A man of education

 

FamilySearch. Fayette County, KY. 14 Apr 1797.

The indenture above named Thomas Romine as an apprentice to Jesse Guthrie, until Thomas reached the age of 21 years old. Jesse was a well-known teacher in Lexington, Kentucky at the time. The indenture was signed by Levi Todd, grandfather of future First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln. Under the terms of apprenticeship, Jesse would teach young Romine how to read, write and use arithmetic and the "rule of three". He would provide Romine with a new suit of clothes, "common wearing apparel" and pay him a wage of 3 pounds 10 shillings.

Jesse Guthrie published a book titled The American Schoolmaster's Assistant (1804; via HathiTrust), which became an early popular textbook for teaching arithmetic. This was one of the first school books published in Kentucky.

Guthrie. 1804.

Lexington Independent Gazetteer. 24 Jan 1804.

The initial publication came with recommendations from the President of Transylvania University in Lexington and several Transylvania professors, along with the Secretary of State of Kentucky, giving some indication of the kind of circles of society that Guthrie worked in during the time.

Indep. Gazetteer. 1804.

In late 1822, Jesse Guthrie and family moved from Harrison County, Kentucky to Posey County, Indiana, a developing trading area on the Ohio River. He died around September 1823 (the administrators of his estate filed papers with the Posey County Court on 15 September 1823). A final settlement of his estate in 1840 included a disposition of his extensive library, which deserves its own post.