Editor’s Note: For now over 75 years, The Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. This March-April 1968 Classic dives into the history of Baylor’s first teacher.
The glory of Texas for a century has grown out of its resources and the inspiration of its pioneers, who, amid primitive conditions and adverse circumstances, had the vision to lay the foundations upon which a complex civilization could be reared.
The names of those men and women of character and vision who invested their lives in founding and developing Texas are many, and the contributions of some of them have from time to time been called to the attention of the citizens of Texas.
In affairs of State the accomplishments of Stephen F- Austin, Sam Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar and Anson Jones constitute a portion of the historical knowledge of every native Texan. The sacrifices laid upon the altar of Texas’ liberty by Fannin, Travis, Bowie, Bonham and Crockett are ever fresh in the memory of grateful Texans.
The pioneer ministers of religion, chief among whom were Z. N. Morrell, James Huckins, William Melton Tryon and R. E. B. Baylor of Baptist faith; Dr. Martin Ruter, Littleton Fowler, and Robert Alexander, who blazed the trails for Methodism ; W. Y. Allen, W. C. Blair, Hugh Wilson and Daniel Baker, founders of the Presbyterian Church in Texas, deserve to be remembered as long as reverent souls are found among the inhabitants of the Lone Star State.
In the field of education the names of Thomas Jefferson Pilgrim, Martin Ruter, Chauncy Richardson, Frances Trask, L. P. Rucker, R. E. B. Baylor, Daniel Baker, William M. Tryon, Henry L. Graves, Rufus C. Burleson, and President Mirabeau B. Lamar, together with many others, should be remembered for their far-reaching contributions.
Among Baptists of Texas the names of R. E. B. Baylor, James Huckins, William M. Tryon, Henry L. Graves, Rufus C. Burleson, and Horace Clark are associated with the founding of their oldest institutions of learning, Baylor University and Baylor College.
It seems, however, that the name of the first man ever to teach in any department of Baylor University, at Independence, Henry F. Gillette, is not widely known today, even among the great host of alumni and friends of that institution.
Henry Flavel Gillette was born in Granby, Connecticut, July 16, 1816. He was the third child of Laura Adams and Almon Gillette. His childhood and youth were spent in his native state. It may be presumed that he received a common education and that he also attended a typical New England academy. Concerning his early years very little is now known. At the age of about twenty-one he entered Trinity College at Hartford, Connecticut. He did not complete his college course, however, as he found it necessary to withdraw from Trinity in 1839. The records of that institution reveal that, he was a member of the Class of 1841 in Trinity College, but left in 1839 because of ill health, going, I believe, at once to Texas.
The exact date of Gillette’s arrival in Texas is not known, but that he was in Houston in March of that year is shown by an agreement signed on March 16th of that year by “Henry F. Gillette” and thirty-eight others, to “unite together as a Christian Congregation in the City of Houston to observe the forms of worship, and be governed by the Constitution of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of North America.”
Most of the data now available relating to the life of Mr. Gillette subsequent to his arrival in Texas are embodied in the many letters he wrote to his cousin, Dr. Ashbel Smith, who was one of the most prominent figures in the government of Texas during the period of the Republic. Dr. Smith was the eldest son of Phoebe L. Adams and Moses Smith, Jr., of Hartford, Connecticut. The mothers of Ashbel Smith and H. F. Gillette were sisters, both having been daughters of Roxanna Cossitt and Abel Adams.
It appears that the principal reason for Gillette’s coming to Texas was his wish to be under the medical care of Dr. Smith and to enjoy the mild climate, with the hope that he might recover from his illness, which, it is believed, involved a lung infection. The dependence of Mr. Gillette upon the advice of Dr. Smith is reflected in the letters which Gillette wrote to his cousin, Smith, during his first years in Texas.
Whatever may have been his early ambitions, H. F. Gillette gave most of his life in Texas to the cause of education. As early as 1840 he taught a school in Houston.
Editor’s Note: The author recounts Gillette’s brief experience with the Houston school during the year 1840-1841 and his move to Washington County, “where he was destined to render perhaps his most important service as a teacher.” He then digresses from Gillette’s personal life to trace the establishment and fluctuating fortunes of two early Texas schools in Washington County — In¬ dependence Academy and Washington College, both chartered in 1837. He next chronicles the chartering and founding of a third institution, Union Academy, a school situated between the towns of Independence and Washington, and Gillette’s move in the summer of 1841 to teach in the Academy.
In a letter dated March 21, 1842, Mr. Gillette said,
You can truly congratulate me as a married man. I was married on the eve of the 3rd of March. It was pouring down in almost a tremendous fury. Yet the small party were all assembled and the evening passed off very pleasantly. I was married by the Revd. Mr. Tryon a Baptist clergyman.
The Gillettes apparently remained in Washington County and Mr. Gillette continued to teach at Union Academy until early in 1843. Through the influence of Mr. Maxcy, Mr. Gillette became interested in farming. Although it is not certain that the Gillettes left Washington County in 1843 there is evidence to indicate that Union Academy was closed early that year and that Mr. Gillette actually engaged in farming. In a letter to Dr. Smith he stated,
I have closed my school and am going to farming on the Trinity about ten miles above Swarthout on the opposite side of the River.
For some reason, perhaps the heavy losses sustained as an “agriculturalist” in 1843, Mr. Gillette, in 1844, turned his attention again to teaching. That year he removed his family to Houston, where he pursued the teaching profession until he moved back to Washington County in 1846 to open the preparatory department of Baylor University.
Editor’s Note: Here the author recounts in some detail Gillette’s experience with the newly organized Houston Academy, which, he states, “identifies him [Gillette] with what was probably the earliest movement for the establishment of a college for teachers and for the development of some sort of system of schools in Texas.” He states that Gillette laid the foundation for Houston Academy in 1844 and that, in two years, it had “progressed to the point of requiring three teachers.”
The next major experience in the life of Mr. Gillette came in connection with the founding of Baylor University. He and his family remained in Houston until the spring of 1846. where he continued his connection with the Houston Academy. Harry Haynes states that, ‘‘In 1844 he [Gillette] moved to Independence and founded Independence Academy, the best known, and most successfully conducted school in the state.” It is now definitely known that Mr. Gillette did not move to Independence in 1844; nor did he ever establish Independence Academy.
While he was still superintendent of the male department of the Houston Academy Mr. Gillette received the appointment as instructor in the preparatory department of Baylor University, which had been chartered and which was in the process of being established at Independence.
The earliest notice which has been found of Mr. Gillette’s appointment as Baylor’s first teacher appeared January 28, 1846. Since that early notice contains several items of interest, it is here presented in its entirety:
BAYLOR INSTITUTE
At a meeting of the Board of Trustees of Baylor Uni¬ versity, convened at Independence, January 12, 1846, The members were called to order by the President of the Board, Rev. W. M. Tryon.
On motion it was
Resolved, That the building committee proceed to repair the house known as the Independence Female Academy, now belonging to the Board of Trustees of Baylor University, for the purpose of commencing the preparatory school. And the Committee were further authorized to contract for quarrying and hawling [sic] of rock sufficient for the erection of a stone building 70×40 feet, upon College Hill.
Rev. Henry L. Graves, A.M., of Georgia, was elected President of the Institution
And Henry F. Gillett [sic] principal of the preparatory department, which will commence on the first Monday of May, 1846.
Rates of Tuition per Term of 5 months Reading, Writing and Spelling . . . $8.00 Geography, Arithmetic and Grammar . . . $10.00 Philosophy, Chemistry, Rhetoric and the higher branches of Mathematics, Latin, Greek &c. & c., . . . $15.00
This Institution is located at Independence, Washington County well known as one of the most healthy situations in Central Texas. Board can be obtained on very reasonable terms.
By order of the Board.
E. W. Taylor Sec’y.
On the opening day of Baylor University, a committee of the Board of Trustees reported that H. F. Gillette had been employed for one year and that the exercises of the school had commenced that morning. At the same meeting of the Board it was reported that the Reverend Henry L. Graves had accepted the presidency of the University.
Having resided at various places since his coming to Texas, Mr. Gillette now expressed a hope that he might be more or less permanently situated. In a letter he stated,
I have nothing of interest to write you unless it may interest you to know what I am doing, my prospects &c — I now feel myself settled at the town of Independence, have made arrangements to buy a few acres of land for [?] to work, and shall soon commence building me a house. I have a pleasant, though laborious school, I now have 51 scholars, and it is constantly growing. If they will make my salary $1000. a year I shall stay a long time with them.
Why did the Trustees choose Mr. Gillette, a devoted Episcopalian, to serve as Baylor’s first teacher? Several answers to this question suggest themselves. In the first place, it will be remembered that the Reverend W. M. Tryon, to whom must go the credit for originating the movement to establish a Baptist University in Texas, was the officiating minister at the marriage of Mr. Gillette in Washington County in 1842. There is a possibility that a lasting friendship grew up between those two men. Therefore, as Mr. Tryon was the president of the Board of Trustees of Baylor University at the time of Mr. Gillette’s appointment, it is not unlikely that Mr. Tryon’s regard for his friend was a strong factor in the choice. Also, it must be remembered that competent teachers for positions of that kind were extremely scarce in Texas at that time. Mr. Gillette was unquestionably among the best educators then to be found in this infant State.
The first term of the preparatory department of Baylor University proved to be most successful, as is shown by Mr. Gillette’s first report to the Trustees, which is as follows:
Having been called by your Honl. body to the superintendent of the primary department of your institution, I sub¬ mit the following to your consideration :
I was engaged by Messrs. Baylor, Tryon, and Taylor to commence operations on the first Monday in May, 1846, but owing to the tardiness of the workmen in making repairs to the room I was detained until the 18th inst., at which time the school opened with 24 pupils, and increased during the session to 70. The amt. of tuition was $468.08 Dollars of which I have received $347.20.
The second term commenced December 7th, 1846, with 51 pupils and during its session 70 names have been registered. But owing to sickness and other unavoidable obstacles the session has been very much broken into and the proceeds amount only to $512.39, of which I have received about $78.00.
Amt. of Tuition for the term ______ $980.45 Amt. received by me _________ 425.20
= $555.25
Amt. of my salary $800.00 ;
The above, I think is correct and is respectfully submitted.
Truly yours
(Signed) H. F. Gillett [sic]
Although he had hoped to settle at Independence for a longer time, Mr. Gillette spent only two full years in the service of Baylor University. As one might expect, the young institution of learning endured several hardships that may have had a discouraging effect upon its first teacher. The difficulty in collecting the tuition is reflected in the report of April 27, 1847. Moreover, while Mr. Gillette had hoped for a salary of one thousand dollars a year, the Trustees fixed it at $800.00, and with the understanding, apparently, that the payment of the salary offered would depend upon the collection of the tuition fees. That Gillette was not altogether satisfied with his lot at Independence is further shown in the following statement :
I shall watch every stage for you until you come. I can assure you I deeply regret the fortune that has placed us so widely apart, and it seems to grow on me daily, and at times makes me sad and gloomy for I have but few friends whom I care very much for in Texas and to be almost entirely deprived of their society, and interchange of sentiment, it appears at times that my lot was harder than that of any other person, and were it not for that resignation of spirit which kind nature has implanted within me, I should at times be nearly or quite crazy.
Beside the difficulties already noted, the section of the country about Independence was visited by a severe hurricane in 1847, which took its heavy toll in crops and other property. In a letter to Dr. Smith written June 2, 1847, Mr. Gillette described existing conditions thus :
The Trustees are owing me $330. but owing to the scarcity of money and the failure of cotton crops — they have been unable to collect anything. The proceeds from the Tuition amount to $985. and only a portion of that has been paid. Most that I have received I have spent in building— my house was nearly covered in when we had that hurricane, and it has blown down, and almost ruined the entire timbers, I was damaged to the extent of about $800. Still I have this consolation, that it is paid for, and most of the work I did myself, and if my health is spared am able to do it again.
Early in 1848 occurred the death of Mrs. William Maxcy, mother of Mrs. Gillette. It appears that Mr. Maxcy prevailed upon his son-in-law to remove to the farm. The appeals of Mr. Maxcy had a strong influence upon Mr. Gillette’s decision to resign his position at Baylor. He wrote,
I suppose you have heard of my intentions to quit teaching and retire to the private walks of life. I have as you know spent eight years in Texas, teaching the youth of the land, and I now feel it due myself to retire from the field & let others endure the hardships that I have endured. On the death of Mrs. Maxcy I could not resist the appeals of the old Gentleman to come & live with him and take care of him the balance of his days should I outlive him. My intention now is, to read Some profession & mingle more or less with the busy scenes of life and not bury myself altogether under the plow and hoe. My year will be out in May. I shall then take my family to the Trinity and If the Trustees cannot supply my place with a suitable Teacher I will stay until December.
Mr. Gillette’s resignation as teacher of the prepara¬ tory department of Baylor University was presented to the Board of Trustees and accepted June 2, 1848. In appreciation of his services the Board passed the following resolution:
Whereas, the term of service for which H. F. Gillette, Esq., was employed as teacher has expired, be it therefore: Resolved that the thanks of this Board be respectfully tendered to him for the able and satisfactory manner in which he has conducted the department of the Primary School entrusted to his care since its commencement.4
Thus, Baylor gave up its first teacher, who, though surpassed in scholarship by many who followed him, nevertheless made a most worthy and unselfish con¬ tribution to the establishment of the greatest Baptist institution of higher learning in Texas. His deep sense of piety, his strength of character and his ability to cooperate with men not of his own particular faith will ever stand high in the esteem of all who shall know of him.
