Bureau quartermaster Samuel J. Wright informs Isaiah DeCoursey that he has shipped 36 school desks, 1 teacher's desk, and seats to him for the school at Havre de Grace.
Bureau quartermaster Samuel J. Wright acknowledges Isaiah DeCoursey's Sept. 12 letter and asks to be notified when William Potts is discharged, along with Potts' total time. Wright also agrees to send lime and hair for plastering if DeCoursey pays for the freight.
Bureau quartermaster Samuel J. Wright requests of John DuBois that he send lumber to Isaiah DeCoursey for the schoolhouse at Havre de Grace. Wright also indicates that the Freedmen's Bureau should be sent bills for the lumber for the school's shutters. A notation in the margin references Curtis Davis, Wesley Jones, and Harrison Jones.
Bureau quartermaster Capt. Samuel J. Wright asks teacher Mary J. C. Anderson for the name of the person from whom Anderson rents the schoolroom, the amount of rent she pays, and the date she began renting. He includes fresh blank forms.
Bureau quartermaster Capt. Samuel J. Wright send a check for $3.04 to teacher Mary J. C. Anderson. Wright advises Anderson have a friend to cash the check with a merchant in Havre de Grace. She can then use the cash to pay Mr. White, the man from whom the schoolroom is rented. Wright instructs Anderson to return the rental account he has enclosed to him, after having White sign it and adding her own signature as witness.
Bureau quartermaster Captain Samuel J. Wright sends teacher Mary J. C. Anderson a rental account for the month of May for the schoolroom at Havre de Grace. He requests that Anderson return the account to him after having it signed by Jesse White, from whom the room is rented.
Bureau quartermaster Samuel J. Wright encloses a receipt and account of schoolroom rental for the month of March. He instructs her to return the account to him after having Jesse White, from whom the room is rented, sign it.
Bureau quartermaster Capt. Samuel J. Wright sends teacher Mary J. C. Anderson a schoolroom rental for April, 1867, in the amount of $4. He instructs her to return the account to him, after having Jesse White, from whom the room is rented, sign it.
Bureau quartermaster Capt. Samuel J. Wright sends teacher Mary J. C. Anderson $4 to be delivered to Jesse White for rent of school room for April 1867. Wright acknowledges receipt of a note that Anderson sent for General Gregory, the Bureau's assistant commissioner.
Bureau quartermaster Samuel J. Wright asks teacher Mary J. C. Anderson to tell him how many windows the school has so he can send the necessary hardware. The Bureau cannot furnish springs for the windows; they can instead be kept open by "a wooden button on the outside."
Check stub indicating payment by Bureau Quartermaster Samuel J. Wright to French Madden for furniture for school at Churchville, Dec. 24, 1867, in the amount of $52.00.
The earliest documents associated with the school at Churchville relate to the outfitting of the school house, rather than its construction. On November 21, 1867, the Freedmen’s Bureau assistant commissioner for Maryland and Delaware, General E. M. Gregory, issued Special Order 58, ordering bureau quartermaster Samuel Wright to supply the school at Churchville with desks. Accordingly, on December 5, 1867, Wright wrote to Nathaniel Cooper, an African-American resident of Churchville and trustee of the school, asking for the size of the school room and the number of desks required. Cooper responded enthusiastically on December 8, telling Wright that the room was 16 by 16 feet, but he neglected to specify the number of desks needed. “In About Tow Weeks we will Be Redey,” he wrote. Cooper also asked Wright when a teacher might be sent.
Directs that henceforth, no buildings will be erected or repaired at Bureau expense unless a deed is produced demonstrating that the trustees of the school have permanent control of the property.
Directs subcommissioners and agents of the various districts to visit schools and encourage teachers to submit the prescribed monthly reports. The will also observe the operations of the schools, report defects, and suggest improvements. They will gather information regarding the need for further schools, and obstacles to their establishment. They will also ascertain what might be done to increase the knowledge of adult freedpeople. Bureau officials are not to interfere with the benevolent associations sponsoring schools and teachers in their area, but should cooperation with them.
Corresponding Secretary, Pennsylvania Branch of the Freedmen's Union Committee. During the Civil War he had served as the Massachusetts state agent in Philadelphia, where he helped recruit the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.
Col. Robert C. Corson of the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association informs Supt. Kimball that his organization has accepted six new teachers, including Rachel L. Alexander and Phenia C. Crisfield. Alexander wishes to go to West River in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, together with a fellow new hire, Sarah Adger.
Col. Robert R. Corson, agent of the Pennsylvania Branch of the American Freedmen’s Union Commission, informs Supt. Kimball that he has sent salary payments to three Maryland teachers, including Rachel L. Alexander at Hendon Hill.
Col. Robert R. Corson of the Pennsylvania Freedmen's Relief Association informs Supt. Kimball that teacher Mary J. C. Anderson has visited him en route to Port Deposit. She acquired a set of outline maps and is now in need of blackboards. Anderson have him a list of books she wants and asked him for one month advance salary.
Ralph and Rachel Williams of Havre de Grace state that their son, Charles H. Williams, aged 15 years, was bound before emancipation without their consent to John Dallum of Bel Air. Charles is presently in jail for running away from Dallum. Dallum has failed to respond to a letter from the Freedmen's Bureau. Dallum "also holds Fanny Williams a sister as a Slave." Ralph Williams failed to appear in Circuit Court at the appointed time. A letter has been sent to him asking if he has had or still wants his children returned.
In 1822, a free African American man named Cupid Peaco (or Paca) purchased 50 acres of land north of the village of Darlington, in Harford County, Maryland. In 1868 his son Joseph, with his wife Sarah, sold ¼ acre of the land he had inherited to a group of trustees determined to build a school for the African American children of the area. Once constructed, this school would become known as the Hosanna, or Berkley, School. But the process of making this school into a reality would prove an arduous one.