History of Yellow Springs, (Greene County) Ohio United States of America

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Horace Mann, educationist, was born in Franklin, Mass., May 4, 1796; son of Thomas and Rebecca (Stanley) Mann; grandson of Nathan and Esther Mann, and a descendant of William Mann who immigrated to America from England and settled in Cambridge, Mass. He received but a limited education as his father, who was a small farmer in Fanklin, died in 1809 and he was obliged to help support the family. He studied English, Greek and Latin under Samuel Barrett, an itinerant schoolmaster, and entered Brown university in 1816, and although absent from his class throughout one winter, he was graduated with honor in 1819. He studied law with J. J. Fiske, of Wrentham, Mass., but in a few months he was invited back to Brown as a tutor in Latin and Greek and librarian. He resigned in 1821 and entered the law school at Litchfield, Conn., under Judge Gould and in 1822 he entered the law office of James Richardson, of Dedham; was admitted to the bar in December, 1823, and opened an office at Dedham where he practised, 1823-33. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1827-33, and made his first speech in defence of religious liberty. He was married, Sept. 29, 1830, to Charlotte, daughter of President Asa Messer, of Brown univesity, and in 1833 he removed to West Newton and was a partner with Edward G. Loring, Boston. He was state senator, 1833-37, and president of the senate, 1836-37. During his legislative service he advocated laws for improving the common-school system; was the means of procuring the enactment of the "fifteen-gallon law" and the law for the suppression of the traffic in lottery tickets. He also proposed the establishment of the State Lunatic hospital at Worcester, Mass., in 1833, and was appointed chairman of the board of commissioners to contract for and superintend the erection of the hospital, and when the buildings were completed in 1833 he was chairman of the board of trustees. In 1835 he was a member of a legislative committee to codify the statute law of Massachusetts, and after its adoption he was associated with Judge Metcalf in editing it. He was elected the first secretary of the Massachusetts board of education, June 19, 1837. He addressed lectures to conventions of teachers and friends of education, in which he explained to the pubic the leading motives of the legislature in creating the board. He also published annual reports for twelve years setting forth the advancement of education in the state, and superintended and contributed largely to the pages of the Common School Journal, a monthly publication. During his term of office as secretary he introduced a thorough reform in the school system, established normal schools, and after his second marriage in May, 1848, to Mary Tyler, daughter of Dr. Nathaniel Peabody, he visited at his own expense the educational establishments of Europe, especially in Germany, which investigation he embodied in his seventh annual report. He retired from the secretaryship in 1848, having served for twelve years with wonderful efficiency and large results. He was a representative in the 30th, 31st and 32d congresses, succeeding John Quincy Adams, deceased, and serving, 1847-53. He declined the nomination for governor of Massachusetts, Sept. 15, 1852, and on the same day was chosen president of Antioch college at Yellow Springs, Ohio, which offer he accepted. The college affairs were in a state of chaos, and in spite of his labors the college property was advertised for sale at public auction in the spring of 1859. A new organization was, however, effected, and the college, freed from debt, was soon successfully conducted. The third class was graduated the same year and he served as president until his death. He was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Harvard in 1849. In the selection of names for a place in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, New York university, in October, 1900, his was one of fifteen in "Class C, Educators" submitted as eligible for a place, and the only one in the class to secure a place, receiving sixty-seven votes, the next highest being Mark Hopkins with forty-seven votes. He is the author of: Reply to Thirty-One Boston Schoolmasters (1844); Report of Educational Tour (1846); A Few Thoughts for a Young Man (1850); Slavery, Letters and Speakers (1852); Lectures on Intemperance (1852); Powers and Duties of Woman (1853); Sermons (1861). His lectures on education (1845) were translated into French by Eugene de Guer in 1873. Besides his annual reports he published the Common School Journal, 1839-47; Abstract of Massachussetts School Returns (1839-47); Supplementary Report on School Houses (1838); Massachusetts System of Common Schools (1849); and a large number of pamphlets which have been bound together and lettered Mann's Educational Controversies. See "Life of Horace Mann," by his widow (1865). He died at Yellow Springs, Ohio, Aug. 2, 1859.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

History of Yellow Springs, (Greene County) Ohio

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