Lincoln County Schools, West Virginia This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm History of Education in West Virginia Prepared under the direction of the State Superintendent of Free Schools 1904, Charleston: The Tribune Printing Company, 1904 pgs. 212 - 214 Lincoln County BY W. C. HOLSTEIN, SUPERINTENDENT When Lincoln county was formed in 1867 from the counties of Kana- wha, Cabell, Putnam and Boone, the "Free Schools of West Virginia" were then in their Infancy, and therefore the educational qualifications of teachers at that time were not of a very high standard. Nevertheless we had very few men and probably fewer women in Lincoln county who could obtain a certificate to teach. Schools were few and scattering, and a large per cent. of the teachers were from other counties, and some were from Ohio. The pioneer teachers of our county were not versed in literature, nor were they walking cyclopedias, yet they served their purpose for that time, and some of our present teachers can look back to their early school days with pride and pleasure, for it was there, that they received the foundation of their education. Most of those early teachers have passed to the "great beyond," and we accord them praise for all the good work they have done. We must now view the other side of the picture and look at some of the defects of the schools during the first few years after our county was organized. The school houses were not furnished with any apparatus,—no maps, charts, blackboards, or anything which might aid the teacher in giving "busy work" for the pupils, except, perhaps, the "rod," which was always conspicuous in the school room "in ye olden times." The few school houses we had then were very rude structures, and some times schools were taught in other buildings. The writer of this sketch remembers very distinctly the first school house he ever saw was a very small log house with one pane ot glass, the entire length of the building to give light within. The writer also remembers his first school days were spent in an old log church house, and of cold winter days the pupils would .place the benches around the old chimney fire place to keep warm. The benches we had to sit on had no backs to them, and often we became wearied, but we knew of nothing better. The second school term the writer ever attended was taught in an old round log dwelling house. A "stick and clay chimney" stood at one end of the house, and only one small window was all the house had to give us light. The seats we had to sit on were made bench fashion from small sapplings_ one side being hewn oft to make the seats more comfortable. We are glad however that a great change has taken place in the way of better school houses in our county, yet we frankly admit that in some of our districts we have very poor houses still in use, but these are gradually being replaced by better ones. We have now in the county three very good school buildings, built not only for the district schools to be taught in them, but for Summer Normals or Select Schools to be taught in them also. One of these buildings Is located at Hamlin, the county seat, and it cost about $2,500. This house has three rooms. One is located at Griffithsville, a two-room building, and cost about $1,800, and one at Hadley, a two-room building, and cost about $2,000. In 1884 we had seventy-five school houses in the county and in 1903 we had 104, and for the year ending June 30, 1886 the total enumeration of pupils was 3,749, and for the year ending June 30, 1903, the total enumera- tion of pupils was 5,919. The progress of a county, educational or otherwise, depends largely on the value of taxable property, and as Lincoln county has never been blessed with wealth, our school terms have always been the minimum number ot months provided by law. We have had no railroads in Lincoln county until recently. The Guyan Valley Railroad now traverses the western part of the county, which will add to the taxable property of the county, insuring better salaries for the teachers, and that always means better qualified teachers and better schools. The apportionment of the general school fund for Lincoln in 1885 was $2,658.36, and for 1903 it was $10,008.55. In regard to the pioneer teachers of Lincoln county, we doubt if any of them had any special training in the art of teaching, or knew anything about psychology; and as far as the writer knows educational journals were unknown. At what date the teachers begun to read educational journals we are not able to tell; but we believe that at present about 50 per cent of our teachers subscribe for and read educational journals. A few of our teachers have attended the State Normal Schools, and nearly all of them have attended our select schools, which have been taught in our county for a number of years. We have now in Lincoln county about 38 male and 64 female teachers. A majority of these teachers are doing very good work in their schools, and some of them are up to date in methods, and deserve better salaries than they are now receiving. Giving all due credit to the school officials who have preceded us, and have contributed their share of work for the betterment of our schools, we hope our schools will continue to prosper, and that our Lincoln county boys and girls may grow up to be good men and women. The writer is proud to note that a few men in Lincoln county who used to attend our district schools are recognized as leading men of the State. Educational journals, teachers' institutes, select and State Normal Schools have done much for the progress of the schools of Lincoln county.