Oakwood University - Acorn Yearbook (Huntsville, AL)

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if s vfw JUNIOR the cultivated portions and timber. I remember the soil in the best fields was a chocolate brown, and the corn in some places stood well over our heads. Everything went to show that so far as the land was concerned we had acquired a piece of property that we might well be proud of. The two or three days spent in the vicinity of Huntsf ville were very pleasant ones for my father. He had just come from Battle Creek where burdens of all kinds weighed heavily on his shoulders. To get into the country and breathe the fresh air, and walk over the stubble and under the trees was a real treat to him. We were thinking, too, of how much it would mean to the young people who would become students at Oak' wood, and how they would enjoy studying the word of God and the great events of human history, and working on the land in such beautiful natural surroundings. Both Elder Irwin and my father were in every way pleased with the place. They especially admired the magnificent oak trees on the grounds, it was while walking reverently under those towering giants that they decided to name the place Oakwood and thus perpetuate the memory of its most remarkable physical feature. It has not been my privilege to visit Oakwood since those early days when as a stenographer I accompanied my father on his travels, but I have had the pleasure of meeting several of its students, and I have heard much of the growth and prosperity of the institution. I certainly join very heartily with its president and faculty and fine body of students in wishing it continued success in that noblest of all achievements,-the ability to train earnest, consecrated workers for the great harvest field. THE SPIRIT OF THE FOUNDERS-Elder G. A. Irwin's Interest in Oakwood as Remembered by His Son Prof. C. W. Irwin. Your letter of November 6 reached me this morning. I regret that I cannot give you very much information regarding my father's connection with the Oakwood School, but I shall give you a few facts, and it may be that you can obtain something that you can use. Band of music makers 'LMy father, Elder G. A. Irwin, first became acquainted with the Southern field during four years of service in the army at the time of the Civil War. Having been in the service nearly the whole period of the war, he had a good opportunity to see large sections of the South. During this time, he was eight months in Andersonville Prison and was engaged in seventeen battles and engagements. Strange as it may seem, this experience engendered in him a deep inf terest and sympathy for the South and its people. After having accepted present truth, and after having served as president of the Ohio Conference for a number of years, he was called to be the superintendent of the Southern District of the General Conference, which covered the territory of the Southern and Southeastern Unions. It was during this time that he formed his special interest in the colored work in the South, and he felt that the Third Angel's message was due the colored people as well as other races. Having always had an interest in educational matters, although he himself was deprived of advanced education because of his army experience, he early saw the necessity of establishing a school where colored workers might be prepared to carry the gospel to their own people. and it was in this way that he became associated with Elder O. A. Olsen and Brother Jacobs in search for a suit' able location in which to establish a training school for the colored people. I myself entered the work in the South in 1893 as principal of the Southern Industrial School located at Grays' ville. This was very soon after Father had left the Southern field and had taken up the work of president of the General Conference. It was in this way that I became quite in' timately acquainted with his ardent support of the school at Oakwood. I know that this institution was one which engaged his attention in a very special way and was always the object of his solicitude. The Oakwood School always occupied a tender spot in his heart as long as hc livcdf' HP i - 5 s . 'fa TIT - 52 1 1 If ZS' . 'lx W i 1 , cfs ' 341555, '- , Q 'ylff . , 7 41 i 'ff X . . . : I H 4 tl, -PMHTTSQF' 'g 'S--l ,-i,ft.,f I fu. -X ' E, l glgl' JA X X 'Pa is EH. .Ti ,- . . X. . 5 Tfxvyi-,V . - ' . , ,. s. . A . a - H fs -s -s - Q - Q 'K 5 '- , 'ef-fs-Wu JU-ww vw. iw---wb -I .e ffl? .2-fs f ositsws .issues cs....sss--sia.-lotsa-..cUx ...ass in

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1lMNQ.Ei1lAW'WU 'blah' .A . , : ...-...i..- .t.. 1. . ,. . .. . ... . U. ................... phone saying he was desperate over an emergency that had arisen and needed a teacher badly. Because all these schools had but short terms, perhaps three months would be only a few weeks left to complete the year. After some counselling it was decided that the best available teacher we could spare would be recommended even though it might bring some inconvenience to the home program. The year's work was completed meritoriously. It was this experience that caused the college to operate a coaching class for volunteers who wanted to receive state certification by examinations. Such students could go to these community schools and receive a salary while gaining an experience under the supervision of the normal depart' ment. With this certihed teacher, could be placed one or two others without certification. In this way standards of teaching, longer school terms, and good feelings were prof moted in the vicinity of the college. Eventually a building to house the normal work was recognized as an urgent need and plans were made for solicitations. Elder O. R. Staines was especially helpful in his suggestions during this campaign. By dint of strenuous labor and sweat of the brown the money was at length in hand, and the building program proceeded. These are only a few of the highlights of the pioneer experiences in teacherftraining during the years 19201926 The summer schools brought scores of teachers for more training and carried the spirit of better methods back into the field. Some of the early laborers are still holding key positions in elementary education. Only the Book of Records will reveal an adequate and accurate account of achievements won, and the results which may easily be beyond our comprehension. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmamentg and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. LOTTA E. BELL BEGINNINGS AT OAKWOOD-Elder O. A. Olsen's Interest in the School As Remembered by his Son, Prof. M. E. Olsen. Looking at Oakwood as it is tofday with its greatly enlarged boundaries and numerous buildings, one finds it hard to realize how the farm looked when first bought by Seventhfday Adventists in the early winter of 1894. I had the privilege of accompanying my father, Elder O. A. Olsen, and Elder G. A. Irwin when they went to Huntsville to look over land in that vicinity and make a hnal decision. While the negotiations were under way, we stayed at a hotel. As soon as the matter was settled, and we knew that the property was ours, we picked up a few necessary articles of furniture, chiefly beds and mat' tresses, loaded them on a wagon and started for the farm. hilt was dusk when we drove up in front of the old manor house and unloaded. There had been a cold, drizzling rain all the afternoon, and we were pretty well chilled after the slow ride. Hastily stopping up some of the larger holes in the windows, for the house was somewhat out of repair, we built a roaring fire of logs in the big firefplace, and after a warm supper and a pleasant social time around the great firefplace, we were ready to try the new beds. The house in those days looked old and forsaken enough to be haunted, but our slumbers were undisturbed. 'LThe next morning after breakfast we walked over the farm inspecting every part of our new possession, including lt. OAKFIOOD JUNIOR COLLEGE--01-ABB OF itammyymyxiiww,. 1 lm J I X E' 'V 'ff 0 S S ' WllllilllXNWWNAKWXXXWWMlll

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A Letter F rom Oakwoools First Principal S. M. JAeoas I was indeed glad to get the latest BULLETIN. Every letter was read with more than common interest. I will notice a few words from two or three letters. One student says, L'The grounds of Oakwood are beautiful, everybody is happy. Please contrast this with the old Irwin farm, now Oakf wood, as I found it April 3, 1896, twentyfseven years and eight months ago. A team brought us, my family and Elder O. A. Olsen, out from town just at daylight. As we came on to the farm, Elder Olsen said, L'Brother Jacobs, this is the northfeast corner, solid brush to where the saw mill now stands. Going on to the large gate, we passed into what looked like the Florida jungles. These came to an end at the gate on the road where you now pass out. A large barn was just about to fall downg the old buggy house, which one day had been a nice one was now ready to fall. Brush grew more than a rod wide along the ditch from the northfwest gate to the extreme east line. A row of osage orange, forty feet high, ran from the house east of where Brother Ambs now lives and then south to the ditch. Coming back to the garden, you would surely notice the gratvestone, lying by an unfilled grave made in 1797, ninetyfnine years before I went there in 1896. Do you see any beautiful grounds in this description? Anything to make one happy? Another student says, 'lReal home, and I voice the sentiments of fortyffour young women, when I say that we have a real home at Oakwood, nearly every necessity that goes to make these spacious buildings seem like home. How different twentyfseven years ago! The first twenty students came in from April 3 to November 16, 1896, with not asingle necessity. The Qld Mansion had never been painted, inside or out, since the Civil War and there was not a well on the place. We had to strain all the water from the old cisterns to get rid of nwigglersfl Some students were compelled to sleep on the floor in some of the old cabins with nothing over them that you could call a roof. What can I say more to help every one of you to lift your hearts to God in grateful praise for what has been done in the years that have passed? The last time I was at Oakwood I stood on the porch at the Old Mansion and looked at the buildings around that circle and out over the farm and could not help exclaimf ing, What hath God wrought for the Oakwood School? There are a few items about Oakwood that few know. This is a good place and time to mention them. The members of the committee of which Elder G. A. Irwin was one, told me they had looked at several For Salel' farms north and west of the present site of the school and one nearer town. There was some objection to all of them. As the members passed by the east gate of the estate which later became Oakwood, one said, Letls look at this place . It had no For Salem sign visible anywhere, but they went in through the gate. Elder Irwin said he was barely inside when the impression came very forcefully to him that this was the place they were looking for. I-Ie made known his impressions to the others, and they felt favorable to it also. Mind you, they had not seen a thing yet, but had just entered the gate. The more they looked, the better they liked it. They located the ownerg and tho' it was not for sale at the time, they found out it could be bought. In due time, therefore the transaction was made. There is a chapter about the uimpression at the gatel' that I wish to speak of here. Professor G. C. Tenney, who for several years was principal of Graysville Academy before it became Southern Junior College, and who often came to Oakwood while he was a member of the school board, told me this: I do not know why it should be so, but it is sog that a holy, quiet, subduing influence comes upon me the moment I enter Oakwood's ground. While at Oakwood, I would often think about this: it is true we all have those quiet hours with God. But isn't it remarkable that Professor Tenney received this im' pression time after time, in the same way and in the same place? There is only one solution, if any is needed, and that is: a mighty angel stands there at the gate. I think it was about 1920, when I said to the students, HI believe the angel is still there . There were sixtyffive of the big oak trees on what constitutes the campusg and this fact inspired the name 'LOakwood . Some oaks were moved to make room for buildings, some blown down in storms, five at one time. Counting the rings on several, I discovered that some of the trees started to grow about the time George cut the cherry tree down. It must have been 1896, when Elder O. A. Olsen, then president of General Conference, persuaded S. M. Jacobs, an Iowa farmer, to come down to farm and manage the school. Elder Olsen, a member of the com' mittee that located the school, led Mr. Jacobs around to some of the worst parts of the farmg the dirt was all of the same color, and stones were plentiful. Brother Jacobs liked this fact much, for on his farm in Iowa you could hardly find a stone large enough to throw at a bird, and the soil was black four feet deep. After a fe moments he said, 'LYou couldn't raise beans on that soi . Well, the committee finally led him around till they got him over in the eastern part of the Held southeast of the school grounds where the corn stalks were as large as a fork handle. Elder Olsen asked Brother Jacobs, Where do you think those came from? Brother Jacobs in telling me about it said, I saw I was cornered and had to say somethingg so I said, HThey must have hauled them in here, though I knew they had grown on that red clay . Those were really hard days for a growing school, for the General Conference had little money for a new enterprise and we were just entering the financial panic of I97. The blackberry briers were so thick you couldn't drive or ride a horse from the Old Mansion north to the road. CThat year while getting rid of the briars, the workers dried two or three barrels of the berries.J The first bathfhouse was furnished with tubs made of sawed off barrels about a foot deep. Hot water was ob' tained from an open tank heated by a pipe coil in box stoves. Students who were there from 19014905 will remember them. I think it is easy to see the Master hand locating the school just where and when He did. First, was the farm, sufliciently large at the start. As things grew, the north farm was added affording ample building material for growing needs. About 1910, we acquired an old traction steam engine which we literally dug out of the scrap. With it we worked miraclesg it was really God's gift to us. Canning season at the cannery: scalding tomatoes, boiling sweet potatoes, canning everything under pressure if desired, harvest time, threshing wheat, shredding corn, or filling silos, winter time, labor hard at the saw mill, could I ever forget those days!