If justice were done to each of the excellent schools of varying
characteristics, in the old days of Fredericksburg, many times the space
allotted to this subject would be infringed upon. But at the risk of this
infringement, the names of some of the local educators of other days must
be included. Mr. Thomas H. Hanson was sometime Master of the
Fredericksburg Academy, that old school which is said to have begun its
existence on Gunnery Green, which in its early days disseminated the seeds
of learning to many youths, who afterwards became distinguished statesman.
Messrs. Powell and Morrison were principals of a girl's school in old
Citizens Hall; Mr. John Goolrick and son George educated some of our most
influential citizens of the past generation; Judge Richard H. Coleman
taught a school for boys at Kenmore, and also at Hazel Hill; Mrs. John
Peyton Little conducted a popular school for girls at her residence, the
old Union House on Main Street; Colonel W. Winston Fontaine had a large
school for girls, and at a later period Miss Frank Chinn, Miss Tillie
Slaughter, and others, and still later Miss Willie Schooler (Mrs. Frank
Page) conducted elementary schools, which by reason of their efficiency
gained great popularity. The school of the late Charles Wisner was largely
attended by both sexes.