Grayson County, Virginia School Report – 1874

Grayson, Carroll, Wythe, Smyth, and Washington Counties

Information presented in this web page was abstracted from Virginia School Report, 1874: Fourth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the Year Ending August 31, 1874. This document was printed by R. F. Walker, Superintendent of Public Printing, Richmond in 1874.

It should be noted that public schools were not in place in Virginia prior to the 1870 Underwood Constitution (Reconstruction Constitution).

Fielding R. Cornett was the superintent of Public Schools for Grayson County. His colleagues in neighboring counties were: D. B. Brown in Carroll County, James D. Thomas in Wythe, D. C. Miller in Smyth and A. L. Hogshead in Washington County.

Revenue

County	Grayson	Carroll	Wythe	Smyth	Washington
Money from State fund	4001.00	3753.00	3915.00	3439.00	7013.00
County Tax funds	553.72	76.59	4411.11	1669.55	3945.10
District Tax Funds	663.63	342.23	3119.98	2876.22	804.18
Money from other sources	1200.00	–	1856.00	450.00	1001.00
Total Operating funds	6447.55	4184.87	13343.09	8435.76	12763.28

Expenditures

County	Grayson	Carroll	Wythe	Smyth	Washington
Teachers’ salaries	5398.40	3372.51	8845.10	5320.42	11,441.76
Real Estate	–	–	112.00	1705.64	58.56
Furniture	–	–	310.75	10.00	20.40
Fuel, rent	32.61	73.92	919.95	171.04	280.55
Clerks pay	312.79	178.35	575.53	290.18	449.15
Superintendent	11.75	–	–	125.00	158.50
Total	5755.55	3624.78	10763.33	7622.18	12,408.92
Balance County Funds	284.92	225.10	2579.66	1860.78	354.36
Balance State Funds	0	334.99	0	0	0

Pupils

County	Grayson	Carroll	Wythe	Smyth	Washington
Ave. per teacher	65	50	47	49	47
Ave. in attendance	35	25	27	28	24
Number enrolled	2972	1889	2410	2044	4000
Average age	10.2	11.4	11.4	10	11
In spelling	2221	1401	2410	1877	3677
In reading	1489	1122	1961	1500	2967
In writing	897	798	1524	989	1964
In Arithmetic	860	532	1383	732	1816
In Grammar	407	204	568	376	744
In Geography	241	188	700	420	556
In Other Branches	38	22	124	88	153
Supplied with Books	22	231	120	96	259

By race

County	Grayson	Carroll	Wythe	Smyth	Washington
# schools, white	44	37	46	37	83
# schools, colored	2	1	8	7	9
# schools, total	46	38	54	44	92
# schools still needed	11	23	3	3	5
# pupils, white enr.	2837	1857	2038	1769	3633
# pupils, colored, enr.	111	27	357	275	367
Total enrolled	2948	1884	2395	2044	4000
# pupils, white attend.	1552	942	1194	984	2013
# pupils, colored attend.	67	21	255	194	238
Total Ave. attnedance	1619	963	1449	1178	2251
% school pop. white	75	49	65	58	59
% school pop. colored.	36	22	46	71	36

Note: The average statewide enrollment was 47% for whites and 29% for blacks. Grayson County had the highest percentage of white students enrolled of any jurisdiction in Virginia in 1874.

School population

County	Grayson	Carroll	Wythe	Smyth	Washington
White male	1976	1934	1799	1506	3221
White female	1832	1884	1496	1539	2901
Total White	3808	3818	3295	3045	6122
Colored male	152	65	455	227	500
Colored female	139	57	410	189	515
Total Colored	291	122	865	416	1015
Total Both races	4099	3940	4100	3461	7137
Ave. # months taught	5.6	4.79	4.84	4.5	4.5
White male teachers	39	33	33	32	58
White female teachers	5	4	13	5	24
Colored male teachers	2	1	5	4	7
Colored female teachers	0	0	3	3	3
Average monthly salary	19.84	20.00	32.52	35.85	27.32

Superintendent of Schools

County	Grayson	Carroll	Wythe	Smyth	Washington
Days employed	121	218	158	75	210
Miles traveled	975	575	240	257	1200
Official letters	745	87	166	403	275
Meetings attended	47	48	72	48	92
Visits to schools	5	3	15	4	15
Incidental expenses	119.75	28.75	64.00	65.09	50.00
Salary From State	350.00	350.00	350.00	312.50	350.00
Salary From County	0	0	0	125.00	150.00
Total Salary	350.00	350.00	350.00	437.50	500.00

School Houses

County	Grayson	Carroll	Wythe	Smyth	Washington
Whole Number	45	38	49	39	90
Log	36	30	35	8	63
Frame	9	8	8	31	22
Brick	0	0	5	0	4
Stone	0	0	1	0	1
With outhouses	1	10	3	1	3
With Suitable grounds	45	29	46	34	47
With good furniture	4	6	20	5	4
With wall maps	4	0	4	0	3
With Globes	0	0	14	0	1
With Math charts	0	0	2	0	0
With blackboards	45	28	4	0	1
Comfortable	45	38	40	35	46
No. of rooms	53	40	52	52	90
Built during year	4	5	4	4	1
Owned by district	0	20	16	16	11

VA Counties and Independent Cities

Virginia and Neighboring States

Richmond skyline after the Evacuation Fire of 1865.

Virginia Museum of Natural History