USA > Pennsylvania > Westmoreland County > History of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, Vol. I > Part 49
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In 1849 John G. Albright taught school there, it being his first term as a teacher. He afterwards taught the same school twelve years, though not in succession, his last term there being in 1871-72. Mr. Albright was for many years a surveyor and a justice of the peace. He taught in all about forty winters.
Charles Davis, who afterward was successfully engaged in the lumber busi- ness in the northern part of the State; George W. Phillippi, yet living in Illi- nois; John Murdock, a business man of Johnstown; I. M. Graham, editor of the Ligonier Echo; Holmes Phillippi, who died not long after, were later day teachers in this school. Many pupils of this school were soldiers in the civil war. Among them were J. B. McDowell, wounded at second Bull Run ; Port. Bricker, who afterward went west; Samuel Murdock, who died in Ligonier in 1895 ; Major John McClintock, died shortly after the close of the war ; John Johnson, wounded at Bull Run; John H. Miller, now dead; John McMillen,
27
418
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
killed in the battle of Fredericksburg; George Johnson, of the 11th Pennsylva- nia Volunteers ; H. Y. McDowell, of the 135th Regiment ; Jacob, Robert, Shan- non and Adam Roberts of the Roberts family previously spoken of ; Godfrey McDowell and Humphrey Caven were in the 135th Regiment; A. K. Nicely ; James Mathews ; Henry Stom, of the 84th Regiment, was wounded at Chancel- lorsville and died at Washington, D. C .; Benjamin and Hiram Yealy; Samuel Weller, of the 21Ith Regiment, died in front of Petersburg; J. D. Barron, of the 84th Regiment; the Fry brothers, four of whom died in Andersonville; two of the Shadron brothers, who also died in the service; Thomas, James and John Davison, sons of the old teacher; Reuben Marks, of the 61st Regiment ; Andrew Rankin, A. S. Nicely ; Isaac and Noah and Henry Serena, the latter of whom was killed; Israel McDowell, killed in battle; Hiram, his brother, was a prisoner in Andersonville.
The second school house at this place was a log structure. A frame house was erected in 1850, but it was not finished in time, and so there was no school that winter. About 1872 it was remodeled and made much more attractive, both inside and ont. In 1902 it was torn down after being in use over fifty years, and a modern frame structure erected. This school has been given perhaps undue attention, for it is only one of many in Ligonier Valley. Yet in its main feature its early history differs but little from that of the others, or from many others in the county. It has been taken, therefore, as one whose early history is fairly representative of all schools founded in the early part of the last century.
At a meeting in June, 1853, of the Westmoreland County Teachers' Assoc- iation, John H. Hoopes, S. P. Shryok and S. W. Greer were appointed to prepare an address to the teachers and patrons of the common schools of the county, looking toward a better organization among teachers, and better methods of exchanging ideas and improving each other. In July, 1853, the address was published in the county papers. Briefly it set forth that a num- ber of teachers having met in October, 1852, came to the conclusion that it was high time that a County Teachers' Association should be formed in West- moreland. A committee was therefore appointed to draft a constitution and call a general meeting at New Alexandria. The address states that this meet- ing was called for December 24, and that only about twenty-five teachers were present. These formed an organization as indicated above, and with great benefit to themselves remained in session two days, then adjourned to meet at Madison, in June. Unfortunately, only eight teachers met at Madison. The report further urges very eloquently that a regular Teach- ers' Association should be formed and kept up, and that Township Associations should be organized in every township in the county. They urged that whenever this is thoroughly accomplished the friends of pop- ular education will come out and co-operate with them, and assist them in building up and elevating the standard of the profession. The address then
419
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
announced meetings of the County Association for Adamsburg in September, and New Salem in November, and also that the "Conemaugh Teachers' Insti- tute" would meet at New Alexandria on October 24, 1853, and continue in session one week.
Thus began the Teachers' Institute in our county, long since one of the most popular features of the profession. John H. Hoopes is very nearly en- titled to be called the father of these meetings. He was an ardent, able and outspoken friend of the common schools and teacher. He was, moreover, a very able talker, and had the happy faculty of presenting his theories and arguments in a practical and interesting manner. The Institute until that time was not known in our county, and few if any had been held in Pennsyl- vania, though they had been held both in New England and Ohio, and doubt- less elsewhere, as early as 1840. It is a fact that we may well be proud of that Westmoreland and Indiana counties were the first in the state to hold the institutes. The Conemaugh Teachers' Institute was composed of teachers along both sides of the Conemaugh, very important sections then, for the canal and its attendant improvements had placed them in advance of other sections. Their most noted meetings were held in Blairsville, in October, 1852, and in New Alexandria, in October, 1853. Elders Ridge Academy was then in its best days and had able instructors who attended these meetings as special in- structors. The Blairsville meeting was the one at which the organization was formed, and when it adjourned it was to meet in one year, that is in October, 1853, at New Alexandria. At the New Alexandria meeting there were several friends of popular education present from other counties, who ad- dressed the teachers and carried home with them most glowing reports of the Conemaugh Institute. Among others was Hon. Thomas H. Burrows, who, after Thaddeus Stevens, did more for the common schools of Pennsylvania than any other man of that day. He published in the Pennsylvania School Journal a glowing account of the teachers' meeting he had attended. It so aroused the teachers of the state that, before the year was ended, in several other counties public institutes were held and arrangements were made for their continuance in the future. All over the state they were organizing, so that by January 1, 1856, nearly every county had perfected a county teachers' organization. . The New Alexandria meeting lasted one week and adjourned to meet at Saltsburg in October, 1854. The Saltsburg meeting was equally interesting, but not, of course, fraught with such great results in the state, for that work had been done by the New Alexandria meeting in 1853. At this Saltsburg meeting the connection between the teachers of Westmoreland and Indiana was dissolved by mutual consent, for it was believed that each county had so grown in the strength of its teachers that they were able to form and continue separate institutes. These institutes were looked upon with great sus- picion by many of the "tax-payers" of the county. They were regarded by some as a scheme of the teachers to have their salary raised. Others thought
420
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
that new studies and new text-books on perfectly useless subjects were about to be introduced. Nevertheless, they had come to stay, and they have been greatly beneficial alike both to the teacher and the pupil. Mr. James I. Mc- Cormick was then county superintendent of Westmoreland schools, and at once made arrangements for holding an institute in Greensburg, in October, 1855. He arranged that Mr. Burrows, J. P. Wickersham, of Lancaster, after- wards state superintendent, and J. H. Stoddard, author and teacher in the east- ern part of the state, should be present as instructors and lecturers. From that time on teaching became a profession. Teachers were no longer called "masters." Before that the "master" had "kept" schools, now he was "teach- ing." The old styled "master" found himself "behind the age."
County Superintendent .- The Act of 1854 established the office of county superintendent. It was like many other innovations, a very unpopular act at first, but now, after living under it and testing it thoroughly for more than a half century, there is probably not an intelligent educator in the state who would dispense with its main features or with the county superintendent. The great improvement made in our common schools and in our teachers has, in a great measure, been due to the county superintendent. The Act of 1854 was ob- jectionable, but the Act of 1856 amended it so that no one save a practical teacher with certain literary qualifications could fill the office. Nevertheless, in our county in the years of 1858 and 1859, the great question agitating the peo- ple was, whether or not the office should be abolished. Meetings were actually held in nearly every school district, certainly in every township, to discuss this most infamous measure. The leading men of every community attended these meetings, and reports of them were published from time to time in the county papers. The great majority of them, four-fifths of them, at least, adopted resolutions denouncing both the office and the officer, calling the latter a miser- able failure, an "expensive and useless burden saddled on a tax-ridden people," etc., etc. In nearly all of these resolutions they called on the state legislature to repeal the law and vacate the office at its next session. The same class of men who opposed the introduction of the printing press, turnpikes, prepaid post- age, telegraphy, and a hundred other now indispensable measures, now brought its force against this most important and useful provision. No township was more advanced in education in that day than Derry, and an expression from them is therefore in keeping with the general trend of this discussion. The resolutions adopted by them in a public meeting at school house No. 8, Derry township, on the evening of February 10, 1859, are as follows :
"Resolved, that we consider our schools in a retrograde, in place of a progressive condition. We view the present law as arbitrary, the power being all placed in the hands of the school board and superintendent, the tax payers having nothing to say.
"That we view with indignation that feature of the law which empowers the teachers and directors, absolutely combined, to force on any locality a series of books which they do not prefer, and to debar a series of books which it is the desire of the people to use. "That we will support no man for the office of school director that will not pledge
421
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
himself if called upon, to cut down the salary of the county superintendent, and use all honorable means to abolish the office."
One of the earlier meetings of the county was held at "Hickory Spring" schoolhouse in Unity township. They adopted and published the following resolution, and it was copied and endorsed by many other meetings in the county :
"Resolved, that we view with indignation and abhorrence that feature of the law which empowers the superintendent and directors, combined, to arbitrarily force on any locality a series of books, when that locality is already supplied with a series they prefer. We believe that by an easy transition of such laws in their hands many would strike a death blow at the rights of conscience and triumph over our prostrate liberties."
It is fair to state that at some meetings these resolutions were condemned. Such was the result of a meeting held at Boyd's No. 5, in Unity township, early in February, 1859. Mr. Hoopes, to whom we have already referred, very ably sustained the law in all its features in the public press, the columns of which seem to have been opened to both sides of the discussion. In his articles he evinced a thorough knowledge of the school law and of the whole history of the common school movement form the beginning. In a series of articles he defended his cause in a manner that would do honor to any who have since written in this line.
Petitions were put in circulation in nearly all sections of the county asking the legislature to repeal at all events that part of the law which established the office of county superintendent. Fortunately for our common school system, the legislature had the fortitude to refuse to comply with these requests, and the result of the law has successfully proved the wisdom of their action.
The first county superintendent of schools was Rev. Matthew Mckinstry, of West Newton, who was elected in 1854 under the new law. He had served but one year when he resigned, the opposition to the office having made his term a very unpleasant one. James I. McCormick, of North Huntingdon town- ship, was appointed in his place and filled out the unexpired term of two years. J. R. McAfee, of Latrobe, was elected in 1857; S. S. Jack, of Pleasant Unity, in 1860, and again in 1863; Joseph S. Walthour, of Greensburg, was elected in 1866; H. M. Jones, of Salem township, was elected in 1869, and again in 1872 ; James Silliman, of East Huntingdon township, was elected in 1875: J. R. Spiegel, of Greensburg, was elected in 1878, and again in 1881. Geo. H. Hugus, of Latrobe, was elected in 1884, and again in 1887 and 1890. William HI. Ulrich was elected in 1893, and re-elected in 1896, 1899 and 1902; R. C. Shaw, of Irwin, was elected in 1905.
Sketches of J. R. McAfee and J. R. Spiegel will be found in that part of this work devoted to the Westmoreland bar ; of James I. McCormick in the part de- voted to the medical profession.
Joseph S. Walthour was born in North Huntingdon township, February 5,
422
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
1829. His grandfather had built Fort Walthour, famous in the revolutionary period of our history, and treated of in that part of this work. In 1846 he began teaching school at Barnes' school, near his home, at eighteen dollars per month. In 1847, '48 and '49 he attended school in Greensburg. Iu 1850, '51 and '52 he taught his home school in North Huntingdon township. After a short venture in the mercantile business he taught the Byerly school in 1854, at twenty-two dollars per month. In 1855 he taught in the boys' department of the Greensburg schools, and in 1856, '57, '58 and '59 he taught in New Salem. After this he taught one or two terms elsewhere in the county, and returned to Greensburg as a teacher, where he was engaged when elected county superin- tendent in 1866. His salary in this position was $800 per annum. During his term as superintendent he traveled somewhat over the state as an instructor at other institutes, and was favorably received. In 1870 he removed to Albion. Erie county, where he engaged in teaching, and still later taught at Saeger- town, Crawford county. Later he taught at Latrobe, New Derry, Saltsburg, Greensburg, etc., and in fact spent the remainder of his life as a teacher.
When he took charge of the schools as county superintendent in 1866 there were 286 schools in the county. In 1867 there were 302 schools in the county, and in 1868 there were 312. District or Township Institutes were held in nearly every township in the county, and these served only to add to the in- terest and attendance of the County Institute, which was now regularly held in Greensburg each fall or winter.
Henry M. Jones was born in Salem township October 28, 1828. He was a son of John Jones, one of our early associate judges of Westmoreland county. In 1847 he began teaching at Elwood school, in the northern part of Franklin township. For the next twenty years he taught mostly in the northern part of the county, teaching in the winter and summer much of the time. During these years he studied the higher mathematics and the dead languages, largely under the tutorship of his elder brother, Rev. John M. Jones, of the Presbyter- ian church. His salary as county superintendent for the first term was $800 per annum, and when re-elected in 1872 his salary was raised to $1,500. Mr. Jones worked with much zeal during the years when he was in office, and met with great success. He suggested many improvements which he has lived to see adopted. One of these was a uniformity of text-books all over the county. After retiring from office in 1875 he travelled and rested a year in the west and then resumed teaching near his home in Salem township and continued to be thus employed for some years.
When he began the duties of the office there were 312 schools, and three were added the first year. There were 200 male and 115 female teachers. The salary of the male teachers averaged $44.12, and that of females $34.47. The average cost of instruction per month was ninety-two cents for each pupil. In his second year there were sixteen new schools added. In his third year six schools were added. In the fourth year twelve schools were added, and the
1
423
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
same number the year following. In his sixth year, ending June 1, 1875, fifteen new schools were added, making 342 in the county. There were 212 males and 133 females employed, the average salary of the former being $48.50, and of the latter $38.95.
James Silliman was born in Lancaster county, June 24, 1827, and was of Quaker descent. He came to East Huntingdon township in 1833, and at- tended the common schools of our county, and also a higher school in Mt. Pleasant. He began teaching when he was twenty-one years old (1848), and continued it until 1875, when he was elected county superintendent. While a teacher he learned surveying, and paid more or less attention to that while a teacher.
In 1882 there were 398 schools in the county. The average length of the term increased gradually, till at this time (1882) it was five and three-fourths months. The county institute under Mr. Spiegel, as county superintendent, was probably more popular than at any time before or since his day, though we doubt whether it was more profitable to the teachers. The popularity was due mainly to the noted instructors and night lecturers whom he secured. His county institutes were held at a time when the field of instructors and lecturers was filled with great men who could not be equaled by those who came after him. He had Henry Ward Beecher, T. De Witt Talmage, Edgar Cowan, John B. Gough, Theodore Tilton, Daniel Dougherty, A. K. McClure and many others of national fame. At the session of the institute in 1882, 385 teachers out of a total of 398 were in attendance.
There are now 476 school houses in the county, with 863 schools. In eighty-one of these the higher branches are taught. Last year there were 918 teachers employed, of whom all but 115 were experienced teachers, and 287 were teachers who had been graduated at state normal schools, while forty-one others were graduated from colleges. The average monthly wages paid male teachers was $58.54, and that paid to female teachers was $45.04. The num- ber of pupils enrolled was 36,057. The average cost of each pupil per month was $1.42. The state appropriation, that is the amount which came to West- moreland schools, was $137,169.92, while the amount of school tax levied for building schoolhouses, etc., and for school purposes was $438,072.93. The total expenditure last year for all school purposes was $686,327.30.
424
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
NAME OF DISTRICT
No. of Schools
No, of Male Teach- ers
No. of Female Teach- ers
Number of Pupils
Average Salaries of Males per Month
Average Salaries of Females per Month
Cost of Each Pupil per Month
Adamsburg Borcugh.
1
1
18
$ 50.00
$ 26.22
1.27
Allegheny Township.
15
5
12
470
39.00
39.28
1.70
Avonmore Borough
5
1
1
176
75.00
43.121
1.82
Arnold Borough.
1
6
344
100.00
54.80
2.15
Arona Borough
7
1
7
192
45.00
35.00
1.56
Bolivar Borough.
1
1
3
216
75.00
46.67
1.34
Bridgeport, Independent District
S
6
2
494
50.00
47.50
.88
Burrell Lower Township.
5
2
3
105
36.50
37.33
1.94
Concord, Independent District. .
3
2
2
134
50.00
38.00
1.58
Cook Township.
9
6
3
256
34.33}
33.331
1.38
Derry Borough.
51
12
14
2192
41.50
41.17
1 06
Donegal Borough.
11
5
6
355
31.60
31.24
1.30
Fairfield Township.
14
8
7
420
34.63
33.00
1.39
Franklin Township.
17
1
13
546
40.00
40.00
1 26
Greensburg, East Borough.
5
1
4
188
65.00
45.00
2.02
Greensburg, South Borough .
1
1
3
238
60.00
48.33
1.46
Greensburg, South West Borough
3
8
1
120
60.00
50.00
1.50
Harmony, Ind. District.
1
1
31
40.00
3.10
Hempfield Township.
56
12
18
2314
48.00
46.27
1.35
Huntingdon, East Township
32
00
25
1916
59.18
51.10
1.22
Huntingdon, South Township.
18
10
8
831
43.60
12.38
1.51
Irwin Borough. .
14
3
11
658
92.50
49.95
1.73
Irwin, North Borough
2
. .
2
111
48.00
1.60
Jeannette Borough.
1
1
3
198
60.00
48.33
1.13
Latrobe Borough.
2.1
3
23
872
100.55
56.52
2.04
Ligonier Township
7
15
940
36.45
35 55
1.32
Ligonier Borough ..
3
5
300
62.50
42.00
1.73
Ludwick Borough.
5
1
4
259
60.00
51.25
1.46
Madison Borough.
2
1
1
72
50.00
45.00
1.43
Manor Borough
4
1
3
176
65.00
46.66
1.64
Mt. Pleasant Borough
2.1
2
24
956
69.50
51.20
1.85
Mt. Pleasant Township.
39
16
29
1964
49.04
48.36
1.21
New Alexandria Borough
2
1
1
109
50.00
40.00
1.37
New Florence Borough ..
1
1
3
181
60.00
41 66
1.23
North Bellevernon Borough
4
3
207
45.00
50.00
1.36
New Kensington Borough
20
1
20
1141
125.00
48.00
1.74
Parnassus Borough
9
1
9
430
100.00
53.00
2.72
Penn Borough ..
1
1
197
43.75
1.25
Penn Township.
28
10
20
1176
49.11
45.45
1.50
Rostraver Township.
29
4
26
1136
45.00
45.50
1.371
St. Clair Township
1
2
2 2020
118
42.50
50.00
1.70
Salem Township.
18
9
11
665
40.89
40.89
1.91
Scottdale Borough
19
2
18
940
102.50
52.50
1.52
Sewickley Township ..
6
1
3
206
50.00
50.00
1.65
Sulphur Springs, Ind. District
3
.
1
1
26
45.00
l'nity Township
10
5
1570
47.80
45.91
1.45
Verona, Ind. District.
4
86
. . .
45.00
1.39
Vandergrift Borough
15
1
16
596
133.33
54.29
2.60
1
1
26
45.00
1.92
Cokeville Borough
1
18
648
110.00
50.83
1.66
Derry Township.
1
1
:
.
32
45.00
36.25
1.47
Loyalhanna Township.
1
1
124
Livermore Borough
1
2
1.60
Mars Hill, Ind. District
2
+
248
60 00
50.00
1.39
1
5
228
60.00
50.00
2.20
Greensburg, East Borough.
1
1
48.00
40.00
1.44
Bell Township.
1
t-
182
45.00
45.00
3.15
Burrell Upper Township.
51
37 .: 0
1.13
Donegal Township.
Lagrange, Ind. District
:
138
46.25
32.50
1.56
Salem Borough.
3
1
3
130
45.00
1,83
Union, Ind. Dist.
2.22
16
425
HISTORY OF WESTMORELAND COUNTY.
NAME OF DISTRICT
No. of Male
No. of Female Teach- ers
Number of Pupils
Average Salaries of Males per Month
Average Salaries of Females per Month
Cost of Each Pupil per Month
Washington Township
14
1
10
306
$ 39.00
$ 36.80
1.801
West Newton Borough
16
3
17
693
80.00
47.38
1.72
Youghiogheny, Ind. District.
11
1
-7
474
52.50
46.50
1.41
Youngstown Borough.
2
2
55
46.50
2.09
Hyde Park Borough .
2
2
73
50.00
1.80
Vandergrift Heights Borough.
10
1
10
512
75.00
45.50
1.81
North Huntingdon Township.
39
5
3.4
1401
53.00
46.00
1.41
Monessen Borough.
20
3
21
1087
85.00
53.68
1.47
Smithton Borough
4
. .
. .
40.00
1.13
Youngwood Borough
3
1
2
175
55.00
50.00
1.34
Sutterville Borough
4
2
2
3
1
2
144
46.25
1.26
Vandergrift Borough, East.
2
114
McMahan Borough
No. of Schools Teach- ers
CHAPTER XXVII
The Civil War.
The difficulties between the North and the South which brought about the Civil War are too well remembered to need more than a passing notice here. The immediate cause of the war was the secession of the Southern States from the Union which closely followed the election of Abraham Lincoln to the presi- dency in 1860. At the bottom of the long contest was the question of African slavery, which had been bubbling up and bursting forth at the surface for more than thirty years. The Southern States erroneously regarded the election of Lincoln as a warning to them that their power in Congress and in the Union was at an end. They regarded him as a man of weak mind, who would be a mere tool in the hands of Northern Abolitionists, and whose administration would therefore be notably cruel and unjust to them. They thought also that the prime object of the administration would be the abolition of slavery in the Southern States. They were wrong in every particular, as has been shown by later events. There is no doubt now but that the prime object of his official life was to save the Union, either with or without slavery. In reality, but few rulers in the world's history have surpassed him in ruling with an iron hand when heroic ruling was necessary, and none have equaled him in leniency, for- bearance and charity, when the exercise of such qualities would not injure the cause most dear to him, viz. : the preservation of the Union. Nor is there any doubt now, even in the minds of the southern people, but that, had they remained in the Union as loyal States, Lincoln would have died a martyr to- their cause rather than have an injustice done them. They unjustly con- demned him without a trial. In this they erred most grievously, and suffered most bitterly from it in the end.
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