a glimpse of the importance." It
was, therefore, natural that the first incorporated school for the
higher education of girls in this Commonwealth should find its
birthplace in Andover; and that the first public meeting of which we
have any record whose sole object was the education of girls, should
have been held in its South parish, Feb. 19, 1828, at the house of James
Locke, Esq. The meeting adjourned after voting "that it was desirable
and necessary a female academy should be established in this place,"
leaving the matter in the hands of a committee who were to raise funds
and see if a lot of land could be obtained. At the next meeting, on the
4th of March, only a fortnight later, this committee reported that the
way was clear to draw up a constitution, buy a lot of land, erect a
brick building two stories high, for which funds should be raised by
subscription, and that the school should be put under the charge of
trustees. These trustees, seven in number, were: Rev. Milton Badger,
pastor of the South Church, Andover; Rev. Samuel C. Jackson, pastor of
the West Parish Church, who served until his death, a period of more
than fifty years; Samuel Farrar, Esq., treasurer of Phillips Academy;
Hon. Hobart Clark, State Senator; Mark Newman, formerly principal of
Phillips Academy; Amos Abbot, Member of Congress, and Amos Blanchard,
succeeded in later years by his son, Rev. Dr. Amos Blanchard of Lowell.
Drs. Badger and Jackson and Esquire Farrar were to draft a constitution,
while Messrs. Clark and Newman were to serve as a building committee.
But, alas! then, as now, it was easy to vote away money, but not easy to
collect it; easy to order buildings begun, but hard to find any way to
pay for them. So at a trustee meeting, July 4, 1828, it was voted that
it was not expedient to erect a building for the Female Academy with
their present means. At the Semi-Centennial of Abbot Academy in June,
1879, several persons were present who remembered the sadness and
disappointment which settled down upon the hearts which had been so
sanguine of success when the plan was first made public. But it is
always darkest just before day, and on July 24, 1828, "most important
information" was communicated at a meeting of the trustees. The first
site selected had not been universally approved. A lady, daughter of Mr.
Adams, then Principal of Phillips Academy, writes, "It was the
determination to put the new academy on Main Street; but many Andover