, at the end of which time the trustees offered him $150 and all the avails of tuition for one year. He, however, declined the offer and left. He was a first-class teacher and very much interested in educational matters, and, later

284

HISTORY OF TIOGA COUNTY.

in life, was for a number of years at the head of the National Bureau of Education at Washington, D. C.

On April 26, 1831, permission was granted by the board of trustees to a Mr. Farnam to teach a common school in the two lower rooms of the Academy. On October 24, of the same year, a contract was made with Almon Owen to take charge of the Academy at $150 per annum and the avails of the tuition. He began teaching October 31, 1831, and remained one year.

On October 13, 1832, the trustees authorized Henry N. Moore to occupy one of the lower rooms of the Academy for a common English school.

About this time a change in the number of trustees and the duration of their respective terms began to be discussed. The annual change, often of nearly the whole board, was considered a great evil, as well as the shortness of the term of service. It was finally decided to ask the legislature to reduce the number and lengthen the term of service to five years; five trustees to be chosen the first year, to be classified by lot so that their terms, respectively, should expire in one, two, three, four and five years, and that thereafter only one trustee should be elected annually to serve five years. The legislature, March 6, 1833, passed a law to that effect, and in April Samuel W. Morris, R. G. White, Chauncey Alford, Benjamin B. Smith and John F. Donaldson were elected. On casting lots Donaldson drew one year; Smith, two; Alford, three; White, four, and Morris, five. Judge Morris was chosen president; John F. Donaldson, secretary, and Israel Merrick, Jr., though not a trustee, was continued as treasurer, having been elected in 1832.

In November, 1833, Alexander Wright was employed to teach for one year at $150 and the avails of tuition.

From November 4, 1833, to April, 1835, there is no record of what was done, though three blank pages were left in which to enter the record at "a more con- venient season." To Mr. Donaldson, who was secretary, that more convenient season never came. It is inferred, however, from after records that Mr. Wetherbee was elected in April, 1834, to succeed Mr. Donaldson, who was re-elected in April, 1835, to succeed Mr. Smith.

D. McEwen appears to have been appointed principal of the Academy in the fall of 1834 and to have taught two years, being released in September, 1836, at his own request, a resolution of the trustees expressing regret at his departure, and their approval of the "able manner" in which he "acquitted himself," and of "his gentlemanly deportment as a citizen amongst us for the last two years." He seems to have been in every respect a gentleman, an excellent scholar and an able teacher.

In April, 1836, Josiah Emery, the former principal, was elected a trustee to succeed Mr. Alford. In 1837 James Kimball succeeded' R. G. White, in July of which year Joshua Sweet was appointed principal, with a salary of $150 and the avails of tuition, and the school was re-opened August 7, 1837. Mr. Sweet was very popular, and at the end of his first year was re-employed at a salary of $300 in addi- tion to the tuition bills. When the number of pupils exceeded forty-nine he was to employ a competent assistant and receive $100 additional. The quarter was re- duced to eleven weeks and the tuition to one-half the former rates. Mr. Sweet afterward became an Episcopal clergyman; was a missionary at Fond du Lac, Wis- consin, in 1852; Fort Ridgely in 1865, and at Glencoe, Minnesota, in 1869.

285

WELLSBORO (CONTINUED).

In 1838 Benjamin B. Smith was elected a trustee to succeed Judge Morris, then serving in Congress. At a meeting of the trustees August 7, 1839, Messrs. Smith and Kimball were authorized to employ some person or persons to repair the Academy; to repaint the outside, and also to purchase a new bell. Mr. Pinkham was employed as principal. He taught one year.

In 1840 Josiah Emery was elected president; Mr. Donaldson a trustee and secretary, and Mr. Kimball treasurer.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania, Part 35

Author: Publication date: 1897 Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown Number of Pages: 1454

Author:
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: Harrisburg : R. C. Brown
Number of Pages: 1454