USA > Vermont > Windsor County > Baltimore > The history of the town of Baltimore, Vermont > Part 2
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This location as well as that of the South District schoolhouse were two of the most beautiful spots to be found in Baltimore, which is a town of many scenic advantages.
In 1800 the town meeting was held in the North schoolhouse and it was voted that the "oughtside dore poste of the North Destrict School house to be the sine poste."
After the final decision was made that the town be divided into the North and the South Districts, each district supported and managed its own school entirely independent of the other.
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The book of records for the South District began in 1809. That schoolhouse was located on the top of the hill leading from Henry Hammond's to Louis Sundgren's on the upper side of the road. An abrupt ending in the wall marks the site; the foundation stones can still be seen.
Possibly the school district had not been organized previously to 1809 as the selectmen called the first meeting March 22, 1809, "being requested by six of the inhabitants." They met and "opened said meeting by the 'sistence of one of the Selectmen, chose Reuben Bemis maderator, Amasa Gregory district clerk, Reuben Bemis, William Davis and Amos Bemis Commeety man, Edmund Batchel- der collector." They voted and raised one dollar and fifty cents for repairing the schoolhouse and fifteen dollars for "schooling" before voting to "dissolve" the meeting.
The next meeting was held April 23, 1809. The "4ly" article in the warrant read: "To do any other business with respects to school house or repairing the old school house or build a new one as the Destrict may think best when met."
At this meeting it was agreed that the families of James Chitten- den and Simeon Rumrill residing in Weathersfield should be an- nexed to the South School District of Baltimore. James Chitten- den was chosen a "a commeety man" and they voted to raise fifteen dollars for school this summer and twenty dollars to repair the schoolhouse. We infer from these records that the schoolhouse was an old building, possibly one used for a school when Baltimore was part of Cavendish, but we have no proof.
April 12, 1811, another meeting was warned, the third article being "to raise a suitable sum of money to finish the school house." The records of this meeting and others are not to be found until the year 1818 when we find Manasseh Boynton district clerk, David Chaplin collector, and they voted and raised forty-five dollars for schooling.
In 1819 they had two months of summer and two months of winter schooling, raised forty-eight dollars for the use of schooling, voted to have 21/2 feet of wood per scholar from 4 to 18 years of age. Amasa Gregory bid off the delinquent's wood at 4s. 9d. per cord. They continued to vote for four months schooling a year but raised only twenty-six dollars a year to be laid out for that purpose.
In 1824 they voted "that the Board be devided by the Schoolar" also "if they dont git thair wood shall pay 70 cents per coord." The summer school began June 1st, and the winter term began Dec. 1st. In 1826 they quoted 5 mills on the dollar to defray school expenses.
We may wonder how they managed to pay their bills with so small an appropriation. But when we read that Martha Robinson received $5.34 for eight weeks services instructing school and Baxter Burrows received $24 for a two-month winter term, we readily grasp the fact that a little money paid for much schooling in those days.
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April 5, 1828, it was voted to raise $10 for the use of school, but on the next Dec. 8th they voted to reconsider the vote of April 5, 1828, concerning the winter school, also the vote for raising ten dollars for the use of school. December 13 they called another meeting in the interests of a winter term which meeting was ad- journed without delay. This corroborates a statement of Abbie Davis Haskell's that no school was held in that district in the winter of 1828, when she was a pupil of that school.
The next April they were led to call another meeting to see if the district would have a summer and winter school, to see if the dis- trict would raise money, wood and board to support schooling, and to see if the district would join with District No. 1 to have four months schooling next summer.
Much interest prevailed in the meeting as shown by the record. They voted two months summer and two months winter school, to sell mistress' board to lowest bidder. David Chaplin bid off four weeks at 49 cents, Amasa Gregory two weeks at 48 cents and Obed Thurston two weeks at 49 cents per week and to board by the scholar for the winter term. Think of the cold spare beds those un- fortunate teachers had to occupy !! They voted to raise 34 cents on the scholar between 4 and 18 years of age to be laid out in wood at 90 cents per cord. All this was sudden generosity but there is not any mention of joining District No. 1.
In November 1830 a meeting was called to see if the district would join with District No. 1 to have a winter school. They met and voted to raise money for winter schooling by subscription. Obed Thurston bid off the chance to put in 5 cords of good hard wood at sixty-five cents per cord. Hyron Henry was to keep the school. Again utter disregard was shown the proposal to unite with Dis- trict No. 1.
Raising money by subscription was evidently not too satisfactory, and in 1830 they voted to raise money for the support of the summer and winter schools on the grand list. The teacher's board began to be higher. In 1833 David Chaplin bid off 3 weeks of the mistress' board at 65 cents per week, and Oren Chittenden bid off 2 weeks at 65 cents. That year they were to see if the district would have some dry wood. No record is found that they voted for dry wood that year, but in 1834 they voted to have 412 cords good dry hard wood and 412 cords green wood. Those old fireplaces did require much wood.
By 1834 the district must have been in a belligerent mood. The warrant called for the usual articles to be voted. They met, chose the moderator and district clerk, then passed over every article in- cluding the one relative to uniting with District No. 1. But on May 12 they met, agreeable to warning, and transacted all the usual business except winter term of school. Strangely enough, no mention was ever made in the records of any consideration being given to the matter of uniting with District No. 1.
The story of District No. 2 as a separate unit ended that year, 1834. The next April the selectmen called a meeting of all the
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inhabitants to be held April 18, 1835, to organize a school district. They met and chose John Piper moderator, Joshua Leland clerk. That same day William Davis, Earle Woodbury and J. M. Boynton petitioned the clerk to call another meeting with the article, "6thly to see if the district will choose a committee to locate a school house in sd. district". They met and voted to pass over the sixth article in the warrant, but they did vote to have the school taught 6 weeks in the summer at the South schoolhouse and the other six weeks at the North schoolhouse and four of the first weeks of winter school taught in South and the other 8 weeks at the North schoolhouse. The children of Baltimore were now to receive 8 extra weeks of schooling, and the feeling of unity was cultivated which hitherto had not existed. It was also voted to have 3 cords of good hard wood 3 feet long cut and split "suitable to be sawn for a stove" which is the first mention of a stove being used. During the year 1835 and '36, this plan of combining the schools and alternating schoolhouses was carried out.
Rev. C. W. Hodges, Baptist minister in North Springfield, made the following in his diary: "Sept. 18, 1835-Preached in the South school house Baltimore. House full-Assembly attentive."
Let us now consider the story of District No. 1, the North District, which is not recorded until 15 years after the schoolhouse was built. It was a much larger school than District No. 2 and had twice as many families to support it. There was never any question as to whether they would have a winter term or not, and their new building did not necessitate much repairing. Their warrant con- tained practically the same articles to be voted upon as those for the South District. They bid off the teacher's board "Jona. Woodbury three weeks, one of man and two woman, John Woodbury one of man, two of woman, L. Houghton one of man, S. Houghton one of man and two of woman, J. Piper one of man, L. Harris one of man, S. Martin two of man and one of woman, Col. Martin one of woman, Sd. bord was bid off at one dollar per week." They cer- tainly were extravagant at first in District No. 1 in the matter of board. The next year J. Atherton bid off the board at $1.04, but this was the limit. By 1821 the master's board was bid off by Luther Graves for 64 cents. Economy was again the watchword.
They also voted to raise the wood on the scholar from four years to eighteen of age at one foot per scholar (instead of the 21/2 ft. required in District No. 2). In 1820 they voted to raise "eight corde of harde wood two and a half feete long." Samuel Hastings bid off the wood for fifty cents per cord. (Later they raised ten cords of wood and chose an inspector each year.)
It became the practice to set up the master's board to lowest bidder, and the committee was instructed to provide for the mis- tress' board. Often the school mistress was a grown-up daughter of the town's people. She lived at home where she probably earned her board; so why should the town feel obligated to pay for it?
In 1828 it was voted to shingle the schoolhouse in District No. 1. Esq. . Litch bid off the shingling at twelve dollars and forty cents
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to be done by Nov. 1st. It appears that the first roof lasted twenty- eight years. By this time a new generation had grown up, and the old agitation had been renewed with fresh vigor.
In 1827 the warrant for town meeting had contained the old battle cry "5th To see if the town will all unite in one district," but they voted to pass over the article. In 1829 the effort was re- peated with the same results. Two years later, March 1831, they voted to unite the two school districts the year ensuing. But a meeting was promptly called for the 5th day of April "to see if the town will agree to divide the Town of Baltimore into two school districts," and they voted to divide into two school districts as they formerly were.
The matter rested until the March meeting two years later, 1833, when the same old article in different wording appeared in the warrant. They voted to appoint a committee of three to ascertain the center of the town and the most convenient place for a school- house. They chose Jonathan Woodbury, Stephen Robinson and Willard Hastings as committee. Evidently they did not make much progress as the next March, 1834, they were "to see if the town will unite in one district or divide the town for the better accommoda- tion of the inhabitants." Again they voted to pass over the article.
The same question was voted upon the next year, 1835, and they voted to unite in one district so that there be one school district in town. So for a space of about two years there was only one school as previously noted.
We must be mindful of the fact that each school district was a power of itself and each felt its own independence. Even in 1835 and '36, when the arrangement to have but one school, first in one schoolhouse then in the other, seemed to be advisable and satis- factory, District No. 1 was by no means hushed and subdued.
In 1835 they passed over an article in their district meeting to locate a schoolhouse in said district. The next year, 1836, three articles appeared in the warrant relative to building and locating a schoolhouse. They decided to submit the location of a new schoolhouse to a disinterested committee of three men out of town, also chose Jona. Woodbury, Joshua Leland and Luke Harris Jr. to draw a plan of a schoolhouse. These plans did not bring forth results because in Dec. 15, 1836, of the same year they met again to act on practically the very same articles and voted to pass over all of them. This closes the record of the old North District No. 1 because of the new division of districts voted in town meeting.
The year 1836 almost passed without further action on this con- troversial matter. But alas! A meeting was called on Dec. 31 to choose trustees of "sd. town for the purpose of receiving and manag- ing such portion of the Public money as may be deposited in said town agreeable to the act passed by the legislature at its session last past.", Also there was tacked on the following: "To see if the town will divide into two school districts." Jonathan Wood-
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bury, Levi Piper and Willard Davis were elected the first trustees of the U. S. Deposit Money. They voted "to divide the Present district in such a manner as to take in all lands and inhabitants in the Town of Baltimore as are situated west and south of Joseph Atherton's west line and the east line of the Hasting's lot and the north and east line of the farm now owned by Orin Averill, north and east line of Amasa Gregory and the north line of David Chap- lin's land."
At a later meeting the Southwest District was to be designated as No. 1 and would include the families from the Chester line near what is now called the Glenn Olney place to the Chester line below Henry Hammond's. All the other farms beginning with what is called the Sherwin place were to be in the Northeast School Dis- trict No. 2. We have no record of what they did in the North- east District, but much activity was recorded in the Southwest District.
In 1837 District No. 1, or the new Southwest District, met and organized March 20. William Davis was chosen moderator, Joshua Leland district clerk. On March 29 they held the second district meeting. They voted to have three months summer school the present season and that the committee provide a suitable place for summer school to be kept. Probably the old building of the South District was no longer suitable, and its location was not central for the new district. They chose William Davis, Jona. Woodbury Jr. and Joshua Leland a building committee to superin- tend the building of a schoolhouse. This building committee was authorized to investigate the most practical way and probable expense of building a schoolhouse and report the same in writing.
Sept. 14 another meeting was held and they voted to raise $75 for the purpose of building a schoolhouse, also to build a school- house in said district of the dimensions of 35 by 30 feet and that the walls of the house be built of stone. It was also voted that the building committee furnish bills of materials suitable for building a schoolhouse and receive sealed proposals for furnishing the same. It appears that the Southwest District was in dead earnest and businesslike in their efforts to get a new building.
October 19 they met agreeable to warrant and voted "that the site for school house be on or near the ground formerly occupied for a pound which is on Edmund Batchelder's place (Volney Foster's place now) "Sd. house to extend 30 ft. in front and 30 ft. back from the line of the sd. Batchelder's on the road into his land." They voted to sell the old South schoolhouse to highest bidder. Joshua Leland bid it off for $5.50.
No further records appear for this year, but there is evidence something "was doing." Their plans were interrupted by the action taken at the annual town meeting. Their last meeting was held March 10 in which they rescinded their previous vote to raise $75 to build the schoolhouse.
On March 5, 1838, the town voted "to measure from Levi Piper's and David Chaplin's in the road and find the center and locate a
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Baltimore, Vermont
spot for a school house as near the centre as the ground will admit and circulate a request to see who are in favor of the uniting in one school district and building a school house on said spot." This would have been on the old road somewhere near the bridge. Luckily, this idea did not prevail.
Another meeting was called for March 24 and they voted to unite in one district. This was final so far as action in regular town meeting was concerned.
April 7, 1838, the inhabitants of the school district in Baltimore met agreeable to warning and voted to have 3 committee men to superintend the building of a schoolhouse. Jona. Woodbury, William Davis and John Piper were voted said committee. "Voted to locate the schoolhouse on opposite side of road where stones are." Probably these stones were those drawn by the Southwest District to the site on Edmund Batchelder's land. "Voted to raise sum of $150 to build school house. Voted that the building com- mittee be authorized to furnish materials and make contracts for building a school house also to purchase a spot for school house and convey the old school house to Joseph Atherton."
April 27 they met again and rescinded the vote to locate a school- house on the opposite side of the road where the stones were drawn for a schoolhouse. "Voted to locate a school house on the land of Wd. Mary Preston on the nearest convenient spot where stones were drawn, said location not to be farther south than the knoll where the spring is." This was the site of the present schoolhouse. "Voted to rescind that part of the vote in regard to conveying the old school house to Joseph Atherton and that the committee dispose of the building as they shall think proper." There is nothing on record as to the disposal of this schoolhouse.
The last town meeting in the North School District was held in September, and it was "voted to hold town meeting in future in the new stone school house now building in said town."
At the last meeting of the year held Dec. 1, 1838, they voted that the district hire a sufficient sum of the deposit money to defray the remaining expenses of building the schoolhouse. Let it now be added that the town of Baltimore paid interest on this money for exactly one hundred years, as it was in March 1938 that it was voted to pay the principal sum due on the U. S. Deposit Money. Probably the receipt of this money was instrumental in bringing peace to Baltimore after forty years of wrangling. Neither district was en- titled to the use of all of it.
The first teacher in the new schoolhouse was J. Robbins. It is interesting to know that Emily Gregory, Ella Graves' mother, was the first woman teacher. She taught for three months at $2 per week and boarded herself. Parkman Davis Jr. taught the next winter term of three months at $20 per month. Some difference!
The school meetings had about the same articles to consider in their warrant as those of the previous districts except that article to see if the town would vote to unite. In 1840 it was voted to raise
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The History of
one and a half cents on the dollar on the grand list of said district to defray the expense of schooling and to pay the interest on what the district had hired. In recent years the school tax has been as high as $1.85 on a dollar of the grand list.
The master's board was bid off for one year, twelve weeks to Lyman Litch at 98 cents per week, the mistress' board twelve weeks to Oren E. Averill at 96 cents per week. The teachers, as in the case of the paupers, still boarded where people would keep them for the least money. They also "voted to have three cords of good hard wood maple, beach or burch well seasoned and prepared fit for the stove, delivered at the school house in said district and well piled up in the entry by the first day of Nov." Lyman Litch bid off the wood at $1.20, and Orin Averill was elected inspector of said wood.
In 1845 Willard Davis bid off the cleaning of the schoolhouse for $. 75. Four years later they voted to have the schoolhouse cleaned inside throughout and windows outside. Fox Sherwin bid off the job for $.99
The names of the first three teachers are a matter of record but no full account of the teachers is available until 1842. The dis- trict school treasurer's book reveals the following: 1842-Martha Sherwin taught 29 pupils, three mos. for $12.00; 1842-Adoniram Bigelow taught winter term three mos. $42.00; 1843-Pd. Mary Preston taught 3 mos. $11.00; Pd. Wd. Mary Preston for board of mistress $8.43; 1843-Pd. L. H. Hodgman teaching 3 mos. winter $40.00; 1844-Pd. Allura D. Woodward teaching 3 mos. $10. 00; 1844-Pd. L. H. Hodgman teaching 3 mos. 41 pupils $45.00; 1845-Pd. Eleanor Piper teaching 3 mos. $12.00; 1847-Pd. Betsy Harris teaching 3 mos. $12.00; 1847-Pd. Rodney Piper teaching 3 mos. and board $47.23.
The only person to tell the writer of his school days in the North District was the late Charles Leland of Springfield. Mrs. Abbie Davis Haskell used to call at her father's old homestead and talk about her school days in District No. 2. The writer was a pupil herself in the stone house and remembers the structure very clearly.
Across the back of the room a board or boards were built against the side of the house at the right height to form a seat. Desks were arranged in front of this board. The stone houses necessitated wide window sills and the three double desks at the back were in front of the three windows. The sills being low there was not much against which to rest one's back. On each side were half-desks built up against the walls of the house. Those built beside the windows were extremely pleasant, those abutting the blank wall were unpopular, and the back seats in the corners were worst of all. As a five-year-old, the writer was assigned one of those back corner seats the first day as no one else deserved it. The desks were made of rock-maple planks and the backs were perpendicular to the seats. In those days the pupils' backs had to be adjustable rather than the desks, and it was not a matter of concern whether or not their feet ever touched the floor when seated.
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The teacher's desk was on a small platform. The seat was built against the side of the house with the wall thereof for its back. The desk had a slanting top and was inclosed so that all that was visible of the short teachers was their faces. The tall teachers were really much more awe-inspiring. On the other side of the door from the teacher's desk was the only blackboard the room afforded which was probably the one put up by Willard Davis for 75 cents. A box stove near the center of the room shed its heat equally well in all directions but not equidistantly. The floor slanted toward the front of the room so the luckless pupil who dropped his pencil or apple in school time had to make a long trip to recover it, mean- while being chided by the teacher to his humiliation.
Other teachers in the stone schoolhouse included Jane Weston, William M. Litchfield, Abby Lockwood, Julia Leland, Frederic Lockwood, David Fairbanks, Maria Washburn, Eliza Davis. Walbridge A. Field who was a brother of the late Fred G. Field taught the winter term of 1850, three months for $45. His pupils were greatly benefitted by coming under the instruction of this worthy young man about to enter on his college career at Dart- mouth. He boarded at Amasa Gregory's and was evidently ap- preciated by the district as he received a recommendation from the prudential committee of Baltimore upon completion of his term. This paper is still in existence and treasured by relatives. He afterwards became a congressman and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts.
Laura Bemis taught the summer school receiving $24 and Mar- cella Leland taught the next winter term of twelve weeks for $39. This was the first instance of a woman attempting the winter school. The next year they hired the same two teachers; so both must have been satisfactory. Betsy Harris taught several terms, also Betsy Litch and Electa Boynton, all town girls, the latter receiving Aug. 31st, 1857, $31.50 for school teaching and board 12 weeks.
The town paid as much for the board as for the teaching. This was not placing much value on higher education. In 1854 the town paid Helen Lockwood $12 for teaching school 12 weeks and paid $14.40 to get her boarded. In 1857 the mistress's board was $2 per week during the summer, but the master James O. Bates boarded through the winter at J. W. Leland's for one dollar. It is to be feared that some injustice prevailed, but luckily some competi- tion arose.
Other familiar names of teachers of that period were Elizabeth Dartt, Rockie Lewis, Helen Preston, Jennie Demary, Emma Pres- ton. Lucy Martin received $16 for teaching summer school in 1867 and the same amount was paid for her board. But the next winter they paid Lewis W. Sanborn $102 and only $24 for his board. The following winter Augusta Ward was paid only $48 for teaching and her board was $25.60. Who shall say that women did not need to fight for their rights?
Ellen Stoughton, Abbie Preston and Ella Graves were the next teachers. Miss Graves evidently could handle the winter terms of
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