USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 41
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"The circuit court being then sitting, Judge Woodworth po- litely adjourned the court expressly for the occasion. I found the court room and gallery crowded, and the lawyers' seats preoccupied by ladies. Mr. Higgins made an eloquent appeal to the throne of grace, appropriate to the occasion. It evidently softened the hearts of the audience and predisposed them to receive with favor my ad- dress. They immediately proceeded to organize and, what was more important, in one hour the whole sum requisite to secure the state bounty was subscribed."
Under said act the County Agricultural Society received from the state in 1819, $150, and in 1820, $150, in which latter year, by
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chapter 97 of the laws of 1820, passed March 24, the act was ex- tended for four years. In 1821 the county society received as its aid from the state $101. In 1822 the following legislative enact- ment was passed: "An act to amend the act entitled, 'an act to improve the agriculture of this state,' " passed April 7, 1819, pro- viding that boards of supervisors in counties where no agricultural society shall have been formed, or where one has been formed and said society has neglected to raise by voluntary subscription a sum equal the amount appropriated to said county by section one of said act, to raise by tax and levy a sum for agricultural purposes equal to the amount so appropriated to said county, and said monies, so to be raised, said boards of supervisors were to expend and pay in such manner as in their judgment would best promote the agri- culture and family domestic manufactures of their several counties.
The Steuben Patriot of April 11th of this year (1822) con- tained the premium list of the Steuben County Agricultural So- ciety for 1822, at which time Judge Robert Porter, of Prattsburgh, was president of the society and Colonel John Whiting, of Bath, secretary thereof. While the prize list was not as large and varied as the society today presents to its members and patrons, still the amounts offered for some of the entries asked for are very much larger, a few of them being here given, viz:
Best half-bred or higher-blooded bull of the Holderness or Devonshire breed, $20.00, owner to keep said animal nine months after receiving the same. Best cow, $10.00.
For the best buck, $10.00.
To farmer who shall raise the greatest quantity of red clover seed of good quality, $8.00.
Best 50 pounds tobacco, $5.00. Best 50 pounds flax, $5.00. .
To person who gets the greatest quantity of castor oil from one hushel - of beans, $3.00
Best grass honnet of the growth of this county in imitation of leghorn, $5.00.
To owner of the team that plonghs the most and best, $8.00.
No premium will be awarded except to a member of the Society or unmarried females who are destitute of parents.
This year the society received state aid to the amount of $88.
In proof of the assertion heretofore made, that Mr. Watson first advocated the building of the Crooked Lake canal, the following letters to him from two prominent citizens of Bath are here intro- duced :
BATH, 15 June, 1822.
Dear Sir-I have the satisfaction to say to you, that at the meeting of the citizens of this town, which was convened yesterday for the purpose of deliberating upon the practicability and utility of connecting Crooked lake with Seneca by means of a canal, a resolution of thanks was unanimously adopted by the meeting for the politeness and promptitude with which you attended at their request, and for the useful suggestions and enlightened views which you were pleased to submit on the occasion, which resolution I was requested to communicate to you.
Be assured, Sir, we all felt a high veneration for your services and fore- sight, particularly as connected with the great canal policy of -the State. Permit me, therefore, to add individually the expression of a hope that the evening of your days may be as serene and as happy as their meridian has been brilliant and useful.
I am, dear Sir, with perfect regard, your obedient servant-
GEO. MCCLURE, Chairman.
ELKANAH WATSON.
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
BATH, 17th Sept., 1829.
Dear Sir-You may recollect that when you were in this country in 1822, you suggested to some of our prominent citizens the practicability of a canal communication from the Seneca lake at Dresden to the Crooked lake at Penn Yan, and also from the head of the lake to this place, thereby opening to our country a direct water communication with the grand Erie canal.
Your suggestions I well remember were listened to at the time much in the same manner as we would now regard an eloquent representation of beautiful countries in the moon coming from some well-favored old gentleman who should profess to have been there. But from your earnest recommenda- tion a small meeting was convened, at which some irresolute resolutions were passed, such as for exploring, corresponding, etc., and you probably left the meeting and the county under a pretty full conviction, in your own mind, that the meeting would be the last of it.
The sequel, however, proves that your suggestions have never been lost sight of, and we have now the satisfaction to believe that the next season will witness the full completion of a canal between the two lakes and that at no very distant day the lake communication will be extended to the village of Bath.
That your life may be spared to witness the full accomplishment of this important work, in originating which the credit is certainly to be ascribed to you, is the sincere wish, dear Sir, of-
Your obedient servant,
ELKANAH WATSON, ESQ., Port Kent. (Memoirs of Elkanah Watson, p. 510.)
W. W. McCAY.
In 1823 the only record of the society's work that can be found is of the holding of a meeting of the executive committee at the "Union Hotel" (subsequently the "Clinton House") in Bath, on the 15th day of May, at 1 p. m., and that it received from the state appropriation the sum of $76.
In 1824 only legislation of minor importance in aid of the agri- cultural progress of the state was passed; interest in the County Agricultural Society seems to have largely died out, and for want of record proof to the contrary, I am forced to the conclusion that during this year its active existence as a corporation ceased. Be- tween that year and 1841 the session laws do not disclose the pas- sage of any further general acts in aid of agriculture, but chapter 169 of the latter year, passed May 5, 1841, gave to such societies as were already incorporated or that should thereafter incorporate, sums annually as large as the amount of their annual donations. That act seems to have given the friends of the county society new hope, and the following call signed by representative men from all parts of the county appeared in the Steuben Farmers' Advocate of March 10, 1841:
Steuben Agricultural Society.
We, the undersigned citizens of the County of Steuben, recommend that a meeting of the citizens of said county friendly to the organization of an agri- cultural society, be held at the Court House, in the village of Bath, on Wednesday, the 31st inst., at 12 o'clock m.
Bath, March 3d, 1841.
Win. J. Gilbert. Constant Cook. J. Shannon.
Plyna Cobb. William Diven. Theron Loomis. John Gulick. Clark Bradford.
Lyman Balcom. Jason Chamberlain.
Thos. J. Magee.
John Hamlin.
R. B. Stewart.
Henry H. Waldo. Arthur H. Erwin. Joseph H. Cook.
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Silas Cotton.
Timothy Wallis.
Paris Wheelock.
John D. Yost.
Reuben Robie. Noah Hill.
Ebenezer Brown.
Simeon Holmes.
Stephen Kent.
John A. Prentiss.
Wm. L. Porter.
Z. A. Leland.
lliram Potter.
S. II. Hammond.
M. Il. Lyon.
Henry Godfrey.
R. H. Hoyt.
Mahlon Case.
Samuel Erwin.
John Campbell.
S. V. Lattimore.
Benj. Smead.
The meeting was adjourned to April 7th at the place named in the said notice, on which latter day Hon. Ziba A. Leland pre- sided and Henry Brother and Robert B. Van Valkenburgh acted as secretaries. Much interest was manifested on the part of all present in attaining the object for which the call was made and it was resolved to form a county agricultural society, and Ziba A. Leland, Otto F. Marshall, Jacob Van Valkenburgh, Israel R. Wood, Theron Loomis and Henry Brother were named as a committee to draft a constitution to be submitted at an adjourned meeting, to be held June 7, 1841.
At the adjourned meeting, after adopting a constitution, the following officers were elected: President, Otto F. Marshall; first vice-president, John Cooper, Jr .; second vice-president, Israel R. Wood; third vice-president, Erastus Skinner; recording secretary, William S. Hubbell; corresponding secretary, Ziba A. Leland; treasurer, Henry Brother; executive committee, Henry Wombaugh, Lay Noble, Hiram Merriman, Elias Mason, Samuel Cook, Amos Lewis, Samuel Mulhollen, Warren Patchin, Joel Carrington, Daniel N. Bennett, Stephen Towsley, Levi Davis, Albert C. Morgan, Jason Chamberlain, John McBurney, Jacob Van Valkenburgh, Johnson N. Reynolds, William Diven, Nathaniel Mallory, Stephen H. Ar- nold, Lazarus Hammond, Orlando Comstock, Sherman Rose, Jeffrey Smith, Arthur H. Erwin, Otis Thatcher and Amasa Stanton. This year (1841) the society awarded premiums to the amount of $170, and received state aid to the amount of $91.50. The fairs at this time were held upon the river flats, just east of Ark street, and domestic manufactures and household goods were exhibited in the court house.
In 1842 the officers were: President, Lazarus Hammond; first vice-president, Otto F. Marshall; second vice-president, Israel R. Wood; third vice-president, Lyman Balcom; recording secretary, Theron Loomis; corresponding secretary, Ziba A. Leland; treasurer, Henry Brother; and prizes to the amount of $176.50 were offered for competition at the fair. In 1843 the officers were: President, Lazarus Hammond; first vice-president, William Baker; second vice-president, Israel R. Wood; third vice-president, Otto F. Mar- shall : corresponding secretary, James Shannon; recording secre- tary, Robert Campbell, Jr .; treasurer, Henry Brother.
At the annual fair the prizes offered amounted to $210.50, and while the records are quite full and complete in other respects they do not disclose the awards made that year; that omission possibly is explained in the following letter of Captain Benjamin Smead to the secretary of the State Agricultural Society of February 3, 1844:
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
BATH, February 5, 1844.
Dear Sir-Yours of the 30th ult., enclosing the circular of the executive committee of the New York State Agricultural Society was not received till yesterday morning, February 4th, and I hasten to reply as nearly as I can. I am neither officer nor private in the Agricultural Society of Steuben, but early this morning made inquiries of a number of gentlemen of this village who have heretofore been officers in that society, who say that last year's officers all reside at a considerable distance, but the treasurer of previous years has promised to transmit your circular forthwith to the present treasurer.
From the statements all these gentlemen unite in making to mne, how- ever, I feel authorized to say directly, that at the last fair in this village, there was a very scanty and unfair exhibition of the products or manufac- tures of the county, and it seemed to pass off as a complete failure; that there was, nevertheless, not half money enough in the treasury to pay the awards of the committee; that at the meeting of the Society in December a report was commenced, but under the mortification of this failure it was resolved to make no report and suffer the Society to die, in the hope of a future resur- rection clothed with a new and better spirit; and in fine that the few wealthy men who had been most industrious in organizing the Society, evidently cared so much more for the premiums than for the advancement of agriculture that even excellent but poorer farmers could receive no benefit from instruction nor reward for greater efforts in competition.
All premiums went into the pockets of the rich, of course, and, there- fore, the poor man would not become a member nor compete, otherwise than by paying a half dollar into the treasury on the surety of drawing out ten. I feel mortified to see or say these things, for I was educated a Connec- ticut river farmer's boy, and no man can feel a higher interest than I do in the recent grand improvement in agriculture in this state. .
To COL. B. P. JOHNSON, Sec'y, B. SMEAD.
Albany, N. Y.
The veteran captain's strictures upon the society, while prob- ably correct as to the failure of the officers to forward their annual report, not a very uncommon occurrence even at this late day, were not true so far as they referred to the determination of those con- cerned to then let the association die, for at the annual election of officers for 1844 the following were so named, viz: President, Israel R. Wood; first vice-president, David Smith; second vice-president, John J. Poppino; third vice-president, Daniel N. Bennett; corre- sponding secretary, William Cook : recording secretary, Lay Noble; treasurer, John Richardson; with James Lyon, Lay Noble and John Richardson as committee of arrangements for the annual fair, for which a liberal list of premiums was offered and which the records show were awarded.
In 1845 the society received state aid to the amount of $60. From 1846 to 1852, inclusive, the state paid no money in aid of agriculture in this county, and during the same period neither the records of the society nor the files of the county press reveal any in- formation that would indicate active life on the part of the so- ciety. In 1853 an act to facilitate the forming of agricultural and horticultural societies, known as chapter 339 of that year, was passed, which provided definitely for the organization of societies, and under its provisions the present reorganization of this society was effected.
On the 18th day of May, 1853, upon application made to Philo P. Hubbell, the then clerk of the county, said clerk gave public notice through the county papers, as the statute then required, that on Wednesday, June 22, 1853, a meeting would be held at the court house in Bath for the purpose of organizing a county agricultural
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
society. This meeting was largely attended by the leading farmers of the county, most of whom had been active in their support of the society in earlier years, and an organization was then completed under the name of the Steuben County Agricultural Union, and the following officers elected: President, Hon. Goldsmith Dennis- ton, Prattsburg; vice-president, Otto F. Marshall, Wheeler; John B. Mitchell, Wayne; A. B. Dickinson, Hornby; Lyman Balcom, Painted Post; Redmond Davis, Greenwood; John Van Wie, How- ard; corresponding secretary, Robert B. Van Valkenburgh, Bath ; recording secretary, George S. Ellas, Bath; treasurer, George Ed- wards, Bath.
The first annual fair under this reorganization was held at Bath on the 12th and 13th of October, 1853, in the open field on the farm of the late Hon. Robert Campbell, deceased, at the junction of East Steuben and East Morris streets (as said streets were at that time laid out), temporary structures having been erected for exhibition purposes. Early in 1854 the new board of officers, con- sisting of Goldsmith Denniston, president; Otto F. Marshall, Lay Noble, Lyman Balcom, Jesse Munson, Pocl Carington and Harvey Andrews, vice-presidents; David McMaster, corresponding secre- tary; T. M. McCay, recording secretary, and Reuben Robie, treas- urer, entered into an agreement with the heirs of the late Dr. Ten Eyck Gansevoort, deceased, who then owned that portion of the so- ciety's present grounds, fronting on East Washington street, to lease said lands for a term of years, and it appears that during the continuance of said lease the annual rental was contributed by the citizens of Bath. The same year (1854) said grounds were properly enclosed, the only exhibition building erected thereon that the so- ciety bad until 1867; and on these grounds the society has since held all its annual festivals and fairs.
The society has had a very prosperous career from the time these grounds were taken, for while the total receipts for the year 1853 were only $208.06, they reached the then large sum of $966.95 in 1854, so that by skillful and honest management and work the officers were, in the course of a few years, enabled to make a con- tract for the purchase of said premises; which by order of the so- ciety was done in 1859 and in 1862 the title thereto obtained at a cost of $1,200.
Almost immediately after securing absolute title to said premi- ises the members of the society began to feel that the exhibition buildings were too inferior and insufficient, and during the years 1863 and 1864 several efforts were made to secure voluntary dona- tions of an amount adequate to warrant them in attempting the improvements, but without success; yet the hard and gratuitous work done by the late Hon. David McMaster in this regard in 1863. and 1864 made the task all the easier for those who followed him in the effort of 1867. In 1866 the matter of new buildings and large grounds and accommodations was brought up at the annual meeting and after some discussion was laid on the table. At the annual meeting of 1867 the following board of officers was elected : President, Robert B. Wilkes, of Bath; vice-presidents, Aaron Y. Baker, Urbana; Warren S. Hodgman, Erwin; Chauncey P. Hub- bard, Cameron; Frank J. Marshall, Wheeler; Cyrus M. Merriman, Bradford; John W. Whiting, Howard; secretary, Reuben E. Robie,
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Bath ; treasurer, George W. Hallock, Bath; and the matter of new buildings and improvements more generally discussed, and Warren W. Wilson, Jonathan Robic, Charles N. Ackerson, Azariah C. Brundage and Charles H. Robie were appointed a committee to solieit funds for these improvements. They entered upon the work with a will and in a short time seeured donations to the amount of $3,000 from the citizens of Bath and some of the other towns of the county.
This movement which resulted in the enlargement and improve- ment of the fair grounds was directed by President Wilkes, and to his energy, sagacity and untiring labors the society is indebted more than to the efforts of any other man for what was then done. A special act of the legislature was secured to be passed, enabling the society to mortgage its real estate for the purpose of raising funds to buy additional lands in the rear of the old grounds, and with the money thus obtained, together with the voluntary donations re- ceived, new buildings and fenees were ereeted at a cost of $4,877.14, lands purchased costing the society $3,125.47, and a new driving park laid out and finished at a eost of $1,593.07. The supervision and general direction of all of these improvements was given to President Wilkes, Charles N. Anderson and Warren W. Wilson by the executive committee, and the work was well done. At the end of this year (1867) the society owed about $4,000, $2,639 of which was secured by mortgage upon the society's lands and running for twenty years.
In 1868 a general superintendent was added to the list of officers and James Lyon elected for that year. In 1872 new grand and judges' stands were erected at a cost of $1,085.18, and at the annual meeting the society's constitution was amended so that honorary life membership could be conferred npon such old members of the age of not less than sixty years, who had been most active in their support of the society. The amendment providing for the election of three such honorary life members at that meeting, and this, the society's highest honor, was eon- ferred upon Otto F. Marshall, Lay Noble and Reuben Robie.
In 1873, at the suggestion of the officers, an aet to correet the incorporation of the society -chapter 421 of 1873-was procured to be passed. In the main the change was in the name, from "The Steuben County Agricultural Union" to its present designation, and $1,165.04 were that year expended in grading the grounds, planting trees, erecting new and commodious cattle, sheep and swine pens and stalls, and in other permanent improvements, while in 1874 a new dining hall was constructed and other improvements made at a cost of $1,362.74; in 1876 a manufacturers' hall eosting $428.22, and in 1877 additional horse stalls and cattle, sheep and poultry accommodations, at an expense of $552.97. Permanent im- provements were made in subsequent years at the following eost : 1877. $552.97; 1879, $1,388.39; 1880, $1,136.91; 1881, $1,435.16; 1882, $1.143.67; 1883, $1.266.63; 1884, $1,272.94; 1885, $4,165.34, inelnding new lands; 1888. 4569.98. Other expenditures properly chargeable to this same aecount have sinee been made, which the records at my command do not diselose with sufficient identity to admit of their being accurately stated here.
Since its reorganization in 1853 the work of the society has
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
been eminently successful and its monied receipts most gratifying, but it will suffice to here submit the following brief statement from the treasurer's books, showing the actual net receipts for each of the years given: 1853, $238.06; 1863, $1,148.28; 1873, $3,646.50; 1883, $4,552.82; 1893, $6,173.63. While during the past twenty years flourishing agricultural associations have sprung into life at Hornellsville, Troupsburg, Prattsburg and Cohocton, all doing much good, meeting with abundant success and each striving for their separate advancement, yet among the officers and members of each of the societies nothing but a kindly interest is mani- fested, and an almost reverential respect shown. for the county's parent society ..
About the years following the close of the war, and in the re- construction years, came the greatest and most powerful aid to the agriculturist, farmer, dairyman and stock-raiser; in fact, to the · whole country, without reference to occupation or class.
An examination of the society's roster will reveal names of residents of every section of the county, and it may safely be said that a careful reading of its roll of officers will show you that a very large per cent of the strong men of the county have served in its official ranks. Among sister county organizations of the state it ranks with the best and its annual gatherings and fairs of today while they do not attract "the high-blades of Virginia and Mary- land," as did the exhibition of one hundred years ago, yet none of its members is willing to admit that as an educator, at least, these exhibitions have not been the more beneficial to the agricultural interests of the county.
There the farmers meet together and have free intercourse · with each other and from their interchange of sentiment and opin- ion materially stir up one another to more systematic and ener- · getic measures in the pursuit of their calling. There party spirit and sectarianism have no place, but good will and benevolence smile in every face. .
THE PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.
This is a secret order, having for its object the mutual pro- tection and advancement of the agricultural, industrial and pa- triotic classes. At the close of the war between the states the agri- cultural interests in the United States, and especially in the states south of the Potomac, Ohio and the Missouri rivers, were greatly depressed, demoralized and discouraged. In many sections the poverty and limited means of the farmers, the difficulty in obtain- ing efficient labor, the imperfect and unproductive methods of cul- tivation and the absence of mixed and varied husbandry, were ap- parent causes for agricultural and all other depressions. For the purpose of gaining information and seeking relief President An- drew Johnson appointed O. H. Kelly, of the bureau of agriculture and labor, as an agent of that department to visit the southern and border states and collect statistical information, with a view, pri- marily, to encourage emigration to the south. While on this mis- sion he conceived the idea of an association that would not only improve the condition of agriculturists in all parts of the nation, hut would also bind them into one great brotherhood. He com- municated his conclusions to the president and to several of the
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heads of his bureau, who received Kelly's plan of organization with marked favor. They held a conference with him on Novem- ber 15, 1867, when the "Patrons of Husbandry" was adopted as the name of the order and the "Grange" designated as a consti- tuent body and place of meeting. On December fourth of the same year another meeting was held, officers were elected, and the National Grange was formally organized.
The early growth of the order was slow, and many obstacles arose during the succeeding months which seemed almost insur- mountable. In January, 1871, not more than eighty-eight subor- dinate granges and three state granges were in existence; but dur- ing that year the number of granges was more than doubled, and each of many following years brought numerous new granges and greatly increased membership. By the year 1892 nearly every state and territory contained granges, and many were reported from Canada.
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