USA > West Virginia > Preston County > A History of Preston County, West Virginia, V.1 > Part 18
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Natives of other counties or other states have sometimes been quite temporary residents of Preston, while in several instances they have continued to remain. Some of each class have, after quitting this county, became still more conspicuous elsewhere. The more noteworthy of the immigrant attorneys have been Eugenus M. Wilson, Guy R. C. Allen, Samuel Price, John A. Dille, Edward C. Bunker, Robert E. Cowan, James P. Smith, Henry C. Showalter, Robert W. Monroe, John B.
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Payne, John H. Holt, Joseph H. Hawthorne, William M. O. Dawson, William G. Worley, and Joseph T. Hoke.
Several native Prestonians, such as David E. Cuppett of Thomas, have begun their legal career outside the county.
The bar of Preston has always been of marked ability; and a num- ber of its members have enjoyed eminence and wide reputation. Wil- liam G. Brown, Sr., practiced his profession in his native county for sixty-two years, and through his public services he wrote his name in enduring characters in our local annals. For two terms he occupied the seat in the national congress which is now filled by his son, William G. Brown, Jr. Charles E. Brown, after removing to Cincinnati, became postmaster of that city. Henry C. Hyde, of studious habits, was the compiler of "Hyde's Digest of the West Virginia Reports." Neil J. Fortney and Patrick J. Crogan, present senior members of the King- wood bar, have a reputation that is state-wide.
Samuel Price, a native of Fanquier, after leaving our county, served in the Virginia Assembly, was Lieutenant Governor in 1863, President in 1872 of the Constitutional Convention for West Virginia, and soon afterward became United States Senator by appointment. John A. Dille, who like several others, read law in the office of William G. Brown, Sr., became a judge in 1863 and removed to Morgantown the next year. Edward C. Bunker served in the State Senate and then became a judge until his early death in 1867. The versatile William M. O. Dawson has served West Virginia as Secretary of State, from which position he ascended to that of governor. Joseph H. Hawthorne of Kansas City, became a judge in his adopted state, while John H. Holt is the present judge of our judicial circuit.
The following persons have held the local office of prosecuting attorney :
James McGee, 1818. Eugenus M. Wilson, 1818-1831 ? Guy R. C. Allen, 1831 ?- 1852.
*The compiler has been away from Preston for nearly six years prior to the publication of this work. He has not been put in possession of the data needed for a full enumeration of the professional Prestonians of recent days. Not wishing to slight any names, he has chosen to restrict himself to those which acquired historic importance during the last century. It is also to be borne in mind that some of the professional men may fairly be included in the floating element of local popu- lation, and that it is neither possible nor worth while to present a list that is entirely complete.
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Gustavus Cresap, 1852-1861.
James A. Brown, 1861-3.
James P. Smith, 1863-7.
Charles Hooton, 1867-71. Asbury C. Baker, 1871-7.
William C. Worley, 1877-81.
Neil J. Fortney. 1881-93.
David M. Wortring. 1893-97.
Neil J. Fortney. 1897-1905.
Carleton C. Pierce, 1905-07.
A. G. Hughes, 1907-13.
Turning to the physicians of Preston, we find much more than in the case of the attorneys, a list of names which have quite dropped out of the recollection of our citizens. Before the organization of the county, Charles McLean, of Morgantown, was sometimes summoned to King- wood and its vicinity. The first resident physician was Marmaduke Dent, who married at Kingwood and practiced there several years, be- ginning prior to 1820. He was followed by Peter T. Lashley in 1826, . by W. D. Eyster in 1841, by C. F. M. Kidwell and W. E. Herndon in 1848, and by James H. Manown in 1852. The last named is still living among us at an advanced age.
Among the physicians who settled in Preston, temporarily or per- manently, we find for Kingwood the additional names of Robert B. L. Trippett, who came in 1872, W. S. Martin in 1873, and S. A. Pratt in 1879. J. N. Lloyd came to Reedsville in 1871, and John D. Hall in 1875. James A. Cox practiced many years at Masontown, removing to Morgantown in 1896, and being succeeded by Dr. Hundley. W. M. Dent located at Newburg in 1863, T. F. Lanham in 1874, and J. W. Cameron about 1880. E. K. Sutton has had a long practice at Glades- ville and G. M. Bomberger at Victoria. J. S. Gibson and A. Brown were formerly at Newburg. Alonzo Henry appears to have been the first physician at Rowlesburg. Since then have come A. J. Hale, T. Plummer, C. M. Hollis, and M. H. Proudfoot. Z. M. West came to Evansville in 1871, but was preceded in 1844 by J. C. Kemble. P. M. Sturgis and T. Eaton once were settled at Fellowsville.
In Grant District were I. Carr, A. S. Warden, R. Brooks, W. Pey- ton, and J. W. Ramsay. Also among the older doctors were a Michael, a Shaw, and a Husted. Of later arrival were William Frey and Jesse Beerbower in 1856, F. C. Shepperd in 1860, F. H. Patton in 1863, T. B.
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Seaman in 1869-77, J. H. Stumm in 1872-4, W. C. Jamison in 1876, and J. T. Fuller in 1877. The earlier doctors at Terra Alta were Solomon Parsons, William Davis, Womack, and J. B. Fogle, the latter coming in 1866. Local practitioners of long standing have been S. M. Scott, J. P. Shafer, and M. L. Fichtner, the parent of the latter once following the same calling at Cranesville and being followed there by Dr. Dunham. W. M. Longstreth was also several years at Terra Alta. In Union we encounter the names of L. C. Carr, Mosser, J. H. Legge, F. F. Latham, J. Roy Arnett, and John D. Hall.
Among practitioners of native birth are Emmett R. Bucklew of Evansville, R. R. Frey of Terra Alta, A. O. Fortney of Reedsville, Frank D. Fortney of Newburg, J. F. Michael of Fellowsville, and John S. Nedrow of Bruceton. M. T. Powell and F. M. Dent of Newburg are now deceased, as are also Felix Elliott of Kingwood, and Milton S. Bryte of Bruceton. Robert McMillen removed to Wheeling, James A. Graham to Fairmont, and Leonidas M. Cobun to Morgantown.
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CHAPTER XXI SCHOOLS AND NEWSPAPERS.
An Educational Dark Age - Early Schools - Educational Policy of Virginia - School Law of 1846 - The Old Field School - Academies - Free School System of West Virginia - County Superintendents - Early Teachers - Present Intellectual Life - The Silk Culturist - Preston Journals - Preston in Literature.
When and where the first school appeared in Preston is one of the lost facts in our local history. Prior to about 1790 there appears to be absolute silence along this line. And where the annals throw no positive light, it is quite safe to conclude that there was almost nothing to report. We therefore have to fall back on an exercise of what is termed the "historic imagination."
In 1790 the density of population was only one household to each four square miles of surface. This was too sparse a showing to have enabled schools to exist, unless in the Whetsell Settlement, the Sandy Creek Glades, and the very recent colonies established about Brandon- ville and Carmel by the Quakers and Germans.
Until the above-named date goods were brought in almost ex- clusively by packsaddle. When there had to be a severe weeding out of what were deemed the non-essentials, we may be certain that books and writing materials were scarcely seen at all in the baggage of the average settler. In 1794 there was no postoffice in the Preston area, and but one weekly mail reached Morgantown from the East. Until the close of the Revolution there had doubtless been no more than chance opportunities to receive letters or send them.
It would not appear that a majority of the settlers were positively illiterate. Neither would it appear that more than a few possessed a serviceable education. The intermediate number could neither read nor write with much freedom, and even where they may have desired to exercise this knowledge, they could scarcely have been able to impart even a rudimentary training to their children. The general conditions of the frontier were positively adverse to the work of the school, and illiteracy was more common in the generation growing up on the soil than among the immigrants themselves. Deeds and other papers were very often- acknowledged with a mark, especially on the part of the
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women. A turn in the tide had to await a greater density of population, a greater stability of local institutions, and an abatement of the frontier disinclination to submit to restraint. A compulsory school law in this region a century since would have caused a mighty uproar. .
Thus we may conclude that previous to near 1790, the only ap- proach to real scholastic training was in the families of those settlers who had come here with an efficient education and with an appreciation of its value. No head of such a household would have been willing to see illiteracy reign among his children, even if he had to step into the breach himself as best he could. East of the Blue Ridge teaching was done by ministers of the established church. But in Preston the preach- er was almost an entire stranger until close to the date we have named.
The first schoolmaster of whom we have definite mention was August Christian Whitehair, who was teaching at Carmel in 1790. He probably began doing so a year or two earlier. It is more than probable that by this time a school was maintained among the Quakers on the Big Sandy. Whether so much can be said of the neighborhoods at Glade Farms and Whetsell's is much less certain.
Until quite recently the spirit of Virginia has never been truly cordial toward free public education. Before the Revolution there were schools attached to the parishes of the established church, and there- fore under the supervision of the church. This is why in the earlier history of the state, we read of this or that statesman having attended a school taught by "the Rev. The constitution of 1776 put these parochial schools out of existence, yet did not say a solitary word on the subject of popular education. But the proceeds of the church lands were to some extent used to support charity schools and even free schools. However, what was then termed a free school was not under state supervision, except in so far as the teacher was paid out of funds held by the state. Sometimes a school of this character was maintained by a private individual.
But the select school, maintained by a few certain families, was the customary school east of the Blue Ridge. It was the Virginian theory that education should be a private interest, and that it should be treated like any ordinary interest of a pecuniary nature; that it was something to be bought and paid for by the parent concerned, just as he would purchase his clothes or his furniture. Yet in drawing this line the Virginians were inconsistent, because they believed that religion should be supported by the state. Their antagonism to a school free to any white child came through the aristocratic complexion of their social
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structure. Such is the inveterate force of inbred custom, that although Virginia has now a quite good system of free schools, the private school is yet very common in its older counties.
Until 1796, there was no state school law which in any way af- fected the western counties. The few schools taught in Preston prior to that date were without doubt the result of private effort.
In the year mentioned, a law authorized each county to choose "three of its most honest and able men" to look after its educational interests. These persons were called aldermen, and they were county superintendent, board of education, and sub-district trustees, all in one. Whenever this board thought it expedient, the county was to be divided into sections, each to have a name and to contain enough children to form a school. The cost of the schoolhouse and the salary of the teacher were met by the citizens of the county in proportion to the taxes they paid. These school funds were collected by the sheriff. All free children were to have free tuition for three years. It is probable that this law was due in a great measure to the influence of Jefferson, since that statesman held very advanced views on the subject of public educa- tion. This law was advisory rather than mandatory. It would not appear that any use was made of the statute in the Preston area.
In 1809 the "Literary Fund" was called into being by Act of Assembly. All escheats, confiscations, forfeitures, and personal property accruing to the state were to be turned into this fund, which was to be applied to the encouragement of learning, and specifically to the educa- tion of the poor.
The year before Preston was organized, the legislature passed a new school law. It authorized boards of school commissioners appointed by the county courts and consisting of not less than five persons and not more than fifteen. A majority of the board was a quorum, and it chose a treasurer from its own number. These trustees were to ascer- tain the number of indigent children, how many of these would attend school, and for how many of the latter number it was able to supply the tuition fee. Then with the consent of the parents the board was to send these children to school, furnishing also the necessary books and other materials. To make this law efficient, the trustees of the Literary Fund were instructed to set apart yearly the sum of $45,000, this sum to be apportioned among the counties according to their respective numbers of free white inhabitants.
When Preston assumed political individuality, its schools were
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those known as the common primary, or "old field" schools. The settlers of a neighborhood would put up a building at their own expense and employ the teacher. The school was open to all who were able and willing to pay tuition, and the support was helped out by the county's apportionment of the Literary Fund. In 1833, the population of the county was about 5,600, and the children of school age were somewhat in excess of 2,000. Preston had then a board of seven commissioners under the law of 1817. There were 23 common primary schools attended by 190 of the children classed as indigent, the total number of such in the county being 230. Each child at school was in attendance 40 days on an average. The tuition was three cents a day, and the contribution from the Literary Fund was for all purposes $306.14.
The absence of caste feeling in the western counties and the con- sequent greater cordiality toward the common school is evident from the fact that the census of 1840 reported more illiteracy east of the Blue Ridge than on the western side. In Preston the number of illiterates above the age of 20 years was 431, or about 30 percent of the adult popu- lation. It will be noticed that school attendance was voluntary. Neigh- borhood opinion was the only compelling power. The time was not ripe for any compulsory law. The free spirit of the thinly-settled fron- tier was yet too strong to look kindly on what it would have deemed an encroachment on personal liberty.
In 1846, there was a remodeling of the school law. A petition by a third of the voters required the county court to lay the question be- fore the people whether or not they should have schools under the law. A two-thirds affirmative vote was required. If the county availed it- self of the law, the court then laid off the county into districts, and ap- pointed a school commissioner for each. Collectively, these men con- stituted a county board, with power to select a county superintendent. This official was clerk of the board, and also treasurer. The business between each district and the board was transacted by the commis- sioner thereof. He registered and reported to the superintendent the names of all children between the ages of 5 and 16, contracted with teachers to teach indigent children as many days as the allowance from the Literary Fund would permit, and required the teacher to keep an accurate account of these matters. The compensation of the superin- tendent was two and one-half percent of the moneys passing through his hands and actually applied according to law. Hence the superin- tendent was little more than clerk and treasurer, and what he had for
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his services was something like the salary of a district clerk under the present system.
Otherwise, such schools were kept up by a uniform rate of in- creased taxation. For each school the board appointed one trustee, and the people elected two others. The trustees built the house, and could employ or discharge a teacher. They were to visit the school once a month, examine the pupils, and address them if thew saw fit, "exhorting them to prosecute their studies diligently, and to conduct themselves virtuously and properly."
The mountain counties seem generally to have made use of this law. Had our records prior to 1869 not been destroyed, we might be able to give the number and the boundaries of the school districts in Preston in 1846, and also the names of the school board.
In 1850, Preston had 42 common schools, 42 teachers, 840 pupils, and received $675 of public funds. The adult illiterates were 859, in- cluding 159 of foreign birth. The ratio of illiteracy had dropped to about 20 percent.
Let us now take a close look at a specimen of the early schools. The building itself is no larger than is absolutely necessary. It is of logs, and is more rudely constructed than the average dwelling of the settlement. The logs were cut when green, and the chinking between them is not so tight as to cause much bad air to accumulate within. The floor is of puncheons, dressed with an adze, although a floor of nothing more than the naked earth is not unknown. The roof is of clapboards and heavy weight-poles. The plank door creaks on wooden hinges. Opposite is a cavernous fireplace opening into a low "cat-and- clay" chimney inclining at an angle of several degrees. On either side of the room a log is left out of the wall, and the space is filled with panes of glass, or with paper greased with hog's lard. Below this all- long-and-no-wide window are pins driven into auger-holes and support- ing a slab inclining downward. This is the writing desk. The seats, which are without backs, are of puncheon slabs, with pegs driven into the convex side. Wood is the fuel, and the demands of the insatiable fireplace are supplied from the forest which lies all around the small, briery opening. The cutting is done by the older boys, who take turns in bringing in at the close of school the supply for the next day, and they also take turns in building the fire.
The term of school is three months. The teacher is nearly always a man and is styled "master." Teaching by the gentler sex is not un- known, but is not in favor, the cash salary of the schoolmistress being
V
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only $6 a month. The male teacher figures on a salary of $10 a month, in addition to boarding around among the patrons. As for a diploma or a certificate, none is thought of. The only bar to his engagement would be an opinion that he cannot "keep school." He first goes from house to house with an "article" to be signed by the patrons, binding them to the payment of tuition. Then he goes to the school commis- sioner and enters into a contract for that share of the Literary Fund which would fall to the indigent children of the settlement. This share and the private subscriptions are counted on to supply the $30 he is aiming at. This mass of wealth is not diminished by attending a county institute, or a summer normal, or by subscribing for a school journal. These and other inroads upon the teacher's salary are modern devices.
The hours are from eight until twelve in the morning, and from one until four in the afternoon. When "books" is called, the room fills with a flock of boys and girls who are clad in homespun, and whose chip baskets containing the noon lunch are at the rear of the room. The teacher is likely to be swift in using a stout hickory on those who break his rules. Whipping is frequent, and sometimes severe, and the harsh discipline is upheld by public sentiment. There is no blackboard, and the slates are without frames. Instruction is largely individual, and studying aloud is customary. The branches taught are few, and con- sequently the books are few. Any kind may be used, though we find prominent the "English Reader," the "United States Speller," and "Pike's Arithmetic," with its instruction in pounds, shillings, and pence. The writing is done on paper that is rough, unruled, and with traces of the straw from which it is made. The pens are of goose or turkey quills, and the ink is of maple bark or pokeberry juice, with the addi- tion of alum and vinegar.
Later in this period of time, or in the more progressive schools, we may find "Kirkham's Grammar," and perhaps a geography. There is no text-book on state history, but some ambitious pupil may be studying a history of the United States or even a book on general his- tory. But in all the branches pursued the pupils study hard, and have much memorizing to do.
At Christmas, or at some other occasion. the teacher is expected to "stand treat." The older pupils will get out of bed before daylight so as to bar the schoolhouse door and have a good fire under way. Ad- mission is denied to the teacher until he will sign the "article" passed out to him, wherein are stipulated the conditions of surrender. If the
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potentate be of pliable disposition, he may start off on a trot, scattering walnuts for the keen-eyed youngsters to gather up. But if of an un- bending type, he may climb to the roof and smoke out the garrison by means of a board and rock placed over the mouth of the chimney.
During this old regime, academies sprang up over West Virginia, so as to afford some advantages in secondary instruction. Two of these were in this county. Preston Academy, at Kingwood, was chartered in 1841, and Brandonville Academy followed in 1843. Both buildings were modest brick structures which still exist, though long since converted into private dwellings. But until the advent of the free school these little institutions did good service, and were useful supplements to the work of the common schools. In 1850 they employed three teachers and had a patronage of 70 pupils.
When West Virginia gained her statehood, free schools were at once inaugurated. The change was particularly welcome in the north- ern counties. The log schoolhouse was now rapidly displaced by a small, plain frame building, painted white, and furnished with a black- board. The school curriculum was enlarged and ruled paper was al- ready in use. The term of four months was lengthened to five months in 1893, and to six in 1907. The calendar month, with its maximum of 23 days, was cut down in 1887 to the month of 20 days. In 1873 there were IIO schools, and the salary of the teacher varied from $25 to $50, according to the grade of his certificate. The lengthening of the term to five months came in a time of business depression, and there was some curtailing of the salaries, which within the last decade have again risen, though scarcely more than enough to offset the increased cost of living.
In 1871, the compensation of the county superintendent was only $213. This office has long been wretchedly underpaid in West Virginia, but of late there has been a considerable change for the better, so that it is becoming possible to command suitable requirements for a position that is very responsible. The following persons have filled the office since the coming of the free school :
James P. Smith, 1864-5. Asbury C. Baker, 1865-9.
Thomas Fortney, 1869-71.
John H. Feather, 1871-77. Peter R. Smith, 1877-79. Winfield S. Bayles, 1879-81.
Joseph H. Hawthorne, 1881-3. Aaron W. Frederick, 1883-5.
B. M. Squires, 1885-9. Benjamin H. Elsey, 1889-91.
William G. Conley, 1891-3.
Lorain Fortney, 1893-5.
Horatio S. Whetsell, 1895-9.
Frank W. Gandy, 1899-03.
Arthur W. Carrico, 1903-11. Willis Fortney, 1911-
.
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At the time of his election, Mr. Hawthorne, a native of Monon- galia county, held the degree of Master of Arts from the State Univer- sity. During his incumbency, he raised the standard of teachers' exami- nations to a high level. His immediate successor followed in his foot- steps, and his report for 1885, a document of four columns in length, was exceptionally able. As compared with the average county of the state, the administration of the school interests of Preston has occupied ad- vanced ground.
In 1869, four years after the free school system had gone into ef- fect, II of the 75 schoolhouses were log; the average compensation of the 103 teachers was $103.62; the average number of pupils to each teacher was 39; the value of school property was $43,997.25, and the amount of state aid was $5,311.60.
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