Before the 1830s, public schools were not freely available in America, and schools required tuition, which prevented poorer families from educating their children. Seen here, an itemized receipt for tuition payments from Jonathan Mulford (1770-1840) includes his children’s names, allowing us to identify him with certainty.
He grew up on the Mulford Farm, the son of Phebe Huntting Mulford and Col. David Mulford (1722-1778) and the brother of “Captain” David Mulford (1754-1799). Jonathan married Hamutal Baker (1774-1848) of Amagansett. The couple had eight children, seven of whom survived until school age. They appear in these receipts: David (1800-1876), Mary Conklin (1803-1890), John Hampden (1806-1893), Samuel Green (1808-1891), Henry (1810-1900), George (1813-1900), and Jeremiah (1815-1867).
Ebenezer Phillips wrote the earliest receipt on Jan. 23, 1808. Phillips was not ordained as minister of the East Hampton Presbyterian Church until 1811, but this establishes that he was in town three years earlier. Phillips’s receipt charges Jonathan only for his son David’s schooling, billing for rent, ink, and firewood. Jonathan settled the bill with a load of wood.
On April 1, 1809, Phillips again billed Jonathan for tuition, with the same itemized list of charges. That year Jonathan paid for three children — David, Mary, and Sylvanus Bennett, who was not one of his children. It’s unclear why Jonathan paid tuition for Sylvanus.
By 1813, David’s schooling was on a limited evening basis, and in 1815 he was no longer on the school bills.
When Samuel Weed took over tuition billing in 1815, he added the Clinton Academy to his receipts, and Jonathan’s younger sons Samuel Green, John Hampden, and Henry joined the pupils. Receipts show that Mary consistently attended school less often than her brothers.
Later bills, from Joseph D. Condit, who was installed as Presbyterian minister here in 1830, indicate the same attendance pattern, with Jonathan’s son Henry and a girl named Phebe listed. There is no indication why Jonathan paid tuition for her.
Andrea Meyer, a librarian and archivist, is the head of collection for the East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection.
