[Sidenote: Committee appointed on schools] In 1755 there was a minute entered in the records to the effect that a legacy had been left to Buckingham by their deceased friend Adam Harker, for the purpose of establishing a free school in that place.[404] The amount of the bequest was the same (£40) as that left to the Middletown Meeting by Harker.[405] This was the first bequest for definite school purposes; the indications are that many followed. In 1778, a minute gives their financial status as £244/4/11½ and they entertained a proposition and concluded to raise £500 more.[406] At the same time, the recommendations from the yearly meeting being read,[407] a committee of the following persons was appointed for investigation and assistance on the subject of schools, viz.: Paul Preston, Joseph Watson, Joseph Preston, John Gillingham, Benjamin Paxson, Benjamin Kinsey, Thomas Watson, Joseph Eastburn, John Kinsey, John Balderston, Jonathan Shaw, Benjamin Cutler, Thomas Good, Jr., John Brown, and Robert Kirkbride.[408] The action of this committee is not brought out in the minutes of the meeting. [Sidenote: Visiting schools required] The quarterly meeting made a new appeal in 1780 for a more decided action by the various tributary meetings which was followed by the appointment of a new committee.[409] They were requested to “visit the school” for the “help and assistance” of the master and to report their action to a future meeting. In the twelfth month of the same year they made these recommendations: [Sidenote: Committee’s recommendations] The committee appointed for the proper establishment and regulation of schools made report in writing that it is their sense and judgment that the monthly meeting should recommend to the particular meetings severally, to promote subscriptions toward the setting up and building upon their meeting’s lands as may be convenient for schoolhouses and such conveniences as may accommodate settled persons who live near the same, as also to encourage their contributions toward making up funds or salaries for the constant support of schools therein which is recommended to the preparative meetings.[410] [Sidenote: Appointment of trustees necessary]