Green County, Wisconsin - Chapter 38: City of Monroe, 1884 (part 2 of 3)

The officers elect were duly installed, and the council was declared legally instituted, and possessing the powers of a subordinate council of the Royal Arcanum under the jurisdiction of the grand council of the State of Wisconsin. Brothers S. E. Gardner, Charles Ball and William Zilner were elected trustees. Dr. N. A. Loofbourow was elected local examiner, or examining physician, which responsible position he has filled with great credit to himself and advantage to the council ever since. From the very day of its birth, this local council at Monroe, has prospered; the more its members know of it, the more they are attached to it; perhaps it is enough to say, the ladies regard it with high favor; well they may, for it aims at the welfare, and also at the well-being of their infant and dependent children. Although Perseverance Council has met with no loss by death among its members, it has contributed with a willing grace to emancipate 940 bereaved homes from immediate want. The council cares for its own sick; helps the families of sick or disabled brothers, when necessary; looks after the moral welfare of its members also. At the close of the year, Dec. 31, 1881, Bro. A. F. Glascott was elected regent, and Bros, W. S. Davenport and R. C. Whitcomb were re-elected to their respective offices; Bro. J. J. Tschudy, Jr., was elected collector. Pasl Regent, N. C. Twining, was sent as representative to grand council held at Milwaukee; Sr. Past Regent, A. C. Stuntz was chosen as alternate; both of whom were in attendance at the grand council. Several members were added during: the years 1881 and 1882 to the chartered list. The close of the year Dec. 31, 1882, brought but little change except increased membershii), and a steady growth of fraternal feeling. Bro. W. S. Davenport was elected regent, and Bro. N. C. Twining, secretary for the year of 1883. The council sent as its representatives to grand council this year, held as before, Bro, N. C. Twining and A. F. Glascott, both of whom attended the session in Milwaukee, For the year, 1884, the officers are as follows: N, C. Twining, regent; A. C, Stuntz, vice regent; W. S. Davenport, past regent; Ferd Grunert, secretary; D. S. Young, orator; James Faubell, guide; B. T. Hoyland, chaplain; J, J. Tschudy, collector; R, C, Whitcomb, treasurer; Samuel Schuler, Jr., warden; Charles Ball, sentinel; N. A, Loofbourow, M, D. examiner; Jacob Steinman, Robert Start and J. K, Symonds, trustees. The representatives to the grand council held at Oshkosh, were Bro, A. F. Glascott; Bro, W, S, Davenport, alternate.

Educational

In the spring of 1866 the Union school district No. 1, of the village of Monroe, was organized, and the first election was held July 9, of that year. The following board of education was chosen: Director, E. E. Bryant; clerk, C. S. Foster; treasurer, B. Dunwiddie ; assist- ant directors, J. V. Richardson, H. Medberry, George H. King and E. T. Gardner. The first set of teachers employed by this board was composed of the following named : Miss Churchill, Mrs. Farnham, Miss Kitten, Miss Salley, Miss Fenton, Miss McFarland, Miss Matthews, Miss Prescott, Miss Bently and Miss McWade.

A special meeting of the electors of district No. 1, village of Monroe, Wis., was held March 16, 1871, at which $15,000 was voted to build a school house. Shortly afterward the contract was let to J. M. Hinkley for $14,977. By the time the building was finished it had overrun this amount considerably.

At a school meeting held at the center school house on June 12, 1882, it was voted that a new school house be erected on the north side, to cost not more than $15,000. In February, 1883, the contract of building was let to Jacob Stimmon, for $12,100. The building was at once commenced and was finished in 1884. .^..

God has destined man to be the prime agent on earth, to reign by means of the arts, and, as it were, to complete His work, by subduing, regulating, and co-operating with the powers of nature, by favoring the development of the various organizations, and by transforming, combining, and appropriating its productions to a multitude of uses. He has inspired this superior agent, therefore, with an unbounded desire for action ; exciting him to both internal and external activity, the former consisting in the exertion of the will, the latter, in the full play of the physical organization. From these two sources of action, properly directed, may spring abundant external fruits, and the most delightful internal state. If, on the contrary, this fundamental, imperious desire is not satisfied, if due precaution is not taken, or should it be satisfied blindly, we may fear all kinds of destruction and disorder without and within, every species of trouble, suffering, error.

The rightly directed exercise of activity is also the essential condition of the development of the faculties of the mind and heart ; it is necessary that it should mark the progress, prepare their application, and preserve habitual harmony among them. It is to the health of the soul, what activity is to the health of the body. It is of a good and wise civil government to prepare the means in the external world, for individual activity to take its regular course, and to divide the labor of life thus, even before those who are to perform it, are born.

The wisdom of such a government will consist, especially, in leaving all paths free ; in removing obstacles and extending impartial protection to all men, not only living, but men of the future. Government not only exhibits marks of wisdom in building for the present, but in laying a broad and liberal foundation for the ages yet to come.

It is also the part of a good government to help its citizens, to regulate the activity of each individual, by pointing out the most useful career, by keeping him in it, and ordering the employment of all his faculties, in a manner the most likely to make him pass through this career profitably and with honor. Hence all legislation designed to aid in this direction, must be founded upon experience, and woven for the future. We cannot expect to mould the character of the adult, all we can do is to direct his energies. But the mind of the youth presents itself, susceptible of most perfect and lasting impressions; it is upon this mind, like wax, clay, or putty, that we are to exercise our plastic art. A mind thus equipped with nought but God-gifted susceptibilities, is relegated to us with all the possibilities of the future before it. Recreant, indeed, would we be, were we deaf to its demands and necessities. WIkmi the child is born, he is surrounded by circumstances not of his own creation, often alien and repugnant to his tastes; he is often found to err from lack of proper guidance during his youthful days. One of the greatest and most weighty duties of any government,whetherNational, State or family, is to provide for the proper education of its future citizens; and there are but two levers in the hands of the government with which to accomplish this successfully: the educated public, and the educated parent. There is still another and most potent influence - the Church. But this is not an instrument or means in the liands of the government; individuals and communities must direct its energies, according to their various wants and necessities, while the general government is left to adjust and administer the functions of government that apply to the training of intellect and the more general questions of moral action. There is not a little truth in tlie old saying that "most of the human passions are only the overflowing of an activity which has mistaken its true course." In this sense, and in this only, "the wicked man is a strong child;" or in other words, wickedness is a power unable to regulate, because it is ignorant of itself.

In the great trust bequeathed to the government, is the all important duty to teach its subjects self control which prevents and restrains all aberrations, merely products of the mind's excrescenses. It prepares for the study of self; we must be self-collected, before we can study ourselves; we must learn to measure our strength, before rushing upon the arena; we must employ all the authority we can obtain over ourselves, in order to oblige our heart to reform its desires, and our understanding, its judgment. A mind well-balanced, a nature rightly expanded, a culture carefully and systematically obtained, leads us to repress those foolish inclinations which seek the impossible; to accommodate ourselves to the sometimes hard and severe exigencies of reality; to conquer the difticulties whicli can be overcome, how hard soever tliey may be; to stop before those which are insurmountable; and to rise up courageously after falling into mistakes. It regulates tlie action

Beside choice and unity of purpose, two special conditions are necessary to prevent activity from being destructive, and to make it fruitful; these are perseverance and method, which, wlien united, compose conduct; but which, even separate, are rarely well observed, and whose union is rarer still.

A good internal government, that is, self control, contributes very much to fulfill these conditions. The child left to grow up subject only to his own will and inclinations, his mind untrained, unpruned, has his career marked out more by the result of chance and circumstance, than by cultured calculation; his most mature deliberations are not guided by an intelligent will, although they are to exert a most important influence over his destiny; he may be likened to the seaman guiding his bark through the trackless ocean, trusting to an imperfect compass. He then moves on, not knowing whether the rocks of Scilly, the Chaiygbdis or Maelstrom, shall seal his fate! He cannot resist any occasion that solicits him. He does not even choose, but merely accepts. He alone chooses, who commands; but he can only command himself, not events.

When the child grows up, not knowing what circumstances depend upon himself, and what absolutely resist him, he must struggle against the inevitable, and consequently neglect the possible. He is unable to create a condition conformable to his character, nor can he conform his character to inevitable conditions among which he must, especially, include those arising from social institutions and conventional arrangements. Hence proceed so many false and incomplete situations in the world, and the uneasiness which is tiie legitimate consequence of them; and hence constraint, uncertainty, confusion and suffering, in the exercise of activity. It will be seen that a man's action thus guided by chance, whose every act is determined by an uneducated mind> is unconnected, and is not constructed from parts of the same plan; it has no relation to anything. His life is not formed of a single tissue, but is composed of inlaid work, joined, and not woven together.

On the other hand, where all human action is energized by the free act of an intelligent will, unity of purpose economizes the faculties, redoubles their energy by concentrating them, and makes them conspire together to lend each other mutual aid. But there can be this unity only where there is law which assigns and preserves to each thing its rank; in society, this is administered by public authority; in the arts, by genius; by reason, in the sciences, and in the conduct of life, by self control; but by self control, only so far as it is the minister of virtue.

Again : Education is the handmaid of inspiration, which makes men of talent, while experience, men of skill ; the first conceive, the second execute. These observations do not apply merely to works of art, and the management of affairs ; they apply equally to the general plan of our conduct, in which our morality and happiness are involved. Here the application seems less evident ; manifestly the State should have nothing to do with the religious ti-aining of its youth, only so far as a common and highly acceptable code of morals is concerned ; and yet the child must be cared for to a greater degree than the parent or guardian is able to reach, or else that fabric of education founded by our fathers, thougli broad, philanthropic and intensive, must yield to the inevitable and fail of its most important result, namely, to educate the child wholly, symmetrically. Is it not a deplorable fact, that those minds whom nature has endowed with eminent power, and treated with especial favor, and which at the same time have grown up without training, are lamentably deficient in perseverance ? We can almost assert that perseverance is a compensation granted to mediocrity. Not unfrequently, distinguished minds have sentiments superior to their station, and views more extensive than the sphere in which they are placed. They contain mysterious things within themselves, for which they cannot account, and which being developed, modify their dispositions. Let nature's sunshine of genius enter the soul of the uneducated child, let him grow to man's estate, and he will be exposed to be diverted from, and to mistake, the course which is suitable for him and to be dissatisfied with whatever he has begun, he seems to struggle with destiny; nature is full of problems of vast promise, but he has no key to their solution. Moreover, he is unable to guide himself by his experience, for it has been nothing but disaster, disappointment he cannot penetrate into unexplored regions, as they rise higher and higher, he can find no well beaten track, he gets entangled in the midst of trackless, wild woods, and yawning precipices, he is always forced to retrace every advance, to abandon every enterprise, however munificently it may reward his educated brother. He is thus driven to abandon all that his sentient soul prompts ; moved by his lieterogeneous impulses, he is drifted by cruel, luckless, hapless chance.

Our Public School System

If the reader has gone with tlie writer carefully over the preceding pages, he will now, of his own accord, both ask and answer the following momentous question : Were not our fathers, who framed and so exactly perfected our school system, fully aware of their responsibility to the children of the whole country?

Our condition in life furnishes us the most important part of the circumstances which educate us, and influence our character more than all the lessons of our masters; and though independent of our will in some respects, yet it is modified by our co-operation, and even by the manner in which we resign ourselves to what is inevitable. Fully aware of this, our fathers laid the foundations of the common school system, not for their own day, not to meet fully all the requirements and necessities of the youth of their time, but for the future, more for the millions of unborn, than for those already environed by the old system, no system At birth, each child is heir to these influences cast about it by the school system. We can no longer say the conditions environing the child are "hard." But, on the contrary, gentle in their influences, powerful in their molding effects.

We proudly point to our school system as an heir-loom to our children, and as the conditions that surround us in our youth, and those that are to surround us during our development and march to manhood, really have more to do with our moral and social worth, in shaping our destiny in life, we submit our children, the little men and wom,en of our Nation, to these most benign influences cast about them by the public school system.

We cannot claim for the framers of our State constitution greater dignity, deeper penetration of thought, nor broader motives, nor still more comprehensive ideas, than have guided other legislators; they did most assuredly make some invaluable provisions, the full fruition of which have scarcely begun to be realized. The common district school, the immediate product of the constitutional provisions, has flourished to abundant prosperity. The public school has also reached a highly advanced state of perfection. The normal school, a most powerful and influential factor in our system of education, has reached proportions potent for usefulness, little suspected by its founders.

At first, to educate the youth was thought to be suflicient; but now, a still greater care rests upon our system of public instruction, the especial education of our educators. The experience is not a limited one, that to make a Nation strong, enduring and prosperous, its people must be educated. Education is the only requisite that many Nations lack to fit them for freedom.

May we not say that the schools and universities of the great German empire are the chief bulwarks of her strength, the strong arm of her national liberties? On the other hand, the manifest weakness of some other continental Nations of Europe is directly attributable to the ignorance of the laboring classes.

We need intelligence, and that generally diffused to keep watch and ward over our liberties. May we not be entitled to speak still plainer - this education must he a popular one.

No Nation can long be safe that educates the aristocracy only; the majority cannot, nor will it long be governed by the minority; the people must all be elevated alike; education begets love of freedom, and consequent independence. An educated Nation cannot be bound by chains of servitude, bonds and fetters. Oppressive laws and edicts, whether of Church or State, must crumble and fade in the presence of a rightly educated people. The real aristocracy, if aristocracy there be, is the whole people. Where a whole people is intelligent,if guided by no higher motive than local self-interest they will maintain their freedom against usurpers of all kinds, whether ambitious rulers or base demagogues. A liberal education, such as is now afforded by our school system, makes all positions of honor in our land possible and attainable; the poorest, humblest subject, be he honest, industrious, intelligent, sees all the avenues to honor, preferment and distinction open up before him like measureless vistas, and along the line of their path he sees the full fruition of his every thought, wish, ambition. A capital of a common school education secures to each citizen the possibilities and extreme probabilities of an honorable and successful career through life; each one becomes the architect of his own fortune.

So great and manifold are the blessings bestowed through the agency of the district school, that the poet has set his praises and degree of usefulness in not very ungraceful trochees:

"The common school, oh, let ks light, Shine through our country's story; Here lies her health, her wealth, her might. Here rests her future glory."

Perhaps one of the wisest provisions made and provided in the statute is that one forbiding all teaching of a sectarian character. We may dismiss the matter without offense to any one by simply saying, both Church and State thrive better when separate, and. in a strict sense, independent of each other; hence, being a mixed people, professing the various beliefs religiously, we cannot allow any one, much less all the dogmas of belief to be given to our youth at the expense of the State. Here, too, our national poet comes forward in sweet trochees, as before, and sings of Church and State both free, but schools all the more prosperous and effective for good:

We have always felt that the spirit which directed the founders of the common school system was nothing less than that of inspiration, for certainly no man could have measured the extent of the consequent blessing, much less could he have measured the consequence of such broad and philanthropic principles.

It being thoroughly democratic, it fell upon and amongst the masses like the genial rays of the glorious sun, long detained by heavy murk}^ clouds, upon flower, shrub and tree. Perhaps the law was but a nucleus of the glorious system now in full operation throughout the length and breadth of our land. The beginnings were like flashes of lightning, low in the horizon, ominous, but for good, presaging not evil to the crops and fruits of the husbandman, but harbingers of the advent of an era pre-eminently revolutionary, reformatory.

The relation of our schools and our school system, to our native land, may be compared with the relation that the central sun sustains to the system of planets that revolve about him, although at times he exhibits spots, enormous, expansive ; and when viewed with a powerful glass, they cause terror even to astronomers, yet closing up, seems to glow with increased brilliancy, giving additional warmth, imparting new life to all planets and their inhabitants.

The school system may exhibit some weakness, may contain some points antagonistic ; yet, when put in working order, like the fire of the forge, glowing all the brighter. After receiving its baptism of water from the handfi of the smith, it kindles with an increasing brilliancy, bringing life, joy, intellectual vigor, and consequent mental improvement to the rising generation.

There is no Nation on the earth that can, for a moment, compare with our country, in this respect. England is fifty years our junior in school work; France has scarcely begun the great work; CJermany, although many educators are extolling her, giving to her precedence in all educational matters, is still far behind us. Our free schools are freer, better, more advanced, more thorough than hers. Her free schools are lacking in system, direction, thoroughness, especially in discipline. More attention is given in Germany to the physical, doing less to the menial discipline, more to what are called common branches, less to the fundamental principles that underlie and make these common school branches possible. The works being translated from the German, treating of educational work, contain mostly methods used by American teachers for the last fifty years, not essentially nevf, although they may contain .some original points. The same remarks may also be applied to works translated from other languages. The scientific works of the German scholars are amongst the foremost, in fact they are the very best within the reach of our higher schools. We still look to the works of our own educators for positive helps in advancing the great cause of education, and spreading broadcast throughout the land, intelligence.

We have settled beyond all question that the public school system of education furnishes but one plane for a social and a political status; it provides for no castes, no discrimination, no exception, no aristocracy. Every post of honor from the rail splitter, from the canal boy to the Presidency, is open for competition to all our citizens. Honesty, energy, virtue are alone needed to increase the probabilities of success, and, at the same time,dirainish the possibilities of defeat. Our youth are encouraged by the powerful incentive of their seniors rising to places of honor and profit through the blessings wrought by a common school training. The fact that children are but little men and women, is a sufiicient guaranty that the affairs of State and society of the near future, will be the affairs of the little men and women of to-day; it is also a further assurance to the youth that there is an intrinsic value in the education furnished by our common schools, for with it and by it, they will be enabled to express thoughts and feelings in terse Anglo-Saxon that shall move millions to arms in defense of liberty, and turn to flight the foe of freedom and progress. The great question of how quantity and quality of matter is to be given to our schools was, and still continues, in certain phases, to be a matter of discussion. Although we say still continues to be, yet, we at the same time admit "that the three R's" are as well established in the minds of the people, as constituting the school course as is the school course itself. Wherever a further advance has been made it has been done by the aggressiveness of law makers and law breakers,f or most assuredly nothing less than "the three R's" will ever be tolerated in our school system.

In this respect our' teachers and school officers are quite active; while the people are more conservative, resisting almost to stubbornness, any advancement or improvement in the matter and method of school work.

We have found by experience as teachers, that an advance unsanctioned by the people, is really no advance, but simply a wave to be hurled back with deadening effect upon the line of true advantage. Whenever and wherever local legislation is needed, we can expect it only from those who have reaped the advantages of a more liberal culture than is obtained from the provisions in the general statutes. The last remark must not be understood in its absolute sense; for, while the statute is overexplicit in defining what shall he taught in the district school, it also empowers the district board to form and carry on a school of higher grade than the common district school, whenever and wherever it may become necessary ; hence our public graded, and our free high schools, greater boons than which do not exist.

Thb Monroe Public Schools

As long ago as 1858, the citizens of Monroe felt that the time had come to take advantage of this special provision and establish a public school for the more perfect training of its youth.

To trace the history of the public schools of Monroe, would require more space and more time than we can command. Many of the noble pioneers who pushed their thoughts to a full expression in the early school work, have passed away, leaving their thoughts and labors so thoroughly enstamped upon methods, and so stereotyped in local legislation, that they are no less bright and shining lights to-day than a quarter of a century ago in school matters. We hold them in grateful recollection, although the schoolraam's rap on the window is hushed forever, the master's ferule, unused, the "deestrict board" disbanded, yet the schoolmam's bell, the master's firm and persuasive voice, the board of education's prompt and decisive action are all the more prolific in conse quence of their succession, for never did pioneers do more thorough work; work that was calculated to reach down and affect posterity, than those who immediately preceded us. They nshered in and fought through the aggressive period. Like the Revolutionary Fathers, they have left us their declaration on our statute books, and in the exemplifications to be found traditionary, or fresh in the minds of octagenarians.

After establishing sites for, and building several school houses in Monroe, and maintaining schools for several years in the "wee village," the authorities finally bought the "seminary" which gave to the school a more definite existence and abiding place. This was in 1857 or 1858. The purchase of this building was followed by the building of the "South School Building" on the site of the present High School Building in 1863, and 1864, a very good frame or wooden building and quite commodious in its way. The fire- fiend very soon did its work, by reducing this new school building to ashes. This was in 1870, and many a tale of heroism is related of the teacher, and pupils, in decamping from the would be crematory; all escaped, we believe, without accident. One of the older boys says: "I went up into the high school room fifteen or twenty minutes after all had been so miraculously snatched from their impending fate, and got tny hooks, and was surprised to find that there was but little danger yet." A new, commodious, substantial white brick building was immediately designed and built upon the very spot, three stories high, containing five rooms, and conveniencies that are now transformed into four recitation rooms. The new building was dedicated and opened to the public, by due ceremonies, in 1871, and designated as the "High School Building." The school building known as the "South School," was built in 1859, and contains two school rooms and two recitation rooms. The building will accommodate 130 pupils, providing that there are not over fifty for the upper room. Teachers have a faculty of packing little folks, that is well nigh marvelous, placing from three to five in a seat, when it would be death to cats to pack more than two in such close proximity. It has ever been the plan and purpose of the board of education, and the corps of teachers of the public schools of Monroe, to provide carefully for the children, by anticipating every want and need, as to room and convenience. The little folks are not kept in school all day, they are dismissed at 10:40 a. m., and 3 p. m., thus freeing them from the restraint and crowded condition of the school room. As teachers, we have found that it brings blessings in a two fold way; the children advance faster as a-b-c-d-arians and second, the teacher has more leisure to bestow her undivided attention upon the older pupils under her charge. The grading of the school has been a rhatter of study by both teacher and board of education for years. We can safely say, the present state of perfection has been reached through these two agencies, and also by advisory aid from the best school talent in the State.

In no case has a grade been established without due reference to the capacity of the children to be thus classified. In every case where a grading has been found inadequate, it has been immediately supplanted by one meeting the wants, and satisfying the conditions of environment; the whole system being based upon the lowest grade of minds, and thence expanding toward the plane of highest attainment. The course of study adopted for use in the different department is a very liberal one, embracing in its entire compass, all contemplated by the statutes, distributed through ten grades, besides the high school. In contemplating the course in all its bearings, the one thought pervaded the whole: That in no state of the child's advancement could he be entirely outside of the three and most natural divisions of any well regulated school course: Primary, intermediate and grammar. The primary course is made to include every species of instruction presentable to a child; such as primary numbers, the elements of reading including First Reader, an almost exbaustless fund of general information which may be very appropriately styled miscellaneous. This course of primary instruction is well calculated to induct the child into not only the school room, and school methods, but to wean him somewhat from his home, to engage his attention, thus training his faculties in a pleasant way, and rescuing him from the maelstrom of tricks by keeping him agreeably employed. The length of time given to this part of the course depends altogether upon the child's capacity and thoroughness; from three to four years may be very profitably spent in opening up to the child the great field, and vast expanse before him. In no case is a child ever detained beyond the period that his advancement indicates; there is no waiting for his class. In the intermediate course is embraced a more definite amount of labor, being much better defined, both as to matter and method. Here the child begins to think and work out by processes of his own the little problems thrown in his way. The Second and Third Reader employ his time devoted to reading written spelling, as well as oral, makes him a more perfect speller in his own language; the field opened up to him in the primary room is broadened and extended in all directions, thus increasing the horizon of his school experience. Very simple, yet correct, analyses in mental arithmetic are here introduced and insisted upon, until the little tyro becomes quite a reasoner. Geography, in its simplest form, dooryard, school-yard and ho7ne geography, as we term it, is presented to the child without text book. The reading, and in fact every lesson imparted, is more a language lesson than a reading lesson, in the old acceptation of the term. Writing is taught more to enable the child to secure a good legible, rather than an artistic hand. Two years are usually required to prepare the intermediate pupil for grammar work. Here is the great battle ground of our school course. We lose more pupils from our schools while passing over the grammar course, than during any other stage of school work. The boys and girls have now reached an age when their physical labor is of some advantage to the home force in the struggle for bread and butter; hence many, too many, of our children are withdrawn from our schools and their advantages, and cast upon society - to toil in comparative darkness all their life, regretting the necessity, and deploring the circumstances that called them from their studies and consigned them to a life of toil long before their tender age and development would warrant. The course in the grammar room or rooms is largely a language course; the pupil is taught arithmetic and geography by means of a text book, although the intrinsic value of the instruction imparted to the pupils, emanates from the teacher herself, and is given to the pupil by means ot blackboard and oral instruction. A careful, conscientious, intelligent teacher, if she be ingenious, is of far greater value to a school than many text books. The drill that the grammar teachers are enabled to give their pupils cannot be measured by words. It is discernible in their degree of advancement. Four years are usually given to grammar work, although five are none too much; in most cases we find the time not sufficient; not that the amount set apart for the time is too great, but that the mind of the child has not developed sufficiently to allow him to be advanced to higher work. The child should do efficient work in all the studies enumerated in the statutes before he is put at higher work. The time required by ordinary minds to accomplish the course is ten or twelve years. This includes all work from abc's through grammar room, but the most of our pupils reach the high school at about the age of twelve years, and are thus enabled to graduate from high school at sixteen; but few remain until they are eighteen.

the children and thus preventing mental growth, and we may add also that we are as often told that we are holding the children back, thus preventing, or rather stultifying growth. We think, on the whole, the first class do not weigh well the entire course, each part sustaining certain dependencies, and the whole mutual relations, so that unless the parts be regarded, there can be no whole. While the second class, having no idea of the foundation lying at the base of the whole fabric, would rush the children over the course, regarding it as a mere tramway of slats or warp, and no filling, which is indeed the most important part of the whole structure.

Could book-keeping and United States history be added to our grammar work, the graduate from the grammar course might be regarded as well fitted for his duties as a citizen. But these studies demand a higher degree of cultivation than the grammar pupil can possibly attain to. It would require six years of unremitting toil for him to reach the modes of thought and powers of expression necessary to master history, accounts and civil government. These studies most emphatically constitute a part of the high school course.

It has seemed at times almost advisable to establish a course of two years between the grammar and high school, for such as desire to take advantage of its provisions. Why it is not generally done we are not able to say; it has some very serious objections, known only to teachers of considerable experience. Under these circumstances we must accept the situation, and trim our coui'se accordingly. This real hiatus between grammar and high school must be bridged over by what is known asjirst year in high school.

It will be seen by reference to our high school course, below, that the first year of the course is given to grammar, geography, arithmetic, reading and spelling, composition once a month, physical geography and algebra.

However much this first year's course may be applauded, it has some very serious defects; it does not represent, fully, grammar work, while it fails of securing to the pupils genuine high school work.

Spelling, as a class exercise or drill, should have been finished long before this stage of the pupil's work. Spelling from a spelling book has been very justly condemned by all ripe educators; it does not present to the child either spoken or written language, but a garbled, disintegrated, meaningless, monotonous series of lists of words by far the greatest number of which can never enter the child's vocabulary for his busy, active, business life. Would it not be better to require the pupil to both commit the definitions of the principal words in use, and at the same time employ them to express his thoughts on paper, instead of simply writing them for criticism? He would then subject himself to double criticism, namely, definition and correct spelling. When definition and correct spelling are compared, they compare as iron and gold. Iron is of manifold use, the most useful of all metals; gold glitters, catches the eye, arouses the greedy, but cannot be brought into any just comparison with iron. Like the Word of Truth the use of iron will descend to our childi'en to bless them, but gold to molest and curse them. The love of the spelling book which was aroused by Cobb, Dill worth and Noah Webster, has come, I fear, to stay; no generation of intelligent school masters can circumvent or counteract it.

The last quarter of a century in the school room has told with marked effect upon our methods in teaching; it has revolutionized the presentation of language to children; it has removed forever Kirkham, Smiley, Murray, etc., from the halls of learning, and replaced them by language methods, free, easy, natural. We have now a generation of teachers that require tcork, not simply parsing^ but composition, in other words, the teachers of to-day require the pupils to think out their analyses, their soluf tions, and commit them to writing, which must be in good, clear, lucid, correct English. The school child of twenty years ago, could not indite a correct sentence, could not put its lesson upon slate or paper, but behold the transformation! Many a child now can, and does present every day, his lesson clearly, freely and artistically expressed upon slate or paper, as required. This change has been brought about by a system of language lessons and teaching that cannot well be described; if any reader be inclined to be a skeptic, he is most cordially and earnestly invited to visit some of our public or mixed schools, and observe for himself. I have thus singled out language to illustrate the tidal wave that has been moving onward in our system of education. I might have taken history, arithmetic or philosophy, but let the above presentation of the method of teaching language suffice for all. The yoemanry and peasants of education have not accepted the really improved methods in spelling; we are in imminent danger of being thrown back and of losing all vantage ground gained. The land is full of spelling books, the product of some morbid octogenarian mind, or the very unostentatious book of some "very nice school master.^' The second year in high scho'ol contains some very fine studies both for mental discipline and intellectual culture; the ologies here make their first appearance, only to be emphasized through the two following years.

Some regard the study of the ancient classics as a mooted question, thinking the study of our own tongue sufficient to secure a liberal education to the rising generation. The opponents of the study of the Latin and Greek in our schools may be classified under two heads: Ist. Those who have never studied these languages, whether from accident or choice matters not; 2d. Those who have had more or less experience in their study, but from various causes utterly failed to accomplish their supposed purpose. It would be a difficult thing to-day to find a cultured scholar of the classic school who would acknowledge that the study of either of the great classics is a failure; and surely, the judgment of one less qualified to speak, would be most empatically worthless, though harmful. Those pupils who graduate from our High School, -jij having the drill and discipline of the classics, are by far stronger intellectually than those who receive the common English training. The classicals also make the better teachers in our schools. The pupil who accomplishes the course prescribed for the second year comes to the third year pretty well prepared to master its problems. There are in this year experimental as well as objective studies; physics and chemistry, being experimental, are more than counterbalanced by botany, a delightful and altogether objective study. The senior year, or fourth year of the course, is given up to English literature, moral philosophy, general history and political economy; at least these are the leading studies. The training the pupil gets from these last named studies is of incalculable worth. His experiments in physics and chemistry are well calculated to train him to close, careful, thoughtful investigation of the momentous problems of his responsible life. English literature must, if it do not awaken a taste for higher literature, develop his already feeble taste and strengthen it for accurate and exhaustive research in the realm of letters, pure, spotless. The valueless must give place to the best, the hurtful to the invigorating, trash to sense, and all that is ephemeral to history, philosophy and jurisprudence. The course in the classics is not outlined, but consists of a thorough training in the grammar, reader, Caesar, Cicero and Virgil. The course in Greek is optional, embracing only two years' time. The grammar, reader, Xenophon, Euripides and Homer's Iliad constitute the course. Our high school graduates are admitted to all the courses of the university, provided they take our classical course.

lows (without examination): To the classical, both ancient and modern; to the scientific, to any special course. We deem this a great privilege, and one which our graduates feel sworn not to betray. The most of our graduates are admitted to advanced standing at the university, and many of them have received first honors at graduation from the scientific and classical courses of the university. So exactly is this the case to enter the university from the Monroe High School, is to enter with high honor and standing.

Conclusion

The people of Monroe have toiled without ceasing, have waited for long weary years that they might have a school in which to educate their children ; they now feel they have not waited in vain. The public school as it now exists, has grown from a mere nucleus to a school of the first rank. The opponents of the "high school system" are usually, 1st, the bigoted and ignorant ; 2d, the educated who are personally interested in some private school, or those too intent on present money making to assist in public improvements, especially when they demand any outlay of public money. There is still another element that quite frequently presents itself, the demagogue, who, for political or other reasons, usually local, harangue the dear 2)eople, and stir them up to oppose the inijust school tax. We can say without any fear of successful refutation, Monroe has never been cursed by the blasting influences from any of these antagonistic agencies. The people one and all have always heartily supported their schools. Very soon after the schools were graded, the school board were fortunate in securing the service of distinguished educators as principals, assisted by a corps of competent teachers. I may be pardoned for mentioning the names of the srentlemeu who have been in-

E. E, Woodman, widely and favorably known, since leaving the schools, as a civil engineer and editor, was a teacher of fine ability. We think he succeeded Prof. W. D. Parker, now president of the River Falls Normal Schools. Prof. Parker is one of those aggressive educators, who continually push on toward the light seen in advance. His executive ability is of the highest order, akin to that so often found in the discipline of the regular army. In rank, he stands at the head of his profession; many inferior to him, but few, if any, his equal.

Prof. R. W. Burton, now of the Janesville public schools, can also be put down as one of the very foremost educators in our public schools. In him the Monroe public schools had a thorough disciplinarian, a gentleman of culture, and a teacher of undoubted integrity. Bold, even to rasliness, he ruled so that no rogue could ever say "I beat the professor." His pupils had great respect for him, because of his real manliness and unflinching courage, his perseverence and courtly manner.

Last, but not least, of this brace of four principals, is Prof. B. M. Reynolds. A New Englander by birth, he imbibed that almost sacred Puritan system of discipline, not of the Connecticut blue law stripe, but of that noble outspoken kind that sends terror to the hearts of rogues, and conviction to the heart of the honest and deserving pupil. His will is unconquerable, his heart as tender as a child's, his purpose as fixed as the "rock-ribbed hills," yet discourtesy is a word not known to his vocabulary. Untiring in industry, every teacher in his corps knows that under Prof. Reynolds, she must consider work as of the first importance. In his every day discipline he is strict to severity, exacting to the least miuutiaj; stern, withoutsmile or blanching cheek, he compels obedience by his frowns, wit, biting sarcasm, or stinging rebukes; he reduces irrepressibles by testing the stitches in their coat collars. Thus firm and resolute, he carries all by storm ; his pupils recognize in him a model worthy of imitation. Although Prof. Reynolds remained in the public schools of Monroe but one year, he left impressions for good that will long remain. These impressions are amongst us to-day to aid us in our work, to strenghen our efforts. We think his work did more to unify the schools of our city than any other influence wielded in their behalf. The writer of this article followed Prof. Reynolds in 1873, and has had charge of the schools since that time June, (1884.)

A. C. Dodge, a gentleman of high standing in the community, and well and favorably known in this State for his lofty public spirit, has been president of the board of education for a great many years, and by his tact and ability, aided always by a full corps of six members, made up of the best citizens of Monroe, has contributed very much to the present prosperous state of the public schools.

I have always been assisted and sustained by my corps of teachers, by the board of education, and by the good people of our city in my school labors. This assistance, though unsought, has come to me while surrounded by toil, trial and perplexity, to cheer me on, to sustain my feeble efforts and to suj^plement a needed want. Of the many teachers who have aided me so effectively, I might, in justice, say very much; they have been constant, untiring, patient, enduring. Their number is not legion, for a very wise policy has been pursued by the board; teachers have held their positions not by favor, but purely by merit. Our teachers, with but one exception, are high school graduates, all having received diplomas from the High School during the past eleven years, except two, who graduated previous to 1873. The question, "can I have my place next year," is rarely ever heard here; the question "do you desire to remain another year," has completely displaced it. We regard this as a wise policy and cannot fail of bringing in its train blessings untold for the schools. We have been most effectively aided, too, by the county superintendents; here, too, the people of Green county have been both felicitous and wise. During the past eleven years we have had but two different persons elected to the office. I say for the last eleven years, I might extend the time still further back and still speak the truth. D. H. Morgan and T. C. Richmond are the two gentlemen referred to. Mr, Morgan was succeeded by Mr. Richmond who held the office one or two terms, I do not remember which, and he in turn was succeeded by Mr. Morgan, who still holds the office. Mr. Richmond is a gentleman of most approved manners and a scholar of acknowledged ability. While in office, he labored with zeal and assiduity, never flagging but always renewing and redoubling his best efforts to advance the cause of education in the whole county. I am largely indebted to him for strong support and scholarly advice in my arduous labors. We regretted his determination to leave the school work for a different field of labor. Since leaving the educational field he has graduated from the law department of our State University, has been a student of "Old Harvard," and has now a law office in the city of Madison. He has made for himself a name coveted by many, in the oratorical field, pleading for prohibition, and demanding that the most wicked of all things, "Rum" shall be banished from our midst.

Mr. Richmond was succeeded in the superintendency by the man whom he succeeded, D. H. Morgan. My poor words must surely fail to express the deep feeling of regard that the people of Green county hold, in both heart and memory, for her most popular educator and citizen. Nor have the people of this county deceived themselves in this respect; nobly has he responded, and nobly does he continue to do so. To see Mr. Morgan, is sufficient; he expresses in his every look, word, act, his genuine honesty, his upright integrity, his unquenchable love of of justice. His education was academic, hence exact, thorough, practical; now past middle life, he has gleaned from every golden educational harvest, for years, sheaves heavy with wisdom, fraught with knowledge and full of the bread for the intellect. Modest, yet unflinching in duly; inclined to reticence, yet eloquent when duty calls him to the front, for actual and needed service, although timid almost to a loss of self possession, yet bold, aggressive and persevering beyond all expectation, when the bugle blast of duty sounds the advance. His sensitive nature is most prominent, yet self is the last thought; duty, the sublime cause of education, and his friends receive his most untiring efforts, his every careful thought, feeling and purpose. There is no man in Green county, to whom the county owes deeper and more lasting gratitude. He has not wrought for self; while others work to increase the amount of stock, the number of bushels of grain; have added acres to their estate, thousands to their bank account, Mr. Morgan has labored to exalt the happiness of every home, by educating the heart and intellect of its members. His work is a work that tells for the future, not for the present, and knowing him and his work so well, I can safely say that long after he has resigned all, his office and its duties to his successor, his soul to God, he will be most blessed by his fellows. Strictly temperate in all his acts, no one will ever have opportunity to learn from him aught but sobriety. Aside from his school work, he is a valued and valuable member of the community; no man is better or more favorably known in "Sylvester," than he; the sick, the poor, the unfortunate, the needy; whether it be of advice or aught else, ask him, freely for relief, it is bestowed as freely, for Mr. Morgan knows full well the intrinsic worth of the old maxim, "He who gives quickly, gives twice."

The Churchill School

The pupils and teachers of the first ward were made happy in February, 1884, by the occupancy of the new building called the Churchill building, in honor of Norman Churchill a member of the board of education, a mechanic, machinist, and an appointee of the board to super- intend the erection of the building. The entire board are deserving of great credit for the excellent building with its unique appointments. The building is two stories high, with a basement containing three large furnaces. There are six school rooms, ample as to size and convenience. According to the last school census, the number of boys and girls were about equal, the whole number being 1,400 of school age. Of these at least 1,200 attend school during the year.

Corps Of Teachers In 1883 And 1884

The following are the members of the board of education, for 1884: A. C. Dodge, president; S. W.Abbott, clerk; A. W.Goddard, treasurer; Hon. John Bolender, Hon. John Luchsinger, S. C. Cheny and N. Churchill.

Prominent Citizens

Enoch Evans, the oldest person living in Green county, was born in Stokes Co., N. C, Oct. 27, 1788. When he was in his fifth year, his parents with a colony of about sixty families, emigrated to Kentucky. They made the journey through the wilderness with horses, carrying their goods on the backs of the animals. They spent about a year at Boone Station. His father then bought government land in Garrett county, which was in the vicinity of the home of Daniel Boone, with whom the subject of our sketch was well acquainted. Here the subject of our sketch grew to manhood, and was married Oct. 17, 1808, to Elizabeth Burton. She was born in Virginia, Jan. 3, 1788. He bought thirty-six acres of land in Garrelt county, and lived there until 1816, then emigrated to Indiana, and settled in Jennings county, where they were pioneers. He bought government land five miles northwest of Vernon, the county seat, and built a log cabin, into which the family moved before the doors or windows were put in. This was their home until 1824. During that year a mail route was established from Indianapolis to Lawrenceburg, and he having secured the contract, removed to Indianapolis. He carried the mail six years, always on horseback. His horse was his boat in high water and his bridge in low water. When the water was so high that the horse was obliged to swim, Mr. Evans would throw the mail sacks over his shoulders and hold the straps with his teeth. While carrying the mail he had bought eighty acres of timber land, a half mile from the northeast corner of the plat of the village of Indianapolis. He settled on that land in 1830, and lived there two years, then sold and moved to Parish Grove, or the lost land, as it was then called, twenty miles west of Indianapolis. The following year the land there came into market, and he bought 120 acres and lived there until 1840. He had sold the land in 1839, and invested the money in live stock, and in 1840 started with a drove of stock for the northwest. As he traveled along, he was looking for a good place to settle, but did not find a suitable location until he arrived in Green county. He had sold all his stock in Illinois. He purchased 160 acres of land in the town of Clarno. The following year he bought forty acres that cornered his first purchase. He Ijved there twelve years, then came to Monroe and bought twenty-two acres of land, that he laid out into town lots and made it an addition to the village of Monroe. He lived here until 1868, then sold and moved to West Virginia and bought two lots in Charleston, built a house and lived there three and a half years, then returned to Green county and lived for a time in Monticello and Brodhead. His home is now with his son, William, in Monroe. In 1875 he met an irreparable loss in the death of his wife, which occurred July 9, of that year. There were eleven children born to them, four of which are now living - Thursey, now the wife of William Carson, lives in Missouri; Elijah lives in Nebraska; Elisha lives in Charleston, W. Va., and William, who lives in Monroe. Mr. Evans was county treasurer in Jasper Co., Ind., and also postmaster there. He has been a member of the M. E. Church for seventy-one years, having joined in 1813. Now in his ninety-sixth year, he enjoys very good health and retains his mental faculties in a remarkable degree.

Joseph Kelley was born in Pike Co., Ohio. When a boy, he went to Indiana, where he remained until 1835. He then came to Green county. He was a bold, daring man, without fear for anything, and accumulated a large property. He was for many years among the mountains in California. In 1856, he went to Charles City, Iowa, where he at present resides. He owned the site and was the founder of Charles City.

Thomas L. Wells, one of the pioneers of the town of Clarno, was born in Muskingham Co., Ohio, April 2, 1830. When he was five years old his parents came to Wisconsin and located in Green county. He attended school in a rude log cabin, with a puncheon floor, slab seats and windows made of greased paper. There were many Indians in the county at that time, and the settlers were often frightened by them. On Jan. 14, 1856, he was married to Mary A. Nififenegger. Five children blessed this union - Sarah Etta, born Nov. 1, 1856, and died Dec. 19, 1863 ; William F., born Sept. 8, 1860 ; Lillie A., born Dec. 31, 1862; Henry E., born Jan. 9, 1867, and Rosetta, born March 16, 1870. When Mr.. Wells came to Green county, there

Peter Wells, who settled in the town of Clarno in 1835, is a native of Muskingum Co., Ohio, born in November, 1814, son of Mathew and Sarah (Beard) Wells, who settled in Vermilion Co., Ind., in 1828, and came to Wisconsin in 1 836, then a Territory, and took up land in Ureen county, removing to Fayette Co., Iowa, in 1848, where they remained until their death, which occurred in ]854. William, one of the boys, was the founder of "West Union." Peter came west with his parents. He was married in Indiana to Jane Bowman in 1834. They had eleven children, six of whom are now living - Charles, Adeline, Matthew, Thomas B., Catharine and Joshua. In February, 1853, Mrs. Wells died. She was a member of the M. E. Church. Mr. Wells came to this county a poor man, but by industry, hard work and good judgment, he has accumulated property, until he is among the wealthy business men of the county. At one time he was the owner of 1,000 acres of land, but has divided it up among his children.

Alpheus DeHaven, one of the earliest settlers of the county, was born in Montgomery Co., Penn., Oct. 22, 1800. His parents were John and Mary (Supplee) DeHaven, and they had ten children, six sons and four daughters. Alpheus, the subject of this sketch, when seventeen years old, was apprenticed to the trade of carpenter and joiner. After learning this trade he worked and traveled in several States, among other places, he went to New Orleans, and while on a trip up the Mississippi, Avas on the boat Helen McGregor, which blew up at Memphis. In 1828 he went to Cincinnati and engaged in the lumber trade, and was also a contractor and builder, which he followed for some time. In 1832, he was married to Diadama Tillotson, by whom there were four children, one of whom is now living - Stephen B., residing in Missouri. Mrs. DeHaven died May

3, 1840. She was a member of the M. E. Church, a sincere Christian, and highly respected in the community where she lived. In June, 1841, he was again married to Elizabeth Hawley, by whom he had eight children, six now living - Olive, wife of Dr. F. W. Byers, of Monroe; Wesley W., Willard G., Laura E., wife of M. P. Maine ; Martha Alice, now Mrs. Charles Stoneman, and George W. His second wife died in April, 1860. She was also a member of the M. E. Church. In October, 1860, he was again married to Mrs. M. P. Maine 7iee Sarah Druramond, whose parents died when she was a child, and she was brought up by an uncle, and in 1837, was married to M. P. Maine. There were three children by this union, all of whom are now living - Frances C, now Mrs. A. B. Webber, of Lawrence, Kansas; Mortimer P. and Orville B. In April, 1836, Mr. DeHaven came to Green county and settled in what is now the town of Clarno, but then an unorganized territory, and engaged in farming. In February, 1877, he came to Monroe, where he has since resided. He is one of the leading members of the M. E. Church, and the present class leader. He is one of the oldest Odd Fellow's in the west. He was initiated in Pennsylvania Lodge No. l,of Philadelphia, in 1824, and assisted in organizing the first Odd Fellow's lodge in the State of Ohio, namely - Ohio No. 1, of Cincinnati. He is now an honorary member of Monroe Lodge No. 72, of this city. George W. Bridge, one of the early settlers «<f this county, was born in Preble Co., Ohio, May 25, 1827. His parents were David C. and Catharine (Voorhis) Bridge, who were the parents of five sons and three daughters; six of tiiese children are still living. When the subject of this sketch was nine years old he came with his parents to the Territory of Wisconsin, and settled on section 31, town of .lefferson, and received his education in the pioneer "log c ibin" schools uf that period. He was married Aug. 31, 1850, to Sarali M. Delapp, a daughter of Thoma-i and Mary (Eddinger) Delapp, of

Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge are the parents of three children - Belle N., now the wife of S. P. Noble, of Clarno; Mary C, wife of J. M. Noble; and John F. Mr. Bridge after marriage engaged in farming, and followed that occupation until 1881, when he removed to Monroe. He came to tin's county in 1836. He has been identified with this county a long time, and has witnessed its development from a wilderness to a desirable and fully settled country, possessing advantages and resources, far beyond the anticipations of many of the pioneers. The substantial and commodious frame house has supplanted the premitive log cabin, and the evidences of thrift and enterprise abound. Mr. Bridge has done his part in effecting this transformation, and for a time subjecting himself to many privations and hardships, he now has the pleasure of a home honestly won, a property fairly gained.

Thomas J. Bragg was born in Fauquier Co., Va., Jan. 15, 1813. His parents were Dashur and Hannah (Muffitt) Bragg. In 1823, they all emigrated to Boone Co., Ky. In 1829 they removed to Edgar Co., 111., and were among the first settlers of that county. The subject of this sketch wss reared on a farm and received but a limited education. In 1836 he came to Green county and for some time made his home at the house of Daniel Sutherland, working at various occupations and following various kinds of business. During the time he located 160 acres of land on section 13, town of Monroe, where he opened up a farm. In October, 1841, he was married to Emily J. Nobles, a native of Kentucky, born April 4, 1821. By this union there were five children - William P., of the firm of Glasgett & Bragg; Alice, now wife of A Glasgett; Thomas J., Jr.; Emma C, wife of Rice D. Gorham, and Charles. Mr. Bragg followed farming until 1881 when he moved to Monroe where he is now living a retired life. When he came to this county he was in very limited circumstances, but by industry and good management has accumulated a considerable property and is to day among the "well-to-do" farmers of the coixnty. At one time he owned VOO acres of land, and has divided it mostly among his children leaving enough to support himself and wife.

S. S. Bragg, a resident of Edgar Co., 111., was born in Fauquier Co., Va., Dec. 10, 1807. On the 2d of December, 1822, his parents, Dashur and Hannali (Moffett) Bragg, removed to Boone Co., Ky., where they engaged in farming. In January, 1829, they removed to Clark Co., III., where Mrs. Bragg died, Aug. 13, 1829. In the spring of 1831 Mr. Bragg removed to Edgar Co., 111., where he died in 1841. The subject of this sketch came to Illinois with his parents, and in the fall of 1831 returned to Kentucky, remaining there until the fall of 1833. On the 4th of April, 1834, he was married to May M. McClansey, of Edgar county. She was the widow of James Jackson, who died in 1832. Mr. and Mrs. Bragg were the parents of six children, two of whom are living - A. J. and Mary M., wife of Robert Fleming. Mr. Bragg settled in Edgar county, a poor man, financially, but by hard work has accumulated a comfortable property and home. Mrs, Bragg died Sept. 29, 1882. She was a life long member of the M. E. Church, and was highly respected and beloved in the community where she lived.

Jonas Shook is a native of St. Clair Co., III., born May 9, 1805. His parents went to that Territory in 1797. He is one of two living children from a family of seven. After making a settlement in Illinois, there was considerable trouble and great distress among some of the pioneers. His mother was a sincere Christian, a member of the Baptist Church, and was highly respected by all who knew her. She experienced many of the hardships and trials incident to pioneer life. She died in Illinois. The subject of this sketch was brought up in a new country and educated in the pioneer schools of j^rintitive date. In December, 1827, he was married to Polly A. Land, who was born in South Carolina, April 11, 1809. ]>y this union there were seven children, two sons and five daughters, six of whom are now living - Asa L., Samuel, Susan, Catharine Maria, Berthina and Sarah Jane. In 1837 he left Illinois and emigrated to Wiota, Lafayette Co., Wis. The following year he located in the town of Adams, this county, on what is known as "Shock's Prairie," a location named in honor of himself, where he remained for over forty years. In 1881 he came to Monroe, where he is now living a retired life. In 1827 he enlisted in the Winnebago War, and was sent to Fort Clark, where Peoria now stands. John Connery was born in Iowa county. Territory of Wisconsin, Jan. 29, 1838. He is a son of James and Elizabeth (Cosner) Connery. His father was of Irish parentage, and his mother of German descent. His fathercame to Iowa county in the fall of 1836, it then being a wild wilderness. Being a millwright, he engaged in building some of the first mills in the county; also farmed on a small scale, as most of his time was taken up at his trade. He remained in the part of the county known as Lafayette county, since the sub-division, until his death, which occurred at Wiota, July 29, 1854, of cholera. John Connery, the subject of this sketch, was brought up on a farm, until the year 1852. When but a little past thirteen years old he engaged to learn the blacksmith trade, with his uncle, the Hon. Samuel Cole, then carrying on the business in Gratiot. He lived with his uncle, as one of the family for years. In the springof 1863 he came to Monroe and worked at his trade, in this city, until 1866, when he went to Green Co., Iowa, and remained there until May 25, 1868. He then went to Cass Co., Mo., where he resided until 1880, in which year he returned to Monroe on account of the bad health of his wife, and again engaged at his trade. He was married July 3, 1864, to Lydia Ann Trickel, a daughter of Ashford Trickel. They have five children - Charlie A., G. Edgar, Ida" J., Emmett and S. Alma. Mr. Connery is one of the oldest residents of Iowa county. He is a member of the Masonic order, and also a worker in the Temple of Honor, and is an ardent temperance worker.

A Ludlow, president of the First National Bank, of Monroe, was born in Burlington, Vt., June 21, 1818, and is a son of James and Rosana (Morton) Ludlow, natives of Vermont. The subject of this sketch was reared upon a farm, and obtained his education in the common schools. In 1838 he went to Lyons, Iowa Co., Mich., where he was employed as mail carrier between Grand Rapids and Livingston county, then a wild unsettled country. About eighteen months later, he went to Chicago and engaged in the peddling business, his route being through Monroe to Madison, Wis., traveling with a wagon. At that time there was but one house between Madison and Monroe, neither were there any bridges, and he was compelled to ford or ferry the streams. In 1846 he engaged in business in this city. Having accumulated some property and good credit, he was able to get all the goods he wanted. In 1846 he was married to Caroline Sanderson, of Winnebago Co., 111., and a native of Cambridge, Mass. Five children have been born to them - Henry, now assistant cashier of the First National Bank, of Monroe; Edwin, manufacturer of mixed paints, at Davenport, Iowa; Willis, farmer in this county; Addie and Nellie. Mr. Ludlow has been closely identified with the business interests of the county since 1839. He is an enterprising and public spirited citizen and has done much to advance the public interests of the city of Monroe.

A. W. Sutherland was born in Madison Co., N. Y., June 10, 1822, where he received a common school education. In 1836 he went with his parents to Coles Co., 111., then an unbroken wilderness; from thence to Wisconsin. They arrived in Green county about the 20th of May, 1839, and located in the town of Sylvester, on section 10, where A. W. grew to manhood. In May, 1847, he was married to Esther J., a daughter of Col. James Sutherland, a soldier of the War of 1812, who afterwards commanded one of the militia regiments of Genesee Co.,N. Y. The colonel came to Wisconsin in 1838 and died in 1843, which was supposed to be the first death in the town of Sylvester. A.W.Sutherland, the subject of this sketch, has two children-Oscar and Lois. He came here when it took some push and energy to get a start in life. In about two years he became of age and found himself the fortunate possessor of $47, which not being enough to locate his land he borrowed $3 and made his first purchase. The following year he raised his bouse and commenced housekeeping. The furniture was of the rudest kind, and made by his own hands. He now owns 230 acres of land worth $65 per acre; the Skinner flouring mills at Browntown valued at $10,000 and a residence in Monroe, with seven acres of land, valued at $3,000.

Ashford Trickel, who settled in this county during the spring of 1840, was born in Pickaway Co., Ohio, Nov. 7, 1813. He is a son of Robert Trickel, a native of Virginia, who located there at an early day, and Catharine (Bensyl) Trickel. There was a family of eight sons and one daughter, all of whom are now living but one. In an early day Robert Trickel moved to Indiana, and thence to Vermilion Co., 111., near Danville, and subsequently to Danville where he built the first mill in the county, and thence he went to Champaign county in 1828, and in 1836 to Ford county of the same State. About 1845 he came to Green Co., Wis. and spent the rest of his days. The subject of this sketch was brought up on a farm, and received his education in the primitive log school house. In the fall of 1840 he was married to Eliza J. Morton, a daughter of James and Mary (Montgomery) Morton, who came to the county that same year. By this union there were eleven children, eight of whom are now living - Mary C, wife of William Renhart; Robert W., Julia A., wife of Perry Rhodes; Lydia A., wife of John Connery; Joshua, John J., Jennie, wife of Sylvester Dwyer, and Amy Ellen, wife of Thomas Dwyer. Mr. Trickel owns 140 acres of land valued at $65 per acre, besides other property which he has accumulated by his own exertions.

J. H. Bridge first came here in 1835, but did not settle here permanently until 1840, He was born in Preble Co., Ohio, April 3, 1815, His parents, Jonn and Deborah (Clark) Bridge, were natives of New Jersey, and emigrated to Ohio in an early day. They were the parents of five daughters and three sons, of wiiom three are living. The subject of this sketch was reared upon a farm, and obtained his education in the log school house of pioneer days, which had puncheon floors, slabs for seats, and desks made by driving pins into the logs, with slabs laid upon them, and lighted by cutting out a log, putting up sticks and pasting greased paper over the opening. Mr. Bridge was married to Nancy Sample, a native of Virginia. I?y this union there were six children, one of whom is living - Joseph T. Mr. Bridge, on coming to the county, first located in Jefferson on section 30, and was elected the first treasurer of that town at its organization. In 1874 he came to Monroe, where he has since resided. He came to the county in limited circumstances, but by industry and judicious ma,nagement," has accumulated a competency. Mr. and Mrs. Bridge are members of the Christian Church.

Henry Thorp, one of the prominent men of the county, was born April 11, 1838. In 1840 he came to Green county, where he received a liberal education. He was married March 10, 1864, to Remember Bowen, a daughter of Hon. Thomas Bowen, one of the early settlers of the county. She was born in Green county, Jan. 28, 1847. By this union there are three children - George E., Frank W. and Eugene B. Mr. Thorp has always taken an active interest in agriculture and stock growing. He is at prosent president of the agricultural society of the county, lie is one of the influential farmers, and a large land holder, owning 440 acres of valuable land in the town of Clarno. He removed to Monroe in 1S83, where he is leading a retired life.

of Green county, was born in Troy township, Madison Co., 111., Jan. lY, 1826. His father, William B. Churchill, was a native of Vermont, and left his native county when a boy, removing to New York and remaining in that State a short time, then removing to Illinois. His mother, Almira Humes, was a native of New Hampshire. The family consisted of the parents and five children. The subject of this sketch left Illinois and came to this county in 1840. From 1842 to 1847 most of his time was spent in the pineries on the Wisconsin river. Then he learned the trade of millwright, which he followed for a number of years, and then engaged in house building. In 1858 he built the first planing mill in the county, having an interest in the same. In 1854 he was married to Anna E., daughter of Dr. Sherman, of this place. By this union there were six children, four of whom are living - Carlos B., William, Minnie and Ernest. Mr. Churchill is now engaged as part owner of a saw mill, a planing mill and cheese box factory. He is an enterprising citizen, and has done much toward tlie development of the town and county.

George W. Thorpe, one of the influential business men of the county, was born in Gieen Co, Wis., Nov. 17, 1841, and was brought up on his father's farm, receiving his early education in the log cabins of his native county. He afterwards attended the academy at Saville, Ohio, also Oberlin College one term. In January, 1867, he was married to Flora Mease, a daughter of Dr. L. A. Mease, of Freeport, who was widely known through this portion of the country, and was one of Stephenson county's most prominent physicians. The doctor was a native of Union Co., Penn., and came to Stephenson county in 1845, immediately after graduating at Rush Medical College, and later at Jefferson Medical (\)llege, Philadelphia. Mr. and Mrs. Thorpe are the parents of four children - Edwin M., Lizzie C, Lura L. and Nora S. Mr. Thorpe has been largely engaged in farming and stock growing. He has a beautiful farm in the town of Clarno, of 428 acres, valued at $55 per acre. In 1864 he enlisted in the 38th regiment, serving until the close of the war, and was mustered out at Madison, Wis. Mrs. Thorpe was a graduate of the high school at Freeport, and attended the State Normal one year.

J. B. Miller, one of the pioneers of the county, was born in Lebanon, Madison Co., N. Y., Aug. 15, 1814. His parents were William Miller and Lucy (Ford) Miller, the father formerly from Vermont and the mother from Worcester Co., Mass. They were married in Madison Co., N. Y., and were the parents of nine children, four of whom are now living. About 1828 the parents removed to Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., and in '1 842 came to this county, where they both died. The mother had been a life-long Christian and at the time of her death was a member of the Free Will Baptist Chui-ch. The subject of this sketch was brought up in Madison Co. N. Y. He. was married in Cattaraugus county, of that State, by Elder Piatt, to Patty Crowel, a native of Penfield, N. Y., Sept. 8, 1839. She was a daughter of William and Polly (Dav) Crowel. By this union there were four children - Lucy Jane, born Oct. 29, 1841, and died March 12, 1859; Mary Ann, now Mrs. Albert Post, of Chippewa Falls; Eugene, born Aug. 12, 1849, is married and lives on the farm where he was born; and Viola D., wife of James R. Campbell. On the 21st day of April, 1841, they emigrated to this county, coming through with a team in eighteen days, and located in the town of York, on section 24. Here he took up wild land, and while building their shanty, which was 18x20 feet in size, lived with William Green. Mr. and Mrs. Miller came to the county with about $50 in money, a good team and a poor harness and wagon as capital, but by energy and hard work they have placed themselves in comfortable circumstances. He has held local office, and is among the solid

A. L. Cleveland, a native of Washington Co., N. Y., was bomi July 23, 1820. His father, Job Cleveland, was a soldier in the War of 1812. His mother, Almira (Fenton) Cleveland, was a native of Connecticut. About 1836 they removed to Genesee Co., N. Y., where they lived for many years. Job Cleveland died at the age of seventy-four. His wife is still living at the advanced age of eighty-four years. The subject of this sketch was reared and educated in his native State, attending Alexander Classical Seminary. In 1842 he came to Green county, where he was employed in teaching school seven years. About 1845 hs went to Rockford, 111., and took a course of study in surveying, under Prof. Huntington. He went, in 1850, across the plains to California, where he was engaged in the mines three years. In 1853 he was united in marriage with Lucy Charles, and soon after came to Green county, which has since been his residence. He has held the office of county surveyor, school commissioner and other offices in this county.

Jacob Hammon, who located in this county in September, 1841, was born in Jackson Co., Ind., on the 3d day of April, 1820. He is a son of John H. and Catharine (Isimenger) Hammon. The former was a native of Georgia and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were married in Ohio, and soon after went to Jackson Co., Ind., where they remained a short time, then removed to Morgan county, and thence to Vermilion county. In 1842 they came to Green county and [)urchased land in the town of Sylvester, on section 17. He died in Monroe in 1873. Mrs. Hammon died in 1861. They were members of the M. E. Church. Jacob Hammon, of this sketch, was married Jan. 21, 1841, to Eliza James, a daughter of Dr. William and Mary (Wasson) James, and a native of Vermilion Co., Ind. In September, 1841, Mr. Hammon started for Green county with his wife and all their worldly goods, which consisted of a pair of plug horses valued at about $70, and an old wagon, besides $10 in money. On their arrival he set himself about making a liorae, but the first few years met with many difficulties and discouragements. He persevered, however, and is now in prosperous circumstances, having 252 acres of land, valued at $40 per acre, and forty-two acres within the city limits, valued at $150 per acre. Mr. and Mrs. Hammon have had six children, five of whom are living - Jane, now Mrs. M. Hurlbut; Sarah, wife of A. E. Hare; Ida A., wife of Albert Berryman; Amos N., married to Ida Sissons, of Monroe; and Mary E., married to Richard Smith.

George Adams, a native of Bedford Co., Penn., was born May 27, 18u2. He is a son of Jacob and Clara Adams, of German descent, who were the parents of ten children, five sons and five daughters. The father and mother both died in Bedford Co., Penn. The former was a man of sterling qualities, and quite prominent in the community where he lived. The subject of this sketch was reared upon a farm and received his education in the subscription schools. He was married Nov. 17, 1825, to Margaret Mills, of Bedford Co., Penn. Six children blessed this union, four of whom are now living - Jacob, living in Monroe; Michael, living in Washington Territory; William, now in Missouri; and Clarasa, wife of Abram Smith, now in Iowa. In the fall of 1835 he left Bedford Co., Penn., with teams, crossing the mountains and locating in Hardin Co., Ohio, then a wilderness. There he purchased land and cleared up a farm. They had to go forty miles for provisions and family supplies. They built a small log cabin, with puncheon floor, and endured the privations of pioneer life. There Mrs. Adams died, Aug. 20, 1839. In the fall of 1842 he came to this county and the year following located some land. He was again married Oct. IS, 184.3, to Jemima Boyls. She was born in Green Co., Penn., Dec. 16, 1817. She was a daughter of Capt. William and Mary

(Robins) Boyls. Her father proposed the name for the State capital of Wisconsin which was adopted, and also the name of the city of Monroe. Her father came to this county in 1835 from Indiana, where he had settled in 182G. He was a soldier of the Black Hawk War, and in 1836 and 1837 was a member of the Territorial legislature. In 1860 he removed to Black Hawk Co., Iowa, where he died in the fall of 1881. Her mother had died some years previously. By the second marriage there were eight children, seven of whom are living - Margaret, wife of W. Counet, now living in Nebraska; Mattie, wife of Peter Withington, now of Montana; Lissie, Charles H., a resident of Nebraska; Helen, wife of Eugene White; Tyre A., wife of Thomas J. Stauer; and A. V., married to Ollie Morton, and lives on the homestead. In 1876 Mr. Adams removed to Monroe, where he is living a retired life.

B. L. Wood came with his parents, Stephen and Betsey (Loveland) Wood, to Green county in 1844. They first lived in the town of Jefferson upon a farm owned by Joseph Forbee. They afterwards removed to the village of Exeter, where they resided a number of years. B. L. Wood lived at home until he Avas fifteen years old. He then purchased a farm of 110 acres in the town of Mount Pleasant, which, in 1866, he sold, and removed to Monticello. lie purchased another farm of 260 acres upon which he lived until 1876, then bought the farm known as the Adams place, in the same town. It consisted of 360 acres. In 1880 he sold this place and bought a farm in the town of Monroe, containing 260 acres. He commenced business in Juda, buying and shipping grain and stock in 1883. He was married Nov. 3, 1861, to Judith Griffin, daughter of Hiram and Helen (McCall) Griffin, of Dane county. They liave three children - Alva S.. Stella M. and Helen P. Stella is married to W. C. ShefFer and living in Juda. Mrs. Wood's parents live in Michigan, where her father is engaged in tiie business of growing and shipping fruit. Mr.

Wood's parents are dead. His father is buried in Monticello, and his mother in Pennsylvania. Mr. Wood was born in Madison Co., N. Y., Feb. 14, 1838.

J. H. Foster was born in Kennebec Co., Maine, June 5, 1831. His parents were Wardsworth and Lucy (Haywood) Foster. In 184."), his father emigrated to this county, having in early life followed the ocean, plying between Nantucket and the West Indies. He settled in Monroe, and purchased land adjoining the village limits, and laid out what is known as Foster's addition . Mr. Foster, Sr., was a man highly respected in the community, and was twice elected to the office of county treasurer, and was a member of the board on the organization of the town. The subject of this sketch in 1855, engaged in the furniture business. He was married in 1861, to Helen Scovil, a daughter of Lyman Scovil, one of the early settlers of the county. Four children blessed this union, three of whom are now living - Eva, Nellie and Florence. Mr. Foster has been closely identified with the county for nearly forty years, and has seen the development from a vast wilderness to one of the best counties in the State. In 1859 he was appointed deputy sheriff, and served six years. He is a member of the Masonic lodges. Blue and Chapter.

George Goodrich, retired farmer, is a native of Saratoga Co., N. Y., born April 9, 1812. He is a son of Jacob and Betsey (Ames) Goodrich, who reared a family of five sons and five daughters, of whom George, subject of this sketch, is the only one now living. He was brought up on a farm, and educated in the common schools. In February, 1841, he was married to Marthena Cushman, a daughter of Oliver and Clarissa (Thomas) Cushman. In 1845, they came to Green county, traveling with a team to Buffalo, thence by water to Little Port, a small harbor north of Chicago, completing the journey from that point by team. They settled in the town of Clarno, where he broke the prairie and opened a farm. Mr. and Mrs. Goodrich came to Green county, poor in purse, but with good health and plenty of energy. They have accumulated a competency. He owned at one time, 330 acres of fine land, which he sold for $65 per acre. In 1870, they came to Monroe, where they are now living in the enjoyment of the fruits of their past labor.

J. Jacob Tschudy, one of the prominent men of Green county, was born in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland, June 26, 1826, where he grew to manhood, receiving his early education in the schools of said canton. In 1844 he graduated at Aarau (Switzerland) College. In 1846 he came to Wisconsin, being sent by the trustees of the emigration association of said canton of Glarus, as assistant leader (or supervisor) of the Swiss colony of New Glarus, which was founded in 1845. In 1854 he resigned this office, soon moving away from New^ Glarus to a farm and thence to Dayton. In 1858 he was elected register of deeds of said county of Green, and re-elected in 1860. In 1863 he was elected clerk of the town board of Monroe, and in the winter of 1863-4 he w^as appointed recording clerk, and subsequently assistant clerk (of the chief. clerk) of the Senate in Madison. In 1864 he was elected clerk of the county board of supervisors, after having served over one year as deputy, as such clerk. For this office he was elected four times, serving nearly ten consecutive years in said office. In 1883 he was elected by the first ward of the city of Moni-oe, as its representative in the county board of supervisors, and is serving now as the chairman of the building committee for the construction of a new court house. In 1848 he was married to Barbara Hottinger, from Switzerland, by whom he had ten children, of whom nine are living. In New Glarus and Monroe he was one of the foundei's of the German Cluirch congregations. Reformed Evangelical Church, and is now a member and trustee of said *^^hurch in Monroe.

George Spangler, gunsmith', is a native of Pennsylvania, born Dec. 23, 1829. He was a son of Samuel and Catharine (Zimmerman) Spangler, who emigrated to this county in 1844, and in 1846 settled in Monroe, and started the first gun shop in the county. The subject of this sketch succeeded his father in business, and has prosecuted the same since. In 1858 he was married to Kate V. Zimmerman, by whom he has one child - Anna M. Mr. Spangler is a member of the I. O. O. F., and president of the sharpshooters society. He has been identified with the county for more than forty years.