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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 Minnesota 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, commissioner of agriculture, to visit the southern states lately in hostility 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 department of agriculture, who, next to Mr. Kelley, did most in orginating 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 exception, were born upon a farm.

These seven men were the founders of the order, and for nearly 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 welldevised 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. H. Kelley secretary. The remaining offices for obvious reasons were left

vacant.

The little brown building in which the organization was ef

fected was at the time the office of Mr. Saunders, and stood embowered with the trees in the gardens of the agricultural department on the corner of Four-and-a-half street and Missouri avenue. Later the late Colonel Aiken of South Carolina, and other interested members of the order made vigorous efforts to have the government preserve this historic building, but they were unsuccessful 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 Harrisburg, 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 present 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

rural development since its organization that it will be impossible to measure in words all the benefits it has conferred upon the farming 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 education by all means within its power, and will exert an even greater influence in this direction in years to come. Libraries are established, 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 thankful 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 membership 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 29, 1873, with C. C. Park, M.,

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 considered 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 membership 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 Springfield, 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. I-12

Nathaniel Chapman, was twice married. The children of the first wife were John, Lucy and Patty. The girls married and remained in the east. The children of the second marriage were Nathaniel, Perley, Persis, Abner (a mute), Mary, Jonathan (likewise 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 authority 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 Swedenborg, 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. He had little nurseries all through Ohio, Pennsylvania 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, combination suit, as the girls of nowadays would call it. He was such a

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