Chapter Seventeen

FIRST SCHOOLS AND THEIR TEACHERS.

The first school in Mahaska county was taught by Miss Semira A. Hobbs, who had come to the settlement in August previous to the time of beginning her school. A number of the settlers had been on their claims over a year and began to be desirous to have their children in school. A rude log house was built two and one-half miles east of Oskaloosa in the timber and on September 16, 1844, Miss Hobbs began her thirteen weeks of school. A very businesslike agreement was signed by both parties. Miss Hobbs agreed to teach the school for the sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents for each of the eighteen pupils attending the school. The names on the original contract and the number of pupils from each family are as follows:
Aaron Cox, 6; Nathan Coontz, 3; Brantly Stafford, 1; Poultney Loughridge, 5; John Cunningham, 3. Miss Hobbs had taught one term of school down in Henry county. The death of her widowed mother some months previous had left her an orphan and she had come to the New Purchase to make her home with her uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Cox. She had a winning disposition, was quite accomplished, and being always disposed to make the best of things, was heartily welcomed by the best people in the settlement.

Miss Hobbs afterwards became Mrs. T. G. Phillips and has written a volume of entertaining reminiscences of that period. Her own description of that first schoolhouse with its inmates cannot fail to interest the reader:
"The settlers set a day to repair to the woods on the borders of the sixteenth section, taking with them axes, mauls, wedges, hoes, augers, saws and broad axes. They then proceeded to chop down some linn trees, not taking time to hew them, but built a cabin of round logs, leaving the bark on. They rived out boards of oak to cover it, putting weight poles on to hold the boards in place. The floor, benches and writing desk were made of puncheons. Puncheons are made of logs split and made smooth on one side by hewing with a broad axe. Some of the early settlers had become experts in hewing puncheons and riving clapboards. This temple of learning was supplied with a sod chimney, a hearth long and wide, not made with stone or brick, but with rich black loam. A log was sawed out of one side of the house, leaving a space eight or ten feet long, for the purpose of admitting light. One of these primitive carpenters with a pocket knife whittled out sticks the proper length then placed them in an upright position at regular distances apart along this opening. Glass being a luxury not easily obtained, oiled foolscap paper was pasted over this improvised window sash. In laying the foundation of this edifice the architects were particular to observe the points of the compass. A door was made by sawing out logs to the proper height and width. No shutter was provided, only an opening looking toward the south. When the sun shone there was no trouble in telling when it was noon. Everyone of the children were well behaved and obedient, tried hard to learn and made considerable advancement. These boys and girls had pluck. They kept warm if they could but did not whine if they were a little cold. They were used to cold houses, with only a fireplace, where the face would burn while the back would freeze. When the cold became severe one of the kind, thoughtful mothers sent a coverlet to hang over the door. Deer and rabbits scampered over prairie and slough. These pioneers were good marksmen and along with their corn bread, had venison and prairie chicken in abundance. One evening on returning home from school the teacher was informed that the head of the family had killed a bear."

Mrs. Phillips still lives in Oskaloosa now herself a widow, but honored and loved as in the days of her girlhood years. Of the eighteen boys and girls who sat around the big fireplace in that frontier school room three still remain in Mahaska county: Mary Loughridge Shaver, Emily Loughridge Correll, and Jas. Loughridge. The latter owns the original Loughridge farm in Spring Creek township and all live in Oskaloosa.

Miss Hobbs taught a second school in that log schoolhouse in the spring of 1845, and in the fall of the same year taught a term in a more comfortable cabin which was located on the corner of North Third street and A avenue.

In the year that followed almost every settlement in the county had some sort of a school during at least a few months in the year.

In the winter of 1844-45 a gentleman by the name of Samuel Caldwell taught a small school in East Oskaloosa in one end of a double log house belonging to A. G. Phillips. In the summer of 1845 James Johnson, a brother of Allen Johnson, the founder of the Methodist church in Oskaloosa, taught a school in an unfinished frame house on the south side of the square, belonging to Levi Smith.

One of the best schools of that period was taught in 1847 by Wm. Hearst. He occupied the courthouse two terms and then removed to a frame building which he had built on the corner of B avenue and D street. On account of its color the building went by the name of Greencastle. He had some fifty pupils, among whom were Mrs. Eveline H. Needham, John R. Baer and his sister Mrs. Amelia Wilson, Mrs. Emily J. Coryell and H. B. Owen. Mr. Hearst was educated for the ministry and took up teaching for a time. When the tide of emigration to California set in he sold his school and outfit and in 1849 joined one of the western caravans.

In 1853 a school was taught in the Normal School building by Mr. and Mrs. George W. Drake. Both were graduates of Oberlin College in Ohio and were accomplished people. Mrs. C. P. Searle, then Miss Mattie Turner, also taught with them. The school continued for several years and we have heard only words of the highest praise for this school. Among its students in those years were John F. and James Lacey, James and William Edmundson, Mrs. H. J. Knowlton, S. H. M. Byers, John Baer, Mrs. Amelia Wilson and F. Walden.

After Rev. R. A. McAyeal came to Oskaloosa in 1856 he organized a school in the old United Presbyterian church, of which he was pastor. It was called a female academy. The church was located at the corner of High avenue and Third street.

Among the teachers of this school was a Miss Martha McKown,- a young lady of superior culture and more than ordinary gifts. She was principal of the school and a devout member of the United Presbyterian church. An invitation came to her from the foreign mission board of that church to become a missionary in Egypt. The young man of her choice had extended his hand offering to become her life companion. She felt that this call to become a teacher among a benighted people in a wider field was a divine call. The ideal of every true woman is to sometime become the mistress of a happy home where love reigns supreme. Such a congenial retreat was now offered her, and from a temporal standpoint her heart gave consent to the felicitous thought, but her loftier nature said to her, "You should give up this prospective joy to become a messenger of light to them who have it not." Miss McKown yielded to the voice of conscience, resigned her position and cheerfully gave her talents to teaching the gospel message and training the downtrodden race in Egypt. This she continued to do until she became blind. The excessive sunlight in that land is more than many of the natives themselves can endure without great suffering. After her eyes had utterly failed Miss McCowen still continued to teach from memory. For forty years she instructed old and young how to lift themselves up into a better and nobler life.

Joseph McFall taught the first school in Cedar township northwest of Fremont, in 1846. Sarah Kinsman, afterwards Mrs. W. S. Edgar, taught the first school at what is now Concert schoolhouse. E. H. Bobbitt taught the first school in Fremont. Mr. Bobbitt is still living in White Oak township north of Wright. He is now past eighty years old. B. M. Doolittle was the second teacher in the little log schoolhouse at Fremont. His home is now in Washington, Iowa, where he is enjoying a hale old age. These men were the teachers of the village in the early 50s. When the log cabin had given place to the little brick schoolhouse a few years later we find among the honored list of teachers in that village the names of J. C. Chambers, William White, Alfred Gleason, Thomas Jefferson Seevers, W. A. Rankin, afterwards captain in the Thirty-third Iowa, Margaret and Sarah Canon, sisters of S. R. Canon, W. F. and Daniel Haydock, now at the head of the Haydock Manufacturing Company of St. Louis, Missouri.

John Scott, of Adams township, was one of the pioneer schoolmasters of this county. He was born in the lowlands of Scotland, his parents coming to Iowa at an early period. He was well educated and a tailor by trade, but never followed his trade in the west. He was a devout member of the Presbyterian church. He was chaste in his life and exacting in his habits. There was a vein of sadness that ran parallel with his pathway. The cause was only known to his most intimate friends. Before coming west he had won the heart of the girl of his choice and while he was preparing the home that was to be theirs to enjoy together, down to old age, her spirit was taken to the better land. He never married. He was living to be true to her. So for almost twenty years he taught the children of the adjoining districts. He took pleasure in their young lives and they loved and respected him. He owned a farm but always rented it and lived with the family. In the earlier days his comfortable home was known as "Buckhorn Tavern." He seldom turned a traveler away. The house got its name from a pair of large antlers being nailed above the door. Mr. Scott was always highly esteemed for his good judgment and character, but as the years advanced he became quite eccentric. He never owned any personal property of any kind, not even the furnishings of his own room. He accepted the equipments furnished by his tenants and when he chanced to be out of a tenant for a time he found a welcome home with one of his neighbors. And so he lived unembarrassed, waiting for the call to the spirit land. When it came it found him ready.

In the year 1845 Wm. Laurance took a claim in Madison township and built a claim cabin some 12X14 feet. It was located in the timber not far from where the present Madison schoolhouse now stands in the Cruzen neighborhood. He took a contract to furnish a certain number of rails for some adjoining improvement and was hard at work at his task when his neighbors learned that he could teach school, and besought him to open a school in his cabin for the children of the growing settlement. When he persisted that he could not leave his work the settlers offered to complete his rail-splitting contract if he would accept the easier task of teaching their children during the winter. This he agreed to do and rude wooden benches were improvised and the school opened. So far as we are able to learn thirteen children attended that school during the winter of 1845-46. Wm. Shumake, Mrs. Hamilton Cruzen, Jacob and John Coffin and Mrs. S. L. Pomeroy were among the number. This teacher of long ago gave himself during the school hours to giving his little claim cabin the air of an orderly place of learning. It was his custom to stand at the cabin door and bid the children good-night as they retired. Then taking his ax on his shoulder he would repair to the timber to prepare night wood for himself and a sufficient quantity for use during the next day. After barring his door to make himself secure from the wolves who gathered nightly in quest of the scraps about the place, he read for a time by the light of the big fireplace, and then lay down to sound sleep on a mattress of prairie hay. Mr. Laurance boarded himself, baking his corn cake on a flat rock before the big fireplace three times a day and roasting his meat on a forked stick. He was the fortunate owner of a cow that roamed about the woods eating buds and bark from the newly fallen trees. This cow supplied the pioneer teacher with milk and cream and helped to keep the school going while she protected herself from the wintry storms as best she could. Mr. Laurance served the new settlement as justice of the peace. Later he moved up into Prairie township and his family are now well known citizens of the county.