- EDWARD SEARING was born at Aurora, Cayuga Co., N.Y., July
14, 1835. His boyhood was
- passed mostly on a farm, and the rudiments of his education
were received at the district school; he was about equally proficient
in all the common branches, but, perhaps, excelled in grammar,
which he began at an early age, and which he liked from the first.
For the very thorough groundwork laid in the common branches,
he was under obligations to two or three exceedingly skillful
and conscientious teachers - all ladies (not merely in sex, but
also in culture and manners). Towards these early instructors,
of whose subsequent career he knows nothing, he has always entertained
a lively sense of gratitude. His higher education was obtained
solely by his own efforts. At the age of 16, he taught his first
school, receiving $15 per month, and "boarding around."
Resolving soon after to obtain a collegiate education, he became
a student in Cortland Academy, Homer, N.Y., then under the charge
of Prof. S. A. Clark, of grammatical fame. He then began the
study of Latin under the instruction of Prof. H. H. Sandford,
now of Syracuse University; two years were passed at the Academy,
the student meeting his expenses by teaching winters. He then
went to Cazenovia Seminary, where his classical studies were
continued under the instruction of Prof. Hyde, interrupted only
the first winter by a term of teaching in Orleans Co., at the
head of a graded school. Soon after returning to the seminary,
he accepted the offered position of assistant teacher of Latin,
held for a year or so thereafter, and until his removal to Michigan,
where he was for a time Principal of the graded schools at Bay
City. Before leaving New York, he received the unsolicited honor
of a permanent State certificate from the Department at Albany.
In 1857, he came to Wisconsin, and opened a private school at
Union, Rock Co., which was continued with much success for two
or more years, after which he returned to Michigan. Devoting
the summer of 1860 to the study of French in the city of Detroit,
he, in the fall of that year, entered the Senior Class of the
State University at Ann Arbor, and graduated the following year.
- Returning to Wisconsin in the fall of 1863, he re-opened
the private school at Union, where he
- remained until he accepted a position in Milton College (then
Academy) in the fall of 1863; a systematic course of historical
study, begun immediately after graduating, was continued after
removing to Milton, and several historical lectures were prepared;
while thus engaged, the assassination of Lincoln occurred. Having
been jointly invited by the Churches at Milton, to deliver a
discourse on the character of the martyred President on the Fast-Day
(June 1) following the nation's bereavement, he presented an
address which was published at the time in the Janesville Gazette,
copied into other papers of the State, and favorably noticed
by the New York Independent and other journals of that
city. To supply the demand for the printed address, it was published
in pamphlet form. This unexpected and gratifying success suggested
a more ambitious undertaking, and soon after, the plan of a new
school edition of Virgil's Aeneid, with several peculiar features,
was conceived. This having met the approval of eminent teachers,
the work was undertaken and and the new Virgil was published
in the spring of 1869. The book met with instant and unqualified
success, has had a large and steady sale, and is now widely used
in schools in every State in the Union. The assured success of
this venture, led the publishers, A. S. Barnes & Co., to
request the author to prepare for them a series of classical
text-books. Work was accordingly soon commenced upon a proposed
edition of Homer's Iliad, and the recent election surprised the
Professor in the midst of preparation for the approaching publication
of this volume, upon which, we understand, he has bestowed great
labor, and of which he and his publishers have corresponding
hopes. During the past year, the Professor has given his attention
mostly to his literary work, having and during this time but
few classes in the College under his personal instruction.
- Although in tastes, in intellectual conviction and in personal
interest, a warm friend of classical
- studies in their proper place and relations to others, yet
Prof. SEARING is not a "one-idea man"; he has not forgotten
what he owes what he owes to the common schools; he has had a
varied experience as teacher in all ranks of his profession,
and in three States, and during a portion of his residence at
Union, he held the office of Town Superintendent of Schools;
he has preserved a warm sympathy with teachers; he knows their
trials, and, unless we are mistaken, he will know how to point
out wisely to them their means of triumph. Prof. SEARING, until
1872, acted with the Republican party; in that year, in common
with many Republicans, he supported Horace Greeley for the Presidency,
and was himself nominated on the "reform" ticket for
the Assembly. In 1873, he was elected State Superintendent of
Public Instruction; in 1875, some disposition was manifested
by educational men of the Republican party to have his name placed
upon the ticket, on the ground that the office should be taken
out of politics, and one in which experience is valuable; he
was re-elected for a second term, and unanimously renominated
for a third term in 1877, receiving the vote of nearly all the
educational men of the State, irrespective of party, and running
considerably ahead of his ticket. While serving as State Superintendent,
Prof. SEARING earnestly urged the policy of a State School tax,
the general adoption of a town school system, a system of free
high schools aided by the state, a State Library system, an appointed
system of county superintendency instead of an elective one,
uniformity in the matter of teachers' examinations, and the plan
of district purchase of text-books.
- During his incumbency, laws were passed, upon his recommendation,
for establishing and aiding
- free high schools; for rendering women eligible to hold all
school offices except that of Superintendent; for making the
school month uniformly twenty days, and for the district purchase
of text-books. In his capacity as a member ex officio of the
Board of University Regents, he labored actively and usefully
to promote the interests of the Normal Schools and Teachers'
Institutes, and of the State University. Considering the small
amount of money placed at his disposal for the purpose, he was
largely successful in securing a creditable educational exhibit
at the Centennial, in 1876, and a portion of the same exhibit
was forwarded to the exhibition in Paris, in 1878, where it received
honorable notice. As a public officer, Prof. SEARING was faithful
and incorruptible; he is brilliant as a writer, popular and successful
as a public speaker and lecturer, and skillful as a classical
teacher. Since his retirement from official life, he has been
engaged in work again as Professor of the Ancient Languages,
in Milton College, and in the preparation of classical text-books.
He also bestows some attention upon horticulture, of which he
is particularly fond.
-
- Taken from "The History of Rock County, Wis."
(c)1879, pp. 827-828.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|