Nothing was ever done by either the French or British governments to establish or encourage the founding of public schools among their scattered subjects in the western wilds, but with the first extension of American paper rule over the Northwest the cause was brought forward as one of the fundamentals of popular sovereignty. As has been stated, a congressional ordinance of 1785 provided for the donation of section 16 in every congressional township for the maintenance of public schools, and the more comprehensive and famous measure of 1787 declared that "religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to the government and happiness of mankind, schools and means of education shall forever be encouraged." In this matter the fathers of the Northwest sustained the character of the founders of the United States, and its greatest supporters ever since, of being both idealists and practical men. They first provided the basis of a fund for the popular schools; then pledged the future American generations forever to encourage them. Forever is a large word, but America has always dealt in futures, and when 128 years have passed after that pledge was given, the generations of the present are encouraging the cause of public education with greater zeal and immeasurably greater resources than their sponsors of 1787 ever dreamed of.
Indiana Territory had the Indians to fight, as well as the wilderness to break, but her public men brought up the subject repeatedly, Governor Harrison in one of his messages suggesting that military education be grafted into the public system. In 1807, after a sweeping preamble re-dedicating the people to the principle of popular education, the Legislature incorporated the Vincennes University "for the instruction of youth in the Latin, Greek, French and English languages, mathematics, natural philosophy, ancient and modern history, moral philosophy, logic, rhetoric and the laws of nature and nations." In the following year the Territorial Legislature authorized the judges of the Courts of Common Pleas to lease the school lands, and in 1810 they were authorized to appoint trustees for that purpose; these agents, however, were forbidden to lease more than 160 acres to any one person and the destruction of timber on the leased lands was forbidden. These acts concluded the actual performances in behalf of the cause, but, considering how many other measures came before the territorial authorities and legislators in the nature of self-defense and self-preservation, it is remarkable that so much was accomplished.
The first state constitution, adopted in 1816, provided that none of the school lands should be sold by the authority of the state previous to 1820, and that it should be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as possible, "to provide by law for a general system of education, ascending in a regular gradation from township schools to a State University, wherein tuition shall be gratis and equally open to all. And for the promotion of such salutary end, the money which shall be paid as an equivalent by persons exempt from military duty, except in times of war, shall be exclusively, and in equal proportion, applied to the support of county seminaries; and all fines assessed for any breach of the penal laws shall be applied to said seminaries in the counties wherein they shall be assessed."
The General Assembly of 1816 took up the work and made provision for the appointment of superintendents of school sections, with power to lease the school lands for any term not to exceed seven years, and each lessee was required to set out annually on such lands twenty-five apple and twenty-five peach trees until 100 of each had been planted. Between 1816 and 1820 several academies, seminaries and literary societies were incorporated in the older and more populous counties.
The first measure which provided for any comprehensive system of public education was passed in 1824, the bill being the result of the labors of a special commission appointed by the Legislature several years before; the act, which became law, was "to incorporate congressional townships and provide for public schools therein."
After providing for the election of three school trustees in each township, who should control section 16 and all other matters of public education, the law made provision for the erection of schoolhouses, as follows: "Every able-bodied male person of the age of twenty-one years and upwards, residing within the bounds of such school district, shall be liable to work one day in each week until such building may be completed, or pay the sum of thirty-seven and one-half cents for every day he may fail to work." The trustees might also receive lumber, nails, glass or other necessary building material, in lieu either of work or the daily wages.
The schoolhouse, according to the law of 1824, provided: "In all cases such school house shall be eight feet between the floors, and at least one foot from the surface of the ground to the first floor, and be furnished in a manner calculated to render comfortable the teacher and pupils."
As no funds were provided for the pay of teachers or the erection of buildings, the schools were kept open as long as the subscriptions held out, and the comfort of the teacher and pupils depended on the character of the householders who supported the institution. Neither could the school trustees levy a tax except by special permission of the district, and even then the expenditure was limited to $50.
In 1832 the Legislature ordered the sale of all county seminaries, the net proceeds to be added to the permanent school fund. Its action did not affect White County, as its citizens did not commence to collect funds for that purpose until 1834, when they were organized under a separate government. In 1837 the county received its quota of the surplus disbursed from the United States treasury to the various states during the preceding year. Indiana's share was $806,000, and of that sum the State Legislature set aside $573,000 for the permanent use of the common schools of the commonwealth; but only the interest of the fund could be used by the counties.
When White County commenced its political existence there were no public schools, in the accepted sense, within her borders, and nearly twenty years were to pass before anything like the prevailing system of popular education was to be in force. The conditions then prevailing were these: "The man or woman who had a desire to become an instructor would get up a written agreement called a subscription paper, and pass it around among the people of a certain neighborhood for signatures. The agreement usually called for a certain number of pupils at a certain price per pupil, and when the required number was obtained the school would begin. The ruling price for a term of three months was two dollars per pupil, and the number of pupils to be taught was to be not less than twenty. The board and lodging for the teacher would be provided by the patrons of the school, each one, in turn, furnishing a share during the term, or if the teacher preferred, which was nearly always the case, he or she might choose a boarding place and remain there during the term for a small compensation to the patron of the school whose home was selected. The board and lodging of the school teacher was regarded as a small matter by the early settlers, and one dollar per week was taken as ample compensation for the trouble imposed by this arrangement. The first plan was designated as 'boarding among the scholars' and the second as 'boarding himself' or 'boarding herself.'
"The first matter of importance, however, before the beginning of the school, was to provide a building for the accommodation of the teacher and pupils; but this was, also, an easy matter for the pioneers. The settlers of a neighborhood would get together on a specified day, say a Thursday, and begin the erection of a school house at some point as nearly central in the neighborhood as a site could be procured; which was always easy to obtain, as land was worth one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and a suitable site could be found where the owner of the land, if he had children of school age, was only too willing to donate an acre or half an acre of his land for the purpose. Beginning the building on Thursday, they would finish their work on or before Saturday night, so that it would be ready for occupancy on Monday morning."
The mellow memories clinging to the old log schoolhouse have so often been spread upon the printed page that we leave the familiar ground for more personal matters directly concerning the pioneer schools and teachers in the White County field before the commencement of the modern era in 1852.
The first schoolhouse built within the limits of White County was located on the banks of Big Creek, in what was known as the Robert Newell neighborhood—so named after that old settler, afterward probate judge, who has already appeared several times in the course of this history. It stood on the land of George A. Spencer, whose home was also White County's first courthouse. The schoolhouse, which was constructed of round logs and was 12 by 14 feet in size, had been built for a family residence. After a short occupancy for domestic purposes it had been abandoned, and some time in 1834 was opened as a school, Mr. Spencer having kindly placed seats in it and otherwise transformed the room into a temple of learning. Mr. Spencer had children, and the other resident families who supported the enterprise were headed by Benjamin Reynolds, John Burns, Robert Newell, William M. Kenton, Zebulon Dyer, James Shafer, John Phillips, and perhaps a few others.
From a description which has come down to us from one of the old settlers it is learned that a log had been left out of the south side of the hut to admit the light, and, that two puncheons, fastened together with wooden pins and hung on wooden hinges, formed the door, which was securely closed with a wooden latch in a wooden catch. A string passed through the door above the latch and served to raise it from the outside at all times, unless the pupils caught the master out, when it would be drawn in and, by barricading the window with benches, they often succeeded in delaying the routine of study, but such an act was certain to bring upon the daring culprits the dire vengeance of the master, whose authority was thus set at naught.
The first teacher in this first school was Matthias Davis, father of Mrs. Daniel McCuaig, of Monticello, a man of rare mental qualifications for that period and a kindly and conscientious teacher, who delighted in his work and was beloved by his pupils. He could be severe, however, when he "was locked out," or his authority otherwise flouted.
Soon after the organization of the county the citizens commenced to agitate the founding of a county seminary, authorized by the state constitution of 1816. The movement materialized in the legislative enactment providing that certain fines and penalties, assessed against those who swore, broke the Sabbath, or engaged in rioting, should be thus applied. The law provided that when $400 had been collected, the board of trustees might proceed to erect a seminary building. In May, 1835, Jonathan Ilarbolt was appointed seminary trustee to serve for one year. The fund went on so slowly collecting under Mr. Harbolt and his successors that it had reached only $403 in June, 1853, and $781 in 1857; by that time the new school law established under the constitution of 1852 had gone fully into operation, and as there was no place in that system for a county seminary, its fund was turned over to the common schools.
The old county library met with a similar fate, funds for its establishment being secured much in the same way as for the seminary. Although quite unsteady, the library actually got upon its feet. A few books were purchased as early as 1838 and small additions were made to the original collection, so that by 1845 several hundred volumes were scattered over the county in the homes of the early settlers. In that year the board of commissioners organized themselves as trustees of the county library, Allen Barnes becoming president and Charles W. Kendall librarian and clerk. The clerk was directed to collect by public notice all the books in circulation, prepare a catalogue, and purchase such additional books as the library funds would allow; also to prepare a constitution and by-laws for the consideration of the trustees. It does not appear that Mr. Kendall ever served—in fact, he refused to serve, and J. M. Rifenberrick was appointed in his place; so that Mr. Rifenberrick must have accomplished this preliminary work. John R. Willey became librarian in 1849, but the county institution had no excuse for existence under the new educational dispensation inaugurated in 1852, which included, among other features, the operation of township libraries. The county library was therefore abandoned by the state and its books melted away; but they undoubtedly accomplished some good in the way of lightening the long hours of lonely pioneer life, and supplying mental food to a limited circle, at a time when it was so scarce and therefore so highly valued.
In 1835, the year after opening the Big Creek schoolhouse, Mathias Davis, of Carroll County, was called to Monticello to take charge of a more finished establishment. A frame building had been erected, 20 by 30 feet, with iron latches and hinges for the door and sash and glass lights for the windows. The latter were placed near the roof to protect them from the boys; for, at that time, the breaking of a window pane, whether by accident or malice aforethought, was an expensive disaster which the school authorities could not afford. Mr. Davis remained at the head of the Monticello school until 1838, and was followed, at different periods, by William Cahill, Mr. Montgomery, James Kelley and James Givens. Perhaps the most remarkable characteristic of these pioneer teachers of Monticello was that none of them seemed to be able to combine mentality and muscularity in the proportion which should meet the requirements of the situation. They ranged all the way from the clever but too mild Cahill to the fierce and conclusive Montgomery, who was sent to jail for so cowhiding one of the boys that pools of blood were drawn upon the schoolroom floor.
In the early '80s a small settlement sprung up about half a mile north of the old town of Burnettsville, Jackson Township, and in 1836 a post-office was established there called Burnett's Creek. About the same time the settlers got together and built a little log schoolhouse near by, and William K. Dale, the postmaster, also became the schoolteacher.
Some time before—just how long it is not of record—a small class had been taught in a vacant hut owned by Ephraim Chamberlain; it was situated in the southeast quarter of section 33 and was taught by James Renwick. This, which was really the pioneer school in the township and one of the first in the county, was located near the Carroll County line.
In the early autumn of 1837 Liberty Township joined the little group of educators in White County, through such of her early settlers as Messrs. Funks, Conwells, Hall, Louders and Sluyter. Mr. Sluyter (Jonathan W.) was especially enthusiastic over the erection of a log school house for the dozen or fifteen children who were ready to attend; he had been in the township, on his land along the Tippecanoe, for several months, and being a blacksmith, as well as considerable of a mechanic, the work of erecting the schoolhouse was largely intrusted to him. As completed, it was of round logs, fifteen feet square, had a large fireplace, was supplied with backless puncheon seats and had one window. David McConahay was the first teacher in that school, and he was followed within the coming three years by George Hall, John C. V. Shields and Lester Smith.
Then, in 1840, Mr. Sluyter again came to the rescue and built a second schoolhouse on the site of the first; the new was an improvement on the old, because it was larger, built of hewn logs, had more windows and the seats were more finished and comfortable. All of which was to the special credit of Jonathan W. Sluyter, the head of the family.
At that time the only school which may be said to have been established was the one at Monticello, which went into a partial decline and disgrace. But the educational spirit had spread westward with the incursion of new settlers with their children, so that in 1840 a school house was built near the Town of West Bedford. Salome Bentley is said to have been the first teacher and Michael Berkey, the second, with David Hall, Peter Scott, Power Moore and Mary Lindsay, trailing along in about that order. This was one of the first schools to be established away from the Tippecanoe River.
In 1844 a schoolhouse was erected in West Point Township, near the site of the house now in use. It was used for both political and educational purposes; was a town hall as well as a schoolhouse, the first elections in the township being held therein. The structure was of the round log variety, 18 by 24 feet in size.
It was reserved for Monticello to make the first real advance in offering superior educational advantages to the students of White County, through the personal labors of George Bowman and his graded school. Even in the period of modern improvements in this field, as of others, it is doubtful if his superior as a thorough and inspiring educator can be named among the teachers of White County.
Professor Bowman was born near Martinsburg, Virginia in 1818, and was left an orphan when only six years of age. With several brothers and sisters, he was brought up by relatives on a typical Virginia plantation, his education being obtained both in a country school and a rural store in the neighborhood. From a very early age books were his inspiration and solace, and when he had about reached his majority he joined his brothers who had settled at Delphi, Carroll County. There he continued his Virginia life by dividing his time between study, teaching and clerking, his business connection at Delphi being in the large store kept by Enoch Bowen. After several years of that varied experience, he was induced by several elderly friends to enter Wabash College, Crawfordsville. His studies there were interlarded with various occupations incident to "working through college," such as clerking in a country store and peddling a religious publication in White and Carroll counties.
In September, 1848, he left college within a year of graduation, and married Miss Ruth Angell, taking his young wife to Monticello, and assuming charge of the town school. Two years thereafter his wife died, leaving him an infant daughter. That misfortune changed his plans. Returning to Wabash College he graduated therefrom in 1852 and soon afterward was placed in charge of the Delphi schools. A few months after his second marriage to Miss Mary D. Piper, in 1858, he returned to Monticello.
Just a decade from the time of his first coming to Monticello, in September, 1858, Professor Bowman opened the academy, or grade school, as it was called, which became such a noteworthy institution in the development of the educational system of the county. He introduced the studies of natural philosophy, astronomy, algebra and Latin, and young men and women for the first time in the educational history of White County had an opportunity of acquiring something more than the fundamentals of an English education. Composition and declamation were cultivated and pupils were required to give reasons and illustrations in support of any theory or principle advanced.
The return of Mr. Bowman to Delphi, in the fall of 1850, had been discouraging to the cause of higher education, since no instructor could be found to take his place. The subsequent history of the movement, especially the professor's part in it, is thus presented: It is probable about this time that an effort was made to erect a brick school building at Monticello. Whether the schoolhouse was to be built with the county seminary funds, or as an institution wholly for the District of Monticello, is not certain, but it is known that it was completed a short distance above the foundation, then abandoned and the material removed. For some years thereafter several attempts were made, through private schools, to meet the demand of parents both for instruction in the common branches and (among a more limited number) for training in the classics and the advanced studies. Among the really excellent schools taught during that period of earnest endeavor was one in the Democrat Building, its teachers numbering Maria Hutton and Mrs. Dr. Haymond.
The return of the professor to Monticello in 1858. after he had ably served as the principal of the Delphi schools for six years, was heralded as a saving event, and arrangements were made to furnish better facilities than he formerly commanded. An old warehouse was remodeled for school purposes, a bell was placed on the roof and the principal then engaged two assistants to get the situation well in hand. Within the following three years the Monticello Graded School, as it was called, became an educational force whose influence even spread beyond the bounds of White County. It was divided into three departments, corresponding to the high, grammar and primary divisions of the public system, graduates from the high school being prepared for college.
Professor Bowman's assistants in 1860 were Miss Mary Bowman and H. H. Tedford. He continued as head of this private graded school until August, 1862, when he was mustered into the Union service as captain of Company D, Twelfth Indiana Volunteers, the members of which were enlisted largely through his exertions. He was captured at Richmond, and wounded both at Jackson and Missionary Ridge —at the latter engagement so badly that he was discharged from the service as incapacitated. He was honorably discharged in March, 1864, and in the following year returned to Delphi, where he remained until 1870 as principal of its schools and engaged in farming. He had bought a farm on the banks of the Tippecanoe, about six miles south of Monticello in White County, and thither retired with his wife and six children.
But Mr. Bowman did not succeed as a farmer, and as his widow wrote pathetically and affectionately years afterward: "We named our home Hopeful Bluff and lived on hope for eight years. Mr. Bowman was a born teacher, but knew nothing about farming, consequently he failed at every point. Those were trying days, though filled with love and many happy hours. We had good neighbors and many kind friends. Mr. Bowman was later elected county superintendent of schools, which gave us the opportunity of meeting the best of people. He was a kind, loving husband and father, always looking on the bright side of life, He was truly an optimist."
Professor Bowman served as county superintendent from 1873 to 1881, and under his administration the schools obtained an impetus in the right direction which has never been lost. The family had returned to Monticello in 1878, and at the conclusion of his term as county superintendent of schools, Mr. Bowman devoted himself to his beloved books (taking up the study of Hebrew after he was seventy); also spent considerable time in teaching private pupils, and in 1890 he was induced, partly by friends and partly urged by his strong instincts as a natural teacher, to assume regular duties in connection with the county schools of White and Carroll counties. But he counted too confidently on his old-time vitality for one in his seventy-third year. In the fall of that year he was unable to rally before the attack of a severe illness, and passed away on November 29 (Thanksgivihg), 1890. The deceased was an earnest Presbyterian of many years standing and a Christian by faith and deed.
The first schools of Princeton township, in the western border of White County, did not come to the surface until the late '40s, being mostly established in its central sections. The Palestine settlement, the first in the township, claims to have started the pioneer school, as does the so-called Nordyke Settlement. Neither as to time nor stateliness is there much to choose between them. They were both opened in 1849; they were both 16 by 18 feet in dimensions. While the Nordyke affair may have had the edge on the Palestine schoolhouse, in that it was built of hewn instead of round logs, on the other hand the Palestine structure had two windows instead of the usual one opening, and they occupied its two sides lengthwise; thus, matters of superiority were balanced. The Palestine School stood on Mortimer M. Dyer's land, and its first teacher was Edwin Bond, while B. Wilson Smith taught the children at the Nordyke settlement. But Nordyke finally triumphed decisively over the Palestine settlement, by building the first frame schoolhouse in the township, about half a mile north of the old log structure, in 1854.
Cass Township commenced its school building in 1850, although several classes had been taught in private houses for two years previously. In the winter of 1848-49 Samuel Gruell taught a few children in a round-log cabin on the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of section 6, in the extreme northwest corner of the township about a mile east of the Tippecanoe. Mrs. Anna McBeth, mother of James M. McBeth, assumed the work in 1849. The pupils who thus started the educational ball rolling numbered twenty-four, distributed by families as follows: Christopher Vandeventer family, five; Horim's, four; Daniel Germberlinger, two; John Baker (Pulaski County), two; Daniel Yount, two; Albert Bacon, three. In the winter of 1849-50, Mrs. McBeth opened a school in the family home, a round-log hut on the southeast quarter of the northeast quarter of section 6. She was a lady of great intelligence, coming of a well educated Ohio family, and her twenty pupils prospered under her instruction. Her husband died a few years afterward, but the widow lived to be an aged honored mother and grandmother of the county. One of their sons Joseph was a good soldier of the Civil war and prominent in the public affairs of the township, and several of the later generation still reside in the county.
The foregoing are but illustrations which might be deduced from every sparsely settled county in the state, of the struggles which were common among the pioneers to educate their children as best they might. But all such facilities were the result of individual exertion and determination, unsystematized and virtually unsupported by the state. With the inauguration of the new constitution of 1851, much of this confusion and working at cross purposes cleared away and a working plan was evolved. By legislative act "to provide for a general uniform system of Common Schools and School Libraries, and matters properly connected therewith," approved June 14, 1852, the way was made clear for the establishment of the public educational system which is still expanding and developing in its details.
The free school system of Indiana became practically operative on the first Monday in April, 1853, when the township trustees for school purposes were elected. The new law gave them the management of the school affairs of the township, subject to the action of the voters. But it was a number of years before White County was able to derive much practical benefit from the system, as the quota of the common school fund derived from the state was small and increased slowly, as it was based upon the number of children of school age residing in the various districts. In the meantime most of the actual management of school matters was vested in the old-time school examiner.
The school examiners for White County, whose services extended into the formative period of the present common school system, including the supplementary law of 1855-56, were as follows: James Kerr, 1836; N. Bunnell, 1838; Jonathan Harbolt, 1839; Charles W. Kendall, 1845; James Kerr, 1846; Charles Dodge, 1848; Jonathan Harbolt, 1849; George G. Miller and Robert Irwin, 1856.
In 1859 the board of three township trustees was abolished and school matters were placed in the keeping of one trustee, who was enabled to work to greater advantage with the examiner than under the old system, but it was not until nearly twenty years later that the trustee assumed greater control of the schools within his township. As the interest of the common school fund was only available, under the constitution, it usually became necessary for the citizens of a district in pressing need of a schoolhouse to contribute a part of the expense incurred both in its erection, furnishing and maintenance. The law required the trustee to own the land upon which every public schoolhouse was erected and a perfect title from the owner of the land to the trustee and his successors in office must be procured before the building could be commenced. A word from the trustee expressing the necessity for a new schoolhouse usually brought half a dozen offers from property owners offering sites of from half an acre to a whole one, provided the township would pay the expenses of executing the deed and recording it. Land was much cheaper than money in those days; but the early settlers contributed of both, as well as of honest labor and necessary materials, for the erection of the building which was to house their children as pupils. Not infrequently the trustee erected a neat frame building beside the old log schoolhouse, that the entire township might compare the two with pride over the improvement manifest in the new.
Having procured their certificates of qualification from the county examiner, the applicants for the position of teacher laid their cases before the trustee; and the primary selection rested with him, his choice being ratified by the patrons of the school. Sometimes when there was a decided division of neighborhood sentiment as to the merits of several candidates, a meeting was held and the decision left to a majority vote, Good conduct determined the length of service, and the question of salary was left to the patrons of the school; the average salary for the male teacher of the earlier years was $20 a month and board, the female instructor drawing about half that amount. The farm hand was paid about the same wages, and the fairly-educated laborer was quite apt to prefer a cozy district schoolroom to outdoor work, especially in winter. So there was seldom any dearth of district school teachers. As the standard of qualification was raised, the supply of male teachers decreased, which heralded a brighter day for the prospects of the school ma'am.
A number of years passed, while the public school system in White County was gathering strength and getting into shape, before high schools were established as an important department of the curriculum. Their place in the scheme was taken, for the time being, by such private institutions as Professor Bowman's Graded School, the Farmington Male and Female Seminary at what is now Burnettsville and the Brookston Academy. Professor Bowman's school has already been sketched.
The Farmington Seminary was founded about 1852 by Isaac Mahurin. The building was erected by a joint-stock association, its certificates of stock being redeemable in tuition. After about two years, Mr Mahurin was succeeded by Hugh Nickerbocker, who taught three years, when he was succeeded by Joseph Baldwin. Professor Baldwin's administration of three years gave the seminary a fine reputation and its pupils came from such places as Logansport, Lafayette, Peru, Delphi and Winamac. Other teachers followed who added to its standing and it finally became the headquarters of those splendidly conducted normal institutes conducted by such men as Rev. William Irelan and Prof. D. Eckley Hunter.
The Burnettsville academy reached the height of its fame as a normal training school in 1876. when Professor Irelan was county superintendent of schools. There were few men in the county more popular or honored. He had served with bravery in the Union ranks until shot through the eye at Missionary Ridge, when he was obliged to return to his home in Monticello. He served as county examiner from 1865 to 1868, and in 1875, after the change in the law, was elected county superintendent, his only predecessor in that office being Prof. George Bowman, who also succeeded him. For many years the honors and popularity as educators in White County were about equally divided between these two fine men and citizens. It is believed, however, that Professor Irelan is best known for the work which he accomplished in the training of teachers, during the '70s, as head of the Burnettsvitle institution.
While a resident of Burnettsville, Professor Irelan was the pastor and moving spirit in the Christian Church at that place, but about 1886 moved with his family to Topeka, Kansas, and several years later joined his daughter, Miss Elma Irelan, at Monterey, Mexico, where she was stationed as a missionary of that denomination. During his absence from Burnettsville, the church there of which he had been pastor had been discontinued, but during a visit to his former parishioners, made in 1909, he revived the church and then rejoined his daughter in Mexico. It was under these circumstances that he died on the 9th of October, 1911, at a ripe age and with abundant fruitage to his credit.
The Brookston Academy has had a continuous history up to the present time, being now represented by the Town Commissioned High School of that place. Dr. John Medaris. suggested to the county superintendent, during the later part of the Civil war, the desirability of establishing an institution of higher learning which should be partially supported by the county, although a township enterprise. Meetings were held to interest the citizens in the movement, and the response was so gratifying that during the winter of 1865-66 $7,000 was subscribed toward the erection of a suitable building at Brookston. By the fall of 1866 the building was inelosed and the association was about $6,000 in debt. That sum was eventually raised by the sale of new stock. The board of commissioners also subscribed to the amount of $5,000, under the following conditions: "It is ordered by the Board that $5,000 worth of stock of the Brookston Academy be taken by the county, upon the condition that the Board of Trustees of said Brookston Academy shall, from henceforth forever, educate all orphan children, and all children of widows who are not owners of real estate of the value of $500, and shall be bona fide residents of the county of White, free from tuition of all kinds, until said children shall attain their majority."
With the $11,000 thus realized and an additional $4,000 of borrowed money, the academy building was completed and opened in the fall of 1867. As it stood in a beautiful grove just south of the corporation, it was, for those times, an imposing structure of brick, with castellated towers in front at either corner, and the main entrance between. It was 80 by 60 feet in size, two stories in height. When the building was completed a debt of $8,000 hung over it which the trustees were unable to lift, so that in 1873 it was sold to the trustee of the township, who, in turn, leased it for ninety-nine years to the corporation of Brookston; that arrangement is therefore in force until 1972.
When the Brookston Academy opened in 1867 Professor Hart, a graduate of Yale College and formerly principal of the public schools at Danville, Kentucky, was at the head of its faculty; Miss Serena Handley, principal of the grammar department; Miss Sallie Mitchell, of the intermediate; Miss Jeru Cook, of the primary; Miss Rachel Hayes, assistant, and Miss Lida Oakes, teacher of music. The first trustees were John Medaris, Russell Stewart, Samuel Barney, E. A. Brown, Alfred Ward and G. W. Cornell. Doctor Medaris was for many years president of the board of trustees and by far the most influential member connected with the management of the academy.
Honey Creek and Round Grove townships did not join the class of educators until the second state constitution had partially licked into shape things educational. The first schoolhouse built in the former was erected in the original plat of Reynolds in 1855. It was a subscription affair, Benjamin Reynold donating the ground and Nathanial Bunuell giving $25 toward the building. Miss Nannie Glazebrook is said to have been the first teacher to hold forth in this first regular school in Honey Creek Township, albeit Miss Ann Braday may, as the story goes, have taught in a big corn-crib in the summer of 1854. The crib, which was 12 by 30 feet, is said to have made a very fair summer schoolhouse and furnished accommodations for twenty pupils during the three warm months.
In 1857 the Stanley Schoolhouse, a frame structure, was erected near the center of Round Grove Township. It was 16 by 18 feet and Elizabeth Ballintyne had the honor of opening it.
As now organized and systematized the public schools are under the control of the county board of education, consisting of one trustee from each of the eleven townships, the presidents of the town and city school boards and the county superintendent, who is made president of the entire board. The present county superintendent is Henry J. Reid, and the township trustees who went into office January 1, 1915, as follows: Big Creek, Robert W. Barr, Chalmers; Cass, William E. Stillwell, R. 19, Idaville; Liberty, Cassius D. Imler, Monticello; Jackson, David A. Scroggs, Idaville; Monon, Henry C. Thompson, Monon; Honey Creek, Levi Reynolds, Reynolds; Union, William Paschen, Monticello; Round Grove, J. E. Burdge, Brookston; West Point, Andrew Humphreys, Wolcott; Prairie, Edgar M. Ferguson, Brookston; Princeton, E. J. Dibell, Wolcott.
H. C. Johnson is president of the city school board of Monticello, and the following are presidents of the town boards: Brookston, Lawrie T. Kent; Burnetts Creek, John C. Duffey; Monon, Carl C. Middlestadt; Wolcott, Charles Martin.
The teaching force of the county is in close combination through the Teachers' Association and the township institutes. The president of the association is T. S. Cowger, of Monon, and the principals of the township institutes are: Big Creek, J. C. Downey; Cass, Ivy Morris; Honey Creek, F. E. Young; Jackson, Fred Francis; Liberty, Rolla Benjamin; Monon, T. S. Cowger; Prairie, Finis Oilar, Princeton, Russell Wooden; Round Grove, Gus Collins; Union, each teacher in turn, principal; West Point, John Humphreys.
The County Teachers' Institute is held annually the last week in August and the following dates are reserved for the township institutes: First Saturday, Big Creek, Honey Creek, Prairie and Round Grove; second Saturday, Jackson, Princeton, Union and West Point; third Saturday, Cass, Liberty and Monon.
The White County Board of Education has promulgated a set of rules and regulations for the government of the public schools which are worthy of study. They bear with insistence on the necessity for the observance of orderly and moral conduct, the restrictions as to the use of tobacco and cigarettes being especially strict, as witness:
"Tobacco shall not be brought to school, and using tobacco on the way to or from school shall be considered conclusive evidence that tobacco was brought to school.
"Pupils, teachers, superintendents, principals, janitors and hack drivers shall not use tobacco while at school work. The carrying of pipes to school is prohibited. Pupils with the odor of tobacco on their person or clothing shall be dismissed from any session of school and a persistent violation of this rule shall be a just cause for expulsion.
"As to cigarettes, below is Section 1, Chapter 223, page 643, of Law of 1913: 'Section 1—Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Indiana, That it shall be unlawful for any person under the full age of twenty-one years, by himself or through any other person or by any means, directly or indirectly to buy, receive or acept [sic] for his own use or the use of any other person whatsoever, or to keep or own or to have in his possession, to sell either as principal or agent, or to use any cigarette, cigarette paper, cigarette wrapper or any paper or wrapper containing morphine, nicotine, oil of hemp, or any deleterious or poisonous ingredients or substance, or intended, suited, made or prepared for the purpose of being filled with tobacco for smoking, or any substitute for such cigarette paper, cigarette wrapper or other such paper.'
The truant laws are strictly enforced, hygienic measures are formulated and the modern movement of encouraging the transformation of schools into social centers is given full support. Domestic science and home sewing are strongly urged, and the suggestions as to getting the most practical good out of the agricultural course are as follows: "In the one room schools, only the boys of the 8th grade will be required to do the work in Agriculture.
"The boys in the 7th grade and girls in the 8th grade may do the work if the teacher thinks it advisable.
"Do the work as outlined in the State Course and in the Tentative Course of Study in Agriculture. If the teacher does not have a Tentative Course of Study in Agriculture, be may get one of the county superintendent.
"Special emphasis is to be placed on soils and crops. Use 'Productive Farming' by Davis as a text, but only such parts as are needed to follow the course.
"Perform as many experiments as possible."
Young peoples' reading circles are warmly encouraged and this sensible warning is sent out: "Teachers should see that children have clean games and sport, both indoors and out. Every teacher ought to know enough good games and sports to be able to start one or more when the children do not seem to play some good game of their own. The best way to get rid of bad games or unsatisfactory play is to suggest a good game or sport and teach them how to play it.
"Ball, bean-bags, jumping-rope, horse-shoe, dare-base, blind-man's buff, London Bridge, black-man, tag, see-saw, tap-ring, drop the handkerchief, guessing games, ciphering."
The last session of the Indiana Legislature gave the state the most advanced law on industrial and vocational education of any of the states. It made the age limit for compulsory attendance at school sixteen years instead of fourteen unless the child obtains work papers. It gave the state uniform text books for the high school. It created another class of teachers under the minimum wage law and several other laws were enacted of great importance to the public schools of the state. In all of which progressive legislation White County is receiving its due benefit as a stable unit of the great state system of public instruction.
The last figures compiled by County Superintendent Reid for 1915 indicate that the total value of property in White County now amounts to $15,246,560, the enrollment of those of school age to 4,330, number of teachers, 124, and number of schoolhouses, 99. The details follow:
| Townships and | Value of | |||
| Corporations | Enrollment | Teachers | Houses | Property |
| Big Creek .............. | 270 | 7 | 5 | $ 1,280,900 |
| Cass ...................... | 277 | 9 | 9 | 538,870 |
| Honey Creek ......... | 268 | 7 | 8 | 1,109,380 |
| Jackson ................. | 276 | 8 | 5 | 931,330 |
| Liberty ................... | 276 | 10 | 9 | 648,410 |
| Monon ................... | 253 | 9 | 10 | 1,395,810 |
| Prairie .................... | 211 | 8 | 10 | 1,906,830 |
| Princeton ................ | 213 | 9 | 10 | 1,329,850 |
| Round Grove ......... | 110 | 6 | 8 | 864,380 |
| Union .................... | 202 | 9 | 10 | 1,279,440 |
| West Point ............. | 212 | 9 | 9 | 1,250,080 |
| Brookston ............ | 269 | 5 | 1 | 375,280 |
| Burnettsville .......... | 239 | 4 | 1 | 185,760 |
| Monon ................. | 384 | 8 | 1 | 428,730 |
| Wolcott ............... | 295 | 6 | 2 | 374,470 |
| Monticello ............ | 575 | 10 | 1,347,040 | |
| _______ | _____ | ____ | ____________ | |
| Totals | 4,330 | 124 | 99 | $15,246,560 |
No more learned or versatile character has ever cast his lot with the progress of White County than Dr. William S. Haymond, successful physician and surgeon, mathematician, linguist, railroad president, congressman, orator and author. Two decades of his remarkable career were spent in Monticello; in that city was laid the foundation of his later and broader fame, which was honestly and fairly earned as a resident of Indianapolis, but toward whatever place he called his home, the affection and admiration of his old friends in White County were earnestly directed. His death at the state capital occurred December 23, 1885, in his sixty-third year.
From the many obituaries and eulogies which appeared in the newspapers of the state, the following from the Indianapolis Journal of December 26, 1885, is selected as both concise and complete: "The funeral of Dr. William S. Haymond will take place from his late residence, No. 399 College avenue, this afternoon at 1:30. He was born in Harrison county, near Clarksburg, Virginia, February 20, 1823. At the age of twenty, though only possessed of a common school education, he was regarded as one of the most accomplished mathematicians in the State. At twenty-three, he began the study of medicine, and after qualifying himself for his profession moved West and located at Monticello, where, in 1852, he began the practice of medicine and surgery, soon after which he graduated at Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York. He soon came to rank with the foremost men of his profession in the northwestern part of the state, and at different times contributed valuable papers to the medical journals. While busily engaged in his practice, he daily devoted himself to the study of languages, his course embracing Latin, Greek, French, German, Spanish and Italian. He also made it a regular habit from year to year to review geometry and other branches of mathematics. In the fall of 1861 he was appointed assistant surgeon in the Forty-sixth Indiana Regiment. He remained in the army until 1863, when, by reason of ill health, he was compelled to return home. In 1866 he received the unanimous nomination by the Democrats and Liberals as their candidate for the State Senate, but was defeated for election.
"In 1872 Dr. Haymond was elected president of the Indianapolis, Delphi and Chicago Railroad Company, and held that office until his election to Congtess two years later. He was the first person who saw clearly the importnnce of opening a through railroad line which would give the Western States direct trade, by way of Port Royal, with South America, the West Indies and Europe. On this subject he addressed, by special invitation, a joint railroad convention at Augusta, Georgia, in May, 1873. The project having attracted widespread attention, a company was formed of which Dr. Haymond was made president. At a large railroad convention held in Chicago in October, 1873, the proposed road was strongly favored. Bankers of large capital and credit had pledged substantial aid to the enterprise, when the panic inaugurated by the failure of Jay Cooke so unsettled financial matters that operations were suspended.
"In 1874 Dr. Haymond received, without solicitation, the unanimous nomination to Congress from the Tenth (Schuyler Colfax's) district, and was triumphantly elected —the first Democratic victory in twenty-two years. He retired at the close of the term March 4, 1877. His eulogy on the death of the speaker, Hon Michael C. Kerr, was pronounced by competent judges the finest literary effort made on the occasion. He was renominated for Congress in 1876, but met with a serious accident about the last of August of that year which came near terminating his life, confining him to his bed for several months. He was defeated, the district being largely Republican and because he was unable to give his personal effort and presence to the campaign.
"The Doctor was endowed with a rare executive ability and as an organizer had few superiors. In deportment he was modest, suave and rather reticent; but his social qualities were pleasant and lasting to those who made his acquaintance. About ten years ago, desiring to occupy a new field of labor and lessen the physical drudgery under which he was tiring through professional labors, he removed to this city. He took an active and leading part in the organization of the Central College of Physicians and Surgeons, of this city, with which, in various positions, he was connected until his death."
To the foregoing, the editor may add that while in Congress Doctor Haymond had the reputation of being one of the most widely informed men in that body. He was a member of the Committee on Banking and Currency, which, at that time especially, was dealing with matters vital to the stability of the country. It is stated, on good authority, that upon one occasion when a certain congressman went to Speaker Cox to consult him about some financial matter, he gave this advice: "You go and see Haymond, he knows more about finance than any man on the committee." The doctor's friends, who know of his characteristic thoroughness, may well believe the story.
In Doctor Haymond's list of accomplishments mention should also be made of the "History of Indiana," of which he is the author, which was published in 1879. It contains much valuable matter, well arranged, but largely deals with civil and political matters marshaled under the different gubernatorial administrations.
Looking at the subject from all sides, no man who has ever resided in White County and gone forth to participate in movements high and broad in their scope, has earned a more enduring reputation than that of Dr. W. S. Haymond.
Hon. Charles S. Hartman, a native of Monticello, where he was born March 7, 1861, gained prominence in the West. He was educated in the public schools of his native town and his marriage to Miss Flora B. Imes, of Monticello, as well as his admission to the bar, fell in 1884. As he also moved to Bozeman to enter practice in that year, it certainly made a distinct division in his life.
Mr. Hartman, although so young, came into rapid notice, and the very year of thus becoming a resident of Gallatin County, Montana, was elected to the probate judgeship. After serving a term of two years on that bench, he resumed practice as a lawyer and in 1888 was a candidate for the Territorial Legislature. Although defeated, he was chosen a member of the Constitutional Convention of the following year, under which Montana was admitted to the Union of states. Mr. Hartman served through the Fifty-third and the Fifty-fifth sessions of Congress, his terms commencing in 1893 and 1899, respectively. He then returned to his large law practice in Bozeman and in 1913 President Wilson appointed him minister to represent the United States in Ecuador where he now resides.
The editor also presents with pardonable pride a human product of White County, whose enthusiasm and inspiration for the higher forces of life are spreading his Christianizing influence over the land; reference is made to Rev. William E. Biederwolf, whose home is still in Monticello, but the headquarters of his evangelical work, Chicago. Thence he sends out his individual literature through the Glad Tidings Publishing Company, of which he is the head, and formulates his plans for his campaign against the common enemy; his weapons are an all-absorbing personal conviction that he is fighting for God and truth, with a thorough intellectual and theological training and a natural eloquence behind his faith; an accomplished patient, helpful and earnest wife as a sympathetic and tactful partner in all his work; and his Christian assistants who are specially assigned to evangelical work at different points in his itinerary, which embraces every section of the United States. Previous to the outbreak of the world-war he was under an engagement to engage in evangelical work in London, but that dire event made all European plans impossible.
Mr. Biederwolf is of German blood, as his name implies, and was born at Monticello, September 29, 1867. He graduated from Wabash College in 1890, from Princeton College in 1894 and from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1895. He rounded out his mental and theological training with post-graduate studies in various German universities covering two years. The funds which enabled him to enjoy this scholastic privilege were derived from the New Testament Fellowship which he had won at the Princeton School of Theology. In 1897, the year following his marriage to Miss Ida Casad, of Monticello, he entered the Presbyterian ministry and was called to the Broadway Church at Logansport. At the second call for volunteers during the Spanish-American war he offered his services as chaplain of the One Hundred and Sixty-first Indiana Regiment. In that capacity he served six months in the United States and a like period in Cuba, after which he returned to the Logansport Church and continued his pastorate there until 1900.
In the year named Mr. Biederwolf resigned from the pulpit to give himself to the cause of evangelization, in which he is one of the foremost figures in America. He is president of the Interdenominational Association of Evangelists; general secretary of the Family Altar League; general secretary of the Evangelistic Commission of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America; and a director of the Winona (Ind.) Assembly and Bible Conference and the Industrial Evangelical Foundation. He is a prohibitionist in the full sense of the word.
The books which Mr. Biederwolf has written and publishes through the Glad Tidings Publishing Company are: A Help to the Study of the Holy Spirit; How Can God Answer Prayer?; The Growing Christian; The Christian and Amusements; The White Life; The Square Man; Unvarnished Facts About Christian Science; Russellism Unveiled and Spiritualism. He also issues the Family Altar Magazine, a monthly publication and the official organ of the Family Altar League.