When the Religious Society of Friends was first established in the seventeenth century, Quakers tended to be skeptical of higher education, which was often regarded as vocational training for the paid clergy. However, they strongly supported basic education for both boys and girls. Yearly meetings encouraged monthly meetings to operate their own schools so that they could provide youngsters with both practical preparation for work and inculcation in the Quaker way of life, while avoiding exposure to fiction, art, music, or anything else that might distract them from a spiritual focus. This was referred to as a guarded education.

Like many small nineteenth-century schools, the Friends school in Cincinnati had one teacher for all of the children, who were not divided into grades per se, but rather into general levels of ability. The coursework covered reading, spelling, word definitions, grammar, writing and composition, geography, history, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, surveying, chemistry, mineralogy, geology, botany, physiology, astronomy, and philosophy. A portion of the Scriptures were also read in school daily, and the youngsters were expected to attend the Thursday morning meetings for worship with their teacher, preceded by an hour of religious readings and instruction.

Initially, the Friends school was limited to the children of the meeting. In 1833, there were 20–25 students, and the first teacher was an English Quaker named Robert Harrison. However, “[hot] weather, mosquitoes and bad boys greatly annoyed the old teacher and he left after one quarter had elapsed.” Lydia Thain took his place, but by the following year, the minutes reported that the meeting had “no School under the care of Friends, not being able to procure a suitably qualified teacher in membership with us.” By then the meeting had about 45 children of school age, and many were “receiving education in school taught by members, but not under the direction of the monthly meeting.” This might have been a reference to the fact that Charlotte Davis, Elizabeth Steer, and Sarah Steer were teaching in the public schools.

To help with the cost of maintaining the building, the meeting authorized the School Committee “to rent one of the rooms of the School House belonging to this meeting under such restrictions as they may deem necessary, provided it does not interfere with the establishment of a School to be immediately under the care of this meeting.”

The building also occasionally served as a home to some of the meeting’s members. In 1839, “[the] Committee appointed at our last meeting to employ a Friend to take charge of our meeting house and lot report that they have employed Benjamin Schooley for that purpose, and as a compensation they have agreed to give him the use of the lower room in our schoolhouse for a place of residence for his family.”

In July of 1844, the Committee on Education reported that “during last summer a school was opened which was continued through the fall with some prospects of success; it had been expected that even a small beginning would be so met by parents as to sustain such a school, but for want of sufficient encouragement, it was discontinued in the 5th month last.” Indeed, of the 59 children of school age in the meeting at that time, only 7 attended the Cincinnati Friends school; 27 went to public schools, 18 were home-schooled, and 7 attended Friends schools abroad.

By 1846, the Committee on Education took two actions that enabled them to resurrect the school: they raised a significant sum for a teacher’s salary, and they opened the school to non-Quakers, “provided they complied with the rules and regulations made for its government.” Although the school would remain free to young members of the meeting and children who had at least one member parent, the non-Quakers would be charged $4.00 to $10.00 per quarter, depending on the level of instruction they received. In November, the minutes noted that the committee had “engaged a teacher for one year at a salary of five hundred dollars per annum, that a school has been kept up for the last six months, and that there is at present thirty-nine scholars on the list, twenty-four of whom are members.”

Even so, the school continued to struggle. In 1847, the meeting was unable to secure the services of a teacher. Although Mary Gough, a woman from Dublin Monthly Meeting, began teaching at the school in January of 1848, by November the Committee on Education expressed concerns about the undertaking:

[We] regret to say that we feel somewhat discouraged on account of the small number of Friends’ children in attendance while such a good opportunity is offered, which number at present seventeen, of which but seven are members. The engagement with Mary Gough will close for one year First Month 10th 1849. We have endeavored to raise by voluntary subscription the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars for the use of the school without success, this sum being required to release the committee from debt. It is the judgment of the committee that the subject be laid before the [meeting] for their assistance in the case.

Gough continued to teach at the school until she left for Whitewater Monthly Meeting in May of 1849. A fellow Irishwoman, Mary Ann Bewley, took charge of the school after her departure, agreeing to teach in exchange for free lodging in the schoolhouse, along with a commitment from the committee to “furnish fuel, make fires, and clean the room at their expense.”

This arrangement continued for several years, but by 1852, the number of students had significantly dwindled. “For the last three or four months the school has been quite small, some days and even for some weeks not more than five or six children in attendance; and at this time there are but 3 or 4 Friends’ children in the school,” noted the minutes. “Mary Ann Bewley, who has been our teacher for the last three years, has become discouraged on account of the small number of scholars in attendance, and she has concluded to give up the school for part of next month.”

The school once again lapsed until 1854, when Susan Neville, an Englishwoman who had recently become widowed, began teaching in exchange for free rent at the schoolhouse. By that point there were just six students, only one of them a member of the meeting.

About two years after Neville married William Heald and transferred to Gilead Monthly Meeting, Eliza Yeates took charge of the school. Under her care, enrollment rose to 26 pupils, about half of them Friends. The cost of a 22-week session (one beginning in September and one in February, with vacation in July and August) was $12.50 for young children and $15 for more advanced students. Except for occasional repairs and furniture provided by the meeting, the school was self-supporting. However, in 1860, Yeates’ health took a turn for the worse, and the following year she was compelled to resign the position. Charlotte Davis took her place, and a year later, the education committee painted a glowing picture of the results of her efforts:

Most of the committee, together with many of the parents and friends of the pupils, attended the exercises prior to closing the school for the summer vacation, and listened with pleasure to an examination of the children in reading, writing, spelling, defining, arithmetic, and composition.

 

The orderly conduct of the children and their ready reply to questions shew that the care of the teacher has been rewarded by the improvement of the pupils.

We would again earnestly call the attention of Friends, who have young children to educate, to the advantages of this school, its pleasant and retired situation, large play ground, and above all the opportunity afforded to give our children a careful training.

Unfortunately, not many Quaker parents appeared to heed this call. “Under the auspices of Laura G. Smith the school has continued to increase and now numbers 23 pupils,” noted the minutes from 1865. “Some of the children attend our mid-week meeting with their teacher, and as the number of Friends’ children attending the school has, for some time, been but two, the committee recommends to the monthly meeting the discontinuance of it as a monthly meeting school.” By 1866, the schoolhouse was simply rental property, and the wood-burning stoves, maps, and fixtures were sold for the sum of $40.50. Never again would Cincinnati Friends have a weekday school under the care of their meeting.

This article comes from the book Friends Past and Present: The Bicentennial History of Cincinnati Friends Meeting (1815–2015). You can obtain a copy of the printed book or a Kindle version from Amazon.com. The proceeds of all sales go to Cincinnati Friends Meeting.

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