Records and traditions fail to answer the inquiry who taught the first school or when the first school-house was built. From the report of the proceedings of the township election held in 1840, we find that the place designated for holding the next annual township-meeting was the schoolhouse in District No. 2, and at the same time the sum of $75 was voted for the support of primary schools. It is very probable that Districts 1 to 4, inclusive, were organized at about this time (1840), and school-houses erected soon after, in Districts 1, 2, and 4.
No school records prior to the year 1849 seem to have been preserved. From them we find that the teachers licensed during the year were I.N. Cobb, Mr. Woodman, Ann Duncan, and Helen Tisdale. The amount of public money received from the primary-school fund was $29.04, apportioned as follows: To District No. 1, 40 scholars, $13.20; to District No. 2, 48 scholars, $15.84. During the fall of the same year District No. 4 reported 12 scholars.
The teachers licensed by the township board of education during the sixth decade were as follows:
1850.—Lucinda Mattice, Jane Benedict, Isaac Stuart.
1851.—Juliana Douglass, Mary Allen, Julia Hill, Thomas Fitzsimmons, S. W. Deming, Angeline Russell.
1852.—Fanny Beckley, Adeline McCrary, Miss H. Hunt, Celina Reese.
1853.—Helen M. Stuart, Mary Heydenburk, Sarah Gray, Eveline Robbins, L. G. Hunt.
1854.* —Miss Frances Austin.
1855.* —Loisa Foote.
1856.—Jennie McCall, Ann M. Fitzsimmons, Catharine McCall, Sarah E. Russell, Louisa Tisdale, Julia A. Church, George T. Hall, Ellen Weston.
1857.—Jeannette Fisk, Ann Abbey, Mrs. F. M. Warren, Ellen Butler, Allen Beebe, Charles G. Weed, E. P. Mills.
1858.—Adeline Hathaway, Sarah Weed, Ann Wagar, Emily Douglass, Sarah Decker, J. H. Breed, J. D. Rowe, L. C. Woodhull.
1859.—Minerva Barney, Mary Ann De Wolf, Adelaide Sartell, Caroline Fisk, Anna L. Weed, Sarah 0. Weed.
The apportionment of primary-school funds for the year 1860, was as follows: District No. 1, 30 scholars, $12.69; No. 2, 50 scholars, $21.16; No. 4, 21 scholars, $8.88; No. 7, 47 scholars, $19.88; No. 8, 34 scholars, $14.39; No. 9, 32 scholars, $22.69; No. 10, 34 scholars, $14.39.
The same for 1870 was: Fractional District No. 1, 31 scholars, $14.88; District No. 2, 33 scholars, $15.84; No. 4, 28 scholars, $13.47; Fractional No. 6, 45 scholars, $21.60; Fractional No. 7, 82 scholars, $39.36; District No. 8, 46 scholars, $22.08; No. 10, 71 scholars, $34.08; No. 11, 40 scholars, $19.20; No. 12, 43 scholars, $20.64.
From the annual report of the township board of education for the year ending Sept. 1, 1879, are taken the following statistics.
| Number of districts (whole, 6; fractional, 3)……………….. |
9 |
| Number of children of school age residing in the township.. |
414 |
| Number of children attending school during the year……… |
350 |
| Number of frame school-houses…………………………….. |
9 |
| Seating capacity of school-houses…………………………….. |
431 |
| Value of school property……………………………………… |
$5300 |
| Teachers employed during the year (males, 9; females, 11).. |
20 |
| Months taught (males, 37½; females, 37¼)…………………. |
74¾ |
| Paid male teachers……………………………………………… |
$868 |
| Paid female teachers……………………………………………. |
$472 |
| Total resources for the year………………………………. |
$3088.73 |
School Inspectors
1838, Oliver C. Hill, Albert G. Towers, Edrick Atwater; 1839-40, William K.- Butler, George H. Lake, James Weed; 1841, James Weed, William K. Butler, Hosea B. Douglass; 1842, George H. Lake, James Weed, Oliver C. Hill; 1843, George H. Lake, Hosea B. Douglass; 1844, James Weed; 1845, Jacob Youngs; 1846, Mortimer Fuller; 1847, William Stafford; 1848, William D. Booth; 1849, William Boylan; 1850 to 1855, inclusive, no record; 1856, L. G. Hunt; 1857, William A. Borden; 1858, L. G. Hunt; 1859, no record; 1860, Charles H. Booth; 1861, George W. Sprague; 1862, George D. Sessions; 1863, Orlando Meacham; 1864, John G. Hill; 1865, Charles G. Weed; 1866, Isaac Birdsall; 1867, Marshall C. Lapham; 1868, George Wattles; 1869, Henry Fellows, Marshall C. Lapham; 1870, Joseph A. Braden; 1871, Isaac Birdsall; 1872, Henry Fellows; 1873, Isaac Birdsall; 1874-77, Henry Fellows; 1878, George W. Douglass; 1879, Henry Fellows.
Township School Superintendents
1875-77, Isaac Stuart; 1878, Nathaniel K. Hunt; 1878, Ashley R. Lapham; 1879, George W. Douglass.
* Record for 1854 and 1855 incomplete.