Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/161

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��HISTOKY OF OHIO.

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��never abated its zeal. Semi-annual meetings were at first held, but, since 1858, only annual meetings occur. They are always largely attended, and al- ways by the best and most energetic teachers. .The Association has given tone to the educational interests of the State, and has done a vast amount of good in popularizing education. In the spring of 1851, Loriu Andrews, then Superintendent of the Massillon school, resigned his place, and be- came a common-school missionary. In July, the Association, at Cleveland, made him its agent, and instituted measures to sustain him. He remained zealously at work in this relation until 1853, when he resigned to accept the presidency of Kenyon College, at Gambier. Dr. A. Lord was then chosen general agent and resident editor of the Journal of Education, which positions he filled two years, with eminent ability.

The year that Dr. Lord resigned, the ex oificio relation of the Secretary of State to the common schools was abolished, and the office of school com- missioner again created. H. H. Barney was elected to the place in October, 1853. The office has since been held by Rev. Anson Smyth, elected in 1856, and re-elected in 1859 ; E. E. White, appointed by the Grovernor, November 11, 1863, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of C. W. H. Cathcart, who was elected in 1862; John A. Norris, in 1865; W. D. Henkle, in 1868; Thomas W. Harvey, in 1871 ; C. S. Smart, in 1875, and the present incumbent, J. J. Burns, elected in 1878, his term expiring in 1881.

The first teachers' institute in Northern Ohio was held at Sandusky, in September, 18-15, con- ducted by Salem Town, of New York, A. D. Lord and M. F. Cowdrey. The second was held at Char- don, Geauga Co., in November of the same year. The first institute in the southern part of the State was held at Cincinnati, in February, 1837; the first in the central part at Newark, in March, 18-18. Since then these meetings of teachers have occurred annually, and have been the means of great good in elevating the teacher and the public in educational interests. In 1848., on petition of forty teachers, county commissioners were author- ized to pay lecturers from surplus revenue, and the next year, to appropriate $100 for institute pur- poses, upon pledge of teachers to raise half that amount. By the statutes of 1864, applicants for teachers were required to pay 50 cents each as an examination fee. One-third of the amount thus raised was allowed the use of examiners as trav- eling expenses, the remainder to be applied to in-

��stitute instruction. For the year 1871, sixty-eight teachers' institutes were held in the State, at which 308 instructors and lecturers were employed, and 7,158 teachers in attendance. The expense incurred was $16,361.99, of which $10,127.13 was taken from the institute fund; $2,730.34, was contrib- uted by members; $680, by county commis- sioners, and the balance, $1,371.50, was ob- tained from other sources. The last report of the State Commissioners — 1878 — shows that eighty- five county institutes were held in the State, con- tinuing in session 748 days; 416 instructors were employed; 11,466 teachers attended; $22,531.47 were received from all sources, and that the ex- penses were $19,587.51, or $1.71 per member. There was a balance on hand of $9,460.74 to com- mence the next year, just now closed, whose work has been as progressive and thorough as any former year. The State Association now comprises three sections; the general association, the superintend- ents' section and the ungraded school section. All have done a good work, and all report progress.

The old State Constitution, adopted by a con- vention in 1802, was supplemented in 1851 by the present one, under which the General Assem- bly, elected under it, met in 1852. Harvey Rice, a Senator from Cuyahoga County, Chairman of Senate Committee on " Common Schools and School Lands," reported a bill the 29th of March, to provide "for the re-organization, supervision and maintenance of common schools." This bill, amended in a few particulars, became a law March 14, 1853. The prominent features of the new law were : The substitution of a State school tax for the county tax ; creation of the office of the State School Commissioner; the creation of a Township Board of Education, consisting of repre- sentatives fi-om the subdistricts ; the abolition of rate-bills, making education free to all the youth of the State; the raising of a fund, by a tax of one- tenth of a mill yearly, " for the purpose of fur- nishing school libraries and apparatus to all the common schools." This "library tax" was abol- ished in 1860, otherwise the law has remained practically unchanged.

School journals, like the popular press, have been a potent agency in the educational history of the State. As early as 1838, the Ohio School Director was issued by Samuel Lewis, by legisla- tive authority, though after six months' continu- ance, it ceased for want of support. The same year the Pestalozzian, by E. L. Sawtell and H. K. Smith, of Akron, and the Common School

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