USA > Texas > Harrison County > History of Harrison County, Texas 1839 to 1880 > Part 4
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The course of study of this pioneer institution was both literary and scientific. That it was remarkable in some respects is indicated by the following advertise- ment :
The course of studies embraces all branches usually taught in the best in- stitutions in the South and West. A complete corps of teachers (male and female) has and will be provided, so that the strictest attention can be paid to all classes.
Deductions only made for protracted illness. Terms per session of five months (22 weeks).
Primary Department -- orthography, read- ing, writing, mental arithmetic, English, grammar, and some elementary lessons in geography, natural philosophy, physiology, and history. -- $10. 00.
26. Sketches Drawn from Marshall and Vicinity, p. 16.
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Junior class -- English grammar, geography, arithmetic, completed, natural philosophy, botany, geology, mythology, and history. -- $15. 00.
Middle class __ Rhetoric, logic, moral science, mental philosophy, evidences of Christianity, political and domestic economy, astronomy, algebra, and ancient and modern languages. -- $20. 00.
Senior class __ Ancient and modern lan- guages completed, geometry, trigonometry, and a review of former studies. -.. $25. 00.
Composition throughout the course. Extra -- incidental expenses -- $1. 00.
Drawing, painting, embroidery, and wax work. -- $10. 00.
Instrumental music. __ $20.00.
Tuition payable at the end of each session.
Boarding can be had in private families convenient to the institution at $7.00 per month.
W. R. D. Ward, President Board of Trustees. 27 The Texas Republican and the Minutes of the Trustees of Marshall University give a fairly complete history of this institution. On the whole, the school was a success, turning out from its doors some of the great leaders of Texas history. Dr. Oscar H. Cooper, later state superintendent of public instruction, and now head of the department of education in Simmons University, and United States Senator Charles A. Cul_ berson, were the most distinguished. The school continu- ed in existence from 1843 until 1884, with the possible
27. Texas Republican, July 13, 1850.
exception of the four years of the Civil War. On January 8, 1866 the institution again opened its doors under the presidency of Colonel F. S. Bass, a former president. He was assisted by only one teacher, W. P. Hudgins. 28
In the meantime, several schools of lesser importance seem to have been established. In August, 1865, at least three such schools were in existence in Marshall. One of these, taught by John Pierce, was housed in the old Methodist Church building and was not co-educational. A Mrs. Rainey and a Mrs. Young were the teachers of the other schools. 29
In 1884, Marshall University came to an end and was succeeded by the Marshall free public school system. On July 24, 1895 the board of trustees of Marshall University leased the land and buildings belonging to this in- stitution to the board of trustees of the Marshall free public schools. The lease was to last for thirty years, the only condition being that a good school for white children only had to be maintained and the houses kept in repair. The lease was renewable. 30
On May 29, 1910, a deed to this property was made to the board of education of the Marshall public schools to be used for high school purposes. The condition was
28. Behn, "The Athens of Texas", Marshall News-Messenger, July, 21, 1929.
29. Texas Republican, August 12, 1865.
. 30. Minutes of Trustees of Marshall University, p. 31.
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that a high school building, in which only white children were to be taught subjects "purely literary, scientific, and industrial," was to be erected on the site. 31
In 1924 the old Marshall University building, which had, up until this date, been used for a high school, was torn down, and a new modern building erected in its place.
The old Fort Crawford school and the Marshall University have been dealt with at length because they represent types of pioneer schools in the county. One was rural and did no high school work; the other was urban, better housed, better equipped, better taught, and represented higher education. There were of course, other schools in the county at the time. In 1850, there were sixteen schools taught by sixteen teachers, and having a total enrollment of 416. None of this number were negroes. The total cost of operating these schools was $1, 040.32 The population of Harrison County at that time was only 5,608
33 whites. That means that approximately eight per cent of the total white population was in school. This is not a poor showing when one takes into consideration that the county had been created only eleven years before. There were at this time only 132 white illiterates. 34 This is slightly over two per cent of the total population. Allowing for a possible
31. Harrison County Deed Records, Book 71, p. 427.
32. Seventh Census of the United States Population, trans- cript of record obtained from Census Bureau.
33. Idem.
34. Idem.
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error due to incomplete information, these figures would seem to indicate that the pioneers of this county were, on the whole, above the average in intelligence. In 1910, the total population of the county was 37,243. 35 Out of this number 1, 922 or 22.4 percent were illiterates. This, of course, includes the great negro population of the county and is by no means a fair comparison. The per- centage of white illiterates for that year was placed at 2.9 per cent. The excellent public school system of the county has since then materially reduced the illiteracy among the negro and the white population.
Schools at this early period were poorly equipped. Maps, globes, charts and libraries were not to be found. In fact, in 1850 there were only four libraries in the county, one a public library, with a circulation of 100 volumes, and the other three, Sunday School libraries, with a combined circulation of 1,100 volumes. None of the schools had a library . 36 If this is compared with the present conditions when every school, no matter how small, has its library meeting state requirements, one will have some idea of the progress of the schools in the county since 1850.
In contrast to their interest in providing educational opportunities for white children the southerner was never
35. Thirteenth Census of the United States, Population and Statistics, p. 623.
36. Seventh Census of the United States, Population and Statistics, p. 521.
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enthusiastic for the education of the negro. It was not altogether a selfish feeling that dominated the slavo owner in this matter; he simply felt that the negro slave did not need an education, for not only would an education fail to help him to do the kind of work that he was called upon to do, but it would at the same time cause him to be dissatisfied with his lot and bring trouble to himself and his master. It is certain, however, that a great many slaves in the county were taught to read and write. 37 This is particularly true on the better plantations. After the war and reconstruction, the whites of the county were too bitter to care what became of the negro, so any progress that he made toward education was in spite of the southern whites rather than by their help. Some light is thrown on the situation by a letter from H. B. Pemberton, colored principal of the Marshall negro schools:
Before the smoke of battle from the Civil War had cleared away, there were sympathetic., Christian people who wanted to help the negro . to secure the rudiments of an education; so these good people set about establishing private and free schools in Texas. One re-
deeming thing can be said of the "carpet baggers", they were the founders of the free public school system of the South. The first schools for the negros were started in 1866 or 1867. Among the first teachers may be mentioned S. H. Smouthers and Rev. William Massey, who taught in what was then known as the "Old League House" on the north side of the city. Then followed James Price and John Anderson, who conducted schools near where Wiley College now stands. The
37. Texas Republican, July 21, 1866.
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attendance of these schools was from 150 to 200 pupils, ranging in grades from the kinder-garten to the fourth grade. A fourth grade pupil in those days was considered quite well educated.38
Pemberton's estimate as to the date of the first negro school in the county coincides with the date given by a Marshall newspaper which makes mention of 0. T. Baker, a government teacher, assisted by a black man, as conducting a school for the negro. To quote from this article: We are informed that it numbers 150 scholars; average attendance 125. The Sabbath schools number 504. Seventeen freed people who are able to read and write, assist in teaching the Sunday School scholars. During the existence of slavery, many of the blacks were taught to read and thousands were brought under the influence of the Gospel and religious instruction. 39
According to Pemberton, the freed men and women were
anxious to be introduced into the mysteries of an education:
Just after the War ... , it was a common sight to see old men and women, between fifty and sixty years of age, with their spelling book and slate under their arm, often in company with their children and even grand children eager to learn. They were right along in the same classes as their children, and often received instruction from them. It was their one great desire to be able to read the Bible and give out hymns from the hymn book. They most literally devoured their books. They were docile, easily controled, and never resentful, even submitting to corporal punishment, if that would satisfy
38. Quoted in Lagrone, C. W., History of Negro Education in Marshall, a thesis (M.A. ) Southern Methodist University, 1927. Pemberton is one of the outstanding negro educators of this section of the state. He has held his present position for thirty-eight years and has been connected with the city school system for the colored for forty-five years. 39. Texas Republican, July 21, 1866
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the teacher in case of a poor lesson. The question of weather, inconvenience, and even sacrifice never daunted them in their zeal. for learning. Nothing was too good to pay the teacher, corn, sweet potatoes, eggs, butter, rabbits, and even persimmons were offered. Quite a few thought at first that education was a thing that could be bought and not obtained by hard study; so many of them would come to the teachers offering all manner of things as the price for an education for their chil- dren. Many former slaves had learned to read and write from their little masters . and mistresses and later became teachers and preachers to their race. 40
Religious interests .-- At the same time that the in- terest was being shown in the development of educational opportunities, a similar one was taking place in con- nection with religious interests. Harrison County, like other frontiers, had its rough characters. This was particularly true during the first few years of its existence, before it had gotten rid of the refuse of the "neutral ground days". Little information is available as to the religion of the very earliest settlers of the county. It is safe to say that most of them were God- fearing men and women who had little time or opportunity for the exercise of their religion. Around 1850, more is known, and we find the people actually boasting of the strength of the pulpit in the county. The first preacher in Harrison County was Reverend J. M. Baker of the Methodist Church, 41 who was living in the county at /
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40. Lagrone, op. cit.
41. French, The American Sketch Book, II, 276.
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at the time of its organization. Soon after this, Rev. Burke, another Methodist, visited Marshall and preached to the people. In 1845, a Methodist conference was held in Marshall, presided over by Marshall Sole.
Although the Methodists were the first in the field, they were closely followed by the Baptists. In 1850, there were 11 churches in the county, 7 Methodist and 4 Baptist. No other denomination had an organized con- gregation at this time. The seven Methodist churches were valued a $2,450 with a combined seating capacity of 2,050; the four Baptist churches were valued at $4,900 and had a combined seating capacity of 1, 450. 42 But the
Methodists and Baptists did not long have the field to themselves. By 1860 other churches had made their appear- ance -- the Christian, the Cumberland Presbyterian, and the Episcopal. In all, there were twenty four churches in the County . 43 The only other religious denominations to hold services in the county before 1880 were the Jews, who did not organize, however, until 1887, but met in private homes for worship, and the Catholics, who built their first church in Marshall in 1875. 44
However indifferent the earlier settlers of the county might have been in the matter of religion, they
42. Statistics of the United States, 1850, p. 522 f.
43. Eighth Census of the United States, Mortality and Miscellaneous Statistics, p. 472 f.
44. Sketches of Marshall and Vicinity, p. 54.
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made up for lost time once the churches began in earnest to convert them. After 1850, perhaps the greatest single event in the life of a majority of its people was the annual camp meeting held in different parts of the county. The camp meeting served two purposes, religious and social. In those early days the county was not thickly settled with the result that one might live for days at the time without seeing anyone other than members of his own family. The camp meeting filled a necessary gap in the lives of these early settlers; it afforded them an opportunity to get together and talk over matters with their neighbors.
The meeting was held under a brush arbor. About a week before the opening day, the men and boys of the neighborhood would gather at the place, cut and haul the brush, and build the arbor. After it had been patched to the satisfaction of all, straw would be brought on wagons and scattered on the dirt floor. Later, saw dust was used. In those days men got down on their knees when petitioning the Almighty, not only the one leading the prayer, but often many others as well, so the straw served both as a cushion to the knee and to prevent the soiling of trousers. Before the altar, on each side of which was a "mourner's bench", an extra thickness was placed, as this was the part of the arbor that was most used.
The meeting usually began on a Friday night and lasted ten days. In the meantime, little brush "shanties"
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and tents have been erected in the grove about the arbor, and in the afternoon before the opening night the people begin to arrive. They come on foot and on horseback, riding single or double, on carts and wagons loaded with bedding, cooking utensils, and children. Dogs have not been invited, but they come just the same, and take great pleasure in making themselves as noisy as possible. By middle afternoon, the camp begins to assume the appear- ance of a picnic on a large scale. Horses neigh as new comers arrive; dogs bark, babies cry, children shout and play, and a hum of good-natured conversation, inquires, and greetings may be heard on all sides.
When the time comes for the people to assemble, a toot or a blast on a horn summons the scattered people together. Slowly, they come from different points, sometimes bringing rifles with them, which they lean against the trees. A dog fight or two is settled, the children are given one last drink, then all gather, seat themselves on the rough board seats and the meeting is ready to begin. The preacher rises, his head sometimes almost reaching into the branches of the arbor, and begins in his sonorous voice to line out some old familiar hymn ... thus the long looked for camp meeting begins.
About Sunday night the meeting usually got into full swing and mourners were called for. Sometimes they were slow in responding to the call; at other times the altar would be full. This all depended upon the eloquence of
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the preacher and the hardness of the congregation. When the mourners had all assembled, a call went out to all of the Christains in the congregation to assemble in the altar "to drive Old Satan out." Up they came and some- times there were as many as a dozen praying at the same time, loudest of all was the cry of the sinners who shout- ed for mercy and forgiveness. Now and then some sinner would arise from the straw and shout that his sins had been forgiven, and then the rejoicing was great. Some- times there were as many as a half dozen shouting at the same time. When these ceased, someone else would start. The person who could shout the loudest, longest, and oftenest was supposed to have the most religion. They called this "getting happy". In those days people did not have much confidence in the new convert until he had gone by the way of the mourner's bench to the altar and publicly proclaimed that his sins had been forgiven. Preachers did not call for sinners to join the church; they called for them to come to the mourner's bench, and when they answered the call, they were prayed for on bended knee until they professed, , or until the late- ness of the hour drove everybody to their tents or shacks. It was easy to tell from physical evidences, the ones who had professed religion, and if a person asked to be admit- ted into the fold upon a simple statement that he felt that he was saved, he was looked upon with suspicion the rest of his life by his brothers.
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When the last Sunday night had come and the congrega- tion had sung "God Be With You 'till We Meet Again", there was a feeling that there had been a great spiritual uplift among the people who had attended the meeting. Even so, all went home with aching hearts, for the long looked for camp meeting was at an end and all must now return to their regular tasks.
In spite of these emotional manifestations of re- ligious fervor, moral conditions in the frontier com- munity were not always ideal. The people of the East were often shocked at the seeming irreligion and barbarism of the West. However, when one takes into consideration the fact that settlers always precede schools, churches, and the law, such a condition is to be expected. A certain amount of time is needed for an adjustment. Even at that, conditions in the West were not always as bad as they were pictured by those who judged entirely from outside appearance. After 1850, social and moral conditions improved rapidly in the county until they soon compared favorably with those on other frontiers. The American Sketch Book has the following to say concerning this period of history in Harrison County:
After 1850, the county filled up with a good class of people exhibiting energy and enterprise in all departments of life to such a degree in wealth and refinement that at the beginning of the war between the states, it was the wealthiest county in the state. Intelligence prevailed, refinement shown in every circle; and
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hospitality greeted the stranger on every threshold.
In another place the Sketch Book refers to the society of the city of Marshall and of the county as being chaste and cultivated, and having acquired all the modern accomplishments that characterize refined society in other cities and states. "The population," it goes on to say, "is made up of the better class of population from the older states, ... and possesses all of those essential qualities of modesty, virtue, education, re- spect for religion, and the laws of the country, that give tone and character to society everywhere. . . 46.
The East Texas Immigration Society makes the follow- ing assertions as to the social and moral conditions in the county:
There is no one thing in which the Eastern man is more deceived by misrepresenta- tion than the state of society in Texas. We are not outlaws, cutthroats, or thieves. We are social, clever, and sober. Our country may be favorably compared with any southern or eastern state east of the Mississippi River. We have schools and churches all over the county and in every village. Our own village is a fair standard of Harrison County towns. We have three dry goods stores, one physician, and one school of from fifty to eighty pupils, a Masonic Lodge of about fifty members, a lodge of Good Templars of over thirty members, two wood and two smith shops, one shoe and boot maker, and one boarding house. We have no barroom, nor even a whiskey shop. No one
45. The American Sketch Book, Vol. II, p. 225. 46. Ibid., p. 227.
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has been murdered on our streets in years. No one is seen with a bowie knife or pistol on our streets or in our county except travel- ers, who sometimes bear such articles on the highways. Our people are not addicted to political bickering. We do not ask strangers of their politics or religion, but take them 47 to our homes and churches and bid them welcome.
Prices .-- In this day of high prices, one sometimes wishes that he could go back to "the good old days" when a pair of good shoes cost only $2.50 and the best suit of clothes only $12.50, or at most $15.00. However, if records are true, such prices did not prevail in pioneer Harrison County. In 1843, George W. Hakley sued a debtor 1 for an unpaid bill. The itemized statement of the account as brought before the court showed the following items and prices : 48
2 box of cigars $4.00
1 plug of tobacco- 2.30
1 pair of gloves and a blank book -. 3.00
10 pounds of sugar 2.00
15 pounds of bacon- 3.75
2 bottles of whiskey- 2.00
There were a few other items and a repetition several times of those included above, especially tobacco and whiskey. However, in comparing these prices with those of today, one is forced to confess that whiskey is the only commodity on the list that sold more cheaply .
The East Texas Immigration Society offers the follow- ing figures as to prices in 1873:
47. Texas Almanac, 1873, p. 100.
48. Harrison County District Court Record, Minutes A, p. 45.
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Board in our towns cost from $15.00 to $20.00 per month; in the country it costs around ten dollars. Good Texas flour now costs 4g a pound at the mills, say from 75 to 100 miles northwest of Harrison County. We use St. Louis flour; good family brands range from $8.00 to $12.00 per barrel; bacon, say about twelve per cent above Cincinnati quotations; corn generally brings $1.00, gold, per bushel; washing costs from $1.00 to $2.00 per dozen pieces; chickens from 15% to 25% each; butter, 122% to 25% per pound; milch cows, with calves, from $10.00 to $20.00 per head; goats, from $1.00 to $2.00 per head; sheap, the same; beef cattle, from $5.00 to $8.00 per head;o work horses, from $50.00 to $150.00 each.
Riddell's Guide to immigrants makes the following quotations:
Beef, 2g to 3g a pound Pork, 4g to 6g a pound
Corn, 50g to 75g a bushel
Flour, $6.00 to 39.00 a barrel Butter, 10g to 25g a pound
Lard, 10% to 15g a pound Potatoes, 50¢ to 75, a bushel
Coffee, 18g to 22g a pound
Syrup, 40g to 75g a gallon Milch Cows $12.00 to $15.00
head
Hogs, 31.50 to $2.00 a head'
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The above quotations are substantially the same. Prices for those times do look low and they were for certain articles, but careful analysis will show that the prices were low only on those articles produced on the Harrison County farm. The pioneer farmer raised practically all of his food, except his coffee, flour, and sugar, but the prices then on thesethree articles were as high or higher
49. Texas Almanac, 1873, p. 100.
50. Riddell, C. L., "Guide to Immigrants." Texas Almanac, 1860, p. 60.
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than the same sell for now. 51 The earliest available estimate of wages in Harrison County is for the year 1850. 52
Average monthly wages to farm hand with board is $10.00. Average to a day laborer without board is $1.00 per day. Average to a day laborer with. board is 75g per day. Average daily wages to a carpenter without board is $2.25. Weekly wages to a female domestic with board is $3.00. Price of board to laboring men per week is $1.25.
By 1860 the reports show that wages had increased. 53
Average monthly wages for a farm hand with board is $15.00 Average to day laborer with board is $1.00 per day. Average to day laborer without board is $1.50 per day. Average daily wages to carpenter without board is $2.50. Price of board to laboring men per week is $3.00. 1
As is noticeable, the price of labor is rather low. There was little demand for free labor because of the use of slaves. As was to be expected the price of labor went up after the war. According to the Texas Immigration Society, good farm hands received from $18.00 to $35.00 per month, with board, lodging, and washing free." e.54 That is about the amount paid today in Harrison County. Mechanics got from one to five dollars a day, depending upon their skill and the nature of the work; teachers got from $40.00 to $100.00 per month; good salesmen got from $300.00 to $500.00 per year and board.
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