Franklin County Seminary

 This was not a free public school.  The pupils who attended had to pay a tuition fee.  Half of the fee went to the school’s Principal for his salary.  Only the downstairs was used for teaching, the upper story was used as living quarters for the principal and his family.  Classes were open to females as well as males, and the ages of the pupils varied from 4 years to 20.  Somewhat unique by today’s standards was the practice of not having session-to-session education.  When the student felt that he had acquired sufficient knowledge, the individual would go out into the world to teach, or go to college, or become involved in the business or professional life of his community.  It must be recalled that most physicians, dentists, teachers and lawyers, in those days did not receive their education in the professional schools.  Rather, they gained their knowledge by preceptor ship in which the student “ rode with” and “studied with” the practicing professional.  Then, when it was deemed that he had sufficient knowledge in his subject, he struck out on his own.

John TARKINGTON, father of the famous novelist and playwright, Booth TARKINGTON, attended school here while his father was the Methodist minister in Brookville.  Booth TARKINGTON, it will be recalled, wrote The Magnificent Ambersons in 1918.  For this novel, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1919.

                                                                                                Elmer E. Peters, MD,

May 21, 1995