Early Education in New Hampshire

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Early Education in New Hampshire
pg. 777-778, American Journal of Education
by Henry Barnard
pub. 1882

Submitted by K. Torp

NEW HAMPSHIRE. — From 1623 to 1641, the early records of the first settlements within the present limits of New Hampshire exhibit no trace of educational enactments; from 1641 to 1680, the school laws of Massachusetts prevailed, and the presence of such men as Philemon Purmont and Daniel Maude, who were the first schoolmasters of that colony, must have contributed to inaugurate the policy of local and endowed schools. When the necessities of the college at Cambridge were made known, the people of Portsmouth, in town meeting, made a collection of sixty pounds, with a pledge to continue the same amount for seven years, "for the perpetuating of knowledge both religious and civil among us and our posterity after us." In the original grants for towns, one lot was reserved for the support of schools.

In 1680 New Hampshire became a separate colony, and in 1693 the Colonial Assembly enacted "that for the building and repairing of meeting houses, ministers' houses, and allowing a salary to a schoolmaster in each town within this province, the selectmen shall raise by an equal rate an assessment upon the inhabitants;" and in 1719 it was ordained that every town having fifty householders should be constantly provided with a schoolmaster to teach children to read and write ; and those having one hundred should maintain a grammar school, to be kept by some decent person, of good conversation, well instructed in the tongues. In 1721 it was ordered that not only each town but each parish of one hundred families should be constantly provided with a grammar school, or forfeit the sum of twenty pounds to the treasury of the province. This system of elementary and secondary instruction continued substantially until the adoption of the state constitution in 1792.
In 1770 Dr. Wheelock removed a school which he had established in Lebanon, Connecticut, under the name of "Moor's Indian Charity School," to the depths of the forest in the western part of New Hampshire. Here, side by side with the school for Indians, he organized another institution, termed a college in the charter granted by Governor Wentworth in 1769, and which held its first commencement in 1771, with four graduates, one of whom was John Wheelock, the second president of the institution, which was called Dartmouth College after Lord Dartmouth, one of the largest benefactors of the Charity School.

At the close of the colonial period of our history, according to Noah Webster, the condition of the educational system in Connecticut and New England was as follows:
"The law of Connecticut ordains that every town or parish containing seventy householders, shall keep an English school, at least eleven months in the year; and towns containing a less number, at least six months in the year. Every town keeping a public school is entitled to draw from the treasury of the state a certain sum of money, proportioned to its census in the list of property which furnishes the rule of taxation. This sum might have been originally sufficient to support one school in each town or parish, but in modern times is divided among a number, and the deficiency of money to support the schools is raised upon the estates of the people, in the manner the public taxes are assessed. To 'extend the benefits of this establishment to all the inhabitants, large towns and parishes are divided into districts, each of which is supposed able to furnish a competent number of scholars for one school. In each district a house is erected for the purpose by the inhabitants of that district, who hire a master, furnish wood, and tax themselves to pay all expenses not provided for by the public money. The school is kept during the winter months, when every farmer can spare his sons. In this manner, every child in the state bas access to a school. In the summer, a woman is hired to teach small children, who arc not fit for any kind of labor. In the large towns, schools, either public or private, are kept the whole year; and in every county town, a grammar school is established by law. "

The beneficial effects of these institutions will be experienced for ages. Next to the establishments in favor of religion, they have been the nurseries of well informed citizens, brave soldiers and wise legislators. A people thus informed are capable of understanding their rights and of discovering the means to secure them. In the next place, our forefathers took measures to preserve the reputation of schools and the morals of youth, by making the teaching them an honorable employment. Every town or district has a committee, whose duty is to procure a master of talents and character ; and the practice is to procure a man of the best character in the town or neighborhood. The wealthy towns apply to young men of liberal education, who, after taking the bachelor's degree, usually keep school a year or two before they enter upon a profession. One of the most unfortunate circumstances to education in the Middle and Southern states, is an opinion that school-keeping is a mean employment, fit only for persons of low character. The wretches who keep the schools in those states very frequently degrade the employment; but the misfortune is, public opinion supposes the employment degrades the man: of course no gentleman will undertake to teach children while in popular estimation he must forfeit his rank and character by the employment. Until public opinion is corrected by some great examples, the common schools, what few there are in those states, must continue in the hands of such vagabonds as wander about the country."

Of the Slate of Learning.—An old law of the colony (1719), directed every town, containing one hundred families, to provide a grammar school ; in which also was to be taught reading, writing and arithmetic. This law was not well executed. Since the revolution, a law of the state has directed the maintenance of schools in the several towns under certain penalties. There are also social libraries ; and newspapers circulate in almost all parts of the state.

Of the Academies.—At Exeter an academy, founded by John Phillips, Esq., and called after his name, was incorporated in 1781. At Atkinson, an academy founded by Nathaniel Peabody, Esq., was incorporated in 1790. Academies are also found at Amherst, Charlestown and Concord.

Of Dartmouth College.—At Hanover, in Grafton county, is a college founded by Dr. Wheelock in 1769, with a special view to the instruction of young Indians. Although this object has in a great measure failed, the institution is prosperous and highly useful. The number of students is seldom less than one hundred and fifty ; its funds, consisting of new lands, are increasing in value; its library and apparatus are tolerably complete ; its situation is pleasant and advantageous. It takes its name from a principal benefactor, the Earl of Dartmouth.