CHAPTER VI

SCHOOLS OF THE COUNTY

TAXING NON-RESIDENTS FOR THE SCHOOLS-THE COUNTY'S FIRST SEAT OF LEARNING-CAPTAIN BEANE AND OTHER PIONEER TEACHERS-HON. E. M. CHAMBERLAIN-SCHOOL CENTERS OUTSIDE GOSHEN AND ELKHART-MRS. CHAUNCEY HASCALL'S RECOLLECTIONS-PROFESSOR MYERS ON "THE LOG SEMINARIES"JOEL P. HAWKS DESCRIBES EDUCATION AT WATERFORD THE MIDDLEBURY SEMINARY-FOUNDING OF THE TOWNSHIP SYSTEM -EXPLAINING THE LAW TO THE PEOPle-DifficulLTIES IN THE WAY OF TAXATION-FIXING A TEACHING STANDARD-CONSOLIDATION OF COMMON SCHOOL FUND-TOWNSHIP LIBRARIES ORGANIZED General DeveLOPMENT OF THE SYSTEM-FOUNDING OF TEACHERS' INSTITUTES-EDUCATION OF COLORED CHILDRENCOUNTY SUPERINTENDENCY CREATED-TEACHERS REQUIRED TO BE ADAPTABLE-UNIFORMITY OF METHODS AND TEXT BOOKSTHE TEACHERS' INSTITUTES OF TODAY-ILLUSTRATIVE EXTRACTS FROM PROGRAMMES-THE OLD COUNTRY SCHOOLHOUSE AND THE CENTRALIZED SCHOOLS OF TODAY-INTRODUCTION OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCE, MANUAL TRAINING AND DOMESTIC SCIENCETHE PRESENT COUNTY SYSTEM OF EDUCATION-LIST OF SUPERINTENDENTS-STATISTICS SHOWING PRESENT STATUS OF

SCHOOLS.

For a quarter of a century after the first settlers of Elkhart County occupied the fertile lands in the valleys of the Big and Little Elkhart rivers, and in the beautiful and productive Elkhart Prairie, which stretched between, the increasing population of the central and eastern sections struggled, often unsuccessfully, to give the children an education befitting ambitious, intelligent and practical Americans. During that period there was nothing which, by

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the most painful stretch of the imagination, could be called a county-broad system founded upon the township unit. The schools and their teachings were crude and only uniform in that it was considered useless and foolish to go beyond the drilling of the pupil mind in any branch of learning outside reading, writing, spelling and arithmetic. Both men and women taught simply to pick up a few needful dollars-the males usually as stepping stones to either medicine or the law, and often as a means of enabling

FOREST GROVE SCHOOL HOUSE, MIDDLEBURY TOWNSHIP, ERECTED IN 1836

EDSON FOSTER, IN FOREGROUND, WAS A PUPIL

them to preach the gospel and support their families at the same time. Everybody was poor and struggling in those days, and no blame was attached to actual residents for the poor showing made by the schools.

At first all the schools were supported by subscription, so that their efficiency depended largely on local sentiment and the conse

quent liberality or financial ability of the neighborhood settlers. This was especially true of the districts east of the Big Elkhart River which were first settled. The lands west of that waterway were chiefly held by non-residents until the early '40s, when the pioneers who were engaged in actual development commenced to vigorously protest against slaving to increase the value of lands which were held by investors comfortably housed in Ohio, Pennsylvania or the farther East. The remedy for the imposition was successfully applied, and is described by P. M. Henkel, who came from Southern Ohio about the time it was devised, in 1843, and was auditor of the county during the period when the basis of the present township system of education was being laid. He says: "In the early '40s much of the western portion of the county was still in a state of nature. Large bodies of land were held by nonresidents with the hope that by the labors of the pioneers they would become valuable. That part of the county was then but sparsely settled. True the Walburns, the Sheetses, the McCoys, the Pippengers and the Ulerys had penetrated the forest, built their cabins, felled the trees and opened the roads, to be followed by others who should take up the work after them. For the time being they were willing to endure all the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life for the benefit of their successors.

"Dr. E. W. H. Ellis, then auditor of the county, conceived the idea of compelling the non-resident landowners to contribute by the way of taxation to the building of roads and schoolhouses. For this purpose he induced the Legislature to pass a law by which he could assess one and one-fourth cents on each acre of land for road purposes. The citizens had the privilege of working out the tax, while the non-residents had to pay the money. This money when collected was returned to the township from which it came, where it was applied to the purpose for which the tax was raised. The effect of this law was to induce the non-residents to dispose of their holdings and permit those lands to pass into the hands of actual settlers."

THE COUNTY'S FIRST SEAT OF LEARNING

Elkhart Prairie was the first seat of learning in the county. Before Goshen was even platted it is said that a little log school stood on Wilkinson's Lane, on that prairie, and a few scholars

were taught by one Mr. Potts. The second schoolhouse, opened in the early '30s, was on the school section a mile south of Goshen.

CAPTAIN BEANE AND OTHER PIONEER TEACHERS

A few years afterward a boy of six years, William A. Beane by name, was brought from Ohio by his parents and went to several of these pioneer schools at and near Goshen. In his school days the teachers of the neighborhood were Capt. Henry Beane, his father, E. D. Smith, John Deutrow, Sylvester Webster and Nelson Prentiss, afterward of Albion, Noble County. In the fall of 1843, young Beane, then in his sixteenth year, became a resident of Goshen, attended the school of A. C. Carpenter, and soon afterward became a printer in the Democrat office. Samuel T. Young and T. G. Harris were also early teachers of Prairie schools.

HON. E. M. CHAMBERLAIN

At Elkhart Town one of the first to teach was E. M. Chamberlain, a young Maine man who had been admitted to the bar a short time previously. As is well known, he afterward became an honor to the bench, the Legislature and to Congress.

SCHOOL CENTERS OUTSIDE GOSHEN AND ELKHART

Then east of the Town of Elkhart and in the northern section of the prairie region, Middlebury and Bristol opened rural schools at an early day, while south of Goshen, Benton and New Paris came into the educational field. The first institution of the kind at Middlebury was a little frame structure, built in the late '30s, which went by the unusual name of the Red Schoolhouse. Private schools had been previously taught in several residences, but this was a village affair.

Before Bristol was platted, in 1835, Miss Philossa Wheeler taught in a log cabin which stood on its site, the first schoolhouse erected in town being completed in 1838.

Benton, a short distance southeast of Goshen, just beyond the southern edge of the prairie and in an oak opening, was laid out by Capt. Henry Beane, the pioneer schoolmaster. In 1836 the post

office formerly known as Elkhart Prairie was moved to Benton and a schoolhouse erected in which said Beane presided as first master.

New Paris, which is directly south of Goshen, was platted in 1838, and a log schoolhouse was one of the first buildings erected John McGrew was the teacher who opened it.

MRS. CHAUNCEY HASCALL'S RECOLLECTIONS

Doubtless other schools were thrown open, away from these centers of population, large and small, but the educational movement throughout the county was sporadic, and not directed along continuous channels through an organized system. Among those who faithfully participated in such efforts, and bravely assisted in the task of tiding over the children of those times to the better period of organized and classified schools, was Mrs. Chauncey S. Hascall, wife of the pioneer merchant of Goshen. In a paper read before the Elkhart County Historical Society she says: "In the winters of 1839-40 and 1840-41 I taught school in the next district west of Goshen. I received twelve dollars a month, which Of course was considered at that time a high salary for a woman. it was the typical log schoolhouse, which the young people of the present day have read of, and the older ones hold in affectionate remembrance. The writing desks were shelves attached to the logs. on the sides of the room, and the seats were long benches without backs, with a second row of the same kind, but lower, for the smaller scholars. A fire in a big box stove in the center of the room was kept in a roaring condition by the boys, who were glad of the opportunity of getting a change of position and a breath of fresh air. The patrons of the school were mostly Pennsylvania Dutch and spoke their own language in home and neighborhood intercourses; consequently English was almost a foreign language to many of the scholars.

"The Stouders, Studebakers, Cripes, Ulerys and Mannings I remember most distinctly among the scholars, as I boarded with each of their families a month, instead of taking, as was the custom, the rounds of the district. It was an experiment having the winter school taught by a 'schoolma'am,' and the trustees thought I might have some trouble governing it, but I had very little. The girls and boys were model children, and must have been well trained at home.