Tipton County IN Archives History - Books .....Educational 1883
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Book Title: Counties Of Howard And Tipton, Indiana

EDUCATIONAL.

   The first eduational [sic] work in the new town began shortly after the
completion of the old log court house. In it was held most probably in the
winter of 1846-47, the first school, and from the best information the writer
has been able to obtain, William F. Brady was the first teacher. The next was
probably Joseph M. Askin. School was next held in the cabin of Jack Reed, which
stood on Main street, about two squares north of Jefferson. Until 1852, schools
were thus held at different houses for two or three months in each twelve.
Teachers were paid by subscription, and very poorly paid, too, for they were
endeavoring to lead up the steeps the children of a very poor people, whose
supply of ready cash was at a minimum. In the year mentioned, however, a new
frame school building, twenty-four feet wide by sixty in depth, was erected
where the Christian Chapel now stands, with  semi-modern improvements. The seats
were made to accommodate squads of five instead of a dozen.

   Prominent among the educational men in that day were George Kane, Asher B.
Goodrich, Newton J. Jackson, Dr. Isaac Parker, Rev. John Dale, Charles Rumsey,
Marion P. Evans and Joseph W. Wilson. The new building was frequently used on
Sunday for religious purposes. Joseph M. Askin was among the first teachers to
occupy the house. Then followed John E. Rumsey during the greater part of the
period from 1853 to 1869, assisted by Miss Martha Dale, Miss Hattie Marsh, Miss
Marion Lindsay, Miss Maggie Kane, Miss Becca Bickel, Miss Aurelia Kane, Miss
Izora Wilson and others. The terms not taught in this period by Mr. Rumsey were
under the charge of Albert Barnett, M. V. B. Newcomer and a Mr. Lockwood. Here,
as elsewhere, there were but two methods of securing study, one by the lash or
its equivalent, and the other by creating a love for study per se. Mr. Rumsey's
method was the latter, and that probably accounts for his long and continuous
service. Some teachers would raise a puncheon from the floor and incarcerate an
idle and refractory boy awhile in that improvised dungeon. If that had not the
desired effect, the punishment wound up with a flogging. But as a rule these
early teachers were conscientious, intelligent and energetic an fully the equal
of their fellow teachers in the State. They were missionaries, working for the
good of humanity at from $8 to $30 per month, one third public money, the other
two-thirds to be made up by the patrons and about fifty per cent of which was
lost. Barnett was a queer genius, not particularly choice in his words, nor
caring much whether he or his pupils wore their hats and bonnets in school
hours. Yet he was a succcessful [sic] teacher and the most original
arithmetician in the county. Rumsey, upon taking hold of the school in the
summer of 1853, told the patrons that he would take the Bible with him into the
school room as a daily text book. But the best men were afraid it would hinder
the progress of the school. They told him, however, to go ahead, but that he
must do so on his own responsibility. The school laws from 1850 to 1860 were the
merest apologies for laws in some particulars. For instance, the statutes made
it obligatory to have a County Examiner, whose duty it was to grant license to
teachers if their grade comprehended a practical knowledge of the six branches,
and yet under the same statutes the patrons of any school district could elect a
rejected applicant for license to teach in the district. As Tipton increased in
population, the necessity for more school room increased correspondingly. So in
1867, the erection of the present building on West Jefferson street was begun.
It was finished sufficiently in 1869 to allow school to begin in it that year,
and it was subsequently fully completed, the total cost being about $15,000.
John E. Rumsey and Jacob B. Blount headed the school in 1869 with competent
assistants, and from that time to the present it has been sustained from seven
to nine months in each year. Among the prominent instructors who have had charge
of the schools are Professors Jennings, B. M. Blount, J. C. Gregg, Thrasher,
Stout, A. F. Armstrong and W. H. Clemens. Several classes have graduated from
the High School Department, the last one being the class of 1883. The school
building itself is a large two-story brick with slate roof. It consists of six
rooms besides the library room, which is well supplied with a large number of
well selected books. As the town is growing with so much rapidity, another
building will soon become necessary.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

COUNTIES OF HOWARD AND TIPTON, INDIANA.

HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
ILLUSTRATED.

CHARLES BLANCHARD. EDITOR.
CHICAGO: F. A. BATTEY & CO.
1883.


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