Education in Colonial Virginia: Part II, Private Schools and Tutors; WM Qrtly., Vol. 6, No. 1 Transcribed by Kathy Merrill for the USGenWeb Archives Special Collections Project ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net *********************************************************************** Education in Colonial Virginia: Part II, Private Schools and Tutors William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Vol. 6, No. 1. (Jul., 1897), pp. 1-6. WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE QUARTERLY HISTORICAL MAGAZINE VOL. VI. JULY, 1897. NO. 1 EDUCATION IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA PART II Private Schools and Tutors. Under the English system of education prevailing in Virginia, all poor children and orphans were, as already shown, provided for by the public laws. It was presumed that parental af- fection could be relied upon in respect to the children of the well-to-do. This education was administered within the colony chiefly by private schools, tutors, and endowed schools. Now, first of the private schools and tutors: In 1648, besides the free school established by Benjamin Symes, of which I shall speak later, we are told that there were "other petty schools" in the colony. There were twenty parishes in 1648, each of which had a minister, and they "lived all in peace and love"(1). These ministers united instruction of the youth with their ministerial functions. The "Parson's school", as in England, was a well-established institution from early times. In addition to this, Beverley, who wrote in 1705, says that it was the habit of the people of Virginia to join together and form little schools for the education of the children. Rev. Hugh Jones, who wrote in 1722, says: "In most parishes are schools, little houses, being built on purpose where are taught English and writing, &c." - (Present State of Virginia, by Rev. Hugh Jones). Evidence of _________________________________________________________ 91) Force's Tracts. The fact that there were a few very discreditable representatives among the colonial clergy at other times has unjustly brought all into censure. As a set- off, we have the testimony of the traveller Rev. Andrew Burnaby, who wrote in 1759: "There are at present between sixty and seventy clergymen; men in general of sober and exemplary lives. They have each a glebe of 2 or 300 acres of land, a house and salary established by law of 16,000 weight of tobacco, with an allowance of 1700 more for shrinkage". - Va. Hist. reg., Vol. V., p. 83. Commissary Robinson said, in 1760, that he "believed the clergy here to be in general a peacable, quiet, worth set of men" - Perry's Hist. Coll. Virginia, p. 468. Page 2. such schools is afforded by the deeds and wills of the inhabitants which contain many provisions for education from the earliest times(1). In deeds transferring lands, the schoolhouse often comes up as a point in the boundary. Sometimes more definite information is obtained. William Stark gave one fourth of an acre of land for a schoolhouse in Hampton parish, York county, in 1711, and all the neighboring gentlemen contributed to building the schoolhouse(2). The inventory of Mrs. Jane Culley, a teacher, affords some interesting detail as to another private school in another parish in the same county. INVESTORY OF JANE CULLEY, DECEASED, 1721. [Charles Parish, York County] L s. d To Cash of Thomas Chisman for schooling 0 13 To Cash of Hers rec'd 2 04 1 To Cash of Robert Shield, Jun., for schooling, 0 11 1 To Cash of Thos. Cox, ditto 0 10 To Cash of John Wright for schooling, 0 5 To Cash of William Bond for Do, 0 6 To Goods sold to Robert Innis, 0 2 To her saddle sold to Henry Barradale, 2 10 To Cash of Ann Hopkins for schooling, 0 15 To Cash of John Chisman for Do, 0 15 To a quilted waistcoat sold, 0 6 To Cash of Thos Nelson for schooling 0 7 To Cash of Augustine Wright for D, 0 10 To Cash of Edmund Sweeny for D, 1 05 To Cash of Edward Tabb for D, 0 2 To Cash of Anthony Robinson for Do, 0 13 To Cash of Robert Kerby, jun., for schooling, 1 4 To Cash of James Burton for Do, 0 2 To a cushion trunk 0 2 To her horse sold to Thos Mitton for Cash, 3 0 To Cash of Henry Barradale for schooling, 0 15 To Cash of John Goodwin for Do, 1 6 To Cash of Thomas Curtis for Do, 1 10 To Cash of Edmund Curtis for Do, 1 6 To Cash of Mary White for Do, 0 5 To Cash of John Robinson for Do, 0 9 _____________________________________________________________________ (1) In York Records (1655) Capt. William Hay promises his intended wife Mary, widow of John Griggs, to bring up her children by Griggs "in **** Education and Learning, with sufficient meate, drink, apparel &c." ***** Taverner provided (1655) that "my two eldest sons do keep and maintain the younger brother to school for two years". Samuel Fenn, in 1660, desired "his son Samuel and dau. Sarah to be education to the utmost Virginia affordeth". (2) William and Mary College Quarterly. Page 3. L s d. To Cash of Sarah Burnham for Do, 1 9 3 To Cash of ---- Stacy for D, 0 7 6 To Cash of Thos Bell for ditto, 0 4 6 By Cash rec'd of John Power, 0 1 8 In obedience to an order of York Court, dated March ye 19th 1721, we ye subscribers being first sworn by Coll. Lawr Smith, did meet and appraise all ye estate of Jane Culley, deced, as was brought before us by Capt. Thos Chisman, as followeth: L s d To two Trunks & one deal Box, 0 11 0 To all her wearing apparell & some old books, 6 00 00 To a parcell of earthen ware, 1 bottle and 2 vials, 0 1 6 Jno Chapman, Jas Wright, Benj. Moss. In Isle of Wight county, Thos. Proud's executor (1698) had charges against John Davis and sixteen others for schooling (the term generally being three months), at the rate of fifty pounds of tobacco for the term. In York county, Edmund Smith, guardian, paid, in 1734, Robert Martindale at the rate of L1 1s. for a year for schooling. Robert Ballard's orphans, Jane and Charlotte, paid in 1737, for one year's schooling L1 each. Frances and Mary Calthorpe, orphans of Elimelech Calthorpe, paid Rev. Theodosius Staige, of Charles Parish, L3 for three years' schooling (1736-1739). The dancing master received a warm welcome. Miss Elizabeth Reade, daughter of John Reade, deceased, went to school over ten years (1757-1767) (1). Schooling cost her L1 5s a year, board L6. Mr. Covington, the dancing master, was liberally paid. William Sheldon Sclater, orphan, was at school in 1764(2). Board cost him L10 a year, schooling L1. In 1769 he entered William and Mary College, paying for entrance fee L1 10s. He remained at college until 1775. Starkey Robinson (son of John Robinson, Jr., deceased), whose guardian was Judith Robinson, began school in 1743(3). He paid on one time L1 10s for half a year at the dancing school. He studied grammar and Lilly's Rules. In 1750 he entered college. These private schools were often conducted by the minister of the parish(4). In Princess Anne county, Mr. Otho Russell kept school at Little Creek in 1701. In 1712 Mr. Samuel Shepard petitioned the court for liberty to erect a schoolhouse upon the court-house land near the church and the court-house for the common benefit. In the ________________________________________________________________ (1) York county Records. (2) Ibid. (3) Ibid. (4) Ibid. Page 4. meantime he was permitted to keep school in the court-house. In 1716 a similar liberty to teach in the court-house was granted to George Shirley(1). In Henrico county in 1688, Mr. Thomas Dalby, schoolmaster, was granted by the court thirty shillings sterling due from Elizabeth, the relict and executrix of Robert Bullington, deceased(2). Examples of such schools about the time of the Revolution were the schools of Rev. Devereux Jarratt in Fluvanna county, of Rev. John Todd in Louisa, of Rev. Archibald Campbell and Thomas Martin, the latter of whom prepared James Madison for Princeton College, of James Marye, the preceptor of Jefferson and many other eminent Virginians, of Donald Robertson of King and Queen county, of Rev. Wm. Douglas, who taught in Goochland and Albemarle counties, of Rev. James Marye of Fredericksburg, who taught Washington, of Mr. Williams, who taught in West- moreland, etc. Judge Francis T. Brooke (born 1764) tells us in his Family Memoir that he attended several English schools at home, and at nine years of age was sent with his brother to the grammar school in Fredericksburg, taught by a Trinity gentleman from Dublin by name of Lannegan . . . "My father sent us to other Latin and Greek schools, but finally engaged a private tutor, a Schotch gentleman, by whom we were taught Latin and Greek, in which he was a ripe scholar". Robert Andrews, of Philadelphia, subsequently a professor in William and Mary College, was a tutor in the Page family(3). And John Page, Col. Lewis Willis, of Fredericks- burg, and his cousin, Francis Willis, of "White Hall", Charles and Edward Carter, of Shirley, Severn Eyre, Peter Beverley Whiting and his brother, John Whiting, Gen. Thomas Nelson, Christopher Robinson, of Middlesex, Augustine Cook, John Fox, of Gloucester, and Col. Robert Tucker attended the school in Gloucester county of Rev. Mr. William Yates, minister of Abingdon parish(4). John Page had afterwards a tutor in William Price, an ingenious young man, "who possessed the happiest faculty of explaining what he taught and rendering it agreeable". His studies took a wide range of classics, history and novels. The children of Col. Thomas Marshall (including the chief justice) were instructed at the country schools and by private tutors(5). Rev. Wm. Fyfe had "a very good private school in Elizabeth City county (in 1724), in which, ________________________________________________________ (1) Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. (2) Henrico county records. (3) Page Family, by Dr. R. C. M. Page. (4) Virginia Historical Register, III., p. 142. (5) Marshall Family. Page 5. besides reading, arithmetic, and writing, Latin and Greek were taught". - Perry's Hist. Coll. Virginia, p. 294. There was "a fashionable boarding school for girls in Williamsburg about 1760" - Lower Norfolk County Antiquary. Tutors - No well-defined line can be drawn between the teachers of schools and private tutors, as the tutor generally had under his instruction others besides the children of those in whose house he might reside. Robert Jones was a tutor about 1662 in the family of John Hansford, of York county, father of Major Thomas Hansford, of Bacon's Rebellion(1). John Carter, of Lancaster county, directed in his will in 1669 that his son Robert should have a youth servant bought for him "to teach him his books in English or Latin". This plan of employing teachers by indenture appears to have been popular in Virginia. A traveller in 1746 observes that often a clever servant was indentured to some master as a schoolmaster(2). Young ministers often came over as tutors. Rev. William Douglas taught in the family of Colonel Monroe in 1750(3). Francis Hargreaves was a tutor in the Churchill and Robinson families about 1774(4). A private teacher was employed to teach the four celebrated Lee brothers: Dr. Arthur, Richard Henry, Francis and William Lee(5). Advertisements like the following appear frequently in the Virginia Gazette: June 27, 1751. A sober person of good Morals, capable of teaching children to Read English well, and to write and cypher, by applying to the subscriber, at the Capitol Landing of this City, may depend on meeting with good Encouragement as a schoolmaster - Matthew Moody. March 27, 1752. Any single man capable of teaching Greek, Latin, and the Mathematicks, who can be well recommended may meet with good Encouragement by applying to the subscriber in Prince George Co. - Theophilus Field. April 13, 1752. A single man well recommended and capable of teaching children to read and write may meet with encouragement by applying to the printer. Oct. 15, 1767. A tutor for a private family, who among other things thoroughly understands mathematics. Middlesex, Oct. 26, 1769. A single man that understands teaching Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, and comes well recommended will meet with encouragement by applying to the sub- scriber. - Will Churchill. Sept. 12, 1771, Wanted immediately. A person capable of teaching the _______________________________________________________________ (1) York county records. (2) Itinerant's "Observations in America", London Magazine, 1746. (3) Meriwether Family. (4) William and Mary Quarterly Historical Magazine. (5) Life of Arthur Lee. Page 6. languages and the more useful branches of the mathematicks. Very good Encouragement will be begun, which may be known of the Printer. Sept. 19, 1771. A Schoolmaster of good character, well qualified to teach English, writing, and arithmetic, who opens a School near the upper church in Blissland Parish, New Kent, will meet with great encouragement from the inhabitants in this neighborhood. March, 1771. Wanted in Norborne Parish, Botetourt County - A schoolmaster well qualified to teach writing and Arithmetick, if Latin also the more agreeable and the salary enlarged. It will not be expected that he should teach more than fifteen or twenty scholars. For further Particulars inquire of the Printer of this Paper or of J. Nourse at Piedmont in the said County. None need apply but such as can have an undoubted character for Diligence and Sobriety. N.B. It is thought a Dancing Master likewise would meet with encouragement in the above County. Cabin Point, Dec. 12, 1773. A schoolmaster who understands Latin, Mathematicks, and will undertake to teach from 10 to 15 scholars or more if agreeable in a publick School situate in a good neighborhood. Also a Master properly qualified to teach English, writing and Arithmetick. This school will consist of nearly Thirty scholars. Any person properly recommended will meet with En- couragement from - John Cocke, James Belcher. 1771. The Rev. William Dunlop(1), of Stratton-Major Parish, King and Queen County, Virginia [formerly of Philadelphia], having engaged a tutor for his own sons, properly qualified to teach the learned languages as well as writing and arithmetick, would have no objection to taking two or three boys to board and educate them. Mr. Dunlog is possess of a library of several thousand volumes in most arts and sciences, which shall be free to the inspection of such youth as shall be under his care. In January, 1771, Samuel Nelson advertises his school at Broadwater, Southampton County, to teach Latin, Greek and French. Walker Maury advertises his Grammar School in Orange for instruction in Latin, Greek, and English in 1780. Mr. Low, in 1781, advertises his grammar school at Fredericksburg, stating that he had taught in Virginia eight years, and nearly two hundres scholars. In 1785, Rev. Arthur Emmerson, who had been educated at William and Mary College, advertised to teach school in Nansemond county, for instruction in Latin, Greek, French and Italian languages; price of board and tuition L30 a year; particular attention to reading, writing and declamation. ___________________________________________________________ (1) He died September 25, 1779, while minister of St. Paul's Parish, Hanover county. - Virginia Gazette. At Dumfries, in Prince William county, is a tomb which reads: "Here lyes William Dunlop, Merchant, son to Alexander Dunlop, Greek Professor in the University of Glasgow, who dyed December the 21, 1739. Aged 32 years." James Dunlop, of Port Royal, merchant, was married to Miss Betsy Hill, of Essex - Virginia Gazette for 8 September, 1776. The same paper for September, 1775, announced the death of Mrs. Deborah Dunlop, wife of Rev. William Dunlop, of King and Queen county.