Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/482

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

470 FREEDMEN FREEMASONRY there were Sunday schools, industrial schools, and many day and night schools making only occasional reports to the bureau : YEARS. DAY AND NIGHT SCHOOLS. Vf umber of pupils in schools of all kinds. Number. Teachers. Pupils. 1866. 975 1,839 1,831 2,118 2,089 1,405 2,087 2,295 2,455 2,503 90,778 111,442 104,327 114,522 114,516 150,000 238,342 241,819 250,000 247,333 1867 1868 1869 1870 Of the number reported in 1867, 423 were night schools, 555 were wholly and 501 partly sustained by freedmen, who owned 391 school buildings, and 471, including 21 high and nor- mal schools, were graded. Of the teachers 1,388 were white and 699 colored. The whole number of schools of all kinds was 3,675, including 1,468 Sunday schools with 105,786 pupils, and 35 industrial schools with 2,124 pupils. The total expenses for the six months ending June 30 were $527,666, of which $87,- 332 were paid by freedmen and $220,833 by the bureau. Of the number reported in 1870, 1,324 were sustained wholly or partly by freed- men, who owned 592 school buildings, and 74, with 8,147 pupils, were high or normal schools. Of the teachers 1,251 were white and 1,312 colored. The whole number of schools of all kinds was 4,239, with 9,307 teachers, including 1,562 Sunday schools with 6,007 teachers and 97,752 pupils, and 61 industrial schools with 1,750 pupils. The whole amount expended for schools for the six months ending June 30 was $1,002,896, of which $200,000 were paid by freedmen and $442,896 by the bureau. The total expenditure of the bureau for educational purposes to Aug. 31, 1871, was $3,711,264, the greater portion of which was for the erection and renting of school buildings. The bureau aided in establishing a large number of institu- tions for the higher education of the freed- men, many of which have continued in opera- tion to the present time. Among these may be mentioned Howard university, at Wash- ington; Atlanta university, at Atlanta, Ga. ; Claflin university, at Orangeburg, S. C. ; Straight university, at New Orleans, La. ; Fisk university and the Central Tennessee college, at Nashville, Tenn. ; Wayland seminary (theo- logical), at Washington; and the Hampton normal and agricultural institute, at Hampton, Va. Nearly 800,000 acres of farming land and 5,000 pieces of town property, afterward re- stored to the owners, were at various times un- der the charge of the bureau, and the rents col- lected amounted to $400,000. The number of rations issued to freedmen was over 15,000,000 ; number of freedmen furnished with transporta- tion, about 30,000 ; number of sick, including refugees, treated, 590,000. The amount of claims collected and paid over to Aug. 31, 1871, was $8,418,051. The bureau was supported mainly by congressional appropriations, though the receipts from certain miscellaneous sources, including the sale and rental of confederate property, fines, marriage certificates, donations, &c., known as the freedmen's and school funds, were set apart for its benefit. The total ex- penditure to Aug. 31, 1871, including accounts in favor of the freedmen from Jan. 1, 1865, was $14,996,480, of which $1,910,355 were derived from the freedmen's and school funds. FREEMAN, Edward Augustus, an English au- thor, born at Harborne, Staffordshire, in 1823. He was educated at Trinity college, Oxford, where he filled the office of examiner in law and modern history in 1857-'8 and in 1863-'4. He has published "History of Architecture" (1849); "Essay on Window Tracery" (1850); "Architecture of Llandaff Cathedral" (1851); " History and Conquest of the Saracens " (1856); "Ancient Greece and Medieval Italy " (in "Oxford Essays" for 1858); "History of Federal Government" (vol. i., 1863); "His- tory of the Norman Conquest," his chief work (4 vols., 1867-'72, to be completed by a fifth volume); "Old English History" (1869); "History of the Cathedral Church of Wells" (1870); "Historical Essays" (1871; 2d series, 1873) ; " Growth of the English Constitution " (1872); and " Comparative Politics" (1873). FREEMAN, James, an American clergyman, born in Charlestown, Mass., April 22, 1759, died in Newton, Nov. 14, 1835. After grad- uating at Harvard college in 1777, he went to Quebec, returned to Boston in 1782, and be- came reader at the King's chapel in Boston, an Episcopal church. Becoming Unitarian in his views, he induced the society to alter their prayer book in 1785, and in 1787 he was or- dained by his own wardens and people by a peculiar service. He continued rector of King's chapel for 48 years, till his death. He was one of the founders of the Massachusetts his- torical society, and was the first minister in the United States who openly assumed the name of Unitarian, while through his means the first Episcopal church in New England became the first Unitarian church in America. A volume of his " Sermons and Charges " was published in 1832. FREEMASONRY, the system of secrets, cere- monies, and principles peculiar to the order or society of freemasons. This order, as it now exists, is a secret association organized for the purpose of social intercourse and mutual as- sistance. A very ancient origin is often claimed for it, some of its writers maintaining that it derived its origin from the " Dionysiac frater- nity," an association which was formed in Asia Minor by the architects and builders engaged in the construction of temples and theatres at the time when the Greeks migrated from At- tica thither. The association is supposed to have been in existence in Tyre when Solomon undertook the building of the temple, and the story runs that the fraternity sent a band of workmen from Tyre to assist Solomon in that work. Freemasonry, according to this account,