USA > Virginia > Tazewell County > Tazewell County > Annals of Tazewell County, Virginia from 1800 to 1922 > Part 29
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When speaking of the loss attending home manufactures I have been more than once told, that "this kind of work is done by women when they could do nothing else." To such, I again say, if I have made a correct state- ment, they had better cease labor. Beside, I have yet to find a woman who can do nothing else but weave and spin. Why send our children to school, if their mothers have time to educate them? We should at least save tuition fee. Let the education of our youths be intrusted to women, and I venture to affirm, that they will become as learned and pious, as under the instruc ยป tion of men. Woman is eminently qualified to instill christianity in the plastic minds of children; and her very nature fits her to enter into the sympathies of childhood, when men disregard them. It is time that the yardstick, tapestring, and rule, be transferred into their hands, and the masculine part of the race betake themselves to pursuits more manly, and better calculated to develop the talents God has given them.
I would not be called an advocate for petticoat government, but I would make woman my equal and restore to her, her natural rights. I would have her share, in common with man, the business transactions of life, and thus afford her fields of labor in which to develop her god-like faculties. To see a feminine, soft-handed man measuring lace, while a rosy-cheeked girl is chopping wood to make him a fire, induces me to think man has forgotten from whence he sprung.
CHAPTER X.
EDUCATION.
The following article is the substance of a report made by Mr. Rufus Brittain, a competent teacher of this county, to the Jeffersonville Histori- cal Society. It is so true that no apology is needed here for inserting it. I presume that few will be found who will dissent from his opinions. Yet, I fear, few there are, as ready to act as Mr. Brittain. A thousand reasons might be adduced for properly educating the children of this county, and from signs now becoming visible, it is to be hoped that many years will not elapse before Tazewell will be ranked foremost in this best of causes. To properly educate the children of the county between the ages of six and twenty years, we need upward of seventy schoolhouses. We have now about fifteen, which are better suited for barns than seats of learning.
The increased interest now manifesting itself for the cause of popular education, is mostly among the younger persons. The present generation must pass away before we can expect a general diffusion of knowledge.
Mr. Brittain says:
"This cause, so important to the best interest of every well-regulated community, has not heretofore, in this section, received that attention it deserves: and as a natural consequence of this neglect, we find the county sadly deficient in the means of training up the children of her citizens for stations of honor and usefulness.
"By the returns of the last census, it is found that out of 3,317 persons in the county over twenty-one years of age, 1,490 are unable to read and write. This is indeed a deplorable picture of the intelligence of our county, and might well cause every intelligent man in it to blush with shame, were it not that we find some excuse for this ignorance when we consider the situation of the greater portion of our population, scattered as it is over a wide extent of country, and laboring under great disadvantages for main- taining schools.
"The early settlers of this region had many difficulties to encounter in their efforts to procure homes for themselves and their children, and too frequently education appears to have been of but secondary importance in their estimation. Yet primary schools of some sort seem to have been maintained from an early date after its settlement, in those neighborhoods wh ere children were sufficiently numerous to make up a school, and parents were able and willing to support a teacher. Instances, also, have not been wanting where families not situated so as to unite conveniently with others, yet appreciating the advantages of a good school, have em- ployed teachers to instruct their children at home, and thus afforded them privileges of which the children of their less enlightened neighbors were deprived. But of later years, since portions of the county have
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become more densely populated, and in various ways much improved, the cause of education here has not kept pace with that improvement, for even in those parts of the county best able to maintain schools, no per- manent provision has been made for their continuance: and in those schools that generally have been best supported, long intervals between sessions so frequently occur, that pupils forget much of what they had acquired during their attendance; and thus the little time spent by many in schools is spent under the greatest disadvantage for the proper development of their intellectual faculties. Teachers, as might be supposed, under these cir- cumstances, together with the fact that their compensation is usually very moderate, are often incompetent for the task they have assumed, both as respects talents and acquired qualifications. And though under these circumstances good teachers are sometimes obtained, yet most generally in such cases the office is only assumed as an available stepping-stone to some other and more profitable pursuit. Indeed, it would be unreasonable to expect persons to prepare themselves for the proper discharge of the onerous duties of a primary school-teacher, unless they hoped to receive some adequate reward for their services.
"Now in consideration of the state of our schools, and the deplorable ignorance in which the children of our county are in danger of growing up, it must be evident to all who think properly on this subject, that we need to adopt and carry out some effcient school system, by means of which, our schools shall be made more permanent, and sufficient inducements be held out to command and retain the services of competent and well qualified teachers: and that the means of a good primary education be brought within the reach of every child in the community, and for those who desire it and excel in the branches taught in primary schools, that opportunities be afford- ed to acquire a knowledge of the higher branches of a good English and scientific education.
"These important objects, our schools, as now conducted, fail to ac- complish, and the state school-fund for the education of indigent children, is in a great measure wasted, as by its regulations, it must depend chiefly on the schools as they now exist.
"But the legislature of the state has provided a Free School System, which if adopted and carried out with proper energy and in an enlightened manner, these noble objects, in a great measure, might be attained. In order to its adoption the law requires a vote in its favor of two-thirds of the legal votes of the adopting district or county. Such a vote, we fear, could not be obtained here, until some effort is made to enlighten our citizens on the subject of education and school systems; and show them the advant- ages that would accrue to themselves and their children by having the latter furnished with the proper means of moral and intellectual culture. There would also be a variety of difficulties to encounter in the execution of this Free School System. In some portions of the county the population is quite sparse, and a sufficient number of children could not be included with- in a convenient school district. This difficulty, however, has no remedy under our present method of keeping up the schools, unless families thus isolated are able to employ teachers to instruct their children at home.
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But if schools were established in these thinly-settled districts, by taking in boundaries large enough to furnish a sufficient number of children to each, and some efforts made to overcome the inconvenience of a distant school, by conveying the children to and from school in such manner as could best be provided: the mere fact of a good school being kept up, would be a new induceement for persons to emigrate to those districts, and in a few years the population would so much increase that a school could be made up within convenient bounds. This system, also, being chiefly dependent on funds raised for its support by taxation, might meet with great opposition from those who have a higher appreciation of the value of money than they have of intelligence; and again, others who are possessed of large amounts of taxable property and few or no children to send to school, may think it op- pressive, unless convinced that it is the duty of every state or community to educate, or furnish the means to educate, the children of its citizens. In a republican government like ours, the permanence of which evidently depends on the virtue and intelligence of its citizens, it might be deemed unnecessary to demonstrate the importance of every child being properly instructed and furnished with the means of acquiring that knowledge which will fit him to perform the duties incumbent on a citizen of a free and enlightened country. Yet there are too many who are slow to perceive or acknowledge the importance of good schools, and the necessity of being at some trouble and expense to keep them up. Hence all patriotic and intelligent members of the community who have tasted the blessing of an education, or felt the want of one, should co-operate with each other, and use their influence for the improvement of our schools, and the increase of the virtue and intelligence of our citizens."
CHAPTER XI.
SLAVERY IN TAZEWELL.
Did my limits admit it, I should enter into a lengthy detail of this in- stitution as it exists in this county. This institution has long been de- nounced by the northern presses, and generally, greatly misrepresented. It has been contended that the slaves of the south are barbarously treated, ill-fed, poorly clothed, worked hard, and kept in ignorance. These as- sertions are not true, and the every-day experience of any southern man will bear me out in the declaration. True it is, that a few masters are tyran- nical, but these are altogether exceptions, and should not be looked on as a necessary feature of the institution. These calumnies have been heaped upon us by men, many of whom, have seen but few or no slaves, and are con- sequently ignorant of the real state of slavery in the south.
They have been borne with a patience, which at once portrays the magnanimity, and patriotic devotedness of southern men to the Union. A few irascible politicians have cried out dissolution and secession, but the feeling has never been general in the south, nor is it likely to be, if the general government continues to carry out the designs of the constitution. There are, it is known, many highly intellectual and virtuous citizens of the noth- ern states, as well as many respectable presses, who discountenance this abuse. It is generally the rabble, and foreigners, who keep up the excite- ment.
The insulting and degrading course of northern and western fanaties, has been the cause of introducing stricter discipline among the slaves. The ardent desires of abolitionists are thus rendered still more hopeless. Anti- slavery societies have, in a few instances, sent missionaries, under the guise of Christianity, to decoy off our slaves; and have sometimes been the means of causing the slaves to shed the blood of their masters, for which they will have to account in the day of general reckoning up. Were the people of the free states to come among us, and examine slavery as it really exists, they would no longer contenance the depredations of their fellow citizens; which, if not stopped, must ultimately result in a dissolution of the bonds of union, sealed by the blood of our fathers. Then civil war, and a total and merci- less extermination of the African race, with all its dire consequences, would inevitably follow. Southern character has been mistaken by northern men; let them inform themselves and assist us in our labors to make this nation, as it should be, the seat of freedom, industry, and religion. The slavery of the south, is infinitely preferable to the degrading, antirepublican slavery and bondage, and poverty, and misery of the north. Show me so great a slave as the northern factory girl. Show me in the kitchen, or negro hut of the southern planter, the misery, and poverty, and hunger, which is to be met with among the poor widows, and orphans, and free negroes of the
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north! Show me that southern master, who has ever refused his servant bread: for every one shown, I will show ten beggars in the streets of any northern city. But it is not my purpose to write a defense of this institution; I am, however, to record facts, and such are these.
The first slaves brought to this county, were purchased by the early settlers, with ginseng. They have increased, and others have been brought from the eastern part of the state. This species of property has not, how- ever, been found so valuable here, as in the cotton lands of the south. Hence it has been less sought after.
There were on the first of June, 1850, eleven hundred and sixteen colored persons in the county, of whom fifty-six were free negroes, leaving ten hund- red and sixty slaves, worth about five hundred and thirty thousand dollars.
They are well clothed, have often as good houses as their masters, work no harder, and have the same fare. They are generally trusty, and jealous of their honor. They are acquainted with the leading movements in the political world, are moral, and many read; few write, and their reading is mostly confined to the Bible. They converse well; have much tact and judgment, and often conduct the farming operations. They are generous, kind, and seem much devoted to their masters. Such are the slaves of Tazewell county.
And yet abolition societies send out men to persuade them to leave their homes of peace and plenty, where want and care are unknown, and make their way to free states, where they are really less respected, and where hunger, cold and nakedness ever await them. To the northern fanatics I would say, as the great Master said: "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?"
CHAPTER XII.
AGRICULTURE.
As I am writing for the information of the people of the county, most of whom are farmers, I trust I shall be forgiven if I am apparently verbose on this most interesting of subjects. The historian, I believe, is an annalist, with the privilege of giving his own opinion upon matters of which he writes. Of this latter license I shall avail myself, and hope I shall not entirely fail to interest.
Since by the labors of the husbandman we all live, either directly or indirectly, and upon the productive energy of the soil does not only our own existence but that of every animated creature upon the face of the earth de- pend, I shall not be accused of a stretch of the imagination, if I say, that mankind could better afford to give up every art and science than that of tilling the soil. Nor is it in the power of any man to picture the distresses which would follow a single failure of the earth to "bring forth." Scarcely a man will be found who would deny the above inferences; yet it will be equally as hard to find one who seems to appreciate the great necessity of renovating the soil, and bestowing agricultural educations upon her people.
I care not how viewed, whether in a political, religious, civil, useful, or physical light, all other arts are subservient to this; and none so worthy of our attention. I verily believe that the very existence and perpetuation of our Republic depends upon the successful cultivation of the soil. There is a moralizing influence attending the labors of the farmer, to be found no- where else. No occupation that has yet appeared or been followed among men, seems so well calculated to develop the mind, or foster the principles of virtue as this. In order to the successful cultivation of the ground, a general knowledge of many of the arts and sciences is necessary. To develop the physical powers, and insure a healthy body, and a consequent healthy mind, agriculture seems peculiarly adapted.
Under a false idea that honor was alone attached to the so-called "learn- ed professions," the occupation of "farmer" has been too much neglected; but agriculture stretches out her collatteral arms, and embraces the labors of even these, which she appropriates to her legal domain. Astronomy and chemistry are her tools, while botany, or vegetable physiology is her off- spring, to whose growth she yearly adds her treasures. Meteorology is her handmaid. Political economy is proud to obey her, while commerce and navigation, without her fostering hand, would sicken and pine in their in- fancy.
This false idea should be exploded. We need educated farmers who would seek to place the soil in such a state as to make it produce to its utmost extent. There are, perhaps, fewer scientific men engaged in this occupation than in any other; yet no occupation requires so many. European countries
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have lately turned their attention to this subject through sheer necessity. The attention which our government is now paying to the subject, leads me to look for an entire revolution in agricultural matters in less than fifty years.
The agencies and improvements now acting, will tend to bring about this state of things. The proximity to each other, induced by the rail-car, will cement more closely the interest of the farming community of this ex- tended land, and open up inducements hitherto unknown, especially in the isolated region of Tazewell. The press, sending forth its sheets from Maine to California, before they are fairly dry, and the astonishing workings of the telegraph are now exhibiting their influence upon the machinery of civil society, and in no country more perceptibly than in the Untited States.
Give us railroads, and let the press make known the claims of south- western Virginia, and the "gee up" of the New England plowboy will soon be heard upon our mountain sides. Our mountaineers will soon be seen trading in Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. Our neglected fields will bloom under the hands of scientific agriculturists, till wagons will no more be seen passing westward with men to build up new states on the ruins of those they have left.
I now proceed to point out briefly the history and peculiarities of agri- culture in Tazewell. Among the early settlers, and even in the present day, a sufficiency of provisions alone seems to be sought after. Large quantities of land-too large for the force employed-are cultivated, and this very system of having too much land in a farm, has retarded the agricultural advancement of the county of Tazewell more than any other one cause. By endeavoring to cultivate so much land, it has been imperfectly worked, and hence the soil does not yield to the husbandman her proper stores.
The manner, too, of cultivation, is similar to that practiced by the early settlers. And I hope I shall be pardoned for saying that the people of Tazewell who cultivate the soil, work, less than most any other similar community to be found in the United States. This may be owing to the want of proper markets, which will not be much improved till our farmers turn their attention to internal improvements, and no longer vote against the construction of railroads and turnpikes.
Most of the cereals do well in Tazewell. I have in my possession a stalk of corn, grown on common upland, sixteen feet nine inches high; four stalks grew in a hill; it was planted in May, and cut up in September. Ir- rigating the lands is much neglected. Wheat does exceedingly well in this county, especially those kinds known as Mediterranean, walker, and white chaff: but as no market is afforded for its sale, more is not grown than is consumed, there being only 28,220 bushels reported on the census books for 1850. (See table.)
The county is more remarkable for its production of grasses than any- thing else. Though tobacco does very well, fortunately, its culture has been discarded, the county not producing 1,000 pounds per annum.
The exceedingly fine grasses of the county have made it decidedly a grazing county, and much celebrated for fine stock. Bluegrass (Poa pre- tensis) is the principal native (?) grass: though timothy, herd, and most
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others do well. In no country does clover succeed better. The grasses have received much of the farmer's attention, and with the increasing interest shown in improving the live-stock, it would seem that the county is des- tined to take a prominent stand among the stock-raising counties in the state. There are some farms in the county well improved, but they are too few.
CHAPTER XIII.
CHURCH HISTORY-JUDICIARY.
No portion of my labors, if properly investigated, would be more inter- esting than this: yet the paucity of material afforded me, makes it quite difficult to give anything like a correct and full church history of this section The principal denominations in the county are Methodists, Baptists, Pres- byterians, and Roman Catholics; each of whom will be noticed.
The first sermon preached in the county was in 1794, by Rev. Mr. Cobbler, appointed to the New River circuit, by the Baltimore conference. This sermon may be regarded as the budding of Methodism in Tazewell county. The seeds sown by this good man fell upon a genial soil, and he had the satisfaction of seeing Jeremiah Witten and Mrs, Sarah Witten, William Witten and his lady, John and Sarah Peery, Elizabeth Greenup, Samuel Forguson, Isabella Forguson, and two colored persons, flock around the Christian standard, determined that Christ should not be forgotten, even in the mountain-gorges of the wild "backwoods."
Thomas Peery gave them a piece of land, and in 1797 they built a meet- inghouse about one mile west of Jeffersonville.
Between 1794-7, meetings were generally held at the house of Samuel Forguson, near the present seat of justice. Before 1794, prayer-meeting was the only form of worship practiced: this seems to have been coexistent with the earliest settlement. The march of Methodism has been steadily onward; they have, at present, seven churches in regular fellowship.
The first Baptists in the county, were the Scaggs and Hankins. The first sermon preached to them, was by Rev. Simon Cotterel from Russel county, in 1796. Their first meetings were held in private houses, in the Hankins' settlement. The Baptists seem not to have made as rapid pro- gress as the Methodists; as they have now only two regular churches in the county. I have been unable to learn the number of communicants, but un- derstand that it is greater than would be supposed from the number of churches.
The first Presbyterians in the county were William Perry, Samuel Walker, and his wife. Prof. Doak preached the first sermon to them, some- where about 1798. He was soon followed by Rev. Mr. Crawford, from Washington county. The first church organized was in the Cove, in 1833, which was placed in charge of Rev. Dugald McIntyre, assisted by Rev. Mr. McEwin. This church, from some cause, was suffered to go down, and the Presbyterians were without a regular church till the summer of 1851, when a church was organized at Jeffersonville, and placed in charge of Rev. Mr. Naff. They have one church, and about twenty communicants.
At what time the first Roman Catholics appeared in the county, is not known. Edward Fox, a priest who resided at Wythville, preached the first
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sermon to them in a union church at Jeffersonville, in 1842. He continued to preach, at intervals, till the close of the controversy between him, and President Collins of Emory and Henry College. Having been beaten from every position, he quit Wytheville, and consequently the Tazewell catho- lics were left without a priest. Bishop Whelan coming to this section of the state, took occasion to visit his flock in Tazewell; the Methodists opened their pulpit for him, and in acknowledgment of their kindness, one of his first sentences was not only to insult them, but the house of God. He remarked, he "felt embarrassed because he was preaching in an unconsecrated house." President Collins, who had firmly opposed the spread of this doctrine in south-western Virginia, being in the neighborhood, heard of the occurrence and replied to him in a few days. Notwithstanding this, Catholicism be- gan to spread, and preparations were made for building a cathedral, which is now in course of construction.
JUDICIARY.
The formation of the county, necessarily caused some derangement in the courts. The magistrates who had been acting under the authority of Wythe county, however, met in May, 1800, and held the first court at the present residence of Col. John B. George. John Ward was elected clerk, and Major Maxwell made sheriff. In the following month the election for county officers came off, and the court was opened at Harvey G. Peery's house. In June the county seat was fixed upon, and Judge Brockenborough held the first circuit court in a court-house built of buckeye logs, for which the county paid ten dollars. Peter Johnson was now appointed to fill the station of resident judge: James Thompson was the first commonwealth's attorney. The Buckeye C. H. was soon converted into a workshop, and a plain frame-house substituted. The court-house is now a substantial brick building. Court days, Wednesday after the fourth Monday of each month.
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