The History of Genesee, MI, Chapter XX, Books and Libraries

The History of Genesee County, MI
Chapter XX
Books and Libraries

Online Edition by Holice, Deb & Clayton

CHAPTER XX

BOOKS AND LIBRARIES

Carlyle says, "In books lies the soul of the whole past time, the articulate, audible voice of the past, when the bodily and material substance of it has altogether vanished like a dream." Any victim of the commonplace worries of life, stepping into the cool, harmonious silence of a well-kept reading room find himself banished from the heat of the business world. Here he may convene with old sages and philosophers, or, for variety, brush elbows with kings and emperors. In this, perhaps, lies the reason for the general feeling that a good library is worthy of reverence. The residents of this county have never been inattentive to the inborn desire to read print.

The early settlers of Genesee county were of a high intellectuality. They came largely from New York state and, being mostly descendants of the Puritans of New England, they brought with them the love of learning that characterized their New England and New York ancestry. Mayhew's report on the schools of Michigan, quoted by Hon. D. W. Leach in a communication to the National Era in 1851, is authority for the statement that of four thousand six hundred and five whites in the county of Genesee in 1847, over twenty-one years old, there was only one who could not read and write. Among a people of such a high standard of literacy it must be assumed that books were demanded.

In one of the earliest records of the town of Flint, we find a list of the names of library books received of Jonathan Lamb, of an Arbor, bought July 26, 1843, belonging to the several school districts of the town of Flint. The list as was follows
Treatise on Domestic Economy	Universal History (four sets)	Letters on Astronomy
The Useful Arts (two sets)	Science and the Arts of Industry	Education and Knowledge
The Seasons-Winter, Spring, Summer, Autumn	The Farmer's Companion	Lives of Eminent Men (3 sets)
Paleys' Natural Theology (2 sets)	Great Events by Great Historians	The Fireside Friend
Life of Columbus	Story of the Constitution	Knowledge under Difficulties
Columbus and Vespucius	Historic Tales for Youth	Juvenile Budget Opened
Scene in nature	Means and Ends	Country Rambles
Pleasures of Taste	Things by Their Right Name	Juvenile Budget Re-opened
Balboa, Cortes, Pizarro	The Child's Friend	Pictures of Early Life
Lucy's Conversations	Lucy's Stories	Lucy at the Seaside
Lucy at Study	Lucy at the Mountains	Lucy at Play
Rollo Learning to Talk	Rollo Learning to Read	Rollo at school
Rollo at Vacation	Rollo at Play	Rollo at Work
Rollo's Museum	Rollo's Philosophy, Sky	Rollo's Philosophy, Fire
Rollo's Philosophy, Water	Rollo's Philosophy, Air	Rollo's Travels
Rollo's Correspondence	Rollo's Experiments	Hayward's Physiology
The Teacher's Manual	Combe on the Constitution of Man	Willard's United States
Hitchcock's Geology	Spurzheim on Education	The Americans in Their Moral, etc., Relations
Lectures to Ladies	Slate and Blackboard Exercises	Teacher Taught
Wayland's Moral Science	Wayland's Political Economy	Philosophy of Human Life

These books were under the control of the board of school inspectors of the town, then composed of R. D. Lamond, George W. fish, and Henry C. Walker, and on April 19, 1844, the board adopted certain "rules for the regulation of the township library."

Under these rules the several school district directors could draw from the library books according to the proportion to which the district was entitled and loan them to families of the district, not more then one at a time to a family, to be retained only two weeks and then returned.

On august 14, 1843, James McAllester, director of district No. 1, comprising the present city south of the river, drew twenty-nine of these books, from which it would appear that his territory contained three-seventh of the families in one town. The books were to be returned in three months.

John L. Gage, director of school district No. 5, drew out ten volumes, August 24, 1843, and Asahel Curtis, director of district No. 6, drew seven books, December 3, 1843. On April 2, 1844, Isaiah Merriman, director of district No. 1, drew thirty-four volumes, or practically half of the entire library of seventy-one volumes. On July 6, 1844, J. T. Peck, director of district No. 10, drew three books. In this manner the books circulated among the several districts. John Hiller, director of district No. 6, Mr. Chase, of district No. 8, appear from time to time as having received from H. C. Walker their quota of the library.

In 1844 the library evidently received another invoice of books, for we now find:
Lives of Female Sovereigns	History of China	History of Insects
Tales of American History	Swiss Family Robinson	Thatcher's Indian Traits.
The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man	Tales of the American Revolution	Lockhart's Napoleon
Abercombie on the Intellectual Powers	Adventures in Africa	Montgomery's lectures on General Literature
Brewster's Life of Newton	Russel's History of Palestine	.

There were many others, all of which shows excellent judgment in the selection. The library now numbered one hundred thirty-nine volumes and district No. 1 (Flint village) was entitled to draw sixty-six volumes. The library grew in 1845 and district No. 2, comprising the present city north of the river, drew, by William Thayer, director, twenty-five volumes in November, 1845, showing the population of the north side to be about two-fifths of that on the south side. In the winter of 1845-6 the library had grown to two hundred and fifty volumes and in quality showed discriminating literary taste in selection, history, philosophy, biography, travels and literature making the bulk of the library.

In the list of directors, 1846, who drew books for their districts, are the names of:
Charles Johnson, No. 8	Randal Calvin No. 6	R. J. Filmore, No. 4
Willard Eddy, No. 1	Jacob Plass, No. 7	John Delbridge, No. 9
S. Stone, No. 6	Jesse J. Beasley, No. 8	B. Dodge, No. 2

In 1847 the library has grown to about three hundred fifty volumes, and we find:
H. J. Higgins, No. 1	Jonathan Cudney, No. 3	Rosal Stanard, No. 4
William Milton, No. 7	Elias J. Bump, No. 16	Ira Standard, No. 4
Cephas Carpenter, No. 6	J. L. Martin, No. 16	Horace L. Donelson, No. 8
Nelson Norton, No. 10	R. J. Artkin, No. 16	.

The library still grew and there appear in the list:
Life and times of Patrick Henry	Sketch Book	Prescott's Mexico
Heroes of the Revolution	Stephen's Central America	Gibbon's Rome
Rollin's Ancient History	Marion	Lafayette
Boon	Black Hawk	Paul Jones
Wayne and John Eliot	.	.

In the years from 1849 to 1858 the library appears to have been actively circulated and to have grown by purchase from time to time to about five hundred volumes. It was rich in Americana, travels, history, morals and philosophy. If the character of the books they read may be taken as an index of the intellectuality of the people of Genesee County in those days, if must be conceded that the standard was a high one, as compared with the commonly circulated works of our library of 1916.

The list of books selected march 5, 1850, by Levi Walker, director of district No. 1 (Flint City), and returned June 1, 1850, is in point. They were:
Josephus	Useful Arts	Washington and His Generals
Philosophy of Human Life	The World and Its inhabitants	Famous Men of Ancient Times
Famous Indians	Agricultural Chemistry	Curiosities of Human Nature
History of Switzerland	Constitutional Jurisprudence of the United States	Edgewood's Moral Tales
Belknap's American Biography	Goldsmith's Rome	Turner's Sacred History
Painters and Sculptors	Miscellanies	Life of Alexander the Great
Live and Let Live	Original Tales	The American Poultry Book
The Flower Basket	The Floweret	The Ornament Discovered
Lucy on the Mountains	Display and Poetical Remains	Fairy Tales
Pailey's Grace	Washington	Columbus
Pailey's Anecdotes	Love to Run After Children	.

Alonzo Torrey, on May 19, 1851, selected for district No. 3:
History of Greece	D'Aubiquqe's	Reformation
History of the Indians	Great Events by Great Historians	The World and Its Inhabitants
Josephus	Markham's History of France	Knowledge under Difficulties
Patrick Henry	Life of Columbus	Famous Men of Ancient Times
Past, Present and Future	The Pillars of Hercules	Famous Indians

History of Genesee County, Michigan, Her People, Industries and Institutions
by Edwin O. Wood, LL.D, President Michigan Historical Commission, 1916

Transcribed by Holice B. Young

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