Old geography textbook taught my ancestor the ‘basics’
March 2024
Vintage Discoveries
Old geography textbook taught my ancestor the ‘basics’
by Ken Weyand
A small and very old textbook turned up recently in the back of a bookcase. I thought it might have been something I had acquired from an antique shop, but it turned out to have been the property of my grandmother’s younger brother, William H. Van Horn, whose short life began in 1864 and ended in 1901. (My mother’s name also is in the 1873 book, indicating she probably read it when she was a child in the early 1900s.)
The cover (measuring 5 x 7 inches) is in such poor condition it’s virtually unreadable, and defies any attempt to photograph it. A single strip of clear tape around the spine shows someone tried at some point to keep the covers together, but their worn edges and faded surfaces proved beyond repair.
However, the 48 inside pages are well-preserved and show how many youngsters in the years following the Civil War were taught about their world. The inside cover announces the book’s title, “Monteith’s First Lessons in Geography,” published by A.S. Barnes and Co., New York and Chicago. Searching online, I discovered that an ebook version of my book exists, published by Project Gutenberg, a library of more than 70,000 freely readable ebook titles. Their cover illustration is similar to the actual book, and I’m reproducing it here, acknowledging their generosity.
James Monteith, author of my 1873 book, authored a “series of geographies, maps and globes,” according to the inside cover. Monteith’s book was “on the Plan of Object Teaching, Designed for Beginners.” In his Preface, Monteith declared the book was to present the subject in its simplest form. “It treats of GENERAL FEATURES, such as the locality and description of Continents, Countries, States, Rivers, Mountains (etc), without dwelling prematurely upon details which embarrass the learner in his first effort.”
Like many of his contemporaries, Monteith combined facts with religious zeal: the book’s first illustration shows a crude globe, with the headline, “In the Beginning God Created the Heaven and the Earth.” On a later page, under “Lesson LVIII,” Monteith presents an illustration of turbaned worshippers bowing down to a seated idol, with the words, “This is a picture of a HEATHEN TEMPLE or place of worship. It contains frightful looking objects, before which you see people falling on their knees and faces. Such people are called IDOLATERS, PAGANS, or HEATHENS.” Monteith continues to warn his readers, “You will be surprised to learn that there are millions of idolaters. They live in Asia, Africa, and Islands of the Pacific Ocean.” In a final paragraph, he reassures: “Missionaries have been sent from the United States and Europe to teach those ignorant people about the TRUE GOD who says in his commandments, “THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BUT ME.”
Title page from the book in ebook form, courtesy Project Gutenberg.
Cover of "First Lessons in Geography"
Montieth also teaches his young readers about the settlement of the U.S., with an illustration of “savage Indians” attacking a white family. After a paragraph describing the “great cruelties from the Indians,” he assured that “at present, there are no savages east of the Mississippi.”
He concluded: “The first inhabitants of a place are called settlers, or colonists.”
William Van Horn wrote to his sister (my grandmother) from Murdock, KS, west of Wichita, in 1886, that he was “working for a railroad man. He says if it stays dry so that he don’t want me on the farm he will give me a job on the railroad with a surveying company. That will be nicer than shoveling dirt, and better wages.”
William had been married twice. In 1892 he married Minta Apperson, and they had two sons, William and Earl, both born in Eureka, KS. Ancestry records show he married again in 1894 (wife unknown), and was living in Topeka as of the 1900 census. He died there in 1901.
Ken Weyand is the original owner/publisher of Discover Vintage America, founded in July 1973 under the name of Discover North.
Ken Weyand can be contacted at kweyand1@kc.rr.com Ken is self-publishing a series of non-fiction E-books. Go to www.smashwords.com and enter Ken Weyand in the search box.
Baby shoes from the 1880’s recall some sad family history
November 2022Vintage Discoveries Baby shoes from the 1880’s recall some sad family historyby Ken Weyand My dad often referred to his seven siblings when recalling how the family split up when their parents died, and they were “farmed out” in 1900 to various aunts and...
Terracotta figurines survived rugged European trip – and more
October 2022Vintage Discoveries Terracotta figurines survived rugged European trip – and moreby Ken Weyand Some vintage items bring back a lot of memories. In 1953, I had the good fortune of traveling in Europe with the director of the Apollo Boys Choir. As a...
Mementos of a trip to Paris: 1921-22
September 2022Vintage Discoveries Mementos of a trip to Paris: 1921-22by Ken Weyand Sailing on the Aquitania My aunt, Ruth May Weyand, was the youngest of eight siblings orphaned in 1899 and farmed out to various relatives. By 1917, she had graduated from Illinois...
Picture book was a 1917 railroad souvenir
August 2022Vintage Discoveries Picture book was a 1917 railroad souvenirby Ken Weyand Rocky Mountain Views One of my relatives who traveled through the Western states by rail in the early 1900s came home with a souvenir book of “Rocky Mountain Views. The origin of my...
Old theater posters gave notice of big entertainment to come
July 2022 Vintage Discoveries Old theater posters gave notice of big entertainment to come by Ken Weyand Late 1800s and early 1900s Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, before the days of Chautauqua or Vaudeville, an assortment of show-people performed on theater...
Toy car had the look of a Chrysler “Airflow”
June 2022 Vintage Discoveries Toy car had the look of a Chrysler “Airflow” by Ken Weyand Back in the mid-1940s Back in the mid-1940s, my wife’s dad, a physician in Hamilton, IL, had acquired a couple of toy metal cars. My wife, Karen, said her dad gave the...
Ancient geography textbook reveals a lot
May 2022Vintage Discoveries Ancient geography textbook reveals a lotby Ken Weyand Old Geography Book One of the few records of my grandfather’s early life and that of his brothers is an old geography book I re-discovered recently in a cedar chest full of other...
Solving a jigsaw puzzle—80 years later
April 2022Vintage Discoveries Solving a jigsaw puzzle—80 years laterby Ken Weyand Bored Youngster When I was a youngster, we would occasionally spend Sundays with my dad’s stepmother and his two sisters in Hamilton, IL, across the river from Keokuk, IA. I...
Old nursery rhyme book fondly remembered
March 2022Vintage Discoveries Old nursery rhyme book fondly remembered ~ by Ken Weyand ~ My first books One of my first books – saved by my mother over the years – recently turned up in my attic. “Three Little Pigs” is a nursery rhyme classic, and it was...
Donald Duck pull toy was a 1940s hit
February 2022 Vintage Discoveries Donald Duck pull toy was a 1940s hit ~ by Ken Weyand ~ As a youngster, one of my favorite comic-strip characters was Donald Duck, a creation of the Walt Disney Co. in the 1930s. Like many of his contemporaries, Donald...
Old book charmed children in its day
January 2022 Vintage Discoveries Old book charmed children in its day by Ken Weyand “Bugaboo Bill and Other Wonders” I came across an old book the other day that has me stumped. Was it part of the accumulation of “old stuff” my parents never threw away? Was it...
Century-old high chair served three generations
December 2021Vintage DiscoveriesCentury-old high chair served three generationsby Ken Weyand The high chair, a device for aiding in the feeding of very young children and infants, has been around for decades. As a separate piece of furniture marketed to...