Former educators who influenced Ashtabula County’s Education

When you think back on your school years, does a special teacher’s name come to mind? Perhaps that teacher brings back bad memories or hurt or even anger. But do you have a teacher who influenced you for good? Was there one who encouraged you, spurred you on, gave you a different perspective? Was there one who believed in you, gave you a reason to show up at school, saw the best in you long before you could?
As school starts again, teachers prepare to teach and reach their students, but their task is very difficult. Teachers need our support, encouragement and prayer! A little goes a long way with teachers because the negative often outweighs the positive. Knowing someone values them can make a happier teacher and that state of mind can spread to their teaching and ultimately to your child who sits in front of that teacher day after day.
In the early days of Ashtabula County’s educational system, there were some outstanding men and women who went above and beyond the average educator.
H.U. Johnson was one of them. His name may be unfamiliar to you, but his influence, writing and teaching are still making an impact even beyond Ashtabula County.
Born in Braceville, Ohio, Johnson was basically a self-educated man. He first taught at the Cortland Academy but left the school to fight in the Civil War. He held positions at West Farmington, the Kingsville Academy, and the Lake Shore Seminary in North East, Pennsylvania.
After his service in the Civil War, he became head of the Orwell Normal Institute, 1865-1870. The school had been built in 1850 by educator Jacob Tuckerman but was floundering by 1865. Eventually, the name would be changed to Orwell Academy. Under Johnson’s leadership, the school grew to 150 students. It was so advanced in its curriculum, it was considered second to Oberlin College.
An avid historian, Johnson spent hours going from community-to-community interviewing those who had been involved in the Underground Railroad. Some were conductors, some former slaves and some former owners of slaves. He then compiled their stories into a book called, “From Dixie to Canada, Romances and Realities of the Underground Railroad.” Even today, this book is considered the most accurate and thorough compilation of the stories of those who lived through the history of slavery. The stories he obtained could never be told as accurately as what he uncovered.
Johnson never forgot his time spent as a soldier in the Civil War. His compassion toward the widows of Civil War soldiers was so great, he helped organize the Home for Civil War Widows in Madison, Lake County, Ohio. In 1891, The Ohio Women’s Relief Corps purchased the former Madison Seminary and renamed it the Madison Home. Civil War nurses, widows and children found a place to live. The buildings are still standing on 6769 Middle Ridge Rd. but the beautiful brick buildings are abandoned. The Madison Home has had many lives since the days of H.U. Johnson.
But Johnson’s distinctive claim to the furthering of the early education of Ashtabula County schoolchildren lies in his innovative method of teaching. Johnson, feeling that a person learns just as well, or better beyond the classroom setting, traveled by horse and wagon to every community within a three-state area in an effort to reach those who could not attend his lectures. With his powerful speaking ability and the use of creative visual aids prepared by himself, he gave dramatic presentations of people, places and events.
His circuit tour was simple but effective. Driving into a schoolyard, usually at lunchtime, word of his arrival would pass quickly among the neighbors. Soon, a crowd would gather and pack the schoolhouse. He was widely respected not only by the common folks, but also by well-known and influential men in very community including ministers, law officers and businesspeople.
Often, Johnson would remain into the evening and extend his talks in the local church or hall. When the schoolchildren would learn Johnson would stay for evening lectures, they would rush home and inform their parents. Chores were done quickly or set aside so families could hear and watch the lectures.
Using slides, many of them hand-colored by Johnson, he would project them on the wall using what Johnson called a “magic lantern.” It was a new phenomenon in photography and a forerunner of today’s slide projector.
Having a superb ability to memorize his lectures, Johnson told them with flourish and excitement to make learning a thrill for his hearers. Today, we know that students learn in four dominant ways listed as visual, auditory, read/write and kinesthetic. Johnson was advanced in understanding this process!
To attend a lecture, you had to pay ten to fifteen cents for adults and five cents for children in the fourth and fifth reads and upper grades. The lectures covered science, the Bible, Civil War battles, the Great Johnstown Flood, the Underground Railroad and human-interest stories. His audiences were spellbound as he shared the stories he had uncovered of slaves escaping to freedom and harrowing circumstances surrounding their flight to the North. Oh, to have been in that audience!
One of his most popular lectures which he also recorded on paper was “The Pioneers and their Grandchildren.” It included first-hand accounts from the families of the early settlers of our county that had been written down in diaries and letters. I tried to find this work online through several sources but was unsuccessful.
Johnson planned his trips to last a week or two as he travelled from community to community. He decided he could have an even greater audience for his lectures if he printed the material. Giving up his lecture touring in 1882, he began to print his material in a periodical called, “Johnson’s Lake Shore Home Magazine.” He used his lectures and local stories written in as exciting manner as his lectures.
The magazine was first published in North East, Pa., in 1882. Two years later, it was published in Ashtabula and then in Erie, Pennsylvania in 1886. I have an 1884 copy of Johnson’s magazine that I found at a garage sale. What a find! Johnson included a history of at least one local figure in each edition. My copy covers the life of early Ashtabula County preacher and missionary, Reverend Joseph Badger, 1757-1844.
Children loved the magazine because of second half of the periodical subtitled, “For the Children, By the Children.” This portion of Youth’s Home Magazine contained thrilling stories that often taught a moral lesson to children. But Johnson wanted his readers to be involved beyond reading the magazine. He devoted several pages of letters written by his readers. Not only did this technique let Johnson know who was reading the material, but how many, and what interest they had. He printed every letter, even with mistakes!
Many of the readers and writers grew up to be senators, lawyers, suffragettes, businesspeople and writers including one from the Lampson family. Reading the letters is a history in itself!
Johnson expanded his book market by writing “The Singing Geography,” which taught the cities and countries in rhyme by using popular Civil War tunes. His many poems were compiled into a book called the Western Reserve Centennial souvenir.
Today, Johnson’s magazines and books are sought out as collectors’ items and many have been reprinted and available through the Ohio History Collection, the Gutenberg Project, Amazon, and can also be seen and read at the Jennie Munger Gregory Musuem, home of the Ashtabula County Historical Society at Geneva on the Lake.