Part 40 (1/2)
CHAPTER XXII
_The Schools of the County_
Schools in Linn county came into existence almost as early as the first settlers arrived here. Most of the pioneers came from homes of culture and refinement and hence appreciated the value of an education. There were no public schools at first. Teachers were employed by private subscription. Lessons were taught in the settler's cabin, fitted up with rough boards or puncheons, and of course the attendance was small.
The organic law which provided for the division of Wisconsin and Iowa makes no provision for education, and no reference to it. On January 15, 1839, an act was pa.s.sed by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa, providing for ”grants of property made for the encouragement of education.” This act has no bearing whatever on our present school system. It deals expressly with donations and gifts for educational purposes.
The real beginning of our present school system is embodied in ”An Act to Establish a System of Common Schools,” approved by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa, January 16, 1840.
There are many surprises in this bill when one compares it to our present school laws; in fact, many of our school laws have not been materially changed since the enactments of 1840. It is interesting to note that according to the provisions of this bill, the school library is not a new idea, but it was provided for. In Section thirteen, paragraph five, the qualified voters in each district were given power to ”impose a tax sufficient for the purchase of a suitable library case, also a sum not exceeding ten dollars annually, for the purchase of books to be selected by a vote of the district, by the district board, when so directed.” Paragraph six of the same section designates ”the place where the library shall be kept, and the person by whom it shall be kept;” and states that ”the superintendent of public instruction shall establish the necessary rules for the regulation of the library.” Section fifteen provides that ”every person elected to any one of the above offices who, without sufficient cause, shall neglect or refuse to serve shall forfeit to the district for the use of the library the sum of ten dollars, to be recovered in an action of debt by the a.s.sessor before any court of competent jurisdiction.”
Another interesting item is the fact that school inspectors instead of school directors at that time had charge of the schools. In Section twenty-three, these inspectors are provided for in the following words: ”There shall be chosen at each annual towns.h.i.+p meeting, three school inspectors in the same manner as other towns.h.i.+p officers are chosen, who shall hold their office until others are chosen.”
It was the duty of these inspectors, according to Section twenty-nine of this Act, to examine closely all persons presenting themselves as candidates for teaching in their towns.h.i.+p, and although a certificate may have been issued to a teacher, if the inspectors became dissatisfied, under Section thirty, they might again require the teacher to be re-examined, and if in their opinion the teacher was found wanting the requisite qualifications, their certificates might be annulled by giving the teacher ten days' notice, and filing the same with the clerk of the towns.h.i.+p.
Judge Milo P. Smith when entering upon the duties of his school at Wire's Corners, just east of Springville, was examined by this method, and it is quite interesting to hear him tell his early experiences in the schools of Linn county. Quite vividly does he bring to one's mind the spa.r.s.ely settled condition of the neighborhood around Springville and Viola, when relating an incident regarding his trip from this school house to a party where he had been invited to spend the evening.
After arranging his records and outlining the lessons for the next day, the Judge states that he started for his destination, and about ten o'clock at night realized that he was completely lost. Evidently he must have traveled in a circle, for he states that about two or three o'clock the next morning he saw a gleam of light flash out of a door.
Starting immediately in that direction, he arrived at the place where the party was held, just in time to ride home with the young folks.
At the same session, a law was pa.s.sed regarding the sale of the school lands, and this law was approved January 17, 1840.
On February 17, 1842, a bill was pa.s.sed creating the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. The duties of this officer at this time was very limited; they being of a clerical nature instead of those of a supervisor. Of course there could be no school districts or anything of that nature organized in the county until after some county organization. The bill calling for the organization of Linn county was not pa.s.sed until 1840. It is quite interesting to know that it was at this time that the Commissioner or rather what is known to-day as the Supervisor Districts were laid out. The bill reads as follows:
”Section 1. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Iowa, That the board of county commissioners in and for the county of Linn, be and they are hereby authorized and required to lay off the county aforesaid into three county commissioners' districts, prior to the first day of August, A. D. eighteen hundred and forty-one, making the division as nearly as possible in proportion to the population of said county; and the districts shall be cla.s.sified by said commissioners as districts number one, number two, and number three.
”SEC. 2. That at the next general election there shall be elected from district number one one county commissioner; and alternately thereafter there shall be elected from each district one county commissioner annually, in accordance with the provisions of an act organizing a board of county commissioners in each county in this Territory, approved December 14th, A. D. eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, in like manner as though the county had been divided under the provisions of said act.
”Approved, December 31, 1840.”
This is especially interesting, inasmuch as there has been a great deal of discussion of late regarding the number of supervisors in Linn county. The districts as laid out at that time remain today.
By an act of the same a.s.sembly, approved June 13, 1841, Marion was established as a seat of justice of Linn county, and the commissioners of Linn county were authorized to employ agents to sell lots.
The office of the superintendent of public instruction seemed to have been short-lived, for on February 17, 1842, an act was pa.s.sed by the territorial legislature which repealed the act of creating the office of superintendent of public instruction.
In 1846 an act was pa.s.sed January 15th, which in some respects amended an act ”To Establish a System of Common Schools,” which was pa.s.sed in 1840. This bill (the one of 1845) really made what is now known as the county auditor, the educational head of the schools, and provided a tax for their support.
In chapter 99, page 127, of the Territorial Statutes of 1847, there is an act relating to the common schools. In section 36, page 134, it provides that at the next annual towns.h.i.+p election (which evidently must have been held in the spring) there was to be elected a school fund commissioner. This commissioner is what is now known as the county superintendent of schools, and his duties were many and varied.
In the election book it is shown that in April, 1852, out of the six hundred and ninety-one votes cast, Alpheus Brown received five hundred and seventy-three, and was declared elected. In the formation and alteration of school districts, the records of the county go back as far as 1849, in which records Mr. Brown signed as school fund commissioner. However, this may be attributed to the fact that previous to 1852, Mr. Brown was clerk of the county board of commissioners, and the duties of the school fund commissioner devolved upon that office at that time; consequently the presumption is that when he entered upon his duties as school fund commissioner, and began to make up his records, he naturally took from the records of the clerk of the board of county commissioners the things which belonged to the office.
Mr. Brown held this office for three full terms, also about six or eight months additional time, although Albert A. Mason was elected and qualified as county superintendent of schools in the election of April, 1858. Mr. Brown served until January, 1859, as school fund commissioner. This came from the fact that the county superintendent was provided for by the Statute of '58, the election taking place on the first Monday in April, but at this time some of the duties devolved upon the county superintendent. By chapter 36 of the Statutes of 1858, section 1, the office of the school fund commissioner was continued until the county treasurer was elected. The presumption is, therefore, that for about six months we had both a school fund commissioner and a county superintendent of schools in this county.
It is possible, also, that Mr. Brown served as a sort of triumvirate, as he was school fund commissioner by election, for the simple reason that Mr. Mason may not have qualified until three or four days after the time set; he was also school fund commissioner by the extension Statute, and county superintendent of schools from the fact that his successor had not qualified; in fact in some of the school reports, he signed as both school fund commissioner and county superintendent.
However, Mr. Mason entered upon his duties and served as superintendent of schools for one term, when Ira G. Fairbanks (who by the way, still lives in Mount Vernon) was elected as his successor.
It is a difficult matter to state who was the first school teacher in the county. In 1839 several schools were in operation. In July of that year Elizabeth Bennett taught in Linn Grove, and later that same year Judge Greene taught at Ivanhoe. One of the noted schools of the early day was the one known as the ”Buckskin School,” in Linn Grove, so named because teacher and scholars alike attended clad in buckskin suits.
The first school district was formed in 1840 with Marion as its center.
After that school houses sprang up in every direction. The buildings were constructed out of logs; the seats were benches hewn from slabs or logs, and so were the desks.
Colleges early sprung up in the county. Of the three that flourished here more or less at one time, the history of two--Cornell and Coe--are given at length. These inst.i.tutions are now in splendid condition.