Early Olmsted County Teachers & Schools

The early settlers of the county did not neglect the education of their children. So soon as their families were sheltered, and a few of the common necessaries of life were provided, they set about the work of establishing schools. As no districts were organized before the autumn of 1855, there could have been no public schools until that date. It is said that Alexander Duncan taught a private school in his own house, near J. L. Parks', northeast of Pleasant Grove, during the winter of 1854-5; and it is quite probable that others taught in the large settlements of the county the same winter.

1856. The exact number of schools for 1856 cannot be determined from official records. The law of that period required each district to have a three-months school in order to draw public money.

The writer has inspected the sixteen reports of clerks for that year and finds but two allusions to schools. O. H. Page, of district No. 3, Pleasant Grove, says that one began on or about December 15, to continue three months; and J. S. Higbee, of district No. 12, in the southwestern part of the same town, certifies that "thirteen weeks of school were taught by a qualified teacher." The commissioners were, in some manner, satisfied that the Center Grove district had had sixteen weeks, although the clerk, whose business it was to report the fact, makes no mention of it. The village of Rochester received credit for twelve weeks. All other districts were to receive the apportionment "upon proof of school having been taught
according to law." Whether such evidence was forthcoming the writer is unable to say.

We have private testimony to show that Susan Rucker taught in a small log schoolhouse near John Collins' during the winter of 1855-6; that H. E. Loomis taught in the Coffin district near Chatfield, and Andrew Beardsley in the Case district, Orion. Here our record ends for the winter. During the following summer Mary E. Walker taught in Rochester; Sarah Pearce in the village of Oronoco; Jennie Dumars, now the wife of C. C. Jones, of Minneapolis, in a small hut near Blairs Mill, Kalmar; Sarah J. Phelps, who taught for many years thereafter in the village of Marion; Ann Losinger, now the wife of Roswell Emeric, taught in a log shanty on Sec. 12, Kalmar, and in the chamber of John Lowry's house. This gives us eight schools for that year, besides the one of which Mr. Page speaks.

1857. There were thirty-one reports for this year. They now speak of events a quarter of a century past. From them the following record is made:

 

District	Township	Clerk	Length of School	Name of Teacher
1	Elmira	A. H. Stearns	3 months
3	Pleasant Grove	J. G. Higbee	4  "
4	Marion	Gustavus Wilcox	8  "
5	New Haven	Nathan Bowman	6  "
6	Oronoco	Anson K. Stone	3  "
8	City	A. Smith	6  "	Phebe Hoag, Miss Stedman
11	Pleasant Grove	George Everts	3  "
12	Pleasant Grove	Richard Eddy	5  "
13	Pleasant Grove	B. W. Humes	3  "
14	Pleasant Grove	F. L. Stevens	3  "
17	Orion	S. A. Cole	4  "	Miss V. L. Deming
19	Dover	J. W. Denton	2 weeks	Eliza Sheeks
22	Marion	Jas. R. Case	3 months
23	High Forest	N. S. Howland	3  "
30	Cascade	A. Lesuer	3  "
34	Orion	L. B. Bliss	3  "	Andrew Beardsley
58	Kalmar	H. C. Sheldon	3  "

It appears that there were but seventeen schools taught during the year. Several of the above districts included territory in two townships, and either might have been named in such cases, instead of the one given. The names of the early teachers were not a matter of record, and they were seldom preserved. George Everts, of Pleasant Grove, volunteers some valuable information. He states that the "cost of schoolhouse, including stove and pipe and five per cent for clerk's fees, is $557." "The amount of tax raised in the district is $527." The "expense of teacher, $54." "No. of scholars attending school, 25." Up to this date no other clerk has given the value of a schoolhouse or the amount of special taxes. It is an honorable record for that day, and he had a right to feel proud of it. Mr. L. B. Bliss states that Mr. Beardsley began his school in December, 1856; this will add another to the list for that year. Miss Eliza Sheeks is the daughter of Geo. C. Sheeks, of Dover. This was the first school in that town, and was kept in a room of Simeon Harding's log house, in which many of our old settlers have spent a night while on their way to Winona. But sixty-three and one-half months of school were taught that year.

1858. There were forty-nine schools, and the average length of the school year was a little over four months. Salem Corners, the village of Marion, the city of Rochester, and the Stone district in Oronoco and Cascade, each reported nine months. High Forest had seven, Pleasant Grove eight, Stewartville six and one-half, and the Sally district, New Haven, six months. The aggregate length of the schools for the year was 204 months. The names of a few teachers have been handed down to us. Margaret Waldron, now wife of Nathan Phelps, taught in the Sinclair district, Kalmar, and Mr. J. C. Howard in the village ot High Forest, in a house owned by Charles Stewart. Chas. C. Cornell kept the first public school in Salem in the winter of 1857-8, in a log house built by citizens near the residence of Z. Handerson. Ann Wilkins had a private school a year earlier, in a new frame house which stood north of the "Corners," on land owned by Darius Wilkins. Henrietta Carl, now wife of Wm. Bear, Eyota, kept the first school in Viola, in a pre-emption shanty near John Morrow's, and Mrs. E. A. Doty, ot the same town, taught in her own house the latter part of the year. Angeline M. Stocking, wife of M. H. Ireland, was employed to teach in the Joseph Bear district, Eyota, and first schools were also in session in the Benj. Bear, Buck and Eckles neighborhoods. Quincy had two schools; one was kept by Elizabeth Kepner, daughter of M. Kepner, in her father's shanty. She began on the 7th of July and continued three months with ten pupils enrolled. The other was in the Kingsley district and continued four months, but the name of the teacher was not reported. T. W. McClosky taught the first school in the St. George district, Marion. Mrs. Helen Cornwell, wife of John Cornwell, taught in the village of Durango, in a small house put up by Wm. Brink. She received $1.25 per week, and old settlers speak highly of her work.

1859. Seventy districts reported for that year, and fifty-seven schools were taught, with an aggregate length of 234 months. Rock Dell had her first school. It was kept by Rebecca Mead in the house of Mr. J. S. Humason. Every township in the county save Farmington, now had from one to six schools in operation. This township did not report a school until 1860, though some of her early settlers may have sent their children to the Fitch neighborhood, Haverhill, where one was opened as early as 1858 ; in fact that district included territory belonging to both townships. The first school in a district wholly within the borders of Farmington was taught during the summer of 1860, in a small log house near Farm Hill, by Kate Cowles, now wife of Hon. J. A. Leonard.

1860. The reports for 1860 cover only two-thirds of the year, from December 31 to August 31, and no report was made by the superintendent of Rochester, Oronoco, New Haven or Pleasant Grove. If these documents were prepared they are not now on file in the auditor's office, and the thread of our history is partly broken. Blanks were furnished by the state for the first time, and a flood of light would have been thrown on many points of interest by careful answers to all the questions propounded in them. We are more fortunate when we reach the statistics for 1861, which were collected and reported by the several town clerks. We here catch a glimpse of the educational work in each township in that comparatively early period. The information given below cannot be gathered from any of the records of preceding years. Up to this date we are left in the dark as to the attendance at school, teachers' wages, value of school-houses, their number, and the actual outlay for school purposes.

 

Township	Total Enrollment	Average Attendance	No. of Schools	Length in Months
Cascade	75	50	3	3
Dover	101	65	4	3
Elmira	125	80	5	3
Eyota	150	120	5	6
Farmington	40	30	3	4
Haverhill	92	60	5	3
High Forest	100	55	2	3
Kalmar	104	48	5	3
Marion	130	75	5	3
New Haven	103	90	4	3
Orion	47	29	3	3
Oronoco	128	95	6	3
Pleasant Grove	200	150	6	4
Quincy	120	70	4	3
RockDell	25	17	2	3
Rochester	50	35	2	3
Salem	76	55	3	3
Viola	25	25	1	3
City	224	153	4	7

(partial chart of data)

It will be seen that there were 3,411 persons enumerated, 2,145 of whom were enrolled as pupils: that the average attendance was 1,302, and the whole number of schools taught was seventy-two. Eight male and seventy-two female teachers were employed at wages which would seem low in 1883. There were twenty-three log and thirty-eight frame houses, valued at $9,117.

This was a war year, and the number of male teachers was remarkably few; they were no doubt marching "on to Richmond."

The village of Eyota has a fine brick building, erected in 1876 at a cost of $9,000.  It is 68 x 36 feet on the ground, and two stories high above the basement.  There are two schoolrooms on each floor, which are well seated and furnished with apparatus suited to the grade of pupils.  The basement has furnaces of the most approved manufacture.  The entire edifice is finished in good style, and it is an ornament to the place.

Dover Center has an excellent brick house erected the same year as the above, at a cost of about $5,000.  It is 56 x 36 feet on the ground, and two stories high.  There are four schoolrooms, each 30 x 23 feet, 12 feet in the clear.  Three of the rooms are well seated, and supplied with a small amount of apparatus, valued at $50.  The basement is calculated for furnaces, but they are not yet in position.  The building is a credit to the village.  It stands on a gentle eminence and commands a fine view of the country around.

L. A. Dudley, principal of the Oronoco school, has kindly furnished the following:

"The Oronoco school-building is, including the basement, a three-story brick, picturesquely located on Moss Cliff, by the Zumbro.  It was built in 1875, under plans drawn by L. Andrus, architect, at an expense of about $5,000, including grounds and fixtures.  The basement is used for wood, the first floor for schoolrooms, and the rooms above for halls, on of which is occupied by the Good Templars, the other by the Odd Fellows."

Byron has a two-story building with two rooms, well seated, and furnished with apparatus valued at $50.  It is a wooden structure and the entire cost was $2,400.

Besides these, there are thirty-four schoolhouses in the rural districts, ranging in value from $1,000 to $1,500 each.
 

 

Source:

The History of Winona and Olmsted Counties, 1883

 

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