Transcript:Indiana, United States. Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties/A/Ault, Lee

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Lee Ault (p 558)

Numbered among the efficient educators of Indiana is Professor Lee Ault, who for three decades has been identified with the school system of this state, winning the commendation and praise of all who have been interested in this important subject. Possessing thorough knowledge of advanced methods of teaching, and being an enthusiastic believer in education for the people, he has brought the schools of Hagerstown, Wayne County, to a high grade of excellence, and justly merits the approval of the public.

A native of Darke County, Ohio, born in 1846, Professor Ault passed his boyhood on a farm in the vicinity of Greenville. His early education was supplemented by a course at the Southwestern Normal School, which institution is now known as the National Normal. Having chosen educational work as his future field of endeavor, he began teaching, near his native town, in 1864, and spent the five years following in Ohio. In 1869, he came to this state, where he carried on schools in Farmland and Winchester, Randolph County, occupying the position of superintendent in each place. Later he was located at Williamsburg for six years, and for one year was connected with the schools of Centerville, Wayne County. In the meantime, he was employed by the American Book Company for a year or more.

Twenty years ago, Professor Ault came to Hagerstown as superintendent of schools here and during the next four years rapid improvement was observable in the same. After an interval, he returned to this place, where he has been permanently located since 1893. In 1899, there is an enrollment of two hundred and twenty pupils, eighty-six of whom are students in the high school --- this proportion being unusually large for any town. This is partly accounted for by the fact that graduates from the country schools of the community are received into the high school, and thus the same privileges are accorded them as are enjoyed by the town students. Seven teachers are employed in the schools, this number including Professor Oliver L. Voris, principal of the high school; and Professor W. E. M. Brown, who ranks high as a musician, and who devotes one day in each week to teaching music in the schools. The high school course covers four years of work, and the high standard, which is maintained, secures to graduates admission to the various colleges of the country without preliminary examination. The grand work, which has been accomplished here by Professor Ault, seconded by his able corps of teachers, is not the result of one year's effort, but is the outcome of persistent, unfaltering determination to make the schools of Hagerstown compare favorably with those of the leading towns of the state. The high school is well equipped with apparatus necessary in the various scientific studies, and a comprehensive library is of great benefit to students.

The marriage of Professor Ault and Miss Mary E. Bowen was solemnized in 1869. She is the daughter of William C. and Priscilla (Magee) Bowen. Her father was a prominent minister in the M. E. Church and served in the legislature from this district from 1868 to 1870. He died in June 1898, at the age of eighty-one years, his wife having passed away in 1878. Professor and Mrs. Ault are the parents of six children, four of whom were graduated in the Hagerstown high schools --- Hattie Pearl, Ina May, Harry and Frank. Charles and Edgar are still attending school. Miss Hattie Pearl is a teacher in the Spiceland school, in Henry County, this state; Ina May is teaching in Wayne County; and the two elder sons, Harry and Frank, are employed in Marshall Field's wholesale house, in Chicago.