EDWARD H. SMILEY, A. M., for a decade
past connected with the Hartford Public High School, and its efficient
principal since 1895, is well and favorably known to the educators of New
England, among whom he has taken high rank.
Born Aug. 17, 1852, in Winslow. Maine,
Mr. Smiley is a son of Reuel and Laura (Webber) Smiley, who were natives
of Sydney and Vassalboro, Maine, respectively, and were farming people
of the vicinity of Vassalboro, where the former died at the age of fifty-nine
years. The mother survived him many years, attaining the advanced age of
eighty-three. Both were identified with the Congregational Church of their
community, and were most estimable people, and held in high regard by their
acquaintances and friends.
The boyhood of our subject was passed on the
farm, at work, and in attendance at the common school of the neighborhood.
At the early age of sixteen he began teaching a district school, and continued
so occupied more or less for several years before completing his scholastic
education. He furthered his studies in the Coburn Classical Institute,
at Waterville, Maine, then entered Colby University, from which he was
graduated in 1875, after this event returning to Waterville, Maine, where
a high school had just been opened; he became its first principal, a position
he held for eight years. Following this, for six years, he was first classical
teacher in the Springfield (Mass.) High School. From Springfield he came
to Hartford, and in September, 1890, began his relations with the Hartford
Public High School as vice-principal, continuing in such position until
May, 1895, when he was made principal, since which time he has proven himself
the right man in the right place. He is a man of liberal education, thorough,
possesses the requisite tact for management and discipline, and the ability
necessary to the successful teacher and principal that he is, as is evidenced
in his work of a decade with the one institution.
The schools of Hartford from almost the very
dawn of its settlement have been of a high order— in keeping with the superior
intelligence and high character of the city's founders. The Colonial records
of Connecticut show that a Classical School was in existence in Hartford
as early as the year 1638, and before 1662 ten graduates of Harvard College,
from Hartford, had received their preparation for college in this school.
During that period two sons of Gov. John Winthrop were in Hartford as pupils.
Another historic name, that of Gov. Edward Hopkins, is associated with
the early schools of Hartford. The high school of the city was established
in 1847, under the energetic and untiring efforts of such men as James
M. Bunce, Amos M. Collins, 1). F. Robinson, Rev. Dr. Burgess, Dr. Henry
Barnard, and Rev. Dr. Bushnell. The first high school building, a plain
three-story brick, was erected in 1847; another was built, in a different
locality, in 1869, and enlarged in 1877. This building was destroyed by
fire in 1882, and in May of the same year the first stone of the foundation
of the present fire-proof structure, built in the secular Gothic style,
was erected; to it in 1896 an extension was made, and it stands today the
largest and best equipped high school building in New England. Among the
principals of the school have been Joshua D. Ciddings, Thomas K. Beecher,
McLauren F. Cook, Cephas A. Leach. T. W. T. Curtis, Samuel M. Capron, Hiram
A. Pratt, Joseph Hall, Charles H. Douglas and Edward H. Smiley.
In the report of the board of school visitors
of the town of Hartford, 1899, it is set forth that: "Our High School,
from the standpoint of equipment, teaching, force and far-reaching potentiality,
stands today, as in the past, amongst the foremost high schools of the
country. The Board, the citizens of Hartford, and the thousands of children
who will enjoy the educational advantages of this school, owe a debt of
gratitude to the members of the building committee, and especially to M.r.
Charles E. Thompson, the chairman, and Mr. Edward H. Smiley, the principal
of the school, for their intelligent and self-sacrificing efforts in planning
and supervising the erection of this building." In the school there are
in attendance some nine hundred pupils, and forty teachers are employed.
Commemorative
Biographical Record
of
Hartford County,
Connecticut
Illustrated
Chicago
J. H. Beers & Co.
1901
pgs 41 - 42
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