Number 28 1997 kJl. m WV-. mr H Number 28 1997 Williamson County Historical Society Officers President Andrew B. Miller Vice President Bob Canaday Secretary Marjorie Hales Treasurer Herman Major County Historian Virginia McDaniel Bowman The Williamson County Historical Society Journal is published annually by the Williamson County Historical Society, P.O. Box 71, Franklin, TN 37065. Copyright ©1997 by Williamson Coimty Historical Society. Permission to reproduce portions of this publication is granted provided attribution is given. Annual membership in the Williamson County Historical Society is $12.00 for indi\iduals; $15.00 for families. Illustration on front cover is a photograph of the Tennessee Female College which was built in 1857 and burned in 1886. , CONTENTS Female Education in Antebellum Williamson County: 1822-1861 by Jeri Hasselbring \ Annoimcement of Tennessee Female College: 1869-18'^0 25 Armouncement of Tennessee Female College: 1885-1886 30 Alice Charlton's Diary 35 Murfreesboro Female Institute for HEARTHSTONES 57 by Mary B. Hughes A Wonderful Visit 60 by Ruth Pearre The Diary of Miss Kate BCirkpatrick 62 A Bookish Story: The.Yoimg Man from Williamson Coxmty 70 by Hugh 'Walker Record Book of Thomas F. Perkins Sr. 73 Civil War Letters of Capt. Thomas F. Perkins Jr. 86 Church of Christ, Boston, Termessee 92 Bridges of Franklin 107 by Park Marshall Professor James Edward Scobey (Reprint) 111 compiled by John E. Scobey Index 129 DEDICATION ihose of us who have researched, read and enjoyed Williamson Cormty history are aware Tof the years of dedication Louise Gillespie Lynch has given to her life's work of collecting, writing and [organizing historical data. As County m Archivist, sh^e has overseen the transformation of our county records from storage in the basement of the courth|ouse and cells in the old jail into orga nized, accessible files in the County Archives at Five Points. Her, published voliunes of miscellaneous records and numerous genealogical articles have proven invaluable to those seeking information on Williamson County. The Society wishes to take this opportunity |to publicly thank Louise for her great work and public service. EDITOR'S NOTE 'ith Tennessee's bicentennial behind us, of Leiper's Fork for permitting the printing of the Williamson Coimty and Franklin pre diaries of her ^andmother, Kate Khrkpatrick of Wipares'now for their two himdredth the Southall community, and her great aunt, birthday in 1999. Many fellow historical society Alice Charlton, who attended Murfreesboro members are taking an active role in preparing for Female Institute under Professor James E. Scobey this celebration. James Cmtchfield has accepted in the mid-187p's. Also related to education is the the Franklin aldermen's charge to write a history late Hugh Walker's article on a rare book he of the city. County Historian Virginia McDaniel foimd belonging to Samuel P. Allison of Allisona. Bowman is in the final chapter of her long await And thanks to Thomas F. Henderson, Jr., the ed second volume of the history of the coimty. record book ^f his great, great grandfather, Jackie and Bob Canaday have published Thomas F. Perkins, Sr., reveals the financial Franklin: A Photographic Recollection, Volume resources of Samuel P. Allison while at Yale and, II, a companion to their successful 1989 edition. also, the educational finances of his brother, Sadye Wilson and Nancy Fitzgerald have given Thomas FeamjPerkins Allison. us Letters to Laura, the Civil War correspondence Related to the Allisons were the wealthy and of Dr. U.G. Owen of College Grove and a geneal numerous Perkins and Cannon families. To help ogy of the Owen,Dobson and Rives families. And clarify the tarigle of Perkins and Cannon inter our most prolific historian, Ridley Wills, II has marriage, we have Theresa Ewin Perkins's 1907 recently published Touring Tennessee, a delight explanation written for her grandson and our ful sampling of his extensive post card collection. World War I local hero. Captain Tom Henderson. An all-out effort has recently been undertak For Civil War[enthusiasts, we offer an article on en by the Society for the placement of historical Captain Thomas F. Perkins, Jr., with his letters markers in as many as forty communities, home written iwhile in Federal prison. churches, cemeteries, and historical sites. A To round put this year's journal, we have the forthcoming handbook, with texts of: all the 1855-86 records of Boston Church of Christ and markers m the county and period photographs, Park Marshall's report on Franklin's bridges. As is in progress. Your support is paramoimt to the always, an open invitation is extended to our project's success. Please make memorial and in readers to submit articles, diaries, photographs, honor donations to the W.C.H.S. marker fund. and letters related to Williamson Coimty. A look at 19th century education seems to be Special thanks is due Andy Miller and his the common theme of this year's journal. Volume stable of professional booksmiths at Providence 28. Jeri Hasselbring offers a taste of her graduate House Publishers for their help in the layout and thesis on female education in antebellum design of the journal. Williamson County and many will be surprised as to the number of academies which flourished Good Reading here. We are indebted to Sarah Davis Cummings Rick Warwick, editor : 18224. The Head to think, the Heart to feel and the Body to act. Dr, Barbee, 1844 etween 1822 and the start of the Civil War, When female academies made their initial ■ approximately twenty-two female acade- appearance in the 1820s in Williamson Coimty, 'mies and one female college at one time there was no decision to be made on the part of or another dotted the social, as well as the phys parents as to j whether one's daughter would ical, landscape of Williamson County. Some attend a "public" school or a "private" academy. were simply called schools. Others were more The female academies of the early antebellum impressively labeled institute, academy, semi years did not develop, as they presently do, nary or college. Regardless of the title, each did alongside a state-funded, public system of educa its part in educating the daughters of the area's tion. While it is true that most southern states professional, merchant, middling and planter during the early1 nineteenth century intermittent families and supplemented the traditional ly made available limited state monies for a rudi training received from mothers at home. mentary elementary education for poor whites— According to Stephen Ash,"in perhaps no other hence the terrn "pauper schools"—for the vast aspect of life in antebellum Middle Termessee majority education was attainable solely on a fee save courtship, marriage and slavery were class basis. Academies came about as the only alterna distinctions so glaring, and so telling, as in edu- tive to no formal education at all. cation."! Within her academies and college, a The story of female education in Williamson distinctly southern belief system transformed County beginsj in 1822 with the opening of the Williamson County's young "belles" into exalt "Female Academy" under the direction of ed southern women. Reverend Jorjathan Blackburn and "Lady" As Dr. Barbee hoped, the girls' heads were Blackburn. The school operated out of their indeed made to think as they chose from a variety Franklin home with Mrs. Blackburn teaching of rigorous course offerings. Under the watchful English grammar, logic, rhetoric, moral philoso eyes of the church, their principal, devoted teach phy and Latia under her husband's supervision. ers, and circle of intimate friends, their hearts The inclusion of Latin in the curriculum attests to could do nothing other than feel the specialness of this school's refinement and appeal to the upper their academy years and the importance of their echelon of Franklin society and to the emerging education to the years ahead. Dr. Barbee's plea for belief that male and female brains were created the "Body to act" extends beyond the daily walk equally. and other calisthenic activities of the school day. In defense of teaching rhetoric to girls who, While in the academy, the young belle trans according to accepted gender limitations of the formed into a yoimg lady who was "mistress of time, were to speak publicly only on topics con herself and her actions."^ sidered appropriate. Reverend Blackburn opined 10 Williamson County Historical Society Journal that rhetoric "gives a more pleasing embellish be found in Williamson County, and all were ment to the female character/' confirming the very dependent on tuition. Typically, yoimg min female education as a refining process was the isters served as principals.^ goal of "useful" schooling for elite yoimg ladies Regardless of type, changes m the economy in Franklin.3 Similar to the Blackburn's school affected all female academies. Most were con were the Female Academy (Seminary) of stantly in need of money,and pleas in local news Franklin Grove (ca. 1829) rmder the direction of papers repeatedly reminded subscribers that Reverend and Mrs. C. H. Hines and the Harpeth payments were due. Often creative in obtaining (Union) Female Academy (ca. 1828) near the fimds, boards, trustees and parents held lotteries Triune/College Grove area.^ to benefit the academy. Such was the case at the While the state government struggled in the well-established Harpeth (Union) Male and 1830s to create a viable educational plan, an Female Academies in 1832. Although in opera "academy movement" took wing in Williamson tion for over four years, the academies foimd it County as community and religious leaders necessary to sell five dollar lottery tickets at a endorsed and established female institutes.