History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 116

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 116

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There have been, at different times, two academies in Hopewell township, which did good service in the cause of liberal education. One of these was organ- ized in 1844, in a building owned and fitted up for the purpose by the late Hon. Abram Wotring, whose spirit of liberality was further shown by the payment of seventy dollars per annum in tuition fees for the instruction of his own children. Its principal, Mr. W. A. McKee, now the head of an academy at Knox- ville, gave it the honorable name of Franklin High School, though it was better known in the neighbor- hood as the "Horse-Mill Academy," in playful allu- sion to the building in which it was conducted. Sub- sequently it came under the care of trustees, viz .: Messrs. Wotring, Dawson, Allison, and others, with

the Rev. John Eagleson, D.D., as their president. It had considerable success under Mr. McKee, but dwin- dled after his retirement, and ceased in 1847, but not without great benefit to the neighboring youth of both sexes, and especially to several worthy young men who were, through its culture, fitted for college, and have since had very honorable professional standing.

The other institution referred to was Upper Buffalo Academy, named in honor of the village of its loca- tion, and the Presbyterian congregation, of which its founder, Dr. Eagleson, was pastor. It had a continu- ance of fifteen years from its origin in 1853, was conducted in a building specially erected for that pur- pose, and was under the control of a board of trustees. The following succession of excellent teachers will be good evidence of the character of the work done, viz. : Messrs. A. E. Thompson, now pastor of the Presby- terian Church of Rushville, Ind .; Jefferson McC. Martin, the present Professor of Natural Science in Ohio University ; W. H. Jeffers, afterwards a minis- ter of the Presbyterian Church of Waynesburg, Pa. (deceased) : John H. Sherrard, now pastor of the Upper Ten-Mile Presbyterian Church at Prosperity, Pa .; John M. Smith, now a pastor at Canonsburg, Pa .; Joseph H. Stevenson, a pastor of the Presbyte- rian Church at Scottdale, Pa .; Robert Welsh, after- wards a United Presbyterian minister, now deceased ; and James S. Reed, the present pastor of the church of the same denomination at Laclede, Mo. For a charge of its instruction. He was an excellent scholar, an alumnus of Jefferson College, of the class of 1829, the honored pastor of the church of Upper Buffalo from his ordination in 1834 until his death, Jan. 23, 1873, and, having been a trustee of Washington Col- lege for seven years prior to the union of 1865, was a member of the board of Washington and Jefferson College until his death. About twenty young men passed, under his religious and educational influence, into the ministry of the gospel. Of those who went through the academy now under review the following are recalled, viz. : the Rev. Messrs. John W. Dinsmore, D.D., of Bloomington, Ill .; F. R. Wotring, Wenona, Ill .; Robert B. Farrar, Portland, Oregon ; John B. Reed, Listersville, W. Va .; James S. Reed, Mo .; William S. Eagleson, Mount Gilead, Ohio; Thomas H. Haund, Monmouth, Ill. ; and John French, Cleve- land, Ohio. The last two are ministers of the United Presbyterian Church. David S. Eagleson, M.D., of West Alexander, Pa., and others trained in the same academy passed into secular professions. And so we have another instance of academical education as among " the memories of joys that are past."

Monongahela City, which until 1837 was known as Williamsport, is the centre of large interests, which deserve a place in the history of Washington County. The educational part of its history is less marked with distinguishing lines than that of most other places. Yet in addition to common or subscription

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

schools, which from the first never failed to receive vigorous attention, classical and other culture of the higher sort has at different times commanded both effort and success. A full half-century ago, or more, the Rev. Samuel Ralston, D.D., who took charge of the Presbyterian Church of that place and region as early as 1796, is known to have instructed young men in preparation for college, inviting them to his study for this purpose. At least five of these subsequently became graduates and reached honorable distinc- tion, viz. : Ross Black, Esq., Rev. Samuel Hair, Rev. Thomas P .. Gordon, D.D., Rev. Aaron Williams, D.D., and Professor Samuel R. Williams. The last two were brothers, and at different times were valued members of the faculty of Jefferson College.

The first academy of the town was established in the spring of 1838 by the late Thomas R. Hazzard, Esq. Besides the common branches, the instruc- tion embraced Latin, Greek, mathematics, and the sciences. He was followed in a year by two grad- uates of Washington College, viz., James D. Mason, now a minister of the Presbyterian Church at Shiloh, Iowa, and W. P. Thompson, who survived this ser- vice but a short time. These were followed by the Rev. E. S. Blake, an alumnus of Yale College, with whom, for a time, Mr. Hazzard, returning, was asso- ciated. And others still succeeded, the most promi- nent and successful of whom was Joseph S. Morrison, a son of Washington College, of the class of 1844, and for many years past a prominent member of the Pittsburgh bar. During all the years of its existence the academy was vigorous and thorough in its work, and embraced many pupils whose names are to be found among the graduates of our best colleges. Its success is all the more remarkable in view of the fact that it never had a distinct building for its use.

An imperfect list of the students of this academy gives the following names, which are themselves its brightest record, viz .: Rev. A. H. Kerr, the first Presbyterian minister settled in St. Paul, Minn., now of Rochester, in the same State; James Scott, M.D., a member of the Legislature of Ohio ; Captain R. F. Cooper, an attorney ; Rev. John McFarland, late of Greenfield, Miss .; Rev. William F. Hamilton, D.D., Washington, Pa .; J. M. H. Gordon, M.D., Fayette City ; J. S. Morrison, Esq., Pittsburgh ; J. S. Van Voorhis, M.D., Belle Vernon ; James Manown, M.D.,

King, M.D., Allegheny City; Thomas T. Williams, M.D., White College; George Linn, M.D., Monon- gahela City ; C. W. Hazzard, Esq., editor, and T. R. Hazzard, M.D., of the same place; and Rev. Robert P. Fulton, Baltimore, Md.

From academies we now pass to female seminaries. These noble institutions, now such important factors in the intellectual and moral culture of society, are of later origin and development than colleges and acad- emies designed for the sons of the land. It required much general advancement and a complete revolution of social ideas to bring up the standard of education for females to the level of the other sex. Happily later generations have both followed the logic of principles and the spirit of the gospel to the fair and just conclusion. If the lapse of the earlier half of the century past was needed for the removal of unfounded and disparaging prejudices on this subject, the progress of the latter half has not failed, by its salutary results, to drive such prejudices into oblivion or shame. And for Washington County at least a proportionate share of the honor of this progress may be fairly claimed.

The first institution of its kind in Western Pennsyl- vania was Edgeworth Ladies' Seminary, established by Mrs. Mary Oliver at Pittsburgh in 1825, and shortly af- terwards transferred to Braddock's Field, and still later to Sewickley. Steubenville Female Seminary, on the Ohio, followed in 1829, and still abides in honor and usefulness, a monument of praise to its founders, the Rev. Charles C. Beatty, D.D., and his noble wife, Mrs. Hettie E. Beatty. The fine school of Mrs. Rachel Lamdin, at Florence, already noticed, brought the agencies of this higher education as early as 1832 within the borders of Washington County. Since then the pen of history is called to trace three noble seminaries through years of successful work in this great cause. Two of these have indeed fulfilled the mission and passed away, but the oldest of the num- ber survives in unabated strength.

OLOME INSTITUTE was founded in 1844 at Canons- . burg by Mrs. Olivia J. French. It was wholly an in- dividual enterprise, begun and conducted by an ex- cellent Christian lady, who in early life had been sorely bereaved by the death of a devoted husband, the Rev. John M. French, a promising minister of the Associate Presbyterian Church. He began his Kingwood, W. Va .; J. C. Cooper, M.D., Philadel- i ministry as pastor of the church of Noblestown, phia ; Rev. James P. Fulton, Harper, Kan. ; Rev. O. Pa., having been ordained and installed Oct. 22, 1841. But, after becoming greatly endeared to his people in a service of two years, he ceased from his work to receive his crown, Oct. 10, 1843. Mrs. French, nobly taking up the responsibilities of life thus cast upon herself alone, named her seminary Olome, in memory of her departed husband, who was wont to write this word at the close of his man- uscript sermons along with their date, designating the happy place of their production. It was a con- M. Todd, Tuscola, Ill .; M. P. Morrison, M.D., Mo- nongahela City ; J. H. Storer, M.D., Triadelphia, W. Va .; A. J. Davis, M.D., Pittsburgh ; J. M. Todd, M.D., Martin's Ferry, Ohio; George T. Miller, Port Perry ; James Fleming, M.D., Franklin, Ohio; Alonzo Linn, LL.D., vice-president and Professor of Greek in Washington and Jefferson College; A. P. Morrison, Esq., Pittsburgh ; Prof. George P. Fulton, Pittsburgh ; James Alexander, banker, Mononga- hela City ; Rev. Thomas Hodgson, Ohio; Cyrus B. tract word of his own invention, sweetly combining

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Olivia, the name of his dear wife, with Home, the syn- onym of all that is tender to a loving heart. The transfer of that name from a broken family home to an institution for the training of young ladies was simply a symbol of its consecration as a home of Christian culture.

The seminary had an humble beginning in 1844, but, under the divine blessing, its success in the course of three years demanded its organization as a boarding-school, and the purchase of new build- - ings, to which, for the same reason, extensive addi- tions were made, both by purchase and erection, in 1848 and 1853.

The seminary was vigorously conducted, with joint reference to the best possible intellectual and moral training. Its corps of teachers was carefully selected. Its board of superintendence was composed of promi- nent clergymen and laymen, over whom the Rev. Wil- liam Smith, D.D., vice-president of Jefferson College, presided, giving a portion of his time also to instruc- tion in languages. The catalogue of 1857 reports an attendance of eighty-one pupils, almost one-half of whom came from beyond the limits of Washington County, and some of them from distant States. For the period of eighteen years the honored principal conducted the seminary with excellent success and reputation, fixing upon it the stamp of her own fine intelligence and evangelical spirit, and sending forth seventy-five graduates, besides many others who took a partial course to exemplify her good service for liberal education, and for the cause of Christ. She still survives at her home in Marysville, Ohio, a recipi- ent of human gratitude and awaiting a heavenly re- ward. But who shall calculate the loss of Canons- burg and the public when, upon her retirement, the doors of Olome Institute were closed ?

PLEASANT HILL SEMINARY, near West Middle town, is another Washington County institution of the past. It was a development of the more private labors of Mrs. Jane (Campbell) Mckeever, wife of Matthew McKeever, and sister of the well-known Al- exander Campbell, leader of the "Christian Church," or "Church of the Disciples," so generally called by his name, and also the founder and first president of Bethany College, at Bethany, W. Va. Mrs. McKeever, having been a teacher in her youth, continued, as an amateur, the same pursuit after her marriage, using a room in her own house for this purpose. Her pupils were mostly gathered from the village and neighbor- hood of West Middletown, with occasional additions from abroad. Such was the prosperity of the school, however, that Mrs. McKeever was encouraged to ele- vate it to the dignity of a ladies' seminary. Her son-in-law, Mr. James Campbell, and her son, Mr. Thomas C. Mckeever, both recent graduates of Bethany College, were associated with her as teachers, she herself of course becoming the principal. The financial management was for the most part in the hands of her husband.

The course of study adopted and afterwards ma- tured, embraced both ancient and modern languages, and was otherwise up to the level of the best institu- tions of the same kind. The instruction is also said to have been accurate and thorough. The first class, consisting of four members, was graduated in 1847. The principal, feeling the weight of advancing years, and Prof. Campbell having removed to the Pacific coast, the seminary passed, in a few years, wholly into the hands of Professor T. C. Mckeever. Under his management, which was marked with extraordinary energy, it was highly prosperous. Addition after ad- dition was made to the original buildings, until ample provision was made for the accommodation of one hundred boarders, and about that number were at one time in actual attendance. But, at the full tide of prosperity, in 1867, Principal Mckeever suddenly sickened and died,-a providential affliction from which the institution never recovered. Including that year, the roll of graduates contains one hundred and fifty-two names, making an annual average of about seven and a half for these twenty-one years. The largest class was that of 1865, which numbered nineteen graduates. And these figures are all the more remarkable taken in connection with the fact that by far the largest proportion were boarding pupils from a distance, scarcely more than one in ten having been drawn from the immediate rural vicinity.

Under the superintendence of Mr. Keever's widow, Mrs. Martha Mckeever, assisted by Elder T. A. Cren- shaw, the seminary was continued for several years, and graduated two classes of three members each, and then, under the pressure of discouraging circumstances, went into declension. Subsequent efforts were made for . its revival, first by Mr. William M. Eaton, who had been educated at Washington and Jefferson College 1 (now a Presbyterian minister), and then by the Rev. J. A. Snodgrass, of the Baptist Church, but without encouraging success. After an interval of suspen- sion the property passed under the control of a con- ference of the colored people, and by them a school was conducted in it, under the name of Zion Hill Collegiate Institute, for about three years. In 1881 another suspension took place, and the unused prop- erty is now owned by Mr. Holdship, of the city of Pittsburgh.

WASHINGTON FEMALE SEMINARY .- This is the only institution of its kind in Washington County which has survived the waves of changing fortune. It abides in strength and usefulness, having now a history of nearly half a century. Its fine reputation also has gone with its graduates into many States, es- pecially of the West and South. And never were its prospects better than at present.

The movement for its organization began with a con- sultation of a number of citizens Nov. 26, 1835, in the parlor of the Hon. T. M. T. McKennan. The Rev. D. Elliott, D.D., then pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Washington, was a leader in the enterprise, but he

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HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

was nobly sustained by the substantial citizens of the place of all persuasions. Subsequent meetings were held and efforts were made which resulted in the pur- chase of a site on East Maiden Street from Alexan- der Reed, Esq., who was himself one of the most lib- eral supporters of the movement. Contributions were taken in the form of stock at $50 per share, to be bind- ing when the minimum amount of $4000 should be raised. Mr. Reed and Dr. F. J. Le Moyne led the way with each a subscription of twelve shares, and were followed by others in smaller amounts until the plan was assured. Messrs. F. J. Le Moyne, M.D., James Reed, James Ruple, Robert Officer, and James Brice were chosen as a building committee; Alexander Reed, Esq., David McConaughy, D.D., and Dr. Le Moyne were selected to prepare articles of association, and various other committees were appointed. John Harter was made collector and treasurer, and upon his resignation, Alexander Sweeny was chosen in his stead. The plan of organization, reported and adopted Feb. 14, 1837, provided for a board of nine trustees, of whom six must be stockholders, and committed the building as well as the general management of the seminary into the hands of the principal, includ- ing also the selection of teachers, "with the advice and consent of the trustees." It was arranged that the course of study should cover three years, with as many classes, viz., primary, junior, and senior. Be- ' turned to the East.

sides the tuition fees upon which the institution was We have now come to the point in this history from which the real prosperity of the enterprise may be dated. Upon the retirement of Mrs. Biddle, Miss Sarah R. Foster, then a teacher at Cadiz, Ohio, and formerly a pupil of the distinguished Mrs. Emma Willard, of Troy, N. Y., was chosen principal, and entered upon her duties. Miss Post was continued as assistant, and Miss L. Simmons was added to the teaching force. to be conducted, a matriculation fee of two dollars per session for each pupil in the regular classes and of one dollar for each preparatory pupil was to be paid to a distinct treasurer representing the stock- holders, from the proceeds of which dividends were to be declared from time to time by the trustees. The original trustees chosen under this arrangement were Alexander Reed, F. J. Le Moyne, John Marshel, Jacob Slagle, John Wishart, David McConaughy, Jo- seph Lawrence, Robert R. Reed, and John L. Gow. By an act of Assembly dated April 14, 1838, a State charter was obtained, embracing the same names as corporators, except that John Grayson was substituted for Alexander Reed, the latter having for private rea- sons declined to serve. This charter had the agree- able accompaniment of a legislative donation of $500 per annum for five years. With this help, together with additional stock and temporary loans, the trus- tees were enabled to meet the expenses of the new building. In the organization under the charter the .Rev. David McConaughy, D.D., was chosen president of the board, and such he continued to be until his death, Jan. 29, 1852. John L. Gow, Esq., was made . munity. Excellent teachers were chosen, the course secretary, and John Grayson, treasurer.

For two years prior to the charter the institution had been in actual operation under the charge of Mrs. Francis Biddle, formerly of Philadelphia, having been opened in the spring of 1836, in a building on Maiden Street familiarly known as the "Lodge." For one session she was assisted by Miss Elizabeth

Clarke, a graduate of South Hadley, who for special reasons then retired, giving place to temporary assist- ants for the remainder of the year. During the sec- ond year, commencing in the spring of 1837, the as- sistant teacher was Miss Mary A. N. Inskeep, of St. Clairsville, Ohio, a graduate of the Steubenville Fe- male Seminary in the class of 1834, a teacher in that seminary through the following year, and afterwards in the school of the Rev. H. Hervey, D.D., at Mar- tinsburg, Ohio, until her transfer by invitation to Washington. For the latter half of this year the new seminary building was occupied by the school. Miss Inskeep, afterwards Mrs. Crittenden, and now the wife of the Rev. Charles C. Beatty, D.D., LL.D., of Steubenville, remembers this year of service with great pleasure, as she too is gratefully remembered by former pupils and the older citizens.

The summer session of 1838 opened with the pres- ence of two teachers who gave new life to the insti- tution, viz .: Miss Sarah Chapman, of Springfield, Mass., now Mrs. C. M. Reed, of Washington; and Miss H. M. Post, of Lebanon, N. H., now wife of Uriah W. Wise, Esq., of Plattesmouth, Neb. The former rendered efficient service for one year, while the latter remained four years with unabated popu- larity. At the end of her fourth year, in the spring of 1840, Mrs. Biddle resigned her position and re-

Miss Foster, having taught in district schools in her native State, New York, for nine years prior to her entrance into Troy Female Seminary in 1833, and having afterwards had a very successful experience as the head of a high school at Cadiz, did not enter upon her work in Washington as a novice. Her well-balanced judgment, strong common sense, amia- bility, dignity, conscientiousness, and religious devo- tion soon manifested themselves in her wise and en- ergetic administration of the institution, and made her the centre of confidence in the whole enterprise. She entered upon her duties with characteristic zeal, and more and more, by her discreet management, se- cured the co-operation of the trustees and the com- of study was gradually enlarged, and the number of both day and boarding pupils was soon increased up to the full capacity of the buildings, and even beyond it. This advancement compelled the erection of an important addition to the main structure at its west end in 1841. But even the enlargement thus secured only for a brief time met the demand, and soon by its

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beneficent results produced a necessity for still fur- ther extension of facilities. The popularity of the institution was extensive and permanent, and the trustees frequently volunteered the formal expression of their satisfaction with its management.

The year 1848 is remarkable in this history for two events, one pleasing and the other afflictive, which had an important bearing upon the prosperity of the institution. The former of these was the marriage in September of Miss Foster with the Rev. Thomas Hanna, D.D., pastor of the Associate Presbyterian Church of Cadiz, Ohio. This change transferred Dr. Hanna to Washington, and prepared the way for his becoming pastor of the church of his communion here, now the United Presbyterian Church, of which for almost a score of years the Rev. J. R. Johnston, D.D., has been the worthy pastor. Miss Foster thus simply became Mrs. Hanna without any change in her official relations to the seminary. Dr. Hanna's kindly and wholesome influence in his new sphere was recognized by the trustees March 11, 1850, in his formal appointment as superintendent of the institu- tion, a position which he held with satisfaction to all concerned until his lamented death, Feb. 9, 1864.

The other notable event of 1848 was the destruc- tion by fire, on the last day of November, of the west wing of the seminary building, erected, as we have seen, only seven years before, together with serious damage to the other part of the structure. It se occurred that this destruction fell upon the only por- tion of the building which was not insured, and upon the very day set by the treasurer, under a previous order of the board, to effect a policy. The crisis, however, was promptly met by the best possible ar- rangements for going forward at once with the recita- tions, and also for the reconstruction of the burnt edifice, and the addition of a story to the main build- ing. The cost of the erection, amounting to four thousand nine hundred dollars, was provided for in part by the disposal of forty-three shares of stock at fifty dollars per share, and the balance by money borrowed, to refund which the income from matricu- lation fees was pledged in lieu of dividends to the stockholders. In the lapse of ten years the debt was canceled and dividends were renewed, though since, as before, the holders of stock have ever, upon an emergency of need, been ready to forego them. Fur- ther enlargement of accommodations is still regarded by many as one of the most pressing demands.

Under the administration of Mrs. Hanna, the sem- inary was conducted with wisdom and success until 1874, when, yielding to the infirmities of age, she surrendered her charge to younger hands. Ten years before, as we have seen, she had been called by the stroke of death to part with her venerable and excel- lent husband, an affliction which both the seminary and the community deeply shared. There is not room here for mention of the long list of excellent teachers who took part in the work of instruction

during these thirty-four years, though many of them have an indelible record in memory. The venerable principal, after eight years of retirement, still lives in sight of the institution she loved and served so well, waiting in holy patience for the coming of the Lord. Her graduation-list had reached five hundred and forty-seven names. Of these, ten or twelve be- came devoted missionaries, more than one hundred have been successful teachers, and a fair proportion have gladdened ministers' homes as wives and moth- ers. Personal and official intimacy with Mrs. Hanna, as president of the board of trustees during the latter sixteen years of her service,-a position which he still has the honor to hold,-enables the writer of this sketch to bear cordial testimony to her high Chris- tian character, her wise management, and her consci- entious fidelity. The motive which prompted her resignation and the spirit in which it was received will best appear in the following official correspond- ence :

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History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 116

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216