Unknown County GaArchives Church Records.....Georgia Baptists Hearn School Copyright Date 1874
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HEARN SCHOOL.

  The materials at hand for a history of this school are quite meagre, but they
are such as the author has been able to obtain, and are gathered exclusively
from the minutes of the Georgia Baptist Convention. It is mentioned at the
session at LaGrange, in 1842, when aid is invoked for it by Rev. Humphrey Posey,
to save it from being sold by the sheriff. It seems not to have been many years
in operation at that time, though it had, by some mismanagement, become involved
in debt. The writer proposed to raise the money needed (the amount not
recollected) by the payment of fifty dollars each by a certain number. The
proposition was acceded to, and the school relieved of present embarrassment. It
was then a Manual Labor School, but this system seems to have been abandoned a
few years afterwards. It was turned over to the Georgia Baptist Convention, who
were authorized to appoint its Trustees, etc., in 1844. Mr. A. Fitzgerald, a
beneficiary, is mentioned as being a student here in 1847.

  The year preceding, viz.: in 1846, it is mentioned that Mr. Lott Hearn, of
Putnam county, its liberal patron, and for whom it was named, had died, and the
treasurer had commenced suit against his executor for a portion of his bequest
to the institution, then due. It was under the instruction of Mr. Alfred J. King
and Mr. Oliver P. Fannin. It had opened a department for the indigent deaf and
dumb, under State patronage, and six or eight of this unfortunate class had been
removed thither from Hartford, Conn.* Mr. O. P. Fannin, for many years principal
of the State Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb established at this place, was their
first teacher.

   *This Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb was originated by the Author, then State
Agent for this class.

  The school was in a highly prosperous condition (still under Mr. King,) in
1848, with sixty students in attendance. $5,412 00, in part of the Hearn legacy
of twelve thousand five hundred dollars^ had been paid. The year following, the
school was still in a flourishing condition, though the principal teacher, owing
to some unhappy difficulties in the community, had resigned. (There were some
restless spirits thereabouts in those days.) About seven thousand dollars,
besides its landed interests, etc., were in hand.

  In 1850, some of the members of the executive committee of the Convention
visited Cave Spring "to aid in healing the dissensions that have, for so long a
time, existed amongst brethren " there. What success, if any, attended their
errand of love, does not appear. Mr. J. S. Ingraham had been secured as the
principal, and the school was "in a highly prosperous state."

  For a series of years the institution continued in a prosperous condition
under Mr. Ingraham, generally varying from fifty to sixty pupils,
notwithstanding the persistent opposition arrayed against it by the "restless
spirits" already alluded to. Its income more than met all its expenses, and its
Trustees were enabled to take an interest, for the accommodation of its pupils,
in a brick meeting-house, built by the Baptist church, and also to provide a
comfortable residence, lot, etc., for the use of its excellent principal and his
family.

  In 1855, the school was still under Mr. Ingraham, and was doing well in all
respects. Sixty-six pupils had been received during the year, among whom were
two young preachers, beneficiaries of the Convention. It was clear of debt, and
its income exceeded its expenses, enabling its managers to add, by purchase,
another lot of ground, so that, in all, the school owned about forty-five acres.
The buildings and premises were in good repair. The report of the following year
is but a repetition of the foregoing.

  Mr. Ingraham continued at the head of the school until the close of 1857, when
Mr. A. J. King, its former principal, was again called to the charge of it,
under whom prosperity still attended it, both in its patronage and finances. The
number of pupils admitted was eighty-four, its endowment had increased, and
"various additions and improvements in apparatus aud school furniture had been
made."

  Mr. King resigned again at the close of his second year, aud Mr. James
Courtney Brown, a young man of unusual ability, and a graduate of Mercer
University, was called to the charge of the institution in the beginning of
1860. His administration gave entire satisfaction; but, in the spring of 1862,
he and most of his older pupils having joined the army of the Confederate
States, the exercises of the school were suspended, and the remaining pupils
turned over to the Cave Spring Female School.

  In 1863, the Hearn School and the female school at Cave Spring were united
temporarily, under Rev. S. G. Hillyer, D. D. There were thirty-five pupils in
the male department, and the smiles of providence, as heretofore, seemed to rest
upon the enterprise. That fall, however, it became necessary again to suspend
the exercises, in consequence of the proximity of the contending armies. How
long this suspension continued, the writer is not informed. It is supposed,
however, to have lasted until the close of the war. The buildings were much
injured and the library and apparatus destroyed by the enemy. The funds of the
school in the hands of the Trustees were invested in Confederate securities, and
are thus lost. The amount lost was about four thousand dollars. The school,
however, still has $12,000 00 of the Hearn legacy in charge of the Georgia
Baptist Convention, and its landed estate, amounting to forty or fifty acres.
Like all other institutions in our oppressed section, it is under a cloud now.
But it has already accomplished much good, and it is hoped that the prayers and
benefactions of the sainted Hearn, which are held in sweet remembrance on high,
may be the means of restoring to it the sunshine of prosperity which it enjoyed
for so many years.

  The history of this school should prompt men of wealth to bequeath a portion
of their estates, at least, in such manner as may be productive of good after
they are gone, and as may perpetuate their memory in the earth.

  This school was, in 1873, under the care of Mr. P. J. King, as principal, and
was in a prosperous condition. Its financial condition is also good.


Additional Comments:
From:

GEORGIA BAPTISTS: HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL
BY
J. H. CAMPBELL,
PERRY, GEORGIA.


MACON, GA.: J. W. BURKE & COMPANY. 1874.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by
J. H. CAMPBELL,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.




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