First Schools in Hancock County, WV ********************************************************************** USGENWEB 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. ********************************************************************** submitted by Valerie Foren Crook History of Education in West Virginia 1904 pgs. 204-206 Hancock County BY T. M. COCHRAN, SUPERINTENDENT The writer has been unable to ascertain just when the first school was established in the territory now included in Hancock county, but it is certain that schools were taught at least a century ago. Most of the schools of that period were kept by Irish masters, the opin- ion prevailing that no one but an Irishman could teach school. We are told that some of them were sadly deficient in learning and most of them over fond of strong drink. Prior to the organization of West Virginia as a separate State there were no free schols [sic] in the county, although an effort was made in 1852 to establish free schools under a sort of local option law passed a short time before by the Legislature of Virginia. J. H. Atkinson canvassed the county in the interest of free schools, but when the votes were counted they came a little short of the required three-fourths majority. Among the earlier teachers in the county was J. H. Atkinson, who for several years taught a subscription school in what was known as the academy building in Hollidays Cove. Mr. Atkinson was afterward chair- man of the Senate Committee on Education in the first Legislature of West Virginia and drafted the first free school bill and was largely Instru- mental in its passage. Mr. Atkinson is still living in New Cumberland, where for a number of years he has been engaged in the practice of law. Although more than eighty years old he enjoys fairly good health and takes an active interest in educational matters. Thomas Bambrick taught school in Fairview seventy-five years ago and several of his descendants are among our best teachers of to-day. Free schools were opened as soon as the law establishing free schools became effective, and they have made rapid progress; always maintaining a high standard of qualification for teachers and paying as good salaries as. were to be had anywhere in the State. At the present time we have 24 school buildings in good condition and fairly well equipped with apparatus. The graded and high school in New Cumberland, established in 1893, employs eleven teachers. The graded and high school of Chester, established in 1903, employs eight teachers. The graded and high school of Hollidays Cove, established In 1901, em- ploys three teachers. There are graded schools in Fairview and Ferndale employing two teachers each. Our rural schools pay salaries for teachers holding certificates of No. one grade, ranging in amount from forty to fifty dollars, and there are twenty- three teachers employed in the rural schools. In 1898 Rev. J. D. Hull purchased the old court house at Fairview, transferred it into a beautiful little school building and established the Tri-State Normal and Business College. The school enjoyed several pros- perous years, but has been closed since June, 1903. At present there Is not a private school of any kind in the county.