172 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. CHAPTER XX. EARLY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS IN WOOD COUNTY-SCHOOL TAXES AND LAWS-SCHOOL EXAMINERS-IMPORTANT MEETING AT PERRYSBURG, 1837-SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION STATISTICS-TEACHERS' INSTITUTE-ITS OFFICERS, MEMBERS, ETC. IN the reminiscences of Mrs. Amelia W. Perrin, given in the history of Perrysburg township, reference is made to first schools and teachers in Wood county. The chapters devoted to township history contain many sketches of early schools and school teachers. The first recognition of schools by the commissioners dates back to June, 1826, when half a mill on the dollar was ordered to be levied for school purposes, under the Act of 1825. In 1827, this levy was continued; but, in 1828, 1829, 1830 and 1831, the commissioners ignored the tax. To compensate for this, a one-mill tax was levied in 1832, being one-fourth of a mill more than the new Common-School Law demanded, but, during the following few years, nothing whatever was done toward levying a school tax. On June 13, 1835, School Section 16, Tp. 3, Twelve Mile Reservation, was ordered to be appraised, and a one-fourth-mill tax, in addition to the Statute three-fourth-mill tax, ordered to be levied for schools. In March, 1836, Montgomery township was ordered to elect school trustees. In 1837, the school levy was placed at one and one-fourth mills, and, in 1839, it was increased to two mills, under the revise of School Law of 1838. The product of these levies was small indeed, but sufficient to meet the demands made by the school interests. The value of the school sections was not then thoroughly understood, and in the sale of many of them the people and commissioners made a mistake, which they realized before many years. The Akron School Law was adopted in 1850, and in 1873 all the laws bearing on the public schools were consolidated. In October, 1831, the judges of Common Fleas, acting under authority of the school law, appointed the following named school examiners: Elijah Huntington, Horatio Conant, Isaac Van Tassel, Galon B. Abel, Moses P. Morgan and David Smith. In October, 1834, Jessup W. Scott, Elijah Huntington, Horatio Conant, Oscar White and Galon B. Abel were appointed; and, in October, 1835, Benjamin Olney and Henry Bennett took the places of Oscar White and Horatio Conant. In 1847 James W. Ross, Elijah Huntington and Hiram Davis were appointed school examiners. In 1851 James W. Ross, whose term expired, was re-appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of Rev. Mr. Jewett. This system of appointment continues in force under the school laws, as amended, which vests the appointing power in the Probate Court. To November 17, 1837, we must first look for any marked interest in the system of public education. On that day a meeting was held at Perrysburg, over which S. R. Austin presided, with P. H. Crowell. secretary. The object was to consider means for improving the system and elevating the standard of the teachers. John C. Spink, Elijah Huntington and Henry Darling were appointed a committee to nominate officers for this School Improvement Association, and their nominations being accepted, Dr. Horatio Conant (president), John Evans (vice-president), Hazael Strong (of Napoleon), Jessup W. Scott (of Miami), Andrew Coffinberry (of Perrysburg), and Pierre M. Irving (of Toledo) (district vice-presidents), S. R. Austin (secretary) and John Webb (treasurer) were declared to be the officers. The graded or union school of Maumee, taught by Francis Hollenbeck, was established five years later; then one at Perrysburg; next one at Waterville, and a fourth school at Toledo, WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 173 The efforts of this association were directed to the organization of districts, and not without effect; for, by reference to the chapter on the Transactions of the Commissioners, it will be seen that the school question was taken up enthusiastically by the people of the several townships. In the forties" the teachers' institutes and teachers' associations began to take the place of the old School Improvement Association, and through the influence of their meetings the character of the teachers was changed within a few years, and some measure of progress was observed. Female instructors took the place of male pedagogues; mathematics made way for simple addition, subtraction and division; and " readin', ritin' and 'rithmetick " were cultivated. Much remained to be done, but the people accomplished the work, and brought the school house within reasonable distance of every home. Early in the "fifties" the State extended a system of aid by the establishment of school libraries throughout the county, and the supply of school apparatus. The Wood County School Library received, from the State, books and school apparatus valued at $447.28 during the year ending December 1, 1855. There were thirteen volumes of valuable and interesting books sent January 12, 1855; with which consignment were sixty-four copies of Barnard's school architecture, and one copy each of several well-known authors; also in May, 1855, came another consignment. The great majority of the books were useful and authentic, the minority otherwise. The statistics for the year ending November 15, 1877, show that the number of children between the ages of six and twenty-one years, was 11,217. The State received from this county $9,265.43, and paid it $16,080. In 1878 and 1879, marked advances were made in school government, buildings, furniture, and even in the character and manner of teachers. The number of school houses in this county at the close of the school year, 1879-80, was 180, or 164 townships, and sixteen separate district houses, while the value of property was $173, 550. The number of schoolrooms was 208, and of teachers, 212- the number of different teachers employed being no less than 357-146 male and 21 1 females. 'The average pay was $33 for the former and $23 for the latter in the primary schools throughout the townships, $28 and $27 respectively in the separate districts for primary teachers, and $57 and $33 respectively for high-school teachers. The average duration of school in the townships was twenty-seven weeks, and, in the separate districts, thirty-two weeks per annum. Wood county received from the State common-school fund $17,230.50 and contributed $9,912.71 to that fund, while the county's expenditure for school purposes amounted to $83,139.04, of which the sum of $47,792.83 was paid to teachers. The receipts of school moneys from all sources amounted to $127,393.41. In 1880, there were 5,960 male and 5,453 female children between the ages of six and twenty-one years, or a total of 11,413, in Wood county, exclusive of twenty-one colored boys and twenty-five colored girls, which, added, bring the total up to 11,459. Of all, there were 2,638 between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one years, while the total was 46 per centum of the population in 1880. The village and special school districts, in 1890, comprised Bloomdale, $770.62; Bowling Green, $28, 860.06; Bradner, $799.34 Grand Rapids, $3,349-56; Haskins, $2,123.91; Millbury, $927.13; Milton Center, $847.24; North Baltimore, $4,705.2 5 ; Pemberville, $3,80 1.49; Perrysburg, $5, 367. 19; Portage, $758.42; Prairie Depot, $1,525.46; Tontogany, $1,048.70; West Millgrove, $863.34and Weston, $2,362.18. In 1890, there were180 elementary schools in the township districts, with twenty-one elementary schools and one high school in the separate districts, or 202 school buildings in the whole county, valued at $319,450. In the 202 buildings were 257 rooms, or 188 rooms in the township, and sixty-nine in the separate districts, employing 308 teachers in the township, and eighty one in the separate district schools-or 133 male and 256 female teachers. The average pay of teachers in the township in 1890, was $38 for males and $26 for females, and in the separate districts, $44 and $30 respectively; while in the high schools the salaries averaged $52 for male, and $46 for female teachers. In the townships the average duration of school was twenty-nine weeks, and in the separate districts, thirty-six weeks. The expenditures for the year amounted to $119,103. 18, and the revenue (including a balance from 1889, of $79,068.64), $20,354.60, from State tax; $5,049.24 from the irreducible school fund; $82,439.90 from local school and school-house tax, and $987.69 from fines, licenses, etc.- $187,900.07. The sum paid teachers was $67,025.02, of which $6,701 was paid high-school teachers. The number of pupils enrolled was 7,242 boys and 6,273 girls, of whom 3,417 were between the ages of 16 and 21 years. The average daily attendance was 7,499. The statistics for the year ending August 31, 1894, show that Wood county possessed183 elementary schools in the townships, with 26 elementary schools and one high school inthe 174 - WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. separate districts, or 210 schools valued at $410,470. There were 192 rooms in the township buildings, and 93 in the separate district buildings, or a total of 285 rooms in which 287 teachers were employed. The number of different teachers was 335, or 139 males and 196 females. Of the whole number, 229 were employed for the whole year. The average salary in the township was $36 for males and $30 for females; while in the separate districts the respective averages were $50 and $33, and, in the high school, $60. The average duration of school in the township was 31 weeks and, in the separate districts, 33 weeks. In 1893-4, the average school tax levy in the township was 4.5 mills, and in 1894-95, 4.6 mills; while in the separate districts, it was 1 1.7 mills in the first, and 12. 1 mills in 1894-5. The school moneys received during the year amounted to $256,870.68, of which the sum of $180, 661.90 was expended, including $89,719.71 paid to the teachers. The number of children enrolled in the township was 7,192, or 3,756 boys and 3,436 girls, while in the separate districts there were 4,479 enrolled, or 1,729 boys and 1,864 girls in the elementary schools, and 415 boys and 471 girls in the high school-the total of all children enrolled being 1 1,671, including 826 re-enrollments. The daily attendance was estimated at 8,236, while the youth entitled to attend school numbered 14,073, or 7, 400 boys and 6,673 girls, of whom 3,406 were between the ages of 16 and 21. The Teachers' Institute of this county appears to have been a well-organized body as early as May 5, 1851, when the following named "practical teachers " petitioned the commissioners to appropriate moneys for defraying the expenses of a meeting to be held at Perrysburg in September of that year: A. D. Wright, George Kimberlin, Edward Olney, Adeliza Olney, Mary E. Olney, A. P. Donaldson, John W. Woodbury, Nathan W. Minton, A. B. Poe, Thomas E. Jackman, John Foster, Henry Chollette, Elijah Elliott, Laurenza Brown, Mary Blinn, Helen Norton, Nancy A. Carothers, Mary A. Drake, D. K. Hollenbeck, Helen Earl], Elsie Birdsal, Romain Bruce, Ann Vass, Ann E. Bruce, Martha J. Drake, Maria Carr, Maria Bamber, Hellen S. Perrin, Julia Irwin, Celia L. Minton, Sarah S. Minton, Eliza Kuder, Louisa Lowell, Emeline Blinn, Celia Keyes, Emily Norton, Mary M. Shutts, Sophia A. Barlow, Caroline Wright and Hamilton Pratt. The petition was endorsed June 1, 1851, by the school examiners, E. Huntington. I. N. Newton and A. W. Jewett, who recommended an appropriation of $40. It may be said that the commissioners, in granting a small sum, considered such a meeting necessary, as the petitioners with, perhaps, one or two exceptions scarcely understood the first principles of the profession. The meeting was held in September, but a convention of the teachers of northwestern Ohio, held at Toledo the same month, overshadowed that at Perrysburg, so thoroughly that, even the local papers said but little on the subject of the Wood county meeting. The Institute of 1853, held at Maumee and Perrysburg, was attended by thirty-seven Wood county teachers. The periodical assemblages of teachers, from 1852 to- 1857, partook of the social rather than of the educational character, but there can be little doubt of their influence in making many of the crude instructors better teachers. The records of the Teachers' Institute placed at the disposal of the writer by Prof. Van Tassel, date back to August 2, 1867, when the annual meeting was held at the Presbyterian church, Bowling Green. The officers for that year were Capt. S. S. Canfield, president; William W. Callihan, Nellie Brown and Jane Gorrill, vice-presidents; C. C. Layman, secretary; Helen G. Robins, treasurer; D. A. Avery, John H. Whitehead and Guy C. Nearing, executive committee. Joseph Clarke, Eliza Love, Ruth Haynes, and John Clarke, the secretary, were among the officers chosen in 1868, but C. T. Pope was chosen temporary secretary in April of that year. In 1869 and 1870, Messrs. S. S. Canfield and John Clarke were elected president and secretary, respectively. In November, 1870, D. A. Avery was elected president, and C. W. Munson, secretary. In November, 1871, F. V. Meagley was elected secretary, and Joseph W. Kerr, treasurer. At this time the constitution of the Institute was brought to light and copied by Secretary Meagley. Its preamble and nine articles were signed by the following named members: William R. Barton, Francis Dailey, H. L. Gorrill, Robert Place, John Muir, R. M. Donnelly, John Cable, Charles S. St. John, A. L. Muir, J. B. Newton, F. V. Meagley, Helen M. Van Tassel, Ipsie Ralston, Florence Carrick, Nellie Burns, Ella Hull, Apalinda Mercer, Hattie Dubbs, Jennie Eldridge, Edmund P. Thomas, James E. Kerr, Joseph W. Kerr, H. C. Norton, Hattie Foote, Ella F. Evers, Belle Clarke, Nettle L. Bronson, Seth H. Fairchild, Ada M. J. Fairchild, Martha Robinson, Joseph Welton, James Condit, Ella Ralston, Dora Thurstin, B. F. Smith, W. Wade, Jr., Robert Dunn, May Steedman, Ettie Wiley, George H. McCartney, H. L. Crane, John W. WOOD COUNTY, OHIO. - 175 Ebersole, S. G. Ebersole, C. W. St. John, Maggie Dunapace, Elam Norris, David J. Cargo, Thomas N. Barkdull, Mary O. Pope, Isaac N. Van Tassel, S. S. Long, Emma Whitaker, Emma Loomis, Sarah Brown, Thomas Burns, J. D. Anderson, George W. Callin, Ann E. Poe, George F. Canfield, G: A. Gwinner, Mertie Clark, Lewis Edgar, J. F. Huffman, F. E. Palmer, Henry Wise, Ella Fowler, John Vetter, Helen G. Robins, W. Wright, E. T. Hays, F. J. Oblinger, J. 'S. Benschoter, E. D. Moffett, Mattie Caldwell, Lucinda Caldwell, Mary Lockhart, Clara Lockhart, Ida Gould, Mattie Jackson, Joseph Clark, Rezin Jewell, S. P. Brightley, Rose Call, Maggie M.. Vass, Carrie K. Thompson, Carrie S. Fowler, A. R. Knapp, James A. Yates, Emma Frederic, Maggie Muir. Fanny Muir, Anna Forrest, Helen Hitchcock, Libbie D. Hecox, A. D. Newell, George F. Cowden, Lucy E. Powers, Marian Muir, Arcena Cowden, Myron LeGalley, Frank W. Dunn. George F. Wright, Amelia Canfield, Mary Davidson, Alvina E. McQuinn, P. W. Minton, Lucy A. Cass, Albert Brisbin, John A. Shannon, Charles W. Evers, Sophie G. Knoll, Maria Cronker, R. M. Adams, H. M. Canfield, J. H. Callin, W. A. Benschoter, Mattie Patterson, Flora J. Donaldson, Albert D. Loe, VV. W. Brim, F. P. Minton, Z. L. Tribble, M. F. Cowdery, C. P. Taylor, Dudley A. Avery, D. C. Albaugh, John W. Brownsberger, William Zimmerman, Carrie E. Cellars, Jennie E. Enos, Hattie M. Noyes, Delia M. Younker, and Nancy J. Parker. All the teachers of the county did not sign the constitution at that time, but at subsequent meetings, prior to the close of 1871, many became members. In November, 1871, Apalinda Mercer was elected secretary, and James E. Kerr, president. In 1872, Helen M. Van Tassel and C. P. Taylor held the respective offices; in 1873, Mrs. E. E. Barton and James E. Kerr; in 1874, Mrs. Barton and Guy C. Nearing; in 1875, Helen M. Van Tassel and S. S. Canfield; in 1876, Kittie M. Smith and S. S. Canfield; in 1877, A. R. Knapp and James E. Kerr; in 1878, A. Brisbin and J. E. Kerr; in 1879, C. S. St. John and R. M. Donnelly; in 1880, 1881 and 1882, Kate Brown and R. M. Donnelly, and in 1883, Samuel Given and R. M. Donnelly. The second record book of the Institute closed November 19, 1883, with a list of 133 members (of whom only 54 were male teachers) enrolled by the secretary, A. L, Muir. Among the names are but few of those which appear in a former page, as signers of the constitution. Many old Wood county names, however, are given, showing that the interest in the objects of the Institute grew with its age. George H. Withey was elected president in August, 1884, with A. L. Muir, secretary. J. P. Baker won the first prize for spelling, and A. L. Muir and Lola Shropfer, the second prizes. The same officers were re-elected in 1885, while in 1886 the secretary was re-elected, with E. A. Ballmer, president. The presidents since that year are named as follows: I. N. Van Tassel], 1887 and 1888; W. H. Richardson, 1889; J. C. Solether, 1890; W. F. Ries, 1891 and 1892; W. M. Waltermire, 1893; E. A. Ballmer, 1894-5, and J. N. Baker, 1895-96. The secretaries, since the close of Mr. Muir's last term, have been Hattie Gould, 1887; Alice Matthews, 1888 and 1889; Alta DeRiar, 1890 and 1891 ; Katie Wetzel., 1893 and 1894; Anna Laney, 1894-95, and Eva Peugh, 1895-96. RETURN TO THE TITLE PAGE