Christian and Rosina Gerber Farmstead

Of those now living, are the following: Joseph Whitaker, Weaubleau; Ephriam Dent, Wheatland; George S. Selvidge, Meade, Kansas; Alanson H. Dent, Osceola; E. Madden Kerr, Elkton; F. Marion Wilson, Hermitage; John W. Campbell, Stockton; John Whitaker, Weaubleau; and J. Houston Childers, Muskogee, Oklahoma. Later:-Since the copy for this book was written Hon. E. Madden Kerr, was again elected to to the Legislature and died during the 1909 session, and Hons. Joseph and John Whitaker have both died in Weaubleau.

Passage source: Wilson's History of Hickory County, published 1909.

These funds were derived from the sale* of 16th Section lands, Swamp lands, and fines and forfeitures. By the Act of Congress admitting the state into the Union every 16th Section in the state was given for school purposes. The proceeds of the sales of these lands are the Township school funds. At a later date Congress gave the state for school purposes all lands in the state where more than half of a forty acres was swampy or frequently overflowed, for school purposes, and these lands were patented by the state to the counties in 1869, and they were sold and the proceeds became a part of the county school fund. Prior to the selection of these lands as Swamp lands many persons had been allowed to enter such lands at the Government Land Offices, and they appeared to be lost to the counties, but in 1882, the county court of this county through George S. Selvidge and WilUam McCracken procured an adjustment of this matter with the Government and the county school fund received $2,327 and about 640 acres in Land Scrip which was located on some of the best tracts of then vacant Government land in this county in 1884, by Patrick Chancellor and F. Marion Wilson, and the lands have now all been sold and the proceeds are now a part of the county school fund. The criminal laws of the state have been fairly well enforced in the county since its organization, and numerous fines have been collected, and with a few collections made on forfeited recognizances all has been turned into the county school fund principal. These funds have all of the time been loaned out to the citizens of the county, for a great many years at 10 per cent interest, but of late years at 8 per cent, that being the highest rate of interest allowed by the law. The interest collected on these funds is distributed annually among the school districts of the county, together with moneys received from the state arising from an appropriation of one-third of the state revenue and interest collected from the state on a loan of the state school fund to the state, and the levies in the several school districts for teachers fund, and all these can only be used in paying teachers in the district schools. The moneys needed for building or incidental purposes must be raised by levies on the taxable property of the several school districts. The county school fund and township school funds in this county now (1907) amount to about $32,000, although quite a large amount has been lost on bad loans, especially as a result of the war of 1861-65 and the burning of Bonds and Mortgages in the Court House that were evidence of loans. The amount apportioned to each child within school age for the year 1906, from all of these sources was on an average among the districts of about $2.10, some school Townships having a Uttle larger Township fund than others. There are sixty-five school districts in the county two of which, Wheatland and Weaubleau, are special, separate districts. These have six directors and a Treasurer, independent of the County Treasurer, who receives and pays out their moneys. Nearly all of these districts have at least six months school in each year, and several of them have seven or eight months. These schools employ over seventy teachers. Of the Christian College at Weaubleau we shall speak when giving a history of that town. We have had no such officer as County Superintendent of PubUc Schools since 1874, and no institution can progress as well without a head-man as with him. But County School Commissioners we have had since 1874, have all been active and enthusiastic school men, and although, only receiving very small pay for their services have been of great benefit to the schools. Since 1874, the law has permitted this or any other county in the state to have a county Superintendent of Schools, if a majority would vote in favor of such a proposition, but a lack of interest and a penny-wise and a pound-fooUsh sentiment have kept the schools in their present situation on that matter.

Passage source: Wilson's History of Hickory County, published 1909.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Montgomery Township - 5,504 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.