Oak Grove Township

Oak Grove Township

Organization.^ - Range eight organized as a school township in 1841 by electing William Smith, Joshua Howell and Williain Smith, Jr., trustees, and range seven in 1849 by electing Thomas Atkinson, John Ferguson and Michael Coffett. One-sixth in Pine and five-sixths in Oak Grove from 1840 to 1851, all a part of Oak Grove from 1851 to 1861, when the present boundaries were fixed. Organized as a civil township in 1852 by

Advisory Boards : 1899, John Crosson, D. A. Messner, Jr., D. H. McConnell; 1900, Wilbur Johnson, D. A. Messner, Jr., John Crosson; 1902, Wilbur Johnson, Arthur Phares, James H. Bell ; 1905, James Howarth and D. J. Fuller, appointed.

Sacred as an original parchment on W'hich are penned words of Holy Writ is an old record of the town meetings of Boston ' in which was written "on the thirteenth of the second month, 1635," the historic declaration : "At a general meeting upon imbliiiiie notice it was geuerallv aj;i(H'd upon that our brother, Philemon Parniost, shall be entreated to become schoolmaster for the teaching and nourtering of the children among us." On the l*;>d of Ajtrii following this declaration the first public school in America was opened. Two hundred and one years had i)assed, when, in an old log cabin which stood where the ''silent city of the dead"' just south of Oxford is now located, Samuel McConnell opened the first school taught in what is now JJenton county. In the winter of 183(5-7 he taught a three months" school, receiving as his pay two dollars for each jiu))!! that attended during the term.

Among the boys and girls who industriously conned their lessons, played "ant"uy over"" and "blackman,"" and washed each other's faces with the snow that fell during that winter of long ago, were some who have lived to see the wonderful educational interest that has developed from its start in that classic cabin. liachel N. Justis (now Mrs. James F. Parker), Isaac W. Lewis and David J., Jasper N., John F. and W. B. McConuell were pupils of that pioneer school. Jackson Buckles and William T'oon were among Samuel ^fcConneirs successors in the old log cabin.

A beautiful diixc-way is the road leading south, from the town of Oxford. .V mile south of town the road divides. A little less than half a mile down the fork of the road leading to the southwest is the Stembel home. Directly' north of this home about one-fourth of a mile and a little to the east, some two Iiundred feet from a small stream, is the place where in the autumn of 1844, eight years after Samuel INfcronnell opened the first school, the friends of education gatliei-ed together and erected the first sclioolhouse built in Benton county. The frame of this building was sawed at the mill of l>asil Justus a few miles northeast of Kainsville; the iio])lar siding and finishing lumber were hauled from a sawmill (hirty miles away on Coal Creek in Fountain county, and the shingles were cut by a shingle-mill neai- where the building was erected. \\'illing hands and the donations of libei-il men soon comjtlctcd the building, and early in thi winter of 1844-r) a school was o}»encd by William lialdwin .McCoimclI, who had attended the first school in the old log cabin. This energetic young man of nineteen taught a term of three months for two dollars for each ])upil attejiding during tlu Iciin. lie did not li(»ard ^'around"" as was the cusr)3

Trustee Oak Grove 1900-1'.Hd5

Sixtv vears had cone l>v when the writer asked the tirst teacher in the first sehoolhonse to sit in front of the old building- which in his vonth he had dedicated to learninji' and tell soniethinji; of his teachings in the long ago. "I taught the be- ginners their A. B. C.'s our of an old blue-backed Elementary Spelling- Book,"- he said, "and the advanced scholars took reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and geography In those days we had no classes or grades. No two scholars had the same kind of books. Several kinds of arithmetics were used and every scholar took his slate and book and ciphered by himself, and was allowed to advance as fast as his ability would let him. The same Avas true in reading, and various kinds of books were used in learning to read, as: 'A History of Washington,' 'Western Adventures,' 'Life of Francis Marion,' and other books of the kind; and one of my scholars with good intentions brought an old law book from which he learned to read.

"I believed in meeting my scholars in a gentlemanly and courteous manner and was verv careful not to show favoritism, no matter what the ability of a scholar might be. In those early days all scholars were looked upon as helpers, one to another, and fellowship and companionship were looked upon as something of valor and worth. It was my custom to be at my post early each morning and have my schoolroom well heated, and the scholars took their seats and commenced their studies as they arrived at school. When there was disobedience or wrong-doing it was looked into by the teacher and the wrong made right by the application of the rod - usually hickory - and this settlement was final. The scholars that were in my first school that are still living are David J., Jasper N., and John F. McConnell; Isaac W. Lewis, Eachel N .Parker and Hannah Adsit."

In the summer of 1841 the voters of township twenty-four, range eight, petitioned for an election at which they could choose three trustees to organize that congressional township for school puri)oses. The election was held on September 3, 1841, and on that day were chosen the first township school oflicers in Benton county. The law gave the township school trustees the authority to divide their congressional township into school districts. The first division of this kind was made on February 1, 1845, and the first school district laid off in the county was the west half of range eight, township twenty-four, now in Grant townshij). On April 14, 1849, this township was again divided, this time into the five districts shown in the picture, which is taken fioni a niajt of the districts, as certified

Joshua Dean, William Wakeman, Hiram Stove, Francis Bovnton and Benjamin F. Coffenberry lived in district five and were the fathers of twenty-five children of school age. No schoolhouse was built in this district before 1S52, but one was luiilt soon afterwards. Previous to that time the children of the district attended school at the Martin home (see Grant) or went to the house built in Oak Grove in 1844. In September, 1849, range seven was organized as a school township and the part of that range now in Oak Grove was divided into districts one and two. District one was three by four miles, containing the north two-thirds of the west half of range seven, and district two contained the six sections south of one. Oxford was laid out in district one in which, in 1850, lived H. T. Howard, John Ferguson, James McClure. Stephen Buckley, I. H. Holton, Samuel Callahan, Aaron Wood, William Higgins, Charles Wakeman, W. T. Rowe, James Crosson, Basil Justus, J. F. Parker, David Cell, James Howarth, E. McConnell and Isaac Templeton, parents or guardians of the fifty-five school children then in the district. In district two then lived Thomas Atkinson, Thomas Owen, Robert Foster, AYilliam Norton, William Cochran, Henry Bowers and Tliomas Lewis, who had thirty-one children of school age within their homes.

Congressional school township organizations were abolished in 1852 and Oak Grove was all included in one school organization. The school section was sold in 1854, 240 acres bringing $6 an acre, eighty acres |7, 160 acres |9, and IGO acres |10, making a total of |5,040 for the entire section. Two new schoolhouses were built this year, one in district one and the other in district five. Four teachers were employed, three males at an average of |26 a ]nonth^ and one female at |12.75 a month. Spelling, reading, writing, geography, arithmetic, grammar, history, algebra, natural philosophy, astronomy and physiology were all taught this year. In the winter of 1854-5 sixty-five days of public school were taught in district one, and thirty days in each of the other districts. A library tax was levied in 1853 and during the next ^ear G45 books Avere placed in the township libraries. The Kolb and Gwin schools were built in 1857. The latter stood one mile south of the site of Atkinson and was burned a few years later. The Kolb school is still standing and a picture of it attracted much attention at the St. Louis Fair. In 1857-8 male teachers received |37.50 and females $16.G3 a month. Oak Grove was established in its present form in 18G1 with real estate valued at |1G0,304, improvements |G5,988, and personal property |91,754. L. H. Bonnell, J. F. McConnell, Stephen Cahow, Thomas Torrence, Stephen Adsit, J. D. Odle, Jasper Teiiijdeton, William Marvin, Artie Wilmot and William Bartlett taught in the early sixties.

The latter taught in the Kolb school and in this school W. Lee Bartlett of Ambia received his entire school education. Mr. Bartlett held a spelling school at which some boys became so boisterous that he said they would be whipped if they conducted themselves so badly at the next spelling. They came again and started trouble when "Uncle'' John Miller, then living in the district, arose and said : "Mr. Bartlett, I want to help you give these boys what you i)romised them the other night." It is needless to say the boys at once became anxious to behave themselves. Edgar Hibbs, Isaac S. Wade, S. H. I*ayne, Mrs. A. J. Carnahan and Alonzo D. Sleeper taught in 18()G-7. The latter taught the Runner school, enrolling sixtyseven pupils. The ])atrons subscribed two months' salary and continued his school until the last of May, 18(37. Z. M. Thomas, D. R. SeAvell, Emma Wattles, S. J. Richardson, Elizabeth Bazil and J. W. McConnell taught in 18G8-9. The first local township tuition tax was levied by John Crosson in 1873. The amount collected the first year was |341.35, a per capita of about |1.27 for each of the 209 children enumerated that year. Mattie Talmage taught the Runner school in 1881-2, and had the honor of graduating Ada Whinery, the first common school graduate in Oak Grove, and one of the first four graduates in the county. There are 890 books in the school libraries of the township, many of them purchased with funds raised at school socials. Two new schoolhouses have recently been built in the township, one of them, a fine brick at Atkinson, has just been completed by Mr. Roberts, who is taking a deep interest in the schools of his township. In late years many of the graduates of Oak Grove have entered the Oxford high school and graduated from that institution, and some of them have entered college. A fine school spirit prevails and the motto of all who live in the township where the historv of Education in Benton Countv was

Organization - Range six organized as a school townshi]) in Sei)tember, 1849, with John Sheetz, Isaac H. Wright and William R. Johnson trustees. All a ])art of Pine from 1840 until December, 18GG, wlien ])resent boundaries were completed. Organized as a civil township in 1853 by electing William Haw- kins, lOlijali Dawson and liolx-rl Hawkins IvuhU'.c.h. 'J'licir successors liavci been as follows: 1854, -Janx'S ICnicrHoii ; 1850, iJcnjaniin Hawkins, iiobcrt. Hawkins; 1858, Isaac IJowycr; 1859, James iOincison; 18<)(), Isaac Uowycr; 18<J.'', .ianiCK T. ClenuMit; lS(i7, Jonatlian Lainboiii ; 18(58, .John MoiriH; 1872, J. JNI. Kodinan; 1874, .Jacob Strickler; 1870, Carver Staniicid; 1880, Wancn II. Slicctz; 1884, W. S. Tnrvey; 18S8, .John Timmons; 18!)4, .John K. Hawkins, resigned .March. ls!M». (Jeorge N. Norwood ai>|»ointed; IIJOO, (ieorj;(' X. Norwood, resigned in Jannary, IDO:'), 1. N. Atkinson aj)|toint(*(I ; .January 1, liJ05, I. Newton Atkinson.

"The groves were God's first temples,'' and so were they the sites of at least the first three public temples of learning in Benton countv. It is believed that a school was taught in an abandoned cabin in Pine township as early as 1843, possibly earlier. A short distance east of Aydelott the road turns south. Following this road to the first one turning east and then going a short distance in that direction, the traveler may see otf to the left a little knoll once covered with a grove in which Elias Smith, Matthew Terwilliger, Henry Oungst, James Miller. James Denton, Amos White, John Sheetz and Thomas and Joshua Timmons gathered one morning in the autumn of 1845 and began the erection of the first schoolhouse built in Pine township. After completing their work these learning-loving pioneers employed Hartly T. Howard to teach the first school in the new log schoolhouse. A Mr. Hill and Jacob and James Morehouse were other teachers of this school, an.d James W. Hawkins of Oxford, Mrs. Lizzie McGinnis of Otterbeiu, Mrs. Nancy Hawkins of West Lafayette, and ;Mr. Frederick Sheetz of Fowler were pupils of the first school taught in this cabin. Mr. Howard was a teacher in many of the early schools in the county; Mr. Hill is remembered "for the gads he used," and the Morehouses as kindly-dispositioned teachers.

inoriiiiig, 18ns oi* l.S.")!), Ilic tcjidicr called im liim I'oi- help. The ])iij»ils, aboiil Un-iy in iiiiinhci-, li;i(J all ai iiv(;d early and barred young Chancel loi- on I l»y faHt(?ning the door and windows. He had secured a lioise hlaidiet, a board, and a lonj^ pole, and wanted Mr. Stevenson 1o help him to clinih t(j Ihe roof of the cabin. As soon as he got on the roof lie laid tin; board on top of the chimney and spread the blanket over it. The eflfeet was magical. The windows Jlew ojien and th(; smoke-strangled jtupils rushed to them for fi-esh air. The teacher came down and was let in at a window. Once inside, he was (juickly seized, securely bound^ and then carried to a small stream nearby, where the ice was soon (;ut and preparations made to "duck" him. Then he yielded, promising to treat, and was unbound. But the joke proved to be on the pupils. The teacher had purchased a treat of candy and nuts several days before, but afterwards overheard the pupils talking about what they intended to do to comijcl him to treat them. Entering into the spirit of the times, he decided to let them carry out their plans and then surprise them. After he had told them all this, and they were eating the sweetmeats he had provided, a wit remarked that he guessed "this school hez et a heap uv smoke fer nothin'.'"

In 1849 range six was organized for school purposes and a resident wrote: "There are fifty-nine persons in the district between the ages of five and twenty-one entitled to school privileges. There is no schoolhouse in the district, but as heretofore and until a house is built, we will send to a schoolhouse built by the neighborhood." The house was the cabin of 1845. Three years later George Myers, Lawrence Sheetz, John Osborne, William Farly, Henry Oungst, James P. Miller, William R. Johnson, John Sheetz, Isaac H. Wright, Charlotte Terwillinger, William Strain, Eobert Hawkins, Margaret Wells, Ann Smith, Daniel Mills, Thomas Tally, Elizabeth Brittenham. Margaret Wells, John Hawkins, Stansberry and John Osborne, and Thomas Timmons were living in the district and the enumeration had increased to sixty-four, but no schoolhouse had been built. Though in 1850 Carey A. Eastburn, and soon afterwards others, settled in the west part of the township, the burdens of early pioneer life were too heavy to permit the erection of another building, and the old cabin remained the home of the only school in Pine until about ISGO. Interest on the common school fund of the State, and State school tax. provided the

of a teacher for a three months' term in the winter at |1.37i/'2 per day. Of the thirty-two boys and forty-two girls then in the township, nearly all attended this school.

In 1859 or 18G0 a new frame house was built about threefourths of a mile south of the cabin, which was then abandoned. Near the same time another house, known as the Benjamin

Hawkins school, was built a mile east and about half a mile north of the David Eastburn home. A third building, known as the Sickler school, was erected in 1860, not far from the present residence of John K. Hawkins. The teachers in these three schools were, in 1860-1, Mary Jones, J. Taylor and E. A. Hann; and in 1861-2, Lewis Vota, Sane Freeman and John

W'licn I'inc was j^ivcn ils in-cscnl I'miiii I Ik; roal ontaUt was valued al; .|l.'n,7()2, iinjtrovcincnlH |18,:{.''><;. and jhthoiiuI properly |()4,ir)7. The cnuincralion was 1 Mi, incrcasiiij^ to 187 in 1871. In 1871-2 tlic school (ci-m was lilty-lwo days, Ihe total onrollment !.''>.'>, and the average* daily altendancc; in the five schools then taught lOOi/j. The average daily wages paid the teachers was 11.52, and the total value of school j)roperty was |2,4()(). The live teachers were Ui)toii Matthews, Maria Aldrich, Clara lOugler, G. W. Keager and I)i-. .1. M. liodnian. The doctor became trustee in 1872 and hired for his teachers E H. Young, D. W. Osborne, Henry Cox, John U. Mai thews and Maggie Young, lie moved the Robert Hawkins school to the site of the Kodmau school, and levied the lirst local tuition tax paid in Pine township, amounting to |222. Previous to this time a schoolhouse had been built half a mile north of where the Connerton school now stands, and another near the creek about a mile south of Aydelott. Since then the Euun-son school has taken the place of the latter, and the Aydelott school has become the successor of the house that took the place of the old cabin. The Travis school was built about 1870. The Emerson and Kunner schools were built by Carver Stanfield in 1877, and the Bowers school was established by Mr. Norwood in 101)2.

The school lands in Pine were sold on April 19, 1875. One eighty brought |S an acre; one |10; two |12; three §14. and one flC), making a total of |S,000 received for the whole section. In 1882 W. 13. Slieetz placed in the schools of Pine the first slate blackboards used in Benton county. Avis Rodman (Miller) and Austin Travis won the honor of being the first graduates in Pine,, in 1883. The latter afterwards taught in the township for many years. Principally because of the continued shortness of its school terms, IMne township did not have a class large enough to hold a separate commencement until the close of the school year of l!)(Kv4. The first commencement class in Pine, as shown in the illustration, and the class of 190."), made such an impression on the jiatrons of Pine that Mr. Atkinson, who had increased the length of the school year from six to seven months, has been encouraued to increase the term to eight months, and give the boys and girls of Pine common

There are 645 books in the school libraries of Pine, about all of Avhich have been purchased with money raised bv school socials. Though an excellent school spirit now exists in Pine^ it is still rising, and the time is probably not far distant when a graded school will be built in the township. What a wonderful evidence of progress it would be if some of the pioneers that attended school in the old cabin should live to hear the morning bell call their grandchildren to high school work in the Pine township graded school.