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Page 32 text:
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4 .w?,.fvE2f':'1J:'--vi-3'1 ak.,-Mil 1 . 9359. --12.3 .. 11gr'as.1 i--so--1 2 af' The beginning of a new epoch in the history of the schools in Stephenson County was marked when a school house was built in 1839 on Luman Montague's farm in West Point Township. This was the first building to be erected exclusively for school purposes in this county. Miss Flavilla Forbes conducted the first school in Florence Township in 1840. This school was held at the house of Anson Denio in the village of Oneco. Loran Township had its first school in 1840 and 1841. The school was established near Babb's church with Mr. Allison as the teacher. The school board consisted of Reuben Babb, William Kirkpatrick, and Anson Andrews. What is known as the little red school-house was built in Freeport in 1843 at a cost of about three hundred dollars, raised by po ular subscription. Miss Louisa Burchard was the teacher, and a daguerreotype of? her and her flock is pre- served by her family. In 1845 Miss Laura Colburn taught the first school in Ridott Township in a log house on the farm of her father, Horace Colburn. Several enterprising residents of Cedarville, among them the Clingmans and John H. Addams, obtained subscriptions in 1846 to pay for the erection of a school house. It was a one-story frame building, twenty by thirty feet, located near the burying ground. Mr. Chadwick and Miss julia Putnam were the first teachers. In later yearsjane Addams, the famous daughter ofjohn H. Addams, was a pupil in this building. Both my maternal and paternal ancestors were pioneers in Stephenson County and had definite connections with early schools. In 1847. a school was started in Rock Grove Township at the home of my great- grandfather john Kleckner He was bu1ld1ng a pretentious house at Walnut Grove patterned after his former home in Pennsylvania It was used both for the school and for church services while it vsas s ill in the process of construction as it was the largest building in the neighborhood School was held both in the large upper hall and in the northwest bedroom where there was a fireplace for use in cold weather The teacher for the first term held in 1841. was Thomas Johnson and in 1843 there was another man teacher In many of the schools of that period there was a great deal of disorder but this school was much more orderly perhaps because it was held in a pr1vate room My grandfather William Kleckner and his two brothers Conrad and Thomas were among the pu 1ls When the finishing touches including a fine walnut staircase were put into er house my great grandmother decided that the school should End another lace to meet Mrs Baramore allowed the school to use her house for a time an other people also furnished rooms in turn The Walnut Grove stone schoolhouse was erected in 1850 on land deeded by John Kleckner In a small metal casket containing letters and documents saved by my great grandfather Norman Philllps were found several papers relating to the Damascus District in Waddams Township The earliest document regarding a school district in the neighborhood of Damascus IS a small rather cryptic sheet bearing on its re verse side this endorsement by Norman Phillips District No 3 Organized uly 2. 1847. This paper shows that there were five school districts in Waddams Township The township school money Cprobably gained from the sale of the school landj was divided among the districts according to the school census The amount of money divided was S77 97 and the sum already paid out was S19 46 1. Chapman Brothers Stephenson County Illinois 1888 and Fulwider L A History ofStephcn son County Illinois S Clarke Publishing Company 1910 3 ' i 1 ' t , 7 ' 7 Y ' ! 7 3 - y a 3 7 ' E ' ' D 1 1 ' , :lj I D ' , . , . ,,-.-..- . , a 1 x s ' -1 ' , , . J. , . sa. '+f1?,,-fi1,.f'3. 1, fl . , ali -...fa gm, 11 Q..-te-. 71 a-.l1Qf3,.f 137- '3:1.w'2. .- Page Twengf
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Page 31 text:
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71 1 ' O wx- 'LEYAAA EARLY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS IN STEPHENSON COUNTY 1-:EN the early settlers came to Stephenson Countv between 1834 and 1840, one of the first conslderatlons was to provxde some sort of schools for thelr chlldren They could not erect ood school burldmgs lmmedxately and have publlc schools as we know them to av so of necessxtv the very fxrst classes were held 1n prlvate homes and later 1n small drafty log cablns In the Damascus D1str1ct school was held on the threshmg floor m Alvm Fuller s barn and at Wm slow the puplls studled 1n a loft over Hunt s wagon shop In thxs sparsely settled country rt was often practxcally 1mposs1ble for the pupxls to go the long distance to school 1n bad weather Th1s fact coupled w1th the d1fIieulty of heatmg the log cabm school houses made w1nter terms rare IH the earhcst years It was not untxl 1855 that a state law was passed prov1d1ng for free school supported by taxa txon Before th1s t1me the schools rn Stephenson County were supported by volun tary subscrrptlon and bv the sale of ubl1c land set 3S1dC by the government 1n the Ordmance of 1787 for the support o schools In the Eldorado School Dxstrlct the cxtxzens had placed a small tax on themselves for the salary of the teacher and the upkeep of the school A hlstory of Stephenson County was wrrtten ln 1880 when the author could still lntervlew old settlers and record their remmxscences In the two later county h1stor1es the materral about early schools rn our county was largely obtamed from the older book I w1ll mentron only brrefly the schools and teachers mentroned 1n these h1stor1es Mlss Jane Goodhue attempted to establlsh a school at Ransomburg about 1834 Th1s was a Town on aper located on the Pecaton1ca R1ver between the present towns of Wrnslow an McConnell As far as IS known Mtss Goodhue s was the first school started 1n what IS now Stephenson County In 1836 there was a school three mlles northeast of Cedarvxlle 1n Buckeye Townsh1p A school was opened 1n the summer of 1837 rn the home of Mr Trmms at Burr Oak Grove 1n Kent Townsh1p w1th W1ll1am Ensrgn as teacher The Txmms house had been buxlt by Kellogg ln 187.7 and then abandoned by hrm It was the second bu1ld1ng erected 1n the county and 1S famous for hav1ng been used as a shelter for soldlers 1n the Black Hawk War Nelson Martm my great great uncle opened the first school rn Freeport rn the fall of 1837 The school was sltuated on the bank of the Pecaton1ca Rxver not far from the foot of Mam Street 1n a buxldmg formerly occupred by the L O Crocker store The building was small only fourteen feet by ten and seven feet to the eaves It had a puncheon floor and one wmdow Mr Martm s str1ct d1sc1 l1ne has been remembered and recorded He had forbrdden skatmg on the rrver t e penalty for d1sobed1ence belng a whxppmg When one of the bovs john Thatcher was caught skatrng he was so severely punlshed that all the puplls except those of the Hunt and Davls fam1l1es left school Smcc It was a subscrlptlon school Mr Martm s mcome decreased so much that he soon closed the school 1 Tlldcn M H Hxstory of Stephenson County Illrnols Western Hrstorxcal Company 1880 'E , 1 , 9 , . . . . . . , . 1 ' 1 ' . . . , . ' 1 - - , l . 7 . . ' I 1 Pl ' ' . - s 1 a ' ' ' 1 - Q , . . . . , , . . . , . . . . . , E - ' , is s ' . , . - .. - - - .. . - - 1 - V, 1 1 , - ,:-e+1.,- .g. -'leiltf-Lf' 5-fl.-AE-Lf'if'L f:,:2,1:.5g4,,, - Page Nzneteen
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Page 33 text:
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3 4'.s.ffH.Q 1 ' Q si: fsxifsvf-Gr..LL Under date of July 2., 1842., the names of Philip Reitzell, Robert McConnell, and Daniel Hawley were signed as trustees. Later papers give the location of District No. 3 as being in Township 2.8, Range 7 East. The earliest documentary evidence of school having been held in this district is a subscription list dated April 2.9, 1847. As further evidence of school being held that summer is a receipt, dated December 14, 1847, given to Norman Phillips, acting for the directors of the district, for seven dollars and fifty cents on account of wages of my daughter during the past summer and was signed by A. B. Pickard. In this case, at least, the father collected his daughter's salary. No winter quarter was held in this district, but Almeda Alexander taught the spring and summer quarters. Funds were evidently low at the autumn term, and part of the salary of the teacher, Abby Barstow, was paid by the heads of the fam- ilies in proportion to the number of school days their children attended. A few pupils from outside the district were taught for four cents a day, while the daily charge for residents was less than one cent. A total of 82.5.59 was paid for the quarter's teaching. In 1850 the boundaries of District No. 3 were changed and it was renumbered District No. 8. The following documents are an evidence of school activity during the first fyear in the life of this district. School District No. 8 of Township 2.7 and 2.8 o Range 7 East, of Stephenson County. To the School Commissioners of Stephenson County I. B. Smith you are hereby requested to examine Mrs. D. Phillips as respects her qualifications as teacher of orthography, reading in English, penmanship and arithmetic. Aug 8th 50 W I-I WILSON W F KNAPP Directors To the trustees of schools of Township 2.8 Range 8 in the County of Stephenson having examined Desiah Phillips do certify that she sustains a good moral character and that she is well qualified to teach the following branches of Orthography Reading Penmanshlp Arithmetic English Grammar Geography Witness our hand this 2.4 day of August A D ISSO OHN H ADDAMS 'X W Lucas Trustees of Schools Desiah Phillips was the wife of Norman Phillips In the school census of April I3 1850 the persons in District No 8 under twentv one years were given as seventv six We have seen that the schools in Stephenson County had made progress bv 1850 in the sixteen years since the founding of the first school Much more progress has naturallv been made in the eighty years since 1850 To dav there are one hundred fifty nine schools in Stephenson County with a total enrollment of 7112. In Freeport alone we have seven grade schools a junior high school and our senior high school Schools are a measure of the progress of civilization In the crude log cabin days of the frontier schools were also crude In the present age of a more luxurious civilization our schools are held in finer buildings our curriculum IS more varied and our teachers are better trained One can hardly imagine what changes in schools will be made in the next ninety six vears although no doubt they will be considerable Perhaps at that time our present schools will seem as primitive as the pioneer schools now seem to us M P 30 0 1 1 I s 1 1 , . . . J - .. 1 . . , . . 2 ' ' ' - ' , I ' - . . , Q u a . . 7 5 ' I , ' . - n - , 1 ' - Q n 1 1 ! . 7 l 3 - 1 , I I .- 4-yy' 9.111 afgg' 1-1.1.45 '.-. 47--.2,s.r3,4',fQ,4g5,,3 ,a?jJe...J..f2 Page Twenty one
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