The educational needs of the Freedman have called forth several large benefactions from individual contributors. George Peabody of Danvers, Massachusetts, in 1867 and 1869, established a fund of $3,500,000 for the promotion of general education in the South. One half of this amount happened to prove unavailable. A large part of the remainder was used in the establishment and endowment of the Peabody teachers college for whites at Nashville, Tennessee, leaving only a small part of it for use among the Freedmen.
In 1882, John F. Slater of Norwich, Connecticut, created a trust fund of $1,000,000, for the purpose of uplifting the emancipated population of the southern states and their posterity. The income of this fund, now increased to $1,500,000, is used to promote normal and industrial education.
In 1888 Daniel Hand of Guilford, Connecticut, gave the American Missionary Association of the Congregational church $1,000,000, and a residuary estate of $500,000 to aid in the education of the Negro.
In 1895 Miss Emiline Cushing of Boston left $23,000 for the same object.
In 1907 Miss Anna T. Jeanes of Philadelphia, Pa., left an endowment fund of $1,000,000 to aid in maintaining elementary schools among the Freedmen. Booker T. Washington was named as one of two trustees of this fund. Its distribution contemplates a three fold plan. First, something additional is to be secured from the school authorities. Second, the co-operative efforts of the people are essential. Third, the effectiveness of the school is improved and its neighborhood influence widened by the introduction of industrial features. In 1911, the income from this fund was so widely distributed as to reach the work in as many as 111 counties in 12 different states; and summer schools were aided in six of them.
In 1909 Miss Caroline Phelps Stokes created a fund of $300,000 for the erection of tenement houses in New York City; and the education of negroes and Indians, through industrial schools.
From 1902 to 1909, John D. Rockefeller gave $53,000,000 to establish a fund for the promotion of general education in the United States. The schools of the Freedmen have received from this fund $532,015.
The Freedmen have fallen heir to the estates of some free negroes, that became wealthy. It is interesting to note the following ones.
Tommy Lafon of New Orleans, a dealer in dry goods and real estate, in 1893, left for charitable purposes among his people, an estate appraised at $413,000.
Mary E. Shaw of New York City, left Tuskeegee Colored Institute $38,000.
Col. John McKee of Philadelphia, at his death in 1902, left about $1,000,000 worth of property for education, including a provision for the establishment of a college to bear his name.
Anna Marie Fisher, of Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1911, having an estate of $65,000 left $26,000 for educational institutions.
The successful achievement of these four free Negroes and their generous regard for the welfare of their kin-folks, suggest the possibilities of which they are capable, as financiers and philanthropists, when circumstances are favorable.
"It is said that the Athenians erected a statue to Æsop, (564 B. C.), who was born a slave; or as Phaedrus phrases it:
"They placed the slave upon an eternal pedestal,"
"Sir, for what the enfranchised slaves did for the cause of constitutional liberty in this country, the American people should imitate the Athenians and, by training the slave for usefulness, place him upon an eternal pedestal. Their conduct has been beyond all praise.
"They have been patient and docile; they have been loyal to their masters, to the country, and to those with whom they are associated; but, as I said before, no other people ever endured patiently such injustice and wrong. Despotism makes nihilists; tyranny makes socialists and communists; and injustice is the great manufacturer of dynamite. The thief robs himself; the adulterer pollutes himself; and the murderer inflicts a deeper wound upon himself than that which slays his victim.
"If my voice can reach this proscribed and unfortunate class, I appeal to them to continue, as they have begun, to endure to the end; and thus to commend themselves to the favorable judgment of mankind; and to rely for their safety upon the ultimate appeal to the conscience of the human race."—John J. Ingalls, U. S. Senate, 1890.
As the preaching of the gospel and the organization of a church preceded the establishment of the school, the following facts in regard to the church are first noted.
The Oak Hill Presbyterian church was organized about June 29, 1869, with six members, namely, Henry Crittenden, who was ordained an elder, Teena Crittenden, his wife, J. Ross Shoals and his wife Hettie Shoals, Emily Harris and Reindeer Clark.
The services at first were held in the home and later in an arbor at the home of Henry Crittenden, one mile east of the present town of Valliant, and now known as the home of James and Johnson Shoals. After a few years the place of meeting was transferred to an arbor about two miles southwest of Crittenden's, and two years later, 1878, to the Oak Hill schoolhouse, a frame building erected that year on the main east and west road north of Red river. It was located on the southwest quarter of section 27, near the site on which Valliant was located in 1902. It is reported, that Henry Crittenden was the principal contributor towards the erection of this building. His cash income though meager was greater than others and he gave freely in order that a suitable place might be provided both for public worship and a day school for the neighborhood.
Parson Charles W. Stewart of Doaksville, a representative of the last generation of those who were slaves to the Indians, was the minister in charge from the time of organization until the spring of 1893, when he retired from the ministry. He was succeeded at Oak Hill by Rev. Edward G. Haymaker, the superintendent of the academy, who continued a period of eleven years. He was succeeded by Rev. R. E. Flickinger, whose pastorate of nearly eight years was eventfully ended at the dedication of the new colored Presbyterian church at Garvin, on October 3, 1912. Rev. William H. Carroll, relinquishing his work on that same day as the first resident pastor of the Garvin church became the immediate successor at Oak Hill.
Those who served as elders of the Oak Hill church and are now dead were Henry Crittenden, J. Ross Shoals, Robert Hall, Jack A. Thomas and Samuel A. Folsom. The elders in 1912 are James R. Crabtree, Matt Brown and Solomon H. Buchanan.
In 1912 a site for a new chapel, intended only for the uses of the local congregation, was purchased in a suburb on the west side of Valliant. The trustees chosen at this time were Mitchell S. Stewart, formerly an elder, Matt Brown and James R. Crabtree. They were duly authorized to incorporate and manage the erection of the new church building.
The Negroes who were slaves of the Indians, about the year 1880 were enrolled and adopted as citizens, by the tribes to which they respectively belonged, and they then became entitled to a small part of their public school funds. The amount accorded the Choctaw Freedmen was about one dollar a year for a pupil that was enrolled as attending school. This made possible the employment of a teacher for a short term of three months in the vicinity of a few villages, where a large enrollment could be secured, but left unsupplied the greater number living in the sparsely settled neighborhoods.
Our Board of Missions for Freedmen, ever since its organization, has made it the duty of every negro minister commissioned by it, to maintain a school in their respective chapels several months each year, in order that the children of the community might have an opportunity to learn to read the Bible.
The first native teacher in the Oak Hill congregation was J. Ross Shoals, one of the elders of the church, who had a large family and principally of boys. His work was that of a Bible reader or Sunday School teacher. About the year 1876 he began to hold meetings in the south arbor on Sabbath afternoons for the purpose of teaching both old and young to read the Bible with him. Nathan Mattison succeeded him the next year at the same place as a Sabbath school teacher.
In 1878, George M. Dallas, a carpenter, was employed to build a small frame school house on the southwest quarter of section 27, and after its completion he taught that year the first term of week day school among the colored people of that section. Others that succeeded Dallas, as teachers in this frame school house, were Mary Rounds, Henry Williams and Lee Bibbs.
In 1884, Henry Williams transferred the day school to the "old log house" on the northeast quarter of section 29, a mile and a half northwest of the school house. The motive for this change was the fact there was no supply of good water near the school house, while at the new location there was a good well and a large vacant building available for use.
Robin Clark, its owner and last occupant was an active member of the Oak Hill church.
After occupying this building one or two years he moved to another one near Red river and generously tendered the free use of this one for the Oak Hill school. In 1885 Henry Friarson, another native teacher, taught the school in this same "old log house."
All of these native teachers did the best they could, but deeply felt their insufficiency for the task laid on them, by the pressure of an urgent necessity. All had personal knowledge of the existence and unusual privileges afforded the children and youth of the Choctaws at Wheelock and Spencer Academies. It was also easy for them to see that as farmers they succeeded as well in securing good results from the cultivation of the soil as many of their Choctaw neighbors, and this fact tended to increase their desire to have a "fair chance" and equal share in the matter of educational privileges for their children.
The Oak Hill church and school happened to be near the center of the widely scattered group of a half dozen churches that formed the monthly circuit of Parson Charles W. Stewart. All who were interested in securing a good mission school approved this location as the most convenient for all of them, and, heartily uniting in an appeal for one, pledged their united support of it, when it should be established.
The appeal of the Choctaw Freedmen was presented to the Presbyterian Board of Missions for Freedmen by Rev. Alexander Reid and Rev. John Edwards, the missionaries in charge of the Indian work at Spencer and Wheelock Academies, respectively.
In the early days many of the old Negroes were located near these educational institutions and they were sometimes sent by their masters to work for the missionaries. These men living in their midst had opportunity to witness their extreme poverty, utter ignorance and general degradation. They also heard their personal appeals for the light of knowledge and Bible truth. Their sympathetic interest was awakened and began to manifest itself towards them.
They were occasionally accorded the privilege of attending religious services, and at Doaksville, during the ministry of Rev. Cyrus Kingsbury, were permitted to hold occasional Sabbath afternoon meetings in the Choctaw church. Primers, catechisms and testaments were sometimes presented to them, and in this way a few of them learned to read the Bible. The kindly interest of these missionaries won their esteem and confidence and awakened in many of them an abiding love and affection for the Presbyterian church.
It is related that when one of them was asked to unite with another church because it was "more free" he replied, "You are too free for me, I need a stricter church. I believe in staying by the old missionaries. They were our friends when we were slaves. They treated us well and did us good, and I mean to stay by their church as long as I live."
The state of religion among all of the people, both Indians and Negroes, was low, "very low". One of the missionaries described that of the Negroes as being like that of the Samaritans. "They fear the Lord and serve their own gods. As their fathers did, so do they. Their condition is bad, morally and religiously."
It could not easily have been otherwise. The tendency of slavery, under the most favorable conditions has always been in the direction of a low standard of morals and life. Slavery to untutored Indians, in a sparsely settled timber country, suggests the most deplorable condition imaginable. Such a slave lacking the example of intelligence and uprightness, often common among white masters, was subjected to generations of training in every phase of depravity and had no incentive whatever to live a better life.
When, however, these slaves of the Indians were accorded their freedom and became entitled to a part of the public school fund of the Choctaws, they manifested an earnest desire to have ministers and teachers sent them, that they might have churches and schools of their own.
Their great need was a boarding school where the boys and girls especially those in the remote and neglected rural districts, could be taken from their homes and trained under the personal supervision of christian teachers, to a higher standard of living, and, some at least, become fitted to serve as teachers of their own people.
The story of Oak Hill as an Industrial Academy, begins with the work of Miss Eliza Hartford of Steubenville, Ohio, the first white teacher in the "Old Log house". She was commissioned by the Freedmen's Board in January, 1886, and was sent in response to the appeal of the colored people of the Choctaw Nation.
The missionaries, Reid and Edwards, had commended as the most favorable location for such an educational institution the rural neighborhood occupied by the Oak Hill church, two miles east of Clear Creek in the valley of Red river.
They referred to this as a "pivotal location" for such a school, and wrote, "Here we want to see a good school established that shall grow into a normal academy. The location is central and healthful. If in charge of white teachers, such a school will attract scholars from all the other settlements."
Oak Hill, like other schools of its kind, had its early period of heroic effort and self-sacrificing toil, before the usual comforts and conveniences of civilized life could be enjoyed. This was true of the entire period of service on the part of Miss Hartford, February 1886 to August 1888.
When she arrived at Wheelock, where she met a friend, Miss Elder, engaged in teaching the Indians, Rev. John Edwards served as an aid, in making a tour of inspection over the field, of which she was to be the missionary teacher and physician. This journey was made on horseback, which was the most speedy and comfortable mode of travel, over the rough and winding trails through the timber at that time.
As a result of this survey and a call at the home of Henry Crittenden, an elder of the Oak Hill church and a "local trustee of the neighborhood, under the Choctaw law," it was decided that the "old log house" was the best place to establish the school; and the best place for her to live was at the home of the colored elder, Henry Crittenden, three miles east. She was expected to make her daily journeys on horseback; and, in connection with the work of the school, to visit the people at their homes, furnish medicines for the sick and give instruction in regard to their care.
In her description of the old log house Miss Hartford states, "The windows are without sash or glass and the roof full of holes. The chimneys are of hewn stone, strong and massive. The house is of hewed logs, two stories in height and stands high in the midst of a fine locust grove. The well of water near it seems as famous as Jacob's well."
At the request of Mr. Edwards the colored people in the vicinity, after repairing the roof and windows, cleaned, scrubbed and whitewashed the inside of this old log house, and thus prepared it for its new and noble era of usefulness.
On Sabbath, February 14, 1886, one week after the arrival of Miss Hartford, her first meeting was held and a Sunday school was organized under her leadership. At its close a prayer-meeting was held in which she read the scriptures, the hymns and a sermon.
On Tuesday, February 16, 1886, the school was opened with seven pupils. The opening exercises consisted in the reading of a chapter by the new teacher, the singing of a hymn and prayer by elder Henry Crittenden. The latter was profoundly impressed with the fact that, in the auspicious opening of the school that morning, the colored people of that section were realizing the answer to their oft repeated prayers, the fulfilment of their long delayed hopes.
The new teacher had never heard such a prayer in any school she ever attended. He thanked Our Heavenly Father, "That the prayers of his people were answered. In their bondage they had cried unto Him and He had heard their cry. In their ignorance and darkness they had asked for light and the light had come." He prayed for the teacher that "God would give her wisdom and enable her to be faithful." He prayed for the children and their parents that, "they might be able to see and appreciate what God had done for them," and for the school, "that it might abide with them and become an uplifting power to them and their children."
On the following Monday the number of the pupils had increased to fourteen. The chills were prevalent and frequently half the pupils would be seen huddling around the log fire in the chimney fireplace, and making a chattering noise with their teeth.
On April 15, 1886, Miss Hartford began to live at the school building and some of the pupils brought their corn-meal so they might live "wid de teacher," and Oak Hill became a boarding school with an enrollment of 24 pupils.
At a prayer meeting of the women held soon after this event, it was decided to build a kitchen at the west end of the log house so "de chillen might have a place to bake and eat their corn bread." While they were building this kitchen a man who saw them said to Miss Hartford, "It makes the men feel mighty mean to see the women doing that work." She repeated to him the following words from the third verse of the fourth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Philippians: "I entreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women which labor with me in the gospel, whose names are in the book of life." The result was very gratifying. He got his team, hauled the rest of the materials and then helped them to complete it. This improvement increased the facilities and also the general interest in the school.
In September 1886 pupils began to arrive from distant places and whilst some of them were retained in the building others were located among the friends in the neighborhood. In February following, all the available room in the log house was occupied and the work of the school proving too great for one teacher, another one was requested. The institution had now acquired the name, "Oak Hill Industrial School."
In April 1887, Miss Priscilla G. Haymaker, of Newlonsburg, Westmoreland county, Pa., arrived to aid in the management of the school, and this event was the occasion for another thanksgiving on the part of the people. At a meeting then held they decided to build a house that could be used for a school house and chapel, using the materials in the Oak Hill school building of 1878. The men agreed to donate all the work they could, and, with ox teams, delivered the lumber in the old building. The Board gave $50.00 and Rev. John Edwards $25.00 towards the purchase of new lumber. It fell to the lot of Miss Hartford and Elder Henry Crittenden to pay some of the balances due on this building, and their contributions were remarkably large ones for those early days.
Miss Hartford, at the time this building was undertaken, was given special permission to solicit money to furnish the new school building, to fit up the "old log house" for a boarding house, and scholarships of $15.00 each. She went east and returning in August found the new building ready for the desks.
Miss Haymaker solicited and received the promise of a large bell that had been used by her father on the old farm at Newlonsburg, Pa., that the people might rejoice over the possession not merely of a chapel and school building, but one "wid a bell."
The time appointed for opening the fall term was now near at hand and yet the old log house was not ready for the boarders, that were expected soon to fill it, owing to the fact no workmen could be found to do the work. Miss Hartford and Miss Haymaker, with the help of a boy, made the bedsteads and tables with their own hands, the latter manifesting considerable skill in the use of the saw and hammer. On September 1st the boarders began to arrive and on the 15th, 60 pupils were enrolled of whom 36 were boarders. Every boarder was expected to bring 12 bushels of corn, and with scholarships of $15.00 each, there was no danger of starving. The girls were required to do the housework and the boys to provide the wood. Miss Haymaker was not used to roughing it and before the close of November she was compelled to return to her home, broken in health.
Miss Anna E. Campbell of Midway, Pa., who had previously been sent for, arrived at Oak Hill two days after the departure of Miss Haymaker, and with her the long expected bell, from the old home of the latter. The following Sabbath, the first one on which they were called together for worship by the clarion tones of the new bell, was another glad day for the people, and they extended to Miss Campbell a very cordial welcome, as the new assistant of Miss Hartford. She remained until the end of the term, June 15th, 1888.
Miss Campbell held temperance meetings every Saturday and some objected to them, because "dey was teachin de risin generashun dat it was wrong to drink whiskey or use tobacco, while de Bible said it was good for de stomik." During this second term six of the pupils, repeated the Catechism and nine united with the church.
During the summer of 1888 Miss Hartford remained alone to take care of the homeless children, and maintain the Sunday school and prayer meeting. Other parents began to call and plead for room for their children. Believing the time had come when another and a larger building was necessary in order to receive them, she rode a long distance to confer with a carpenter, in regard to the erection and cost of a frame building for boarders. He arranged to call and make an estimate, but while she waited for him, her health began to fail. The exposures, burdens and privations proved too great for her, single handed and alone, and she felt constrained to return to her home. She was unable to return to Oak Hill and died at Richmond, Ohio, July 9, 1901. Miss Campbell was also unable to return and the school was left without a teacher.
The following reminiscences, gleaned from letters written by these three heroic young lady teachers, will be read with interest. They discover in their own language, their feelings of hopefulness and loyalty while coping with unexpected embarrassments and unusual privations. Single handed and alone they penetrated the wilds of Indian Territory to a secluded spot, where they were a half day's ride from their nearest white friends, and thirty-five miles from the railway.
Holding aloft the Bible, the true standard of the cross, they rallied the ignorant and uncivilized natives appreciatingly around it, more worthily and long before our famous explorers decorated the North Pole with the American flag.
The mail was carried once a week from Clarksville to Wheelock, ten miles east, the nearest post office.
At the end of her first year, March 19, 1887, when she was still working alone, having school, Sunday school, preaching and boarding house all in the old log house, Miss Hartford wrote to a friend, as follows:
"This ought to be a resting day for me, but I am always tired on Saturday. This has been my wash day and I will give you my experience with a girl of fifteen, who is very ignorant about the simplest things relating to work. It is useless to tell Elizabeth how to do any work, unless one goes with her and shows her every change. Today I had her wash her own clothes by my side, while I washed mine, to show her how, and how speedily she ought to do her own work. The only way to succeed in having them work is to work with them."
"These poor Freedmen have a just claim on the church. They are far below their white brothers and sisters, but they are not to be blamed for it. Slavery has made them so, and we must do something to lift them up. This however, will not be done by sending them to expensive schools, to make ladies and gentlemen of them, but where they will learn to work thoughtfully and be taught the pure religion of the Bible. The worst ones among them are very religious in their way."
A "FEELIN' MEETIN'"
"On last Sabbath we had an example of the way they like to do things. Their old black preacher always preaches on the Sunday school lesson. He comes early to hear what I say and then 'enlarges on de subject in de afternoon.' I cannot tell you how hard it is sometimes to sit still and listen to the old man's explanations. Last Sabbath he dwelt a long time 'on de fact Rebecca was a shameful deceiver an dat Jacob was another one.'"
"In the afternoon, after two hours of preaching services he concluded, 'as it was still early in de day' they would sing a hymn and any who wished to jine de church could come 'for'ud and give us der hand.'"
"As soon as they started to sing, a woman fell in some sort of spell. She was sitting near me on the same bench. Instantly it occurred to me they were getting up one of their 'feelin' meetin's', as they call them, and I was frightened half out of my wits. Fearing they would get to shouting and pounding each other, I ran out as fast as I could. There were about fifty of them packed in one little room sixteen feet square and I was up in front. It was one of the friendly tribe that shouted, and had I been wise, I would have known what was coming. My flight spoiled the meeting, but if you would appreciate my feelings just imagine you are alone in a small room with fifty darkies and fifteen or twenty of them commence shouting and breaking benches. I had a severe headache and have not felt well all week."
"After I ran out the people laughed and the poor woman recovered quite suddenly. By the time I was safe in my own room the meeting was dismissed. I was nervous and discouraged. I called the old preacher to my room and gave him a lecture. He said he did not believe in shouting and had no idea of any one doing so. I am afraid some of the shouting ones will be offended but I could not help it. It was the first time I have felt afraid since I came here."
"The school children think it was the 'best meetin' they were ever at.' They say 'Miss Hartford did look so funny when she got scared.' I tell them they may laugh at me but not at the poor woman who shouted. I tell them that shouting and falling in fits is not religion, that the poor woman was probably a good christian, but her shouting and spells do not make her one."
"'Mamma says,' said one of them, 'that she first took religion wid one of them spells and dey allus' come when she gits happy.'"
"Poor things! I tell you this to show you in what a sad state they are. They have had enough preaching to make them think they are religious, but have had no real Bible teaching, and there are ten thousand of them in this nation. The Board has concluded to send Miss Haymaker here and I am glad."
BOTHERSOME "BREDDERIN"
The Board talks about sending a new preacher here, I hope they will send a strong healthy consecrated white man. A sickly man has no business here. Common sense and grit are needed more than learning. It will be no easy task for a white preacher to manage these black Presbyterians. I suspect it will require more tact and will power to manage this set, than one of our city churches.
A half dozen old fellows claiming to be elders tried to run 'de Sunday School and de teacher' until I read to them a letter from Dr. Allen, secretary of the Board. Not one of them can read, but they take great pride in being elders. Some were appointed elders in other churches and they think that makes them elders here. It will be a sad day to them when they learn they are not elders here, and I fear they will not then be willing to remain as members.
I have written you a long letter and it is all about the darkies; but no doubt you are expecting that.
HARD WORK AND MISERABLE LIVING
"I am not so strong, in fact feel ten years older than one year ago. I fear I cannot stand the heat this summer. I said 'heat' but do not mean that exactly. This climate is rather pleasant, if we could only provide comforts. It is the constant hard work and miserable way of living that makes it so bad.
No white person could eat what these women prepare,—bread, always of corn, and fat pork, swimming in grease. Give them flour, they stir in a lot of soda and serve you biscuit as green as grass. They have no idea of better cooking and will not take the pains to do better. We are going to teach them to cook, scrub and wash clothes.
Write soon and tell me whether you called on mother, when you were in Steubenville.
Your Friend, Eliza Hartford."
Six months later when she returned from a short visit to her mother she writes:
"The weeds were so high I could scarcely see the house. I had to pay forty dollars from my own earnings on lumber hauled for the new school building, but which Elder Crittenden says, was taken by thieves. I paid it to save our credit and am glad I had it to give.
"We have now nineteen boarders. I am almost worked to death and it takes all my patience to stand it."
A letter dated January 6, 1888, bears the stamp, "Oak Hill Industrial Academy." A change in her assistants had taken place in November previous and she writes:
"Miss Haymaker before leaving had miserable health and I have had a hard time since my return. I think Miss Campbell will do well. The attendance now ranges from 45 to 60 and I am not able to do anything except the school work. Four of the children have had chills and fever, and I have had to rise at night to care for them. I have been trying to do the work of three people and not complain. Still I'd like to grumble a little, if I could find the right one to talk to. I am beginning to feel a little like Josiah Allen's wife, when she said, 'Betsy Bobbet, you're a fool, or else me.'
Still I had rather be regarded foolish, by working hard for the good of others, than take advantage of another.
Pray for me for I need your prayers.
Eliza Hartford."
Miss Priscilla G. Haymaker made her first journey to Oak Hill about the first of April, 1887. She passed by way of St. Louis to Texarkana, Arkansas, 50 miles east of Clarksville, over the Iron Mountain railway. This part of the journey was made during the night, and most of the time she was the only lady in the car. The crowd on the train was one of ruffians, who spent the time playing cards, drinking whiskey and showing their revolvers.
The conductor said to her, "Lady you have a rough crowd to ride with to night, but I will not leave you long." He was as good as his word. He sat in the seat with her when in the car and returned promptly when required to be absent.
At Clarksville she found the driver from Wheelock awaiting her arrival at the hotel. As early as four o'clock the next morning everything was in readiness for making the trip to Wheelock in a covered wagon. It soon began to rain and continued raining all day. It was 8 o'clock at night when the team arrived at Wheelock.
The cordial welcome extended by Rev. John Edwards, Superintendent, and his wife and the teachers at Wheelock Academy, was one not soon to be forgotten. It was greatly appreciated and enabled her to feel she had gotten back again to a place of civilization.
Miss Haymaker, the first assistant of Miss Hartford, April to November 1887, was a native of Newlonsburg, Pa., daughter of George R. and Priscilla Haymaker.
On October 1, 1890, she returned to Oak Hill and served as the principal teacher in the Academy the next six years. In the fall of 1892 she was joined by her brother Rev. E. G. Haymaker, who then became superintendent. On October 13, 1896, she became the wife of John Blair of Chambersburg, Pa., and they still reside there.
Miss Anna E. Campbell, the successor of Miss Haymaker arrived at Clarksville, the same day the latter passed through that place on her way home in November, 1887.
The proprietor of the hotel called her very early the next morning and informed her he had secured a mule team driven by a negro to take her to Oak Hill. When she was leaving the hotel he solicitously inquired,
"Do you carry a gun?"
"No I haven't any weapon except a little pocket knife," she answered. He then said, "In going into Indian Territory you ought to have a gun, you may need it."
Mr. Moore, the railway agent, a man from Ohio, noticing by the check of her trunk, that she came from Pennsylvania, was very courteous and gave his name. He charged the driver to protect the lady at the risk of his own life; all of which he solemnly promised to do, by promptly answering, "Yes sah, dat I will."
The bell and two barrels of clothing for Oak Hill were put on the wagon and they made the load a pretty good one for the team. After driving northward all day it began to grow dark and they had not yet reached the ferry across Red River. The crossing was made however without accident.
When the landing had been completed the driver remarked:
"I don't reckon we will get dar, 'coz I doesn't know de way now."
Fortunately there were several houses not very far away on the bluff along the river, and after a few inquiries, a white family was found that very kindly gave Miss Campbell shelter for the night.
The woman at once offered her a sniff of snuff as a token of good will. When the snuff was very politely declined, she laconically remarked:
"Well, some folks don't."
Miss Campbell arrived at Oak Hill, ten miles distant from the ferry, the next day, after experiencing a "stuck fast" in the mud on the way.
Miss Campbell was a native of Midway, Washington county. Pa. She became the assistant of Miss Hartford in November, 1887, two days after the departure of Miss Haymaker and remained until June 15, 1888. At that time she expected to return about the first of October following. But when her trunk had been packed for that purpose circumstances arose at home that made it necessary for her to remain and take care of her parents, both of whom were aged and infirm. On March 7, 1905, she became the wife of James H. McClusky and now lives on a well cultivated productive farm near Monongahela, Pa.
On requesting Alexander M. Reid, D. D., of Steubenville, Ohio, the early home of Eliza Hartford to obtain and send a photo of her, he reported her death at Richmond, Ohio, July 9, 1901; and stating that a photo could not be found among her relatives, sent instead the following beautiful incident, growing out of her work as a teacher of night school in that place before she came to Oak Hill.
Rev. Charles C. Beatty, D. D., a former Moderator of the General Assembly who had become almost totally blind, at the close of a prayer meeting held in the Second Presbyterian church, said to Miss Hartford, "Could you not name one of your boys here to lead me home?"
She replied, "Yes, here is Matthew Rutherford; he will lead you home."
On the way home Dr. Beatty asked Matthew, what he was doing: He replied, "I dig coal in the day time and go to the school of Miss Hartford at night."
When near home Dr. Beatty inquired, "Matthew, how would you like to go to school and get an education?" He said, "I would like it very much."
Dr. Beatty then said, "Matthew, you may quit digging coal and go through the school and High School. Then if you have a good standing, I will send you to college. If the Lord should then seem to be calling you to be a minister, I will enable you to pursue your studies at Allegheny Seminary."
Matthew, who was a native of England and exceedingly grateful for this recognition and counsel, quit the mines and entered school. He graduated from Washington and Jefferson college in 1884, and from the theological Seminary, three years later. Since 1896 he has been the highly esteemed pastor of the third Presbyterian church, Washington, Pa., and Bible instructor in the college since 1900. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1909.
This incident serves to illustrate the readiness of the friends of Christian Education to aid young people of limited means, who are trying to educate themselves; and the care they also take to know they are worthy. It also shows the importance of young people industriously and economically doing what they can to help themselves. That is their best recommendation.
If young Rutherford, while working in the mines, had indulged in spending his evenings at places merely of amusement or entertainment as many do, he would have missed the golden opportunity of his life. The unexpected and gracious offer came to him, while he was attending night school and the weekly prayer meeting. It was while he was taking advantage of these opportunities for intellectual and moral improvement, within his reach, that he found the true and faithful friend, whose assistance he most needed.
Miss Hartford, before coming to Oak Hill, spent several years as a teacher among the Mormons at Silver City, Utah. This was a period when missionary work was difficult and dangerous. She resigned that work on account of the failing health of her aged mother.
She patiently and hopefully endured many privations and hardships in faithfully and energetically carrying forward the work entrusted to her. These were greatest at Oak Hill than elsewhere.
At Oak Hill she was unable to relieve the natural conditions that produce malarial troubles. She felt very deeply the loneliness of dwelling in the wilderness, where there was no white person in the neighborhood to render assistance in time of special need, or sympathetic friend to express a word of comfort and encouragement. Then she could not avoid the incessant strain of continuous work and worry under surroundings and limitations, that could not be removed and tended to produce that nervous exhaustion, which results in complete prostration. This nervous strain was increased by every advancing step in the progress of the work. Relief from this malady is not found in the use of medicines, but in a complete change of scenes, diet and employment. She and her two faithful helpers were compelled to seek this form of relief.