Ohio History Journal

EDUCATION IN TERRITORIAL OHIO*

BY W. ROSS DUNN

In tracing the beginnings of education in that part of

the old Northwest that later became Ohio, the historian

naturally turns to that much noted work of the decadent

Congress of the Articles of Confederation, the North-

west Ordinance or the Ordinance of 1787. His efforts

are not unrewarded, for Article Three contains the oft

quoted declaration that "schools and the means of edu-

cation shall forever be encouraged". However, this is

all, and it is necessary to turn elsewhere to find the be-

ginning of the policy of land grants for schools. It is

important to note the beginnings briefly, for besides pro-

moting the settlement of the territory, the grants en-

couraged education, and later contributed to the sup-

port of the schools. They were at least the background

of the beginning of education in Ohio. Furthermore, it

was the beginning of a policy that was later generally

extended to include all the lands of Ohio, although in the

original patents it applied only to certain grants. In the

end it became a regular land policy of the West and

each state admitted after 1842 was given section 36 of

each township for school purposes.1

1 Willis Mason West, American History and Government, Allyn and

Bacon, 1913, pp. 270, 274.

* Awarded the annual prize offered by the Ohio Society of Colonial

Wars, for the best essay on early Western history and offered as a

thesis for the degree of M. A. in the University of Cincinnati, 1925.

History Department.

(322)

Education in Territorial Ohio          323

By going back a little further to the less renowned

Land Ordinance of May 20th, 1785, the legislative be-

ginning of the policy of donating land for the benefit of

education is found. That Ordinance, in addition to pro-

viding for the rectangular surveys of land in advance

of settlement and the sale of land in small quantities by

land offices, "reserved the lot No. 16, of every township,

for the maintenance of Public Schools within the said

township."² It is rather reasonable to suppose that the

idea of granting one thirty-sixth of the land for school

purposes was not put in by accident. The idea was in

the minds of some prominent men somewhat earlier.

The suggestion was likely born of the consideration of

the question of compensating revolutionary soldiers by

grants of the public domain in the West. In a com-

munication of Colonel Timothy Pickering relating to

lands in the West for soldiers, there is reference to other

land for the "common good" and this included "estab-

lishing schools and academies".³ This communication

was forwarded through Generals Putnam and Wash-

ington to Congress. The idea of land reservations for

the support of church, highways and schools had been a

topic of conversation among such men as Washington,

Webster, Paine, Bland, Pickering, Bayard and Hutch-

ins.4

The Ordinance of 1787 was passed July 13 and ten

2 Land Laws of Ohio, A Compilation of the Laws, Treaties, Resolu-

tions and Ordinances of the General and State Governments, which relate

to Lands in the State of Ohio, p. 154.

3 Clement L. Martzolff, "Land Grants for Education in the Ohio Val-

ley States," in Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Quarterly and

Proceedings, Vol. 25, p. 65.

4 The Records of the Original Proceedings of the Ohio Company.

Edited with Introduction and Notes by Archer Butler Hulbert, Cincin-

nati, 1882, Vol. I. Int. p. XXV; Vol. I. p. CXXXVI-VII.

324      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

days later another Ordinance was passed by Congress,

which renewed the provision of the Ordinance of 1785,

in reserving section 16 of each township for schools

and further provided that two townships as near the

center of the grant as possible should be reserved for

the purposes of a University. The agents of the Ohio

Company took advantage of this provision in their con-

tract with the Board of Treasury, which provided that

a clause or clauses "shall or may be inserted" reserving

section 16 for schools, 29 for religion and sections 8, 11,

and 26 for the use of, and subject to, the disposal of

Congress. Also that two complete townships might be

laid off by the parties of the second part as near the

center of their grant as possible, for a university.5

The next grant of Ohio lands was that to John

Cleves Symmes between the Miami rivers. It contained

the provision for school and church land and also a

grant of a college township. Symmes had only asked

for one township of college lands. His early map shows

this reserved opposite the Licking river. Later the

amount of land that Symmes applied for was cut down

one-half, as his agents feared they would not be able to

make payments on the full amount. Symmes learned

that the smaller amount did not entitle him to a college

township and sold his reserved lands. Congress, how-

ever, granted a college township, thus leading up to pro-

longed negotiations before the college lands were finally

set apart, which were connected with Miami Univer-

sity.⁶ This provision for school lands was not included

6 Land Laws of Ohio, p. 154; Records of the Ohio Company, Vol.

I, pp. 13, 14, 31, 32, 33.

7 Judge Jacob Burnet, Notes on the Early Settlement of the North-

western Territory, Cincinnati, 1847, pp. 428, 433.

Education in Territorial Ohio      325

in the Western Reserve, Virginia Military and other

lands of the territory.

In arranging for the formation of a constitution in

Ohio, Congress offered certain parts of its lands in Ohio

for public purposes provided the lands be exempt from

taxation for five years. The Convention, meeting to

form a constitution, saw the chance and drove a bar-

gain with Congress to extend the provision and set aside

one thirty-sixth of all the lands in the state for school

purposes. After many difficulties and later negotiations

this provision was carried out by granting part sections

where full sections were not available and by granting

extra lands where available to make up for deficiencies

in other sections. How these lands were later wasted so

that they returned much less than they should to the

Common School Fund of Ohio is part of a later story.7

The motive for including public lands in early grants

has sometimes been questioned.   Some have thought

that sections 16, 29, 8, 11 and 26 were the top, doll,

boomerang, balloon and whistle put in the package to

make the land sell better. Those asking for such public

lands were accused of similar motives. No doubt these

motives may have influenced some as well as a real and

sincere interest of many in the things such land was in-

tended to promote. Furthermore, if such lands were

supposed to attract settlers, such settlers must have been

thought to have an interest in such worthy objects as

education, religion and roads. While of course there

was the universal appeal in getting something for noth-

ing, a variety of motives were no doubt intermingled.8

7 Martzolff, Land Grants, pp. 68-69; Land Laws of Ohio, pp. 155, 157;

A History of Education in the State of Ohio, a Centennial Volume, 1876,

pp. 9-75.

8 Martzolff, Land Grants, p. 66.

326      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

The interest of the people of the Ohio Company in

education did not lapse on being successful in securing

land grants with reservations for religious and educa-

tional purposes. On March 7, 1788, a committee was

named to secure a suitable teacher "of religious and

educational training" to accompany the settlers to the

lands on the Ohio. The committee engaged the Rev.

Daniel Story for the purpose, and called for public sub-

scriptions to cover the expenses. At a meeting of the

Directors of the Company, August 4, 1788, provision

was made for leasing lot 16 of each township for a

period of ten years, after March, 1789, to be cleared,

fenced and left in grass. In November of the following

year the Agents of the Company arranged for a com-

mittee to make a large scale map showing the public

lands, namely; the lots of Congress, the school lots, lots

for religious purposes, for a university, and other com-

mon property lots.9

The following year the Company took what might

be called a more active interest in education. At a meet-

ing of the Agents and Proprietors, July 16, 1790, at

Marietta, a motion prevailed to appropriate $150 for the

support of schools. The amount was to be justly ap-

portioned among the settlements of Marietta, Belpre and

Wolf-Creek. This money was later to be restored to

the funds of the Company from money raised among

the first settlers for the "Support of Religion and for

Scholastic Education". Although a committee was

named in each settlement to receive and expend the

funds, the contemplated action was not secured, perhaps

because the ratio of distribution had not been desig-

9 Records of the Ohio Company, Vol. I, p. 39-40.

Education in Territorial Ohio     327

nated. At any rate, in the following December a com-

mittee of three was appointed to apportion this money

and to devise ways and means for the opening of schools

in Marietta, Belpre, Wolf-Creek and Newbury. This

does not seem to have been effective yet, for a resolution

of almost a year later, December 5, 1791, provided that

the money appropriated for the education of the children

should be divided among the settlements in the same

proportion as money granted for public teachers by vote

in the meeting of April 6, 1791.10

At the meeting here referred to a committee which

had previously been appointed to suggest measures to

be adopted to furnish the several settlements with re-

ligious instruction, made its report. As a result the sum

of one hundred-sixty dollars was appropriated for the

purpose. Of this sum Marietta was to get $84, Belpre

$50, and Waterford $26. No town was to receive its

share unless it maintained a school the designated

amount of time, which was one year for Marietta, seven

months for Belpre and three and one-half months for

Waterford. A committee was to be appointed in each

settlement to obtain the "Public Teacher", who was to

be approved by the Directors of the Ohio Company be-

fore entering on his duties. These teachers were to

give religious instruction for the public benefit.11 This

ratio used for distributing the $160 for religious in-

struction was to be taken as a ratio for distributing the

$150 for secular education.

While this practically ends the official acts of the

Ohio Company relating to education, the peculiar thing

10 Records of the Oio Company, Vol. II, pp. 50 65, 121.

11 Records of the Ohio Company, Vol. II, p. 91.

328      Ohi Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

is not that they were so few but that there were any.

For that day the interest shown and the appropriations

were no doubt unusual for a commercial company. A

high regard or and a high estimate of the importance of

education is ndicated. It is doubtful if it can be dupli-

cated in many frontier communities.

Education at that time was largely a matter of local

or even of individual concern in the new country. It

could not well be otherwise in a pioneer community.

However, a "beginnings" have a peculiar interest for

all of us, we shall turn to the topic of school legislation

and see what interest was taken in the field of education

by the government in charge of the territory of Ohio

before state food.

The Northwest Territory was under the Governor

and Judges during the first stage of territorial govern-

ment. During this time little was done in the way of

school legislation. However, some effort was made to

protect the school lands; for instance in The Centinel

of the North-western Territory of Saturday, December

27, 1794, a notice appeared warning against the cutting

down of trees on any section of land reserved by the

Congress of the United States for any purpose.¹² The

laws for the Territory in this period were to be secured

by being adopted by the Governor and Judges from the

codes of the older states. The collections of laws of the

period show no school laws adopted for the Northwest

Territory. This does not seem strange however, when

one remembers that this was much before the days of

public schools in the Territory. Even though laws were

desirable or regulating the lands granted for educa-

12 This notice was over the signature of Winthrop Sargent, acting

governor, and appeared in a number of other issues of the same paper.

Education in Territorial Ohio       329

tional purposes, the older states, having no such lands,

had no such laws to adopt.

The territory entered on its second stage of terri-

torial government in 1799 with the first General Assem-

bly of the Territory holding its first session in Cincin-

nati in that year. And although Judge Burnet tells us,

that, "The subject of education occupied their serious

attention," the members of this Assembly did little real

legislating of an educational nature. The author quoted

above informs us that, "Among other measures, they

instructed the delegate in Congress to use his influence

to induce that body to pass the laws which were consid-

ered necessary to secure to the Territory the title of the

lands that had been promised for the support of schools

and colleges, including section No. 16, in every town-

ship."13 One of the other measures referred to was no

doubt a law passed providing punishment for the of-

fense of destroying trees on school lands.14 An act of

November 27, 1800, of the second session of the first

General Assembly, created a corporation to manage the

school lands within the Ohio Company's purchase in

Washington county.15 By this act seven persons were

named as "trusteees for managing lands granted for

Religious purposes and for the Support of Schools",

within the Ohio Company's purchase.16 The purpose

of this law was to make the land more productive and

thus provide means for fulfilling the objects to which

13 Judge Burnet -- Notes, p. 305.

14 Eli T. Tappan, "School Legislation," in History of Education in

the State of Ohio. Columbus, 1876.

15 This session of the Assembly was held in Chillicothe.

16 Griffin Greene, Robert Oliver, Benjamin Ives Gilman, Isaac Pierce,

Jonathan Stone, Ephraim Cutler and William Rufus Putnam were the

trustees named.

330      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

such lands were dedicated. This act has more to say

about the religious lands than the school lands. The

fact that one section, number 29, was in the town of

Marietta and hence desirable land for immediate settle-

ment, possibly accounts for this. It provided that va-

cant lots in this section might be leased for not less than

three nor more than seven years and the rent was not

to exceed five dollars. Three-fourths of the clear profits

from section twenty-nine was to be used to support

"such public teacher or teachers of piety, religion and

morality as shall be employed". It further provided

that the other one-fourth should be held at interest until

it was sufficient to build one or more houses of public

worship.17

Besides these acts the General Assembly of the Ter-

ritory passed some measures relating to the two town-

ships set apart for university purposes in the Ohio Com-

pany's purchase. The first was a resolution by the first

Session of the first General Assembly, approved by the

governor December 18, 1799. By this resolution a com-

mittee of three was designated and requested to lay off

a town for a university in the most suitable place in

townships eight or nine of the Ohio Company's pur-

chase. The commission named laid off and made a plat

of the town and reported back to the first General As-

sembly at its second Session. An act was passed by

this body approving the report and recommendations

of the committee, December 6, 1800. In accordance with

this Act the first session of the Second General Assem-

bly passed an Act establishing a University in the town

17 "Laws of the General Assembly of the Northwest Territory, Vol.

II, pp. 8, 9.

Education in Territorial Ohio      331

of Athens, January 9, 1802. According to this Act the

name was to be: "American Western University". As

no organization was effected under this act, it was su-

perseded by an Act of the State Legislature in 1804.18

At first thought this might seem like a rather meager

amount of legislation and little related to the schools.

But when one remembers that this was but a sparsely

settled territory to 1803 and that the schools were pri-

vate and subscription schools and not subject to any

public legislation, the few acts found are rather to be

wondered at than depreciated. This is the more true

when one considers that the first general state laws re-

lating to common schools did not come until the  twenties

and the first compulsory common school law in the late

thirties. (1838.)

However an account of the beginnings of education

is concerned, primarily, with the early schools. In this

field there was more than a start in some sections of the

territory before 1803. Early schools had opened and

reopened; the pioneer schoolmaster and schoolmistress

had appeared; the pioneer type of school architecture

had become established and dotted the landscape here

and there in certain sections of the old Northwest; yet

schools were more numerous than school-houses.

An account of the early schools in Ohio is neces-

sarily a little here and a little there, a patchwork quilt of

the schools handed down from that day to this. Neither

such an account nor such a quilt may be a thing of har-

monious beauty in all of its parts, but both may be of

tremendous interest and historical value, especially in

18 Laws of the General Assembly of the Northwest Territory, Vol.

II, p. 45; Vol. III, p, 161; Land Laws of Ohio, pp. 219, 220, 221.

332      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

so far as they may be assigned to definite persons and

places. Besides the general interest that everyone has

in originals and beginnings, there is a peculiarly height-

ened interest to the comparatively few who can recog-

nize in this piece of bright hue a remnant of a dress of

a Gallipolis ancestress, or in that piece of a more somber

shade, a part of the shawl or cape that protected the

shoulders of a Marietta or Western Reserve grand-

mother, or in that piece of Kentucky homespun a re-

minder of a bit of early life of Losantiville or of Mas-

sie's settlement, or can see in that bit of jeans from

"Johnny Appleseed's" trousers the beginning of fruit

culture in Ohio.

However, the interest in the patch-work history of

the early schools should be of interest and value to all;

for they were bits of the life of the ancestors of all of

us. Such life and schools played a part in shaping a

Jacksonian Democracy, a Clay and his "War of 1812".

It is not my Garfield and my Lincoln but our tow-path

boy and our rail-splitter. It is certain that an unusual

percent of men of vigor and distinction were products

of our early pioneer schools. May it not be that those

schools, plus their environment, had some elements of

strength in training for individuality and initiative that

our modern schools plus a new environment tend to get

too far away from?

In treating of the early schools of Ohio, it is de-

sirable to give an account of actual schools in some rep-

resentative sections such as about Marietta, Cincinnati,

in the Western Reserve, the Virginia Military Lands

and the like, and then see if it is possible to arrive at

Education in Territorial Ohio       333

some generalizations concerning their supporters, their

curricula, their teachers, their buildings and their pupils.

The first schools in the state were naturally in the

eastern and southern sections. No doubt the earliest

schools were the Moravian Indian Schools. One of

these dates from a period several years before the Revo-

lutionary War. In 1761 Frederick Post went from

Pennsylvania to the north bank of the Muskingum, in

what is now Stark County, Ohio. Here he built a cabin,

expecting to convert the Indians.19 In 1762 he returned

to the headquarters of the Society of the United Breth-

ren in Pennsylvania and asked for an assistant. The

Brethren made the request known to the congregation at

Bethlehem and John Heckewelder, a youth of about

nineteen years of age, voluntarily agreed to go. Hecke-

welder in his "Narrative" indicates that he went along

"principally to teach the Indian children to read and

write".20 This mission did not remain permanently but

others were established, particularly after 1772, in what

is now Tuscarawas and also in Lorain County.

David Zeisberger, trained for missionary work in

the Indian school at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was

prominent in the settlements made in 1772 and later.

While he and the Moravians in general were chiefly in-

terested in converting the Indians to their religion, they

seem to have used the fundamentals of education as a

basis. Zeisberger in his "Diary" frequently refers to

the unusual interest taken by the young Indians in the

19 Henry Howe, Historical Collections of Ohio, (2 volumes) Vol. 2,

pp. 607, 608.  Published by C. J. Krehbiel &  Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, 1904.

Copyright 1888 by Henry Howe.

20 Ibid. Vol. 2, p. 608. Howe quotes Heckewelder's "Narrative of

the Missions of the United Brtheren Among the Delaware and Mohegan

Indians."

334      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

school.21 The eagerness of the young people for learn-

ing and their progress in the same, are commented on

with satisfaction. It is worthy of note that they cut

wood for the private use of their teacher that his school

work might not be suspended temporarily. (Such men-

tal activity on the part of the twentieth century young

people would likely make it impossible to celebrate so

many events and notables by the holiday method.) If

one recalls the traditional amount of liking the Indian

had for manual labor, a willingness to chop wood may

be accepted as real evidence of his interest in the school

and what he was learning there.

The earliest schools for white children were those

established by the settlers of the Ohio Company at or

near Marietta.   However, there was one started about

the same time at Columbia. In spite of the comparative

poverty, schools were started by the earliest settlers at

Marietta. Instruction was given in reading, writing

and arithmetic, and altho it is not mentioned in the ac-

count here referred to, it is not likely that spelling was

neglected.22 Hildreth says: "no people ever paid more

attention to the education of their children than the de-

scendants of the Puritans".23   The fact that schools

were started during the second year after the arrival of

the colonists in a pioneer country would lend color to

the statement. The first settlers landed on the Mus-

kingum, April 7, 1788, and in the summer of 1789, the

21 David Zeisberger, Diary of a Moravian Missionary Among the In-

dians of Ohio. Cincinnati, 1885. Vol. 1, pp. 388, 451, 455, 461; Vol. II,

pp. 4, 292, 438.

22 S. P. Hildreth, Pioneer History of Ohio, being an account of the

Ohio Valley and the Early Settlers of the Northwest Territory. (Chiefly

from original manuscripts), p. 335.

23 S. P. Hildreth, Pioneer History of Ohio, p. 379.

336      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

the trails were in better condition for the younger chil-

dren to make their way over in the summer time, while

the work of clearing, planting and taking care of the

crops made it undesirable to spare the older children

from home during the seasons that such work could

go on.

The larger boys and young women went to school a

few months in the winter time. Instruction was given

to them in the winter of 1789 and for several winters

thereafter in Farmer's Castle, in Bellepre, by Daniel

Mayo, who worked at clearing his land during the sum-

mer months.25 Mr. Mayo came from Boston in the fall

of 1788 with Colonel Battelle's family and being a grad-

uate of Harvard University, no doubt was well qualii-

fied to teach.26 Jonathan Baldwin, a well educated

bachelor from New England, was another of Bellepre's

early teachers. He kept school in Blockhouse No. 3

while the garrison was confined, fearing trouble from

the Indians.

Schools likewise started early in Marietta. In 1789,

Major Anselm Tupper kept a school in the northwest

blockhouse of Campus Martius, the fortification at Ma-

rietta. Other early teachers at Marietta were Mr. Cur-

tis, who taught two years in a cooper shop; and Dr.

Jabez True, who kept school in the blockhouse; another

was Benjamin Slocomb, a well educated but rather dis-

sipated man of Quaker parentage.27

25 There are several spellings for Bellepre. Belpre is also common.

Records of The Ohio Company uses Bellepre.

26 Daniel Mayo married the daughter of Israel Putnam and after the

war of 1812 settled in Newport, Ky., where his descendants now live.

J. J. Burns, Educational History of Ohio. (Historical Publishing Co.,

Columbus, Ohio), 1905, p. 23.

27 Hildreth, Pioneer History, p. 335.

Education in Territorial Ohio             337

In Waterford, up on the Muskingum, schools were

also started early and kept most of the time, especially

in winter. Joseph Frye and Dean Tyler were liberally

educated men, who were employed at different times as

teachers at Waterford or Fort Frye. The Marietta

colonists had employed and brought with them from the

east the Reverend Daniel Story as a suitable teacher of

religious and educational training.28 No records seem

available to show the nature and extent of the educa-

tional training offered by Mr. Story, although as a min-

ister he served for years.

Likely the first school started in southwestern Ohio

was the one begun in Columbia, now in the East End of

Cincinnati, on June 21, 1790, by John Reily. He is said

to have taught here in the first school-house built in

Ohio.29 Reily had come from North Carolina, altho he

was born in Pennsylvania. He had served with Gen-

eral Greene in the Revolution. Judge Burnet attests to

his character and ability.30 About a year later Reily was

joined in his school venture by Francis Dunlevy, who

had been born in Virginia, later moving to Pennsyl-

vania. He also had fought in the Revolution, chiefly

against the Indians. Reily taught the English studies,

and Dunlevy, who is said to have been a fine classical

and mathematical scholar, the classical.31 The school

28 For details see Records of the Ohio Company Vol. I, p. 39-40.

29 Chas. T. Greve, (A. B., L. L. B.), Centennial History of Cincin-

nati, and Its Representative Citizens, Vol. I, p. 180. (Biographical Pub-

lishing Co., Chicago, Ill., 1904); David Zeisberger: Diary. Has refer-

ence to schools and to roofing a school-house earlier than this, 1788. Vol.

I, p. 388.

30 Burnet, Judge Jacob, Notes on the Early Settlement of the North-

west Territory, pp. 469-478.

31 Both of these men became prominent in early Ohio. Reily settled

in Hamilton in 1803. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention

of Ohio. He served as clerk of the Supreme Court of Butler County

Vol. XXXV--22.

338       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

was a subscription school and its teacher "boarded

round" as Reily's journal shows the following entries:

"In the month of August boarded twelve days with Mr.

Patrick Moore; in the month of September boarded

twelve days with Hugh Dunn; in December boarded

with John McCulloch six days". This school was later

changed into an academy. Judge Goforth's Diary has

such references as the following in regard to the matter:

"Last Monday night met at my house to consult on the

expediency of founding an academy." "Wednesday

night met at Mr. Reily's school-house." The weather

was bad and few came, so they met the next night at

Reily's to appoint a committee.32 Accordingly the

school developed into an academy under the patronage

of Judge William Goforth, Rev. John Smith, Major

John S. Gano and Mr. Dunlevy himself.33

The establishment of a fort in what is now the down-

town portion of Cincinnati probably caused the popula-

tion to tend to shift from Columbia. At any rate, Mr.

Dunlevy moved up the Miami, is reported to have taught

school near it, and in 1797 or 1798 opened a school a

short distance west of the present location of Lebanon.

This was perhaps the first school in Warren County.

While land had been sold here much earlier, it is not

thought that a permanent settlement had been effected

from 1803-1842. Francis Dunlevy removed to near Lebanon in Warren

County in 1797. He served in the Convention that drafted the State Con-

stitution as a member from Hamilton County. He was a member of the

first legislature in 1803. At the first organization of the judiciary he was

made presiding judge of the first circuit. He held this place 14 years and

though this circuit embraced 10 counties, and though he frequently had

to swim his horse over the Miamies, it is said he never missed a court.

He practiced law fifteen years after leaving the bench then retired to his

books, dying in Lebanon in 1839. McBride, James, Pioneer Biography,

Cincinnati, 1869. Vol. I, pp. 1, 100, 101.

32 Greve, Centennial History of Cincinnati, Vol. I, p. 181.

33 Ibid., Vol. I, p. 363.

Education in Territorial Ohio    339

until after Wayne's treaty with the Indians in 1795. In

September of that year a settlement was effected at

Bedle's station, where the only blockhouse in the county

was built. Mr. Dunlevy later moved his school to the

north-west about two miles and had some of the same

scholars. Among his young hopefuls in the vicinity of

Lebanon was a black-eyed boy, who gave his age as four

years and his name as Thomas Corwin. No doubt it

was a belated but pleasant reward to this pioneer teacher

when this pupil became governor of Ohio and later a

United States senator, while a fellow pupil, John Smith,

also attained the latter honor. There were other early

schools in this section, namely, one about 1800 taught

by Judge Ignatius Brown, one near Ridgeville about

1801 to 1803 by Matthias Ross, one about Waynesville

in 1802 taught by Rowland Richards and one in Leb-

anon in 1801, 1802 and 1803 by Enos Williams, a for-

mer pupil of Francis Dunlevy, and perhaps others prac-

tically this early. Thus Warren County seems to have

been almost the educational center of Southwestern

Ohio and the Symmes purchase before statehood.34

There is also evidence of early schools near what

is now the down town part of Cincinnati, altho infor-

mation about them is frequently incomplete. William

D. Ludlow, writing in 1856, referred to a school on the

river bank opposite Main and Sycamore streets. This

school was taught by an Irishman by the name of Lloyd.

Elsewhere there is reference to the first school being

erected in 1792, and attended by about thirty pupils.

This is supposed to have been in a log cabin about 3rd

34 Jas. J. Burns, Educational History of Ohio. (Historical Publish-

ing Co., Columbus, 1905), p. 24; History of Warren County, Chicago,

1882, pp. 261, 477, 570.

340     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

and Lawrence and could be the school to which Ludlow

referred. When Judge Burnet arrived in Cincinnati, in

1795, a frame school building stood on the north side of

Fourth Street opposite where St. Paul's church later

stood. It was inclosed but not finished. It is also re-

corded that the Presbyterian Church was used for a

school for a time. Jonathan Lyon, who came to Cin-

cinnati in 1791, attended school in a cabin near Riddle's

blacksmith shop. This shop stood on the public land-

ing and hence this school could also have been the one

about which Ludlow   wrote.  Kennedy Morton was

Lyon's teacher and was a great believer in the use of

the rod. "He frequently whipped grown young men

and women with a long hickory gad until they would

fairly jump off the floor."35

Such are some of the general and indefinite accounts

of early Cincinnati schools. These were no doubt the

general schools for the teaching of the three R's. Such

schools were rather few in early Cincinnati, as there

was more of a tendency to a specialized type of school

in this vicinity, as will be indicated below by newspaper

advertisements. S. S. L'Hommedieu tells us that in

1810, 1811, 1812 there were but three or four small

schools in Cincinnati. One was in the second story of

a building at Sixth and Main kept by Thomas H.

Wright; another, John Hilton's, over a cabinet-maker's

shop on the east side of Main Street between Fifth and

Sixth; a third was that of David Cathcart on the west

side of Walnut near Fourth Street. There were about

forty scholars in each.36 That these schools were not

35 Greve, Centennial History of Cincinnati, Vol. I, p. 363.

36 S. S. L'Hommedieu, quoted in Greve's Centennial History, Vol. I,

p. 491.

Education in Territorial Ohio            341

housed in buildings built for the purpose is also a point

worthy of notice as a reflection of the general attitude

of the community toward education. We shall next con-

sider the schools of Cincinnati as indicated by adver-

tisements in the early papers.

The earliest newspaper published in Cincinnati was,

The Centinel of the North-western         Territory.   The

available files of this paper show only two or three ad-

vertisements relating directly to schools. The earliest

of these advertisements is so suggestive of the type of

school it was proposed to start, that it will be quoted

in full. It is from The Centinel, bearing the date of

Saturday, Jan. 3, 1795.37

The Subscriber begs leave to inform the public that he in-

tends to open school on Monday the 22d of this inst. in the house

lately occupied by David Williams, nearly opposite James Fer-

guson's store, where he proposes to educate youth in the fol-

lowing sciences and mathematical branches, viz.: reading, writing,

arithmetic, bookkeeping, trigonometry, mensuration of super-

ficials and solids, dialing, gauging, surveying, navigation, ele-

ments of geometry and algebra. The parents and friends of all

such as are committed to his trust, may depend on his utmost

care and best endeavors to form their tender minds to a love of

learning and virtue; he likewise will employ every opportunity

in grounding his pupils in the practical parts of the above.

--STUART RICHEY.

The writer has found nothing to indicate the prog-

ress of the school, or to show how well this rather heavy

mathematical curriculum was patronized. However,

Mr. Richey again advertised the same subjects eleven

months later, December 5, 1795. It was stated that

37 The Centinel of the Northwestern Territory, published in Cin-

cinnati, Ohio, Vol. II, No. 60, Sat., Jan. 3, 1795. (Price per year 250 cents,

7 cents per copy). Files of this paper from Nov. 23, 1793 to May 14, 1796,

are found in the Library of the Hist. and Phil. Society of Ohio, located

in the building with the library of Cincinnati University.

342      Ohio, Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

school would open the 16th of the month and that no

more than thirty scholars would be admitted. It is in-

teresting to note that this time an N. B. is added, stating

that, "None need apply but such as allow of moderate

correction to be used in said school when necessity re-

quires it."38 One might wonder if this was a result of

experience the previous winter. As this same advertise-

ment appeared in this and five subsequent issues of the

Centinel, one surmises that the limit of thirty was put

in as much to hurry registration as to limit it. Evi-

dently these schools of Mr. Richey, were of a rather

special type, if we may judge by his advertisements, and

were secondary as well as elementary in subject matter.

Of course those elements of the curriculum relating to

surveying and navigation were intensely practical in a

new country and on the Ohio.

The advertisements of "The Western Spy, and

Hamilton Gazette", between May 28, 1799 and Janu-

ary 1804, bring to light a number of prospective schools

of various kinds.39 In the issue of September 17, 1799,

Francis Mennessier announced the opening of both "A

Coffee House" and a schoo.40 Both were to be on Main

Street, Cincinnati, at the sign of "Pegasus the bad Poet

fallen to the ground". He was going to teach French

to those caring to learn, on each evening in the week ex-

cept Saturday and Sunday, from 6 to 9 o'clock P. M.

Mr. Mennessier evidently had taught French before, for

he informs those who has been subscribers for two

38 The Centinel, Vol. III, No. 107, Saturday, December 5, 1795.

39 "The Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette," was the successor of

"The Centinel of the Northwestern Territory." Files of this paper (pub.

in Cincinnati) between the dates indicated are to be found in the Mercan-

tile Library, Cincinnati, Ohio.

40 Ibid. In this and other Sept. 1799, issues of the paper.

Education in Territorial Ohio      343

years and had not been able to attend, that they will be

instructed gratis if they care to attend. The rates of

the school are not known, so it is not possible to deter-

mine whether a partially philanthropic French school

was expected to benefit an economic coffee house. Later

in the same year, James White, used the same news-

paper to announce the removal of his school to a new

location. This was a subscription school but non-sub-

scribers are told their scholars will be admitted on the

same terms as those of subscribers. Mr. White also

announces that he will open an evening school, in which

writing, arithmetic, etc., will be taught. The school is

to be open four evenings a week from six to nine o'clock

for a period of three months; the terms are to be two

dollars for each scholar, and the scholars are to find

their own firewood and candles.41

In 1800 Lemuel McDonald advertises a school that

he has recently opened. His purpose is to instruct youth

in the various branches of English literature and he

promises to carefully attend to the morals of those in-

trusted to his care. He announces that: "He will teach

reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geogra-

phy and the mathematics, in the most concise and fa-

miliar manner".⁴² Evidently this was primarily an ele-

mentary school.

Two names appear rather frequently between 1800

and 1803 in connection with educational announcements;

others usually only once or twice.  Those names are

Matthew G. Wallace and Robert Stubbs. While the

main work of the latter in this field was likely in con-

41 The Western Spy, October 22, 1799. The advertisement is re-

peated in subsequent issues.

42 The Western Spy, September 24, 1800.

344       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

nection with the "Newport Academy", it was so closely

affiliated with Cincinnati as to make it desirable to men-

tion it here. An early announcement in regard to the

same appeared under the heading, "Newport Academy",

and over the signature of Washington Berry, chair-

man of the trustees of that institution.43 A part of the

advertisement will be quoted, in order to show the va-

riety of the curriculum offered. Elementary as well as

secondary subjects were to be given.

The Academy of Newport will commence on the first of

April. The Rev. Robert Stubbs is president of said academy,

in which will be taught reading, writing, and arithmetic at eight

dollars per annum; -- also the English grammar, the dead lan-

guages, the following branches of the mathematics, viz.: geome-

try, plain surveying, also by latitude and departure, navigation,

geography, astronomy, mensuration of superficials and solids;

also logic, rhetoric, bookkeeping, etc., at four pounds per an-

num.⁴⁵

It was further announced that board might be ob-

tained in Newport and vicinity on reasonable terms and

"the greater part received in produce". In August, 1802,

a notice of a meeting of the proprietors of the school

taught by Mr. Stubbs appeared in the Spy.44 Later in

the same year, Mr. Stubbs announced his intention to

open a night school in Cincinnati on the following Mon-

day night at six o'clock. Instruction is to be offered in

any science or language that a youth "is capable of, on

accommodating terms". Each Friday evening is to be

appropriated to the study of Geography and the use of

43 The Western Spy, May 28, 1800. The trustees are given in the

advertisement, viz.: Washington Berry, Charles Morgan, John Grant,

Thomas Kennedy, Thomas Sanford, Thomas Carneal, Richard Southgate,

Daniel Mayo, Robert Stubbs and Bernard Stuart. They were to attend

to the regulations and management of the Academy.

44 The Western Spy, August 14, 1802, (Vol. IV, No. 159').

Education in Territorial Ohio       345

the Globes. Mr. Stubbs also promises by a simple piece

of machinery to "exhibit the earth's diurnal and annual

revolutions; and of course the cause of that pleasing

variety of the seasons of the year, and why the days

increase by months within the limits of the Polar Cir-

cles".46 He also promises to exhibit upon the shortest

notice to any select party of ladies or gentlemen who

may be curious enough to pry into such matters. In

January, 1803, Mr. Stubbs is again before the public

to let them know that his Academy in Newport will re-

open the first of the following month. He thinks it un-

necessary to say more than that "he will not deceive

those who may honor him with the tuition of their

sons". The notice adds that boarding is cheap in "New-

Port".45

Mr. Stubbs seems to have taken advantage of quality

advertising as well as announcement advertising, for, in

the issue of The Spy for January 26, 1803, Matthew G.

Wallace, John S. Gano and five other men attest to hav-

ing attended some exercises recently given by the pupils

of Mr. Stubbs' Academy in Cincinnati. These men at-

test that the several pupils present, considering the time

they had been under Mr. Stubbs' care, gave "proof of

growing proficiency in the English and Latin lan-

guages -- and particularly in English grammar, and

oratory and the mathematics", proofs that were a credit

to themselves and an honor to their instructor.46 Mr.

Stubbs does not seem to have conducted a pay-before-

you-receive business, for later in 1803 he puts a notice

45 The Western Spy. Nov. 10, 1802. (No. 15 of Vol. IV and No.

171 of series). This advertisement has the caption, "Science."

46 Very likely this was the school where the use of the globes was to

be a regular Friday evening feature.

346      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

in the paper to thank those who have paid the last year's

tuition and to warn those who have not, that he will put

the law in force, since he has already solicited them fre-

quently.47 Evidently there were some salary difficul-

ties even before the time when the teacher became a

servant of the public, and before the time of the public

school system.

Matthew G. Wallace, whose name is also frequently

attached to advertisements relating to schools during

this period, seems also to have been a Reverend, as was

Mr. Robert Stubbs. An early advertisement of his is

headed "Education" and appears in the issue of The Spy

for October 31, 1801, and in the three following issues.

According to his advertisement, Mr. Wallace proposed

to instruct a few boys in the Latin and Greek languages

and if required, parts of literature nearly connected with

them. He suggests that the school will likely not open

before the first of December, as it will take some time

to get suitable books. Mr. Wallace has a "selling" para-

graph in his advertisement which runs as follows:

It is presumed unnecessary here to enumerate the many ad-

vantages naturally resulting from an institution of this kind;

particularly in this new country and at so early a period. It must

be acknowledged that the talents of many youths among us are

now buried and neglected, which a proper cultivation would ren-

der eminently useful. Besides, it is education only which digni-

fies human nature, consolidates social blessings, and prepares us

for our proper duty and happiness, the glory and enjoyment of

God.

Mr. Wallace also states that he will pay proper at-

tention to public speaking, as that is a necessary orna-

ment of every man of letters. To prevent after reflec-

47 The Western Spy, May 11 and 18, 1803.

48 The Western Spy, October 31, 1801.

Education in Territorial Ohio      347

tions he states that not more than six boys will be re-

ceived for the present and that the first applying will

be accepted.

Somewhat over a, year later Mr. Wallace in an ad-

vertisement of some length, again informs the citizens

in and near Cincinnati that he proposes to open a school.

He proposes a somewhat wider curriculum this time, for

besides the languages and the parts of literature usually

included in a classical education, he proposes to teach

reading, writing, the different branches of the mathe-

matics, etc. A strict examination, followed by public

speaking, is proposed for the end of each quarter. His

advertisement implies that a building had been provided

for the school by a group of interested persons, for "the

proprietors of the school-house", are urged to make

known the scholars they propose to send for fear the

school might be over-crowded and thus it would be in-

advisable to admit more. The subscriber in his adver-

tisement presumes, "that all who wish to see our new

state flourish, our citizens respected and happy, will suf-

ficiently encourage an institution of this kind."⁴⁸ In

November of the same year, Mr. Wallace informs the

proprietors and citizens in general that another quarter

of his school has just commenced, and that tuition will

be as formerly.49

In the previous July, Mr. Ezra Spenser had availed

himself of the columns of The Spy to announce that the

concurrence between himself and the Rev. Matthew

Wallace would be discontinued. He announces that he

will open a "regular English school", when enough

48 The Western Spy, January 5, 1803, repeated in the issues of Janu-

ary 12 and 19. The school was to open on Monday, the 10th of January.

49 The Western Spy, Oct. 19, 1803. Nov. 5, 1803.

348      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

scholars are obtained, in which he will teach reading,

writing, arithmetic and English Grammar. From the

use of the word "regular" before English, in the phrase

regular English school, we are perhaps justified in con-

cluding that Mr. Spenser was not entirely pleased with

Mr. Wallace's languages and literature that usually go

to make up a classical education or the "dead lan-

guages" as they are called in one of Mr. Stubbs' adver-

tisements. Likely Mr. Spenser was the practical edu-

cator of his day.50

Neither did the schoolmaster escape the "want-ad."

column in the early days. Robert Benham advertises

for a schoolmaster capable of teaching an English

school. Mr. Benham mentions no salary, simply stating

that such a person will meet with good encouragement

by applying at his place on Turtle Creek, two miles

above Deerfield. A little over a year later, Mr. Benham

has another advertisement in The Spy, headed "A Good

Schoolmaster Wanted".51 It indicates that he is wanted

at the new school-house on the subscriber's farm in

Warren County. In the same issue of The Spy, under

the caption "School", the following also appeared: "A

Schoolmaster is much wanted at this place; a person

qualified to teach an English school will find employ-

ment. Apply to W. C. Schenck, Franklin". It is inter-

esting to note, as illustrative of the change of feeling of

the general public that has come about, that Mr. Ben-

ham in his first "want-ad." for a schoolmaster also an-

nounces that he has for sale four stills of the following

capacities: 125, 107, 80, and 65 1/2 gallons, thirty mash

50 Ibid., July 6, 13, 20, 1803.

51 The Western. Spy, Aug. 17, 1803. The distance from Deerfield has

increased one-half mile above that of the previous advertisement.

Education in Territorial Ohio                 349

tubs and 12 singling kegs. Such economy in advertis-

ing would hardly be approved at the present time.

General articles on education are very few in the

newspapers in which the above advertisements were

found. The two or three, which are found, are general,

and mostly quoted, and they do not concern local edu-

cation directly. The following quotation, requoted from

a periodical, will give the spirit and suggest the content

of such articles.52

Delightful task! to rear the tender thought,

To teach the young idea how to shoot,

To pour the fresh instruction o'er the mind,

To breathe the enlivening spirit and to fix

The generous purpose in the glowing breast.

THOMSON.52 53

Nor were these all, for there is evidence of schools

in early Cincinnati that were less academic than the

foregoing. As early as 1801 Levi M'Lean uses the col-

52 The Western Spy, Sept. 25, 1802. The quotation is quoted in the

article referred to. Aug. 14, 1802. Column article. These articles are

signed "Senex."

53 It will be interesting to turn aside for a moment to note a change

that came about in the make-up of educational advertisements in the pioneer

newspapers that have been referred to previously in this article. No doubt

a similar transition can be discovered in the advertisements in general. In

the earlier paper, "The Centinel of the Northwestern Territory," the adver-

tisements in regard to schools are headed, "The Subscriber" or "The Sub-

scriber Begs"; thence reading on into the body of the advertisement. (The

Centinel, Jan. 3, 1795 and Dec. 5, 1795.) The heading gave no hint of the

nature of the notice, and this is quite the usual way for the various adver-

tisements to start. No doubt this was found quite satisfactory in the early

newspapers at a time when reading matter was very scarce, for each sub-

scriber would read every word anyhow. However, a little later the adver-

tisement in The Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette, 1799 to 1804, show

that a change had taken place. The heading now usually indicates the

nature of the notice. Here are some headings of school advertisements of

this period: "Newport Academy," "Education," "Wanted: a Schoolmaster,"

"School for Young Ladies," "Science," "Singing School." (The Western

Spy, May 28, 1800; Oct. 31, 1801; June 12, 1802; July 31, 1802; Nov. 10,

1802; Oct. 22, 1799.) The heading is no longer a part of the first sentence.

A step forward has been made; the purpose is to make the reader's task

more easy and to catch the eye of those to whom the announcement might

be of special interest.

350       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

umns of the local paper to announce singing schools for

"Ladies and Gentlemen". One singing school is to be

held at Mr. Washburn's school and another at the Court

Room at Mr. Avery's as soon as court is over. The

rates are one dollar for thirteen nights or two dollars

per quarter, the subscribers to furnish their own wood

and candles. This was no doubt a side-line or an avoca-

tion for the "singing professor", for elsewhere it is re-

corded that Mr. M'Lean was a butcher by trade.       Nor

were these his only activities, for Mr. Greve gives him

credit for making the first political stump speech in Cin-

cinnati in connection with a campaign for constable in

1802.54

Perhaps a somewhat more interesting and unusual

non-academic school was the "Dancing School" as pro-

claimed in "The Western Spy" about two years before

this, (Nov. and Dec., 1799). Mr. Houghton advertises

his dancing school with some gusto as follows:

DANCING SCHOOL

The Subscriber having taught with great reputation in dif-

ferent parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia, last winter and spring,

and whose letters of introduction to this place and Lexington,

are most respectable, begs leave to inform the ladies and gentle-

men of Cincinnati and its vicinity, that if honored with their

patronage, he intends opening a school here as soon as sufficient

number (sixteen or more scholars) shall subscribe. He teaches

particularly, the Minuet, Cotillion, French and English Sets, in

all their various and ornamental branches. Exclusive of which,

he teaches the most fashionable Country Dances and City Cotil-

lion, taught in New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore. His

terms are three dollars entrance, and five at the expiration of the

quarter.⁵⁵

54 The Western Spy, Oct. 31, 1801.

55 The Western Spy, Nov. 19, 1799, Dec. 3, 1799. Mr. Greve in re-

ferring to the incident in his Centennial History surmises that Mr. Hough-

ton did not pay for his advertisement, as a bitter tirade against dancing

Education in Territorial Ohio          351

Mr. Houghton adds some postscripts which an-

nounce that he also teaches some favorite Scotch Reels,

that the school will commence this morning, Nov. 19,

1799, at ten o'clock, and further that he will teach from

seven to nine o'clock in the evening for the benefit of

gentlemen, whose occupations will not permit them to

attend during the day. It is likely that this was the

earliest school of this kind in the state, for Cincinnati

was the most cosmopolitan of the early settlements, hav-

ing colonists from widely different sections of vary-

ing types. Such a school would hardly have been looked

upon with favor at Marietta, a fairly unified Puritani-

cal settlement.

In this early day it was rather generally regarded

as unnecessary to educate girls in the academic subjects

to the extent that boys were, while no doubt, it was

rather desired that they should have some knowledge

of the three R's. In this connection it is interesting to

note that a "School for Young Ladies" was advertised

by a Mrs. Williams, July 31, 1802, to be held in a house

lately occupied by a saddler on Sycamore Street. The

"Young Ladies" were to be instructed in reading, writ-

ing, sewing, etc., at the rates of two dollars and fifty

cents per quarter for reading, three dollars and fifty

cents per quarter for reading, sewing and writing.56

This school has been referred to as the first school for

appears in The Western Spy a little later on. This is rather hard to

determine as editorials were not used in the papers of that day, and the

article could have been general as well as editorial. Then some of the

more puritanical subscribers might have buttonholed the editor.

56 The Western Spy, July 31, 1802, issue No. 157, (No. 1 of Vol. IV).

Aug. 14, 1802.

352       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

higher education of young women in the Ohio valley.57

The curriculum proposed would hardly justify the con-

clusion; but the school is advertised for young ladies,

and the "sewing, etc." represents the first department in

a school for young ladies in a day when they were of-

fered a less academic and more practical training, if

they were offered anything in school outside of the bar-

est rudiments of an education. In this sense Mrs. Wil-

liams was proposing a school for the higher education

of women. As for co-education in the college field that

comes later, at least much credit in that field has been

claimed by sponsors of Oberlin, which was established

in 1833. Mr. Mathews says that, "Oberlin carried co-

education to a convincing success with a rush", while

Mr. Cherry gives Oberlin credit for being the first co-

educational college in the world.58 On the other hand,

some "firsts" in this field have been assigned, by Mr.

Gard, writing in the "Ohio Archaeological and Histori-

cal Society Publications", to Robert Owen's communistic

colony on the Wabash. Pestalozzian principles were

used in the schools of this colony, and were introduced

there soon after the colony was founded in 1826. Mr.

Gard says, "The New Harmony schools were the first

public schools in the United States to offer the same

advantages to girls as to boys."59 The doctrine of equal

57 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications. (Pub.

for the Society at Columbus, Ohio, 'by Fred J. Heer) Vol. 25. The Higher

Education of Women in the Ohio Valley Previous to 1840, by Jane Sherzer,

Vol. 25, p. 2.

58 Alfred Mathews, Ohio and Her Western Reserve, pp. 196-200;

(With a Story of Three States, D. Appleton & Co., 1802.)

P. P. Cherry--The Western Reserve and Early Ohio (Pub. by R. L.

Fouse, Firestone Park, Akron, Ohio, 1921.) p. 106.

59 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications -- Vol. 25,

p. 32. European Influence on Early Western Education. Willis L. Gard,

also quoting Lockwood on "New Harmony Movement."

Education in Territorial Ohio              353

educational opportunities regardless of sex is given as

a principle of Mr. Owen's system.60

While the settlements in the southeastern and south-

western parts of Ohio were earlier, there were other

settlements sufficiently long before statehood to make a

survey of school beginnings in them desirable. One of

these was the south central region or Virginia Military

District and another of course the Western Reserve in

Northern Ohio.

The first settlement in the Virginia Military lands

and sometimes referred to as the third in the state, was

made at Manchester, (Adams County), in 1790 or 1791,

by Colonel Nathaniel Massie and his followers. This

man and associates accounted for many surveys and set-

tlements in this section of the state. This early settle-

ment at Manchester had its first school-house in 1796,

(some say in 1794), with Israel Donalson as teacher

for several terms. One of the first female teachers in

this section was Mrs. Dodson, an Englishwoman, who

taught in Liberty Township on Zane's Trace about

1803.61    Other early    schools appeared at settlements

along this early and noted trail as well as elsewhere in

this district. A school is reported in Brown County in

60 It may not be out of place to observe that a little more than a

quarter of a century after 1803, Mrs. Trollope found many schools in

Cincinnati and "perceived, with some surprise, that the higher branches

of science were among the studies of the pretty creatures" in one of these

schools at least. She observed one "lovely girl of sixteen," who "took her

degree" in mathematics, while another was examined in moral philoso-

phy. By this time at least a higher academic education was provided for

women. However, Mrs. Trollope thought that it might have been difficult

for a far better judge than she to determine to what extent young ladies,

who "blushed so sweetly, and looked so beautifully puzzled and con-

founded," merited the diplomas they received. Mrs. Trollope, Domestic

Manners of the Americans. London, New York, (Reprint) 1832, p. 81, or

Vol. I, pp. 114-115.

⁶¹ Nelson W. Evans and Emmons B. Stivers -- A History of Adams

County, West Union, 1900. Passim.

Vol. XXXV -- 23.

Education in Territorial Ohio         355

1800 and another about 1802, while Highland County

had early schools at scattered centers at dates estimated

at 1802 and 1803. Early settlements in these counties

range from 1796 to later dates.62

Ross County, which furnished Chillicothe as one of

the territorial seats of government and later as the

first state capital, had numerous settlements between

1795 and 1800. A school was kept here in the last of

the 1700's by a very good schoolmaster of Irish extrac-

tion. One or two others are reported in the county be-

fore 1803. In laying out Portsmouth, Massie dedicated

lots 130 and 143 to school purposes, a practice, by the way,

that was quite common in surveying and platting early

town sites. These lots in Portsmouth were later used

for school purposes, but the only school the writer has

found recorded for Scioto County before Statehood was

one at or near Alexandria, said to have been as early as

1800. Pickaway and Franklin Counties were settled

in different localities between 1796 and 1798, but seem

not to have had schools till 1803 or 4 or later. In fact,

dates for early schools in the Virginia Military District

are more often given around 1808 to 1810 to 1812, and

particularly from 1815-1818.63

In the Western Reserve in northern and north-east-

ern Ohio, we again find settlers of the New England

stock predominating. French traders and missionaries

and others had earlier frequented the region, but do not

62 Chief references are the County Histories. See Bibliography.

Evans and Stivers. Adams County, under Manchester, Liberty Twp., etc.;

Brown County, pp. 1, 463, etc.; Franklin County, pp. 261, 419, and under

Townships.

63 Chief references are the County Histories. See Bibliography.

History of Ross County, p. 189, Townships; Franklin County, pp. 361, 419;

Highland County, Madison, White Oak, and Marshall Twps.

356      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

seem to have left anything in the way of schools. And

indeed, there were few schools in this section of the

state before 1803. The greater number of authorities

give 1802 as a date for the beginning of schools in the

environs of Cleveland and perhaps of the Western Re-

serve. However, there is inexact reference to a school-

house being built on the road, near Kingsbury's and

taught by Miss Sarah Doan, daughter of Nathaniel

Doan, as early as 1800. One of the schools of 1802 was

conducted for the benefit of about a dozen in the "front

room" of Major Carter's by Miss Anna Spafford. The

curriculum provided merely the simplest form of book

knowledge. Another school of the same year was that

at Harpersfield by Abraham Tappan. With schools be-

ginning about 1802, naturally rather little was accom-

plished in this region of the state until after statehood.

As settlers became more numerous and settlements suf-

ficiently compact, (and that was separation by miles in

many cases,) this section of the state took an active in-

terest in things scholastic. The western part of the

Western Reserve, known as the Firelands, had its edu-

cational beginnings in the next period of development.64

The beginnings of education in the section of Ohio

heretofore surveyed are no doubt much more than rep-

resentative. Of course there were a few other begin-

nings in adjoining or outlying settlements. The settlers

of the Ohio Company who had gone to settle about the

64 James Harrison Kennedy -- A History of the City of Cleveland,

Its Settlement, Rise and Progress, 1796-1896. Cleveland MDCCCXCVI,

pp. 112, 114; Elroy McKendree Avery, A History of Cleveland and Its

Environs, The Heart of New Connecticut, in 3 vols. Chicago and New

York, 1918, Vol. I, p. 47, p. 341; Jesse Cohen, "Early Education in Ohio"

in Milgazine of Western Hist., Vol. III (1885-6) Cleveland, pp. 217-223;

Harvey Rice, Pioneers of the Western Reserve. Lee & Shepard, Boston,

1883, pp. 68-9.

Education in Territorial Ohio       357

two college townships in Athens County had established

one or two schools before 1803; and by 1800 Benjamin

Van Cleve had started the educational history of Day-

ton in a blockhouse made of round logs, which stood on

the present site of the soldiers' monument. He thus

records the event in his journal: "On the 1st of Sep-

tember I commenced teaching a small school. I had

reserved time to gather my corn, and kept school until

the last of October".65 Then there were a few schools

elsewhere, such as in Jefferson County, which in early

days took in a number of counties in the eastern part of

Ohio. A log school-house was built in what was later

Belmont County, as early as 1799, which pupils attended

from considerable distances and sometimes at consider-

able risks. Another school was started near St. Clairs-

ville in 1802. A large number of the settlers in this sec-

tion of the state were from Pennsylvania and Virginia,

and according to a local historian much interested in

educational affairs and schools.66

Some general observations on the beginnings of

schools in the various sections of the state will help to

account for the conditions found there. Some compara-

tive statements and conclusions will indicate how educa-

tion reflects the settler and his interests. So we shall

summarize the actual school conditions by beginning

with the last regions treated and ending with the Ma-

rietta and Cincinnati districts. Then we shall turn to a

brief consideration of early schoolmasters, school-

houses and equipment.

65 Robert W. and Mary Davies Steele, Early Dayton, 1796-1896.

U. B. Publishing House, Dayton, Ohio, 189,6, p. 34.

66 W. H. Hunter, The Pathfinders of Jefferson County, in Ohio

Archaeological and Historical Society Publications, Vol. 6, pp. 246, 247,

passim; C. M. Walker, History of Athens County, Ohio. 1869, p. 219.

Education in Territorial Ohio       359

were contemporaneous with the settlements, while in the

Virginia district, usually a few years, and more often

ten to fifteen, elapsed, between settlement and schools,

according to prevailing dates. The fact that many of

the settlers of the Virginia Military lands were from

the South and various sections of the frontier also con-

tributed to this end. Book-learning and scholastic at-

tainments were not the first ends when economic neces-

sity demanded that lands be cleared and crops produced;

and when an accurate eye, a steady nerve and an iron

muscle might add meat to a scanty food supply or pro-

tect life itself from hostile Indians. So people from the

frontier or of southern origin where schools were

usually private, or by private tutor on a plantation, were

less likely to begin or support schools than were people

who had been accustomed to do so.67

Further, it is well to note that as Indian dangers

were removed in Ohio there was more of a tendency for

settlers to scatter and hence there might not be a suffi-

cient number in a vicinity to start a school, even though

older children were often sent several miles to attend

one.

It is to be regretted, but hardly to be wondered at,

that we have so few intimate details of the schools of

that day. For the schools of 1803 and even much later

were not public schools as we use the term today, and

such records as were kept were due to individual ini-

tiative and not to any public requirements. No doubt

many early schools have gone totally unrecorded. How-

67 At one place in Franklin County settled in 1803, a school was

started in 1804 where a school house had been built on South College lot.

It is recorded the settlers here were from New England. A History of

Franklin and Pickaway Counties. Williams Bros. 1880, p. 419.

360     Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

ever those that have been told about above, are no doubt

typical of educational ideas in the two centers now to be

considered and also sufficient for some comparisons and

contrasts.

The schools about Marietta were practically contem-

poraneous with the settlement of the colony. They were

for the general public, for the children of the com-

munity. While they were financially supported for the

most part by those who patronized them, one judges

from the records about them that those who had children

sent them. They were an expected and accepted institu-

tion of the community. The historian having recorded

that they were started, seems to take schools as a matter

of course. These schools, so far as records reveal, were

of an elementary type, giving instructions chiefly in the

fundamentals. This is to be explained by the fact that

the settlers were New Englanders and that New Eng-

landers of that day believed in education. Practically

all the settlers about early Marietta being from New

England, there was no disagreement about the matter.

It has already been noted that the Company took steps

before they left the East to secure a suitable teacher to

bring with them. The fact that money was appropriated

from the funds of the Ohio Company for secular and

religious education is proof of the general educational

attitude.68

The teachers for the most part were scholarly men, one

or two being college graduates, others being referred

to as men of fine intellectual attainments.

While the Reily school at Columbia in the Cincinnati

region followed immediately after settlement, the rec-

68 Above, pages 6, 7.

Education in Territorial Ohio     361

ords hardly indicate that such was the usual practice in

the region, or at least the general practice. Our infor-

mation concerning the early schools about Cincinnati

comes frequently from the newspaper or from the recol-

lections of some one who once attended the school. The

exact detail is frequently lacking. The schools here

were more frequently the regular subscription schools,

where the teacher circulated a petition until enough

scholars had subscribed at a definite rate to make it

worth his while to teach a school term. It has not been

recorded that there was a contemporaneous move on the

part of the early settlers to have their children educated.

Most of the schools announced in the early paper, with

the exception of Mr. Spenser's "regular English school,"

were more or less special schools. The school was to em-

phasize mathematics, or the classic languages, or French,

or the training of young ladies. These facts no doubt re-

flect a population that was mixed; a population that had

aristocratic elements in it; a population made up of

people from the East and New England, from the South,

and even from the West, who lately came north from

Kentucky and Tennessee. It may be judged from the

curricula offered that the teachers of these special

schools were men of some scholastic attainments; two

of them are referred to as Reverend. However, prac-

tically nothing is said about the scholastic attainments

of the teachers of the schools where merely the funda-

mentals were taught. These special schools were the

forerunners of the academies and private schools that

became so common in the period following the one under

discussion. And such schools were common in the

362      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

Southern and Western counties and less common in the

districts where New Englanders had settled.69

The building in which the early school was kept, was

frequently not one built entirely for the purpose. More

often in the very early settlements it was the block-

house, sometimes it was the house of the schoolmaster,

or it was a room over a place of business, or perhaps an

abandoned cabin.70 The earliest buildings intended for

school-houses were of round logs and later of hewn

ones. They were about 18 by 24 feet or sometimes 20

feet square, with the eaves eight or ten feet high.71 The

cracks were chinked with wood and clay; the roof was

made of clapboards held on by cross poles. Light was

admitted by leaving out a log or by cutting a section of

one or more logs out, putting in a rude frame and closing

the opening with greased paper. The door was of rough

boards swung on wooden hinges and fastened by a

wooden, later an iron, strip or latch, lifted by the latch-

string. Tardy pupils, who found no latch-string, knew

that the master was at prayers and remained in the ele-

ments until the latch-string reappeared. Heat was sup-

plied by the huge fireplace, which might take up most

or all of one side of the building, the backlog and fore-

stick did not have to be in minor lengths. The chimney

was lined with mud and it and the fireplace might be

made of stone. The floors were sometimes the natural

earth but more often of puncheon, or the floor near the

69 Robert E. Chaddock, A. M. Ohio Before 1850, p. 145. (A study

in the early influence of Pennsylvania and Southern Populations in Ohio.

Columbia University, 1908).

70 W. H. Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley

-- Historical and Biographical Sketches (Robert Clarke and Co., Cincin-

nati, 1891), p. 187.

71 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications, Vol. 25,

p. 45.

Education in Territorial Ohio     363

fireplace of earth and the part at some distance of punch-

eon. It is recorded that a large stump was inclosed in

an early school-house at Zanesville and served very well

for a dunce block. This building must not have been

particularly tight, for the story is told that a Mr. Sam-

uel Herrick, who taught in it in 1805, was frustrated in

his attempt to punish a boy, by the urchin escaping thru

a hole under the lower log into the friendly woods.72

The furniture of the early school-house was as crude

as the building. Jeremiah N. Reynolds says in part of

an early school that he attended: "The seats or benches

were of hewn timber, resting on upright posts placed in

the ground to keep them from being overturned by mis-

chievous lads who sat on them. In the center was a

large stove, between which and the back part of the

building stood a small desk without lock or key, made of

rough planks over which a plane had never passed, and

behind this desk sat Professor Glass when I entered the

school. There might have been forty scholars present,

twenty-five of these were engaged in spelling, reading

and writing; a few in arithmetic; a small class in Eng-

lish grammar and a half dozen, like myself, had joined

the school for instruction in Greek and Latin".73 The

benches were frequently so high that the feet, especially

of the younger children, did not annoy by their owner

scraping them on the floor. The earliest schools usually

had no desks and the few books that were possessed

were placed beside the student on the bench. These

benches were split logs on pegs and are said to have been

sometimes of such nature that it was unnecessary for

72 W. H. Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture, p. 190.

73 W. H. Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture, p. 189.

364      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

the mischievous boy to resort to a bent pin. Some of

the Western Reserve boys are said to have lined the

seats of their pantaloons with buckskin as a protection,

both against the seat and the ferule.74

For writing purposes a broad board was frequently

placed on pegs stuck in holes in the wall. At ordinary

lessons the pupils usually faced toward the center or

front of the room but when writing they faced the wall

and it is said to have required considerable skill to ne-

gotiate gracefully the turn over the long bench when

the command came: "Face the Wall!" The pen was of a

goose quill made and kept in condition by the keen edge

of the master's knife. The ink was made of "oak-bark

ooze and copperas" or of some other home preparation.

Copies were all set by the teacher and the pupil had to

rule his own paper with a plummet made of lead. Of

course the building and furniture soon began to im-

prove, especially in the more populous centers. Judge

Burnet mentions an unfinished frame school building in

Cincinnati when he came to that town in 1795. Such

buildings became more numerous after 1803, altho log

buildings long remained in use. A brick school building

was erected in Lebanon in 1805, and may have been the

first school structure of the kind in the state.75

Most of the early log school-houses were built by

the cooperative effort of those interested and not by

contract and for pay. It is recorded that the efforts of

a single day have sufficed to erect such a structure. On

the day appointed, the entire man force of the com-

munity assembled early at the designated spot and either

74 P. P. Cherry, The Western Reserve and Early Ohio, p. 101.

75 Ohio Archaeological and Historical Society Publications, Vol. 25,

p. 47.

Education in Territorial Ohio     365

assuming or being assigned to tasks in which they were

skilled, proceeded with the work. Some felled the trees

and cut the logs to the desired lengths, while others with

teams would drag them to the spot where the building

was to be erected. There skillful ax-men would notch

them at each end, and if it was to be the more elaborate

hewn log building, others would hew to a flat surface

opposite faces of the log. In the meantime others would

select a desirable straight-grained tree, fell it, cut it in

blocks and split clapboards to cover the roof. When the

building had reached sufficient height and the gables had

been completed, the clapboards would be put in place on

poles for rafters and sheeting, and usually would be

held in place by cross poles on top of each row of roof-

ing. If the man force were sufficient, such crude fur-

niture as was essential would be ready by the time the

building was finished.

Books, the most essential furnishings of the school,

were sometimes as scanty as the furniture. Under such

conditions almanacs sometimes served as readers; al-

most anything might take the place of pencil and paper

or slate. The Bible or Testament was a favorite reader,

and in one instance at least a paddle with the alphabet

on one side and some multiplication tables on the other

served as a chart to be passed from hand to hand and

on occasion was plied in its more usual capacity when

intellectual stimulus was needed.76 While it is not pos-

sible to say what books were used before 1803 and which

ones later on, it may be worth while to give the names

of some of the most frequently mentioned early texts.

They are: American Preceptor, Columbian Orator, or

76 Kennedy, History of Cleveland, p. 114.

366      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

any available book as a reader, a Dillworth or Webster

Speller and Pike's Arithmetic. Others mentioned are

Daboll's and Adams' Arithmetic, Murray's Reader,

Murray's Grammar. Books on other subjects came in

a little later.77

The hardships incident to attending these early

schools were not few and were not confined to lack of

equipment. The lighting was frequently poor, coming

through a greased paper window; cold sometimes made

it necessary to assemble about the huge fireplace -- and

even on occasion to dismiss the school. Distances to be

traveled were frequently expressed in miles and were

over forest trails where dangers from Indians and wild

animals were not entirely absent. One tot of the West-

ern Reserve tumbled from a log into a swollen stream

but after being rescued by the heroic efforts of an older

brother, continued on the way to school, as though noth-

ing unusual had happened.78 These difficulties tended

to make the summer term of school desirable for the

smaller children. No doubt they discouraged many in

their endeavors in frontier communities where the ques-

tion, "What good will it do me in life?" must have been

more difficult for the early pedagogue to answer than

for his twentieth century successor.

Lincoln, in his boyhood experiences in Perry County,

Indiana, was aware of the situation, as he later "rem-

inisces": "It was a wild region with many bears and

other wild animals still in the woods. There were some

schools, so-called, but no qualification was ever required

77 Ibid., p. 114; Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture in the Ohio

Valley pp. 192, 193; Cohen, Early Education in Ohio (Mag. of West.

Hist. Vol. III, p. 221).

78 Cherry, The Western Reserve and Early Ohio, p. 101.

Education in Territorial Ohio       367

of a teacher beyond 'readin', writin' and cipherin' to the

Rule of Three.' If a straggler, supposed to understand

Latin, happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was

looked upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing

to excite ambition for education."⁷⁹ Yet a Lincoln be-

came educated as did many others, some in and some

outside of these schools.

It was long before the day of compulsory attendance

laws, yet truancy was already on the school police

docket, for the call of the wild or the "old swimmin'"

hole sometimes prevailed. Parents desired that their

children should receive the instruction for which they

paid, so they and the master, or child-herd as the Anglo-

Saxon has it, conspired to prevent or punish straying

from the prescribed pasture. As in later days, telltale

disaster sometimes overtook those who strayed, and one

boy from the county of our first state capital came near

drowning, whereupon one of his companions, conquer-

ing a desire to flee, effected a rescue with a grapevine

and the aid of some other boys who returned to the

scene. He then revived his companion.80

Corporal punishment, being unrestricted so far as

law or official regulations were concerned, was the usual

punishment, and one or more hickory or other gads were

frequently kept at hand.  Sometimes they were mys-

teriously weakened by almost indiscernible rings that

may have been produced by the keen edge of a knife.

However, standing in the corner, the dunce block and

other forms of discipline were also used. In some cases,

79 Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture, p. 189, quoting Lincoln.

80 History of Ross and Highland Counties, Cleveland, 1880, p. 189.

Perhaps this may be regarded as an early case of accidental vocational

guidance as it is recorded that the rescuer later became a doctor.

368      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

an unjustifiable method was used as in the case of an

early teacher in Franklin County, who was said to have

been of Irish descent, to have had very good educational

attainments but to have possessed an "inordinate ap-

petite for whiskey". On occasion he would require the

offender to place his hand palm downward on a desk

then he would inflict deep gashes across the fingers with

the keen blade of the knife. He was later kicked from

the "temple of learning" by the irate parents.81 Another

early schoolmaster tried to secure work by coaxing and

flattery; failing in this, he had a rather unique method

in reserve. He would pace slowly about the room rub-

bing his chin with his thumb and forefinger and repeat-

ing in an ever louder key the word "Study". The Fire-

lands "reminiscer" tells us that by the time he had

reached the climax, all would be studying except those

who were too scared to work, and that altho he had a

rod he rarely used it.82 From the same region of the

state comes the story of the schoolmaster, who, since

leather was very scarce, tapped his shoes with wood

"which made the scholars dread his kick" and the would-

be poet to remark:

Some have been beaten till they knew

What wood a cudgel's of, by the blow,

Some kicked until they can feel whether

A shoe be Spanish or neat's leather.⁸³

In days when school methods did not provide many

educational play activities the spelling-match was con-

sidered a regular treat by many and the spelling-bee held

81 History of Franklin and Pickaway Counties, 1880, p. 365.

82 Dr. X. Phillips, Memoirs of Berlin Township, in The Firelands

Pioneer, Old Ser., Vol. III, June, 1862, pp. 21-22.

83 Benjamin Benson, "Memoirs of Clarksfield Township" in The Fire-

lands Pioneer, Old. Ser., Vol. 1, Nov. 1858, p. 22.

Education in Territorial Ohio       369

in the evening would frequently attract visitors for

miles. The Christmas season also provided a chance

for a divergence from regular routine, although it does

not seem to have been the early custom to dismiss in

order to observe a holiday. School was taught on New

Years' and Christmas Day. Tuition was paid for so

many weeks, and parents desired the teacher to work

for his pay. However, the pupils quite early found

means of causing some recognition of the good St. Nick.

Perhaps a specific instance or so will best illustrate the

operation of this rather famous lock-out procedure.

Sometimes the master triumphed. Such was the case

with Henry Bartlett who taught near Athens from 1802

to 1806. He had been barred out by the boys, but was

able to procure a roll of brimstone, which he dropped

down the chimney and then covered the same. Soon

admittance to the building was to be had and an uncon-

ditional surrender obtained from the coughing inmates

who were seeking the air.84

The following incident shows different results and

a more organized procedure. On the evening of the

23rd of December, this note was delivered to the

teacher:

Mr. John Robinson (Teacher) --

Sir: -- We, the undersigned committee, in behalf of the

unanimous voice of the scholars of your school, demand that you

treat, according to custom, to the following articles in amount

herein named, to wit:

200 ginger cakes,

2 bushels of hickory nuts,

1 peck hazel nuts,

10 pounds candy,

10 pounds raisins,

84 C. M. Walker, History of Athens County, Ohio, 1869, p. 219.

Vol. XXXV -- 24.

370      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

delivered at the school-house, noon hour, December 25, for the

enjoyment and pleasant remembrance of this school. If this

meets your approbation you will please sign and return the pa-

per to John Kelley tomorrow, December 24, at noon, saying, over

your signature, "I agree to the above."

JOHN KELLEY,

JAMES BROWN,

WILLIAM SMALLWOOD, Committee.⁸⁵

Sometimes the teacher would give in at once; at other

times he would refuse, hoping to save the treat or in a

spirit of fun. In this case Mr. Robinson glanced at the

bill of fare and tore it to bits. There was a fall of snow

during the night; nevertheless, the older boys were in

the school-house before daylight with a roaring fire,

plenty of wood, and the opening barricaded. Other

scholars were admitted as they arrived but not so the

teacher when he appeared on the scene. After a time,

no doubt having decided that no admittance was to be

had, Mr. Robinson apparently set out for his boarding

place, perhaps with too much of an air of assurance.

Whereupon the boys set out in pursuit and finally won

out in an endurance race of some two or three miles in

the snow. The teacher, overpowered by numbers, sub-

mitted to being tied between two timbers. The boys then

covered the victim high with snow, merely leaving a

speaking and breathing opening. Satisfactory negotia-

tions were soon concluded through this tube, and sealed

by the teacher's word of honor, whereupon all returned

to the school-house, spelled for head and were dismissed.

The next day at noon a cart-load of good things arrived.

Parents, scholars and teacher had a feast, a social time,

a spelling-match and then went home. 86

85    Jones, The Squirrel Hunters of Ohio, 1898, p. 61.

86    Jones, The Squirrel Hunters of Ohio, pp. 62, 63.

Education in Territorial Ohio      371

It has been said even in modern times with splendid

buildings and equipment, that the teaching corps makes

about eight-five percent of the efficiency of a school sys-

tem. If this be approximately true it was perhaps

equally true in the days of the log school-house and no

school system. So it might be well in conclusion to make

a few observations in regard to the "child-herd", the

early schoolmaster. His school was usually the sub-

scription school in which he might have bound himself

to teach a quarter of thirteen weeks, six days a week,

eight hours a day at from one to three dollars per

scholar, sometimes payable in part in "wheat at the mar-

ket price"; one-half at the beginning and the other half

at the close of the quarter. An additional compensation

was frequently secured in boarding-round, a practice

that had advantages and disadvantages for both teacher

and various hosts.87

As to his qualifications, the early teacher was usually

worthy of his hire. Some indication of the attainments

of the teachers has been given from time to time. The

general excellence of the early pedagogue has scarcely

been questioned in the Marietta district and in Con-

necticut Reserve. However, there have been some

questions raised and some aspersions cast on the Irish

schoolmaster and the early schoolmaster in general in

southwestern Ohio. It has been asserted frequently,

that the early schoolmaster of this section of the state

was chosen more because he was unfit for manual labor

than because he was well prepared intellectually; that

"the few schools in that section were taught by crippled

87 Cohen, Early Education in Ohio (Mag. of West. Hist., Vol. III,

p. 221); Kennedy, History of Cleveland, p. 114.

372      Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications

men and women physically or constitutionally unable to

pull hemp or spin flax"; that the teacher was a sort of

pensioner on the bounty of the community.88

There may have been some grounds for the accusa-

tion, for there are such examples as that of Jack Petti-

john, son of Amos, who taught near Sardinia, Brown

County, about 1800, in a shed open at one end. He was

so badly crippled that it was difficult for him to use the

rod and he was called "lame Jack".89 However, defi-

nitely recorded instances like this seem to be very few.

The recorded instances of early schoolmasters, particu-

larly those of Irish extraction, who imbibed too freely

of the liquid cheer of the day, are rather numerous. Yet

one must remember that within due bounds the use of

such cheer in those days was not seriously condemned

in any one. Sometimes their educational worth was at-

tested to, while their failing in over-drinking was con-

demned. On the other hand, a chronicler of early events

in eastern Ohio, noticing the fact that the Irish school-

master was abroad in the land, asserts that he was a

worthy man of letters, held only second in esteem to the

minister.90 On the whole, the writer is inclined to feel

that the constitutional unfitness of teachers has been

over-emphasized. Some of the New England Harvard

graduates could both clear land and teach school. May

it not be that the kind of teacher reflects more the type

of teacher available and the attitude of the settlers to-

ward education than a disinclination to spin flax or clear

88 Jesse Cohen, Early Education in Ohio, (Mag. of West. Hist.),

Vol. III, p. 220; Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture, p. 191.

89 A History of Brown County, Ohio. Chicago, 1883, p. 1.

90 W. H. Hunter, The Pathfinders of Jefferson County in Ohio

Archaeological and Historical Society Publications, Vol. 6, pp. 246, 249,

107.

Education in Territorial Ohio        373

land? And even any apparent neglect of schools on

the part of the settlers in the southern, southwestern

or central parts of the state may have been putting first

things first as they saw them.91

Under such a schoolmaster, in a school-house but

lately growing; leaving home sometimes at daybreak to