hubert howe bancroft - Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History ...

EDUCATION. 717
William S. Clark, and William Glover to take measures
for the establishment of a public school. A
school-house was erected on Portsmouth square, dignified
by the name of Public Institute, and on the 3d
of April, 1848, a school was opened by Thomas
Douglas, a Yale graduate, who received a salary of
$1,000 per year. From this beginning has grown,
with some interruptions, the public school system of
California."
° To be historically accurate, it should be stated that a private school had
been kept since the preceding April by one Marston, a poorly educated Mormon,
who had about 20 pupils in a shanty west of Dnpont Bt, between
Broadway and Pacific As early as 1847 it is said that one Tyler taught a
class at Cache creek, and Wheaton soon after taught %t Washington.
Miss McCord also taught at Tremont. The gold excitement carried all off to
the mines, and when next a school was opened in S. F., it was by AlWt
Williams in April 1849 with 25 pupils. About the last of Dec., J. O. Pelton
established a free school, which in April 1850 was taken under the patronage
and control of the city. An assistant being required, Mrs Pelton was nominated.
The salaries of both together were fixed at $500 a month. A school
ordinance was passed April 8th, 1850, prescribing rules and regulations for
the public school. One liundred and forty-eight pupils between the ages of
4 and 16 years were admitted the first term, as follows: Americana 77; foreigners
71. The number had increased by Jan. 1851 to 174 pupih, of whom
102 were foreign and 75 were girls, most of the puDils being only above infancy.
Frequent fires and other causes occasioned the removal of the school
to the various churches which had escaped their ravages. By June 1851 there
were 300 children on the school list, requiring two additional teachers. Owing
to a misunderstanding concerning salary, Mr Pelton closed his school in Sept.
1851, having given instruction during his term to over 1,100 children. Pel~
ton* Kept.; In 8. F. Herald, Any. 9, 1850, 2d MarcK 1851. The Pac. New
of Nov. 1, 1850, refers to a children's parade with a banner inscril>ed "The
First Public School of California." Wood's Pioneer Work, MS., 9; S. F. Alto,
Feb. 7 and March 1, 14, 1851; Cat Courier, Sept. 17, 1850; S. F. Picayune,
Sapt. 3, 13, 1850; 8. F. Bulletin, May 27, 1875; Sue. Transcript, March 14,
1851; WUkt/a Thirty Year*, 43-4; #wV Statement, MS., 13. Apublic school
wa3 taught in Monterey in 1849 by Rev. Willey, in Colton Hall, Vallejo
Doe., xiu. 9. In Sacramento also a school-house was built on I street by
Prof. Shepherd in 1849, and occupied in Aug. by C. H.T. Palmer, who gathered
up a dozen out of the 30 children in the place. J. A. Benton next essayed
a school in Sac. in Nov. with even less success. In the spring of 1850
Ferguion taught a school in the 7th Methodist church in Sac., but aho failed.
Rev. J. Rogers followed and kept a school for two years. Miss Hart liegan
teaching in the autumn of 1850, and Mrs Spear opened a girls' school in the
summer of 1851. Larkins Doc., vii. 336. See other authorities under 'Sacramento
' in the chapter on birth of towns, this vol. The matter of schools
was agitated in Stockton in May 1850, C. M. Blake teaching in a building
furnished by Weber, but failing. Par. tfewn, May 10, 1850. In the autumn
Mrs Woods opened a select school, and early in 1851 W. P. Hazelton started
a free school, after which progress became rapid. Hist. Stockton, 281-2.
The first school on the Mokelumne was opened in a tent fitted up on the
Staples' rancho in 1854, by Mr and Mrs D. J. Staples, and taught by A. A.
Wheelock. A singing school and Sunday school was taught there under the
auspices of Mrs Staples and Mrs G. C. Haluian. Staple/ Stitenent, MS., 15.