241. Wayne Twp. No. 9 School, Lots Of Names,

RCHS Blog Post Number 241. 

Wayne Twp. No. 9 Schools, Lots Of Names.

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An 'Old Timer' Reminisces.

By. S. F. Harter, Winchester Journal Herald.

September 1, 1938. 

  I had just finished breakfast when the lusty blowing of an automobile horn called me to the front door. It was S. Fremont HARTER waiting to take me out to the site of Old No. 9 school house. Notice I say "Old No. 9." That is to prevent us from confusing it with the New No. 9 which was erected much later. So it was Old No. 9 that Fremont Harter began his education in the late 1860's. This takes us back almost to the Civil War period and to us youngsters that was a long time ago.

  We drove south of Union City on state road 227 toward Richmond until we came to the bridge which spans Greenville Creek, near the George Harter gravel pits. There we dismounted from the car and walked west, up a lane on the north side of the creek, then into an open field. Approximately a quarter of a mile from the road, Harter found the exact spot, on the west side of a knoll and about 20 yards from the old creek bed, where old No. 9 once stood.

  Wayne Township as it now stands had been laid out in 1838. Some of the early settlers who had moved into the vicinity were Amos PEACOCK, Abraham Peacock, a Hill family and William CHENOWETH. It was William Chenoweth who entered the land from the government where "Old No. 9" was later to be built. This entry was made about 1817 or 1818, soon after Indiana was admitted to statehood. Chenoweth had come to America from England in 1772.

  The first district school held in the township was probably organized and conducted in the Friends' church at Jericho at a very early date. The first building was made of logs with one log left out for a window, with a puncheon floor and an enormous fireplace in one end of the room. The second was built on the John Hartman farm, back in the woods north of his home. It was called "Round Top" school because of its octagonal shape. Then Old No. 9 made its appearance in the year of 1856.

  As we stood on the spot hallowed by memories of the past, Harter relived some of those days of the "sixties," when the school and grounds furnished a focal point of interest of the whole community. Beyond the building and on west, a large grove of "sugar" trees used to stand, and there Abraham Chenoweth, grandson of the man who entered the land, had established a camp. The old fashioned camp meetings were held there and literally thousands of people turned out to hear the preaching of the Gospel. In the spring of the year Chenoweth tapped as many as a thousand trees to make large quantities of maple molasses. What a treat it was for the students when this gentleman appeared at the door of the school house and said, "School dismissed. Come down to the camp for your treat. There was no hesitation about accepting that invitation. Readin', ritin' and rithmatic were forgotten as the whole school scampered down to the little shed which contained the boiling kettles. The genial Chenoweth stirred off a kettle of delicious wax and rotated about until had collected thereon, then dipped in a bucket of sugar water to cool. Oh boy, what a lollypop!

  On beyond the sugar camp, beside Greenville Creek and a good quarter of a mile from the school building was a spring of clear, cool water. A sycamore gum was placed in this spring and it supplied Old No. 9 with drinking water. When we think of the drinking fountains at the elbows of the students today, seems unbelievable that the pupils of that school carried drinking water in a bucket for a quarter of a mile. And when the teacher sent them after water, they went after water and no monkey business. Harter recalled that some boys received a good "hidin" for tossing a ball back and forth as they went to the spring to get a bucket of water.

  Strange as it might seem, a little exploration on our part disclosed the fact that the old spring was still flowing and that the old gum from the sycamore was still in place doing duty today as it did in the days when the boys came home from the Civil War. Now, said Harter, some of you mathematicians please tell me how many gallons of water have passed through the walls of that sycamore gum since I first knelt there to get my first drink, sixty-nine years ago.

  Perhaps you are wondering as I why they did not locate the buildings out on the roads. Roads did not mean as much then as they do now. Everybody walked to school and went as the crow flies. The Harters came south from their home following foot paths through the woods. Some came straight across from as far east as the state line, and the students from around Bartonia came east to Greenville Creek and followed its banks to Old No. 9.

  Who were the school examiners and trustees, the teachers and the students? Many of them have been forgotten in the accumulation of years, and some of the records have been lost, but other old timers will remember some of the school examiners such as Jeremiah SMITH, George W. MONKS, Samuel D. WOODWORTH, Moorman WAY, Carey S. GOODRICH, Isaac F. WOOD, William A. PEELE, J. J. CHENEY, Pleasant HIATT, J. G. BRICE and A. J. STAKEBAKE.

  During the term of A. J. Stakebake the office of examiner was changed and converted into that of county superintendent, thus he was the first superintendent of Randolph County. Other superintendents have been Charles W. PARIS, Daniel LASLEY, V. H. BOWERS, John W. DENNY, Lee L. DRIVER, O. H. GREIST, Russell WARRENS and the present incumbent, Glen O. Chenoweth.

  The first township trustee of Wayne was Robert MURPHY, a quiet, unassuming man of sterling character. Names of others are Aleck GULLETT, Jacob MACY, John M. TURNER, Robert B. McKEE, Effie SHOCKNEY and Louis O. STUMP, present trustee.

  Summer and winter terms were taught in the early days . Teachers who taught at Old No. 9 were J. H. CAMMACK, Jacob Macy, Emma WIGGS, Solomon Hartman, P. H. CLEAR, George Clear, Fannie MOIST CHAMNESS and Dock BARNES.

  Some of the scholars still living who went to Old No. 9 are as follows; John W. MORTON, Ida Harter, Lefa ANDERSON, George Harter, William EBLING, Charles Ebling, Riley JONES, Henry Macy, S. F. Harter, and Leander FOULTS, all of Union City and vicinity. Those living away are Perry LEAVELL, Red Key, William JORDAN, Richmond, Emma WHELLEN, Richmond, E. E. Macy, Versailles, Ohio, Laura FLEMING COVOLT, Dayton, Ohio,Mattie EARHART, Eaton, Ohio, Maggie BLAIR, Hamilton, Ohio, John DUNN, Bluffton, Ind., Clyde W. HARTMAN, Cincinnati, Zelma Hartman, Whipany, N. J., Charles MILLER, Greenville, and Harry Jacobs, Grayesville Tennessee.

  At the very close of the Civil War in 1865, the scholars from Old No. 9 took up a collection to buy some supplies for Union soldiers who were at the front. Before the donations could be sent in, the war had closed, so the money was used to purchase a bell for the school building. On Sunday, September 4, in the John Harter grove, four miles south and one-half mile west of Union City, that same bell will ring out to call the scholars of the school reunion and it is planned to consolidate with the other reunions of the other school districts after this year. The memories which the tones of this historic bell will revive in the minds and hearts of the old timers will bring tears to their eyes, for after all, these are the memories from a long time ago. Old No. 9 represents a pioneer work nobly done.

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Randolph County, Indiana 1818-1990
Commonly referred to as "The Red History Book"
Compiled by the Randolph County Historical Society, 1991, Second reprint 2003.

Read page 129-140 to read "Death Records And Cemetery History." Page 131article titled "Franklin Township Cemeteries: 1. Race Street" has a very brief description.

Read page 446 to read the family history of Joab Addington which was submitted by Joanne Moulton.

To obtain your own copy of "The Red History Book" stop in at The RCHS Museum Shop or send an email to arrange placing a mail order.

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