The Hamilton Herald-News (Hamilton, Tex.), Vol. 83, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 3, 1958 Page: 29 of 72
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I
rag
of Indians against whom he had
the
;o
*
$30
TEXAS NEWS 100 YEARS AGO
Keefe in 1882; Mr. Carmackle in
: and, in
school, taught in the summer of
1869 to augment the short fall
term. ..........
Because of her brutal massacre
by the Indians on July 9, 1867,
The bill providing for the run-
ning of the boundary line of the
State of Texas, without the mak-
ing of scientific investigation was
passed.
OLD SCHOOL BUILDING ON COLLEGE HILL
The Houston Telegraph is in-
formed by the Agent of Redding
& Co. Express, that two men
went to the plantation of General
Welborne, in Fort Bend County,
on Friday night, and represented
themselves as clergymen, and
asked permission to preach to the
negroes. The overseer refused
They then asked to stay all night.
The overseer informed them that
the family was residing in town,
and the house was locked up. In
the altercation they seized upon
the overseer, and while one held
him the other gashed him in an
awful manner with his knife. The
overseer was not expected to
live.—June, 1858.
W
I
edition. ._
'At the time of Miss Whitney’s
death, H. M. Gaston was’Teachihg
a small private school at the head
of Neil’s Creek. Another early
day school of the same period
was taught in the Blue- Ridge
The
was
8^
Officials of County
in 1899 Are Listed
Officers serving Hamilton
County 39 years ago, according
to the Hamilton Herald of July
5, 1899, were as follows:
District office’s--J. S. Straug-
han, judge; Lee Riddle, attorney;
J. L Spencer, clck.
County officers- -C. W. Cotton,
judge; H. E. Chcslcy, attorney;
J. C. Williams, clerk; A. J. Rul-
lell, sheriff and tax collect ar;
George E. Terry, treasurer; J. A.
Keller, assessor; W. T. Saxon,
surveyor.
Precinct officers—J. P. Pre-
cinct No. 1, O. C. Warensjold;
Lee Taylor, constable.
Commissioners — -Precinct 1:
S. J. Beck; precinct 2: J. H.
Morris; precinct 3: J. T. Craw-
ford; precinct 4: Frank Light.
minds are veritable storehouses
of early history. Much of this has
been passed on from their par-
ents, thus making available a
reasonably reliable and continu-
ous source of information from
the earliest schools to those of
the present time.
In 1859, Hamilton’s first school
was taught by Professor J. J.
Durham, the father of Mrs.
Maude Durham Shockley of
Hamilton. He taught in a rudely
constructed house with very poor
and meager facilities. The child-
ren, approximately 40 pupils
were enrolled, though many of
them did not attend regularly,
remairted in school about six
hours a day. Mr. Durham taught
in this school one year, for in
1861 he enlisted in the Confede-
rate Army of Texas. Reading
writing, rhetoric, elementary ari-
thmetic, and geography were the
principal studies with emphasis
on the three R’s.
Many early schools were taught
throughout Hamilton County
under just such crude and primi-
tive conditions and with a great-
ly restricted curriculum. None-
theless, these pioneer schools and
their teachers blazed the trail
./ for a new educational era.
. Jesse Griffith was a pioneer
: preacher and one of the first
5 teachers in Hamilton County. He
was considered well educated
since he had been a teacher in
Tennessee before making the
long trip to Texas with his fam-
ily. His school/ located on the
banks of the Leon River, was
some twelve miles from the pre-
sent location of the town of Ham-
ilton. His school was destined to
be short lived, however, for be-
fore the first term was ended,
Mr. Griffith was killed,by .ajband
Washington, May 18, 1858—In
the Senate today, the bill for the
admission of Oregon into the
Union was passed by a majority
of 18.
'-1
(By Mrs. T. D. Craddock)
In the 1850’s the war whoops of
the Indian savage was still heard |
on the hills and in the valleys, I
the wild buffaloes roamed the |
plains, and depredations of the I
Indians were made daily upon |
the lives and property of the set-
tlers. F. M. Cross, writing of the
early days of Hamilton County
says: “Hamilton County suffered
as much from Indian depreda-
tions as any community in the
state.” From 1857 to 1873 the
most fierce and savage Indian
tribes presented an ever present
peril. This fact greatly influenced
the establishment and continu-
ance of early day schools in the
county, as did the inevitable con-
fusion following the Texas Re-
volution, the Mexican War with
• the United Texas, and the Civil
War. Then, too, as is usually the
case in the establishment of a
new government an experience
which Texas twice encountered
first as a Republic and later as
a state—so many other essential
'items requiring attention that
little was accomplished in an
educaional way, and very few
schools were immediately es-
tablished, especially in the more
remote places. Thus, during the
earliest years of the county’s
settlement, there were no free
schools. If the settlers could find
someone to teach, school would
“keep” for a few months"'during
the summer and early fall. No
winter term was possible be- .
cause of the inaccessible “roads” C01rnm1U1}lty‘_.,/F^ls ,was a Piavat^
which, of course, were not bridg-
ed. Even after a few schools had
been established, school funds
were so limited that the school;
term ranged from four to five-
and a half months. Since the
schools were all private and sup-|
ported by private subscription;
during this period, no official re-
cords were kept. Foi’ a history of
the earliest schools, then, we are
dependent upon personal remem-
berances, many of which were
preserved in scrapbooks and me-
moirs, as well as recollections
that have been put down on-
paper. The very earliest settlers
of the county are 'no longer liv-
ing, but there are still a great
many in their nineties and a vast
Hl X O U , U11U, Ill
’due To "religious- scruples^ 1885, by Mr. Richards. No records
can be found relative to these
successive school terms. Mr.
Richards was .followed in 1886-87
by Marion Long.
Mrs. Sudie Longmire Carter in
her book, Our School, relates an
amusing anecdote concerning
Marion Long: Due to the wild
and untamed conditions that ex-
isted at this time, every boy grew
up knowing that it was his re-
sponsibility to look after himself.
Any suggestion of discipline was
intolerable to him. It was in
this highly rugged individualistic
atmosphere that Mr. Long opened
his first term of school. He walk-
ed steadily to the homemade
table, behind which was a raw-
hide,-bottomed chair, and stood
-j wxx uuv u, xuui, momentarily looking straight in-
Miss Ann Whitney has become^ to the eyes of his young charges,
legendary in the county. She, too/ With a flick of his right hand he
crude . swept away the frock of his
coattail and laid a .44 Colt on
the table with this memorable,
terse statement, “We are going
have order in this school.”
i he announced these rules:
(1) Proper decorum in the build-
fanity on the school grounds; (3)
No courting at all. One pupil,
Simon Winters, was curious to
see how far the teacher would
go in backing up his words, so
with premeditated deliberation,
he escorted a young lady to the
school grounds. He was immedia-
tely called to give an account of
himself, and after the thrashing
which followed he promised the
teacher “When I grow up, I’m
going to whip you.” Twenty five
or more years passed. Marion
Long’s hair was white, and Simon
had grown into a highly respect-
ed and influential citizen before
they met again.' Mr. Long re-
moved his coat, rolled up his
sleeves, and reminded Simon of
his youthful promise. Putting his
arms around the old professor,
Simon said, “All I have against
you now is that you gave me too
little of what I needed so badly.”
Dry Fork, formerly known as
King’s Chapel, was one of the
oldest schools in the county. The
people of the community built a
log structure and donated money
to hire a teacher, Mrs. E. E.
Gardner. She was succeeded by
E. K. Ridenhower.
An order passed by County
Judge, E. N. Rutherford of Ham-
ilton County, . dated February,
1883, establishing Cove School
District 27 in Hamilton County,
is found in the records of the
Commissioner’s Court of Hamil-
ton County. A small plank build-
ing, called “Bull’s Point” school,
was constructed near the entrance
to the present Murphree Ceme-
tery, and two terms of school
were taught, 1886 - 1887. The
teacher for both years was G. W.
Peck. Miss Delia Gooch also
taught summer sessions of 12
weeks there in 1887. In 1888,
“Bull’s Point” united with Dist-
rict 24 in Coryell County, and
one term of school was taught
there with M. L. Stallings as the
teacher. The schools then separa-
ted and the plank building from
“Bull’s Point” was moved back
taught a private school, a
log structure, located on the
■ south bank of the Leon River.
An article carrying the details of
the Ann Whitney massacre is
•rinted on another page of this .Then
ing; (2) No fighting or loud pro-
cream suppers; and thus the old
building still serves, though in
a different way; the children, the
grand children, and the great-
grand children of its builders
and early patrons. It has become
a landmark in that section of
the county, and directions and
distances are still gauged in re-
lation to old Rock House school.
Miss Helen Gerrells came to
Texas in 1880 and was the first
teacher in a school house at In-
dian Gap, though one small
school had been taught in an old
store building prior to 1880. The
people of.. Hamilton County, and
especially those who live in the
Indian Gap community, are proud
indeed of Miss Gerrell’s associa-
tion with its early educational
history. Miss Gerrells, who, after
her marriage, became Mrs. H. M.
Stoddard, was instrumental in
the founding and establishment
of Texas Women’s University
(formerly C. I. A. and later, Tex-
as State College for Women) at
Denton, Texas; and she was also
internationally famous in her
organization of and her work for
the Women’s Christian Temper-
ancez Union, this work actually
formulated at Indian Gap.
Hico’s first public school was
a two-story frame building locat-
ed in the southeastern part of
the town on what is now the
residential property of Mrs. J.
W. Richbourg. It was constructed
in 1886, and the big iron bell
which called boys and girls to
school 72 years ago was being
used for that same purpose as
late as 1953. In 1893 Hico be-
came an independent school dis-
trict, and in that same year, a
brick schoolhouse was built on
the west hill where the present
campus is located, the bricks for
this building having been made
in Hico. For many years this
structure housed all the public
school education of Hico. Ten
grades were taught, but in about
1896-1897, the eleventh grade
was added in order to provide
the instruction and subject mat-
ter necessary for the students
who so desired to pass the state
examination for a first grade
certificate to teach. The first
graduate of this school was a
young lady, Miss Fettie Weaver,
now Mrs. Yoger of Abilene, Tex-
as, for whom no diploma had
been provided since none had
been needed before. As the gra- „
duation and end-of-school pro-
gram was about to begin, the
principal suddendly remembered
that a sample diploma from
some printing house, advertising
its wares, had come in the mail
a few days before, quickly he
filled in the necessary informa-
tion relative to Miss Weaver, and
the young lady, quite unsuspect-
ing, received her diploma with
understandable pride.
It has been stated that at one
time a schoolhouse topped every
hill and nestled in every valley
in Hamilton County. This fact, of
course, is no longer true. Many
of the early schools, Olin, Sun-
shine, Gentry’s Mill, Elza, Fair-
view, Cottonwood, Eidson and
others have succumbed to the
inevitable shift of population, the
moving away of a considerable
number of farm families, and
consolidation. Thus it is that the
reverberating death knell of the
small rural school has sounded
throughout the county. These
schools were no better nor worse
than many which are still in op-
eration. As well, oftentimes bet-
ter equipped, they offered the
same primary and intermediate
state prescribed curriculum as
did the other schools, taught by
teachers as well trained as any
in the county. The centers of
county development and activity
simply passed them by, with only
a brief pause and a nod in pass-
ing. Occasionally one hears a
nostalgic “Little Red School-
house” lament; . by and large,
however, there seem to be no re-
grets by the county citizenry
over the passing of an era in our
educational history.
number in their eighties whoset,com5}uniJX.J3X Angel]
’ lumber for this building
hauled from Waco, and a one-
room structure was erected by
the local people north of the
Creek. The “Five Readers” were
taught progressively; then Texas
history was studied by the pupils.
The school was maintained en-
tirely by private subscription and
donations from the settlers, a
sum of some $18 to $30 per
month.
In 1877, on the H. J. Carter
ranch in the Blue Ridge com-
.munity, J. H. Dixon, having re-
cently made the trip from. Ala-
bama to Texas in one wagon con-
taining all his worldly.-possess-
ions and drawn by a yoke of
oxen, found an empty log cabin
with a dirt floor and a fireplace.
He secured permission for his
family, a wife and one child, and
himself to move in and later con-
tracted to teach school at West
Point, some eight and a half
miles away, “as the crow flies”.
Mr. Dixon had to walk this dis-
tance to and from school, often
through snow boot-deep. Frequ-
ently, too, he had to swim the
Cowhouse Creek; but his record
was “never late to school, one
moment.” An old record found in
the Records of the County Com-
missioner’s Court, Hamilton
County, recites that on the 13th
day of September, 1879, a con-
tract was signed between the
trustees of School District 24' and
J. H. Dixon. This contract called
for a five month term at a salary
of $14 per month, with an addi-
tional $1 per month for any child
under eight or over 14 years of
age. This term of school was
taught in a new plank building,
erected where the now inopera-
tive school of West Point is
located. Mi’. Dixon was succeeded
by H. M. Barnett in 1880; Mr, O’-
school was
taught by Patillo Fuller in 1860.
The seats were made of split
worked oak logs, and the pupils
worked at tables made of pine,
with tallow candles used for the
lighting purposes on dark, early
winter days.
Miss Alice Goggin, a young
woman, 18 years of age, taught
the first school in the Pottsville
“------ —— XXv_- XXI XVXX. V^CllXl.
repbateRly'Tefused“^-“arm"him- 1883; Mr. King in 1884;
self P ” ’ ~'
while he was on his way to fill
a preaching engagement. The
next teacher at this school was
Troup Knowles.
Another early
into Hamilton County and de-
ridingly called “High School Re-
formatory” for some unknown
reason.
Two terms were taught there,
the first in 1890 by Miss Lizzie
Fifer; the second in 1891 by Miss
Lizzie and her sister, Miss Amber
During Miss Lizzie’s' first term
a strapping young man of some
17 years, John Love, violated one
of the rules. Miss Lizzie approach-
ed him with a switch which he
grabbed and broke. The boy then
started to run, but Miss Lizzie>
caught him at the door, and
clasped both arms around his
waist. He dragged her into the
yard, yet she hung on until she
persuaded him to Teturn to the
schoolroom and apologize to her
and the students for his “con-
duct unbecoming to a gentle-
man.”
The Rock House school budd-
ing, northeast of Hamilton, was
constructed about 1873. At the
time of its construction the
Masons of the county met in the
upper story of the building and
organized the Rock House Maso-
nic Lodge, the name it bears to-
day. The Masonic meetings were
held in the school building for
some ten years; the lower story
was always used for school and
church purposes. The first teach-
er to teach in this school was a
Mr. Burton. At that time the In-
dians were still raiding the coun-
tryside, and Mr. Burton had to
take his pistol to school with him
where it reposed on his desk
along with the stout “Chasten-
ing rod.” Rock House school
building was the oldest school
building in use in the county at
the time of its consolidation with
Hamilton in 1947. From time to
time charges were made on the
interior, but the exterior stands
today, virtually unchanged. The
people of the community still
gather there for their pie and ice
Early School Conditions in Hamilton County
(Bv Mrs. T. D. CranrVJ i S ' A ,
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Billingslea, W. F. The Hamilton Herald-News (Hamilton, Tex.), Vol. 83, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 3, 1958, newspaper, July 3, 1958; Hamilton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1313712/m1/29/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Private Collection of Mary Newton Maxwell.