USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Royalton > History of Royalton, Vermont, with family genealogies, 1769-1911 > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137
For many years no mention is made of a summer school, and the winter term extended over three or four months. The records between 1799 and 1811 were lost, so it cannot be stated how they supported their schools, but in 1811 they ap- propriated the public money for that purpose, and voted to pay the remainder of the expense according to the number of days " each man sent to the school. They voted to find half a cord
288
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
(running cord ?) of wood to the scholar, the committee to find the rest if needed. From 1811 to 1824 they supported the school by subscription, except the public money drawn. From 1821 onward they had two terms of school varying in length from five to seven months. Like the other districts they had a separate meeting for each term of school. In 1891 the commit- tee were instructed "to hire out the summer term at South Royalton," if they could. In 1893 they voted to unite with South Royalton, by a vote of 13 to 6, and the South Royalton District voted to receive them, and that closed the existence of District No. 2.
The names of the early teachers have not been learned. In 1851 Abbie Stevens and Mary Wheeler were the teachers, in 1853 Frank Fay and Augusta Perry, in 1855 Mary Dewey and Ruth S. Cowdery, in 1857 Levi Baker, in 1859 Darwin Boyd, and in 1859-60 Maria M. Calder, George A. Bingham, and Ellen Hackett.
The following petition to the General Assembly is of inter- est in connection with the history of this district :
"Gentlemen Legislators. We your petitioners, turn our faces towards you and make our complaints, and we state to you with much assurance, that a good schoolhouse, well located for the convenience of all our district (except one family, which is an extreme case) would have been built and finished by the 15th day of June last according to vote of the district-we should have been benefited by a summer school, and been in readiness for a winter school, also been entitled to our share of the public money, if it had not been for the opposition of the above named law (law of 1852). Our children are the sufferers, not one of them have had the privilege of a school for almost a whole year-having had our school house destroyed by fire in the beginning of last winter."
They asked for a repeal of the law. This law gave the minority right of appeal to the selectmen in case of disagreement in locating a school building, and the decision of the selectmen was to be final.
The records of District No. 13 date back to Oct. 12, 1803. The voters were warned to meet at the house of Mr. Williams to act on the following articles: 1st to organize and form into a regular society; 2nd to choose all necessary society officers ; 3d to do any other business thought proper when met. Nathan Page presided as selectman. Daniel Rix, Jr. was elected Clerk, Silas Williams, Benjamin Clark, Levi Parker, Committee, Da- vid Maynard, Collector. The next month they voted to build a schoolhouse 16 by 20 feet, and to set it in the southeast cor- ner of Mr. Williams's field northeast of his house. They voted to give Daniel Rix $125 for building it. In May the next year they voted to have a school that summer, and to raise $11 to pay the expense, and to give Sarah Flynn five shillings and six pence per week. The house was accepted in October. In 1805
289
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
they voted to have "a woman school three months the winter en- sueing," and a tax of $12 paid for the summer school and one of $16 paid for the winter term. David Williams served as clerk the greater part of the time from 1811 to 1847. A new schoolhouse was built by Mr. Hatch and accepted Dec. 23, 1832. This building was soon in need of repairs, and in 1851 they voted to build a new house, and Charles Clapp bid off the con- tract for $195. The old house was sold at auction to Oscar Henry. Some of the residents of the district named between 1806 and 1823 were Eliphalet Davis, Zacharia Waldo, Ephraim Barnes, Levi Parker, Royal Spaulding, Howe Wheeler, Poly- dore Williams, Richard Smith, David Bosworth, and Luther Bowman. The last meeting was held March 28, 1893.
The records of District No. 5 begin with the year 1827. In March of that year the selectmen were requested by Amos Rob- inson and son Amos, Silas Packard, Wright Clark and Luther Hunting to call a meeting for the purpose of organizing the dis- trict. It is hardly to be supposed that the district had never been organized, and this action may have been due to taking off a part of the district to form No. 16. The meeting was opened on the 12th by the first selectman. One week later Isaac Park- hurst was chosen committee and collector, and they voted a school of five months in the summer and four in the winter. This district was one of the largest and most progressive. It had annual meetings much earlier than most of the others, more months of schooling in a year, supported the school by taxation, and has always had one of the best school buildings in town. In 1828 they had a writing school for a month, and in 1830 mention is also made of such a school. In 1834 the school was so large that they considered the advisability of having two schools. In 1850 they appointed Job Bennett, Hiram Hinkley, William Leonard a committee, one of whom was to visit the school every two weeks. They believed in supervision. The boarding around system was practically abandoned in 1865. There are many who will remember the old brick building, with its rows of seats facing each other, and its great box stove, al- ways red hot on cold winter mornings. Perhaps it was seventy years or more ago that Giles Allen taught the Broad Brook school, as it was called. He was a great rhymester. One day there was to be a ball at Sharon. A number of teams with ball-goers, for a lark, stopped in front of the schoolhouse. Allen took his pupils to the door and gave them the following rhyme:
"Here are twenty boys that are full of noise, With horses from the stall;
Here are twenty girls with bows and curls, That are going to the ball."
19
290
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
Other teachers were Lucian Hewitt of Pomfret, Laura J. Wood, 1854, Norman Follett, 1855-6, Sarah Fish, 1858; from 1859 to 1861, Bradley Moore, Jeanette Rix, Gardner Cox, Annette Wolcott, Caroline Aspinwall; from 1863 to 1870, Emma Leonard, Oscar Allen, Emma Gordon, Osborn Ashley, Martha F. Pettingill, Evelyn M. Wood, D. W. Lovejoy, Laura Foster, C. W. Slack. The old brick building was replaced in 1883 with a new one of wood.
District No. 1, one of the three oldest districts in the town, has no records previous to 1831, when Joseph Parkhurst, Cyrus Safford, and Willis Kinsman petition for a meeting. The usual procedure was to petition for a meeting before each term of school. They were having two terms in the year. In 1836 William Harvey was the petitioner, and Dr. Ingraham served as moderator. The committee was instructed to secure Miss Woodward of Chelsea or Miss Skinner of Royalton for the win- ter term. In 1840 Lyman Benson and Archibald Kent were chosen a committee to visit the school, and see if it was ex- pedient to continue singing in the school, so we may infer that some pedagogue in advance of her time was taking the time for music that she ought to have employed in teaching the three R's. The next year the committee was instructed to hire Oel Buck, if he could be had. The work of the committee seems to have been all done for him beforehand, by the wise heads of the dis- trict. They paid $1.00 a term for building fires, and Jonas Flint got the dollar in 1842.
The railroad surveyors, when they ran the road through the town, paid no attention to a little obstruction like a school- house, and so the road was surveyed right through the school building. It had to be moved, and as it was an old building, now was a good time to erect a new one. The location of the site and the plan for the new house were left to Cyrus Safford, Cyrus Hartshorn, and Oliver Curtiss. The last two with John Manchester were the building committee. They placed the house on Joseph Lee's land. Cyrus Safford bought the old house and shed, and took the contract for the new one at $189, and was to have the building ready for the winter term, 1847. With the growth of South Royalton the little schoolhouse began to be crowded, and the budding village desired a school of its own in 1850, so they voted to pay South Royalton $25, if they supported a school of their own. As the village school increased and offered better and better facilities, they found it was near enough to dispense with a separate school, and after 1884 no more records are found.
The records of District No. 6 date from 1846 to 1893. In 1846 they voted to move the schoolhouse on to the west point of
291
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
Amasa Dutton's land, and then to repair it. Two or three meetings followed, in which they voted and rescinded alternate- ly, but finally they voted quite extensive repairs inside and out. Miss E. J. Perham taught in 1855-56, also Miss S. D. Shipman. Between 1872 and 1881 the question of building came up re- peatedly, but no harmony of action could be secured. The se- lectmen were called out, who located the house and ordered it built, which was done in 1882. Mrs. Henry W. Dutton was one of the teachers in this district.
The records of District No. 10 begin with the year 1857, when David Tolles was moderator and John Williams clerk. The length of their school year for a period of years varied from ten weeks to eight months. In 1884 they voted to arrange for schooling pupils at some common or high school. The school building was in need of repairs, but efforts to put it in good con- dition were voted down. In 1892 they transported their pupils to Bethel, and when they disbanded as a district they had money in the treasury.
The first record of District No. 11 is dated March 30, 1880, when they "Voted to procure a new book to keep the records in place of the one burnt," so all the early history of this dis- trict is probably lost.
In lieu of the records of District No. 9, which have not been obtained, an extract from a letter of Jacob Fox, Jr., written from Big Rock, Ill., about 1860, is given.
"I recall with distinctness my early school days, when clad in home- spun I trudged the pleasant river road, and ofttimes the river's pebbly edge, to the old red schoolhouse, where, under the mild sway of Lucy Backus, Zabad Mosher, and Harvey Carpenter I first learned my a-b-abs and my c-a-t-cat &c. Oh glorious old school house! how often have I thought of thee, and of the many happy hours passed within thy portals! Thou wast so modest in thy attire, and so unpre- tending, boasting no adornments, but conscious of thy merits, thou didst deserve a better fate. Old friend, farewell! Pardon this apostro- phe to the friend of my better days, for whenever the old schoolhouse comes up in my memory, it seems as though I was young again. And no wonder, for I do not believe that in the whole State of Vermont there existed at that time a school district containing so much native talent, such indomitable perseverance, as did congregate in that dear old red edifice. And then what strife for superiority, and what won- ders were accomplished in incredibly short periods of time. For besides Sister Betsey & you & I & Dear Louisa, was not Lucretia Bowman & Melissa Hibbard & Eliza Dewey & Henry Billings and Cal- vin Bliss with one arm and a moiety of another, were they not of that same class that received the rudiments of their education in the dear old fabric? And then what spelling schools with their usual accom- paniments, such as sliding on the ice and speaking pieces. I remem- ber how, Hope L. Dana being teacher, the Sharonians used to come up and participate, and George Dana was wont to rehearse the fable of the spider and the fly. I remember how one cold wintry morning us children all had a cry in the corner of the old chimney because Sister Betsey thought she had frozen her thumb. I remember when the
292
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
lurid flames shot from the roof of our Alma Mater and involved in one common ruin our books and summer's tuition. Then it was I think I made my first acquaintance with the walls of the Royalton Academy, situated at the upper end of the village, where I think Eunice Backus dispensed books and birch very freely, and as became one of her dignified mien, and thus ended my scholastic course in the old red house."
Coming back to the town records we find a new schoolhouse was built in No. 4 in 1853, when the selectmen were called out to locate the building. Number 17 retained its boundaries scarcely two years in succession, and finally, in 1872, on petition of its inhabitants it was dissolved, and part of it set to Number 14 at Royalton village, and the rest to Number 18 at South Royalton. Then began the decay of the old schoolhouse, dear to the hearts of many of its former occupants, until it presented the appearance seen in the cut of schoolhouses, and soon it was removed as an offense on the highway. The same year District 18 was enlarged by the addition of Number 8.
In 1876 Number 17 had lost its organization, and petitioned the selectmen for relief, who appointed the proper officers. In 1853 the South Royalton district purchased of William C. Flint the lot of land which it still owns and uses as school grounds. November 1st of the same year Number 13 leased of Silas R. Williams a lot of land for its schoolhouse. In 1856 Number 4 obtained its lot of James A. Slack, and Number 2 bought a site of Harvey Reynolds. The following year Number 10 secured from David Tolles land for a school building. In 1893 Number 18 bought an addition to its lot, and again in 1909. In 1910 another addition was made to the ball ground in the rear of the schoolhouse.
The first recorded mention of a schoolhouse is Mar. 18, 1788, when the voters of the town evidently found the meeting-house too cold for comfort, and adjourned to the "Sentre School house," but it would seem that their quarters there were not satisfactory, for they again adjourned for ten minutes to meet again at the meeting-house. In 1792 the town voted to buy that part of the meeting-house lot that had been sold to Lieut. Lyon, and the building "nigh ye meeting house formerly occupied as a school house and commonly known by ye name of ye Sentre School house." Probably this was the first schoolhouse of the Center District, and the first in town. From the records of 1798, Elisha Durfee seems to have bought this house and to have received a bond for a deed. The town voted that, if anybody ap- peared with the bond and secured the town for balance due, he should have a deed of the house. Whether Elkanah Stevens and Isaac Skinner appeared with the bond or not, cannot be stated, but the next year they sold this house to Jacob Smith for $90.
293
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
In 1802 the town gave leave to build a schoolhouse 20 by 40 feet, with a cupola in front twelve feet square, on the meet- ing-house Green, "provided it should be set as far back in the rear as the make of the land would admit," and it was "to stand there no longer than it is kept for the use of schooling, and if the Proprietors should put anybody into sd building to live or carry on any kind of business their right of keeping the build- ing on the ground aforesaid shall be forfeited." The work of sticking the stake was entrusted to three deacons, Billings, Tul- lar, and Rix.
In 1844 a new schoolhouse was erected on the common near the pound. It was not to exceed $350 in cost exclusive of the old house. This was repaired in 1852. In 1878 the warning contained a clause to see if they would build a new schoolhouse.
Comfort Sever was a man who was greatly interested in education. It is not unlikely that he himself employed some of his time, especially in the winter months, in teaching. In 1809 reference is made in a deed to Sever's school, and the red schoolhouse. He owned Lots 11 and 12 Town Plot, and the "red school house" may have stood where the present house stands in District No. 9, and it was no doubt the same building that Jacob Fox says was burned. In 1792 Ebenezer Fitch sold one ninth part of "Sever's school house," which may indicate that the house was not built by taxation, but by subscription, to which Mr. Sever, who was well off in worldly goods, may have contributed much the largest share. District No. 5 bought land in 1826 of Arunah Clark, for a schoolhouse site. In 1828 Greenfield Perrin deeded fifteen rods of land to District No. 7 for a schoolhouse. In 1831 Isaac Morgan sold land for a schoolhouse to District No. 17.
The earliest schools were supported mainly by voluntary subscription, then by the districts voting a tax. In the year 1800 an effort was made to have the town vote a tax to main- tain schools. No action was taken at the first meeting, and at an adjourned meeting they voted not to raise a tax. In 1811 a small appropriation for the support of schools was made by the town. The school law of 1797, before referred to, gave the districts power to raise money by subscription or taxation, and also gave the town power to raise money for school purposes, which money was to be divided equally according to the num- ber of children in each district between the ages of four and eighteen. The law seemed to leave the matter of maintaining a school with the district, but, if it failed to do so for a year, it forfeited all right to a share of the public money. In Novem- ber, 1810, an act was passed making it the duty of the select- men in the organized towns of the state to assess a tax of one
294
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
cent on a dollar on the list of polls and ratable estates of the in- habitants, for the purpose of schooling, which assessment was increased to two cents on a dollar in 1824.
Subsequent legislation, influenced by recommendations from the governors of the state and superintendents of schools, and by requests from the best and most progressive portion of the teaching force of the state, has continually tended towards cen- tralization. This tendency, and the great decrease in the size of families have caused a gradual abolition of school districts, and the throwing of the support of the public schools into the hands of the town and state.
Vermont's share of the surplus revenue, which the United States government loaned to the several states in 1836, was $669,086.79. This money was apportioned to the several towns of the state according to the population, based on the census of 1830. On December 21st, 1836, the town chose Oramel Saw- yer, John Marshall, and Thomas Rust as trustees of this pros- pective money, and they were instructed to loan it on good se- curity, not more than $500 to any one person, nor less than $100. If all was not applied for within fifteen days, the trustees were to loan at their discretion. It does not seem to have been loaned in that time, for January 28, 1837, the selectmen were author- ized to borrow $1000 at six per cent. interest. The trustees re- ported at their March meeting, 1839, that they received the first installment at Woodstock Bank, Feb. 13, 1837, amounting to $1506.34, a similar sum on April 14, and a third installment on July 5th. The interest which had accrued Feb. 16, 1838, was $219.95. The rest of this money, aside from what the town bor- rowed, was loaned to individuals in sums of $100 each, and notes were taken on demand, with responsible names thereon.
Another source of income is the Huntington fund. This came through the will of Arunah Huntington, who was born in Roxbury, Feb. 23, 1794, and died in Brantford, Province of Ontario, Jan. 10, 1877. It is said that he lived at one time with his uncle Downer, supposed to have lived in Sharon, that he worked at tanning leather, shoe making, and teaching school, by which means he gathered together enough to start a small shoe business in Brantford. By judicious management he amassed a fortune of over $200,000. The will was contested for six years, but Vermont, the legatee, finally won the suit. By the terms of the will the State could use the gift as it deemed best, but it was recommended, that the profits should be annually di- vided among the counties for the benefit of common or district schools. The Legislature acted upon the bequest in 1884, re- quiring the treasurer to apportion annually the interest on the fund, to the towns and gores in proportion to the inhabitants.
295
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
The towns were to apportion the sum received to the school dis- tricts as other public money was divided, but a district had to maintain a school twenty-four weeks the preceding year in order to claim a share in the division. The first division was made in March, 1886, and Royalton received her share, probably, but the fund was not included in the town report as a separate item until 1891, when $54.61 were reported, and about the same sum yearly, until the fund became a part of the permanent school fund.
In 1902 a reserve fund was set apart from the state school tax, for the purpose of equalizing taxation and school ad- vantages in the state. The rest of the tax was to be divided among the cities and towns according to the number of legal schools maintained. Those benefited by this reserve fund had to raise at least fifty cents on a dollar of their grand list for school purposes exclusive of buildings. In 1904 this act was amended by increasing the fund to $45,000. The same year a permanent fund was created by setting apart the $240,000 which the national government had paid into the treasury of Vermont in settlement of war claims. This was to be the nucleus of a permanent fund. In 1906 the Huntington fund was added to it and the United States deposit money which the state had loaned to the towns. The trustees of public money in each town were to collect and pay into the state treasury before Dec. 31, 1907, the money apportioned to it, unless the money had been loaned the town, in which case the town was to pay in- terest until such time as the money should be returned. From this permanent fund $15,000 were reserved, to be divided in the same way and under the same conditions as the $45,000 reserve fund.
In 1906 the Legislature set aside $20,000 for aiding towns that furnish transportation and board to resident pupils in at- tendance upon elementary schools, limited and apportioned ac- cording to the sum expended by said towns for school pur- poses. The same year a law was passed providing for re-im- bursing such towns as should have paid tuition for higher in- struction of its pupils, conditioned and apportioned according to amount spent for school purposes and for such higher tuition.
The first record of the number of children in town is found in 1809. At that time District No. One had 46 children, No. Two, 27, No. Three, 26, No. Four, 73, No. Five, 39, No. Six, 59, No. Seven, 51, No. Eight, 25, No. Nine, 65, No. Ten, 33, No. Eleven, 77, No. Twelve, 62, No. Thirteen, 37, No. Fourteen, the Center School, 85, total, 705. In 1811 No. Four crowds close on the Center School with 81 children, but in 1814 the Center has reached 109. The largest number recorded, 740, was in 1817,
296
HISTORY OF ROYALTON, VERMONT
these being children between four and eighteen years of age. From that time the number almost continuously decreases. In 1847 it was 594, No. Nine having the largest number, 66.
In 1831 the report of the number of the children included the names of the clerks as follows: No. 1, Oliver Curtis, clerk, had 30; No. 2, G. Bingham, 36; No. 3, R. K. Dewey, 23; No. 4, William Woodworth, 43; No. 5, A. J. B. Robinson, 52; No. 6, J. Richardson, 52; No. 7, T. Rust, 22; No. 8, D. Rix, 27; No. 9, Andrew Backus, 72; No. 10, M. Tullar, 22; No. 11, T. Wheat, 28; No. 12, O. Willes, 44; No. 13, J. Waldo, 32; No. 14, J. Sprague, 79; No. 16, J. Johnson, 17, No. 17, D. Morgan, 37.
In the report of 1858 the names of the families in each dis- trict and the children attending school are given. The follow- ing heads of families each had six children of school age: John Hinkley, Jesse Button, Chauncey Tenney, Aurin Luce, Elisha Howard, Mrs. E. Denison. The two districts having the largest number of pupils were No. 14 with 68, and No. 4 with 54 chil- dren.
The amount of school money divided among the districts has not been found prior to 1837. There were then 628 chil- dren in seventeen districts, and the total sum divided was $507.68. The next year there was reported from the state school tax $440.22, from land rentals, $52, and from interest on the surplus revenue, $201.
The town system of schools was a plant of slow growth in Vermont. The towns were, as a rule, reluctant to adopt it. It was voted on in Royalton several times between 1872 and 1893, but with large majorities opposed to adoption. A law was passed in 1892 abolishing the district system, and the towns had no choice. The number of schools in town under this new sys- tem has greatly decreased, so that now there are but six, exclu- sive of the town High School and Academy, and the South Royalton Graded School. The number of children of school age is now 294.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.