The Story
of Henry Hatton GIRD III -2nd President of the College of Louisiana 1829-1835.
Largest College west of the Mississippi River at that time.
[ Updated: October 9th, 2001 ]
The song you hear is called "Lake Ponchatrain". It originates in Louisiana, near where my ancestors lived & where many people of Irish heritage, like our Gird family, came to live. It has the a sound of an old Celtic tune, although the claim is that it is entirely of "Creole" origin. Nonetheless, it seemed to me a proper tune for this page, remembering my Gird ancestors who lived & died in Louisiana in the early 1800s, and those who later headed West. (The Ponchatrain Lakes are five miles north of New Orleans)
In 1829, Henry Hatton Gird III, was appointed as President of "The College of Louisiana" in Jackson, East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana. A State funded college, it was from the beginning a Liberal Arts school. At that time it was also the largest university west of the Mississippi River. He was the first and only President ever appointed to the University who was not an ordained minister. He was also made the Professor of Mathematics & Instructor in Natural History and various other studies at that time, and much, much more. He later organized a military program there that was quite successful. He was instrumental in the design and construction of the university's first central building, the two new wings ( see images above & below) that greatly increased the size of the facility and added beauty to the campus as well. He was responsible for building the college hospital and the Library, and the College Chapel, where early morning Devotionals were given every day, as well as the College President's house and the living quarters for the professors. In 1833 he resigned the Presidency, but continued to act as President until 1835. In 1844 he formally resigned his professorship and retired, serving a total of fifteen years as the Professor of Mathematics and Natural History at the College of Louisiana, and six years as its President.
No image, painting or photo has been found of Henry Hatton Gird (III) to my knowledge.
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* Drake's Dictionary of American Biography.
Gird, Henry H 1801-1845.
This Dictionary included men of the time, containing nearly 10,000 notices of persons of both sexes, of native and foreign birth, "who have been remarkable, or prominently connected with the arts, sciences, literature, politics, or history, of the American continent". By Francis S. Drake. Boston: James R. Osgood & Co., 1872. Reprint. Detroit: Gale Research, 1974. (Drake)
According to the Illinois Public Domain Land Records, Henry H. Gird III began buying land in Illinois on March 3rd, 1837. This first purchase was 320 acres of the east half of section 22 @ the sale price of $1.25 per acre "FD" (Federal Sale) in Sugar Creek Twp, Clinton County, IL.
Total amounts purchased from 1837-1838 was 1280 acres of land, some in Sugar Creek twp of Clinton Co., and some in St. Clair Co.Additional land was purchased in 1840-1843
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In the "Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army"
G. page 459
Gird, Henry H. N Y. N Y. Cadet Military Academy 14 Nov 1818 (18); brevet 2 lieutenant and 2 lieutenant 4 artillery 1 July 1822; transferred to 2 artillery 14 Sept 1827; resigned 30 Nov 1829; [died 1 June 1845.]*************************************************************************************************
West Point History: a page from
their Military History Volumes about
Henry Hatton GIRD III.
303 (Born N.Y.)...HENRY HATTON GIRD.......
.......(Ap'd N.Y.)...18 Military History. --Cadet at the Military Academy, Nov. 14, 1818, to July 1, 1822, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to Bvr. SECOND LIEUT., 4TH ARTILLERY, JULY 1, 1822. SECOND LIEUT., 4TH ARTILLERY, JULY 1, 1822.
Served: at the Military Academy, 1822-27, as Asst. Instructor of Infantry Tactics, Sep 28, 1822, to June 9, 1824, --and as Adjutant, June 9, (TRANSFERRED TO 2D ARTILLERY, SEP., 14, 1827) 1824, to Apr. 20, 1827 ; in garrison at Ft. Pike, La., 1828-29 ;
and on Engineer duty, Apr. 1 to Nov. 30, 1829.
RESIGNED, Nov. 30, 1829.
CIVIL HISTORY. --Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, College of Louisiana, 1829-1843; and President of same College, 1831-42. Farmer, Illinois, 1844. Employed in U.S. Branch Mint, at New Orleans, La., 1845.
DIED, JUNE 1, 1845, at NEW ORLEANS, LA: AGED 44. *
From West Point Military Historical Records and the records of the Army it states that "In 1844 he went to Illinois to farm (with his sons).
Then in 1845 he was appointed to "a situation in the New Orleans Mint". He died on June 1st of that year in New Orleans". I have not found record of where he was laid to rest.
As you can see, the records all seem to differ to a certain degree as pertaining to the dates. I have found nothing to date that resolves these differences as yet.
The College history has it that he resigned his Presidency in 1835 and retired his Professorship in 1844.
Here is their Story...
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From an historical account
by William Hamilton Nelson. ©
1931
Printed by the Methodist
Publishing House
Nashville, TN. 1931
(Chapters VI & VII relate to Henry H. Gird III)
"A BURNING
TORCH and a FLAMING FIRE - the Story of Centenary College",
~ My sincere gratitude to Dr.
Lee Morgan, Emeritus Professor of English, Centenary College,
Shreveport, Louisiana,
who on August 4th, 2000, granted me Special Permission to quote
or refer to this book, and for the special gift of a 1st edition
copy of the book that he presented to me.
A brief history of the College will be included in this story. It is important to realize that these were difficult times in the early history of this country. It seemed to me necessary to illustrate the history of the college to show how our ancestor, Henry Hatton Gird III, played into that history at that time .
(excerpts from the book were compiled and edited by Teddie Anne Driggs)
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The College of Louisiana
1825-1845
A college of the Liberal Arts
In the Beginning, the College of Louisiana was a State funded school.
In the Legislature of 1824, on the 4th of December of that year, the Louisiana Senate Committee on Public Education proposed a scheme to embrace 26 grammar schools at $800 each, three new colleges at $4,000 each, and the college of Orleans to have $6,000, all these to be annual appropriations; there was a further recommendation of $1,400 to be granted to educate beneficiary students , four at each college. An allowance of $15,000 was to be made for 3 new buildings - each college was further to have at least 12 day pupils, and each grammar school was to have (8) eight on the free list.
The 3 new colleges were:
The College of Louisiana,
The College of Jefferson,
The College of Franklin.
The first of these to start was the College of Louisiana at Jackson. Dr. E. W. Fay, in "The History of Education in Louisiana", wrote,
"Though the Central School of New Orleans may be considered the virtual successor of the College of Orleans in respect of its situation (location), the College of Louisiana was much more so in respect of its dignity & aims."
In 1825, The College of Louisiana was given life by legal charter when Gov. Henry Johnson put the proper bill through the Legislature. The College of Louisiana was not only considered a rival of the College of Orleans, but it was recognized by all thinking people that the annual state appropriations of $5,000 which was transferred from the College of Orleans to the College of Louisiana meant the death of the former and the life of the latter. The new college was to be in the English speaking part of the state in East Feliciana Parish in the town of Jackson. There is no use trying to glaze over the fact that intense rivalry existed between the English-speaking people of Louisiana and the French. They were compelled to work together at times, but they realized that on the question of education as well as other questions, there was a wide gulf between them.
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Bear Corners: Buncombe: Jackson
The town of Jackson in East Feliciana Parish was an Anglo-Saxon settlement from its beginning. It was settled by the descendants of English settlers who had originally immigrated to North Carolina. The River of Felicity, "Rio Feliciana", named so by Ponce de Leon, was known locally as "Thompson's Creek", flowed through the area, and geologically speaking, this part of the State was hilly country and well out of the swampy, mosquito infested region of Southern Louisiana.
The first name of the town of Jackson was "Bear Corners", because of the abundance of those animals found in that region. But along about the year 1800 several families from North Carolina, headed by two brothers named Haughton (who afterwards changed their name to Horton), decided to settle where the hunting was good, and they pitched their camp at Bear Corners. The memory of the old home clung to them, and they christened their new town after their county in North Carolina, "Buncombe". But in 1814, when that doughty warrior, Andrew Jackson, was headed north with his Tennesseans and Kentuckians, they camped on Thompson's Creek, right by the town of Buncombe, and the residents were so flattered that they changed the name to "Jackson" by unanimous consent. And so in 1814 Jackson it became, and Jackson it has continued. It was here in the rolling, pine-clad hills that The College of Louisiana was established in 1825 in the town of Jackson, East Feliciana Parish.
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The First Trustees at Jackson
The trustees of the college were composed of the Governor, Henry Johnson, the judges of the supreme court, George Mathews, Francois Xavier Martin, and Alexander Foster. These were, with the Governor, ex officio, and the following twenty-eight private citizens:
John Shea, Thomas Butler, John C. Williams, Clark Woodruff, Thomas W. Scott, William S. Hamilton, Adlai Donald, James M. Bradford, Alexander Barrow, Samuel M. Caleb, William Silliman, John B. Dawson, Lafayette Saunders, J. A. Smith, A. G. Scott, Thomas Cooper, Thomas W. Chinn, William Garrett Johnson, B. O. Williams, John Crocker, James Villere, P. Derbugny, Armand Duplantier, Sr, A. B. Roman, Samuel Steer, L. Esneault, Armand Beauvais, and Sosthene Allain.
The first Board of Trustees was one of unraveling complexity. Twenty of the names were American, and eight were French. It was a political board, a state institution, and they were always in politics, and in that day there had to be a representation on everything of French and American interests. Some of the French names are very interesting. For instance, Pierre Derbigny, who was to become governor in 1828; Armand Beauvais, who was to become acting governor in 1829; A.B. Roman, who was to serve as governor from 1821 to 1835, and then from 1839 to 1843. Whether it was because of lack of interest or inability to secure transportation in that day of poor transportation facilities, it is a significant fact that not one of the Frenchmen attended the meeting of the trustees, which met in the home of John Crocker in Jackson. In the future, this played into the fatality of the College of Louisiana. The rule was that if a Trustee did not attend a certain number of the Board meetings, he was to be removed. As it was, certain French representatives were therefore removed from the Board. This political action, as it surely must be seen to have been, proved to sour the French against the College of Louisiana, who afterward put their weight behind the colleges in the south of the State. The following members were present:
Doctor Isaac A. Smith, Messrs. James M. Bradford, William L. Hamilton, J.C. Williams, John Crocker, Samuel M. Caleb, A. Donald, Thomas W. Scott, Thomas Cooper, A. G. Scott, Thomas W. Chinn, Williams G. Johnson, and Lafayette Saunders. Dr. Isaac A. Smith was elected President of the Board, Lafayette Saunders, Secretary, and Samuel M. Caleb, Treasurer.
At this meeting a Committee of Correspondence consisting of five members was appointed to "obtain all the information in their power of the most proper persons to fill the offices of president and professors of this institution, and teachers of the grammar school, and report their proceedings to this Board from time to time." There was a committee of three appointed to "inquire into the practicability of procuring buildings, rent or otherwise, for the use of this institution." they were also empowered to solicit donations. There was a committee of five to "draft a project of a constitution." The regular stated meetings of the Board were set for the first Mondays of March and August in each year.
The salary of the President was set at $3,000 a year. In 1825, $3,000 was a lot of money, and the man who received that much for a year's work was looked upon as some sort of a wizard and a superior creature. Many a man supported a large family on $1.50 a day in 1825, and did it in a comfortable was, too. And yet I am glad they put the salary at $3,000, for the man who was at the head of a school in these days earned every cent he got. The professors were to receive $1,500 a year, the tutors $1,000, and the masters of the grammar school each $750.
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The First Faculty
On the first day of August, 1825, the committee "charged with the reception of donations for the use of the college" was authorized to "receive proposals for improvements to be made on the courthouse in Jackson for the use of this institution." So we see where the nursery of the college was located. Whether a new courthouse was built for the parish, as the old building, which seemed to be in a bad state of repair, was turned over to the trustees, we do not know. At that meeting, there were steps taken toward securing a stewards' house, and they were asked to think about the price they were asked to think about the price they were going to charge the students for board. They finally later settled on $2.00 a week. At this meeting Mr. Peter Dubaille was elected to "the Professorship of Languages in the College of Louisiana, embracing Greek, Latin, Spanish, and French languages." This was the first man elected to a faculty position, and it ought to be recorded. He certainly must have been a versatile man to be able to teach those four languages; but perhaps he wasn't so versatile after all, for he declined the position, and on the 23rd of September, the trustees met and recorded that W. Diego Murphy, of new Orleans, was elected Professor of Languages. There were plenty of meetings in 1825, and on the 30th day of November of that year the Board decided that the professor of languages would have charge of the work of the institution. They also fixed the terms of tuition as follows: $15.00 per session for the preparatory school, $20.00 for the freshman class, $25.00 for the sophomore class, and $30.00 for the junior and senior classes; $20.00 for tuition in French and Spanish for students who were not already enrolled in the college or Prep "to be paid in advance." Fifty Free Students ...on the 30th of November, 1825, the trustees resolved "that any number of the children of indigent parents, not exceeding fifty at the same time, may be admitted and educated in the college or preparatory school free of charge." They decided at this meeting that the opening of the college would be on the first Monday in January, 1826, and notice of the opening should be published in the Louisiana Journal, and some newspapers printed in New Orleans in the French and Spanish languages.
They were having some trouble in getting the courthouse fixed up, and they decided to rent some buildings so as to be sure to have a cover over their heads when the school opened. They decided also to "contract for the construction of a building on the courthouse yard not exceeding 100 feet by 60 feet, two stories high, divided into suitable apartments for the use of the college; and also to construct for the inclosing of the courtyard and setting the same in shape - and that for the purpose aforesaid they have control of the whole subscription fund and the sum of $3,000 to be drawn from the treasury out of any money therein not otherwise appropriated." This was on the 8th of January, 1826, and on the 26th of May that year they resolved to pay the salaries of the teachers at the end of each quarter of each year. Thus we see that in these good old days quarterage applied not simply to preachers but to teachers.
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How to Keep a Student Straight in 1827
It is worthy of note that on the 15th of June a preacher, the Rev. Jeremiah Chamberlain, of Danville, KY. was elected the 1st President with eight votes out of eleven. A certain William Walker of Massachusetts received three. (William Walker could be a relative of Anna Maria Gird-Walker's husband.)
While this College of Louisiana was under the auspices of the State and not of the Methodist Church in 1826 when these By-laws were made, still no college today has laws equaling these in rigidity. Look at these regulations:
There was later added:
These regulations were further reinforced in April, 1827
The Board of
Trustees were given certain police authority over the town of
Jackson. One of the diverting outdoor sports of that time was
horse racing, and the students were neglecting their studies, so
a whopping big fine was imposed on the student who was caught
participating or otherwise in this sport. A fine of not less than
ten dollars and no more than fifty dollars was assigned as
punishment for this offense.
There
was no hazing allowed in those days, and the person or persons
that behaved in a riotous or disorderly manner in the town of
Jackson was fined: "He, she or they shall pay a fine of not
less than five dollars nor more than fifty dollars."
A law was
enforce in Jackson for the Sunday closing of "taverns and
houses of entertainment." and we got a hint of bootleggers
in those days when we read that anybody selling liquor at any
time except those "regularly and legally authorized"
were to be fined.
You couldn't
keep a billiard table in Jackson without paying a fine of
twenty-five dollars for each and every day the table was kept.
Any
person who played any game of hazard, cards, or dice for money,
or permitted this form of gambling in his home, was subject to a
fine.
At the College of Louisiana, students had to rise early every morning, at 5:30 AM. Chapel was mandatory and the morning devotional began at 6 AM, conducted by the College President.
"Work began at 7 o'clock in the morning. They had a short breaking spell and a bite of breakfast at 8, and they went immediately from recreation to labor until the clock struck 12, and then they had dinner and a recess, and so to books from 2 to 6. The only week-day morning they didn't begin their studies at 7 o'clock was on Saturday, when they were "exercised in public speaking."
Breakfast was at 8 AM, after which the students were to study until Noon. After lunch, there were more classes and another study period from 2 PM to 6 PM. After Supper, there was a second chapel service. Students had to be in their rooms by sunset and were to study from 8-9 PM. Lights out at 10 PM.
Interior of the Chapel
at the College of Louisiana in Jackson, LA.
On Saturdays they gave their public recitations. On Sundays, the strict law of the Sabboth was upheld, with church attendance mandatory.
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There were only a few boys to look after at first. By 1831, there were close to 90 students attending the College and a good number of students in the Preparatory school. Later, there were quite a number of boys who were enrolled in President H. H. Gird's military program, called the College Fensibles, for boys ages 13 years and up. Some of them were awarded for their studies with money purses, but some of them got into trouble...not every boy was there for the purpose of study. It was a rough age, and fist fights were common. There is a record dated December 31, 1827, when a member of the Prep-school, who was about 16 years of age, tried to stab the professor of languages. He had been neglecting his studies "to a very considerable degree, and when called upon this morning for recitation he was entirely unprepared, which had been the case with him every day during the week. and for all of which he could give no excuse." When the professor tried to get him to come forward, he refused, and as he was drawn from his seat he tried to stab the teacher. As a means to stop this from happening in the future, on March 12, 1830, the trustees passed another Article for the By-Laws prohibiting weapons on campus. No student could keep a riding animal or dog, or gun, or other fire-arms. This gives us an insight into student life in that time. In Patron's "Life of Thomas Jefferson", Jefferson tells with a great deal of pleasure how the boys kept hound dogs in their rooms and guns, and how, especially on Sunday when the heads of the college were away preaching, they shot up the town of Williamsburg, and went hunting in the surrounding country.
The faculty met weekly and much of the time these meetings were devoted to the disciplinary problems. The College President had his hands full. He had to teach the Preparatory school and other courses in addition to duties as the devotional and spiritual leader, and daily dealings with student violations to the afore mentioned laws. He had to put into action decisions made by the Board of Trustees, and deal with the faculty as well as non-faculty employees, e.g. the cook, the janitor, &etc. We should therefore see that he earned every penny of his salary. It was not an easy life for student, teacher or President.
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Getting Down to Business
Here is an interesting item which gives us an insight into the financial side of the college. On April 14, 1827, the treasurer's books were audited by a committee.
"Said committee reported there was cash in the treasury this day of $2,942.55; due from the State Treasury on the first day of January, 1827, $5,950, and due from various individuals, as per subdivision list, $9,000, making a total of $17,892.55."
This was a lot of money to the good for a college in that day. But what is the use of money if you don't spend it, and a college always has a need to spend money. So with that money in the treasury they began to buy some land, and they made a good bargain. They bought 207 acres for a thousand dollars. They ordered the then President, Mr. Chamberlain, to buy a bell for $150, they ordered a diploma plate, and appropriated $300 to buy books. From the very beginning the college at Jackson was strong for a library. There was little publishing done in this country in 1827, and so we find the trustees ordering books from England. Rare volumes they were. The old college contained some of the most expensive illustrated folios of Shakespeare's plays and Spencer's "Faërie Queen": wonderful Greek and Latin texts, the Greek a marvel of printing, and handsomely bound.
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The Lottery Scheme
In 1827 the Louisiana Legislature authorized the trustees to get up a lottery for the benefit of the college. It is a matter of record that the university and college in New Orleans was authorized it raise a total of $125,000, from the years 1805 to 1819, by means of a lottery. You will recall also that the lottery scheme on one occasion instead of bringing in the $50,000 they expected cost the trustees over $700. The College of Louisiana was authorized to raise $20,000 in a lottery. We smile now at this means of raising money, but this form of gambling originated on the Continent, the first record going back to Bruges in Belgium in 1446, lotteries spread all over Europe, and came to this country with the earliest colonists. In 1612 a lottery was granted for the benefit of the Colony of Virginia. Even in the new England colonies we find lotteries for all sorts of purposes - paving streets, building churches and educational buildings. In fact, lotteries became common in most of the colonies after the middle of the eighteenth century on the Tale campus. Harvard put up buildings in the same way in 1772 and 1806. King's College, afterwards Columbia, raised money that way. It wasn't until 1833 that there was enough sentiment in this country to frown upon this dubious means of raising money. Back in 1827 these state trustees were very anxious to get money, and appointed a committee to deal with a "lottery broker" to handle this grant from the Legislature. We have good reason to suspect that some of the trustees were lukewarm on the lottery and allowed the scheme to rest until it died a natural death.
Up to this time the college lived in rented buildings, as the old courthouse was soon abandoned, so they determined to put up their own first building: frame, two stories high, 60 feet long, 30 feet wide, on the Square, which was occupied at that time by the Steward. The cost of this building was $2,000. The next building built was in 1829, during the term of H.H. Gird. It was a frame, one-story building, two rooms, 16 feet square, to be used as a hospital.
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President
Henry Hatton GIRD III
The second President of the College of Louisiana was Lieutenant H. H. Gird, U. S. A., a graduate of West Point. In 1829, Lt. Gird and Rev. James Blythe, of Transylvania College, were nominated, but Lt. Gird was elected. A chaplain, the Rev. James Ronaldson was appointed. A Liberal Arts college from the beginning, the course of study embraced English, French, Spanish, Latin and Greek, pure and mixed Mathematics, natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Natural History, Geography, Moral & Political Philosophy, Ancient & Modern history, Logic and Rhetoric. Instruction was also given in penmanship, drawing, public speaking, and gymnastics. Students or their guardians were allowed to select their studies, subject to the approval of the faculty.
Louisiana had too many schools for the amount of available students who would or could possibly attend a college. There was fierce competition for the State monies, too, and competition between the English and French speaking colleges. Thus the College of Louisiana felt it was necessary to put out some publications in the form of Newspaper ads to try to increase the student body. A certain Mr. H. Hirsh, who provided a newspaper was employed in November, 1829, to place an ad in his paper telling the folks all about the college at Jackson. November came and went, and so did December and the college opened for the new term promptly in January, 1830. But did Mr. Hirsh "kill" this ad in his paper? He did not. He continued to run it. If he took the ad out he would have to put something in its place, and so he just kept it in; and 7 months later in August, 1830, he was still telling the world that the College of Louisiana would soon open in January of that year. In vain did the trustees plead with him to take that ad out of the paper, but he couldn't see himself making up that page. Toward the end of 1830, Mr. H. Hirsh had a claim against the college of $48.00, for the advertisement. And so there was a stalemate, as it were. The editor wouldn't break up that page, and the trustees wouldn't pay for defunct advertising. In the end a compromise was made, and the minute reads that the account be allowed
"...on condition that the editor discontinue the advertisement announcing the opening of the College of Louisiana which first appeared November 7, 1829."
In 1831 the faculty numbered five professors and a chaplain. The course embraced English, French, Spanish, Latin and Greek, pure and mixed Mathematics, natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Natural History, Geography, Moral & Political Philosophy, Ancient & Modern history, Logic and Rhetoric. Lasher says that they received between August 3, 1829, and the same date in 1830, from State Aid, the sale of books and stationary, tuition fees & private donations, $15,436.84, and had expended $15, 296.63. However, they had four good-sized frame buildings on the campus, and everything considered, they were flourishing. They had more students than ever, more professors, and really very fine teachers. They had money in the bank and buildings which were considered very grand for the times.
The
attempt of good men to build up this school flashes an
interesting sidelight on its material history. The
State was putting up some money but the trustees were getting
money on the outside, and they needed it too. According to their
minutes of the trustees, the State originally granted the College
at Jackson twenty acres. Of course, there were grants of land
from the Haughtons, and we may assume that the college did some
trading in land and sold some land that was given it for the
purpose of putting up some
buildings and faced with the necessity of getting more land.
Those who have seen the old east & west wings (image
above) of
Jackson know that they have all the earmarks of an old-time
soldiers barracks, large brick two-story buildings
with Doric columns
(See photo below of the West
Wing with these Doric Columns as it stands today)
and an upper gallery very much like a barracks. He goes on to say that Capt. Delafield of the U.S. Army, Engineers Corps., had been engaged by his West Point friend, President Gird, to draw plans and estimates of the first wing to be built, and to superintend the construction. We see President Henry H. Gird's Military influence again when he created a military company under the name of "College Fensibles", to be formed by students over thirteen years of age and to be voluntary; the state was to furnish the arms. It was something like our present-day R.O.T.C. The second, or East Wing, was built exactly as the first one.
H.H. GIRD's French-issue
Muzzle-loading rifle & Accoutrements
This gun was in the possession of Henry Harrison Gird, the eldest son of Henry Hatton Gird III. Henry Harrison left it to his grandson, Daniel Murray Lamb, who was a collector of guns. Upon Murray's death, his wife donated the gun and accoutrements to the Fallbrook Historical Museum, in Fallbrook, San Diego County, California, where it is now on display.
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A Mortgage on Ten Slaves
They had a good faculty, there was no question about that. In 1830 Lieutenant Gird, who had been educated at West Point, was President and professor of Mathematics, and taught several other classes; Dr. Ingles, another West Pointer, was professor of Chemistry and natural philosophy; the professor of French and Spanish was of Florence, Italy, and had taught in Harvard; and Professor January had the chair of ancient languages and taught English.; there was between fifty and sixty students in 1830, and over eighty in 1831, and they were doing some building. In June 1831, a very interesting contract was made for the building of one of the wings of the college, which was to be used as a dormitory and a place of instruction. A contract was made with Robert Perry, who owned a brickyard near Jackson, to make 500,000 bricks; of these, 250,000 to be delivered by June 20, 1832. Payments as follows:
$300.00 by the first of January, 1832 and $2,000 on the completion of all the brick; not later than June 20, 1832. Perry to have liberty to cut the wood for burning brick and timber for wall boards."
The contract was secured on the part of Perry by a mortgage of his ten Negro slaves, which mortgage was duly recorded.
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Yellow Jack
While 1831 was a good year, 1832 was not so good. There was one problem these schools in Louisiana had to face that the schools in the North knew nothing about, and that was the problem of Yellow Fever. One year the college would close in late Spring with a large enrollment and everything flourishing, but in August, the Yellow Fever would sweep over Louisiana, and old Yellow Jack would hold a high carnival of death until routed by the frosts in the fall. This is probably what happened in the summer of 1832. The college did not open until December of that year, and when it did open there were only twenty-five students, five in the college proper and twenty in the Prep. The State was always completely demoralized during the height of the epidemic. People were frightened to death, and everybody was urged to avoid crowds, and so we can picture the despair of the college authorities in trying to convince the rest of Louisiana that Jackson was a health center.
They determined to resort to advertising, and put ads in the papers published in Clinton, St. Francisville, in New Orleans, and in the Attakapas Gazette, and these ads were printed not only in English, but in French. They determined to do something strenuous to get students for the spring term.
The janitor seems to have fallen down on the job, for he was up for a public exhortation, and admonished that the rooms had to be swept once every day, the seats dusted, and he was supposed to furnish water to all the recitation rooms at least four times a day. We have seen that he had to be careful in his wood chopping to have it in proper length, and now he was held responsible for the freshness of the water, thus qualifying scripturally as a "heaver of wood and drawer of water." The janitor had another job, and this was a ticklish one. He was authorized to fire the cook and ask the steward what he meant by the food he was serving. His report says that it was due to the bad quality of provisions in the local market and the difficulty of procuring supplies; and we can well understand that in an age when transportation was difficult as it was then, and when there was no possibility of refrigeration, especially in a warm climate. At this same time the janitor was to have the college land resurveyed, the lines plainly marked, "and to prohibit everybody who had not permission, from cutting wood on the place." And all this on $200.00 a year. It was hard for a college in those days to get over a severe blow and recover.
That yellow fever scare in 1832 almost completely disorganized the school. The trustees were carrying on bravely, and had completed one of the brick wings. In those days a contractor was called "the undertaker", and we find that on June 21, 1833, President GIRD and Secretary of the board were authorized "to sign and deliver to Alexander Smith, the undertaker of the present brick building, warrants to the amount of $3,000 payable on the first of May, 1834, in part payment of his contract of $14,000." Special brick was made for those beautiful columns, and the brickmaster thought that for this special brand $8.00 a thousand would be fair. The trustees decided that $7.00 a thousand would be ample, and that is all he got. We would be glad to go as high as $9.00 (in 1931), if we could get the quality and quantity which went into those stately columns, and still stand after a hundred years. There must have been some close business men on that board.
In the midst of all of that, trouble broke out in 1833 at the college between President Henry H. GIRD, who was also the Professor of Mathematics and Natural History, and Dr. Charles Ingles, the Professor of Chemistry. (Apparently, words were exchanged between the two men, with the result that Henry punched Charles right in the Kisser!). As these were both West Pointers, the author of this book seemed to feel that "we can well understand the trepidation of the trustees in trying to patch up the quarrel which might prove fatal to the college." Henry H. Gird III decided it was best if he resigned as President, but was talked into carrying on for the remainder of the year as Acting-President.
In December 1833, Henry H. Gird decided to surrender even his 'pro tem' position as President, so an election was held by the College Board of Trustees to select a new President. Those that they selected refused the position, so again they beseeched President Gird to stay on as President Pro Tem, for still another year, until a new President was finally secured in 1835.
[It should be noted that Henry Hatton Gird (III) continued as Professor of Mathematics, & also of Natural History, and as an instructor in other courses of study, until 1844, completing a tenure of 15 years at the College of Louisiana. He left office as President, with the college in good shape: there were two new wings and a hospital, a library and other new buildings. There was money in the bank and the school was doing well. There were 400,000 bricks in wait for the construction of the new central building. In 1844, he resigned his position as Professor of Mathematics and Natural History and removed to Illinois. The College folded the following year. ]
On June 1st, 1845, Henry Hatton Gird III passed away at the age of only 44 years old.
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Why the State College of Louisiana Was Forced to be Sold
The author of this book states: ".... it would pay us to look into the cause of the failure of this school. The law of supply and demand works out in the realm of education as well as in the realm of business. In the first place the State of Louisiana had too many educational institutions fostered by the State itself for the number of educable children.
As far back as 1811, when the State began to subsidize with beneficiary students the College of Orleans, it began to give $2,000 a year each to parish academies. In spite of this generous subsidy some of them died quickly and others were called upon to take their places. There were some institutions on what might be called the border line between the academies and the colleges, among them the College of Rapides, incorporated March 6, 1819, and the College of Baton Rouge, which succeeded the Academy of Baton Rouge, founded in 1820, and the Academy of Natchidoches (pronounced "nack - i - dish"), incorporated on March 6, 1819, and the Academy of Ouachita (pronounced, "Oowa - shi - tah"), which had been established as early as 1811. There was an academy at Covington as early as 1828, and one at Clinton in 1830. The year 1837 was a great one for academies, The State of Louisiana was flipping them out like flapjacks, and buildings were springing up as rapidly on academy grounds as they spring up in a Los Angeles subdivision.
From the list before me it seems that every part of the State was covered by academies; There were academies for boys and academies for girls. Among these there was one in Minden, chartered in 1838, one at Greensburg, one at Donaldsonville, called the Johnson Female Academy - all of these started in 1838 - and there was a venture in co-education in Union male and Female Academy, incorporated March 8, 1841.
There were other schools to numerous to name. It suffices to know that The College of Louisiana was flanked on all sides by academies. It would have to draw its students from every senatorial district in the State, as the Legislature thus made provision for beneficiaries from each district. Added to the other difficulties mentioned earlier, and the complications caused by Yellow Fever & rampant pork-barrel-politics in the works, the truth is, there were just too many schools all vying for the same limited student resources of the State's population and the State funding was spread too thin to do any of these schools much good.
In 1845 the State Legislature
passed an act which ordered the College of Louisiana to be sold,
and $10,000 was set as the minimum which the State would take for
the property. There was another condition imposed, and that was
that the buildings must not be diverted from school purposes...(Apparently,
some kind of underhanded dirty little deal went down with a judge
and three members of the East Felicity Parish Police Jury at
Jackson).
One hundred and sixty-six dollars and sixty-six cents in actual
cash was paid by the judge for the property ...with a note to pay
the remaining $10,000 dollars. It is well to note here that
the $166 was the first and only
installment ever paid on the college, as the State Legislature
subsequently remitted the debt.
The author of this book seemed to revere this judge and wrote a chapter in tribute to him.
"Judge McGehee was a man of some considerable means and ...refused a high office (in politics) to labor for the Kingdom of Heaven in a sparsely settled section. He built the first railroad in that section, and was, as long as he lived, a leading business man in all that country."
He also seems to have been largely responsible for some of the earliest churches in New Orleans and the center building at the College of Louisiana. He was apparently a great supporter for the spread of Methodism into Louisiana.
The author goes on to further
convince the reader of this man's saintly virtues with:
"John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist faith preached the importance of education and the need for colleges saying: " Methodists may be poor, but there is no need that they should be ignorant." Hence we see (Judge McGehee's) interests in supporting the College at Jackson and other institutions of God."
In 1838 the first Methodist Church was built in Jackson, Mississippi. In 1839 Methodism throughout the world was intent on celebrating the Centennial of Methodism. A conference was held in Jackson, Mississippi and they ..."discussed the importance of establishing a college as near the center in Mississippi as possible." ..." The Conference Commissions got right down to business looking for a location. As usual, they had bids from several towns, but the town of Clinton (situated only a few miles from Jackson) made the best bid at first. After that, a chain of events led to the State of Mississippi turning over their charter of the defunct Mississippi college to the new institution at Clinton, Louisiana in 1840. The new college was named "Centenary College".
Within a years time, the Board again began looking for a new location, and so the Methodist Centenary College was again moved to a new location. The following year, another new location comes before the board, and Brandon Springs was chosen. There were trustees of the new college (which appears to have been a law school), but in 1843 a resolution was passed at the Methodist Conference that year that "no person shall be a member of the board of trustees or an officer of the institution who is not an acceptable member of the Methodist Church." It seems they were concerned that ownership of any property and buildings needed to be clearly in the hands of the church school and not the trustees. This had bearing on the question of property, for the trustees of this college afterwards took over the College of Louisiana and merged it with Centenary College, but they did it not as private individuals or a mere self-perpetuating board, but as the agents of the Mississippi Annual (Methodist) Conference. Several of the old board of Trustees for the College of Louisiana appear on the list of trustees for the new Methodist college, and it seems that Judge McGehee had purchased the College of Louisiana's buildings, fixtures, etc., for $10,000, to be paid in three annual installments; this was done for the benefit of the Mississippi Annual Conference in June of 1845.
By July 1845, a quorum was held by the board of trustees, joined by an executive committee wherein they agreed to transfer the college at Brandon Springs to the old facilities of the College of Louisiana, and that the next session of school should open there as "Louisiana Centenary College". In 1846 a motion was passed, changing the name to Centenary College. It was also motioned that the Bachelor of Arts graduates of the college in Brandon Springs were adopted as alumni, and the alumni of the late State College of Louisiana were allowed "all rights, privileges, and immunities which they could claim from their alma mater." And thus the two colleges did merger in 1845, so that no school session was actually interrupted as a result.
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The remaining history goes on from those early struggling years to show how the new Church school prospered. There was a fire in 1851 and the West Wing's roof burned. It was replaced with a slate roof. A gymnasium was built and a new central building.
But the Civil War paid a big toll on the school, as it did with most Southern colleges. The school buildings were all but destroyed. The school closed for the duration of the war and its buildings were used by both Confederate and Union troops. The dormitories became hospital space in October 1862 and during the siege of Port Hudson in 1863. The Union troops used the Main Academic Building as an area headquarters.
With the 1880s & 1890s came
renewed spirit in America, beginning with the Centennial in 1876
and the World's Fair in Philadelphia. The school continued in
Jackson, Louisiana until 1908, when the new Centenary College was
completed in Shreveport, where it was hoped it might attract a
wider student base.
In September of that year it opened for first session.
Centenary College, Shreveport,
Louisiana 1908
I should like to point out here, that both schools suffered from similar problems and merged after 1845, to rise like a Phoenix out of the ashes. It has been speculated by some family members that Henry Hatton Gird III had something to do with the failure and subsequent closing of the College of Louisiana. I trust this puts to rest any further speculation that he did anything but serve in an honorable way.
Today, a large plaque hangs on the wall at Centenary College, honoring Henry H. Gird, 2nd President of the College of Louisiana - Centenary.
~Teddie Anne Driggs
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NEW!
LINK - to * Centenary State Historic Site
* Centenary State Historic Site
"The
Centenary State Historic Site now honors education throughout
Louisiana. Student life and society in the nineteenth century are
captured on this once-thriving and prestigious campus. The
professor's house, an original faculty building, introduces
visitors to Centenary College. From there visitors can stroll
about the campus toward the West Wing dormitory, which houses
exhibits and displays focusing on student life and education in
Louisiana."
"The West Wing
Dormitory" was one of the two "new wings" that
Henry H. Gird helped to design and had built. It makes me so
proud that it is one of his buildings that is still standing
today.
(# 2 West wing Dormitory building) *
Centenary State
Historic Site
In the photo directly
above, you can see the old Doric Columns and the West Wing Dorm
still standing strong since 1830, that were designed by Capt.
Delafield of the U.S. Army, Engineers Corps, who also
superintended their construction, as directed & specified by
the former College President Henry Hatton
Gird (III) (1829-1835)
It is easy to see the old West Point Military influence in their design, yet they capture the old romantic Southern French architect of by-gone pre-Civil War Louisiana.
* Centenary
State Historic Site
If you look on the map above, you will see the "Restored Professor's Residence", probably the former home of Henry & Sarah (Kinsley) GIRD.
(Restored Professor's House - * Centenary State Historic Site)
Former home of H.H. Gird at the College of Louisiana
This is where my GG-Grandfather, Henry Harrison GIRD grew up, as did the other children. After Sarah died in 1837, the following year, Henry married Elizabeth Lewis WHEELER, on May 30th, 1838, and more children were born into the family. In the 1840 Census of the East Feliciana Parish Enumeration for the state of Louisiana, there is listed as living in the GIRD household the following:
I male, 5-10 yrs of age
2 females, 5-10 yrs of age
2 males, 10-15 yrs of age
1 Male, 15-20 yrs of age
1 Female, 20 -30 yrs of age
1 Male, 30 -40 yrs of age
3 Females, 30-40 yrs of age
1 Male, 40-50 yrs of age
1 Male, age 70 yrs of age or older
Slaves: 3 living in the household
SO, altogether there were 17 people living in that house! Wow. No wonder he had the Professor's Residence built for the College President's home!
*
Centenary State Historic Site--(3522
College St., Jackson, LA 70748; 225-634-7925 or 1-888-677-2364)
is located in the charming town of Jackson in East Feliciana
Parish. From Baton Rouge, take I-10 North to US 61, go north on
US 61 toward St. Francisville. Turn right onto LA 68; turn
left onto Hwy. 10. From St. Francisville, simply go east on
LA 10 to the town of Jackson; turn left at the intersection of LA
10 and East College to reach old Centenary.
Email: [email protected]
* The maps & photos of the Centenary State Historic Site are from http://www.crt.state.la.us/crt/parks/centen/centenary.htm )
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