History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 69

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013

USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 69

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In 1852 an appropriation was obtained for building upon

the site to be donated by the citizens of Nashville. In January, 1853, the building was occupied. It was at that time sufficiently spacious to meet the requirements of the school. Additions were afterwards made, and the grounds gradually improved until June, 1861, the whole cost of buildings and grounds having up to that time been about twenty-five thousand dollars.

In November of that year it was suddenly seized for a Confederate hospital. The pupils were distributed in pri- vate residences, and a portion of the furniture was stored in a rented house.

Shortly after the fall of Fort Donelson, February, 1862, the building was taken for a Federal hospital. The build- ing, together with all surrounding improvements, was en- tirely destroyed in November of the same year by order of St. Clair Morton, chief engineer of the Army of the Ohio. The pupils were gradually dispersed to their homes. The superintendent took care of those who had no homes until 1867, when the school was reorganized and carried on in a rented building.

In October, 1872, the Hon. John M. Lea purchased for fifteen thousand dollars the Claiborne residence, with about Beven acres of land, for the purpose of donating it to the Tennessee School for the Blind, to which it was conveyed immediately after the purchase.

The Legislative Assembly of 1873 acknowledged the ex- cellence of the location and the munificence of the gift by appropriating forty thousand dollars for the erection of a building upon a plan, to be approved by the Governor, " commensurate with the wants of a first-class institution," the forty thousand dollars to be used only in completing a part of the building in accordance with the approved plan.

The next Legislative Assembly added an appropriation of thirty thousand dollars. The State Legislature of 1879 made an appropriation of thirty-four thousand dollars for carrying on the school during the years 1879-80, and per- mitted a portion of twenty-four thousand dollars.not used for the purposes appropriated to be expended in making improvements upon the building, which will be completed before the close of the year, and will stand as a monument to the liberality of the lady and gentleman who influenced its location and erection. The number of pupils have varied with the varied fortunes of the school, the highest number having been sixty-six. The number is limited or increased according to the biennial appropriations of the State. The number for the next two years will probably exceed one hundred.

For more than thirty years no pupil has died while at the school, and but one employce.

THE NASHVILLE FEMALE ACADEMY.

On the 4th of July, 1816, the following citizens of Nashville entered into a contract to establish a female academy : Joseph T. Elliston, James Jackson, James Hanna, John Baird, Stephen Cantrell, Wilkins Tannehill (John Anderson admitted in his place), John E. Beck, James Trimble, Samuel Elam, Thomas Claiborne, Thomas

* By Rev. C. D. Elliott, D.D.

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TENNESSEE SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND.

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MICHAEL CAMPBELL.

Michael Campbell was born in Franklin Co., Pa., in the year 1757. He was of Scotch-Irish descent, his grandfather having emigrated from Scotland to the North of Ireland, where he married, and then removed to Pennsylvania, where many of his descendants are still living.

Michael Campbell was the youngest of five brothers, all of whom served in the war of independence, he, on account of his youth, only participating actively in the latter part of the struggle. He served in the immediate command of Gen. Washington, for whose military talents he conceived a high opinion. After the close of the war, with the spirit of enterprise common to the times, he left his native State and made his home in Bardstown, Ky. There his integrity of character and marked talent soon made him a leading citizen. He was several times clected to the Legislature, and took a prominent part in its proceedings. In the beginning of this century, fore- seeing the great future of Middle Tennessee, he invested largely in the fertile lands of that portion of the State,

and in 1808 he removed with his family to Davidson County, near Nashville. In Tennessee as in Kentucky he was noted for his benevolence and public spirit, though he no longer served in public affairs. He was a warm advocate of public education by the State,-an idea in advance of the age in which he lived, and for that reason impossible to be realized until he had passed from among men. He was one of the original subscri- bers to, and mainly instrumental in founding, the Nash- ville Female Academy.

He was a man of imposing appearance, affable man- ners, and easily won the confidence of his associates. His disposition was retiring, and he was with difficulty induced to accept any position of prominence. From . the impression made on his contemporaries, he was one of those whose character is greater than the deeds they are called to perform, who appear to be superior to the scenes in which they act, and impress us with a sense of power not exerted to its fullest extent. He died March 17, 1830, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

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CITY OF NASHVILLE.

Childress, Thomas J. Read, John Childress, Elihu S. Hall, Robert Searcy, David Irwin, James Porter, John Nichol, John P. Erwin, Willie Barrow, Felix Grundy, George M. Deaderick, John C. Mclemore, Robert Weakley, Robert White.

. In the charter which immediately followed these names were added with the above, being " the original stock holders of the Nashville Female Academy," M. C. Dunn, Joel Lewis, John Stump, Eli Talbot, John H. Smith, Andrew Hynes, Thomas Crutcher, Thomas Hill, Wash. L. Hannum, Thomas H. Fletcher, James Roane, Thomas Williamson, John Williamson, John Harding, Alpha Kingsley, Alex. Porter, Thomas Ramsey, Christopher Stump, David Vaughn, G. G. Washington, N. B. Tryor, Alfred Balch, George A. Bedford, Matthew Barrow.

It is greatly to the honor of Nashville that her citizens were the first in the United States appreciating the sep- arateness and the importance of female education enough to demand an institution chartered for that special purpose, and it is to the credit of the above-named gentlemen that they used their money and their influence at that early day thus to dignify female education.

Dr. Daniel Berry and lady were the first teachers, and at the end of the first year there were sixty-five students. At the end of the third year, July, 1819, Dr. Daniel Berry and lady withdrew, and the Rev. William Hume, of precious memory, became president, and continued down to his death, of the cholera, in May, 1833. The day of his funeral is said to have been the saddest day Nashville ever felt.

. Thereupon, Dr. R. A. Lapsley became principal, and . continued to 1838, when, on account of bad health, he de- clined, and the Rev. W. A. Scott became the principal, and continued to 1840, when the Rev. C. D. Elliott and Dr. R. A. Lapsley became the joint principals. Dr. Lapsley soon after declining, C. D. Elliott became sole principal of all departments, and so continued to the legal, in 1877, and in fact end of the Nashville Female Academy.

The Rev. C. D. Elliott was first employed in 1839 by the trustees of the institution to teach one of the academic or lower classes.

The first steward, or keeper of the boarding-house, was Mr. Benjamin J. Harrison. In 1821, Mrs. Rhoda Boyd became stewardess, in 1824 Mr. John Hall, in 1828 Mr. Sterling Brewer, in 1829 Mr. J. T. Rawlings, and in the same year Mr. Henry Hagan, and also in the same year Mr. Matthew Quinn, and then Mrs. Rhoda Hall; in 1840 Mr. W. G. Massey, and after him Mr. A. Winbourne until, in 1843, the boarding-house came into the hands of the Rev. R .. A. Lapsley and C. D. Elliott. Up to this time pupils boarded in the city, and Mrs. - Temple, where now the tax-office is, and Mrs. Rhoda Hall, on Spruce Street, had the largest number of boarders.

The records show close attention on the part of the trus- tees, and great success, before the date of the following table.

This table, with the references, will place upon record the history of the academy for the last generation, as it is still in the memory of its living patrons and loving pupils :

Annual

Ornamental

Session.

Year.

Pupils.

Boarders.

Pupils. Teachers. Graduates.

1840

198

...

1841

182

1843

153

1844

194

31.

1845

175

1846

195

. 63

1847

200

.91

1848

258

**: 62

100

: 33

1849

217

130

1850

305

153

1851

336

190

1852

310

224

1853

316

120

372

1854

367

138

455

1855

363

131

440

1856

371

172

536

1857

420

191

563

1858

432

225

537

1859

501

243

590

1860

513

256

593

1861

325

164

375

1862-65*

1866

267

113

247

" Pupils" includes both day and boarding students. One young lady might be two or more "ornamental" pupils. Many of these " graduates" had been pupils in the academy for ten years. All averaged six years in the academy.

The exercises during this year (1866)-the last year in fact-were conducted in buildings on Broad Street, though all in the name of the trustees of the Nashville Female Academy. At the close of this year (in June, 1866) it was announced that the exercises of the Nashville Female Academy could not be resumed according to promise, the United States government still occupying those buildings and there being certain lawsuits pending, the result of which should be reached before the work of the academy could be resumed.

See bill in chancery in July, 1865, John Trimble, Rus- sel Houston, W. T. Berry, and others seeking to displace C. D. Elliott because he had been a rebel. See also bills and answers, October, 1866, in which William R. Elliston, John M. Bass, A. L. P. Green, and others seck to annul the contract which continued C. D. Elliott in the control of the academy to the year 1878, as he had been before the war, that they might sell the property and divide the profits among the stockholders, Elliott seeking to re-estab- lish the academy as before the war or some return for the more than one hundred and forty-three thousand dollars ($143,000) by him placed in the grounds and buildings during his connection with the academy. It was believed at the time that the result might be reached within one year. Yet only in 1877 the Supreme Court decided on all points against Elliott, and the property now in ruins ucar the Chattanooga depot waits the hammer of the auctioneer to be sold, and the profits divided among the stockholders and the speculators.

Everything relating to the "old academy" will be read with interest, not only in Davidson County, but in all parts of the South, but we have only the space for some of the characteristics on which its great reputation, both at home and abroad, was founded, the authority on which these statements are made being within reach of all who may inquire.

Music .- Seventeen of the teachers in this list were in

* The four years of war.

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1842

189

...

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

the music department. Many of these were imported from Paris, Milan, and elsewhere, and were indorsed to the academy by Count Cavour and others of high standing. By those who seemed to know, it was said that there was more classic music in Nashville than elsewhere in the United States, except in New York or in New Orleans.

Oil Painting .- This department, under Prof. Drury, of this city, was beginning to attract the attention of first-class artists in all parts of the United States, giving the promise to greatly honor Nashville as a home of culture and taste in all departments of fine art.

"Honor."-The pupils of the academy lived in an at- mosphere of " honor." All letters to them by mail were delivered into their own hands, and they by mail could send letters to whom they pleased. Correspondence was sacred. A " matron," knocking at a young lady's door, had to wait till asked " to come in." To charge a pupil with lying, stealing, or any dis- graceful act in the pres . ence of other pupils was forbidden to all the teachers. The use of personal violence of any kind by a teacher as a punishment was not allowed. It was a violation of personal and professional honor to receive from a pu- pil a present costing money. All these and many similar regula- tions were well known to all teachers and pupils in the academy. " Honor begat honor."

Health .- In Janu- ary, 1862, in its circu -. lar it was enabled to say, " But three deaths of pupils here in more than forty years. We have spent years at a time without a case of sickness serious enough to watch with through a night. Chills (originating here), cholera, scarlet or typhoid fever, or similar fatal diseases have never occurred here."

It is well known that for many years the daughters of some of the best-regulated families in the city found homes for years at the academy, so well known were all its rules and regulations, and such was the confidence reposed in those who managed the academy by those who knew most about that management.

As one of the results of this intelligent maternal care of the two hundred and fifty boarders in the academy in 1860, there was not one who was not in the enjoyment of a woman's perfect health.

It has been suggested that a treatise on the motto, " The early ripe early rot," so well remembered by those in charge of the health department of the academy, would do good in the boarding-schools of this day. Such a treatise would

describe these buildings; so little up and down stairs ; so great an extent of corridor and pavement ; its exercise-hall, one hundred and fifty by forty feet, and the use of dancing only for indoor recreation ; its acres of clean and shaded grass around these buildings; the food; the clothing; the social relations of all these pupils in the hands of a pe- culiar system of matronage, and these matrons in daily communication with honest and skillful doctors, -- all these and other similar facts would show the causes leading to the results in regard to health above stated.

Money .- The academy was the rich man's school, and, as its patronage was known to be the largest, it was also known to be the richest in the United States.

Five daughters of Masons, and also five of Odd-Fellows, and all daughters of ministers living by the ministry were, on application, admitted free. It was well known also to all laborers in all trades that their daughters would be admitted, and, unless called upon to pay in their labor, there would be no bill against them. There is not a bill made by a teacher or a boarding-pupil of the Nashville Female Academy in Nashville unpaid. It yet appears in the papers in the Chancery Court that in 1860 the net profit to C. D. Elliott was over twenty-five thou- sand dollars a year.

NASHVILLE FEMALE ACADEMY. (View from the southwest.)

Its Patriotism and Piety .- Its reception of Gen. La Fayette in 1825, its gift of a flag in 1846 to the First Regiment of Mexican Volunteers, its presen- tation in June, 1861, of a flag to the First Regiment of Confederate Volunteers, were great days in Nashville.

Though abused for its dancing, yet such great and good men as Drs. Edgar and Howell in their day, both in public and in private, bore witness to the deep but unostentatious religious sentiment of its pupils, and thousands of those pupils yet live, in glowing words to talk of the "Old Academy."

The Nashville Female Academy yet lives. Its pupils and the children of its pupils oft recall to their minds the " old academy" with unmingled pleasure.

No runaway matches, no entangling love affairs, no stain-spot of scandal, no evil of any kind, ever befell any of its pupils. No patron, or parent, or pupil with a pain or a blush recalls any incident in its long and prosperous career.

Perhaps the wife of a prominent Methodist preacher, long a pupil, and who had given the subject close atten- tion, said the most in the fewest words : " We there were taught and required to practice self-denial all the time, and

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CITY OF NASHVILLE.

yet hilarity, joyousness, and gladness were all around us at all times."

Be the cause what it may, the Nashville Female Academy, in its "teachings, in its prayers, and in its mottoes," lives to-day in thousands of Southern homes, made brighter and happier and holier because the mother once dwelt within these well-remembered walls, and once heard the principal at the hour of dismission say, " The good angels take care of you."

DR. DANIEL BERRY was born in Andover, Mass., in 1777 ; graduated at Cambridge in 1806, and as a doctor of medicine, in Boston, in 1807. Judge Story was a particular friend of Dr. Berry's, and by Felix Grundy recommended him to the trustees of the academy. Leaving the academy in 1819, he went first to Florence, in Alabama, then to Russellville, Ky., then to Gallatin, and then, in 1827, he began his " Elmwood Academy" here in Nashville. On account of declining health, he closed that in 1845. He then removed to St. Louis, where he and his accomplished wife, ever his faithful helper as an educator, both died in 1851. They left but two daughters,-Mrs. R. K. Woods, of St. Louis, and Mrs. James Hamilton, of Nashville.

REV. WILLIAM HUME was born in Edinburgh in 1770, and educated in the university there. In 1800 he was or- duined and sent as a missionary to this country by the Secession Church. Arriving in Nashville, he began his labors at once, and never ceased up to his death, in 1833, though in 1818 he became a minister in the Presbyterian Church. He at an early day took a deep interest in educa- tion; was the popular professor of languages in the Cum- berland College before his call to the academy in 1819.

Personally, and as a minister and teacher, no man of the " olden time" has left any more honored name to his children than Father Hume. He was first cousin to Joseph Hume, the great English reformer, who preceded him a few years in the Edinburgh University. His father was nephew to David Hume, the great historian and philosopher. Though one was a doubter at least, and the other the very personification of simple faith, yet they strongly resembled each other in mental and moral characteristics.

REV. DR. LAPSLEY came to Nashville in 1833, being connected by marriage to the extensive and wealthy Woods family. In 1838 he engaged in mercantile affairs and failed. After his second separation from the academy he married Mrs. Allen, a lady of property and high social standing ; he then for years conducted the Carthage Female Academy, iu Smith County. Coming to Nashville, he es- tablished a female school, which continued to the war. Dr. Lapsley was the beloved pastor of the Second Church, in this city, from 1845 to 1858. Becoming a widower, he married the widow of Dr. Philip Lindsley, in New Albany, where he died in 1873, esteemed and honored by all who had known him.

REV. W. A. SCOTT was educated in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and was a minister in that church when called to the presidency of the academy. Whilst there he joined the Old Presbyterian Church, and was soon called to one of their largest congregations in New Orleans. He removed at au early day to California, and is at this time professor in the theological seminary of that church in

California. Mr. Scott married Miss Nicholson, at the time a very popular teacher in the academy.

REV. C. D. ELLIOTT was born in Butler Co., Ohio, in 1810. He was among the first graduates of Augusta College, Kentucky, the first college established by the Methodist Church, since discontinued. He removed im- mediately to La Grange College, in Alabama, and after being professor of languages, and then of mathematics and the natural sciences, removed to Nashville in 1839. In conse- quence of dancing in the Nashville Female Academy he at one time withdrew from the Methodist Church, but, the matter being settled, he is now a local preacher in that church, and at this time, by appointment of the Governor, chaplain to the penitentiary.

Dr. Elliott married Miss Porterfield, who was by the Halls and the Morgans connected with the first settler of Tennessee. He is living in Nashville in vigorous health of mind and body.

WARD'S SEMINARY.

W. E. Ward's Seminary for Young Ladies, another insti- tution of Nashville, is worthy of more than a passing notice. Having been in successful operation for more than fourteen years, it has become one of the leading institutions of the State. It is to the South and Southwest what Mount Holyoke Seminary is to the North and Northeast. It has spacious buildings located in the centre of the city, and has all the advantages of churches. The course of study embraces five years. It has musical and art departments of the best standing, and great attention is paid to health and physical culture. The expenses at this institution are reasonable, and its thousands of patrons are among the most wide awake and progressive people of the country. Over five hundred have received the honors of graduation, and at present the outlook is more favorable than ever. Such a worthy institution is deserving of and will receive the patronage of a discriminating public.

Recently the seminary has been enlarged by the erection of the south wing, an imposing building, four stories high above the basement, built of brick and stone, and contain- ing twenty rooms and a large calisthenic hall. This very nearly doubles the capacity of the school. The seminary has no endowment, but depends on yearly patronage. Its buildings and furniture cost seventy-five thousand dollars, and belong to the principal. The average attendance is two hundred and thirty.

DOCTOR BLACKIE'S SCHOOL FOR YOUNG LADIES

is located at 53 and 55 South Cherry Street, in the house built by Dr. Felix Robertson, the first white man born in Nashville. This institution has nearly completed its fifth year, and its steadily-increasing patronage is a proof that the principal has fulfilled his pledges to the public and has provided a first-class institution for the educa- tion of young ladies. The number of pupils, both board- ers and day-scholars, is limited, as each must have the per- sonal supervision of the principal. Dr. Blackie has been a successful teacher in this city since 1857, and fully two two thousand five hundred pupils have received the benefits of his instruction. He is a graduate of the universities

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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.

at Edinburgh and Bonn on the Rhine; was a student at the University of Paris, and carried off the highest medals and distinctions of these schools. His school outfit, museum, library, and apparatus are not surpassed by those

- of larger institutions. Mrs. Blackie, a great-granddaugh- ter of Gen. James Robertson, a lady of high culture and attainments, is associated with her husband in the care and management of this popular school for young ladies.

ACADEMY OF ST. CECILIA, FOR YOUNG LADIES.

This institution was founded in 1860 by six ladies, mem- bers of the St. Mary's Literary Institute, Perry Co., Ohio. It numbers at the present time over thirty teaching mem- bers, among whom are found able scholars in literature and mathematics, and artists whose productions have received high encomiums from able critics. Specimens of these may be seen in the grand hall of the academy.

The buildings stand upon an eminence north of the city of Nashville, overlooking the valley of the Cumberland River. For beauty of scenery, pure air, and healthfulness it is not surpassed by any institution in the North or in the South.

Sickness is almost unknown. Chalybeate water, constant in supply, is upon the lawn, and the purest white sulphur just outside the grounds. The wholesome country diet and facilities for out-door exercise offer peculiar advantages to pupils of a delicate constitution. The halls for study, mu- sical rehearsals, recitation, and dormitories are well venti- lated, having been constructed with a view of promoting the health and comfort of the pupils. A magnificent recrea- tion-hall on the first floor of the building affords the stu- dents cheerful exercise-calisthenics, marching, and dan- cing-when the weather is unfavorable for out-door ex- ercise.

The education of youth is the special calling of the Dominican Sisters ; to qualify themselves for this high duty is their constant aim. The academy refers with confidence for verification of its past efficiency to its many finished graduates and its pupils throughout the South. The course of instruction embraces all the usual requisites of a thorough and accomplished education, fitting the pupils for the high- est social circle or the office of teaching. The department of music, both vocal and instrumental, is superintended in the most able manner.

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History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 69

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1013

Author: Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1013