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CHICKASAW COUNTY Another IAGenWeb Project |
SCHOOLS OF CHICKASAW COUNTY
FIRST SCHOOL IN COUNTY - 1852
The first school in Chickasaw County, if the memory of the oldest inhabitant is not at fault, was the old village of Bradford, in the year of 1852. The first schoolhouse was a very cheap structure built of logs, with clapboard roof, and with very little effort expended in the way of comport or convenience of interior appointments. It was the days of "lickin" and "larnin" were the essential requirements in securing and education. It was the days when the schoolmaster was more important than the teacher.
There does not appear to be any record of the system of schools until 1858. Whatever records there were prior to that time were loosely kept and are at this time unintelligible.
J. C. Strong was the first county superintendent of schools having been elected to that office in 1856.
The first teachers institute recorded was on October 3, 1864 with F. D. Bosworth, chairman, D. F. Callender, secretary, and J. L. Enos selected as lecturer.
COMPENSATION OF TEACHERS - 1880
From the report of 1880 it appears that there were 64 male and 168 female teachers employed in the schools of the county, and it appears that none of the teachers was overpaid, according to the following schedule of compensation per month in several townships:
Townships Males Females
Bradford $23.77 $23.47
Chickasaw 27.34 19.05
Deerfield 23.75 24.46
Fredericksburg 26.66 19.46
New Hampton 24.54 20.19
Independent Districts
Chickasaw 27.50 25.00
Lawler 53.33 32.50
Nashua 80.00 35.00
New Hampton 50.00 25.63
PRESENT CONDITION OF CHICKASAW SCHOOLS - 1919
There are 104 one-room rural schools and two rural schools of two rooms each.
Town Schools:
New Hampton has 23 teachers, with P. C. Lapham as superintendent.
Nashua has 15 teachers, with H. S. Bell as superintendent.
Fredericksburg has even teachers, with C. E. Baldwin as superintendent.
Lawler has six teachers, with H. B. Hetzler as superintendent.
Ionia has five teachers, with E. S. Handley as superintendent.
Alta Vista has four teachers, with A. O. Vaala as superintendent.
LIST OF COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS
Names of those who served with years in office since organization of the county.
J. C. Strong, 1858 - 59
G. J. Tisdale, 1860 - 61
J. A. Sawin, elected 1862, office vacated and Thomas N. Skinner appointed for unexpired term.
F. D. Bosworth, 1864 - 65.
J. C. Johnson, 1866 - 69.
W. P. Bennett, 1870 - 71.
J. F. Grawe, 1872-75
W. D. Collins, 1876 - 79.
H. A. Simmons, 1880 - 81.
J. A. Lapham, 1882 - 85.
O. A. McFarland, 1888 - 1889.
W. J. Nugent, 1890 - 94.
C. S. Cary, 1894 - 98.
J.A. Bishop, 1892 - 1902.
T. J. Wormley, 1902 - 04.
F. J. Conly, 1904 - 09.
E. J. Feuling, 1909-13.
Ester H. Swenumson, 1913 - to present.
The county superintendent reported this year (1919) there are 4,711 Boys and Girls between age 5 and 21 years in the county. Number enrolled in all schools of the county was 3,322. Daily attendance is 2,608.
Average cost of tuition per month per student $3.54
Source:
History of Chickasaw and Howard
Counties (1919) Vol. 1, Chapter 16, Pages 317 to 325
Synopsis of Pages Transcribed by Lookup Person, Leonard Granger
jmclaw221@gmail.com