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Early Warren Academies
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.. The grove of Academus, resting within the shadow of
ancient Athens, was originally a deserted and unhealthy
spot. But when Plato commenced his instruction there,
the grove ceased to be either considered unhealthy or
deserted, and it soon became the favorite haunt of
philosophers and poets.
..—From an address delivered to the students of the
Warrenton Male Academy in June, 1850 by David^A.
Barnes.
By HOWARD JONES
The village of Warrenton, North Carolina, although
perhaps not an unhealthy place, was, in reality, almost a
deserted place at the close of the American Revolution.
To the visitor, Warrenton would have appeared but little
more than a cross roads community. The bulk of the
population of the county was stretched from Shocco
Creek to the winding Roanoke River. The majority of the
influential citizens lived an agrarian life and visited the
town only when necessity demanded.
Although the seat of Warren County, Warrenton then
was little more than a small cluster of unpretentious
homes, built around a few larger ones and a courthouse.
There were no sidewalks and the dirt streets were red
mud in winter and stifling dust in summer. While only a
few miles from the Richmond-Columbia stage route, the
town was fairly isolated and communication with the
outside world was available only by private means.
Nevertheless, before the turn of the century,
Warrenton found itself growing in both numbers and
prestige. Just as in the case of Academus's grove, it was
becoming a haunt of scholars. Its growth can be linked
with the rise of the academy, which was seen to give the
town the reputation of an ideal community in which to
gain an education. As early as 17% Warrenton and
Williamsboro, in neighboring Granville County, received
recognition for their "very good academies."
Probably the most influential institution in early
Warrenton was the Warrenton Academy (later officially
called the Warrenton Male Academy). For more than a
century this institution, along with others of the
community, and the educational atmosphere of the
county of Warren, were to produce governors, generals,
congressmen, and scores of other influential leaders. To
say that these academies helped to plot the destiny of
states and nations might be overly-imaginative, but to
say that they played a prominent part in the lives of the
men who were later plotters of this destiny would be
nothing more than truth.
Gone now are many of the frame structures which
housed hundreds of academy students. But here and
there one may yet see a crumbling building, an old
academy, that stands in mute and eloquent testimony to
a time that was.~
In the year 1786 the townspeople of Warrenton were
able to prevail on the General Assembly to pass an act
for the establishment of an academy in Warrenton "to
hold forth every possibility, opportunity, and encouragement
to liberal education."
The wishes of the Warrenton citizens were granted by
the state's legislative body and among the trustees
appointed were Nathaniel Macon, William R. Davie, and
Benjamin Hawkins. The General Assembly also
authorized the trustees to conduct a lottery, the profits of
which were to go for the construction of an academy.
That same year a visitor from Massachusetts who
knew George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and John
Adams was impressed by Warrenton. He later wrote that
it "was just emerging from the forest, but possessed of a
refined neighborhood, a salubrious air, temperate
climate, and pure, delightful water."
It was in this community that lottery tickets were sold,
profit realized, and work begun on a building to house the
academy. A small building was begun on four acres of
land shaded by beautiful oaks on the northern edge of
town. The building was far from pretentious, being a
"large low wooden house," and containing an
auditorium. It was here that the Warrenton Academy, as
it was then called, opened its doors in 1788.
An Irish scholar and former actor by the name of
Marcus George was named the first principal by the
trustees. He proved an excellent instructor, especially in
Greek, Latin, and elocution, and staged occasional plays
in the modest academy's little auditorium. The principal
taught by himself and did not hesitate to switcn lazy or
impudent scholars of all ages and sizes.
Apparently the new academy met with success as
students from the county, joined with new friends from
neighboring counties, began to patronize the institution.
When the student graduated from the academy, he was
presented a certificate of proficiency, as the Warrenton
Academy could not at that time award degrees.
As more students began to enroll in the academy,
limited space became a problem for both Principal
George and the trustees. In 1800 the trustees authorized a
new building which was completed in 1802. Built by
subscription, the new building was forty by thirty-four
feet in dimensions, and two stories high. It had four large
and tall outside chimneys, and heating was by means of
open fireplaces. The exterior of the building was painted
a dark red, and was called by some people "The Red
Academy." On the lower floor there was a recitation
room, fitted with maps, charts, globes, and an electric
battery, used for classes in chemistry and science. The
rest of the bottom floor was used as a study and
recitation room. On the upper floor were four large
rooms, designed for teachers and students.
Even as the new building was being erected, George
found himself burdened with a heavy teaching load and
by the end of 1801 thought it necessary to advertise for a
"person well qualified to teach the French language,
reading, writing and arithmetic."
As there was no dormitory connected with the new
school, pupils who came from a distance boarded in the
homes of the town's citizens. Late in 1804, the Assembly
at Raleigh heard the academy called a losing enterprise,
sinking to the level of an old-field school. The trustees
concluded that something other than the teaching was
wrong; Marcus George and his assistants, now several in
number, were sending graduates to the finest colleges
and universities in the count ry. Early the next year the
trustees agreed that the Warrenton Academy needed
dormitories, a kitchen and a dining hall. They felt that if
students were provided with proper boarding and
lodging, under the supervision of the principal and ah
efficient steward, expenses of education would be
reduced and more students attracted.
The wishes of the trustees' were carried out, and Jacob
Mordecai, who later opened a school for girls in
Warrenton, was engaged to take charge of the steward's
home. In 1806 students were told of the new additions by
means of an advertisement in a leading North Carolina
newspaper:
"The following are the terms of tuition and board. For
teaching the Classics, Mathematics, Geography, and the
use of globes, etc., twenty dollars per annum. For
teaching the English, Arithmetic, etc., fifteen dollars.
Students not having relatives in the town, or its vicinity,
must board with the steward and lodge in the Academy.
The price of board is seventy-five dollars per annum.
Candles will be furnished at two dollars and washing and
mending at eight dollars. Those who do not furnish their
beds and bedding will be charged eight dollars per
annum.
In her history of early Warrenton, Lizzie Wilson Montgomery,
who seemed blessed with a remarkable
memory, wrote that "classes lasted most of each day,
and vacations were brief - a single week in May and a
month in December." Final examinations were held
annually before the spring vacation. Graduates found
Thursday, November 17, 1977 Section Two
This photo was taken in 1904 at the YVarrenton Male
Academy. Students identified include the following:
bottom row, left to right, unknown, Kalfort Burton,
Gilmour Parker, unknown, Edmund Gregory. Walter
Parker, Alex Macon, Sam Tim Nicholson, Robert O.
Edwards, Tom Gardner, Rob Palmer, Herbert Scoggin,
unknown, Will Rodgers, unknown, John Rodgers,
Edward Allen; next row, Sam Allen, unknown, Helen
Thompson, Amelia Harrison, Mattie Williams, unknown,
Lizzie Jones, Sue Williams, "Miss Maria" Graham, Kate
Johnson, Mattie Hunter, Blanche Foote, Mamie
Gardner, Nettie Rodwell, Mamie Aycock, Mary Hunter.
themselves able to follow the studies of second-year and
even third-year students in the leading colleges and
universities of the land. Mrs. Montgomery published
some of the rules governing the student body, two of
which appear below:
"The Principal shall cause the bell to be rung every
morning at sunrise, when the students shall rise, and
(again) within a half hour when the students shall
assemble in the common hall and the Principal shall
deliver a prayer, immediately after which the students
shall go to their studies. The Principal shall cause the
bell to be rung at dark every evening, after which no
student shall be absent without license from him or a
tutor "
"Every student who shall be concerned in any kind of
gambling,!/ he he under the age of 14 years shall receive
from the Principal such correction as in his opinion he
shall deserve. If over 14 for the first offense, he shall be
publicly admonished, for the second offense
suspended...."
There is little recorded concerning the Warrenton Male
Academy (as it was now called) during the next few
decades. Apparently it was flourishing as additional
institutions, marvelling at its success, began springing
up in Warren County.
During the time of the War of 1812 Warren County held
perhaps the greatest political power of any like
community in the United States. It furnished the
governor of the state, both United States senators, and
the United States Congressman and judge from the
district. Mai.y of these leaders had been trustees of the
Warrenton Male Academy and now some had children in
the academy.
There were seven schools in Warren County in 1820 and
by 1840 the county boasted one college, thirteen
academies and grammar schools with 283 students, and
ten primary and common schools having an enrollment
of 162 boys and girls.
Many principals and teachers came to Warrenton to
teach in the academies during this period. One who
taught in the Warrenton Female Academy, which had
recently been built and operated similarly to the
Warrenton Male Academy, was Bronson Alcott. father of
the author of Little Women.
Yet another teacher in the Warrenton Academies was
a girl from Connecticut, Mary Youngs Cheney, an
outspoken Abolitionist, who married Horace Greeley in
Warrenton's little Episcopal church on the morning of
"Miss Amma" Graham; next row, Jeff Rodwell, unknown,
Stuart Lewis, Gaston Foote, John Bell, unknown,
Norwood Boyd, Lewis Scoggin, Mr. John Graham,
unknown, Bernard Gardner, Sara Gardner, Myrtice
Gardner, Myrtice McMichael, Eugenia Satterwhite,
teacher, Rosa Kodwell; next row, unknown, Mr.
Maxwell, teacher, unknown, Alston Twitty. Raymond
Thornton, unknown, unknown, Joel Bullock, Fab Shell,
unknown, unknown, Sumner Burgw^n, Edmund White,
unknown. Archie Daniel. "Ras" Daniel, Charlie Cook,
unknown and DeLeon Green. Shown in window is Walter
White.
July 5, 1836.
During the winter of 1852, there arrived in Warrenton
from Canada a woman school teacher who was "struck
with the 'Sleepy Hollow' air" which she said. filled
Warrenton. After teaching a year in Warrenton she left,
apparently disgusted with the proprietor of the school,
whom she termed "a large, unwieldy, pompous and
illiterate man, (the latter circumstance being apparently
no disqualification for his election as Member of
Congress) and totally unfitted for his post."
T,he Warrenton Male Academy had a number of
principals during this period, including two who later
became the bishops of Tennessee and Arkansas, but the
one who appeared to have made the deepest impression
among the students and townspeople was John E.
Dugger. He bought a bronze bell to hang to the branches
of a giant oak tree in the academy's front yard. A year
later Dugger resigned to accept a commission in the
Confederate Army, and the large bell was sent to
Richmond to be moulded into cannon
John Dugger returned to Warrenton following the Civil
War and took over once again as principal of the
Warrenton Male Academy. Two years after the
surrender at Appomattox, Warrenton had one female
college, one female seminary, one children's day school,
one male academy and three freedman's schools.
John Graham, who like Dugger, had fought beneath
the Stars and Bars a few short years before, had since
opened a private school in the county. Graham was
invited to take charge of the Warrenton Male Academy in
1898. He changed the name of the school to Warrenton
High School and purchased a fine old home for use as a
dormitory and dining room. As more students were
attracted to his school. Principal Graham bought two
more private homes and made the institution
co-educational. His chief assistants were his son and two
daughters.
Among the students who studied under John Graham
were Frank Graham, president of the University of
North Carolina, United States Senator, and mediator for
the United Nations; Robert House, chancellor of the
University of North Carolina; Sidney Blackmer,
distinguished actor; and William Polk, editor and
author.
In his history of Warren County, Manley Wade
Wellman wrote that in 1917 "Professor John Graham,
gentle and wise and old, prepared to close his academy,
last of Warren's great private schools. It was the end of
an era."
English Couple Becomes 'Steeped' In American Ways
By HELEN HOLT
News Editor
In the six weeks since they arrived in Warrenton, the
English born and bred Selbys have slowly become
accustomed to the American ways here.
But one custom both adamantly declare they will never
understand—or acquire-is the American tea brewing
method.
"Jerk tea," as they call our familiar tea bag system
where the drinker casually dunks his bag and then flops
it over into the saucer, is only one of many differences
Ray and Wyn Selby have noticed since coming to
Warrenton in September.
Fortunately, most American manners and methods
have not had the same effect on the English couple as has
the "ghastly" jerk tea. By and large, the couple finds the
area accommodating, the people friendly and the
experience enjoyable.
A recent rainy day provided the proper setting for the
Selbys to chat with a visitor at the Episcopal rectory here
where they are making their home for the year.
Selby, more appropriately titled the Rev. Dr. George
R. Selby, came here to serve the Emmanuel Episcopal
Church, All Saints Episcopal Church, Church of the Good
Shepherd at Ridgeway and, on occasion, the Littleton
Episcopal Church.
His stay here now is not the first time he has visited
America although it will probably be the one of longest
duration. Both Selbys spent five and one-half weeks in
America in 1974 during what "began as a holiday."
"We have a cousin in Winston-Salem with whom we
have been corresponding for 30 years or so," Selby said.
"I think it was on her birthday and Wyn and I were
playing records and I said, 'Why don't we go there?' and
my wife said, 'Well, why don't we start saving for it?'
"So that's what we did," he concluded, nodding to his
wife seated on the couch.
Their visit in 1974 took them to their cousin's home and
later to lectures at Wake Forest, Sewanee University and
the convention of Episcopal Women.
Last year, the Selbys visited America again through
the auspices of a program entitled Theological Education
by Extension.
At that time, they visited numerous seminaries along
the east coast, including those in New York,
Philadelphia, Alexandria, Va., and others.
Consequently, the English minister - better known as
canon or vicar-has been exposed to a variety of
religious diffusions in America. He notes considerable
differences in the religious customs of his native England
and its Bicentennial offspring.
"A smaller proportion of people go to church there
than over here," he said. "English people have never
been a very religious people and this may shock many
Americans.
"The Scots and the Welsh are religious," he continued.
"The English are moral."
Americans may find his assessment a revelation.
Impressed with the photographs of astoundingly
beautiful cathedrals, many people here connect a
traditional piety to English religious habits.
But perhaps the only area in which religion takes a
compulsory stance is in the public schools where classes
in religion are required by law.
.. Wyn and Ray Selby, the English couple who will direct
all Episcopal churches in the county for the coining year,
Unlike America where the concept of separate roles for
church and state are strongly emphasized, the two ideas
are in close relationship in Great Britain.
There is some resistance to this tie today as it was
years ago when the king's subjects fled in pursuit of more
religious freedom. Subsequently, therein may lie the
basis for the rather low rating of ecclesiastical matters,
Selby acknowledged.
However, as Selby observed, there is a slow but steady
movement to more unity among the churches and those
who support them. The trend is evident not only in the
church but also in the state, again tying the two together.
With England becoming an increasingly multi-racial
society with a population that bulges to the seams of the
small island, changes were inevitable.
Selby described, as a good example, the Silver Jubilee
heartily celebrated by the British this year. Both he and
Wyn were surprised and pleased at their country's
reaction to the double celebration of Queen Elizabeth's
sip hot tea during a cool afternoon at the rectory here.
(Staff Photo)
25-year reign and 50th birthday.
"We all thought the Silver Jubilee would go off halfcocked,"
Selby recalled. "But when she stepped out into
a wonderful reception, that set the tone for the rest of the
celebration."
England, in short, experienced a kind of "latent
patriotism" that came "almost as a relief." the minister
described. "It's been a very good thing for the country.
Wyn added that the celebration demonstrated that the
queen serves a very vital and important function for the
country as well.
More than being a decision-maker, the queen-or if it
were king-stands as representative of stability, of
endurance, of continuity.
" 'The king is dead, long live the king.' You see. we are
never without a monarch," Selby said. "In some ways, a
monarchy is an extremely democratic system of
government."
The American system, by comparison, puts perhaps
"too much of the responsibility" upon the president who
has to exist as the focal point of all pressure. Cabinet
members in England are elected, not chosen, and are
charged with responsibility in whatever area they were
elected to represent.
On the other hand, the American system of
government offers advantages that the Selby's would
like to see instilled into their own government. The
system of checks and balances between legislative,
judicial and executive branches of government is one
position enforcement of democracy.
And the American way of life offers still further
advantages that the Selbys are enjoying immediately.
Wyn says she enjoys the large grocery stores here, the
good food and being called "Wyn" by the people she has
met.
Selby says he likewise finds the food good, the people
friendly, the services excellent and the informal
first-name basis commonly used here between congregation
and minister comforting.
"One thing happened to me the other day that I don't
believe has ever happened to me before," Selby said. "I
was walking down the street, coming back from the post
office, I believe, and this guy riding by in a car sticks his
hand out the window and calls out, 'How ya doing, Ray'."
He smiled at the recollection.
"It was a nice thing to happen."