Presbyterian Colleges in East Tennessee – Page 4 – Hawkins County Genealogy & History

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Vaughn Memorial Academy

Formerly called College Hill Academy, is located at Riceville, N. C., about ten miles east from Asheville. A good school had been conducted there for some years by the Rev. A. M. Penland, in connection with preaching to the churches at College Hill, Reems Creek, and Davidson’s River.

Afterwards it was conducted one year each by the Revs. Alexander J. Coile and George Baxter. During the last two years the academy has flourished under the Rev. Herman A. Foff, with one female assistant. The attendance has risen to about one hundred and twenty pupils. The school has won a good reputation, and is accomplishing an invaluable work for that mountain region of North Carolina. The upper story of the College Hill Church building furnishes rooms which have been comfortably fitted up for the use of the school. The tuition fees are low, to meet the ability of the people who are mostly poor, and the school has been liberally aided by Mrs. Vaughn and the Executive Committee of the Women’s Home Missionary Society.

Swift Memorial Seminary

In 1883, The Rev. W. H. Franklin, a graduate of Maryville College and of Lane Theological Seminary, opened a school for colored pupils in connection with his charge of the Church of St. Mark’s at Rogersville, Tenn.

In May, 1884, at his solicitation, a committee of Holston Presbytery visited that place, and, finding the field in all respects very favorable for the establishment of a graded school for the higher education of the colored youth of an extensive and destitute region, they organized an agency for raising funds for the purchase of a site and the erection of a suitable building. Presbytery also applied to the Board of Missions for Freedmen for aid. But for several years that Board could only make an annual appropriation in support of the school, which was still successfully conducted by the Rev. W. H. Franklin and one assistant, in a crowded and inconvenient building.

In 1888, Mr. Franklin being appointed Principal and financial agent, devoted himself with zeal and energy to the cause, and Presbytery named the institution “Swift Memorial Seminary,” in honor of the Rev. Eliot E. Swift, D. D., of Allegheny City, Pa., long the devoted and efficient friend and President of the Assembly’s Board of Missions for Freedmen.

This Board then donated $1000, which, with the proceeds of local subscriptions (about $500), enabled the officers to purchase a cottage residence on an eligible site of two acres in the town of Rogersville, and to remodel and furnish the same for the temporary accommodation of the growing seminary. To this building and site the school was removed, and opened with increased attendance in September, 1889. But one year has so crowded the rooms, that a large building is demanded by the state and prospects of the school.

A committee of Holston Presbytery, including the Principal, are a Board of Managers, with power to appoint the teachers, to have general supervision and to manage its financial affairs.

The Faculty of Swift Memorial Seminary consists of the Rev. W. H. Franklin, Principal; and Mrs. M. J. Woodfin and Miss Paralee Cochraham, Assistants.

Rittenhouse Academy

This institution was established at Kingston, Tenn., by an Act of the Legislature in 1806. There is no account of its going into operation until 1822, when the Rev. William Eagleton was installed as Principal. The first structure was of logs and stood on the same lot with the Presbyterian Church. The present brick building was erected in 1832, and a wing was added in 1853. It was prosperous before the war, but since then it had many changes until it was brought under the control of the Presbytery of Kingston in 1884. During the last two years, (1887, 1888) it has received annually $400 from the Presbyterian Board of Aid, and is in a flourishing condition. The property is valued at $2900.

Grassy Cove Academy

The Grassy Cove Academy was organized as a permanent enterprise by the Presbytery of Kingston, in August, 1884, and chartered under the statutes of the State the same year. Its establishment was decided upon in view of the lack of schools to promote sound Christian learning among the young people of the Cumberland plateau. The site is a beautiful one. The cove is situated midway between Crossville and Spring City. It has been styled “The Gem of the Cumberland Mountains.” The building is two stories high, the upper story being fitted for church services. Rev. J. Silsby was Principal of the Academy from its establishment until his death, in October, 1888. The effect of his self-denying labors will be long seen in the Christian workers he trained. The Misses Marston conducted the school after his death. In January, 1889, Rev. S. S. De Garmo took charge of the Academy. At times it has been difficult to find room for the pupils who have gathered for instruction.

Beech Academy

Buncombe county, N. C. This school was opened by the Rev. Alfred M. Penland and his wife, as teachers, in May, 1884. Their immediate object was to educate their own children and those of their neighbors who, in that destitute region, were growing up in ignorance. It began with but fifteen scholars, amid discouragements arising from want of building, books, etc.; also, from a prejudice in the community against the use of the Catechism, which all were required to learn and recite.

Difficulties and opposition have been so far overcome that the school now (1888-89) flourishes with an attendance of fifty scholars. Each scholar on entering is supplied with a Testament and a Catechism, to be used as text-books. The closing exercises of each day consist in an examination on the Catechism lesson and singing, and the last hour of every Wednesday is set apart for a prayer meeting of the school and any of the community who choose to attend, the interest of which is enhanced by the quotation of Scripture passages on subjects previously appointed, and the singing of hymns by the trained voices of the pupils.

The energy and enterprise of the Rev. A. M. Penland have secured the erection of a building which serves the double purpose of a school-room and a house of worship. The Women’s Executive Committee of Home Missions has promised assistance, and Beech Academy has a fair prospect for permanence and prosperity.

Huntsville Academy

Chartered June 11, 1885. Opened by Mr. D. A. Clemens, Principal, and one assistant, August, 1885, with fifteen or twenty scholars; enrollment of the first year, ninety scholars. Mr. Clemens resigned, and Mr. S. E. Henry was elected Principal, April, 1888. Enrollment for 188-89, 120; attendance eighty, of whom twenty-five are school teachers in Scott County. In 1889, Mr. M. M. Rankin was chosen Principal. The Academy has a wide field without competition in a mining region, increasing in population and wealth, but very destitute of any other than common school education. Huntsville Academy gives a good English education and preparation in languages and mathematics, for entering the Freshman class in college. Its prospect for increasing usefulness is very encouraging.

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