Page 116 - Cornelius Hedges Story

103 The Cornelius Hedges Story

Chapter 6
A Labor Of Love
Public Education In Montana

Formal education was near and dear to Cornelius Hedges’
heart. He had received a good formal education in public schools
and the academy in his native Massachusetts. He was graduated
from Yale College in 1853 and Harvard Law School in 1855.
And he had previous taught in academies in Connecticut on two
different occasions, in 1853 at Easton, Connecticut, and from late
1860 to early 1863 at Sally Levis Academy in Berlin, Connecticut.
Therefore, when he reached Montana in the summer of 1864, he had
a good understanding of the value of good public schools and of an
educated, responsible citizenry to the growth and development of
the territory.

Hedges wanted Montana to grow and prosper, and he realized
that the best way to accomplish those goals was to have well
educated citizens. In his 4th of July Address in 1815, he delineated
the role of education in Helena, however the same held true for the
remainder of the entire territory. Judge Hedges said:

“If in the earlier years our city neglected its duty of education,
this can no longer be cast as a reproach against us. The new
century finds us awake to this first duty and greatest trust,
preparing the next generation to become wiser than their
fathers and better fitted to manage the greater interests that will
come to their keeping.”316
Another time, in a speech on education delivered at Virginia
City, he spoke of the advantages of good schools to a community.
Hedges termed the schools as the “nucleus around which intelligent
communities would gather,” and also “they were the foundations
of civilization.”317
Hedges’ interest in education and schools was a genuine interest,
the type that motivated him to attend meetings and give lectures on
education even though not acting in any type of official capacity. In
June of 1863, in Independence, Iowa, he noted attending a teachers’
meeting.318 And on March 4, 1869, in Helena, he wrote in his journal
that he had delivered a lecture on education to a small audience, but
that it was well received.319