INFLUENCE OF A SINGLE FARM COMMUNITY. 11 



Union College furnished most of the principals and teachers of 

 Belleville Academy in its early decades. Hamilton College, Amherst 

 College, Colgate University, Cornell University, and Vassar College 

 are other institutions that have been sources of teachers. The attend- 

 ance of scholars in 1852 was 188; in 1855, 287; in 1862, 236; in 1866, 

 342 — the high peak of attendance. Since 1880 the attendance, owing 



Fig. 5. — The Academy Memorial Endowment Book. The idea of 

 making the Memorial Fund a monument to Major Barney originated 

 with Norris Shepardson, poet-farmer. 



to the establishment in the county of other institutions of high-school 

 grade, has ranged between 150 and 100. (See fig. 3.) 



THE FARMS AND UNION ACADEMY. 



From its establishment Union Academy has been characterized as 

 a farmers' institution. Its 30 trustees have been local men and 

 women almost entirely from the farms. Two or three village mer- 

 chants, the village physician, and the country lawyer have supple- 

 mented the farmer membership of the board. 



The history of the financial support of the academy, the annals of 

 the voluntary funds for buildings, the maintenance funds over and 



