Baldwin County GaArchives History .....History of Baldwin Co. - Schools 1925 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 October 5, 2004, 7:21 pm PART II INSTITUTIONS Schools As expressed by Oliver Cromwell, "History is God manifested in the affairs of men." We enter upon this part of our work with profound reverence and with a sense of incompetency to unroll the scroll of the past and bring to light the persons and events of those remarkable times—to read the manifestation of Diety. In part first, a compendium of the laws enacted by the Georgia Legislature relating to Baldwin County, furnishes the background. We get the names of the men of affairs at that early date. These laws indicate and reflect the spirit of the times and the imperishable work inaugurated. From the time of its organization Baldwin County was blessed with the best of schools, several of them of state-wide patronage. An Act chartering an Academy in Milledgeville was passed in 1807. This school was located on the south west corner of Penitentiary Square. There were also private schools, one taught by Dr. William Montgomery Green, who had resigned from a Professorship at the State University and had moved to Milledgeville. Among his pupils was Chilly Mclntosh, the Indian Chief, and kinsman of Judge Iverson L. Harris. Dr. Getting, later State Geologist, and his wife had a fine school. The old Getting house, one of the ancient landmarks still stands. At Scottsboro, five miles from Milledgeville, there was a girls school taught by Dr. Brown, a famous educator. Many of our most brilliant women received their education in that beautiful village sequested among the oaks. ----------------- p. 70 Midway, so named because of its location midway between Scottsboro and Milledgeville was the seat of old Oglethorpe University. From its classic walls went out many of our distinguished men. Drs. John and Joseph Le Conte, Eugenius Nesbit, Sidney Lanier, and many others. Of this. University, there will be a separate sketch. Under its shadow was the Boys Preparatory Academy, taught by Dr. Beeman, Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Davidson, and others. About a mile distant stood the old Female Seminary. Here taught Mrs. Egertojn, second wife of Mr. Richard Orme, the father of Mrs. C. P. Crawford and grand-father of Rev. Orme Flynn, Dr. Thornwell Jacobs, Dr. Charles Mallard, of Liberty County, Dr. Scudder, and many others. This was a large school. The families in the neighborhood all took boarders. The Omnibus with its Proverbial "always room for one more" came out from town daily. Here I append the report of a graduate from this school. "The folder and red wafer" mark our advance, but the curriculum shows the girls of those days not lacking in the higher culture of mathematics, Literature, and Languages. Midway Female Seminary (Near Milledgeville) TRUSTEES Col. J. S. Thomas Col. D. C. Campbell A. M. Nisbet, Esq. D. Tucker, Esq. Harper Tucker, Esq. This Institution of learning has been in successful operation for more than ten years. The school year is divided into two terms of five months each. The first term commences on the first Monday in January; the second term on the second Monday in June. TUITION, in the Primary Department, $15, per term; in the higher branches of English and Latin and ----------------- p. 71 Greek, $20. Each pupil will be charged fifty cents per term for fuel. Extra charges are only on the following: Music, $25 per term; French, $10; Needle work and other Ornamental Branches, $10. BOARD, including washing, lights and fuel can be obtained in respectable families at from $8 to $12 per month. The village of Midway is favorably situated. Experience has proved it to be healthful. It offers many social and religious advantages. A stage-coach passes through it every morning and evening. Occupying a central position between the Georgia and Central Rail Roads, it is easy of access from all parts of the State. In giving instruction in the Seminary the Principal will be aided by experienced and competent Female Assistants. MIDWAY FEMALE SEMINARY May, 20th, 1848. Sir: As a means of informing parents and guardians of the progress of their daughters and wards in this Institution, and as an incentive to the pupils of his school, the undersigned will have recourse to the issuing of circulars. Below you have a statement of the grade of Scholarship and Deportment of Miss ADDIE GREEN from March 1st to May 20th. JNO. B. MALLARD, Principal. ----------------- p. 72 No. 1 denotes the highest grade, No. 5 the lowest, Nos. 2, 3 and 4 are intermediate. STUDIES Geometry, (1) dis. Latin, (1) Algebra, Greek, Arithmethic, French, Astronomy, (1) Grammar, Nat. Philosophy, Geography, Chemistry, Composition (1) Botany, Writing, (1 1/2) Logic, Reading, (1) Mental Philosophy, Spelling, (1) Moral Philosophy, Music, Evidences of Christianity, (1) Physiology, (1) History, (1) dis. Synonyms, (1) ATTENDANCE RECITATIONS No. required 55 No. required 275 No. given, Early 26 42 No. given 210 Late 16 Deportment, (1) Oglethorpe University An act to incorporate Oglethorpe University, approved Dec. 21, 1835. The Trustees appointed were: Thos. Goulding, S. S. Davies, S. K. Talmadge, J. C. Patterson, H. S. Piratt, Robert Quarterman, Charles Howard, C. C. James, Joseph H. Lumpkin, Washington Poe, Eugenius Nesbit, William W. Holt, B. E. Howard, Richard K. Hines, Samuel Rockwell, John A. Cuthbert, Tomlinson Fort, J. Billups, Charles C. Mills, Charles P. Gordon, John H. Howard, Thomas R. King, Adam L. Alexander. Authorized to use a common seal and to make bylaws and regulations for the government of said university, and for Manual Labor Institute attached thereto. All by-laws and appointments to be subject to approval of Hopewell Presbytery. ----------------- p. 73 Midway was the seat of old Oglethorpe University, chartered in the year 1835. From its classic walls went forth many of our distinguished men. The brothers, Drs. John and Joseph Le Conte, Sidney Lanier, Eugenius Nesbit, and many others. Under its shadow was the Boys Preparatory School taught by Dr. Bee-man and others. Oglethorpe was organized as a Manual Training School, bought by the Presbyterian Church, represented by the Synods of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. The handsome main building was two stories high besides basement, fifty-two feet front by eighty-nine feet deep, including a colonade fourteen feet deep. The magnificent columns and high granite steps extending almost the entire front of the building, made it an imposing edifice. On each side of the extensive campus was a long row of one story dormitories for the accommodation of the students. Later a three story brick building was erected by the Thalian Society. Nearby was a beautiful residence, the home of the President, Dr. Samuel K. Talmadge. The college opened for students in 1838. It had passed through a stormy period of financial distress. It was at this particular juncture, in November, 1839 that the Board recommended the Presbytery of Hopewell to transfer the management of the same to the Synod of South Carolina and Georgia which the Presbytery was glad to do. Messrs. R. J. Nichols and Miller Grieve and other friends came to the rescue of the University and advanced large sums of money. Dr. Beeman had resigned from the presidency and the Institution was without a president for one year. The Board offered the privilege to the Churches and Christian people of South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida to endow Professorships. At a meeting of the Synod at Charleston, Rev. S. K. Talmadge was elected President. The Board met and gave a mortgage to Nichols and Grieve. For the next four years, 1843 to 1847 the affairs of the College moved ----------------- p. 74 on without much trouble. In 1844, Rev. Thos. S. Witherspoon was elected to and accepted the Alabama Professorship. In 1844, Prof. Witherspoon died and the vacancy was filled by Rev. R. C. Smith, Rev. J. M. Baker was elected Professor of ancient Languages. In 1845, Rev. Ferdinand Jacobs was elected Professor of Astronomy, and in 1846, Rev. C. W. Lane was elected Professor of Natural Philosophy and Chemistry. The indebtedness of the institution had been slowly but surely increasing—besides the claims of Messrs. Nichols and Grieve there was the debt of Joseph Lane, contractor, the Central Bank, the Penitentiary, and others, besides the salaries of Professors—an indebtedness of $70,000 dollars. The Board saw their only hope was a compromise. Finally such a compromise was made on a basis of twenty-five per cent. In round numbers an indebtedness of $70,000 was compromised for $17,000. While projecting this compromise, the Board invited the Synod of Alabama to unite with them in the management of the University, thus it continued under the joint control of the three Synods until the close of the war. In addition to the compromise measure, there was another plan adopted known as the scholarship plan which was simply this: Everyone upon payment of one hundred dollars would be entitled to educate all of his sons free. Upon the payment of five hundred dollars one was entitled to educate free any person he might designate. This payment was made by many generous Presbyterians, among them Col. David C. Houston of Alabama, who educated two of his own sons and three other young men, taking five scholarships. Things now began to brighten. The Milledgeville and Gordon railroad was in process of construction and would pass in front of the buildings and through the grounds. The Thalian and Phi Delta Societies had obtained permission to erect separate and ----------------- p. 75 independent halls on the scholarship plan, they assuming the labor of raising the money. Prof. R. C. Smith had been added to the faculty and Dr. Joseph Le Conte was made Professor of Chemistry, Geology, and Natural History. During this year several changes were made in the faculty: The retirement of Prof. J. W. Baker, the resignation of Prof. Le Conte in 1852, the election of Prof. James Wood-row, and the election of Prof. N. A. Pratt. The exercises of the College were carried on until 1862, when the young men were called away by the conscription act. From that time until the close of the war the College was only nominally kept open, being placed under the care of Professors Lane and Smith, the President, Dr. Talmadge, being in declining health. This completes the history of Oglethorpe University as related to Midway. Of the High School of Oglethorpe, Prof. Hunter was in charge. Of the three hundred graduates from 1839 to 1862, 107 were directly connected with Midway or Milledgeville either by residence or marriage. Those ten years of the University life were very delightful ones for the community. For the weekly prayer-meetings the young ladies never failed to have escorts; nor to the May-parties, nor to the Commencement occasions. The Commencement exercises brought crowds from Macon, Eatonton, and other towns and cities. Though its many reverses, and laboring under a cloud of indebtedness, from the year 1835 until its dismemberment, there stands out the noble work of this institution. As the Rev. James Stacy says in his history of the Presbyterian Church in Georgia, "Oglethorpe was indeed a failure from a business or worldly standpoint, but from a spiritual and heavenly one, a grand success." Out of the three hundred and seventeen graduates we count seventy-two ministers. Upon the roll also stands a number of college Professors, a host of teachers, physicians, attorneys, and men ----------------- p. 76 of distinction. To her belongs Georgia's beloved poet, Hon. Sidney C. Lanier, who went out of her halls in 1860. When Oglethorpe University was moved to Atlanta, the material of the Main Building was sold to the State to be used in the construction of the State Sanitarium. The steps of the T. O. Powell Building being the same as those of this famous old institution of learning. SIDNEY LANIER Sidney Lanier, Georgia's distinguished poet, was a graduate of Oglethorpe University. At fourteen he entered the Sophomore class and graduated in 1860, after four years of college life, sharing first honors with Robert G. Bayne. He was born in Macon, Georgia, February 3, 1842. His father, a quiet gentleman of great culture, a lawyer by profession, was Robert Simpson Lanier; his mother, Mary Jane Anderson, a Virginian of Scotch descent, a gentle, dignified woman, caring little for social life and thoroughly interested in the religious training of her children. While yet a boy, he played the flute, violin, guitar, banjo, organ, and piano, though the flute and violin were his favorite instruments. Kate Fort Coddington of Macon beautifully expresses it in her poem "Macon and Lanier:" His childhood lies encircled by the hills This pavement tombs the proof marks of his feet; Each roadway echoes from his wanderings; Ocmulgee croons to rhythm of his beat. Here sprang the silver shining of his dreams; Here weary thoughts came homing to their nest. Here bathed his spirit by the hush of dawn, And with the sun stood lord upon the west. City that bore him, Cradle that rocked him, p. 77 Claim him and wreathe him the chaplet that's due. For the sword of his soul Is the flame of thy glory— Then pierce with a stone The earth where he grew. Copy of Letter to Mr. Thomas H. Whitaker Arlington, Va. 20th April, 1867 Mr. Thomas H, Whitaker, My Dear Sir:— I beg leave to present the Berrien Society of Oglethorpe University, Georgia, my sincere thanks for having elected me an honorary member of their Association. I trust that their praiseworthy eiforts for the advancement of their moral and mental culture will be attended with eminent success. I am Sir with much respect, Your Obt. Servt., R. E. LEE Additional Comments: From: Part II HISTORY of BALDWIN COUNTY GEORGIA BY MRS. ANNA MARIA GREEN COOK ILLUSTRATED ANDERSON. S. C. 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