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BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 769 CHAPTER VI. BY COL. C. L. POORMAN. SCHOOLS OF BELMONT COUNTY - PIONEER .SCHOOLS - EARLY SCHOOL BUILDINGS - FIRST TEACHERS: INSTITUTES-TOWNSHIP SCHOOL BOARDS - SEPARATE DISTRICTS STATISTICS. BEGINNING with the growth and development of the schools of Belmont county, there has been as remarkable a transformation as in any other direction. It is difficult to determine what particular spot has the honor of erecting the first school-house within the present limits of the county, but Colerain township seems to have the best authenticated claim, as it is pretty well established that a log house was erected in 1799 on the farm of Archibald Major. According to Major Thompson, the first school-house erected near St. Clairsville, or Newelstown, was in 1802, and was just south of the town on the Benjamin Barkhurst property. William Fleeharty was the first teacher. It was occupied only a few years, and dissensions grew up over its management until one night a party of the dissatisfied gathered at the cabin and demolished it, scarcely leaving one log upon another. In 1804 another was erected of logs at the west end 0f the town. In 1808 the Methodists erected a brick school-house on their present burial ground lot, the first teacher being Prof. Dent, who was succeeded by William Timberlake, Sterling Johnson, Zadoc Masters, John Taylor and W. Y. Ellis to 1832, when it ceased as a school. The third school-house, in point of date, was erected on what was termed "Scotch ridge," Pease township. In 1805 a log school-house was erected on section 1, range 5, township 9, Wheeling township, and probably the same year one was erected on section I, Union township, and a small log cabin on section 16, in Wayne township. In 1807 a cabin house was built in Goshen township, on the present site of Belmont, in which Joseph Wright was the first teacher. Within a year or two of this date sim- 49-B 770 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY. ilar cabins were erected in all the townships and duplicated in the thicker settlements. Among the first school-houses erected by the Society of Friends, was on section t, in Warren township, in 1806, and was taught by Samuel Berry. These cabins varied in size from 12x14 feet to 18x20 feet, and the first of them were substantially alike and of the regular cabin form, constructed of round logs eight to twelve inches in diameter, notched together at the corners so as to come pretty close together, and the " cracks chinked" with split wood and thoroughly daubed with clay. The roof was of clapboards, the floor and door of puncheons, or split logs, about two inches thick; the latter hung on large wooden hinges. Light was admitted through one 0r more holes sawed out of the side of the building, and covered with greased paper. The seats were made of split logs, and the desks, if any, of clapboards. A few years later these were followed by the hewed log, the frame and the brick buildings,, until we have the neat, cozy, well furnished, frame and brick school houses, from seven to fifteen in each township of the county, and the magnificent three and four story brick buildings in our leading towns that stand like great colleges, in comparison with the institutions of ninety years ago. The educational requirements were not very high in those earlier days. A teacher must know how to read and write, and be able to go smoothly along as far as the " rule of three " in arithmetic, but he . must not be deficient in muscle or courage, because the children whose ears were daily filled with the stories of Indian massacre, fierce conflicts with wild panthers and bears, and their ears familiar with night barking of wolves, would have too much contempt for effeminancy or cowardice in a teacher to take kindly to his instructions from the books. Teachers in the earlier day were paid from $10 to $15 per month, and kept from three to four months' school in a year. Among the earlier teachers, in addition to those already given were William Simms, James Greeneltch, Samuel Fitch, David Long, John Heskins, Archibald Cole, William Jarvis, James McKay, William Mitchell and Juday Folke. Prior to the school law of 1825, which required the levying of a tax upon all property for taxation, the schools were maintained by subscription or tuition fee and were properly termed private schools. Under such a system, of course, very little progress was made, and the teacher and school of the rural section in 1820 differed very little from the teacher and school of 1804-10. It was the great changes occurring in other directions, involving large and rapid increase of population and wealth, requiring broader culture for the management of the incident business, that paved the way for the new system, with its better school-houses, m ore efficien system of teaching, abler teachers and better text-books, that have since then furnished opportunities to the families of the poor to acquire an education only within the reach of the very rich in those earlier days. First Teachers' Institute. - The first meeting of teachers of common BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 771 schools held in this county was in the spring of 1832, at St. Clairsville. Mr. Isaac Hoge was made chairman, and Mr. Enoch Thomas, secretary: It had been called f0r a township organization, but teachers from-beyond Richland township were present and after some interchange of opinions the conclusion was reached to make a county organization, and the following resolutions were adopted: Resolved, That a committee of five teachers be appointed to draft a constitution to be submitted to a subsequent meeting of the teachers of Belmont county for their consideration, with a view to the formation of a permanent society of the teachers of common schools, and that the said committee prepare and publish an address to the teachers and parents of Belmont county, and fix the time for a general meeting. Resolved, That the said committee investigate what text-books ought to be used in common schools and report thereon to the general meeting of teachers, as well as any and all other matters appertaining to the interests of common schools, so as to procure a greater uniformity of system in common education. Resolved, That the committee be composed of the following gentlemen: Oliver Cunningham, James Gardner, Isaac Hoge, Jr., Samuel Hunt and Israel Roberts. ISAAC HOGE, JR., Chairman. ENOCH THOMAS, Secrecary. The committee met at St. Clairsville, July 7, 1832, and after considering the work entrusted to it, issued a call for a general meeting at St. Clairsville, September 8, 1832. The meeting assembled, as requested in the call, and organized by appointing John B. Case, temporary chairman, and Isaac Hoge, Jr., secretary. A constitution was adopted and the following gentlemen selected as permanent officers of the institute for one year: Dr. John G. Affleck, president; John R. Case, Oliver Cunningham, John Irwin, Benjamin R. Phares, G. A. Workman, vice presidents; Isaac Hoge, Jr., secretary; Taylor Smith, treasurer. The society adopted a complete set of text-books for the common schools of the county, as follows: Lyman Cobb's series, consisting of a first book for children, a spelling book, three juvenile readers and a dictionary, the whole series including six volumes; also Roswell C. Smith's arithmetic, Olney's geography and atlas, Kirkham's grammar, Whelpley's compend of history, and Hale's premium history of the United States; whole set comprising twelve volumes. The whole to cost, retail price, $5.62. When the labors of this first meeting were about to close, one of the teachers engaged in it, and it is to be regretted that his name has not been given, said: " May the cause spread and flourish till the citizens of our county shall attain the highest state of political, moral, and intellectual happiness, of which human nature is susceptible." These teachers' society or institute meetings have continued almost persistently since the date of this first organization, and in recent years a week or more each year has been occupied by the institute. The last one in this county convened at Flushing, July 23, 1889, continuing in session nineteen days, was attended by seventy-nine gentle- 772 - HISTORY OF THE UPPER OHIO VALLEY.. men and sixty-one lady teachers, being 140 out of the 187 necessary to supply the schools of the township districts. The teachers' association held four meetings in the county during the past year, and is an active force in developing uniform and better methods in the conduct and management of the schools. The interference of the state in the matter of education, beginning with the law of 1825, and continuing until our present excellent school system has been evolved, has driven out the old log school-house with its greased paper windows and great log burning fire-place, as well as the muscular pedagogue and his beech limb and ferrule accessories, and has replaced the first with neat frame and brick buildings, pleasing to the eye, and kept comfortable for the scholars by well regulated stoves or furnaces, and the last with courteous, well educated gentlemen and ladies, whose life work in many cases is teaching. The Township School Board. Under this system each township is a school district, divided into as many school districts as the convenience of the people may require. Each sub-district elects three local directors for the management of the school under the township board. One of these three is elected clerk and member of the township board, and these clerks, to the number of all the sub-districts, constitute the township board of education, with control of the schools. The number of sub-districts vary in different townships, running from eight to eighteen, and aggregate 173 in the county, having 183 school rooms, with $185,500, requiring at least 187 teachers, and employing in part during the year 144 male teachers at the average of $37 per month, and eighty-two female teachers at the average of $29 per month. The enrollment in these schools for 1889 was 8,582, and the average daily attendance was 5,271, and the total expenditure of $83,012.12, of which $8,066.91 was for sites and new buildings, and $3,969.86 for interest and redemption of bonds, leaving $70,975.35 as the net cost of maintaining the scho0ls, for the year during which thirty weeks of school was the average in the township, and the cost being equal to $13.46 to each pupil in daily average attendance. The average 0n the total expenditure would be $15.75. Separate Districts. It is in the separate school districts, of which there are nine in the county, in the more prominent towns, that the greatest efficiency has been attained, due largely to the better facilities for classification of children and the advantages of a general supervision. It is here that the common school has, in fact, become the poor-man's college, and young men and young women are so educated as to be qualified for almost any position in life. These nine separate districts are at Barnesville, Bellaire, Bridgeport, Belmont, Flushing, Martin's Ferry, Morristown, Powhatan and St. Clairsville. They contain nineteen scho0l-houses, valued at $210,000, containing eighty-six primary and seven high schools, employing in the primary schools, ten male and seventy-eight female teachers, at average wages of $53 per month for males and $35 for females; in the high schools five males and six female teachers, average wages $81 for males and $55 for females. The total expenditure last year BELMONT COUNTY, OHIO - 773 was $72,117.60, of which $10,436.48 was paid for interest, debt and new building, leaving $61,681.12 as the cost of maintaining the schools. The enumeration of youth in these special district last year amounted to 7,975. The aggregate school enrollment is 5,563, the average monthly enrollment is 4,426, and the average daily attendance is 3,799. The -cost of education per pupil, based upon the total expenditure and the average monthly enrollment, would be less than $16.30, and based upon the daily average attendance would be $18.98 per pupil. The following from last year's returns show the enumeration, enrollment, average monthly enrollment, average daily attendance, average number of weeks taught and total expenditure, in the townships, districts and in the separate districts: