Ontario Township (part 3 of 3)

The First National Bank has always been noted for its courteous treatment to its patrons, by doing small favors which are of vital interest to them and giving them free exchange with all the world.

During the history of this institution, Abingdon has passed through the stages of a small village, country town, and has grown to the dignity of a small city with magnificent residences, an excellent school system, including a high class denominational college and a large number of thriving factories. In all these, the First National Bank takes the lead and keeps closely in touch with all things which are for the betterment of Abingdon and vicinity. To keep abreast with the times, to care for its clients' business requirements and to provide absolute safety for its depositors has been its chief concern. To follow out these ideas, the capital was increased to $75,000, and a surplus of $80,000 set aside in January,

The First National Bank is conducted on the lines of conservatism, coupled with accommodation, generous treatment with careful investments, ample facilities and absolute security for every one of its customers.

Its present officers are : Orion Latimer, president ; J. A. Reynolds, vice president; George A. Shipplett, cashier; H. L. Haynes, assistant cashier.

Its present directors are: H. L. Haynes, B. P. Baird, J. F. Latimer, H. R, Crouch, J. A. Reynolds, G, A. Shipplett, Carl S. Burnside, C. D. Byram, T. E, Burnside, W, B. Dunlap, Orion Latimer. ;.; ,

Perhaps the best illustration of the conservatism, prosperity and general growth of the institution can be given by a comparison of the first and last published statements, as a national bank. ; - At the close of business, October i, 1885, -'; ---"-- '/.^'v--;:'

The officers of the bank elected at the time of organization were : John Mosser, president; J, W. Hunter, vice president; G. K. Slough, cashier; F. W. Reynolds, assistant cashier, became identified with the bank September i, 1903, and since its organization there has been no change of any kind in the officers of the institution., .V V. - -...

The board of directors are : John Mosser, J, W. Hunter, Jas. W. Cox, A. B. Spies, C. W. Robertson, J. H. Simmons, Robert Byram, J. T, Main, Samuel T. Mosser. ;

The bank pays regular annual dividends of 6% on its capital stock, and now has a surplus and undivided profit of $40,000. Its deposits run fr.om $200,000 to $250,000. ]. ""X

During the summer of 1905, the bank erected the building it now occupies and owns. It is considered by many to be one of the finest and best equipped bank buildings in this part of Illinois.

Its officers and members of its board have been largely identified with all the progressive movements for the betterment of Abingdon and are all men of high standing and have the entire confidence of the city and community. The bank has recently been appointed U. S. Depository for Postal Savings.

Judge A. M. Craig, then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois, believing that there was a good opening for a bank in the village of Altona, acted upon his belief and established the banking house of A. M. Craig & Co. on June i6, 1890, his son, George H. Craig, acting as cashier and John McKie, assistant cashier.

Being anxious to enlarge their scope of business and believing that they would be better able to serve the needs of their patrons by placing same on a more enduring basis by forming a corporation to take over the private banking business of A. M. Craig & Co., it was decided to organize a state bank. A meeting was held during September, 1891, and an application for permission to organize a state bank was made to the auditor of public accounts which was signed by John McKie, George H. Craig, J. C. Collinson and William Main.

The permit was granted September 15, 1891. The law permitting the organization of state banks being of recent enactment and the Bank of Altona being a new venture, many hesitated to invest in bank stock in the proposed new bank, but by the 26th of September all stock was subscribed for and the bank received its charter, taking over the banking house and business of A. M. Craig & Co., and began business as a state bank under the name of the Bank of Altona, October 3, 1891, with a paid-up capital of $30,000, it being one of the first state banks organized.

As the first board of directors of the Bank of Altona, the stockholders elected the following: A. M. Craig, J. M. McKie, C. S. Clark, William Main, J. P. Walgren, J. C. Collinson, Geo. E. Challman, who, with the exception of A. M. Craig, now deceased, are still serving on the board of directors. At their first meeting, the directors elected the following officers: President, A. M. Craig; vice president, C. S. Clark ; cashier, Geo. H. Craig ; assistant cashier, J. M. McKie.

According to the principles of sound banking, it was the aim of the officers of the bank to aid its patrons financially in every way possible. Owing to the fact

-i^ that under the state law they were allowed to loan only ten per cent of their capital to one person, the bank was handicapped to a certain extent in handling real estate mortgages from lack of sufficient capital, and at an adjourned meeting of the stockholders called for the purpose of increasing the bank's capital, on V July 25, 1896, it was decided that the capital stock be increased from $30,000 to . ; $50,000. The new stock was readily disposed of and with ample capital, the : - bank has ever since been in a position to care for the financial needs of the com- ' munity.

" ; . -- There have been but few changes of officers and directors since its organizai^- tion. On the 6th day of February, 1896, the bank was called upon to mourn the

The present board of directors are: J. M. McKie, C. C. Craig, C. S. Clark, ' William Main, J. P. Walgren, J. C. Collinson, Geo. E. Challman, and its present \ officers are: President, J. M. McKie; vice president, C. S. Clark; cashier, G. N. Larson.

The State Bank of Victoria was organized on April 6, 1903, with a capital of $35,000. The business of the Bank of Victoria, a private bank owned by O. P. Stoddard, Dyer Ford, B. S. Peck and Geo. D. Palmer of Galva, Illinois, having been purchased, the new organization commenced business on the 29th day of April, 1903, in the building formerly occupied by their predecessors. This, however, was to be only their temporary location as work on a new two-story brick bank building on the corner of Main and Union streets was soon started and the building was completed and occupied by the first .of October of the same year.

The bank was organized with the following officers and directors : President, J. M. McKie ; vice president, Frederick Becker ; cashier, O. E. Peterson. Directors : J. M. McKie, Frederick Becker, C. S. Clark, J. A. Larson, G. L. Hedstrom, P. A. McDowell, A. A. Hedstrom, O. E. Peterson, A. M. Craig.

cashier, and on July 3, 1911, a change in the officers was made necessary owing to the previous resignation of the cashier, O, E. Peterson. C. V. Nelson was

/ For the past six years, the bank has paid dividends of six per cent each year to its stockholders and has up to the present time, accumulated a surplus of $17,000. The steady growth of the institution into its present sound condition

^ and its conservative business methods enable it to offer to the public excellent banking facilities, together with absolute security to its patrons, which are

-... . In 1905, the same partners opened a bank at Laura, Illinois, and Mr. Elliott . was transferred to the cashiership of it, and Earl T. Main became assistant

The bank has steadily grown and has always enjoyed a fair share of business and at the same time has always endeavored to supply all worthy undertakings with money. I .'\ ' . The present board of directors are J. D. Doubet, Jay Welsh, P. A. Sunwall, O. J. Oberholtzer, Robt. E. Farwell, A. L. Harris and David Cation.

{ Organized May i, 1910. Capital stock paid in, $25,000. Chartered August 30, 1910. Commenced business, September 5, 1910. The following board of of Gen. Barnes, his son, Bennett, took charge of the plant, changed the name of the pajjer to the Knox County Chronicle, and in 1886 sold the office to Gershom Martin, the latter having unique and original ideas of his own as to the conduct of an independent democratic paper, and upon his death the office that had Jbeen in continuous operation for more than forty years, and during that time passing through the hands of many other editors and from a "black" republican to an ultra democratic paper, went into "history," the material being sold in quantities to suit the purchaser. : v^

THE REGISTER - 1866. This paper was started by Steve R. Smith, Wm. J. Mourer and H. D. Babcock. About 1868 W. S. Bush, late of the Free Press, took editorial charge of the paper, and a daily paper was issued. In 1872 E. F. Phelps bought the plant and soon after the Register and the Republican were merged into the Republican-Register, with Z. Beatty as editor, who conducted it in an able manner up to the time of his death.

THE REPUBLICAN was started in 1870 by Joe M. Prior and Henry Emrich, who in the fall of the same year transferred the same to Clark E. Carr, who in 1873 or 1874 merged it with the Register into the Republican-Register, whose history will be found elsewhere in this volume.

The history of the press of Galesburg would not be complete without mentioning W. S. Grubb, who came to Galesburg from Atlanta, Georgia, in 1878, and organized the Galesburg Publishing Company, and merged the two papers, the Republican and the Register into the Daily Republican-Register. As a business manager !Mr. Grubb had few equals and no superiors, and under his wise management the financial affairs of the new enterprise flourished and the stock of the new company became dividend paying and valuable. He continued at his post of duty until his death.

THE PLAINDEALER. Judson Graves in 1872 removed the Republican newspaper plant from Kirkwood to Galesburg, and in 1875 changed the name Republic to the Plaindealer, as expressing more clearly the JKtlitical character and editorial columns of the paper, it being independent republican in national and state politics, and liberal in religious and local matters. In 1879 Messrs. Henry Emrich and Iram B. Biggs purchased the office and with Mr. Emrich as editor conducted the paper until October, 1906, when they stopped its publication. During these twenty-seven years the Plaindealer advocated the principles and supported the candidates of the republican party, but at the same time reserving to itself and exercising the right to criticise the policies of that party when it thought they were not conserving the best interests of the people as a whole. In city affairs the Plaindealer always contended for good government and as a local organ of the liberal party had much to do with shaping the policy of that party for good city government and the carrying out of many needed local improvements. , : -: - \.:':; ; .. ,\ .

The list of the various publications in Galesburg during the past sixty years is a long one and only a short mention of them is possible here.

NORTHWESTERN GAZETEER - 1850-1851 ; Southwick Davis, neutral in politics. "._- NEWS LETTER - Geo. W. Gale, Dr. Bunce and Geo. Lanphere did good work of Gen. Barnes, his son, Bennett, took charge of the plant, changed the name of the paper to the Knox County Chronicle, and in 1886 sold the office to Gershom Martin, the latter having unique and original ideas of his own as to the conduct of an independent democratic paper, and upon his death the office that had been in continuous operation for more than forty years, and during that time passing through the hands of many other editors and from a "black" republican to an ultra democratic paper, went into "history," the material being sold in quantities to suit the purchaser. . - . -- ' I

THE REGISTER - 1866. This paper was started by Steve R. Smith, Wm. J. Mourer and H. D. Babcock. About 1868 W. S. Bush, late of the Free Press, took editorial charge of the paper, and a daily paper was issued. In 1872 E. F. Phelps bought the plant and soon after the Register and the Republican were merged into the Republican-Register, with Z. Beatty as editor, who conducted it in an able manner up to the time of his death.

THE REPUBLICAN was started in 1870 by Joe M. Prior and Henry Emrich, who in the fall of the same year transferred the same to Clark E. Carr, who in 1873 or 1874 merged it with the Register into the Republican-Register, whose history will be found elsewhere in this volume.

The history of the press of Galesburg would not be complete without mentioning W. S. Grubb, who came to Galesburg from Atlanta, Georgia, in 1878, and organized the Galesburg Publishing Company, and merged the two papers, the Republican and the Register into the Daily Republican-Register. As a business manager Mr. Grubb had few ecjuals and no superiors, and under his wise management the financial affairs of the new enterprise flourished and the stock of the new company became dividend paying and valuable. He continued at his post of duty until his death. - . [

THE PLAINDEALER. Judson Graves in 1872 removed the Republican newspaper plant from Kirkwood to Galesburg, and in 1875 changed the name Republic to the Plaindealer, as expressing more clearly the political character and editorial columns of the paper, it being independent republican in national and state politics, and liberal in religious and local matters. In 1879 Messrs. Henry Emrich and Iram B. Biggs purchased the office and with Mr. Emrich as editor conducted the paper until October, 1906, when they stopped its publication. During these twenty-seven years the Plaindealer advocated the principles and supported the candidates of the republican party, but at the same time reserving to itself and exercising the right to criticise the policies of that party when it thought they were not conserving the best interests of the people as a whole. In city affairs the Plaindealer always contended for good government and as a local organ of the liberal party had much to do with shaping the policy of that party for good city government and the carrying out of many needed local improvements.

The list of the various publications in Galesburg during the past sixty years is a long one and only a short mention of them is possible here.

HEMLANDET - 1855-1866; a secular as well as religious Swedish paper edited : by Rev. T. N. Haselquist. At that time the only Swedish paper in the United States, and one that was very influential in increasing the Swedish immigration to the United States, hundreds of copies of each issue being sent by Swedish-Americans to their friends in Sweden. It was finally removed to Chicago for increased facilities and is in existence today.

THE LIBERAL - 1867-1870; a very "liberal" society paper, edited by Steve R. Smith. This gentleman also, in 1873, started THE SIDEWALKINGS, which had only a short career. ; .-, I

Knox and Lombard Colleges have also published monthly journals. The Knox Student at Knox College and The Lombard Review at Lombard College. Both of them have been c'onducted with marked ability and have done much to benefit their alma maters. At one time the students of Knox College published a paper called the Coup d' Etat in addition to the Knox Student. The Coup d' Etat was started as the result of a disagreement over the election of nianagers of the Student. Both papers continued for some time when The Knox Student gave up the fight. The Coup d' Etat continued to be published for quite a number of years and finally the name "The Knox Student" was adopted as meaning more to the college.

THE HIGH SCHOOL BUDGET, a weekly edited and printed by the students of the Galesburg High School; devoted to the best interests of the high school and usually replete with "happy hits" at the expense of the lads and lasses attending the high school.

THE ENTERPRISE HERALD - The Abingdon Enterprise was established in i88o by J. C. Cromer and its first issue was in July of that year. He continued its publication for a couple of years when he mysteriously disappeared and has never been heard from. Mrs. Cromer then sold the paper to Reed & Pendarvis, who kept it until 1893, when it was sold to C. A. Murdock, who was its editor something over a year, when it was sold and consolidated with the Herald. During this time its politics were varied, sometimes being republican, again independent, but never particularly vigorous. -.«'

The Herald was established in March, 1892, by E. M. Killough, who continued its publication until 1895, when he formed a partnership with M. A. Cleveland, and they together purchased the Enterprise and consolidated the two, making the

Enterprise Herald. The Herald was democratic in politics, decidedly so on all questions. A year later Mr. Killough purchased the interest of his partner and continued the publication of the Enterprise Herald until his death in December, 1906. At this time his widow. Lulu Killough, took up the management of the paper and continued its editor and publisher with a son. Merle B., in charge of the mechanical department.

Locally the Enterprise Herald has been a home paper, working for Abingdon 'and its institutions, giving of its influence and its means for the up-keep of the same and for the establishment of new ones. It has never identified itself with either local party - people's or citizens' - but has thrown its influence where it felt would be for the betterment of the city in general, often taking a decided and active part in the local campaign. ' -'^

THE PRESS OF KNOXVILLE. Knoxville's first newspaper was the Knoxville Journal, first being issued October 5, 1849, by John S. Winter and David Collins. It was neutral in politics, but was ably edited and a splendid exponent of the best principles of early times. In 1852, Mr. Winter transferred his interest to Mr. Collins, who in 1855 sold the plant to Mr. John Regan. Soon after the politics was changed from neutral to democratic. Mr. Winter then in 1856 began the publication of the Knox County Republican, when tfie Journal was discontinued for want of patronage, and the type and press was moved to Elmwood, where for many years Mr. Regan printed the Messenger. The Republican has not missed an issue since 1856, which will support the claim that it is the oldest newspaper in the county, or, in fact, this part of the state. On April 7, 1858, Zaccheus Beatty and W. T. Robinson succeeded as publishers. After many years Mr. Beatty disposed of his interest to Mr. O. A. Barnhart. On February 24, 1876, the plant and good will of The Republican was purchased by O. L. Campbell, who immediately enlarged the paper from a four-page to an eight and sixteen page paper and for more than thirty-four years this newspaper has labored for the upbuilding of Knoxville and Knox county. At this time the Republican is owned and managed by H. B. Andrews, who is conducting it in harmony with the early history of the oflice.

THE WiLLiAMSFiELD TiMES was started in January, 1889, by C. D. Benfield. In the fall of 1890 the building and the Times plant was destroyed by fire. Mr. Benfield and Earl Benson restocked a new office and continued the publication. In the fall of 1891 Mr. Benson and J. M. Morneny bought out Mr. Benfield. On April 8, 1893, the Times plant was purchased by Mr. Hugh Irish, who came to Williamsfield from McDonough, and by him conducted in an able manner up to this date, a period of over eighteen years. The Times has always been a nonpolitical paper and devoted to the best interests of its home town and people.

THE ONEIDA NEWS was founded by W. K. Maxwell in 1901 who conducted it as an independent paper until about five years ago, when a stock company was organized and incorporated for the publishing of the paper. Mr. Maxwell was editor and manager of the News until January, 1911, when he disposed of his interests in the paper to Frank C. Krans, who for twelve years published the

'- Altona Record. Mr. Maxwell went to Peoria where he took a position on the Herald Transcript as special and editorial writer. The News is republican in politics and always ready to assist in any movement for the betterment and advancement of Oneida.

-'- Mail Publishing Co. The control of the paper was in the hands of George W. and William R. Colville and William Bennett Barnes. Other members of the

-; company were : S. H. Bateman, General Philip S. Post, F. A. Freer and H. L. May. W. O. Lovejoy later succeeded Mr. Bateman. George W. Colville was managing editor and William Bennett Barnes city editor, with William R. Colville as business manager. : r/^ --.--'

- There was no particular political motive in the starting of the Mail. The Republican-Register was the warm supporter of Colonel Clark E. Carr and opposed to him for the congressional nomination in the tenth district was General Philip Sydney Post. The appearance and tone of the new paper brought much

; credit to Messrs. Colville and Barnes and leaders of the Post faction obtained a heavier interest and then the Mail was given the task of counteracting the influence of the Republican -Register and fighting the battles of General Post. The subsequent victory of General Post enhanced the Mail's chances of continued success.

In 1895 Messrs. Colville and Barnes transferred their interests to D. H. and Ben B. Hampton, former proprietors of the Macomb Bystander. Early in their administration the publication was removed from the job office on Main street to more commodious quarters in a new building erected for it at 5052 North Cherry street. In August, 1899, another move was made to the Marquette building on South Cherry street, where it has occupied three floors and from which it proposes to move in the autumn of 1912 still further south on Cherry street to a building especially constructed for its occupancy in the city hall block.

- In January, 1900, Frank H. Sisson and Charles H. May assumed control of the Mail, when a transfer of the majority of the stock was made and the Messrs. Hampton retired. ,:

In 1904 Messrs. May and Sisson sold out their interest in the paper to Andrew O. Lindstrum and a number of local associates. It was conducted by them until 1907. The management of this paper and of the Republican-Register, the other daily paper of the city, were closely allied, and there was a demand, growing as the years went on, for a paper which should be more independent. This demand culminated in the organization in October of 1907 of the Galesburg Publishing Company, whose object was to publish the Galesburg Evening Journal.

Before the new company could get its plant in operation, however, overtures came to it from Messrs. Lindstrum and West (Albert W. West had meanwhile associated himself with Mr. Lindstrum in the publication of the paper) to sell the Mail. The overtures were followed by negotiations, and the negotiations were successful. On December 2, .1907, all the assets of the paper were purchased by the new corporation, and from that time it has been issued under the present management.

lishing the Republican-Register, and to avoid confusion in the delivery of mail, etc., it was changed to Galesburg Mail Company. The circulation and advertising patronage of the paper has steadily grown under the new management, and at the present time the issue is over 7,100 daily.

Plans have been laid for a new building on South Cherry street, opposite the postoffice, and the paper expects to enter its new quarters early in the fall. Robert A. Chandler is general manager of the paper, Walter Whipple is editor, Geo. W. Cowan is the efficient advertising manager, and W. C. Hunter is business and circulation manager.

Of all the Galesburg newspapers the Republican-Register, daily and weekly, is the oldest and it ranks as one of the widest circulated and most influential papers in the state. Its history dates back nearly half a century and the years have seen it grow steadily in circulation and influence.

The Republican-Register is the outcome of the merging of the Republican and the Register. The former was founded in 1866 by Stephen R. Smith, William J. Mourer and H. D. Babcock, and in 1872 was purchased by Col. E. F. Phelps, /. afterward prominent in fraternal circles here. - '

The Register was started in 1870 by Col. Clark E. Carr, and J. M. Prior, and ;.,;.-.: Col. Carr is still living to recall the editorial work that he so well did on his 'f/^; paper. In 1872 S. W. Grubb purchased the Republican. The mer- > ;'. ger of the two papers was accomplished in December, 1872, when : the Galesburg Printing and Publishing Company was organized and incorporated with a capital of fifteen thousand dollars under the laws of Illinois, and the consolidated paper was christened the Republican-Register, by which title it has since been known. -

; The first officers of the company were George V. Deiterich, president; Zaccheus Beatty, editor and vice president, and S. W. Grubb, secretary-treasurer and business manager. With the newspaper plant was also a job office. .^^-.

The company has published both a daily and a weekly during all these years. ^' ---'-'-'' For a long time the paper was issued from the building on the northeast corner .; of the public square. Then the plant was moved to one of the Mathews buildings on East Main street. In 1893 the equipment was moved to a handsome new two-story building at 154-156 Simmons street erected by the company and built specially with reference to the business. Since that date the business has been carried on in this structure and now takes every inch of the entire building. The company is the only newspaper company in the city that owns its own building containing special conveniences for effective work.

Zaccheus Beatty, the efficient editor of the paper for years, passed away in 1896. S. W. Grubb, who from the business angle, made the plant a paying venture, retired about 1900 and was succeeded by his son, James W. Grubb. In 1901 Omer N. Custer, George A. Perry and Fred R. Jelliff acquired the Beatty stock while the stock of Mr. Grubb was transferred to his son. For several years the last-named was the secretary-treasurer of the company, until he disposed of his holdings to Mr. Custer and Mr. Perry in April, 1909. With the purchase of the Beatty stock, Mr. Perry became the business manager of the company and has served since in this capacity with rare fidelity. Before coming to the Republican-Register he was in the circulation department of the Mail from its incipiency and then for several years had an interest in the business of the Colville Brothers, old and established printers of the city.

Mr. Custer started in twenty years or so* ago in the circulation department of the paper and worked his way to the front by persistent application to its interests. Fred R. Jelliflf, who began work with the paper as a reporter in 1882, has been its editor since the death of Mr. Beatty and is the oldest newspaper man in the city still in the harness. Through thirty years he has been continuously with the Republican-Register. Fred A. Dean for several years has been the president of tlie company.

The Republican-Register from a humble beginning has developed into a thoroughly modern newspaper. It has a circulation of over eight thousand, which is a larger circulation than any other paper in its territory possesses. It has the full telegraphic service which comes over a leased wire into its office, and its corps of correspondents covers well all the county and much of the surrounding country. From being set by hand at the case, the paper is now set at five linotype machines, and from being run ofi by an old-fashioned fiatbed press on the square, the paper is now run off by a twenty- four page Potter press. The job office has also been from time to time added to and so is thoroughly equipped.

' f The enabling act of congress for the state of Illinois, April, i8i8, donated the sixteenth section of every township to the inhabitants thereof for school purposes. Under an act of the general assembly of 1831 providing for the sale of these lands, the county commissioners' court appointed A. D. Swartz commissioner and agent for the inhabitants of Knox- county for the sale of the sections of land numbered sixteen. Upon the failure of Mr. Swartz to qualify, William McMurtry was appointed to the position. Prior to this action of the court a subscription school had been conducted at Henderson Grove and slightly later another at Cherry Grove. But the appointment of the commissioner of school lands was the first official act looking toward the establishing of public schools in Knox county. The same law commanded the appointment by the court of township trustees of school lands. On the sixth day of September, 1831, Turner A. Rountree and Jesse D. Gum were so appointed for township 12 north, range i east, Henderson. Other such appointments were soon made and the list of township trustees was complete in. a comparatively short time. The chief duty of the county commissioner was to sell the school lands upon the petition of three-fourths of the voters of the respective townships; that of the trustees was to make a map of the land, dividing it into tracts of not more than eighty acres and to place a value, not less than ?i.25 per acre, on each tract for the guidance of the commissioner in making sales.

The first petition for the sale of land was that of James Mansfield, Stephen Mitchell, Harmon G. Brown and forty-nine others, "white male inhabitants over the age of twenty-one years and legal voters of the township of land known and designated on the plats of the surveys of the lands belonging to United States as township number 12 north, range i east of the fourth principal meridian." This petition was dated January 4, 1834, and the fifty-two signers included all but ten of the voters of Henderson township. The trustees divided the section into twenty- and forty-acre lots and after due advertisement it was sold to six buyers at $1.25 per acre. In the same year ten of the thirteen voters of Maquon township petitioned for the sale of their land. It likewise brought the minimum legal price, $800. The last full section of school land to be disposed of in the county was that of Lynn township in 1852 for $1,576. Forty acres of the Chestnut section remained unsold until, following a revaluation by Trustees D. B. Routh, H. P. Townsend and Samuel Cashman, it was disposed of in 1868 for $506. The trustees of Ontario township, in 1848, valued their section at $720, the law fixing a minimum value having been repealed. During the next two years it was sold for $767.77, the smallest amount received for any school section in the county. The sixteenth section of Galesburg township, three-fourths of it lying within the city limits, was sold (1839-1848) in ten- and twenty-acre lots for the sum of $5,668. The section on which Altona stands was disposed of in 1841 for $2,024.20.

In view of the present great value of these lands, the thought is forced upon one that something like proper foresight and care would have preserved to our common schools sufficient funds well-nigh to maintain them. What the net income from one of these sections would now do for the schools of a township would be something good to see. But it is to be urged that in those days the railroad had not come and no one could have much idea of the wonderful development soon to be. Besides, it was argued that the earliest settlers were in greater need of assistance in maintaining their schools than would be the case with later inhabitants.

Small as was the fund secured to each of the townships from this land, it hastened the establishment of schotols, and the income from it was for a score of years a very considerable part of the public money spent on education. It is interesting to note, too, that this donation had a most important influence in determining the plan of organization of public education in Illinois and Knox county. The fact that the title to the land was vested in the inhabitants of the township accounts for the township school officers, trustees and treasurer. That the county should become the unit of school supervision was likewise determined by the land grant. The county commissioner of school lands had at first nothing to do with schools; but when the interest on school funds became considerable, in 1835, it was made his duty to distribute the money among the teachers. Gradually were added other duties that made him a supervisor of school work.

- f The beginnings of common school education were made in every township of the county during the period from 1830 to 1841. These schools cannot be said to have had their origin in any fostering care of the state. The laws were almost wholly ineffective so far as the creation or development of schools was concerned. A body of school law had been enacted in 1825, but it proved to be many years ahead of the times and was repealed in 1827. During the time Knox county was establishing practically as many schools as she will ever need, the law specifically protected the property holder against taxation for schools unless his consent in writing had been secured. As before stated, from 1835

-.; required to keep a record of daily attendance and received such a proportion of . the fund of the township as the attendance in his school was of the total attendance. This was not a large sum in any case; but it was something, and it served effectively to stimulate and encourage the establishment of schools that without it would have seemed impossible.

But for the larger part the schools of the county came not from the land grant fund nor from any outside stimulus or assistance, but from the desire of the people in the different communities to educate their children. The wonder is that so many of them had schools at all. The financial support was always inadequate; the steadying influence of a wise system of laws was lacking; and conflicting notions of the purpose and the management of schools led some-

. times to great confusion. It was legally mandatory ujx>n the county commissioners' court to establish a school district whenever petitioned to do so by a majority of the legal voters living within the territory of the proposed new district. The law left no discretion to the court and had no reference to the number of families in the district formed or in any other district or districts that might be affected. This easy method of forming districts often caused the division of territory already too small and weak for the support of a school. The first district formed under this law was that at Log City, in 1837; the second v,'as the Edgar or Hague district, now No. io8, southeast of Galesburg, in the same year. Indian Point district, now No. 172, south of Abingdon, was the third. In 1840 there were eighteen districts.

Upon the formation of a district the citizens gathered and determined whether the school should be maintained one-half by taxation and one-half by contribution of the patrons in proportion to the benefits received or wholly by taxation. Such taxing power as the district had was also lodged in this meeting, no one being subject to taxation except upon his written consent. Everything was done within the district. The officers were three trustees, a clerk, an assessor, a collector and a treasurer. The trustees employed the teacher and superintended the school. During the first ten years of schools in the county, teachers were examined by the trustees of the district only. In 1841 the law made the township trustees of schools the board of examiners in townships, incorporated for school purposes. A certificate of qualification was necessary to the drawing of money from the school fund. Each district might maintain as many schools as were desired. Altogether it was democracy carried to the extreme in school aflfairs. The effect was to make schools much more numerous than they should have been, to destroy the possibility of system or continuity in school work, and to give to the schools of the period a general character of meagerness, poverty and instability. The brighter side of the situation was the efficiency and devotion of some teachers and the real earnestness in matters of education shown by part of the people.

Among the teachers of this earliest period were the following : Franklin Barber, 1830 or '31, and Harmon G. Brown, 1833, Henderson township; Robert Bell, 1832, Mr. Seymour, 1835. Cedar township; Judge Dennis Qark, 1836, Indian Point; Thomas Ellison, 1836, and Anderson Barnell, 1838, Orange. About this same time and just later schools were taught by Susan Dempsey in Haw Creek, Henry Shurtleff in Victoria and Abiel Drew in Salem.

As stated previously, William McMurtry, appointed in 1832, was the first county commissioner of school lands. Upon his resignation in 1840 Curtis K. Harvey was appointed, his service continuing at least until 1845. Some of the county records were destroyed and the name of the commissioner does not appear in the books that remain. In one of. the oldest ones was found a slip of paper bearing an official statement to the effect that on November 12, 1849, Samuel S. Seward purchased lot No. ii of the sixteenth section of Truro township. It is signed T. Judson Hale, school commissioner. Mr. Hale's biographer says that he held the office, 1847 to 1849. This is no doubt correct, although he was also circuit clerk of the county during a part of this time ; but whether Mr. Harvey or another served from 1845 to 1847 cannot be learned. In 1845 the office was made elective for a term of two years. At ihat time the commissioner was made e.\- officio county superintendent and was required to visit schools, to advise in all matters pertaining to them and to examine teachers. William H. Whitton succeeded Mr. Hale in the office and served two terms. He was followed by J. H. Noteware for the term 1853-55. The title of the office had changed ; it had become elective and was charged with certain supervisory functions ; but its chief work was still with the financial side of school affairs and the duties of the office during this period of nearly a quarter century were quite fully comprehended in the title, commissioner of school lands.

In 1855 the general assembly, yielding to the pressure of a public opinion created by the efforts of earnest men throughout the state, enacted a law to establish a system of public schools in Illinois. A complete organization was pro- a treasurer. The trustees employed the teacher and superintended the school. During the first ten years of schools in the county, teachers were examined by the trustees of the district only. In 1841 the law made the township trustees of schools the board of examiners in townships, incorporated for school purposes. A certificate of qualification was necessary to the drawing of money from the school fund. Each district might maintain as many schools as were desired. Altogether it was democracy carried to the extreme in school affairs. The effect was to make schools much more numerous than they should have been, to destroy the possibility of system or continuity in school work, and to give to the schools of tlie period a general character of meagerness, poverty and instability. The brighter side of the situation was the efficiency and devotion of some teachers and the real earnestness in matters of education shown by part of the people.

Among the teachers of this earliest period were the following : Franklin Barber. 1830 or '31. and Harmon G. Brown, 1833. Henderson township; Robert Bell, 1832, ^Ir. Seymour, 1835. Cedar township; Judge Dennis Clark, 1836, Indian Point; Thomas Ellison, 1836, and Anderson Barnell, 1838, Orange. Alxjut this same time and just later schools were taught by Susan Dempsey in Haw Creek, Henry Shurtlefif in \'ictoria and Abiel Drew in Salem.

As stated previously, William McMurtry, appointed in 1832, was the first county commissioner of school lands. Upon his resignation in 1840 Curtis K. Harvey was appointed, his service continuing at least until 1845. Some of the county records were destroyed and the name of the commissioner does not appear in the books that remain. In one of the oldest ones was found a slip of paper bearing an official statement to the effect that on November 12, 1849, Samuel S. Seward purchased lot No. ii of the sixteenth section of Truro township. It is signed T. Judson Hale, school commissioner. Mr. Hale's biographer says that he held the office, 1847 to 1849. This is no doubt correct, although he was also circuit clerk of the county during a i)art of this time ; but whether Mr. Harvey or another served from 1845 to 1847 cannot be learned. In 1845 the office was made elective for a term of two years. At that time the commissioner was made c.v officio county superintendent and was required to visit schools, to advise in all matters pertaining to them and to examine teachers. William H. \\ hitton succeeded Mr. Hale in the office and served two terms. He was followed by J. H. Xoteware for the term 1853-55. The title of the office had changed ; it had Ijeconie elective and was charged with certain supervisory functions ; but its chief work was still with the financial side of school affairs and the duties of the office during this period of nearly a quarter century were quite fully comprehended in the title, commissioner of school lands. ,

In 1855 the general assembly. A^ielding to the pressure of a public opinion created by the efforts of earnest men throughout the state, enacted a law to establish a system of public schools in Illinois. A complete organization was pro- vided, from the directors and teacher of the district to a state superintendent of public instruction. Provision was made by this law for the financial support of schools. The power of local taxation was restored in its full effect as it had not been for nearly thirty years. This idea of taxing all property for the purpose' of education was of slow growth. The laws that permitted a limited taxation during the preceding twenty years had produced but little money for the schools either in the county or the state at large. In 1847 the total reported for the state was $8,763; in 1852, under a slightly different law, it was $51,000; in 1858, the third year of the new law, it rose to $563,460 for the state and $12,791.74 for Knox county - ^the sum the people of the county paid in taxes for school purposes being $ioo less than was distributed to them by the state for schools.

Congress had provided that 3 per cent of the proceeds of the sale of public lands in Illinois, one-sixth part excepted, should go to establish a permanent school fund. When in 1836 the general government distributed $28,000,000 surplus revenue among the states, Illinois placed the greater part of her share, which was nearly half a million dollars, in the school fund. Interest on this fund at the rate of 6 per cent has been, from the middle thirties, distributed to the counties in proportion to their minor population. The new law added to this a two-mill tax to be collected on all property in the state and distributed to the counties along with the interest on the permanent fund. Then there was the income from a small county fund, the origin of which need not be here explained, and the townships had each the income from the proceeds of the sale of its school section. Thus the support furnished from outside the people themselves was fairly generous. But the development of the public school idea was shown more truly in the provision for local taxation. It was made the duty of the township trustees to certify to the clerk of the county court such a rate of taxation as would supply any deficiency in keeping "in good condition and operation a sufficient number of free schools for the accommodation of all the children in the said township during the ensuing year." Legislation and the good-will of the people were working together in the interest of schools. ^, Along with this more nearly adequate financial support and more general public interest must come improvement in the methods and work of the schools themselves. Greater emphasis was placed on the supervisory duties of the county school commissioner. Varying requirements of scholarship for teachers had been made since 1845. I* was now the duty of the county commissioner to certify their proficiency in and their ability to teach "orthography, reading in English, penmanship, arithmetic, English grammar, modern geography and the history of United States." He was to visit schools for the purpose of giving counsel and direction and was allowed $2 per day for not to exceed fifty days annually to be spent in such work. ,

First to hold the position under the new law of 1855 was P. H. Sanford. He began the task, decades long, of systematizing and unifying the work of nearly two hundred independent and unrelated schools.

Very early in his service he called the teachers together for the organization of Knox County Teachers' Institute. The meetings of this organization were ' held semi-annually for about twenty-five years, then annually and again semiannually for a time. While the record is not complete, it can be stated without much room for error that, with one exception, there has been at least one :; meeting each year for fifty-six years. These meetings have occurred in the different towns, Knoxville, Galesburg, Abingdon, Oneida, Altona, Wataga, Ma-

- teen years the people of the different communities expressed their interest in . education by gratuitous entertainment of the teachers in their homes. The oldtime custom of "boarding 'round" made every person in the country-side a neighbor to the school. So this extending of individual and community hospitality to the teachers doubtless had a share in creating a place for the schools in the regard of their patrons and supporters. In 1871 the organization voted to pay for entertainment while attending the meetings.

In Knox county, as has generally been the case, among the earliest and strongest friends of the common schools were those connected with higher institutions of learning. Members of the faculties of Knox College, Lombard University, Redding Seminary and Abingdon College were active in both the management and the work of this teachers' association. Here is at least a partial list of those who gave it life and character: P. H. Sanford, J. V. N. Standish, George Churchill, A. J. Thompson, M. L. Comstock, Albert Hurd, J. B. Roberts, H. E. Hitchcock, B. G. Hall, J. H. Knapp, R. B. Guild, J. F. Dickinson. The influence of these men through these semi-annual meetings went directly and most helpfully into the schools in their formative period. So far as can be learned there had been no recognized elements of unity or cohesion in the schools of the county prior to the middle fifties. There was no system, no center. Every district organization was a law unto itself, every teacher likewise. Then came this group of strong men with an organization whose programs and discussions were to stand to the teachers as an expression of their common task. Here was the beginning of united effort, of a system of schools. Theodore Parker addressed the institute at Galesburg, October, 1857. The next March at Abingdon, Horace Mann, America's greatest educator, delivered the address, his subject being "Motives and Duties of Teachers." Since that time many others of distinguished service to education have been honored guests of the association.

Reports of the meetings as recorded by the different secretaries give, directly and indirectly, what seems to be more than mere glimpses of the work of the schools. The placing of the emphasis varied from time to time. The earliest programs were given chiefly to the presentation of the subjects of study in the common schools with a view only to the instruction of the teachers present in the subject matter. While it was probably not possible for teachers in talking to teachers to keep method entirely out of their discussions, it is true that for a dozen years or more material was presented almost entirely from the academic side. English grammar was a favorite topic from the first; mental arithmetic and orthography received due care as did reading and a little later geograjAy was emphasized strongly. Almost from the first, object lessons received much attention. They seem to have been presented rather more from the professional side. The subject of physiology appears on the program in 1857, and drawing received attention in 1862. Thirty-five years later physiology and hygiene came to a place on the program of the common school. At the April meeting, 1865, the following was adopted: Resolved, That we consider it the duty of every teacher to inculcate devotion to our country and fidelity to our government ; and that these principles may have a firm foundation, the Constitution of United States should be studied in our common schools." This was thirty-five years before civics became a subject of study in the ungraded schools and forty years before the statute of the state made it so. Natural history as suitable material for study in the common schools was up for discussion at the April meeting, 1864. Messrs. Knapp and Comstock, of the association, and Messrs. Lyon and John F. Eberhart, of Chicago, took part. As reported by the secretary, the first two speakers favored the introduction of the subject. Professor Eberhart thought not much could be done except in the way of general exercises, object lessons. The problem of elementary science, niature study, has been a difficult one to teachers ever since. The extent to which the language of the various text books should be memorized by the pupils was an oft-recurring subject of discussion. It seems never to have been settled exactly; but for many years the tendency away from any memorizing of texts was probably too strong. .A - At Oneida, in 1871, Rev. James Gorton read a paper on the subject, "Compulsory Attendance of Our Public Schools." It was evidently a strong presentation in favor of such attendance and was followed by a spirited discussion. At the close a vote was taken; those present, and voting, stood forty-five to two in favor of the views expressed in the paper.

The organization of the association provided for a standing committee on text books. In 1862, Robinson's arithmetic and Qark's grammar were recommended; and a year later the committee, consisting of Messrs. Thompson, Standish, Hall, Roberts, Churchill, Knapp and Dickinson, reported books to complete the list. The report was adopted as follows: Resolved, That we recommend for general use in the schools of this county ..:-:-;

The idea of a course of study for ungraded schools made its appearance in 1873, in a paper on "Classification and Course of Study for Ungraded Schools" by County Superintendent Christianer. Miss Leanna Hague read a paper at Abingdon, in November, 1877, '^^ grading country schools. She proposed also that there slunUd he a course of sttidy and certificates of advancement issued to pupils. Four thinjjs necessary to the accomplislinient of this were stated as follows: 1 - I'niforniity of text hooks; 2 - Interest of parents and directors; 3 - Regularity of attendance; 4 - Permanency of teachers. The paper was heartily received and the i)lan approved hy resolution. Later in the same meeting a committee on a course of study for schools was appointed hy the county sujxirintendent.

.'; About 1875, special effort to interest parents and the general public in the scho<.->ls seems to have been made. An annual exhibit of school work at the Knox county fair was undertaken with this end in view. A plan proposed in 1878 by Dr. Leffingwell, of Knoxville, to erect a pavilion on the fair ground for tlie purpose was adopted and the building constructed. (-'-

- The president, upon motion, at the meeting in November, 1880, appointed a ctMiimittee of five consisting of President Newton Bateman, Supt. Matthew Andrews, Miss Leanna Hague, Mr. M. C. Bates, and Mr. F. R. Jelliff, to prepare a paper for distribution in the county explaining the duties of the county superintendent of schools. This seems to have been in response to a question nK>re or less general as to whether the office was necessary and worth the cost.

Ehiring the years of die rebellion, as the records of the association show, the teachers were responsive to the spirit of the times. At the April meeting, 1863. Dr. Standish in the chair, J. H. Knapp, J. B. Roberts, and B. G. Hall, committee on resolutions, reported in part as follows: "Resolved, That it is the duty of all teachers to inculcate patriotic principles and to encourage love of country-, and that every attempt on the part of school boards to repress exhibitions of loyal feeling toward our government, especially in this time of its peril, should meet with the disapprobation of all true hearted educators, also, Tliat we request our County Commissioner not to grant certificates to those known to have disloyal sentiments."

S. E. Field, John F. Dickinson, George Churchill, Miss Emma Dryer, and Miss Mary A. West were the committee on resolutions for the next meeting. Here is part of their report: "4th, That to our country in this hour of strife we swear anew our allegiance, pledging ourselves to assist her, if need be with our lives, praying God to continue to give wisdom to her rulers, courage to her soldiers and victory to her arms. 5th, That, feeling as we do the debt we owe our brothers in the field, we pledge ourselves to sustain them by our sympathies, our labors, and our prayers, assuring them that while our hearts throb at the thought of their sufferings, we rejoice at their victories and glory in their heroism." Similar expressions were given at other times. President Lincoln was commended on different occasions, particularly for the emancipation proclamation : and later Andrew Johnson was condemned as a traitor and Congress was called upon to impeach him. The body was in session in Oneida at the time of Lee's surrender, and the resolutions adopted are beautiful in their expression of the joy of victory, of devotion to country, and of thankfulness to God and the nation's defenders.

The importance of this teachers' organization to the schools of the county will scarcely be over-estimated. For years it furnished almost the only means of professional advancement to the teachers. In its meetings the new ideas were that there should be a course of study and certificates of advancement issued to pupils. Four things necessary to the accomplishment of this were stated as follows: I - Uniformity of text books; 2 - Interest of parents and directors; 3 - Regularity of attendance ; 4 - Permanency of teachers. The paper was heartily received and the plan approved by resolution. Later in the same meeting a committee on a course of study for schools was appointed by the county superintendent.

About 1875, special effort to interest parents and the general public in the schools seems to have been made. An annual exhibit of school work at the Knox county fair was imdertaken with this end in view. A plan proposed in 1878 by Dr. Leffingwell, of Knoxville, to erect a pavilion on the fair ground for the purpose was adopted and the building constructed. :. - , ! , -

The president, upon motion, at the meeting in November, 1880, appointed a committee of five consisting of President Newton Bateman, Supt. Matthew Andrews, ^liss Leanna Hague, ]\Ir. M. C. Bates, and Mr. F. R. Jelliff, to prepare a paper for distribution in the county explaining the duties of the county superintendent of schools. This seems to have been in response to a question more or less general as to whether the office was necessary and worth the cost.

During the years of the rebellion, as the records of the association show, the teachers were responsive to the spirit of the times. At the April meeting, 1863, Dr. Standish in the chair, J. H. Knapp, J. B. Roberts, and B. G. Hall, committee on resolutions, reported in part as follows : "Resolved, That it is the duty of all teachers to inculcate patriotic principles and to encourage love of country, and that every attempt on the part of school boards to repress exhibitions of loyal feeling toward our government, especially in this time of its peril, should meet with the disapprobation of all true hearted educators, also. That we request our County Commissioner not to grant certificates to those known to have disloyal sentiments."

S. E. Field, John F. Dickinson, George Churchill, Miss Fmma Dryer, and Miss Mary A. West were the committee on resolutions for the next meeting. Here is part of their report : "4th, That to our country in this hour of strife we swear anew our allegiance, pledging ourselves to assist her, if need be with our lives, praying God to continue to give wisdom to her rulers, courage to her soldiers and victory to her arms. 5th, That, feeling as we do the debt we owe our brothers in the field, we pledge ourselves to sustain them by our sympathies, our labors, and our prayers, assuring them that while our hearts throb at the thought of their sufferings, we rejoice at their victories and glory in their heroism." Similar expressions were given at other times. President Lincoln was commended on different occasions, particularly for the emancipation proclamation; and later Andrew Johnson was condemned as a traitor and Congress was called upon to impeach him. The body was in session in Oneida at the time of Lee's surrender, and the resolutions adopted are beautiful in their expression of the joy of victory, of devotion to country, and of thankfulness to God and the nation's defenders. |

The importance of this teachers' organization to the schools of the county will scarcely be over-estimated. For years it furnished almost the only means of professional advancement to the teachers. In its meetings the new ideas were advanced and tested, and the approval of the body was authority for much of the method in teaching and management that found place in the schools.

The number of school districts in 1840, as previously stated, was eighteen; the number increased to 159 in 1857, to 175 in 1864, and to 189 in 1871. Very many changes in district boundaries were made in the intervening years, but the number reported in 1911 was the same as in 1864, 175. To this number, however, may be added parts of three districts, union with adjoining counties, and the high school district of Haw Creek township.

Schoolhouses to the number of 139 were reported by the school commissioner in 1857. The report of 1865 showed 184 and that of 1868, 198. No official statement of a larger number has been found. In 1911, the number was i86, and it had been for some years. . ''. .

At the beginning of this period all the schools were ungraded, housed in one-room buildings, composed of pupils of all degrees of advancement. In 1857, part of one group of schools, Knoxville, had been combined and graded; in 1 86 1, there were five of these graded schools and eight in 1865. There were sixteen districts in 1912, with two or more rooms each, twenty-nine graded schools in all. During the decade 1866 to 1876, a substantial graded school was erected in each of the towns of the county. Those in Abingdon, Oneida, Knoxville and Wataga were built of brick. Knoxville, in 1902, had come to require more room than was provided in the building of 1876. To supply this need a brick building for the accommodation of the high school and the eighth grade was erected. Having become too small, this was enlarged in 1911. The frame buildings of the late sixties in Maquon and Yates City were replaced in 1904, with well constructed modern buildings of brick. v

A notable event in the history of schools in the county was the union in 1903 of the districts of North and South Abingdon, and the purchase by the new district for a high school of the large building formerly occupied by Abingdon College. No better example of the wisdom of consolidating schools can be found anywhere. Here were two districts, neither one strong enough to maintain such a school as its people desired, that solved most of their problems by combining them,

The varying meaning of the term high school makes it difficult to leam just the order of the formation of such schools in the different towns of the county. Giving the term the meaning that it has now, a school doing three or four years of work beyond the eighth grade, there was no high school outside of Galesburg until 1872, when the school at Knoxville reached that grade. In 1880 the county superintendent's report shows six, though it is quite possible that some of these did not come up to the present grade of high schools. In 1912 there were threeyear high schools at Altona, Gilson, Maquon, Wataga and Williamsfield; and schools with four-year courses at Abingdon, Galesburg, Knoxville, Oneida and

Yates City. The Haw Creek township high school (Gilson) was organized in 1902. As compared with other parts of the state this county has always stood well in high school work. It had more high schools in 1880 than any other county except Cook. In 1911 the proportion of high school students to the total enrollment of the schools and to the population of the county was greater than in any other county of Illinois.

County Superintendent Christianer in 1870 wrote: "Of the 192 school- 1 -v^s'i .-;''. yv/ houses in the county, about one-half are gOod and sufficient for practical pur- ',,::..--,-"- poses, and about one-fourth by suitable repairs can be made comfortable, and ;-:.-.:.:'.-;'-;' about one- fourth ought to be razed to the ground and replaced by new ones." . .'..,,,

Not quite the same thing could be said of our schoolhouses in 1912. But ! .-; Vl-'-- it is true that school architecture in the county generally has not shown the ; !"-.x. advance it should have mdde. More especially is this true of the one-room :-.>-; buildings. Except in a few instances these buildings were erected with little .-'.-.- reference to proper lighting and ventilation and with only such regard to effective -.-',:-:- . heating as would be provided for by reasonably substantial construction. The .^,..' -;:' more recent influences in favor of greater care in the housing of schools have had . % '; -V^^ considerable effect. At the beginning of 1912 there were twelve country schools .^ ' -//'f ,; heated with basement furnaces, all but two of them having been installed after - --,,.,: the erection of the building. Thirty-six heating and ventilating plants, virtually ''';,' furnaces placed on the floor of the room with adequate provision for ventilation, ' . - .- ' were in use. Eighteen other districts had improved on the old plan of a bare '.;''..';: stove in the center of the room by placing it in the corner and surrounding it I. V; .-;.-:--; with a jacket. In the report of Superintendent Christianer previously referred : ; 'yj-'^: to, he condemned very severely the seating of school rooms as it was then. At -./.".' '^.. the time of the last report of the condition of the schools, more than forty ;.'?-:' years later, much still remained to be desired in this important matter, especially ;>.-'. in the arrangement of the desks. However, very general improvement in the -', -.:.'-.;:' furnishing and decoration of the school rooms had been made. A few build- - .,;.:. ings were still ceiled with lumber; but almost all were plastered and either pa- J >,;--.- pered or calcimined. Sufficient blackboard space, maps and globes had come to :'. -"'. ; ;v.V -: be nearly universal. But few were entirely without suitable pictures; prac- -;;.::''.":.' tically all had window shades and nearly as many had sash curtains. At the ^-- ;:?'...-: time of this writing more than half the one-room schools in the county were .'.:-;'' y=' supplied with musical instruments. Two were without books other than a die- ' X' /;' tionary, though all but five had enough books to be called a library. Nineteen ;>.- - schools had met the requirements of the state superintendent of public instruc- ,'::,-;:,-;- tion as to grounds, building, equipment and teaching for standard one-room :-.:J' :.;-;/!-; schools of Illinois. . '.'--v'O

Libraries for schools have for sixty years received attention. The report . -./;--; of 1867 credited the county with 720 books in school libraries, that of 1868, with;: .\ 'i i:'J;' over 1, 800. The great increase for the year was due to the libraries for public schools furnished under certain conditions by the state. The books were illsuited to children's reading and those remaining in the schools forty years later showed generally little wear except that of time. As reported in 1872, the twenty-six school libraries of the county numbered 1,599 volumes. The Cherry Grove and Thirlwell schools are reported to have had the best country-school libraries in those days. In 1878 some books awarded the Yates City schools as prizes for work exhibited at the Knox county fair, formed the nucleus of a very successful library. Its growth attracted much attention and it was discussed in teachers' meetings. The idea thus spread and a few years later began one of -- the periods of greatest activity in establishing school libraries. The number of " books reported in 1890 was 6,938; and the number of libraries, 120; in 1900 there were 12,359 books and 145 libraries; and in 1911 there were 24,236 books in 171 libraries. The Illinois Pupils' Reading Circle furnished considerable stimulus to children's reading and assisted in making the later years of this period fruitful . of good books and of a growing interest on the part of teachers and parents in what the children read.

The people of the county in 1857 paid for the maintenance of schools taxes to the amount of $12,791.94 and for the erection of seventeen schoolhouses $10,685. The state distributed to the county for school purposes that year $12,903.57. Teachers were paid for the school year of 1856-1857, $22,179.89, at average monthly wages of $14 to women and $28 to men. Five years later, 1862, the total tax was $19,542 and the distributive fund, $10,144. Three new buildings were erected and 343 teachers were paid $22,154, at average wages of -; $16 for women and $26 for men - the highest wages paid to a man being $55 and the lowest $17; and to women, $28 and $io. The county's share of the state ; fund was never greater than $15,843.36, and from that decreased to $6,234.75 for ; the year 1910. Owing to the doubling by the general assembly of the school ; tax fund of $1,000,000, the amount received from the levy of 1911 was $13,160.36. ', The amount of money raised by local taxation has varied greatly. At the end of - the second five-year period the amount was $94,539 ; at the end of the next such period it had fallen to just less than $90,000. Another five years, 1877, brought the levy up to $102,209.54 ; but it dropped to $71,019.61 in i88i and to $70,282.95 in 1882. In 1887 it was $89,419; in 1890, $86,353.98 and in 1896, $146,972.19. Any decrease in the levy since that time has been because of the varying amount spent for buildings - the amount expended for maintenance of schools has Steadily increased. The levy for 1900 was $140,500, and the report for 1905 shows $186,140.52 collected for that year; and for 1910, $259.792. The citv of Galesburg collected much of this increase, its tax advancing from $30,000 in 1890 to $144,000 in 1910. The estimated value of school property was $285,255 in 1875; in 1900 it was $442,375; and in 1911, $805,950.

Course Of Study

Just what branches of study should be pursued in the common schools and what ones exclude'd has always been a question receiving much consideration. When the system was organized nearly sixty years ago, the full course provided was reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography and history. Very little emphasis, however, was placed upon the two last named. The textbook in geography recommended in 1862 by the teachers' association was a very elementary presentation and nothing at all was said of a text in history. Music, physiology, civics and the elements of biology and physics were discussed from time to time and claims made for them as suitable and necessary common school subjects. A course of study suggested by Miss West, county superintendent, in 1877 provided for all of them. This course was not generally adopted, however. The probability is that geography became generally and firmly established in the schools during the sixties, and United States history somewhat later. Physiology and hygiene was also added by statute to the common school course; civics and the history of Illinois in 1905.

In 1884, County Superintendent Steele prepared and introduced an outline of study for the ungraded schools of Knox county. This course provided for the study of civil government in addition to those subjects that had come to - be considered a part of the course. Very briefly stated the aim of the outline was to make practical the work of the school room, to advance the pupils step by step and give them credit for the work done, to unify the work of the common schools of the county, to keep before the minds of the pupils facts and principles instead of paragraphs and pages, and to lessen the difficulties arising from lack of uniformity of text books. The plan provided for a system of monthly and, for advanced grades, township examinations, the latter having been continued as central examinations _ to the present time. The outline was immediately successful and served well for some years in the accomplishment of the author's purpose. It was one of the earliest and most valuable of such outlines made anywhere for country schools. The state course of study, an outline prepared by a committee of county superintendents acting with the State Teacher's association, came later to take its place.

The law of the state lias always made it the duty of school directors to adopt text books for the district and there has never been any compulsory uniformity among districts in the matter of school books. In 1895, County Superintendent Matthew Andrews, acting with teachers and principals of the county to foil the plans of a firm of publishers with a list of poor books, secured the very general adoption by the districts of a list proposed by himself. These books were used by the larger number of the schools until 1904. The directors of the county at their annual meeting in March of that year upon request by resolution directed "the county superintendent of schools to confer with teachers and others and recommend a list of text books for uniform use in the schools of the county. The recommendation was made in August of the same year and, without the work of agents or others than the teachers, the books came into immediate and very general use. So responsive to the plan we're the directors and the people and so interested the teachers that 94 per cent of the books used

. Just what brandies of study should be pursued in the common schools and what ones exclude'd has always been a question receiving much consideration. When the system was organized nearly sixty years ago, the full course provided was reading, spelling, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography and history. Very little emphasis, however, was placed upon the two last named. The textbook in geography recommended in 1862 by the teachers' association was a very elementary presentation and nothing at all w'as said of a text in history. Music, physiology, civics and the elements of biology and physics were discussed from time to time and claims made for them as suitable and necessary common school subjects. A course of study suggested by ^liss West, county superintendent, in 1877 provided for all of them. This course was not generally adopted, however. The probability is that geography became generally and firmly established in the schools during the sixties, and United States history somewhat later. Physiology and hygiene was also added by statute to the common school course; civics and the history of Illinois in 1905. 1 ' . '

In 1884, County Superintendent Steele prepared and introduced an outline of study for the ungraded schools of Knox county. This course provided for the study of civil government in addition to those subjects that had come to be considered a part of the course. Very briefly stated the aim of the outline was to make practical the work of the school room, to advance the pupils step by step and give them credit for the work done, to unify the work of the common schools of the county, to keep before the minds of the pupils facts and principles instead of paragraphs and pages, and to lessen the difficulties arising from lack of uniformity of text books. The plan provided for a system of monthly and, for advanced grades, township examinations, the latter having been continued as central examinations to the present time. The outline was immediately successful and served well for some years in the accomplishment of the author's purpose. It was one of the earliest and most valuable of such outlines made anywhere for country schools. The state course of study, an outline prepared by a committee of county superintendents acting with the Slate Teacher's association, came later to take its place.

The law of the state has always made it the duty of school directors to adopt text books for the district and there has never been any compulsory uniformity among districts in the matter of school books. In 1895, County Superintendent Matthew Andrews, acting with teachers and principals of the county to foil the plans of a firm of publishers with a list of poor books, secured the very general adoption by the districts of a list proposed by himself. These books were used by the larger number of the schools until 1904. The directors of the county at their annual meeting in March of that year upon request by resolution directed the county superintendent of schools to confer with teachers and others and recommend a list of text books for uniform use in the schools of the county. The recommendation was made in August of the same year and, without the work of agents or others than the teachers, the books came into immediate and very general use. So responsive to the plan were the directors and the people and so interested the teachers that 94 per cent of the books used

One knowing something of Knox county schools can but regret the lack of space to write fully of the character and work of the teachers. Among them have appeared the failures that must always be found in any large group of persons; some have been unable to rise above the limitations under which all have worked ; very infrequently one has shown himself entirely unworthy.

. But generally, they have understood something of the responsibility resting upon them and have striven to meet it. Very many have not waited for their tasks

\ to be pointed out, but have endeavored to learn what might wisely be added to the work of the schbols and how their efficiency might be increased. A simple record of the faithfulness and devotion of the teachers would make a splendid

Source changes here: from Annals of Knox County : Commemorating Centennial of Admission of Illinois As a State of the Union in 1818, by Knox County (Ill.). Centennial Historical Association, published 1921; 2,876 words in this source stream.

Ontario Township

While it is true that no well defined Indian trail crossed, in any direction, this township, yet there is indisputable evidence that the Redman was a frequent visitor. The large number of arrow points found in the vicinity of Pilot Knob prove this. The point named is one of the few decided elevations in what is now Knox County and must have been used in times innumerable by the Indians to watch the coming or going of a friend, or to detect the stealthy approach of a dusky enemy.

The area in timber was much too limited to furnish an ideal hunting ground, and no living spring now known could have supplied water for any large number of people. Therefore, Pilot Knob, despite its sightliness, lacked many qualifications which could induce the wanderer to make of it an abiding place.

That there were large numbers of magnificent trees nearby and in every direction, far as the eye could reach, a waving ocean of tallest grasses, proving the unsurpassed richness of the soil was to the Indian a matter of little or no importance.

It is quite probable that more than a century before the white man, as a settler, looked on this rich, rolling prairie land, the explorer on his way from the Illinois to the Mississippi or vice versa, had traversed this region and unquestionably the hunter of a much later date had stood on Pilot and in ever more than fancy "was monarch of all he surveyed."

However, though explorers and hunters have a place in history, a place which bold, venturesome men only can fill, still it is of a truth he and she who are possessors of or possessed by the ideas of the settler, the settler who squats on a definite spot of earth, in some legal form obtains the squatters right to stay and stays. Such is the germ from which in due time Ontario township, Knox County, Illinois, the nation is made.

And if we are to judge the Ontario of today and of all the succeeding tomorrows by the all around make up of the early settlers we may well be thankful and take courage, for were they not all or nearly all the not distant descendants of those who made homes, built schools and churches, fought Indians and brought a thousands smiles to the flinty face of sterile New England, and some in the morning of their manhood assisted in Central New York by arduous labor in transforming a forest into a farm ; and though here they found the unbroken prairie a new problem, its solution was simple in comparison; it is true the implements needed were different, the skill to produce them was not yet acquired, but here was the soil, stubborn indeed, but not more so than the settler. With a plow largely of timber, much prairie was brought under cultivation ; corn was planted, not with a planter and check-rower, but with an axe, in due time this gave place to the hoe, and as evolution seems to be a universal law the two-horse planter came and stays.

Besides the corn, all the grains suitable to our soil and climate were sown and rich were the rewards of the husbandman. One crop now never seen in this township was to a limited extent grown, viz., flax, and not only grown, but by skilled and willing hands became by much patient labor a part of the clothing of the almost moneyless early settlers, and in even this year of grace and carnage this writer was shown a considerable sample of linen fabric, the flax from which it had been made grew on Section 31, Ontario township, the home for more than sixty years of G. W. Melton, Mrs. Melton and family, and we have reason to believe that the aforesaid Mrs. Melton with her own hands heckeled, spun and wove the linen cloth to the writer shown.

In the same year but previous to Mr. Melton's arrival, an Alexander Williams had fenced and plowed some twenty acres on the northwest quarter of Section 30 and therefore, so far as known, was the first settler in the township, who evidently intended to remain. However, in 1836 he sold his holdings to I. M. Wetmore. The latter became one of the large landholders in the neighborhood and in all his after years was a most prominent and successful farmer. And though the name, Wetmore, is less common than in the early days it is still with us and with a goodly number of others in a most interesting and pleasant way links the present with the past.

As stated, a goodly number of names familiar in the early daj^s are still here, yet it is very true that a large and increasing percentage of our land owners and tenant farmers can and do speak an alien tongue, but we all know by evidence that cannot be gainsaid that alien speech is no indication of alien sentiment. When we bear in mind that perhaps even a majority of our voters are of foreign birth or are the children of those who hail from the land of Thor, and also recognize the fact that when the R. C, the Y. M. C. the K. of C. or other similar agencies let it be known that funds are needed in their ceaseless works of mercy, Ontario has unhesitatingly gone over the top.

In the matter of the various bond selling campaigns, over the top is simply considered the normal thing. This, however, is usually looked on as a fairly good investment ; yet take it all in all, the profit, the real profit, that which never tarnishes, is that derived from that giving where nothing is returned in kind. But to speak of the cold facts of history it is a pleasure to mention that while settlers were few, money almost unbelieveably scarce, yet the matter of education was not forgotten, for in 1839, a school house was built on the Northwest Quarter of Section 32. Just in what manner the project was financed we do not know, we only know that the free school system or anything much resembling it had not yet arrived ; we have no reason to believe that the curriculum was very varied. All, no doubt, had at times an uncomfortable amount of fresh air; as has been hinted the course of study was somewhat brief, but as was proved on many subsequent occasions, the pupils graduated having, in the words of John Hay, "a middling tight grip on the handful of things they knew."

The first teacher was Sally Ann Belden. The school house for several years was used for religious services, and as denominational lines were not strictly drawn, the preacher of the occasion was not questioned very closely as to his beliefs or unbeliefs on doctrinal matters.

There are now in the township eight rural schools, and while all of them have been to some extent remodeled and greatly improved in general appearance externally and internally, the course of study has become practically uniform; the teachers in a knowledge of teaching methods and in scholarly equipment far surpass those of the so-called good old days of long ago. The Oneida district, officially known as No. 27, is what is known as a graded school. Four teachers are employed and all pupils who successfully pass the eighth grade are eligible to enter the High school. The latter which is conducted in the same building, employs four teachers, each of whom we are glad to say is a graduate of a State University or College in good standing, and pupils honorably finishing the four year course are, provided they have made the best of their opportunities, able to enter any college in our state.

Every girl or boy in this township is in some High school district or in non-High school territoiy which amounts to the same thing. And yet, sad to say, very many of our young people never pass the eighth grade and some never reach it.

It was a number of years after the establishment of the first school when the township became a political unit, the first Supervisor was Edward Crane ; Clerk, W. J. Savage ; Assessor, J. Burt; Collector, E. C. Brott; Overseer of the Poor, T. F. P. Wetmore. They also had constables and highway commissioners. It is not all likely that the latter gentlemen were at any time urged to use their influence in favor of hard roads, and if their successors ever have been the good advice given them appears to have been wasted. The justices of the peace were E. Chapman and T. E. Mosher.

E. Crane, A. S. Curtis, G. L. Stephenson, 0. L. Fay, G. E. Fredericks, Hugh Grieg, J. J. Clearwater. There is in the township but one village, Oneida. It was platted in the autumn of 1854 by C. F. Camp, B. T. West and S. V. R. Holmes. It is said that there was no intention on the part of railroad officials to have a station at that point but there were more convincing inducements presented at that time to the needy company chief of which was a gift by C. F. Camp of a plot of ground 500x1,000 feet, on which at this date are the R. R. Station, two grain elevators, various other buildings, and last and greatest is the beauty spot of the village, the little park which is the admiration of all, and as the years come and go the home one and the passing traveler notes the deep green sward, the clumps of shrubbery each in its season blossom tinted, the spreading branches of the elms, maples, chestnuts giving promise of the future forest shade where all can realize it, if they will that our pagan ancesters were not far amiss when they, in the shady woodland's "dim religious light" saw a temple in which they did and we might worship God.

The writer calls Oneida a village, and, as he thinks rightly, so as more befitting our small and sadly diminishing numbers, still it has a city charter, a special charter by the way. However, it is quite doubtful if the makers thereof could today recognize their handiwork. It will interest some to know that Oneida's first school was built in 1855, and its first teacher was Mary Allen West, who later became County Superintendent of Schools, and in such position and in others subsequently filled, she not only raised the standard of scholarship among the teachers but raised the standard of civic righteousness in every community that knew her presence.

The village, as has been noted, has two grain elevators, two banks, the First National and the Anderson State Bank ; we have had and now have a weekly paper, the Oneida News, a Masonic lodge with a large membership, a Modern Woodmen Camp, a Mystic Workers Insurance Company, two Woman's Clubs, which are decidedly helpful in a social and literary way. There is also an organization known as the Oneida-Altona Branch of the Knox County Free Kindergarten, and out of this has grown what may be called an auxiliary. The latter is wholly composed of farm wives and daughters, and has its centre in that intangible, but yet very real, something known as Ontario. The meetings are no doubt beneficial in a social way, but it is the sentiment of the heart materialized by the hands that on many, very many occasions brings cheer to the little homeless ones in the Galesburg Kindergarten.

fected an organization, which so far as now known in a short time as such disappeared. The same denomination again in 1863, probably as a result of the seed sown in 1840, took the necessary steps to found a church in Oneida, and in 1865 one was erected. The building was completely destroyed by a windstorm in 1868. A new church was immediately erected and has been added to, the interior remodeled, the congregation is out of debt, has a resident pastor, but the membership is slowly but constantly diminishing.

In that part of Ontario township which is known as Ontario, paranthetically it may be said, that this section has a social center of its own ; it is really a community within a community, although not nearly so much so as in the days that are gone; yet it still exists, resembling some of the European States, however small. The Ontarioans are staunch believers in autonomy, and this being so the settlers who favored the congregational system of church management came together in 1848 and discussed the feasibility of organizing a church of this denomination, and in 1852 the church which is still in existence, was erected ; there has been no resident pastor for a number of years and though preaching services are occasionally held it would seem to an unbiased onlooker that the end of the Ontario Congregational church is near at hand.

About the same time in the same communuity a certain number, who, from the old eastern home, had brought certain inherited theological ideas which to them seemed essential, decided to build a Baptist church. Such was built ; also a parsonage, and for many years preaching services were regularly held. However, for a considerable time no services were held, the church building was demolished, the parsonage sold, the society disbanded, and the place which knew it, and knew it for its good, will in all probability know it no more.

In 1852, in the neighborhood of what is now Oneida, a Congregational Society was formed. In 1855 the church building, which is still the property of the society, was built, has had an eventful and most useful existence, but the church is pastorless, with slight signs of rejuvenation. There are still members of the church and of the society who hope and look forward to a new life for their beloved church, and for them and for the community as a whole such a consumation is to be wished.

The Oneida Methodist church was built in 1863. It was a live organization to begin with, all its past history proves that it has not lost its pristine enthusiasm, and in keeping with its inner life its material progress is well shown in the new brick edifice which occupies and graces the site of the old wooden structure, and at this writing a new, handsome brick veneered parsonage is nearing completion.

Sometime between 1850 and 1860 a Baptist and a Universalist church were built in Oneida. The latter was destroyed by fire; was rebuilt, but was wrecked by a windstorm. The Baptist church was demolished at the same time and neither was ever rebuilt. There was also a Lutheran organization which at no time had more than thirty members, its existence was brief as its list of members. The Seven Day Adventists had a place of worship for a short time. Church and church goers have disappeared.

There is also on Section 1 a Christian church. It has always been numerically weak and in common with all, or nearly all Ontario churches, it is not only weak, but constantly becoming weaker.

It would appear from the foregoing that at some time there have been in Ontario township ten religious societies, at least eight have had places of worship. At present there are but two congregations having resident pastors - the Methodist and Presbyterian. For this condition there may be many reasons given. It is true that there are a less number of inhabitants in the township, and a smaller percentage of the lesser number are church goers, and again there is a Swedish Lutheran Church in Altona, where a large number of the older people of our township regularly attend public worship. On such occasions they meet with friends of kindred speech and from the pulpit hear the words to memory dear and sing the songs they first heard in their old home, "over there." There is also a church of the same denomination in Wataga and though not so largely attended as that in Altona still quite a number of families from the southern side of Ontario are attendants and members. The same may be said of the extreme north of the township, the people here going to Woodhull.

However, it will have to be admitted that the chief cause of the decadence and disappearance of churches is the fact that a large and increasing number of people never go to any church and another large, and perhaps increasing, number, seldom go. Neither class mentioned can be depended on as a liberal giver to any department of church work, and churches need friends.

However, in the not distant future all three societies, Altona, Wataga, Woodhull, in all their meetings will use and use only the English tongue. In that case will the present average church attendance prevail, or will decadence and, in many instances, disintegration take place?

Yet even if the church as the embodiment of Christianity should largely or wholly pass, would not that something in it which is greater than itself continue to live, ever, ever marching on.