"Hardin County, Kentucky Newspaper Abstracts 1909" compiled by Carolyn Wimp. Schools of Hardin Co. Though high class private schools and sectarian schools have done splendid work in Ky. for nearly 50 years, it was not until 1838 that the system of public schools was established. Judge W. F. BULLOCK drafted the law it was passed by the legislature on Feb. 16th of that year. It was based on the idea of furnishing free education for pauper children only. It was about 30 years before the system was put on a permanent basis and became efficent. In the year 1869, the school tax was increased from 5 cents to 20 cents on each one hundred dollars worth of property assessed. Since then our common school system has won its way into popular favor. Up to 1884, the head of these schools in each county of the state was call- ed the County School Commissioner. He was elected by the majority vote of the magistrates of each county. At that time there was but one trustee to each school district and the ex- amination of the teachers was conducted orally. There were four grades of teacher certificates. First class, first grade; first class, second grade; second class, first grade; second class, second grade. The late A. M. BROWN was the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners appointed to divide the county into school dis- tricts and the first commissioner of the public schools. From 1864 to 1884, the following gentlemen served as Co. School Commissioners: Rev. Samuel WILLIAMS, Col. James A. GAITHER, William WOOD, Rev. James VINSON and Manoah DUNKIN. The Legislature of 1883/84 enacted a law, requiring the head of the schools of each county to be elected by a popular vote and to be known as the Co. School Superintendent and that three trustees, instead of one, be elected in each school district. Since 1884, the following superintendents have been elected in the order mentioned to preside over the schools of the county: James SAWTELL, R. L. STITH, J. R. ASHLOCK, Henry MILLER, J. L. PILKENTON. Schools in Elizabethtown In 1838 and along in the early 40's, there was a public school in old Claysville, taught at different times by Tom JOHNSTON, David SWAN, James SMALLWOOD and Martin BUSH. In Elizabethtown a number of years later, the following teachers conducted the common schools: James SMALLWOOD, J. ARMSTRONG, Steven MAY, Margaret THARP, Rev. Sam WILLIAMS, S. N. CHAMBERS, Van WATSON and J. W. WEST. For many years private schools were taught in different parts of the town in opposition to the "pauper schools" as they were then stig- matized. In fact for years after the inauguration of the free school system in Ky., those who were financially able refused to patronize such school on the grounds that the law creating them was injurious in that it taxed one class of people to educate another class. To send to such schools they regarded as disgraceful as to send your offspring to the county poor house to be cared for. Among the teachers of such private schools, most of them women, it might be mentioned, Mrs. Mary SCHULTZ, Miss Lizzie WELLER, Mrs. THARP, Miss Maria CASTEEN, Miss Annie LAMB, Miss Mal SMALLWOOD, Mrs. W. W. LAMBUTH and Miss Jennie ISLER. The Graded School In 1877 the graded school system was put in operation in Elizabethtown. The school per capita at that time being only $165, the state fund had to be supplimented by voluntary subscription. Consequently the schools had to adopt a very imperfect system of instruction. Only three teachers were employed at first. Rev. C. N. DICKENS, Prof. Thad GILLUM and Miss Anna KALFUS. However in the winter of 1877/78, the Ky. Legisla- ture granted a special charter, giving the people the priviledge of taking a vote on levying a special tax. This question of special taxation was submitted to the people in the fall of 1878 and was defeated. The school staggered along under the "voluntary contribution" plan until 1880, when the question was resubmitted to a vote and carried. From that time up to the present, the graded schools of Elizabethtown have been both ef- ficient and progressive to a high degree. And with a high school depart- ment added within the last few years, these schools won rank well along with the best of like character in the state. The following able instructors have at various periods, been principals: C. W. DICKENS, Thad GILLUM, J. W. PAYNE, Robert WOODS, J. W. PATE, A. R. THOMAS, E. E. OLCUTT and the present principal, J. H. HOSKINSON. Hardin Academy Hardin Academy was the pioneer school of a classical order in Hardin Co. However the forerunner of this institution was schools conducted by Prof. ARMSTEAD and HARRISON in the years of 1835 and 1838. They were men of more than ordinary literary attainments and branches they taught and the methods employed were in advance of what the people had previously enjoyed. They hailed from the east and their so- journ in Elizabethtown was so brief that the memory of them by the oldest inhabitants of the town today has "gone glimmering like a school boy's tale." Hardin Academy proper was established in 1840. At the August election of that year, Rev. Robert J. BRECKENRIDGE, a dis- tinguished Presbyterian divine was elected Superintendent of Public Instruction and on the first Monday of the following September, Rev. J. L. BORROUGHS, a prominent Baptist minister, who bore testi- monials from the former, was made principal of Hardin Academy. A memorable historical coincident of that year was that, on the 14th of the same month, the American army made its triumphal entrance into the city of Mexico and the U. S. flag was unfurled above the an- cient homes of the Montezumas. The purpose of this school from its inception was to give the people of Hardin and neighboring counties an opportunity for more advanced instruction than the ordinary schools of that day afforded. In a few years this was regarded not only as the leading institution of learning in the county but ranked among the foremost high schools in the state at that time. After Rev. BORROUGH, its most scholarly principal was Robert HEWITT, the father of the late lamented General Layet Hewitt. He was a cultured Virginia gentleman, a fine disciplina- rian and an able teacher who left his impress on the lives and char- acters of his pupils. When he died his son, General Fayette, was elected principal and held that position up to the beginning of the Civil War. He was well equipped to succeed his father. His ripe scholarship, pleasing address and nobility of character not only made his professional career a success but his official life popular and brilliant in after years. Among the many pupils of the Nestor of Hardin Co. Schools: Ex-Governor Young BROWN, John L. HELM, Major Thos. H. HAYS, Hon. Geo. PARK- ER, a railroad magnate, Hon. W. P. D. BUSH, former reporter of the Ky. Court of Appeals, Charles H. WINTERSMITH, H. J. DUNAVAN, Judge Wm. DUNAVAN, James JEWETT, Judge H. G. V. WINTERSMITH, William AMBROSE, James and Warren LARUE, Judge J. Wes MATTHIS, ___ GAITHER, Jas. PHILLIPS, Col. Jack QUIGGINS, Mayor West QUIG- GINS, Freeland and Horace CULLEY. [To be continued]