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Below
is a remarkable history of the National Grange written
personally by the father of the Grange, Oliver Hudson
Kelley. The article was written at the request of
the Connecticut State Grange in 1900 as it was compiling
a thorough history of the Grange in the state up
to the turn of the century.
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CONNECTICUT GRANGES - ORIGIN OF THE ORDER |
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By
O. H. KELLEY
Your
request for a brief sketch touching the early
history of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry,
and particularly the circumstances leading
to its inception, carries me back many years
and recalls so much of interest it is with
difficulty that I select the materials to
suit your purpose.
It
should be bourne in mind that the historian
of events in which he has been the principal
actor must necessarily say much of himself,
and this, of itself, to one of my “innate
modesty,” is a task of large proportions.
Age, however, and extensive contact with public
men generally have worn off the keen edge
of my sensitiveness, and so I set about my
business in the spirit of self-sacrifice and
self-immolation upon the altar of duty, much
as our modern Senators accept a re-election
at the hands of a clamoring legislature which
knows its business.
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When
and under what circumstances was the idea of the Order
first conceived? What was the chief incident that
led to its birth?
With
one exception (ex-Senator Ramsey of Minnesota) all
the parties then interested, except, of course, the
writer, who still entertains the motion that he is
alive and kicking, have long since joined the “great
majority”; and so I am at liberty to write about
matters that have never before been mentioned in print.
At the time of their happening, I considered my trials
and tribulations a fair match for the torments of
the last lamented Job, who, you will recall, was the
Scriptural gentleman with boils; but now, after thirty-four
years, I can laugh heartily as I recall them.
In
the fall of 1864, I came to Washington, under the
wing, so to speak, of Senator Ramsey of Minnesota,
as the Washington correspondent of the St. Paul Pioneer,
then edited by Louis E. Fisher. To help pay my expenses
for enlightening the great Northwest as to the doings
of the salons at the Capital City – for in those
days the boys of the press hadn’t made much
headway with the God of Mammon – I received
an appointment as a first-class clerk in the Department
of Agriculture at a salary of one hundred dollars
a month.
The
Department of Agriculture had just been established,
and Hon. Isaac Newton, a good old Quaker, appointed
Commissioner. James H. Grinnell, of Massachusetts,
was the Chief Clerk, and William Saunders, afterwards
Master of the National Grange, was the Superintendent
of the Experimental Garden. I mention the names of
these gentlemen because it was their abilities solely
that gave any semblance of character to the new institution
at that time. To me it seemed to be branch of the
Government where Senators and Congressmen unloaded
the mighty host of their importunate office-seeking
constituents, whose sole duty after appointment was
believed to require their prompt attendance on pay-day,
a duty for the neglect of which a reprimand was seldom
known to be necessary. It goes without saying that
I was never the subject for such a reprimand.
Notwithstanding
its defects, it was the nucleus for what is now one
of the largest and most important of the Executive
Departments of our humane but ever expanding government.
The
Commissioner was an eccentric old gentleman, who,
next to himself, loved his maker and flattery; and
his office and its administration often formed the
basis for Senatorial jokes. Still he was always ready
to listen to suggestions, even if he did not heed
them; and he like to be consulted even in matters
beyond his jurisdiction, if they affected his Department.
Doubtless for this reason he requested, and I always
submitted to him, the manuscript of my correspondence
with my paper; and I new enough of his peculiarities
always to win his approval.
During
the summer of 1865, while I was in Minnesota on leave
of absence, I conceived the idea of taking a southern
trip and writing up the agricultural and mineral resources
of the fruitful Southland; and, as the Commissioner
was in a position to make this possible for me in
a very pleasant way known to the initiated at Washington,
I wrote to him concerning it, with the endorsement
of Senator Ramsey. This brought me the following letter:
Department
of Agriculture
Washington, D.C., October 20, 1865
O. H. Kelley, Esq., Itasca, Minn.
Dear
Sir:
I am exceedingly anxious to have you come to this city by the 1st
proximo, if you can possibly arrange to be here by that time. I wish
to see you on special business requiring your presence.
I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,
Isaac Newton,
Commissioner.
Of
course this special business could be nothing other
than that connected with my Southern trip, and so,
on reaching Washington, I immediately called upon
Mr. Newton, as he requested. Judge my surprise when
he informed me that he had lately bought a gold
mine in Northern Alabama, and he wanted me to go
down and look it up. I suggested that it would hardly
do to make that my special business, and at the
expense of the Department, too, but if I had an
appointment to report upon the agricultural and
mineral resources of the South, I could take in
the gold mine and give it special attention, if
needs be. This proposition met with his approval,
and he told me to hold myself in readiness to start
on short notice. I did manage to hold myself for
six weeks, before proceeding to stir him up. He
told me he had reconsidered his original intention,
and that he was not going to give me the appointment;
and I went back at him with a breezy Western rejoinder
that I was determined he should, which brought from
him an inquiry as to whether he or I was running
the Department. We parted, however, without bloodshed
and, at this point, the State of Connecticut became
interested in my plans, and the outcome of its interest
was the birth of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry.
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At
this time, the Senate had divided in sentiment
towards the President, Johnson, and Senator Dixon,
then Senator from Connecticut, had become a prime
favorite with the President. It was my good fortune
to be a frequent visitor at his house. I gave
him a full account of my plans and of my difficulty
with the Commissioner of Agriculture, and told
him that I was anxious to interest the President
in my scheme. The Senator entered cheerfully into
the matter, and during the first week in January
1866, secured me an interview with the President
for the following Wednesday morning at ten o’clock.
The
virtue of promptness which I had so successfully
cultivated on paydays at the Department of Agriculture
enabled me to be on hand at the proper time,
and I was rewarded with a very pleasant interview
with President Johnson.
I
explained my plans fully and he heartily approved
them, saying that as soon as the people of the
North and South unite their capital and energy
and develop the vast resources of the Southern
States they will challenge the admiration (and
he might also have added the envy) of the world.
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I
discovered at this interview that the Commissioner was
not considered a very difficult obstacle to the onward
march of progress at the White House; and just as we
were about to depart, the President requested the Senator,
on his way to the Capitol, “to drop into the old
man’s office and tell him to come up here, I want
to see him.”
On
the way to the Department I suggested to the Senator
that he had better see Mr. Newton privately about
the matter, but he insisted that it “would be
a good joke on the old man for us to break the news
to him together,” which we did.
You
don’t have to live long in Washington to appreciate
the value of a Senator for backing when you have to
interview the head of any of the Executive Departments.
Our reception this time was more genial; the message
was delivered; and when the Senator left me he told
me in the corridor that the coast was now clear and
I might arrange the rest to my own liking.
After
about two hours time, the confidential clerk of the
Commissioner came to my room and asked in a humorous
manner, “What instructions have you to give
the Commissioner, Mr. Kelley?” Just as humorously,
I handed him the form of the appointment or commission
which I had previously prepared, and my southern trip
became possible – a trip the results of which
suggested the idea of the Grange.
Through
Senator Dixon’s influence, I had not only won
my fight, but everything had been amicably arranged
with the Commissioner to my entire satisfaction, and
before I left the Department that afternoon he had
warmly congratulated me upon having the favor of the
President.
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Senator
James Dixon who served as a Senator from
CT from 1857-1869.
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Through
Senators Ramsey and Dixon I received letters of
introduction to Governors of several of the Southern
States; a government pass over all the mail routes,
the contribution of the Postmaster-General, to
which were attached certain private instructions;
and when I was ready to start, on the 13th of
January, I found myself well provided with the
munitions of peace and full liberty to go where
I like to use them and make the most of my opportunities.
One
of my good friends advised me, before going
South, to take a couple of revolvers, plenty
of ammunition, and a body-guard, as I would
find some fellows “down there” who
would not be likely to take kindly to a Boston
Yankee; but knowing my weakness as a marksman,
and being heartily – even so far back
as that – in accord with the beautiful
tenets of the American Peace Society, I concluded
that good behavior, self-respect, a little cheek,
and a well-sharpened lead pencil, with a bountiful
supply of paper, would win me an audience in
the Southland and as cordial a reception as
I could wish.
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Through
my letters of introduction and the gentlemen to whom
they were addressed, I made many acquaintances with
prominent planters; and it is a singular fact that about
nineteen of every twenty of them belonged to the Masonic
fraternity.
We
could talk all day and night upon agriculture, but
political questions were not to be thought of. As
a result of these talks and observations of the feelings
and character of the southern people, I concluded
great good would result from bringing the farmers
of the country together in a fraternity that would
bind them as closely as the Masonic fraternity binds
its bands of brothers, a fraternity which would have
for its object the mutual benefit and interests of
the men who till the soil, the bone and sinew of this
great Republic. It was plainly to be seen that the
wrangling and quarreling of politicians in Congress
were not going to restore harmony in the south. Might
not my idea of a farmer’s fraternity accomplish
more?
That
idea and its outcome have been vindicated before the
people of this country, and I doubt not in the eyes
of the world. The results are well known, and it is
not my purpose to discuss them here; but great and
small, they were all the children and the grandchildren
of that southern trip, which my good friend, the first
Commissioner of Agriculture, had so nearly killed
while it was “a-bornin’.”
I
found Newton’s gold-mine friend at a prominent
town in Georgia, presented my letter of introduction
to him, and solicited all the information possible
concerning the “diggings.” My impression
from my first interview was that there was more natural
gas than gold in the scheme; but I took a detailed
description of the property, which was said to be
located in the mountains north of Selma, Alabama,
and made my way to that point to continue my investigation.
When I reached Selma and made known my intention of
searching for the gold mine, I was advised that I
would find it “skeery business” if I tackled
the “highlands,” as the “Moonshiners” might
mistake me for a revenue officer and fill me with
lead. I was not searching for that kind of mineral,
or at least in the way in which I was likely to find
it, if my curiosity led me into this forbidden territory,
and being satisfied by reliable parties that there
had been some “pockets” of gold found
prior to the war, I confined my further efforts to
purchasing a few nuggets from a jeweler to prove that
gold existed where these samples were said to have
been found; after which my eyes were turned to headquarters.
On
my trip I kept a daily journal, and noted down each
night the results of the day’s observations,
thus accumulating a vast deal of information of every
variety; and in addition I made invaluable reports
weekly, for the benefit of the government archives,
to the Commissioner of Agriculture.
I
returned to Washington April 21, and later went to
Boston, where I met Miss Hall, my niece, to whom I
gave the first crude outline of my idea of the organization
of the fraternity which we all now know as the Patrons
of Husbandry. The suggestion to give woman full membership
in it was hers. As we are both natives of Boston,
we may well claim that the order, through the aid
of [Conn.] Senator Dixon, is of New England origin.
Returning
afterwards to my farm in Minnesota, I made no decided
move in the work until May, 1867, and it was a year
after that before matters were in a shape to warrant
my starting out on my tour to introduce my idea to
the farmers of the United States. Then came more trials
and tribulations; but after four years of the hardest
kind of work I found success. In my History of the
Order, published in 1875, will be found a compilation
of letters, touching the early history of the movement
which were carefully saved, the authors of which were
innocently writing the history of the institution
as it progressed.
Among
those to whom we are largely indebted for aid is the
Hon. Thomas B. Bryan of Chicago; who always cheerfully
furnished funds when the Exchequer was low; and in
February, 1871, he saved the National Grange from
a final collapse with a loan, which, however, was
repaid a year later, and which amounted to but one
hundred and eighty-four dollars. But from the date
of that loan to the present time, the National Grange
has always been able to pay its own way on a cash
basis, and the day of its bankruptcy is as far off
as the Day of Judgment.
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It
is a pleasure to say also that the Farmers Loan
and Trust Company of New York has, since the Georgetown
session of the National Grange, been the Financial
Agent of the Order. Brother F.M. McDowell, was
the Treasurer while living, and the post has been
most ably and conscientiously filled by his wife,
who was elected to the office at his death. These
are most important matters to remember, for the
stability of the treasury is the life of every
successful institution.
That
the order, in its early days, from 1872 to 1875
inclusive, did a great work was shown by its
rapid growth in the southern states, every one
of which was ably represented at the annual
sessions of the National Grange, and, if memory
serves me correctly, every State and Territory,
excepting Rhode Island, was represented at each
of the three consecutive sessions.
While
the two great political parties were excited
to fever heat and each of them lashing its adherents,
as far as possible, into a fury of passion and
almost hatred, while even our good friends of
the Presbyterian and Methodist churches, North
and South, continued their war- indeed, I am
not aware that they have yet ratified their
Treaty of Peace – the northern farmers
and the southern planters were meeting together
in the bonds of fraternity, and brotherly love
and friendship lasting as life and pleasant
as Heaven were cementing the hearts and interests
of the Patrons of Husbandry.
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Office
of William Saunders, the Superintendent
of the Propagating Gardens in Washington,
D.C. where he worked with Oliver H. Kelley
and the five other founders to establish
the Patrons of Husbandry. The building
was located where the National Mall is
now located. It no longer stands but a
plaque recognizing the importance of the
site was placed there by the National
Grange. It is the only private memorial
of its type to be allowed on the National
Mall.
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History
shows that it takes political parties and religious
organizations to wage bloody warfare and perpetuate
hatred; and this was never shown with greater clearness
than just subsequent to the close of our great Civil
War; but while the rest were continuing their strife,
the subordinate Granges north and south were having
their feast of harmony every month in the year, forgetful
of the wrangling of the churches and demagogues around
them; and yet these very Granges numbered among their
members many who could not fraternize with their dissenting
brethren outside the Grange Halls, except upon matters
connected with the Order which was dear to them both.
It
was the Grange with offered the first olive branch
of peace to north and south, and that it was successful
in uniting elements as opposite in their natures as
oil and water, speaks well for the grand principles
upon which it was founded.
It
is these principles which are the main security of
the Order, as the subordinate Granges, with their
large and sturdy membership, such as is now found
in the New England and Middle States, are the bone
and sinew of this modern giant.
The
falling off in membership and activity in southern
and western states is due chiefly to local causes;
but I have little doubt that a revival of interest
will come and with it a growth in the membership which
will lastingly insure to the Order its position as
the oldest and nearest to perfect organization of
farmers in the United States, and, indeed, in the
world.
Thirty
years of vast and unremitting labor, and thousands
of active, brilliant minds have been the means of
placing the Order where it is to-day, and, as science
tells us that nothing is lost of force or matter in
this mighty world of ours, I am sanguine enough to
believe that this product of stupendous labor and
the ablest intelligence of the land will not only
live, but go on and on in its work of progress and
civilization first and foremost in the ranks of honorable
organizations which have made and will continue to
make this world of ours brighter and better and fit
it for the approving voice of the great Master in
the Grange beyond.
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