Wyoming County, WV Early Schools BY R. WADE COOK, SUPERINTENDENT. [1907] Wyoming county was organized in the fall of 1849 or the early part of 1850, from a portion of what was then Logan county, Virginia. Before the breaking out of the Civil War there were here and there a few "schools for indigent children," but schools were the exception rather than the rule, before the war. There were no schools organized under the Virginia law of 1846. During the war everything was in a state of chaos; little or no attention was given to education and schools in the county. But in the constitutional convention, which convened in the city of Wheeling on November 26, 1861, for the purpose of framing a constitution for the proposed new state, Wyoming county was represented by Hon. Wm. Walker. Mr. Walker was made a member of the committee on Education. The report of this committee, with a few slight changes, became Article 10 of the first constitution; and with some modifications and additions, Article 12 of our present constitution. In 1865 Madison Ellison was elected first County Superintendent of Wyoming county. One of the first, if not the first, free schools was taught by Hon. W. H. H. Cook, in his father's kitchen, at the old Thos. M. Cook homestead on Rockcastle Creek, a short distance above where the Rockcastle Baptist church now stands. This was in November, 1865. The school had an enrollment of about fifty scholars. Soon after the war the citizens and officials of this county began in earnest the arduous task of organizing free schools. Progress was necessarily slow, as the county is large, rough and mountainous, and at the beginning only very sparsely settled and without roads and school houses. In 1876 at the time of the centennial exhibition at Philadelphia, there were reported only twenty-nine free schools and two church houses in the county. Among the many whom we may now look upon as pioneers in the work of organizing free schools in this county may be mentioned, Rev. W. H. H. Cook, Hon. T. F. Bailey, Levi Gore, Jas. H. Stewart, Capt. W. T. Sarver, Capt. C. S. Canterbury, the Gunnoe brothers, Dr. I. Bailey, Austin Cooper, and Rev. J. L. Marshall. Among those who have done good work in the training of teachers are: Rev. J. S. Poe, first graduate of the Concord State Normal School; E. M. Senter, circuit clerk of this county; Prof. A. J. Lacey, Rev. Peter Clay, L. M. Poe, T. A. Cook, Powell Lane, Hon. John W. Cook, Prof. Chas. Preston, E. S. Hatfield, Prof. J. E. Philips, F. C. Cook, County Superintendent of McDowell county; Thos. J. Cooper, County Superintendent, from 1885 to 1887; Prof. Alfred Chambers and J. Russell Christian. Of those who have retired from the profession of teaching, but whose life story is a part of the educational history of the county we mention: Jas. H. Stewart, L. L. Shannon, Dan. Gunnoe, Fount Goode, L. P. Cook, Lee P. Bailey, E. E. Stone, A. M. Stewart, M. L. Jones, J. Harney Cook. The free schools in this county have met with and overcome many obstacles in their upward progress; Among these has been insufficient funds, which has resulted in a short school term until very recently. Notwithstanding all these hindrances our schools have multiplied, until we now have ninety-three schools in the county. We have seventy large commodious school houses, twenty houses that are only fair, and only three that are very indifferent; the "old log house" is a thing of the past in Wyoming county. We are now consolidating our schools and erecting large two-room buildings wherever two or more schools can be put together. Teachers' institutes have always been well attended in this county, and have wrought a great change for good upon our schools. The Uniform System of Examinations is securing for our schools much better teachers and increased wages all over this county. Our teachers are being paid in some districts for third grade certificates $40, for second grade certificates $42, for first grade certificates $45, while in three districts $50 is being paid for first grade certificates. When the Legislature of our State enacted a law providing for a system of uniform examinations for teachers, the propriety of such a step was generally questioned by the friends of education throughout the county, but the results of these examinations under the new system have been very satisfactory, but very few of our teachers having failed to make grades. Our teachers compare favorably with those of all the surrounding counties. The graded course is being pretty well followed in our schools, and is bringing about very satisfactory results. The Concord State Normal and Marshall College are doing much toward supplying our schools with intelligent, energetic, up-to-date teachers. There is at this time—January 1, 1907—one railroad nearing completion through the eastern part of the county, and another building through the same portion of the county. There are also two lines surveyed down the main Guyan river by Pineville, the new county seat. All these roads penetrate immense coal fields and almost boundless stretches of primeval forest, composed of the finest timber in the world. With the great increase of taxable property as a natural result of the development of these great sources of wealth, and its consequent increase of our school revenues, the educational future of Wyoming county is promising beyond the most sanguine expectations of the founders of the free schools of this county. The following is a list of the County Superintendents of this county, with the term of each: Madison Ellison 1865—1870 Richard M. Cook 1870—1872 T. F. Bailey 1872—1877 A. Shannon 1877—1879 J. L. Marshall 1879—1881 Philip Lambert 1881—1883 D. C. Bailey 1883—1885 Thos. J. Cooper 1885—1887 M. L. Stone 1887—1889 Jas. Cook 1889—1891 I. J. Cook 1891—1893 Jas. Cook 1893—1895 R. Wade Cook 1895—1907 W. G. Sparks ..1907— [Source: "The history of education in West Virginia" By West Virginia State Dept. of Education, 1907 - Transcribed by K. Torp] HOME ©Genealogy Trails Submitters retain all copyrights to their data!