USA > Ohio > Seneca County > History of Seneca County, Ohio; a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Vo. I > Part 20
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Any occupation prospers in proportion to the interest taken in it by its members. This interest is always heightened by an exchange of views, hence societies and periodicals exercise an in- fluence at first hardly realized. This feeling among prominent agriculturists led to the formation of agricultural societies, at first by counties, then districts. then by states, and lastly by associa- tions of states. The day may come when a national agricultural fair may be one of the annual attractions of America.
Without noticing the early attempts to found such societies in Europe or America, the narrative will begin with those of Ohio. The first agricultural society organized in the Buckeye state was the Hamilton County Agricultural Society. Its exact date of organization is not now preserved, but to a certainty it is known that the society held public exhibitions as a County Society prior to 1823. £ Previous to that date there were. doubtless, small. pri- vate exhibitions held in older localities, probably at Marietta, but no regular organization seems to have been maintained. The Hamilton County Society held its fairs annually. with marked sue- cess. Its successor, the present society, is now one of the largest county societies in the Union.
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During the legislative session of 1832-33, the subject of agri- culture seems to have agitated the minds of the people through their representatives, for the records of that session show the first laws passed for their benefit. The acts of that body seen to have been productive of some good, for. though no records of the number of societies organized at that date exist, vet the record shows that "many societies have been organized in conformity to this act," etc. No doubt many societies held fairs from this time, for a greater or less number of years. Agricultural journals were, at this period, rare in the state, and the subject of agricultural im- provement did not receive that attention from the press it does at this time; and, for want of public spirit and attention to sustain these fairs, they were gradually discontinued until the new act respecting their organization was passed in 1846. However, records of several county societies of the years between 1832 and 1846 yet exist, showing that in some parts of the state, the interest in these fairs was by no means diminished. The Delaware County Society reports for the year 1833-it was organized in June of that year-good progress for a beginning, and that much interest was manifested by the citizens of the county.
Ross county held its first exhibition in the autumn of that year, and the report of the managers is quite cheerful. Nearly all of the exhibited articles were sold at auction, at greatly ad- vanced prices from the current ones of the day. The entry seems to have been free, in an open inclosure, and but little revenue was derived. Little was expected, hence no one was disappointed.
Washington county reports an excellent cattle show for that year, and a number of premiums awarded to the successful exhib- itors. This same year the Ohio Importation Company was organ- ized at the Ross county fair. The company began the next season the importation of fine cattle from England. and, in a few years, did incalculable good in this respect, as well as make considerable money in the enterprise.
These societies were re-organized when the law of 1846 went into effect, and, with those that had gone down and the new ones started, gave an impetus to agriculture that to this day is felt. Now every county has a society, while district, state and inter-state societies are annually held, all promotive in their tendency, and all a benefit to every one.
The Ohio State Board of Agriculture was organized by an act of the legislature, passed February 27, 1846. Since then various amendments to the organic law have been passed from time to time as the necessities of the board and of agriculture in the state de- manded. The same day that the act was passed creating the state board, an act was also passed providing for the erection of county and district societies, under which law, with subsequent amend-
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ments, the present county and district agricultural societies are managed. During the years from 1846 down to the present time, great improvements have been made in the manner of conducting these societies, resulting in exhibitions unsurpassed in any other state.
Pomology and horticulture are branches of industry so closely allied with agriculture that a brief resume of their operations in Ohio will be eminently adapted to these pages. The early planting and care of fruit in Ohio has already been noticed. Among the earliest pioneers were men of fine tastes, who not only desired to benefit themselves and their country, but who were possessed with a laudable ambition to produce the best fruits and vegetables the state could raise. For this end they studied carefully the topog- raphy of the country, its soil, climate, and various influences upon such culture, and by careful experiments with fruit and vegetables, produced the excellent varieties now in use.
As the state filled with settlers, and means of communication became better, a desire for an interchange of views became appar- ent, resulting in the establishment of periodicals devoted to these subjects, and societies where different ones could meet and discuss these things.
A Horticultural and Pomological Society was organized in Ohio in 1866. Before the organization of state societies, however, several distinct or independent societies existed; in fact, out of these grew the state society, which in turn produced good by stimu- lating the creation of county societies. All these societies, aids to agriculture, have progressed as the state developed, and have done much in advancing fine fruit, and a taste for aesthetic culture. In all parts of the west, their influence is seen in better and im- proved fruit ; its culture and its demand.
Today, Ohio stands in the van of the western states in agricul- ture and all its kindred associations. It only needs the active energy of her citizens to keep her in this place, advancing as time advances, until the goal of her ambition is reached.
The Agricultural Society of Seneca county may be said to have originated in a call issued by David E. Owen, under the authority of the county commissioners. and in compliance with a legislative act of February 25, 1833. The meeting was held on June 28th of that year, but no organization was effected. The legislative act of March 12. 1839. to promote agricultural associations. met with greater success in Seneca county. A meeting was advertised for January 1. 1841, which was held on that date in the Methodist church at Tiffin, and an organization was effected and a constitu- tion was adopted. The following officers were elected :
Samuel Waggoner was elected president; A. Ingraham. vice president; Evan Dorsey, recording secretary; R. G. Pennington,
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corresponding secretary; Lloyd Norris, treasurer; Terry, Moore and Stoner, executive committee. The following were among the citizens present who took an active part at the meeting: John Terry, Samuel Waggoner. Abel Rawson, A. Ingraham, W. Toll, Evan Dorsey, Louis Baltzell, Lloyd Norris, Jacob S. Jennings, R. G. Pennington, Andrew Moore, George Stoner, J. W. Wilson and others took active part. There were eighteen managers, one from each township, two from the city of Tiffin and one from the county at large. It bought about twenty-five acres of land for a fair ground, near College Hill, between the North Greenfield and Port- land roads.
The first fair held by Seneca County Agricultural Society was held in October, 1832. This society flourished for a number of years, and its fairs were considered among the best in the state, but in time the organization ceased to exist, and for a number of years the county was without an agricultural society.
In 1902, the old agricultural society which had been formed in 1841 was re-organized and county fairs are now annually held ^ at the Seneca Driving Park, Tiffin.
S. W. Rohrer, Tiffin, President.
Ira Davidson, Tiffin, Vice President.
City National Bank, Tiffin, Treasurer.
M. E. Ink, Republic. Secretary.
Wm. Heller, Tiffin, Speed Secretary.
Marshal-H. D. Zeis.
Executive Committee-William Shuman, Ira Davidson, Frank Glenn.
Secretary's office at Volkmor store, Washington St., Tiffin.
Directors : Adams-S. Detterman. Greenspring; Big Spring- Philip Kinney, Adrian; Bloom-Lewis Roads, Bloomville : Clinton -John Dagan, Tiffin ; Tiffin-Wm. Heller; Eden-Frank Glenn, Tiffin ; Fostoria-Bertha M. Wiekerd; Hopewell-Silas W. Rohrer, Tiffin ; Jackson-Pliny Trumbo, Amsden; Liberty-W. C. Rosen- berger, Tiffin; Louden-John Rinebold, Fostoria; Pleasant -- Wil- liam Shuman, Fort Seneca; Reed-J. II. Hodge, Scipio; Seipio- J. B. Clark, Tiffin; Seneca-Ira Davidson. Berwick; Thompson- D. H. Good, Clyde, R. F. D. No. 3; Venice-A. W. Hull, Attica.
Officers in Charge: Marshal-II. D. Zeis; Horses-Frank Glenn and A. R. Fleet; Speed Department-William Heller : Cattle-A. W. Hull; Sheep-J. II. Hodge; Swine-J. P. Echel- berry.
Mr. Morgan Ink. secretary of the Seneca County Agricultural Society, has a large collection of historical relies, which were on exhibition at the Tiffin fair last fall, and of which we mention the following: Many articles used in the manufacture of cloth, cooking utensils, and some fine old mahogany furniture, ten different styles
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of lanterns, thirty-six different varieties of candlesticks, in iron, pewter and brass, a foot warmer, and numerous other articles, including oil paintings.
The order of the Patrons of Husbandry originated in the mind of O. H. Kelley, a man of New England birth, who went to Minne- sota in his early manhood and became a farmer in that section of the country. In 1864 he was appointed a clerk in the department of agriculture at Washington. Two years later, in January, 1866, Mr. Kelley was commissioned by Hon. Isaac Newton, com- missioner of agriculture, to visit the southern states lately in hosti- lity to the government. for the purpose of obtaining statistical and other information in regard to the condition of the south, and report the same to the department at Washington. It was while traveling in the south, in obedience to these instructions, that the thought of a secret society of agriculturists, for the protection and advancement of their interests, and as an element to restore kindly feelings among the people, first occurred to Mr. Kelley.
The idea of giving women membership in the proposed order originated with Carrie A. Hall, of Boston, Mass., a niece of Mr. Kelley, to whom he had imparted his views of the new association after his return from the south.
In the full formation of the order, six other men were directly associated with Mr. Kelley, namely William Saunders of the depart- ment of agriculture, who, next to Mr. Kelley, did most in orginat- ing the order ; Rev. A. B. Grosh, of the same department; William M. Ireland, of the post office department; Rev. John Trimble and J. R. Thompson of the treasury department. and F. M. McDowell, a pomologist of Wayne, New York, all of whom, with one excep- tion, were born upon a farm.
These seven men were the founders of the order, and for near- ly two years they labored with great energy, and with a faith and zeal amounting almost to inspiration, until, with the assistance of friends who became interested in the plan, they completed a well- devised scheme of organization, based upon a ritual of four degrees for men and four for women, which is unsurpassed in the English language for originality of thought, purity of sentiment and beauty of diction.
Having formed a constitution to govern the order to which this ritual was adapted. these men met on the 4th day of December, 1867, and constituted themselves the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, with William Saunders as master, J. R. Thompson, lecturer, William M. Ireland, treasurer and O. HI. Kelley secretary. The remaining offices for obvious reasons were left vacant.
The little brown building in which the organization was ef-
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fected was at the time the office of Mr. Saunders, and stood em- bowered with the trees in the gardens of the agricultural depart- ment on the corner of Four-and-a-half street and Missouri avenue. Later the late Colonel Aiken of South Carolina, and other inter- ested members of the order made vigorous efforts to have the government preserve this historic building, but they were unsuc- cessful in their efforts.
The first Subordinate Grange was organized in Washington, D. C., the 8th day of January, 1868, as a school of instruction, with William M. Ireland as master.
The first dispensation for a grange was granted at Harris- burg, Pennsylvania, the 4th day of April, 1868, but the first regular Subordinate Grange to which a charter was issued was organized at Fredonia, New York, the 16th day of April, 1868.
The first State Grange, that of Minnesota, was organized the 22nd day of February, 1869. The new order made slow progress up to 1872, only 275 granges having been organized in the entire country. During the year 1872, 1.105 were organized and the order had an existence in twenty-two states.
The first meeting of the National Grange as a delegate body. was held at Georgetown, D. C., the 8th day of January 1873, with six of the founders of the order and seventeen delegates present. representing eleven states; six of the delegates were masters of state granges, and the remainder were deputies in the order. In addition to these, four women were present, viz: Miss Carrie A. Hall, Mrs. O. H. Kelley, Mrs. D. W. Adams and Mrs. J. C. Abbott. The total number of granges organized previous to this meeting was 1,362. Nearly 30,000 charters have been issued to the pre- sent time, and the organization is now increasing in membership and influence faster than at any previous time in its history.
What is the grange? The grange is a fraternal organization of farmers, to secure educational. social, financial and legislative benefits; national in scope, non-partisan in politics, but truly patriotic, seeking to develop the highest standards of citizenship; non-sectarian in religion, but having its high ideas of morality, · founded on the teachings of the Bible; including in its membership not only the farmer but his family; seeking to restore agriculture to the place assigned it by the Father of his Country as, "the most healthful, the most useful and the noblest calling of man."
That such an organization was needed was amply proven by the wonderful growth it made during the early history of the order. After its purpose became understood, farmers in all parts of the country joined by thousands, until in a very short time it became a national power. Today granges can be found in more than thirty states, with a membership approaching a million.
The grange is so closely linked with all that has pertained to
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rural development since its organization that it will be impossible to measure in words all the benefits it has conferred upon the farm- ing class, but there has been more agricultural progress since the grange came into existence than in the centuries proceeding.
The founders of this order in their wisdom, made not wealth or power or material things fundamental, but builded upon the solid rock of education, seeking to "educate and elevate" the American farmer, so the great glory of the grange is not measured in dollars, or legislative achievements, but in the improved character and ability of the men and women on the farm. The high ideals set forth and constant opportunities for mental improvement offered have had a far-reaching influence for the good upon the million people who have been connected with the order, and the millions more with whom they have been associated.
. The grange has encouraged schools and agricultural educa- tion by all means within its power, and will exert an even greater influence in this direction in years to come. Libraries are es- tablished, where valuable books of reference in agriculture and other lines can be obtained. In this practical school for the farmer and his family, the young learn to use their knowledge, and with the old, to gain new information and all, what is more important, the power to express their thoughts in a creditable manner.
The advent of the grange and its attendant social blessings have broken up the isolations of farm life. Thousands of farm homes have been made happier and better, and the members of farmer's families have been reaping the highest enjoyments of life through the mental and social opportunities offered to all Patrons of Husbandry.
J. W. Darrow writes that "when we look back over the work of the grange in the last forty years, we have great reason to be thank- ful for its inception, its institution, its noble work and the results. Like the sun's light. it warms, cheers and blesses wherever its beams extend. Encouraged by the past, sowing the seeds of brighter hopes and nobler influences all over the country, let us go forward caring not if we be officers or humble members, knowing there is a wide place for each one, and much work waiting for willing hands to perform."
Forty-seven new granges have been organized in Ohio this year making about 550 in the state. The gains from September 1, 1909, to September 1, 1910, are 4,799 members. The member- ship in Ohio is about 35,000.
The grange movement was first introduced in Seneca county in 1873, by J. W. Barrack, as organizing deputy.
The Melmore Grange was the first organized. September 16, 1873, with E. Shoemaker, M., and R. MeMartin, secretary. The grange at Tiffin followed, November 20, 1873, with C. C. Park, M.,
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and William Miller, secretary. Grand Rapids Grange and Seneca Grange, were organized December 20, 1873. Mayflower Grange No. 290, was organized December 22. 1873. with John Greer, M., and J. R. Higgins, secretary. Palo Alto Grange was organized
December 20, with Jeremiah Rex, M. Republic Grange, Green Spring Grange and Fostoria Grange were organized in January, 1874, with William Baker. R. H. Slaymaker and Montgomery Noble, Masters, respectively. Bloom Grange No. 510, Harmony Grange (Reed . Township), Thompson Centre Grange, Loudon Grange and Venice Grange were all organized in the spring of 1874, and, with the farmers' circles mentioned above, must be con- sidered the pioneers of a movement which occupied a great deal of public attention, if it did not actually become a problem of political economy. Seneca County Council, Patrons of Husbandry, was organized at Tiffin, November 27, 1874.
There are five granges in Seneca county at the present time, namely :
Venice-Master, R. M. Martin ; secretary, Flora A. Livingston. Union-Master. Dan Egbert ; secretary, N. E. Loose.
Grand Rapids-Master, R. T. Smith; secretary, Mrs. R. T. Smith.
Honey Creek-Master, A. W. Hull; secretary, H. M. Tanner.
Progressive-Master, S. C. Nusbaum; secretary, Thomas B. Hartley.
There is also a Pomona Grange in Seneca county, with a mem- bership of about fifty-Master. A. W. Hull : secretary, J. W. Cole.
The entire membership of the order in Seneca county is about three hundred. Marcus Holtz is deputy master for Seneca county.
Great are the farming and agricultural interests in Ohio. Mother earth, from whose bosom we came and to whose eternal embrace we must return, has been wonderously generous to us and to our neighbors. Let us cherish her virtues, so that everywhere within our borders she shall wear a golden crown.
JOHNNY APPLESEED AGAIN.
Johnny Appleseed, who made frequent trips through Seneca . county disposing of his nursery stock to the pioneer settlers, is thus sketched by Rosella Rice :
John Chapman was born in the year 1775, at or near Spring- field, Mass. In the latter years of the last century. or beginning of the present, he. with his half-brother. Nathaniel Chapman, came to Ohio, and stayed a year or two, and then returned to Springfield. and moved their father's family to Marietta, Ohio. Soon after that Johnny located in Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg. and began the nursery business, and continued it on westward. His father, Vol. 1-12
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Nathaniel Chapman, was twice married. The children of the first wife were John, Lucy and Patty. . The girls married and re- mained in the east. The children of the second marriage were Nathaniel, Perley, Persis, Abner (a mute), Mary, Jonathan (like- wise a mute), Davis and Sally. Johnny's father, Nathaniel, Sr., moved from Marietta to Duck Creek where he lived until his death, and was buried there. Johnny often visited them and gathered seeds there. The Chapman family and relatives are scattered through Ohio and Indiana. Four of Johnny's half-sisters were living when the monument, was raised to his memory, or his name engraved on the Copus monument in 1882. We have good author- ity for saying that he was born in the year 1775, and his name was John Chapman, not Jonathan. as it is generally called. He was an earnest disciple of the faith taught by Emanuel Sweden- borg, and claimed that he had conversation with spirits and angels.
In the bosom of his shirt he always carried a Testament and one or two old volumes of Swedenborg's works. These he read daily. He was a man rather above middle stature, wore his hair and beard long and dressed oddly. He generally wore old clothes that he had taken in exchange for the one commodity in which he dealt-apple
trees. He was known in Ohio as early as 1811. Dr. Hill says in 1801, an old uncle of ours, a pioneer in Jefferson county, Ohio, said the first time he ever saw him (Johnny) he was going down the river in 1806 with two canoes lashed together and well laden with apple seeds which he had obtained at the cider presses of western Pennsylvania. Sometimes he carried a bag or two of seeds on an old horse, but more frequently he bore them on his back, going from place to place on the wild frontier, clearing a little patch, surrounding it with a rude enclosure and planting seeds therein. HIe had little nurseries all through Ohio. Pennsyl- vania and Indiana. If a man wanted trees and was not able to pay for them, Johnny took his note, and if the man ever got able and was willng to pay the debt. he took the money thankfully; but if not, it was well. Sometimes he took a coat, one of which we remember of having seen. It was a sky-blue. light, very fine, and made in the prevailing Quaker style, with bright silver-looking buttons on it, two rows as large at least as silver dollars. Some way the button holes were out of sight. hidden by a fold perhaps. The coat was a choice wedding garment of a wealthy young Quaker. and in time, prosperity and its attendant blessings made the young man grow rotund in stature. and the coat did not fit. Then he had loops put on it and finally he traded it to Johnny for trees; and Johnny's home was at my grandfather's and by that means the coat came into our family and hung by the year. on a peg up stairs. I can remember how .Johnny looked in his queer clothing, combina- tion suit, as the girls of nowadays would call it. He was such a
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good, kind, generous man, that he thought it was wrong to expend money on clothes to be worn just for their fine appearance. H thought if he was comfortably elad, and in attire that suited the weather, it was sufficient. His head covering was often a paste board hat of his own making. with one broad side to it, that he wore next the sunshine to protect his face. It was a very unsightly object to be sure, and yet never one of us children ventured to laugh. We held Johnny in tender regard. His pantaloons were old and scant and short, with some sort of a substitute for "gal- lows" or suspenders. He never wore a coat unless it was in the winter time, and his feet were knobby and horny and frequently bare. Sometimes he wore sandals instead-rude soles with thong fastenings. The bosom of his shirt was always pulled out loosely so as to make a kind of pocket or pouch in which he carried his books. We have seen Johnny frequently wearing an old coffee sack for a coat, with holes cut in it for his arms.
All the orchards in the white settlements came from the nurser- ies of Johnny's planting. Even now all these years, and though this region is densely populated. I can count from my window no less than five orchards or remains of orchards that were once trees taken from his nurseries. Long ago if he was going a great dis- tance and carrying a sack of seeds on his back he had to provide himself with a leather sack, for the dense underbush. brambles and thorny thickets would have made it unsafe for a coffee sack. I remember distinctly of falling over one of Johnny's well filled sacks early one morning immediately after rising. It was not light in the room, at the head of the stairs and it was not there when I went to bed the night before. It seems that he arrived at night and for safe keeping the sack was put up stairs, while he lay beside the kitchen fire. I never saw him sleep in a bed. He preferred to lie on the floor with his poor old horny feet to the fire. I have often wondered how he carried that sack of seeds. I should think there was at least a bushel and a half in it and was so full that instead of being tied and leaving something for a hand hold it was sowed up snugly and one end was as smooth and tight as the other. It must have been as hard to carry as a box of the same size. I have heard my father say, however, that Johnny always carried a forestick or any big stiek for the the fireplace on his hip, so it may be that it was the way he carried that ungainly burden.
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