MORE ABOUT MONTICELLO FEMALE INSTITUTE

MORE ABOUT MONTICELLO FEMALE INSTITUTE

by Harvey J. Powell

The "Monticello Female Institute" building now standing (1967) at the corner of Warren and Julia Streets in Monticello, was by no means the first building to house the "Female Academy" nor did the 1850 announcement by the Trustees signify the beginning of the Academy in Jasper County. There is recorded in Jasper County Deed Book A, page 259 a deed dated 17th March 1821 - John Hill to Samuel Crockett, "a tract or parcel of land in the Town of Monticello...designated and known by part of lots No. 10 and No. 29 ...fronting Warren Street leading from the Public Square towards the Monticello Academy."

Also Deed Book B, page 371 A deed dated 23rd May 1831 - "James Whitfield to Fleming Jordan - "All of Land Lot No. 65 in the 16th District of originally Baldwin, now Jasper County, Except what is occupied by the Academy Building.

Further, Deed Book D page 627, dated 30th January 1850 - Power of Attorney in which Thomas H. B. Rivers appointed Joshua Hill of Morgan County his "lawful attorney for the purpose of selling and making legal conveyance of title to a certain lot of land and the houses appurtenances being in the Town of Monticello known as the Old Female Academy lot, containing two acres, more or less, adjoining lands of Fleming Jordan, Charles S. Jordan, William Dukes and others".

So the above indicates that the existence of a Female Academy extends back to before the year Eighteen Hundred Twenty and that the original building or buildings were located near the present building constructed in 1849.

In the Presbyterian Churchyard, Monticello, is a headstone to a grave which has this inscription thereon:

Dr. ROBERT TOLEFREE

Aug. 12 1805

Feb 1 1850

Who was he? Where did he come from? And where are his descendents now, if any? Only this year, and then by accident, have the answers been pieced together. Tolefree's great grand-daughter, Mrs. W. B. Huff, of Newport, Arkansas, in a letter dated this March 1967 inquires:

"I wonder if there are any old town records in Monticello about a school for girls? That was what brought Robert Tolefree to Monticello - He was principal of the school. His father came from England to New York City and became very well-to-do, partly due, perhaps, to a fortunate marriage. Robert was sent to college and obtained several degrees from Yale and became a school teacher. He had a brother named William, who was an actor much to the family's shame, and had some roles, probably miner, in some of Shakespeare's plays in New York City. He was the "Black Sheep" of and away from the home of his parents much of the time. One day one of his maiden sisters saw a boy on a street in New York who resemblance to William was so marked that she asked his name, "William Tolefree" he replied. She went with him to his home and there was her brother, whom she had not seen for years, having lunch with his family. "

Robert Tolefree must have come to Monticello to teach in the Female Academy about the year 1835 or 1836 for the Jasper County Marriage Record shows that on the 2nd day of November 1838, he married Emily Marks Meriwether who was the daughter of David Meriwether, a Trustee of the Female Academy and Amelia Marks. To Robert and Emily Meriwether Tolefree were born three children, Catherine Eleanor, Annie and David.

The Marks were quite a large family in Jasper County at that time and the majority of them migrated in the 1830's to Alabama and Arkansas as new lands were made available to settlers in those states. Quoting further from Mrs. Huff's letter:

"After the Marks kin were established in Arkansas, Robert Tolefree forwarded to them money to buy land for his family and sent them (his family) on, he intending to go to Cuba to be cured of tuberculosis as his father had been, but before he could leave Monticello, he died. In the meantime, his little daughter Annie died from the trip to Arkansas and little David died before leaving Monticello".

Dr. Tolefree's health and death prevented him from teaching in the "new and commodious building" completed in January 1850. However, after his wife became situated in Arkansas, she sent their surviving daughter, Catherine Eleanor Tolefree, back to Monticello to attend school in the very building that stands today.

Catherine, while attending school, lived with her Aunt, Mrs. Mary Ann Meriwether Davis, known as "Aunt Dink", wife of Dr. Thomas C. Davis.

"How I wish now that I had asked Grandma Catherine how she had traveled all the way from Arkansas to Monticello and back again and with whom" write Mrs. Huff. "When I was a child, Grandma, who was nearly blind, would have me write about Aunt "Dink" and on one occasion, she sent a small amount of money, probably $10, with the request that she have a modest tombstone erected on the grave of her father.

If you know where his grave is, I should appreciate knowing the condition of plot and the stone.

"For a while William Tolefree, the actor, and his family lived in Monticello, too, and it is possible that he lies buried in an unmarked grave somewhere there."

(Note: The headstone of William Tolefree's grave located in the Monticello Methodist Churchyard states that he died Oct 12th 1848, aged 41 years, 3 months and 2 days. Also thereon is a lengthy epitaph in keeping with his profession)

"Grandma had a happy time while attending school and I think that she always yearned for her kin and friends in Monticello. An old colored woman made and sold sweet cakes and cookies to the girls on the campus, which leads me to surmise that it was a boarding school with day students."

(Note: The old colored woman was known as "Aunt Samanthy". The 1850 census of Jasper County lists her as being a Free Negro, named Ann Spear; age 56, value of real estate owned - $300, place of birth - Virginia. She mad her livelihood by baking and selling ginger cakes, cookies, candy and lemonade. It is said that she kept a stand on North Warren Street near her home which must have been about the rear of the new Bank of Monticello building")

"Grandma Catherine loved "Aunt Samanthy" and when in the delirium proceeding death her memory wandered back to Monticello and she thought that she saw "Aunt Samanthy" and talked to her."

Additional Comments:
Transcribed by Suzanne Forte (suzanneforte@bellsouth.net) April 2005, from a copy of article in the Monticello News. This article were prepared by Mr.
Harvey J. Powell and published in this newspaper in 1967.

Copies of articles provided by Benny Hawthorne.

MONTICELLO FEMALE INSTITUTE

BY

Harvey J. Powell

August 1967

Transcribed by Suzanne Forte (suzanneforte@bellsouth.net), May 2004

Few people today who pass that dignified old two story building located on the corner of Warren and Julia Streets in the City of Monticello, know that it was constructed for and was used for a long time as a boarding and day school for young ladies and girls. Officially it was named the Monticello Female Institute but it was commonly called the "Female Academy".

The building, which stands today, was constructed during the year Eighteen Hundred Forty-Nine. The evidence to this fact is an advertisement of the "Institus" which appeared in the January 15, 1850 issued of the "Federal Union", a weekly "Gazette" published in Milledgeville, Ga. The advertisement is of such a description nature that it is herewith quoted in full:

MONTICELLO FEMALE INSTITUTE

The exercises in this Institution for the year 1850 will commence on Monday, the 14th January next under the direction of Mrs. Mary Price.

THE STUDIES

Of the Preparatory Dept: Orthography, Reading, Geography and Elementary Arithmetic.

Of the Junior Dept: Arithmetic, Geography, History, English Grammar & Analytical Reading

Of the Senior Dept: Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry, Rhetoric, Botany, Philosophy, Astronomy, Logic, Evidences of Christianity, Latin & Greek

TUITION FEES

In he Preparatory Department - $18.00 per annum
Junior 24.00 " "
Senior 32.00 " "
Music 40.00 " "
Drawing & Painting 5.00 per quarter

One Dollar Extra will be charged to each pupil for incidental expenses. Board can be had with the principal and in families of the village at from $8.00 to $10.00 per month. There is now being erected for the purposes of this Institute, a large and commodius building, which will be finished in the course of the next month and in teniering this Institution to the patronage of the public, the trustees feel authorized to hope that the advantageous location of the school in point of health, the qualifications and character of the principal as a teacher will entitle the Institute to a consideration in the estimation of parents and guardians, equal to any other similar Institution in Middle Georgia.

TRUSTEES

DAVID A. REESE J. H. HOLLAND
EDW. A. BRODDUS THOS. J. SMITH
DR. MERIWETHER A. HUNGERFORD, JR
CARDIN GOOLSBY

Monticello, December 15, 1849

The trustees, all of whom were residents of Jasper County, were a distinguished and successful group of men:

DAVID A. REESE (1794-1871) was a physician who served Jasper County as a State Senator for five terms, 1829 through 1836 and represented Georgia in the United States Congress 1853 - 1855. He was also a trustee of the University of Georgia for almost 25 years. His home still stands in Monticello near the Health Clinic.

EDWARD A. BRODDUS (1801-1851) A physician whose home once stood where the garment factory is now. He was a member of the Medical Board of Georgia. The monument on his grave in the Methodist Churchyard has this inscription: "In memory of Edward A. Broddus, M.D. who died at the World's Fair in the City of London, June 5, 1851 in the 50th year of his age".

DAVID MERIWETHER (1800-1867) was a large land owner and a planter. He was a brother-in-law to both Dr. D. A. Reese and E. A. Broddus, M.D., and in 1836 he was a Presidential Elector from Georgia representing the Whig Party. He resided in that two story house on Green Street along side the railroad now owned by Mr. Earnest Key, Jr.

CARDIN GOOLSBY (1800-1885) was a large land owner and a very successful planter who resided in south east Jasper County. He has many descendants now living in Georgia.

JONAS H. HOLLAND (1800-1862) a land owner and planter. Both he and his wife Eunice Ann are buried near their home which once stood in the rear of Crawford Ezell's on Highway Eleven.

THOMAS J. SMITH (1809 - 1892) of Smithboro, a land owner and planter. He was a brother-in-law of E. A. Broddus, M.D.

ANSON HUNGERFORD, Jr. (1814-1871) a native of Connecticut, who with William S. Hurd came to Monticello about 1835 and established the very successful firm of Hurt and Hungerford, Merchants. Their store was located on the corner of the public square where L. S. King now operated. His residence was located on the lot at the rear of the store. About the year 1859, foreseeing the impending Civil War, he moved with his family back to Hartford, Conn. where he died in 1871. After the Civil War his wife and son Newman made frequent visits back to Monticello and each Church in the Town of Monticello, even to this day, is the financial beneficiary of their generosity.

Strange to say in the first year of operation of the Monticello Female Institute in its new building they accepted a male boarding student. However, he was a little fellow eight years of age named Ashbil McMichael and was accompanied by his little sister Clementine, aged seven. The Federal Census giving the names of all who were living in the institute as of June 1, 1850 as follows:

NAME AGE SEX OCCUPATION PLACE OF BIRTH

John U. Price 44 M farmer Ky.
Mary Price 44 F teacher Ky.
Ashbil McMichael 8 M attends school Ga.
Clementine McMichael 7 F attends school Ga.
Frances Pitts 16 F " Ga.
Georgia Waters 14 F " Ga.
Mary Waters 12 F " Ga.
Catharine Smith 17 F " Ga.

It is not known when the Institute ceased operating as a school; probably the Civil War brought an end to it. In the late 1860's John W. Burney made his home there and made many alterations to the building. On December 8th 1869, Mr. J. H. Roberts purchased the property and his son Mr. O. G. Roberts and family were residing there in the 1880's.

The high cost of upkeep, modernization and the ever advancing rate of taxation has doomed the future existence of this once fine old building, the Monticello Female Institute, which now stands vacant and forlorn. Better take a look at it for it is soon to be demolished.