Information on Area Schools, 1904 - Wyoming Co. WV

History of Education in West Virginia
Prepared under the direction of the State Superintendent of Free Schools
1904, Charleston: The Tribune Printing Company, 1904                   
pg. 253-255


BY R. WADE COOK, SUPERINTENDENT

Wyoming county was organized in the fall of 1849 or the early part of
1850, from a part of what was then Logan county, Virginia. Prior to the
breaking out of the Civil War there were here and there a few "schools
for indigent children," but schools were the exception rather than the
rule before the war. There was no effort to organize district free schools,
under the Virginia law of 1846.

During the war, everything was in a state of chaos; little or no
attention was given to education and schools in the county. But in the
Constitutional Convention, which convened in the city of Wheeling on
November 26th, 1861, for the purpose of framing a constitution for the
proposed new State, Wyoming county was represented by Hon. William
Walker. Mr. Walker was made a member of the Committee on Education.
The report of this committee, with a few slight changes became Article X
of the first constitution; and with some modifications and additions,
Article XII of our present constitution.

In 1865 Madison Ellison was elected first county superintendent of
Wyoming county. One of the first, if not the first, free school was taught
by Hon. W. H. H. Cook, in his father's kitchen, which stood on the old
Thos. M. Cook homestead on Rockcastle creek, a short distance above
where the Rockcastle Baptist church now stands.  This school was
commenced November 27th, 1865, with an enrollment of about 50 scholars.

Soon after the close of the war the citizens and officials of this county
began in earnest the arduous task of organizing free schools. Progress was
necessarily slow, as the county is large, rough and mountainous, and
at the time only very sparsely settled and without roads and school houses.
In 1876 at the time of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, there
were reported only 29 free schools and two church houses in the county.

Among the many whom we may now look upon as pioneers in the
work of organizing free schools in this county may be mentioned Rev.
W. H. H. Cook, member of the State Senate; Hon. T. F. Bailey, Levi
Gore, Jas. H. Stewart, Capt. W. T. Sarver, Capt. C. S. Canterbury, the
Gunnoe brothers, Dr. I. Bailey, Austin Cooper and Rev. J. L. Marshall.

Of those who have taught training schools for teachers and have thus
contributed to the educational advancement of our teachers and the
elevation of the scholars of our county may be mentioned, Rev. J. S. Poe,
first graduate of the Concord Normal School; Hon. E. M. Seuter, clerk of
the Circuit Court of this county; Prof. A. J. Lacy, Rev. Peter Clay,
professor in Barboursville College; L. M. Poe, former principal of the
Oceana Academy; Prof. T. A. Cook, who has recently resigned as teacher
in the Concord Business school; Powell Lane, a prominent lawyer of this
county; Hon. John W. Cook, member of the House of Delegates from this
county; Prof. Chas. Preston, formerly of North Carolina; E. S. Hatfleld,
now at Williamson, W. Va.; Prof. J. E. Phillips, former principal of the
Welch school; F. C. Cook, county superintendent McDowell county; Thos.
J. Cooper, county superintendent from 1885 to 1887; the lamented Alt.
Chambers, brother of Judge L. L. Chambers, of Huntington, W. Va.; and
the lamented J. Russell Christian, the "Mountain Bard" of West Virginia.

Of those who have retired from the profession of teaching, but whose
life story is a part of the educational history of the county we mention:
Jas. H. Stewart, L. L. Shannon, Dan Gunnoe, Fount Goode, L. P. Bailey,
E. E. Stone, A. M. Stewart, L. P. Cook, M. L. Jones, and J. Harvey Cook.

Of those who have successfully taught in the free schools of this
county, fifteen, twenty, and even thirty years, and who are still teaching
may be mentioned: Capt. C. S. Canterbury, Jas. A. Gunnoe, Rev. M. W.
Pendry, Rev. Jas. R. Godfrey, W. H. H. Stewart, ex-Supt. I. J. Cook, ex-Supt.
Jas. Cook, L. M. Poe, R. E. Morgan, Sr., and W. R. Shumate.

The free school cause in this county has met with and overcome
many obstacles in its onward march. A shortage of necessary financial aid
has generally resulted in a short school term and often in very indifferent
school houses. Notwithstanding, schools have multiplied until we now
have 91 schools in the county. We have 65 large commodious school
houses; 15 houses that are only fair; and 11 houses that are very indiffer-
ent, some of them old log huts of the pioneer type. But our boards of
education are using all due economy in other respects, and are making
heroic efforts to replace them with better ones.

Teachers' institutes have always been well attended in this county and
have wielded a lasting influence for good upon our schools by securing
uniformity in methods of teaching and school government, and by forging
a link of union that binds our teachers into one common brotherhood.
Our teachers have been securing much better results in their schools,
since the adoption of the graded course that has been prescribed by law
for country schools.

The Concord State Normal School, the Beckley Seminary, and the
Oceana Academy are doing much toward supplying our schools with
intelligent, energetic, up-to-date teachers.

A year ago, when the Legislature of our State enacted the law provid-
ing for a system of uniform State examinations for teachers, the wisdom
of the step was generally questioned by the friends of the free schools
of this county. But the results of the recent examinations in our county
under the new system have been very gratifying, indeed. Of the 19
applicants for examination eight received No. 1 certificates. Perhaps in
no other county in the State have the teachers made a better average
showing. This fact alone is a most excellent testimonial to the high
literary and scholarly attainments of the teachers of Wyoming county.

There are at this time (January, 1904), two railroads under process
of construction in this county, the Chesapeake and Ohio, and the Deep-
water. Both roads are penetrating our immense and almost inexhaustible
coal-fields and almost boundless stretches of primeval forest, composed of
the finest timber in the world.  With the great increase of taxable property
as a natural result of the development of these great sources of wealth,
and its consequent increase of our school revenues, the educational future
of Wyoming county is promising beyond the most sanguine expectations
of the founders of the free schools of this county.

The following is a list of the county superintendents of this county,
with the term of service of each as nearly as can be ascertained:

Madison Elleson, from 1865 to 1870.
Richard M. Cook, from 1870 to 1872.
T. F. Bailey, from 1872 to 1877.
A. Shannon, from 1877 to 1879.
J. L. Marshall, from 1879 to 1881.
Philip Lambert, from 1881 to 1883.
D. C. Bailey, from 1883 to 1885.
Thos. J. Cooper, from 1885 to 1887.
M. L. Stone, from 1887 to 1889.
James Cook, from 1889 to 1891.
I. J. Cook, from 1891 to 1893.
James Cook, from 1893 to 1895.
R. Wade Cook, from 1895 to 1904.

I am indebted to Profs. G. P. Goode, Dan Gunnoe and J. A. Gunnoe
for assistance rendered in the preparation of this sketch.


Submitted by Valerie F. Crook <vfcrook@trellis.net>

****************************************************************

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. Files may be printed or copied
for personal use only.

****************************************************************