The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-01-20
OLD TIME
An Article on the Extinct Sehools Of
4 New hanover by DR.. Kensp p. Hattie
special Correspondence.)

The biennial report OF the state Su-
~perintendent of public instruction is
complete. 1t is a large book, well pre-
pared and very handsomely illustrated.
One of the features is a chapter by Hon.
Kemp P. Battle on early or extinct
schools In the various counties Of North
Carolina. As to New Hanover DIR. Bat
tie says: New Hanover was formed
in 1929, was the precinct Of Bath" un-
til 1888. incorporated schools-Innes
academy, chartered 1888; public school,
chartered 1900; Wilmington academy,
chartered 1903; New Hanover academy,
chartered 1888; Rockfish academy,
chartered 1884; female institute, near
Black Creek, charterd 1916; Topsall,
chartered 1851; Union lat Harold's
| store,) chartered 1854; Rocky Point,
chartered 1876.
The public school," above mention
ed. was not a school supported by the
| public. 1t was for all the people, as OPP
! posed to a limited private school.
| A Presbyterian clergyman, Rev. Jas.
| Tate, established a classical school in
| Wilmington in 1850. Here he tuaght ac-
| ceptably for eighteen years, when on &C
| count Of his ~unbending Wing princl-
| pies, he was forced to leave and carry
| on his pastoral works in the Hawfields.
| His name stands high in the annals OF
! our state.
A teacher of the eighteenth century
| was r. Harley, who opened a classical
| school in Wilmington about 1776. His
| terms were, for reading and writing,
| 80 shillings (S3) per quarter; for the
| same with arithmetic, 35 shillings $3.50;
| the same, with Latin 40 shillings per
| quarter, ($4). He also offered himself as
| a land S % that he was
| probably a fairly educated English law
| yer who had drifted to these shores.
1t is supposed that Rev. VIM. Bing-
| ham began his classical school in Will
| mington about 1888, and had great sue
| cess until he removed to Chatham
| wide "Chatham" and "Orange.O
Innes academy was founded by Col
onel James Innes the first in our state
to show a broad and generous spirit
in behalf of public education. By birth
a. Scotchman, he served with distinction
as captain in the army, which made an
unsuccessful attack on Carthagena. He
was one of the council of Governor
| JOuuSlOu. ne tOlAIldAuCu lhC -
| Carolina troops in the French and In
dian war and on the death of Colonel
Fry, was the ranking officer of all the
colonial forces, Governor DlnWiddle
called him IAN officer of unblemlshed
character, of great reputation for braV-
cry and conduct" While at Winches-
ter in 1854 he executed his will, of
which the following is an extract: Il
give and bequeath at the death OF my
loving wife, Jean Innes, my plantation,
called Point Pleasant, and the opposite
marsh lands ove the river, two negro
young women, n negro young man,
and their increase, all the stock of cat
tie and hogs, half the stock OF horses
belonging to the plantation, with all my
books and one hundred pounds sterling
or the equivalence thereto in the cur
rency of the country, for the use of a
free school for the benefit of the youth
of North Carolina; and to see that this
part Of the will be duly executed at
the time, I appoint the colonel OF the
New Hanover regiment, the parson OF
the Wilmington church (St. James
Episcopal), the vestry for the time be-
ing, or a majority of them, as they
from time to time shall be chosen or
appointed He also bequeathed a bell
to the Parish church of Cannisbay, in
Caithness, and G100 sterling to the
poor of the parish. The lands devised
are about twelve miles from Whining
ton, and, including the swamp land,
were about 5000 acres. They are a
wilderness of forest and marsh, with
not a building on the tract. The owner
is Samuel Davis. There is nc tradition
wen as to what became of the negroes.
They were probably carried off by the
British or escaped during their occu-
pancy of Wilmington.
Colonel Innes died in 1859, and his
| will was then proved. Owing to the
continuance of the life Of his widow,
and probably the troubles of the war,
the execution Of the bequest
| for the school was not considered until
1888. At that time there was, from all
| that we can learn, nc rector or vestry
| Of st. James church. An act of the
| assembly was procured vesting the
! property bequeathed in trustees, viz:
Hon. Samuel Ashe, Archibald Maclaine,
| VIM. Hill, Thomas Mcclure, John In
gram, John Hay, Hon. Edward Starkey,
Jno. Ellington, and Robt.Shaw. In 1888
nothing had been done and the assem-
bly, increased the trustees to thirty. l
have been unable to ascertain the facts
in regard to the school, then establish
ed, if one was started. 1t must have
been on a small scale. as we find that
an act was passed in 1903 for the relief
of Times academy" which recites that
a quorum of the trustees could not be
procured, and others were named, with
authority to sell the Point Pleasant
lands and the %reinvest in other land.
AT the same session of the assembly
the Wilmington academy was charter
ed, the trustees being among the most
influential in the lower Cape Fear coun-
try, viz: Joshua Granger Wright, Sam
uel Russell Jocelyn, Nathaniel Hill,
James w. Walker and Benjamin Smith.
AS the prices obtained for the Innes
lands must have been small, owing TO
the destruction of the buildings and
lon O npplont II uoc poScib1u c1hsariho6