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Show Volume IV, Issue I THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Page 17 April 15, 2001 The Old Rock School House By Edward H. Anderson May 1926 As a boy, less than eight years of age, I came to Ogden Valley by oxteam over the mountain by way of North Ogden in the early summer of 1867. We came that way because the little bridge in Ogden Canyon had been swept away by the spring freshet of the Ogden River. At that time, an old log school house stood in the center of the public square in Huntsville, which town was named after Captain Jefferson Hunt, and first settled in 1860. Hunt was captain of Company A in the Mormon Battalion. President Francis A. Hammond had been installed as President of the settlement some months before, there being only one bishop in Weber County at that time, who, as I remember, was Lorin Farr, located in Ogden. About ten years later, May 28, 1877, the Weber Stake was organized, when President Hammond became Bishop of Huntsville, Up to that time Presidents presided over various districts or branches or wards, and Francis A. Hammond was the president of Huntsville. The old original log house on the public square was covered by a dirt roof; the size of the building was sixteen by twenty feet, as I learned later, and an addition was made to it in 1865. The Board of School Trustees, or Directors, were Robert Aldous, Thomas Bingham and Clinton Bronson. The town had been settled in 1860, but it was not until 1862 that the first school was taught by Edward R. Walker, at which time the first Board of Trustees were Marcellus Monroe, Enoch Hackshaw and W. W. Bronson, followed afterwards by those first named. I attended my first religious meeting in the old log house. I was admonished that all boys who were not perfectly quiet and careful in their demeanor would be called up by the President to the stand for punishment, and I therefore had a great fear of President Hammond. This, however, was soon dispelled as I came to know him better; I found him to be a real boy’s man. Having been an old sailor, he was brusque sometimes in his expression, but fair in his judgment and a favorite with the young people, because he seemed to understand them. His talented wife was Mary Jane Dilworth Hammond, who taught the first school after the arrival of the pioneers in Salt Lake Valley in 1847. The old rock school house was first occupied in 1868. It was not only our place of religious worship, but our educational and recreation center. Here we worshiped on Sunday, went to Sunday and day school, and met together on all public occasions. I remember one summer day, all the children met to greet President Brigham Young. We gathered at the old rock meeting house and were from there lined up on both sides of the main road to greet the President as he and his company passed up the street in carriages. On holidays we met here for recreation, consisting mostly of dancing, as the town was known for its dances, with David Garner, in my early days, as the violinist. Speaking of the Sunday School, the first superintendent I remember was Wilmer Bronson. We had no regular classes, but learned our lessons from Jaques Old catechism. We had the privilege of learning as many pages as we wanted by heart, and I remember distinctly that, as a reward for learning them, we received small cards, which, when we had a number of them, we exchanged for a larger card. Many a Sunday I have sat down with Wilmer Bronson and repeated page after page of the catechism by heart in answer to questions asked by him. The splendid text served as a foundation for my religious teaching. I have never forgotten many of the quotations and scriptural passages printed therein, which I have repeated from time to time before my Sunday School Superintendent. Following him were Superintendent William Halls and George Halls, who, by the by, were also our day school teachers much of the time, particularly during the three winter months each year when we all attended school, generally in January, February and March. Our school books were the Wilson readers and, fortunately, they carried in each grade bible stories, so we used them in Sunday School also a great deal of the time. The old rock school house consisted of only one room, and the school EDEN was mixed—very mixed. The classes consisted of students from the Primary to the highest grade. Our benches were frequently slabs, turned flat side up, with tow pegs in each end, as I remember it. Finally we received orders to have desks made. These were to be furnished by the parents, each family who had children were to furnish a desk. Most of them made their own desk and the variety of makes can well be imagined. My desk had provision for me to sit on it, as well as to write on it. There was not a seat in the front of it; the next student with a desk could not sit on it. It did not fit in with the other desks and became a stumbling block in connection with those of the other students, to my great chagrin. The first day school teacher I remember was William Halls, though before that time he had taught with John Vlair in 1864-1865; before them was Edward R. Walker in 1862, the first school teacher; Joseph Grover in 1863; the Pratt sisters in 1865; William W. Burton in 1866; then followed my teachers in the order as follows; William Halls, 1867-69; Professor Handy, 1870; H. C. Wardleigh, 1870July 1871, and, by the bye, this teacher offered a prize to be given at the close of the year to the student who best SCHOOL cont. on page 18 745-4663 2595 N. HIGHWAY 162, EDEN UT FOR ALL YOUR OGDEN VALLEY REAL ESTATE NEEDS dickd@wardleygmac.com Do you need help with: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Dick Dixon Branch Broker 940-4040 Visit www.dickdixon.org WE MAKE IT HAPPEN ! Lawn Mowing Weed Eating Yard Clean-up Tree Trimming Weeding Edging Planting Call Yard Care Specialist’s 745-3236 free estimates $75 (supplies included) |
