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Schools

Nineteenth-century schools were a grueling experience. Theodore Dwight, editor, clergyman, and congressman lamented that school was "torture rather than instruction . . . a shock from which many bright children never recover." Nevertheless, educating their children was one of the reasons the Latter-day Saints gathered to Nauvoo. In an 1838 message the First Presidency told the members of the Church: "One of the principle objects then, of our coming together, is to obtain the advantages of education; and in order to do this, compact society is absolutely necessary."

To be sure, Illinois might not seem the ideal place for any people to gather if they wanted to provide their children with a good education. In 1840 while one in two of children in New England were provided with free public schools, the ratio in the upper Mississippi Valley was one in six. Contrary to popular mythology, there was not an overwhelming public sentiment for schools on the western frontier. In fact, there was a great deal of opposition for a variety of reasons. The need for making a living was too pressing to allow children the luxury of "idle" hours at school. Many settlers considered their present situation merely a temporary stop before moving on to greener pastures further west. In addition, there was the distrust and jealousy of the learned by the less educated, and factional and local jealousies prevented the unity necessary for support of schools on a regional level. And, just as there are today, large numbers decried the ungodly influence of public schools. The author of a self-help book published in Boston in 1830 said: "A Christian parent ought not to suffer his children to associate with those, who are likely to do them harm. On this account, domestic education is decidedly to be preferred, where it can be obtained, to schools." In Illinois, especially, there seemed even greater resistance to public education. Before Nauvoo was settled, the largest part of the population had been drawn from the south, where there was no public school system.

Yet seeking knowledge was part of the Saints' religious doctrine. John Corrill, an elder from upper Missouri who visited Kirtland in 1835, described the Latter-day Saints as inspired "with an extravagant thirst after knowledge." Even enemies of the Church seemed to hold a grudging admiration for this particular trait of the Mormons. James H. Eells, an anti-Mormon living in Elyria, Ohio, wrote in a letter in 1836: "The Mormons appear to be very eager to acquire education. . . . they are by no means, as a class, men of weak minds."

For an impoverished people repeatedly driven from previous homes, providing schools for their children was not an easy matter. They could look for little help from state and local governments. Most of the adults living in Hancock County when the Mormons arrived had migrated from states where educational opportunities were even fewer than in western Illinois. Even prominent and influential men among these "old settlers," men such as J. Duncan, governor of Illinois in 1834, and T. Corbin, governor in 1839, had meager educations. Nevertheless, the Latter-day Saints had a burning desire to provide formal education for their children and forged quickly ahead with their own school system. By 1841 there was in Nauvoo a system of common schools under the supervision of the board of regents of the projected municipal university. On 15 December of that year, the Times and Seasons informed its readers that "the school Wardens of the University for Common Schools are desired to organize the schools in their respective wards. . . . the Teachers must procure a certificate of competency from the Chancellor and the Registrar before they can be recognized by the Wardens." At the common school level, classes functioned in all municipal wards with three wardens, or trustees, supervising the work. The trustees were to see that school buildings were erected (usually log cabins), select a teacher, arrange for the teacher's room and board, and listen to recitations and examinations. In practice the common school system did not become universal, because of the rise of subscription schools.