Public Schools.—The people who began a settlement upon Gull Prairie in 1830, true to their teachings and the principles inculcated by a New England ancestry, established schools, churches, and kindred associations at an early day.
Thus we find that during the winter of 1831-32, Rev. William Jones taught a small class, which met for instruction at his own house, which was situated upon section 15. Among his pupils were Marsh Giddings, William P. Giddings, and the sons and daughters of other pioneers who lived in his immediate vicinity.
In the winter of 1832-33, Isaac Briggs taught school in a small log house built for the purpose, which was situated just north of the present residence of Robert Bennett. The following summer Miss Celestia Barnes, daughter of Tillotson Barnes, now Mrs. A. S. Parker, taught in the same building. Still later, during the same summer, Miss Mary White began teaching. The schools last mentioned were in charge of the first board of school inspectors, viz.: Henry White, Isaac Briggs, and Lovell Moore.
During the winter of 1836-37, Lester Barnes taught a select school in a small log house, which was built upon the northwest quarter of section 14, or the village plat of Geloster. Among his pupils were William Doolittle, Alvin and Melzer P. Barnes, and Joseph Elliott, a young Pottawattomnie Indian. A brother of Governor Epaphroditus Ransom also taught a select school in a building situated near the southwest corner of section 14, within the present village limits. The building was afterwards used as a cooper-shop and burnt in 1843.
As yet no school districts had been regularly organized. The school inspectors previously mentioned were. elected in 1833, but none succeeded them until 1837, when, at the spring election of the latter year, Mitchell Hinsdill, William Logan, and George Torrey were chosen inspectors. On the 10th of May, 1837, they held a meeting at the tavern of Timothy Mills, and organized five school districts, describing their boundaries as follows:
“District No. 1.—Beginning at the northeast corner of the township; thence south on the east line of the township two and one-quarter miles; thence west parallel with the section lines to the middle of section 15; thence south to the centre of said section; thence west to the west line of said section; thence north to the north line of the township; thence east to the place of beginning.
“District No. 2.—Beginning at the northeast corner of section 4; thence south on the section line to the quarter post on the east line of section 16; thence west on the quarter line to the west line of the township; thence north on the west township line to the northwest corner of the township; thence east to place of beginning.
“District No. 3.—Beginning on the east and west quarter line, in section 16, eighty rods east of the west line of said section; thence south parallel with the section line to the south line of the township; thence west on the township line to the southwest corner of the township; thence north on the township line to the quarter post on the west side of section 18; thence east on quarter line to place of beginning.
“District No. 4.—Beginning in the centre of section 15; thence south on the quarter line to the south line of said section thence east on the section line eighty rods; thence south parallel with the section line to the south line of section 27; thence east on the section line to the northeast corner of section 35; thence south on section line to the south line of the township; thence west on the township line to a stake eighty rods east of the southwest corner of section 33: thence north parallel with the section line to the east and west quarter line, running through section 16; thence east on said quarter line to the place of beginning.
“District No. 5.—Beginning on the east line of the township, eighty rods south of the northeast corner of section 13; thence south on the township line to the southeast corner of the township; thence west on the township line to the southwest corner of section 36; thence north on the section line to the northwest corner of said section; thence west on the section line to a stake standing eighty rods west of the southwest corner of section 26; thence north parallel with section line to the south line of section 15; thence west on said line eighty rods; thence north three-fourths of a mile: thence east parallel with section line to the east line of the township, or place of beginning.”
Small framed school-houses were soon after erected in districts 1, 2, and 5.
In 1842 the amount of public money received for school purposes was $25.60, which was apportioned as follows: to District 1, $12.16; to District 5, $13.44. The amount received the following year was $43.26, of which District 1 received $12.80, District 2, $8.46, and District 5, $22.
The names of early teachers are not mentioned in the records until 1844. On the 4th of May of the latter year, Miss Mary Barnes received a certificate to teach a primary school. Miss Emily S. Ellis received a certificate August 31st, and also Alfred Nevins, November 2d, of the same year.
Those licensed as teachers in 1845 were Miss Helen Carroll, Miss Mary Davis, Mrs. Alta Hawley, Gilbert E. Read, Miss E. Peck, William Doolittle, and Morgan Curtis.
The condition of the school at this period is shown by the following statement, taken from the school inspector’s annual report: District No. 1, 43 scholars, $12-04 received; No. 2, 20 scholars, $5.60 received; No. 5, 53 scholars, $14.84 received. District No. 3 was then in existence, but not entitled to public money.
Other early teachers are mentioned by years, as follows:
1846.—Miss Isabella McVean, Miss Emeline J. Wilcox, Miss E. M. Nevins, Gilbert E. Read, Eleazer Jackson, Jr., Miss Laura C. Eldridge.
1847.—Miss Emma J. Whitford, Miss Martha L. Reed, Mrs. Cornelia E. M. Little, Miss R. C. Cole, Miss T. Shepard, Miss Esther S. Fairbanks, Samuel M. Peck, Newton J. Nevins, James Walker.
1848.—Miss Laura T. Mason, Miss A. D. Brown, Wm. H. Hurlbut, Miss S. M. Dalson, Joseph W. Bancroft, John M. Nevins.
1849.—Miss Laura T. Mason, Miss Mary J. Forbes, Miss Ellen Little, Miss Mary A. Daniels, Byron Gregory, and James M. Spencer.
1850.—Miss Sarah Nevins, Miss Caroline Powers, Mrs. Adelia Clark, Miss Catharine Seymour, Ashman Knappen, and Isaiah Martin.
1851.—Mrs. Martha D. Prentiss, Misses Loisa Stanley, Angeline Pendleton, S. Wells, Sophronia Bingham, Orpha L. Simons, George Otis, Z. W. Mills, A. P. Mills.
1852.—Misses Lydia Green, Ermeline E. Curtis, Ellen Little, Harriet Johnson, Catherine M. Hill, Mary R. Otis, Charlotte A. Goodrich, and Messrs. George A. Porter, John W. Woodhull, Henry White.
1853.—Marietta Densmore, James Forbes, Caroline E. Hawley, Eliza Osborne, Ellen L. Peck, Margaret E. Wheelock, Andrew P. Mills, 0. W. Munsell, 0. F. Seeley, Uretta Dexter, Isabella Deming.
1854.—Matilda Woodward, Helen M. Tisdale, Helen Wells, Elizabeth Hawley, Angeline Pendleton, Julia 11. Briggs.
1855.—Harriet Crosby, Maria Hale, Elizabeth Nash, Helen Hale, Chloe Pool, Mr. L. A. Stewart, Eveline Fisher, Cynthia Barber.
1856.—Emily Langdon, Isabella Deming, Betsey Coe, Mary Andrews, Olive Nichols, Mary E. Clark, Charles Atwood, Henry White, Samuel Langdon, Henrietta Innes, Mr. A. G. Thompson.
1857.—Misses Jane Daniels, J. C. Brown, Jenny M. Reall, R. B. Lovell, Harriet Crosby, E. Fisher, E. A. Travis, N. Cahill, Mr. George Reeves, and Lyman Thompson.
School money to the amount of $135 83 was apportioned among the districts from No. 1 to No. 6, inclusive, in 1848.
The apportionment for 1852 was as follows: District No. 1, 39 scholars, $1560; No. 2, 60 scholars, $24; No. 3, 29 scholars, $11.60; No. 4, 38 scholars, $15.20; No. 5, 84 scholars, $33.60; No. 6, 23 scholars, $9.20; No. 7, 23 scholars, $9.20.
The following statistics are taken from the inspector’s annual report for the year 1860: District No. 1, 36 scholars, $16.56; No. 2, 51 scholars, $23.46; No. 3, 48 scholars, $22.08; No. 4, 26 scholars, $11.96; No. 5, 114 scholars, $52.44; No. 6, 37 scholars, $17.02; No. 7, 27 scholars, $12.42; No. 8, 47 scholars, $21.62; No. 9, 21 scholars, $9.62.
Seven years later the number of districts, number of scholars in each, and the amount of school moneys apportioned, were reported as follows:
District No. 1, 50 scholars, $39.56; No. 2, 51 scholars, $40.35; No. 3, 63 scholars, $49.84; No. 4, 30 scholars, $23.73; No. 5, 110 scholars, $87.02; No. 6, 33 scholars, $26.11; No. 7, 42 scholars, $33.23; No. 8, 66 scholars, $52.21; No. 9, 31 scholars, $24.53: No. 10, 45 scholars, $35.60; No. 11, 5 scholars, $3.96.
The present condition of public schools in the township is best shown by the following statistics, taken from the annual report of the township board of education for the year ending Sept. 1, 1879:
| Number of districts (whole, 7; fractional, 4)……… |
11 |
| Children of school age residing in the township….. |
391 |
| Children attending school during year……………… |
368 |
| Frame school-houses…………………………… |
11 |
| Seating capacity of school-houses……………… |
416 |
| Value of school property………………………… |
$5625 |
| Male teachers employed during year………….. |
4 |
| Female teachers employed during year………… |
17 |
| Months taught by male teachers………………… |
11 |
| Months taught by female teachers……………. |
63 1/4 |
| Paid male teachers……………………………….. |
$475.60 |
| Paid female teachers……………………………… |
$1507.50 |
| Total Resources |
$3408.51 |
Prairie Seminary.* —The first chartered institution of learning in Richland, and among the first in the Territory, was the “Richland Academy,” authorized by an act of the Legislative Council in 1833. The trustees named in the act were Caleb Eldred, Samuel Brown, Asa Jones, Samuel Woodruff, and John F. Gilkey, who were authorized to hold property as such trustees to an amount not exceeding $20,000.
According to the best information, the school contemplated by this act was not put in operation. But the people of the township, who were a remarkably intelligent community, were not content to give up the project, and after discussing the matter more or less for many years, a new attempt was made to establish an institution of a higher grade than the common and select schools of the time.
In 1849, when commissioners were appointed to locate the State Normal School, the people of Richland pledged over $7000 and a fine site for the institution; but the bid of Ypsilanti overbalanced this, and the township failed in the project.
In 1853 the subject of establishing a high school or seminary was again agitated, and the matter finally culminated in the organization of a stock company, which issued stock in shares of $25 each. The principal persons who took stock in the enterprise were J. F. Gilkey, Morgan Curtis, Horace M. Peck, Rev. Milton Bradley, E. R. Miller, Alfred Nevins, C. W. Calkins, Gilbert E. Read, Win. C. Sabin, D. H. Daniels, R. H. Warn, Stillman Jackson, Deacon Samuel Brown, C. B. Brown, Ira Hoyt, Samuel T. Brown, Josiah Buell, Ira Peake, A. S. Parker, Henry Knappen, Henry Little. The seven first named constituted the first board of trustees.
A substantial two-story frame structure, 40 by 60 feet in dimensions, was erected in 1854, on a piece of ground containing one and a half acres purchased of Elnathan Judson, situated on the south 40 acres of the west half of the southwest quarter of section 14, about sixty rods north of the centre of the present village of Richland. David H. Daniels was the contractor. The amount originally expended for ground and buildings was about $2500.
The building was completed and opened for school purposes in April, 1855. The school during the first term was in charge of Miss Mary E. Hills, of Amherst, Mass., and a graduate of the celebrated Mount Holyoke Seminary for young ladies at South Hadley, Mass.
In September following the institution was opened with a full corps of teachers,—John T. Miller, a graduate of Yale, being principal and Miss Hill preceptress. Mr. Miller continued at the head of the school for one year, when he gave up teaching and entered upon the practice of law at Grand Rapids, Mich. Miss Hill continued teaching in the school for a period of three years, about one-half of the time as principal.
In 1858-59, Professor N.H. Walbridge, then recently of Yellow Springs, Ohio, now of Cedar Springs, Mich., had charge of the school. He was succeeded by J. C. Burrows, then of Ashtabula, Ohio, now the able member of Congress from this district. Mr. Burrows was followed by Professor Asa S. Hardy, of Amherst College, and he, in turn, by Professor E. G. Hall, who conducted it for two years. Professor Hall was subsequently also for a number of years county superintendent of schools.
Among others who managed the school, with varied success, were Professor J. W. Banfield, T. W. Crissy, the latter now a resident of Flint; ex-Senator W. P. Andrus, of Kent County; Professor H. C. Howland, Dr. William Bovee, Professor C. W. Wooster, and Professor Walbridge again in 1872-73, Professor Webb, Professor Wells, and Professor A. E. Ross.
The school was in operation, with varying fortunes, for a period of about twenty years, the last term having been in 1877.
When it was first opened pupils came from considerable distances, and this continued until the system of union schools was in successful operation in the adjacent country, when its patronage sensibly diminished, as the home schools presented the same advantages, at a less cost, which the Prairie Seminary had formerly offered.
No attempt has been made for a number of years to sustain a school, though the organization still exists, and in case the necessities of the village require a higher grade of schools than now possessed, the property may be converted to profitable uses for high school or other purposes.
It was never expected by the original promoters of the enterprise that it would be profitable in a pecuniary sense, and, in fact, a considerable outlay was annually required in addition to the income from tuitions to keep the school in operation, and to make repairs, etc., but the stockholders and managers had the satisfaction of knowing that it had been an exceedingly useful institution, sending forth a large number of students, well educated, and prepared for responsible and honorable positions in society. The average attendance, in the most prosperous days of the school, was about 100.
Among those who have filled the position of trustees, in addition to those already named, may be mentioned Gilbert E. Read, W. C. Sabin, J. S. Lynch, William Doolittle, C. B. Brown, Randall Crosby, S. B. Patrick, C. W. Jones, A. S. Parker, R. H. Warn, Stillman Jackson, Dr. R. S. Hawley, S. T. Brown, and Henry Knappen.
The present trustees are Rev. Milton Bradley, Gilbert E. Read, C. W. Jones, C. B. Brown, William Doolittle, and Stillman Jackson. Messrs. Bradley and Read have served longest, having filled the office for twenty-three years each. The present amount of stock is about $3000.
We would tender our thanks to Hon. Gilbert E. Read, Rev. Milton Bradley, and many others, for information furnished and favors extended in preparing this history of Richland township.
* Material for this article furnished by courtesy of Hon. Gilbert E. Read.
School Inspectors
Henry White, Isaac Briggs, Lovell Moore, 1833; Mitchell Hensdill, William Logan, George Torrey, 1837; Isaac Briggs, Marsh Giddings, Henry White, 1838; Isaac Briggs, Joseph Miller, 1839; Uriah Upjohn, S. C. Hall, Isaac Briggs, 1840 Isaac-Briggs, Levi S. White, Morgan Curtis, 1841; Calvin Clark, Uriah Upjohn, Levi S. White, 1842; Uriah Upjohn, Alvin R. Brown, 1843; Gilbert E. Read, Alvin R. Brown, 1844; Gilbert E. Read, Levi S. White, 1845; Gilbert E. Read, Alfred Nevins, 1846: Milton Bradley, 1847; John M. Nevins, 1848; Milton Bradley, 1849; Henry White, 1850; Milton Bradley, 1851; Harvey W. Glynn, 1852; Milton Bradley, 1853; Ira Hoyt, 1854; Milton Bradley, John S. Porter, 1855; Wright L. Barrett, 1856; John E. Powers, 1857; Wright L. Barrett, 1858; Miton Bradley, 1859; Nelson H. Walbridge, 1860; Milton Bradley, Daniel H. Sumner, 1861: Theodore B. Diamond, 1862; E. George Hall, 1863; Milton Bradley, 1864; Theodore B. Diamond, 1865; Milton Bradley, John E. Powers, 1866; Nelson H. Walbridge, 1867; Gilbert E. Read, 1868; Amos R. Cook, Marvin Barrett, 1869; Gilbert E. Read, 1870; Charles W. Jones, Randall Crosby, 1871; Elmer M. Peck, Thomas Raynor, 1872-73; Amos R. Cook, 1874; James Kirkland, 1875-76; William L. Curtis, 1877; Robert Bennett, 1879.
School Commissioners
Simeon Mills, Orville Barnes, George Townsend, 1833; Samuel Woodruff, 1834; Isaac Briggs, Samuel Boyles, 1835; William Logan, 1836; George Torrey, 1837.
Township Superintendent of Schools
Milton Bradley, 1875 to 1879, inclusive.