USA > Vermont > Rutland County > Pittsford > History of the town of Pittsford, Vt., with biographical sketches and family records > Part 42
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
ment be brought up to his standard, then, like a Garrison of to-day, he becomes the admiration of the age.
4th. There should be published, at the close of each school year, a faithful report of all the schools in the town. As already stated, the superintendent is required by law to visit all the schools in the town "at least once in each year, and oftener if he shall deem it necessary." The discretionary part of this statute is well timed, and will be acted upon by every faithful superintendent. No one can understand the exact con- dition of a school from a single visitation, and in order that the superintendent may be of service to it, he should know all its excellencies and defects, when he will be able to make such practical suggestions as will be beneficial both to teacher and pupils. As soon as a term of school has commenced the super- intendent should endeavor to learn not only the condition of it, but the teacher's method of imparting instruction, of school discipline and general management. And after having given such counsel as the circumstances appear to require, he will need to visit it again near the close of the term, to learn the result of their combined efforts for the intellectual and moral improvement of the pupils.
Having thus carefully superintended all the schools in the town, he will be prepared, at the close of the year, to write a faithful report, with important recommendations and sugges- tions. And when such a report has been prepared it will do little good to have it read in town meeting; it should be printed, and a copy should be put into every family in the town. There is where it will do its work; and let our teachers and pupils understand that their doings are to be strictly seruti- nized, and that at the close of the school year there is to be a printed report scattered broadcast over the town, and it will be a most powerful incentive to faithfulness on the part of teach- ers, and to diligence on the part of pupils. Then, again, such a report would enable the community to understand who their
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THE TOWN SYSTEM OF SCHOOLS.
best teachers are, and, as the result, good teachers would be retained, while the incompetent and injurious would be allowed to engage in other occupations.
5th. Our school system needs to be somewhat changed or remodelled. It was adopted under an entirely different state of things from that which now exists. At the time of its adoption the standard of education was comparatively low, the schools were large and the requirements were meagre. It was well adapted to the condition of things then existing, and admirably served its purpose. But this is a progressive age- an age of railroads, steamboats and telegraphs, an age demand- ing superior facilities for intellectual improvement. The pres- ent school system does not meet the requirements of such an age. This has long been felt by the friends of progress and education, and during the last session of the General Assem- bly an act was passed by which towns could abolish the old district system of schools and adopt the town system, which vests the management of the schools in a board of school directors. This board " shall have the care and custody of all the property belonging to the several public schools of such town, shall prescribe the number of schools, employ teachers and fix their compensation, have the management and control of all the public schools in such town, examine and allow all claims arising therefrom, and draw warrants for the payment of such claims upon the town treasurer. They may establish graded schools, and provide for the instruction of the scholars in the sciences and the higher branches of a thor- ough education, and may establish such by-laws and regulations for the carrying out of the powers above mentioned as are con- sistent with this act and the laws of the State."
This is not a law providing for an experiment-a new sys- tem ; it has been thoroughly tested and found to be admirably adapted to the wants of the present age. Its advantages are apparent.
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
One of the evils of the old system is the two frequent change of teachers. A change in the prudential committee usually takes place at the annual meeting in March, and this change will most likely bring with it a change of teachers; as almost every new man who is elected to this office has some cousin, niece or daughter for whom he wishes to provide. Some of these may be excellent teachers, and as good as can be found; but the next man who happens to be elected com- mittee, having similar favorites, places a new teacher in the school, regardless of the superior qualifications of the old one. By the town system the teachers are hired by a Board of Directors, a majority of whom hold their office simultaneously for the term of two years, so that frequent changes of compe- tent teachers will be very much less likely to occur.
. Then, again, the school board, after having secured the services of the requisite number of teachers, by understanding, as they should, the condition of every school in the town, are prepared to make such an assignment of these teachers to the different districts as shall best promote the interests of the schools.
Another advantage of the town system is to be found in the provision which it makes for the thorough education of all the children of the town, by the establishment of a higher grade of schools. By the present, or district system, children can merely obtain the rudiments of an education. No provision is made for giving instruction in the higher branches of knowl- edge; and to obtain such an education children must be sent to other towns where there are better educational privileges.
But some may say that our present system affords all nec- essary facilities for obtaining an education sufficient to transact the ordinary business of life; and if any of the inhabitants of the town wish to give their children a more thorough educa- tion, let such send them away and pay the expense. Now, many do this, and have done it for years ; and we presume that
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THE NEED OF A HIGH SCHOOL.
they willingly bear the expense of it, for they are of those who appreciate the advantages of a thorough education. But is this the better course ? There are many young people who would gladly avail themselves of the benefits of a higher grade of schools than the town at present affords, that they might fit themselves for greater usefulness in life, but whose parents are not in circumstances to bear the expense of it. The money which is sent out of town every year for the purpose of edu- cating a few, would be sufficient to support a good high school within the town, where a very much larger number could enjoy its advantages. The town owes it to herself to provide ample educational privileges for all her children ; and inasmuch as all are benefitted by such privileges, all should contribute towards their support.
We little realize how much we are indebted to the influence of our educational and religious institutions. They give value to all other property. Banish our schools and shut up our churches, and what could our farmers or mechanics get for their real estate, and how long would bolts or bars secure their personal property ? It is true that all are required by law to contribute to the support of our common schools, such as they are, according to their ability; but no legal obligation rests upon any one to assist in the support of religious institutions. And yet we wonder that any man, when he duly considers how much he owes to the latter, can refuse them his pecuniary sup- port. We believe that our citizens are as generous, noble- hearted and patriotic as can be found in any town in the State ; and the reason why our common schools are not what they should be, is to be found in the fact that public attention has not been properly directed towards them. And when their importance and claims shall have been duly considered, we are confident that ample provision will be made for raising them to a higher standard and making them what they should be, an honor and blessing to the town.
In this age of progress the customs and institutions of one
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
period are not adapted to another; and these periods follow each other in such rapid succession, that unless we are careful to note and keep pace with the general progress, we shall soon and unexpectedly find ourselves, in respect to educational insti- tutions and the conveniences of life, living in an antiquated period. The man of forty years of age, who has been blind to the march of the times, remembering only that in his day teachers could be hired for ten dollars a month and " board around," on being informed that fifty or one hundred dollars are now being paid for similar service, with better accommoda- tions, stands aghast, and thinks the world has gone crazy. He sounds the alarm, which the world heeds not; he musters all his forces and attempts to breast the tide which he imagines is spreading ruin through the land, but, like an autumnal leaf, he is tossed and jostled about until from exhaustion he sinks and expires, bewailing the insanity of the age. Poor man! We pity his stupidity. Nature in his case has certainly made a mistake ; she should have brought him forth in the dark ages.
Not only should the standard of education be raised, and the schools put in the best possible condition, but all the chil- dren of the town, of suitable age and requisite health, should be required to attend them a certain proportion of the year. Children will be educated, and if not in the town schools, they most likely will be in that other school, the principal of which wears all the villainous titles that can be acquired in a realm of darkness. Give to all the youth of our land a thorough intel- lectual, moral and religious education, and the world will soon present a different aspect. Instead of our alms-houses being filled with the profligate and licentious, our penitentiaries with wretched convicts, and our legislative halls with reckless poli- ticians and bloody duelists, peace and righteousness will be the distinguishing characteristics of the people.
The consciousness of having done something towards usher- ing in such a day must afford an intelligent being unbounded satisfaction.
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COLLEGE GRADUATES AND MEN OF NOTE.
CHAPTER XVII.
COLLEGE GRADUATES AND OTHER MEN OF NOTE.
George Nye Boardman ; Charles Boardman ; Samuel Ward Boardman, Jr .; Simeon Gilbert Boardman ; Charles Shepherd Colburn ; Amos Drury ; Micaiah Fairfield ; James Boardman Gilbert ; George Inger- soll Gilbert ; Ebenezer Dwight Gilbert ; Nathaniel Porter Gilbert ; Simeon Gilbert, Jr .; John Ingersoll Gilbert; Frank Warren Gilbert ; Thomas Hammond; Thomas Denny Hammond ; Caleb Hendee ; Josiah Hopkins ; Timothy Mead Hopkins; Cephus A. Leach ; Thomas H. Palmer ; Simeon Parmelee; Ashbel Par- melee; Moses Parmelee; Stephen Gilbert Starks; Amasa Stewart ; George Leon Walker ; Stephen Ambrose Walker; Henry Freeman Walker; Lyman B. Walker ; William Warner; Horace S. Winslow ; William Page Winslow.
Rev. George Nye Boardman, D. D., eldest son of Deacon Samuel W. Boardman, was born in Pittsford, December 23, 1825. In 1837, his parents removed from Pittsford to Castle- ton, and he fitted for college at the seminary in that town. He entered Middlebury College in 1843, and was graduated from the same institution in 1847. He remained there as tutor during the two following years. He entered Andover Theo- logical Seminary in 1849, and was graduated in the class of 1852. The next year he was a resident licentiate at the semi- nary, though he spent three months in Bennington, supplying the pulpit of the Congregational church in that town. In
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
June, 1853, he was elected Professor of English Literature in his Alma Mater, and the same day he received a call to set- tle as pastor of the Congregational church in South Danvers- now Peabody-Massachusetts. He accepted the former appoint- ment and remained in the position six years. He was married to Anne A. Walker, daughter of Rev. Charles Walker, D. D., in August, 1854. He received a call to settle as pastor over the First Presbyterian Church in Binghamton, N. Y., in Decem- ber, 1858. He at first declined the call, but hoping that a change of labor and of location would be favorable to his health, he accepted the call on its renewal and entered upon his pastoral work, September 1st, 1859. He was formally installed in the following November, Dr. Walker of Pittsford preaching the sermon. In 1865, he was elected to the Presi- dency of the University of Vermont, but declined the appoint- ment, because he could not see a prospect of so combining the educational interests of the State, as to render its higher insti- tutions of learning permanently successful. He resigned the pastorate of the church at Binghamton in the spring of 1871, and on the 13th day of September following, he was inaugu- rated Illinois Professor of Systematic Theology in the Chicago Theological Seminary, to which office he had been elected before resigning his pastorate.
Charles Boardman, second son of Dea. Samuel W. Board- man, was born in Pittsford, January 22, 1828, and fitted for college at Castleton Seminary. He entered Middlebury Col- lege with the class of 1850, and was distinguished for conscien- tious fidelity in college duties, for an athletic and well formed person, and for pleasing social qualities. He died of typhoid fever, December 12, 1847, while in his Sophomore year. He was buried in Castleton, December 13, 1847. In August or September, 1870, his remains were removed to Pittsford and laid beside those of his father.
Rev. Samuel Ward Boardman, Jr., third son of Deacon
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COLLEGE GRADUATES AND MEN OF NOTE.
Samuel W. Boardman, was born in Pittsford, August 31, 1830, and fitted for college at Castleton Seminary. He graduated at Middlebury College in 1851, and at Andover Theological Sem- inary in 1855. He supplied Dr. John Todd's pulpit in Pitts- field, Mass., during his absence in Europe, and was afterwards a resident at New Haven, Conn., and supplied for a time the church in Weathersfield. He went to Norwich, Vt., in 1856, and was ordained and installed pastor of the Congregational church there, April 16, 1857. He was dismissed and became Professor of Rhetoric, English Literature and Intellectual Phi- losophy in Middlebury College in 1859. He resigned his pro- fessorship in the college to accept a call to the pastorate of the Second Presbyterian church in Auburn, N. Y., and was installed there in 1862. He married Miss J. E. Haskell, who died October 27, 1859. He married Lizzie Green, May 2, 1861.
Rev. Simeon Gilbert Boardman, the fourth son of Dea. Samuel W. Boardman, was born in Pittsford, July 7, 1833. He fitted for college at Castleton Seminary, and graduated at Middlebury College with the class of 1855. After leaving college he engaged in teaching in western Pennsylvania, where he remained about two years, after which he read law at Cas- tleton in the office of B. F. Langdon, Esq. In the fall of 1860, he settled at Syracuse, N. Y., in the practice of law. Failing health compelled him to make a change ; and in the summer of 1866, he removed to Delaware, to enjoy the genial climate of that state and to engage in more active employment. A better state of health and a change in his feelings, induced him in the spring of 1870, to apply to the Presbytery of Wil- mington for license to preach the gospel, which was granted. He is now preaching as stated supply at Blackwater church, Blackwater, Sussex Co., Delaware.
Charles Shepherd Colburn, Esq., only son of Charles Thomas and Olivia Safford Colburn, was born at Pittsford, July 2, 1833. He fitted for college at Burr Seminary in Man-
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
chester, and was graduated at Middlebury in the class of 1858. After leaving college he spent a year in Rockford, Illinois, where he taught in one of the public schools during the winter of 1858-9. He studied his profession at the Harvard Law School, where he was graduated in 1862. In the autumn of the same year he opened an office in Rutland, but soon laid aside his studies to accept an appointment as clerk in the Pay Department of the army. After serving in the army from November, 1862, to February, 1866, he resumed the practice of his profession in New York City, where he still resides.
Rev. Amos Drury, second son of Deacon Calvin and Azuba Drury, was born in Pittsford, December 18, 1792. His early school advantages were limited, but he acquired a very good education for one deprived of the advantages afforded by the higher institutions of learning. He studied theology with Rev. Josiah Hopkins, D. D., and also at the Auburn Theological Seminary. He was ordained at West Rutland, June 3, 1819, and dismissed in April, 1829. On the 6th of May following, he was installed pastor of the Congregational church at Fair- haven, where he remained until the 26th of April, 1837, when he was dismissed. He was installed pastor of the Congrega- tional church at Westhampton, Mass., June 29, 1837, and con- tinued to perform pastoral labor there until August 18, 1841, when he died at his father's house, in Pittsford, while there on a visit. About the time he settled at West Rutland, he married Sarah Swift, of Fairfax, by whom he had five children. Two of these children died in Fairhaven, and three are now living, viz .: Amos R., who now lives at Greensboro; George B., who lives at Westhampton, Mass .; and Sarah A., who married Rice, and lives in Williamsburg, Mass. Mrs. Drury died in Westhampton, in 1865.
Rev. Micaiah Fairfield, son of Samuel Fairfield, Esq., was born in Pittsford, about 1786. From a youth he evinced a love for study, and after a preparatory course, he entered Mid-
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COLLEGE GRADUATES AND MEN OF NOTE.
dlebury College in 1805, and graduated from the same in 1809, He had become hopefully converted in the revival of 1802, and the following year he united with the Congregational Church. From this time his thoughts were turned to the ministry. He studied theology with Rev. Holland Weeks, and at Andover Theological Seminary, where he graduated with the class of 1813. He was educated a Congregationalist, yet when he appeared before an ecclesiastical council of that order for exam- ination, his views were found to differ so widely from those held by that denomination, that a report adverse to his ordina- tion was made. He afterwards applied to a like council of the Baptist denomination, and was by them approbated, ordained and received into fellowship. He was settled over a parish in the State of Ohio, where he had quite a successful pastorate. He died about the year 1858, leaving two sons, Miner W. and Bryant; the former is a Congregational minister, and the latter a Baptist.
Rev. James Boardman Gilbert, eldest son of Dea. Simeon Gilbert,* was born in Pittsford, August 12, 1826, fitted for college at Kimball Union Academy, Meriden, N. H., and graduated at the University of Vermont, in 1853. He after- wards taught in an academy at Morrisville, Vt., and in Louis- iana College as Prof. of Rhetoric and English Literature. He studied theology at Auburn Theological Seminary, and was
*As an account of Dea. Simeon Gilbert was inadvertently omitted in its appro- priate place, we would here state that he was the younger son of Simeon Gilbert, and was born in Pittsford, December 19, 1801. He married, September 18, 1825, Margaret Ingersoll, who was born in Rupert, Vt., Aug 12, 1798. They resided in Pittsford till 1853, when they removed to Granville, N. Y., in order to secure supe- rior educational advantages for their children. In 1846 and '47, Mr. Gilbert was appointed a financial agent for the University of Vermont, and assisted in raising fifty thousand dollars for that institution. In 1855 he was engaged in the same kind of work for Middlebury College. He was Superintendent of the first Sab- bath school connected with the Congregational church in this town, and held that office till his removal to Granville. He represented the town in the Legislature of the State in 1851 and '52, and the latter year he presented the petition of Thomas H. Palmer, Sturges Penfield and others, praying the legislature to instruct their senators and request their representatives in Congress, to use their influence to have an article inserted in all future treaties, that any future difficulties between the several countries should be settled by arbitration instead of war. The petition was referred to a select committee, and, as chairman of that committee, Mr. Gilbert commended the resolutions to the House, and they passed withont opposition. In
37
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HISTORY OF PITTSFORD.
ordained by the Winooski Association, Prof. J. Torrey being Moderator. He went to Iowa in 1861, and is now settled as pastor of the Congregational church in Toledo of that State. In 1862, he married Harriet, daughter of Dea. Ebenezer Eaton, of Framingham, Mass. Children : 1st, Hattie E., born October 19, 1864, died February 16, 1866; 2d, James Spof- ford, born February 25, 1866; 3d, George Ingersoll, born October 30, 1869.
George Ingersoll Gilbert, Esq., second son of Deacon Sim- eon, was born August 14, 1827, fitted for college at Castleton Seminary, and graduated at the University of Vermont in 1853. He spent the next four years in Louisiana College as Professor of Mathematics. He studied law in the office of Hon. John Jamieson, of Chicago, Illinois, and commenced practice in Omaha, Nebraska, where he remained till June, 1862; then he crossed the plains to the Pacific coast, with six mules and a covered wagon, in company with a hundred other emigrants, making the journey in ninety days. He was one of the com- pany who first discovered the mining region known as the Boise Mines, in Idaho Territory. In the organization of Boise County he was appointed County Judge. He afterwards resigned the office and resumed the practice of his profession, and was also successfully engaged in mining operations until the fall of 1867, when he returned East and engaged in the
1853, they were presented to Congress, and were referred, in the Senate, to the Committee on Foreign Relations, who made an elaborate report recommending them. About that time Mr. Everett concluded a treaty with England, and had the clause of arbitration inserted in the treaty, which was carried out in the peaceful settlement of our difficulties with that country in 1871.
Mr. Gilbert returned to Pittsford in 1866, having in the meantime given his seven sous a collegiate education. Two of his daughters are graduates ; one, Lucretia M., graduated at Castleton Seminary, and afterwards taught mathematics in the same institution. She has taught the classics at Royalton, Vt., Stanstead, C. E., and at Vassar College, N. Y. She is also an artist, and to this profession she is now devoting her time. in Pittsford. Another daughter, Sarah N., graduated at Granville Seminary, N. Y., and afterwards taught in the Academies at Toledo, Ohio, Royalton, Vt., and Malone, N. Y. She is now the wife of General S. C. F. Thorndike, of Malone, N. Y.
The character, position and influence of these children must be exceedingly gratifying to the parents in their declining years. Deacon Gilbert is still an active inember of society, and takes a deep interest in the moral and religious prosperity of the town.
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COLLEGE GRADUATES AND MEN OF NOTE.
grain and shipping business in Chicago, in the firm known as Gilbert, Wolcott & Co. In the spring of 1869 he returned to Omaha, and again resumed the practice of law. In February, 1868, he married Miss Cornelia Richardson, daughter of Hon. O. D. Richardson, ex-Governor of Michigan.
Ebenezer Dwight Gilbert, Esq., third son of Deacon Simeon, was born September 27, 1829, fitted for college at Castleton Seminary, and entered the University of Vermont in 1849. He studied ław with Hon. B. F. Agan, of Granville, N. Y., and commenced the practice of his profession in company with Hon. Isaac Bishop, at Bishop Corners, Granville. He removed to Brooklyn, L. I., in 1866, and has since been practising law in New York City. He married Ruth, daughter of Dr. Eber - ezer Ingersoll of Hebron, Washington County, N. Y. They have one daughter, Margaret, born April 5, 1855.
Rev. Nathaniel Porter Gilbert, fourth son of Deacon Sim- eon, was born February 28, 1831, and was educated at Castle- ton Seminary, University of Vermont and Andover Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the work of a missionary at Rutland, in September, 1861, Rev. Dr. Kirk of Boston, preach- ing the sermon. The same fall he married Mary P., daughter of Joseph Perkins, M. D., of Castleton, and sailed for South America, under the auspices of the American and Foreign Christian Union. The following extracts are taken from testi- monials in reference to his labors in Chili, given by the Amer- ican missionaries of Chili, Dr. David Trumbell and others: " For ten consecutive years he (Mr. Gilbert) has courageously labored in Santiago, first in English, and for the last six years and a half in Spanish. He was the first to preach the Gospel in Spanish in the Republic of Chili. He gathered a congrega tion and organized the first Chilian church. He was energetic and untiring in his efforts to secure funds for the church edifice erected for their worship. His course has been marked by constant self-denial, hospitality and personal picty. He was
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