Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900A regional history written by Timothy H. Ball . . . .

Source Citation:
Ball, Timothy H. 1900. Northwestern Indiana from 1800 to 1900 or A View of Our Region Through the Nineteenth Century. Chicago, Illinois: Donohue and Henneberry. 570 p.

NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900

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CHAPTER XXIII.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Said Dr. Lyman Beecher, many years ago, as a man of "the East" speaking of what was then called "the West:"

"We must educate! we must educate! or we must perish by our own prosperity. If we do not, short will be our race from the cradle to the grave." While some of our pioneers were men quite ignorant of books, untrained in schools, true men of the frontiers, understanding well the use of the axe and the rifle, others of them, and many of them, came from the older centers of cultivation and intelligence, from New England, New York, Pennsylvania, and other Eastern States; and these very soon after providing for the two great necessities of life, shelter and food, began to lay the foundations for schools and churches. Learning and religion, with them went hand in hand with material prosperity. They understood the meaning of those other words of Dr. Beecher, "If, in our haste to be rich and mighty, we outrun our literary and religious institutions, they will never overtake us;" and "what will become of the West, if her prosperity rushes up to such a majesty of power, while those great institutions linger which are necessary to form the mind, and the conscience and the heart

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of the vast world? It must not be permitted." And they were here, these intelligent and virtue-loving pioneers, before the Indian mission schools had fully ceased, to see under the Providence of God, that it was not permitted.

Little log school houses were erected by these men, all the pioneers manifesting a praiseworthy interest in having school life commence. The authority for some statements, now, is the "History of La Porte County" elsewhere mentioned.

"The first school house which was built in the county was on Lake Du Chemin * * * in the year 1829. This was, however, a mission school, intended for the Indians; but it subsequently served for both Indian and white alike."

The second school house was built in 1832, the first pioneer building, erected at a place called then or afterward, Springville. Miss Emily Learning was the first teacher. And in 1833 Miss Clara Holmes taught in a log school house near what became Door Village. In 1833 also was built the first school house in what became the village and town and city of La Porte. In this year the pioneers erected a building for a school near Hudson Lake, which seems to have taken the place of the building of 1829. The teacher here was Edwards.

In 1834 other log buildings were erected for schools, one in the new Michigan City; and in this same year "Elder Silas Tucker, a Baptist minister," succeeded Miss Learning at Springville. In the next three years a few other buildings for schools were erected, and teachers were: Joel Butler, Miss Amanda Armitage in 1836, John B. McDonald, Miss Elisabeth Vickory, Ebenezer Palmer, and, in 1837 or 1838,

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William C. Talcott, "then a Universalist preacher," and since then a judge, an editor, a writer.

Before looking for other pioneer schools, the truth of history will surely not suffer from the following statements:

The first school, of which any mention has been found, was an Indian mission school on Hudson or Du Chemin Lake in 1829. It is difficult now to obtain all the facts, but no little time has been spent in making research. It is evident that, by some means, the writer of the La Porte County history must have been misled in regard to the "Carey," or as he writes it, the "Cary Mission." On page 400 of his large, interesting, and valuable work, he states that "Joseph W. Lykins, connected with the 'Cary Mission,' whose headquarters were then at Niles, in Michigan, established a mission among the Indians on the bank of the Du Chemin Lake, now in Hudson township." He gives 1829 as the year. On page 402 he says, writing of events in the year 1830, "As stated elsewhere, the Cary Mission, a Roman Catholic enterprise, had established a branch mission at this place among the Indians." The place he names is "Lake Du Chemin." He continues: "This year we find this mission school taught by an Indian named Robert Simmerwell, assisted by his wife, a white woman. At this school white and Indian children come together." "Some of the Indians at this place, under the training and influence of this mission and school, no doubt became most devout Catholics."

The last statement is evidently guess-work.

He once more, on page 431, treating of "Indian advancement in knowledge," refers to this Hudson

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Lake school and to Robert Simmerwell, an Indian, as being in charge of it in 1830, and adds: "It may be further remarked that many of these Indians became devout Catholics under his training." This is very naturally assumed from the supposed facts. But the reader has seen in the second chapter of this book, page 25, that the Rev. Isaac McCoy, a Protestant and a Baptist, established the "Carey Mission" in Michigan, and that Mr. Lykins was his assistant. Now it is not probable that there was at that time a "Cary Mission," Catholic, and a "Carey Mission," Baptist; a Mr. Lykins, Catholic, and a Mr. Lykins, Baptist. Abundant proof of the Baptist "Carey Mission" station and school can be found in "The Missionary Jubilee," an official work of 500 pages, published in 1865. (See pages 466 and 467). It is there stated, after giving the facts already named, that "the removal of the Indians to the West was delayed one or two years, during which a small school was maintained by Mr. Simmerwell." This school may have been on Hudson Lake. The report in the "Missionary Jubilee" further says that "Mr. and Mrs. Simmerwell, who labored for the Pottawatomies at Carey Station in Michigan, accompanied them to their new location, west of the Mississippi." It states, officially, that Robert Simmerwell (page 264) was born at Blockley, Penn., and was appointed Baptist missionary to the Indians (see page 265), April 30, 1825, and that he resigned and the mission was discontinued April 8, 1844. There could hardly have been two Robert Simmerwells teaching among these Indians in Michigan in 1830, and this one could not have been an Indian and certainly was a Baptist.

Combining the authorities the unexpected result

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is reached, that the first school in northwestern Indiana opened in 1829, in a house "of hewed logs," was a Baptist Indian mission school where white and copper-colored children received instruction from the same teachers. That many of the Indians around this "beautiful lake" became "devout" Baptists as a result of this school is not in the least probable.

Finding that General Packard's excellent and reliable history of La Porte County gives some statements in regard to this school, without, however, suggesting that it was Catholic, the following statements, recapitulating in part the gathered facts, are here inserted:

Rev. Isaac McCoy, a native of Indiana, was appointed a Baptist missionary among the Indians in 1817. He removed from Fort Wayne to Carey in November, 1822. In January, 1823, he opened a school there for the Indians. His labors there closed in 1830. His very full and interesting history, "History of Baptist Indian Missions," was published in 1840.

Speaking of Robert Simmerwell, J. Lykins, and Jotham Meeker, Mr. McCoy says: "For many years we have all labored side by side in our missionary enterprise." The full name of Mr. Lykins is given as Johnston Lykins in the official missionary reports, and he was born in Ohio. According to Mr. McCoy's narrative, Mr. Lykins was sick in the West in November, 1829. On recovering he returned to Michigan, to Carey, and in the early part of 1830, selected fifty-eight reservations of land for young Indians connected with the mission school which land had been allowed at the treaty of 1826. He then, April 29, 1830, started with Dr. Josephus McCoy for Fayette,

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in Missouri, arriving there June 24, 1830. He left Mr. Simmerwell at Carey in April, 1830, and he himself returned to Carey, leaving Missouri July 27, 1830. He soon after his arrival at Carey attended to the valuation of the mission property, which had been purchased by the government and was now valued by Charles Noble of Michigan and Mr. Simonson of Indiana at $5,721.50. The arrangement was made that Mr. Simmerwell should occupy a part of the mission buildings till he could arrange for another temporary residence not far away, as it was considered desirable for him to remain till the Indians were removed. He and his wife remained at Carey for a few months, the school being discontinued except seven or eight Indian children which Mr. and Mrs. Simmerwell kept with them. Mr. McCoy's narrative says that they "then located in another place in the same neighborhood." It must have been now well along in 1831. Mr. Lykins went to Missouri. The Missionary Jubilee, an official report, says: "Mr. Lykins, the associate of Mr. McCoy at Carey, appointed to labor among the Shawanees in Missouri, arrived on his field on July 7, 1831." That official report also says, "Mr. and Mrs. Simmerwell, who labored for the Pottawatomies at Carey Station in Michigan, accompanied them to their new location west of the Mississippi." That report further says, in regard to Carey, that by a treaty provision "the station was substantially relinquished in 1831." "The removal of the Indians to the West was delayed one or two years, during which a small school was maintained by Mr. Simmerwell. Again the report says: "Mr. Simmerwell removed to Shawanee, Ind. Ter., arriving November 14, 1833." These reports and the

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narrative of Mr. McCoy leave no time for Mr. Johnston Lykins, a native of Ohio, one of the missionaries at Carey Station, to be a resident at Hudson Lake in 1829 or 1830, and the Joseph W. Lykins, a Welshman, could not have been "connected with the 'Carey Mission,'" that Lykins who was, according to General Packard's authorities, a resident at Hudson Lake in the fall of 1829. That Mr. Robert Simmerwell, a missionary and not an Indian, of whom Mr. McCoy says, "At Albany I found Mr. Robert Simmerwell, with whom I had formed an acquaintance in Philadelphia," and of whom he further says, "We found in Mr. Simmerwell a persevering missionary brother,"-- that he, with his wife, did have a school at Hudson Lake, between the spring of 1831 and the fall of 1833, may readily be accepted as a fact. One statement more. In "Catholic Missions Among the Indian Tribes," by Shea (see pages 393 and 394), where the Pottawatomies are mentioned and the St. Joseph River, and "the Baptist ministers stationed there," no mention is made of a Joseph W. Lykins, a Welshman, as a Catholic missionary. One missionary is mentioned as coming among these Indians in 1830, but his name was Reze, and he soon went elsewhere.

Note. July 25, 1899, I conversed with an aged Baptist man, at Morocco, A. B. Jenkins of Goodland, born in 1822, who stated that his father's family was one of seven families who settled, about 1825, between Fort Wayne and Fort Dearborn, and that five of them settled near the present city of Niles. The Carey Mission, he said, was not far from their home, a mile or two west of Niles. It is described as being "on

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the river of St. Joseph, in Michigan territory, among the Pottawatomies."     T. H. B.

Returning now to the real pioneer schools in the little log buildings. Miss Mary Hammond is found as the first teacher in Porter County, and the year given is 1835. In 1837, -------- Masters was teacher in the village of Valparaiso, and the first woman who taught there, it is said, was Miss Eldred, a sister of Mrs. Ruel Starr. Log buildings went up and many neighborhood schools were commenced. In what became Lake County the first school was taught in the winter of 1835 and 1836 by Mrs. Harriet Holton, in some respects the most remarkable woman ever residing in Lake County. She was the daughter of General Warner, was born in Hardwick, Mass., January 15, 1783, was married to Alexander Holton, a young lawyer, about 1804, with him left New England, having been a successful teacher in Westminster, and settled at Vevay, Ind., in March, 1817. In 1820, the family removed to Vernon, Ind., where Mrs. Holton became again a teacher, and in February, 1835, then a widow, having two sons and a daughter, she, with others, in wagons drawn by oxen, journeyed toward the Northwest, crossed with their ox teams the Kankakee marsh region in fearfully cold weather, and became a resident in the hamlet which afterward, as a village and county seat, was called Crown Point. She had seven sisters, and when their mother died, about 1840, about ninety-four years of age, the eight sisters met at Enfield, in New England. One was the wife of the wealthy governor of Vermont; one was Mrs. Stuart, wife of Judge Stuart of Vermont, a man of wealth as well as of social position; another

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was Mrs. Bradley, wife of a Vermont lawyer; another was Mrs. Brown, wife of a Massachusetts lawyer, and yet another, a Mrs. Hitchcock, also wife of a Massachusetts lawyer; and Mrs. Harriet Warner Holton, an Indiana pioneer woman, Lake County's first teacher, worthy of her place as a sister of those wealthy and cultivated women of New England. "These eight sisters were all members of the Presbyterian church, and all died of old age, two of them while sitting in their chairs." Mrs. Holton died October 17, 1879, nearly ninety-seven years of age, and as the body was borne toward the Crown Point cemetery the court house bell was tolled, which was the first and last time till now (1900), that its deep tones have been heard at the time of a burial procession. "Honor to whom honor is due."

In 1835 there was no school house in Lake County. All the earliest ones were of logs, and which one, among three or four, was first is not now quite certain. The most noted of these, probably the largest, the walls still standing, was erected in the summer of 1838, on the west side of Red Cedar Lake. Here the school was taught by Mrs. J. H. Ball. She, like Mrs. Holton, was by no means an uncultivated woman. Born in Agawam (West Springfield), Mass., in 1804, educated in the best schools of Hartford, Conn., a proficient in penmanship, in drawing and painting and map-making, probably the best practical botanist ever residing in the county, and the only woman in the county in those early days who had studied the Hebrew language, she passed at Crown Point the brief examination required for teachers that her pupils might receive their due share of the public school money, William A. W. Holton, school exam-

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iner, and commenced her work as a teacher in 1839, a work which in another form continued for some sixteen years, and in an informal way until her death, in 1880. For about ten years that large log school house was a center and a meeting place for schools, for literary societies, for Sunday school and church work, and then was appropriated for private uses.

Other early teachers, in a house on the east side of this same lake were: Albert Taylor, Lorin Hall, Norman Warriner, probably in the winter of 1838 and 1839, in 1840 or 1841 Miss H. Caroline Warriner, and in the winter of 1843 and 1844 T. H. Ball. Yet others were: Miss Eliza Kinyon, at South East Grove in 1843, Miss Rhoda Wallace in 1844, and Miss Ruby Wallace and her sister, now Mrs. William Brown, in 1845. No record of a school building in Starke County has been found until the year 1852, although "Wagner's little building in Oregon township had been used before this for a school."

In Jasper County the first school building, twelve feet by fourteen as to its dimensions, was erected in 1838. Its location was known as "The Fork." The first teacher was William A. Webster. The second school house was built soon after the first in the Blue Grass settlement northeast of Rensselaer. No record of date has been found for the first school building in the area that became Newton County, but an early teacher there was Byron Kenoyer.

In Pulaski County, organized in 1839, about ten years after the first white family entered its borders, there were pioneer schools; as also there were in White County; but records in regard to them have not been found, and there are few living now whose memories reach back distinctly over a period of sev-

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enty or even of sixty years. Rude as were the buildings in those early years it need not be supposed that the teachers were unlearned, undisciplined, uncultivated. Some of them were men and women of mature years, who had been well trained in Eastern schools and colleges, and only for a short time were such found teaching in pioneer schools. The undisciplined teachers came in after years, and from families where there was little home training. One of the accomplishments needful for a pioneer teacher, which may be called a "lost art" now, was how to make pens of goose quills, and also how to mend them. For this purpose a sharp pen-knife was always needful and some degree of skill, for it was not a very easy thing to make a good pen. It was quite a tax upon one's time, and sometimes a trial of the teacher's and pupil's patience. One young teacher in Lake County, while not lacking in skill, had a little, ingenious instrument called a penmaker, which usually made a good pen in a moment and so saved much time. How early public funds were used to sustain or help to sustain these earlier schools, treated here as public schools, is not quite certain; but evidently very soon after the schools were commenced. The first constitution of the State, adopted at Corydon in 1816, laid the foundation for public education. The early acts of the general assembly provided for the election of trustees, of school commissioners, and for the distribution among school districts, to be marked out in the congressional townships, of public school money. As early as 1843, perhaps some years earlier, public money was paid to teachers, and also distributed in districts where the schools were largely private. Children attending any school were entitled to their share of

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the school money for the year. School examiners were appointed by the circuit courts. These officers examined teachers and gave certificates. The first school examiner in White County was James Kerr, in 1836. Money was not to be paid to teachers who had no certificates, nor until legal reports were made. Year after year changes in laws were made. According to an "Act to increase the benefits of common schools." approved January 17, 1849, certain taxes were to be assessed for school purposes, but only upon "free white persons." This act was not to be in force till adopted by vote in each county. By this act the treasurer of state was constituted State superintendent of common schools. In 1852, another school law, under the new constitution of the State, was adopted and a State superintendent was soon elected. By an act approved in March, 1855, each civil township was made a school township, and the trustees were constituted school trustees, but in the enumeration of children between five and twenty-one years of age, the trustee was still required to specify the congressional township in which the children resided, and the law said: "The number of children in each congressional township shall be set out." Incorporated towns and cities were now authorized to establish public and graded schools. Provision was made for township libraries. Negroes and mulattoes were still excluded from taxation, and their children from enumeration and school privileges. The children could attend the schools on payment of tuition if no white persons objected. By the act approved March 4, 1853, the school examiners were to be appointed annually by the county commissioners. These were to examine teachers in orthography, read-

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ing, writing, arithmetic, geography, and English grammar. Some time after physiology and United States history were added. New laws continued to be framed. In 1873 county examiners became county superintendents, appointed by the school trustees of the townships, and the public school system of Indiana has become quite mature. The school fund is large. Along with all these changes, improvements, and complications, our schools, teachers, and officers have gone. Some of our schools are among the best of their kind in the State.

In 1889 a law was passed requiring uniformity in text-books in the public schools throughout the State. The law-makers in the earlier years of our public schools do not seem to have had an exalted opinion of the moral character of the teachers, for they required them not only to present full reports of their schools, but the accuracy of their reports had to be confirmed by an oath. Here is one illustration:

    "State of Indiana, County of Lake, ss:
I, Uriah McCay, being duly sworn, do depose and say that the foregoing statement * * * is true." "Subscribed and sworn before me this 26th day of February, 1854.
                                "JABEZ CLARK, TRUSTEE."

The teacher named above, like Elder Silas Tucker in La Porte County and Elder Bly in Porter, was a Baptist minister, devoting, as they did, and as ministers of other denominations in those years did, part of the time to preaching, and a part to teaching to obtain an adequate support. Elder Uriah McCay was a student for some years at Franklin College taught in the central part of the State, settled at length

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at Des Moines, in Iowa, where, so far as known, he yet lives, an aged, excellent man. Fifty-four pupils were reported for that school of 1854. They are arranged into four classes, thus: "Males over thirteen and under twenty-one." Names in this section or division are: James Vinnedge, Harrison Young, N. Carle, George Carle, Frederick Davis, George B. Davis, Allis Gale, Benjamin Gale. Not one of these is reported as studying English grammar, but reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic, and one ventured to take hold of geography. "Females over thirteen and under twenty-one." Names: Elisabeth Vinnedge, Susan Davis, Mary H. Young, Nancy Scritchfield, Electa Prentice, Nancy Beck, Elisabeth Beck, Elisabeth Carle. Some of these girls study English grammar, besides the other four needful studies. "Males over five and under thirteen." Names: George W. Edgerton, Henry L. McCarty, Joseph Vinnedge, Francis M. Vinnedge, Louis F. Edgerton, Sampson Carle, Goliah Carle, Orrin Thompson, Amos Thompson, W. C. Thompson, William Hill, Jesse Hill, Jackson Scritchfield, Orlando Prentice, Israel Beck, Edwin Stokes, Emanuel Beck, S. Scritchfield, Cassius M. Taylor, Marion King. "Females over five and under thirteen." Names: Catherine Taylor, Mary E. Hill, Amy Mann, Mary A. Davis, Esther S. Davis, Mary E. Vinnedge, Delila A. Vinnedge, Sabra M. Taylor, Mary A. Taylor, Arvilla Carle, Martha Scritchfield, Ethlinda Gale, Sarah Young, Sabra Vinnedge, Martha Thompson, Harriet Beck, Louisa Hill, Frances Scritchfield.

Accompanying this report is another of the same year and township, Cedar Creek township, signed by Maria Bryant, teacher, reporting forty-six pupils,

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"subscribed and sworn to" before Timothy Cleveland, township clerk, March 28, 1854. The same branches taught, "orthography, reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, English grammar."

The following extract, from a long report of school visitations made by James H. Ball, school examiner, shows the capture of a deer by dogs and school boys as late as 1869: No. 3, Temple school, Miss E. Kenney, teacher. Most of the boys absent. Adventure in the chase attracted them out. A wounded deer chased by the hounds sought for protection at the school house, and as it "doubled" on its track to evade its pursuers what school boy could resist the temptation of joining in the chase while the "wild bay was sounding?" What girl could watch or look upon a scene like this without emotion? Captured and the spoils divided, sparingly to go round, and but few returned to study.

The reports, of which the above is one, were published in the Crown Point Register, and were probably the first regular and formal visitations of schools in Lake County by a county officer. A few names of teachers of the year 1869 are here given, taken from these reports: Miss Miriam McWilliams, T. S. Fancher, Miss Mena Groman, C. D. Farwell, Miss H. F. Ritcher, C. C. Dittmers, Miss Ann Sheehan, J. M. Blayney, G. F. Sutton, R C Wood, Ralph Bacon, Miss Sarah J Turner, Miss Jennie Death, Leonhart Wagner, Adam Gerlach, Edwin Mair, Paul Lehman, Nicholas Niefing, Anton Miller, J. Evans, Jas. Dowd, Miss Jeannette Pearce, Miss F. A. Williams, William Hill, J. W. Hoel, Miss Sophia Westerman, Putnam Pratt, W. F. Purington, Miss H. A. Dickerson, Miss Josephine Einslie, and Miss Emily Vanhouten. These

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were teachers in Hanover, West Creek, Cedar Creek, and St. Johns townships. These reports were published thirty years ago. At that time, 1869, some of the schools in German neighborhoods were just working into English. One of these reports says: German taught half a day twice a week, and catechism after four o'clock each day. Arithmetics used combine the German and English on opposite pages. Writing in German and English equal." Of another school the report says: "Recitations in German and English interspersed freely. This district is apparently satisfied with the mother tongue." Of another, "Class in German botany." Of another, "German seems to preponderate." "This is a hard working teacher and in German, excellent, but pronunciation of English poor." Changes have taken place in thirty years. For some years the Scripture was read in the morning in the American public schools and prayer was often offered. And, as mentioned above, "Catechism" was freely taught in several of the schools. Now the Bible is excluded from the public schools almost entirely and the voice of prayer, except in the German schools, is seldom heard. The Catechism, too, has nearly gone out from the public schools.

The following statements are taken from the Nineteenth Biennial Report of the State Superintendent (department of public instruction), and "transmitted to the General Assembly January 15, 1899:"

A. Number of school houses:

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B. Number of teachers:

C. Number of graded township or county schools: Lake, 13; Porter, 6; La Porte, --; Starke, 3; Pulaski, 2; White, 4; Jasper, 5; Newton, 3.

D. Of township graded high schools: Lake, 7; Porter, 1; La Porte, 10; Starke, 0; Pulaski, 3; White, 2; Jasper, 0; Newton, 1. Among the seven graded township high schools in the State called "Commissioned," Lake County has one. Marion County alone

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has two. Four other counties, Hamilton, Hancock, Lagrange, and Miami, have one each.

Enumeration of school children, between the ages of six years and twenty-one, for 1898:

E. Compensation of teachers: Average per day for each teacher in dollars and cents: Lake, $2.30; Porter, $2.08; La Porte, $2.11; Starke, $1.98; Pulaski, $2.01; White, $2.29; Jasper, $2; Newton, $2.27. Average per day of high school teachers: Lake, $3.62; Porter, $4.05; La Porte, $3.44; Starke, $3.50; Pulaski, $3.32; White, $3.40; Jasper, $3.41; Newton, $3.35; Average of teachers in district schools: Lake, $2; Porter, $1.89; La Porte, $1.78; Starke, $1.98; Pulaski, $1.84; White, $2.05; Jasper, $1.89; Newton, $2.06.

F. Amount paid teachers in each county, in dollars, omitting odd cents: Lake, $84,247; Porter, $52,435: La Porte, $86,151; Starke, $20,995; Pulaski, $29,377; White, $46,518; Jasper, $37,412; Newton, $31,693.

G. Total estimated value of school property in dollars: Lake, $353,635; Porter, $219,200; La Porte, $360,319; Starke, $73,420; Pulaski, $89,670; White,

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$145,925; Jasper, $140,055; Newton, $85,025. Total, $1,467,249.

H. Total amount paid in one year, to our 1,164 teachers, $388,828, being an average to each teacher of $334. To the teachers in Lake an average of $419, omitting the cents; in Porter, $359; La Porte, $395; Starke, $259; Pulaski, $242; White, $287; Jasper, $267; Newton, $318. These items under H not in the "Report," but are derived from it.

I. Average length of terms in days: Lake, 179; Porter, 173; La Porte, 167; Starke, 123; Pulaski, 128; White, 136; Jasper, 136; Newton, 145.

J. Number of volumes in township libraries: Lake, 4,405; Porter, 6,573; La Porte, --; Starke, 3,288; Pulaski, --; White, 510; Jasper, --; Newton, --.

K. Number of books in Young People's Reading Circle libraries: Lake, 1,832; Porter, --; La Porte, 9,842; Starke, 1,695; Pulaski, 393; White, 1,716; Jasper, --; Newton, --.

L. County diplomas issued for the year 1898: Lake, --; Porter, 81; La Porte, 145; Starke, 115; Pulaski, 119; White, --; Jasper, --; Newton, 56.

M. Membership in Young People's Reading Circle for the year 1897-1898: Lake, 3,460; Porter, 789; La Porte, 1,132; Starke, 3,000; Pulaski, --; White, 2,117; Jasper, 517; Newton, 350.

N. Membership in Teachers' Reading Circle, same year: Lake, 202; Porter, 146; La Porte, 145; Starke, --; Pulaski, 83; White, 208; Jasper, 132; Newton, 95.

These reading circles of the State of Indiana were organized by the State Teachers' Association, the one for teachers in 1883, the one for young people in 1887. The State Teachers' Association was organized

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in 1854. Southern Indiana Teachers' Association 1877, Northern 1883.

One more statement may be added here.

O. Amounts paid trustees in a year for managing educational matters. Amounts in dollars: Lake, $2,052; Porter, $1,380; La Porte, $1,663; Starke, $479; Pulaski, $1,002; White, $878; Jasper, --; Newton, $695.

Some names have been given of teachers in Lake County thirty years ago, which are of interest to many in Lake County now. The following list of names of the teachers of Newton County in 1899, furnished by the county superintendent, W. L. Kellenberger, will be of interest to some in Newton County thirty years hence, and so a place is given to them here. In Kentland seven: E. H. Drake, E. A. Turner, Frances Jessen, Ethel Darroch, M. Blanche Ellis, Myrtle Hays, and Ruth T. Chase.

In Goodland nine: J. C. Dickerson, Edna Watson, Chauncy Kemper, Sophia Getting, Anna Dershall, H. C. Deist, Fred Perry, Etha Massena, and Nellie Harper. In Brook, four: W. L. Kellenberger, Laura Esson, Bruce Pumphry, Flora Pfrimmer. In Morocco, five: E. E. Giltner, S. R. Sizelove, Anna Tullis, George Royster, and Essie Kendall. In Jefferson township, eleven: Lillie Kenoyer, Ethel Rider, W. O. Carrothers, J. B. Lowe, Delia Light, Sarah Duffy, Kathrina Pfrimmer, Mabel Pfrimmer, Edmona Pfrimmer, Laura Harris, and Maggie Spaulding. In Grant township, seven: Gertrude Ellis, Myrtle Rice, Roy Shepard, Frank Burns, William Tice, Grace D. Clark, and James Gilmore. In Washington township, thirteen: E. E. Hussy, Charles Buswell, L. A. Loving, John Pratt, Lloyd Hesshman, Anna Hiel-

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man, Mildred M. Groves, Nannie B. Buswell, Pearl Pendergrass, Emma Doty, Cora Deardurff, Chloh Merchant, and Belle Odle. In Iroquois township, seven: Roy Hesshman, Mary Duffy, L. C. Lyons, C. E. Sage, J. Thomas, Maud Hess, and Mittie Dewerse. In Bower township, eight: Lolo Graves, Daisy Thompson, Claud Roberts, W. O. Schaudlaub, Joyce Smith, Maggie Tracy, D. E. Corbin, and Nellie Hatch. In Jackson township, ten; C. G. Hammond, Nora Kuney, Leotha Seward, Eva Hess, Flora Parks, Jesse Marion, L. B. Haskell, Saloma Pfrimmer, Hayes Young, and Mamie Tracy. In McClellan township, four: Elva Skinner, Jesse Hunter, Libbie Bolley, and Lillie Mahin. In Colfax township, four: Fannie Kasel, Will Jenkins, N. W. Parks, and Hattie Boston. In Lake township, five: R. Hess, Guy Myers, F. A. Tyler, E. Ainsworth, and Perry Heath. In Lincoln township, eight: George E. Rogers, Emma Brady, Tavia Gibson, Mae Laughlin, Mary Howminski, Ernest Lamson, Maurice Sterner, and Lucy Ball. In all 102 teachers in Newton County for the school year of 1898 and 1899. As near as can be determined from the names, about 56 young ladies and 46 men.

Some interesting particulars in regard to the schools of Pulaski County are presented here, as taken from the annual report of these schools for 1898. The names are given of 125 as the teachers of the county. Of common school graduates the names of 116 are given, with the subjects or title of their graduating papers and orations. Some of these subjects are weighty for common school graduates to handle, but they show the advance in education in our day. Such are, "Our Duty to Posterity," "Centralization,"

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"Newspapers of the United States," "Civil Service Reform," and "Christianity and Civilization." Some indicate very interesting papers, as "Indiana," "Pulaski County," "The Tippecanoe," and "Water Fowls of Pulaski County." One is specially suggestive, "Humble Origin of Man." The author is a girl, perhaps a young evolutionist coming on to take part in the conflict of opinions.

It seems from the Report that a county contest of young orators is held each year, one from each township contending for the "honors," the first being a gold medal and the second a silver medal. The grading is on the following points: Thought in the oration 30 per cent, originality 30, memory 20, force in delivery 10, and gesture 10, making in all, for perfection 100 per cent. Some might question, on this grading whether gestures were really as valuable as force in delivery of orations, and whether originality was three times as valuable as force. That originality is very rare in school orations is quite well known. In reporting the county teachers' institute this Report sets surely a good example, in publishing all the receipts and expenditures, item by item, so that all may know from what sources the money comes and how each dollar is applied. Some regulations adopted by the county board of education are, perhaps, peculiar to this advanced county, and are worthy of record. One is, that all schools of the county shall open on the same day. Another is, that all schools shall close for one week during the holidays. A third is, that the daily session shall be commenced not later than 8:45 a. m., and not be closed before 4 o'clock p. m., with one hour's intermission at noon. In the time table 15 minutes are assigned to the "opening exercises."

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It would be interesting to know in what these exercises consist. The most time assigned to any one study is seventy-five minutes, the time given for reading and also arithmetic. Among "suggestions" these school officials say, and no doubt well say: "The three great difficulties in the way of our public schools are, the youth of many of the teachers, the lack of training on the part of a large majority of teachers, the use of too many textbooks."

It is not supposed in these records of schools to institute any comparison in the particulars brought out in this Report, between Pulaski County and the seven other counties; but some material is furnished that readers may compare for themselves.

While the early schools were in rooms that would not be considered comfortable now, it is not wise to infer that no good teaching was done, for among these pioneer teachers were such men as Judge William C. Talcott, Judge Hervey Ball, a graduate of Middlebury College, Rev. Norman Warriner, Rev. afterwards Dr. Silas Tucker, Alexander Hamilton, who taught in Porter County, who afterwards became a leading lawyer of Chicago, "a man of high family and fine education," and others, men and women whose names need not be repeated here. Yet the shrewd Miss Rachel B. Carter, Miss Ursula Jackson, and especially Mrs. Harriet Holton may be named, and there were yet other women of no mere backwood's training. Largely the teacher makes the school, whatever are the appliances or surroundings; and with all the modern improvements there are yet in our public schools some rather inferior teachers. It is not wise nor altogether generous to decry the past.

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Some have done this to the injury of their own interests.

        "Say not our age is wiser, if it be
        It is the wisdom which the past has given
        That makes it so."

Nor yet is it well to magnify unreasonably the things of the past. Well does Dr. Horatius Bonar ask:

        "Did the long gleam upon the ancient Nile
        Blaze in a richer radiance to the noon,
        When History's old father gazed upon it?
        Or was the sunshine on the hills of Greece
        Purer when Homer sang and Sappho wept?
        Or was the brow of Lebanon more fair
        With whiter snow wreaths when the kings of Tyre
        Builded their marble palaces beneath
        The mighty shadows of its haughty peaks?

        I know not; yet I love to wander back
        To this earth's younger days and earlier scenes,
        In which there seems to meet both age and youth.
        The blossom and the fruit, the joy of dawn,
        And the grave quiet of the solemn eve."

That some of the most noted teachers of the world lived in the long ago past every scholar knows; and that we had some good, very good teachers in our pioneer days, which are not many years back, surely no well-informed person will question, although the walls of the houses were of logs and the window glass only oiled paper. And there were those trained, at least for a time, in those schools, who have done good work in these later years.

Said Senator Miller of New York some years ago, addressing the public school teachers of that Empire

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State: "The future of all legislatures, judiciaries, and executives, is in the keeping of the educational department; whether they shall wisely provide for the public good, honestly interpret the laws, and faithfully execute them, depends upon' the honesty of the work done by our teachers." "The three hundred thousand teachers, with more than two millions of pupils under their charge, reaching into and taking hold of the heart strings of every family in the land, constitute a power which, when directed toward the achievement of any reform in society or government, cannot be successfully resisted by any opposition or combination of opposing forces."

In these things our children ought to be more thoroughly instructed, obedience to lawful authority, regard for truth, regard for the rights of others. 

NAVIGATION OF
NORTHWESTERN INDIANA FROM 1800 TO 1900

FRONT MATTER AND DEDICATION
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL OUTLINES
CHAPTER 2 - THE INDIANS
CHAPTER 3 - THE EARLY SETTLERS
CHAPTER 4 - WHAT THE EARLY SETTLERS FOUND
CHAPTER 5 - PIONEER LIFE
CHAPTER 6 - COUNTY ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER 7 - OUR LAKES AND STREAMS
CHAPTER 8 - LAKE MICHIGAN WATER SHED
CHAPTER 9 - TOWNSHIP AND STATISTICS
CHAPTER 10 - RAILROAD LIFE
CHAPTER 11 - POLITICAL HISTORY
CHAPTER 12 - THE WAR RECORD
CHAPTER 13 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 14 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 15 - RELIGIOUS HISTORY
CHAPTER 16 - SUNDAY SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 17 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF NEWTON AND JASPER
CHAPTER 18 - TOWNS AND VILLAGES OF WHITE, PULASKI AND STARKE
CHAPTER 19 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LAKE
CHAPTER 20 - VILLAGES AND TOWNS OF PORTER
CHAPTER 21 - VILLAGES, TOWNS AND CITIES OF LA PORTE
CHAPTER 22 - EARLY TRAVELS
CHAPTER 23 - PUBLIC SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 24 - PRIVATE AND PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS
CHAPTER 25 - LIBRARIES
CHAPTER 26 - OTHER INDUSTRIES
CHAPTER 27 - SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS
CHAPTER 28 - THE KANKAKEE REGION
CHAPTER 29 - DRAINING MARSHES
CHAPTER 30 - ANIMALS AND PLANTS
CHAPTER 31 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER 32 - COURT HOUSES
CHAPTER 33 - ARCHAEOLOGICAL SPECIMENS
CHAPTER 34 - BIRTH PLACES OF PIONEERS
CHAPTER 35 - McCARTY
CHAPTER 36 - ATTEMPTS TO CHANGE
CHAPTER 37 - ALTITUDES
CHAPTER 38 - MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS
CHAPTER 39 - SOME STATISTICS
CHAPTER 40 - WEATHER RECORD
CONCLUSION

Transcribed by Steven R. Shook, April 2012

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