Buckeye Schoolmaster: A Chronicle of Midwestern Rural Life 1853-1865 (review)

358civil war history Buckeye Schoolmaster: A Chronicle ofMidwestern Rural Life 1853-1865. Edited by J. Merton England. (Bowling Green, Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press, 1996. Pp. 308. $49.95 cloth; $24.95 paper.) Chronicler John M. Roberts (1833-1914) was born in Madison County, Ohio, located just west of Columbus. Excepting a short time, he lived there until his death. His father owned a farm, a gristmill, and a sawmill at various points in the county. Following his father's example, John Roberts was simultaneously employed in farming, milling, and teaching. Many of Roberts's experiences were recorded in a collection ofjournals and diaries. He kept two journals, one for 1853-58 and the other for 1858-1913 (the latter containing birthday annuals). Roberts made regular entries in a series of diaries during 1858-19 14. Buckeye Schoolmaster is an abridgement of Roberts's journals and diaries for the period during which he ended his student days, entered a teaching career in one-room schools, married Emarine Truitt, and started a family. The editor deleted repetitious comments and superfluous words and phrases. Roberts's diaries for the years 1 860, 1 86 1 , and 1 862 are lost or missing. Compensating for their absence, the editor included excerpts from Mrs. Roberts's diary for 1862. The editor provides a brief general introduction to the book, short chapter introductions, and minimal parenthetical explanatory notes in the text. Any reader of Edward Eggleston's Hoosier Schoolmaster (1871), a classic realistic novel depicting rural life in nineteenth-century Indiana, must feel at home in Roberts's Madison County, Ohio. Roberts created a detailed source of information about many aspects of rural, village, and small-town society in an undoubtedly representative midwestern locale. Frequently commenting on his roles as student and teacher, Roberts recorded ordinary facts about textbooks, curricula, teaching methods, term lengths, discipline problems, and attendance matters. Also, he made comments about the preparation, certification, and remuneration of teachers. His records show that rural schoolhouses were cultural and social centers after dark. They were the sites of nighttime meetings held for spelling bees, debates, sermons, "singing school," "geography schools," and literary society and lyceum activities. Other social gatherings, both somber and gay, included camp meetings sponsored by Methodists, weddings, funerals, and "frolicks" (dances held in private homes). Roberts noted unseemly social behavior regarding drunkenness, fighting , fornication, adultery, and unwanted pregnancies. He related the social attitudes and cultural values of his family and acquaintances . Roberts, who held many strong opinions, made very disparaging remarks about African Americans, expressed suspicions about Irish Catholics, and supported the Know Nothings briefly. While not generally advocating women's rights, Roberts held that the education of young females deserved greater attention. He was a supporter ofthe temperance movement, an advocate of the Maine Law, and a member of the Democratic party. BOOK REVIEWS359 As a farmer, a traveler, and a general observer, he made notes of weather, crops, the price of grain, and the abundance of the harvest. Roberts made references to road conditions and road maintenance; also, he wrote about travel on foot, on horseback, by wagon or sleigh, and on the new railroad to Columbus. Frequently ill health, mortality, and the quality of medical practice were mentioned in Roberts's records, which refer to the early deaths of many ofhis recent schoolmates. This volume may appeal to general readers, as well as to students of popular culture, because its subject matter often is inherently interesting and its writing style is quite readable. Roberts made observations of life during the Civil War that are of interest to readers ofthis journal. He repeatedly expressed support of the Union cause. While not serving in the Union army, he criticized the policies of President Lincoln and the Republican party. In consequence some of his acquaintances called him a Copperhead traitor. Roberts made observations about various topics of life on the homefront, including the enlistment of volunteers, the reaction to conscription announcements, the raising of bounty monies, the hiring of substitutes, and the news of Confederate general John Hunt Morgan's invasion of Ohio. William W. Giffin Indiana State University Editor 's Note: In her review of The Battlefields ofthe...