History and Influence of the New York State 

 Dairymen's Association. 



By B. D. Gilbert. 

 Read at the meeting of the above association at Walcrtown. 



The TSTew York State Dairymen's Association dates back to the 

 early days of associated dairying in this country, inasmuch as it 

 was the outgrowth and result of the older American Dairymen's 

 Association. All cheese dairymen will remember that the first 

 cheese factory built in this country, and that means in the world, 

 was the one erected by Jesse Williams in 1851, in Oneida county, 

 New York. For seven or eight years there was very little in- 

 crease in the number of factories, dairymen assuming a somewhat 

 critical attitude toward the new method and desiring to investigate 

 it thoroughly before embarking in it. But about the year 1860 

 the factory system began to become more popular, and new 

 factories sprang up in different parts of the State. In 18G1 Mr. 

 A. P. Willard tells us there were thirty-four factories in Oneida 

 county, with a considerable number in Herkimer, Montgomery, 

 Jefferson, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua counties. By the year 

 1864 dairymen began to feel the need and importance of coming 

 together at least once a year to compare notes and learn what they 

 could from each other. Under the lead of their two most promi- 

 nent men, Prof. I,. B. Arnold, who for many years was the 

 only really scientific man in the cheese business of this land, 

 and Hon. Harris Lewis, one of the most level-headed practical 

 men, a meeting was called at Rome, N. Y., where the Ameri- 

 can Dairymen's Association was then formed. Hon. Horatio 

 Seymour was made president and retained that office as long as the 

 association lasted ; Professor Arnold became secretary and Harris 

 Lewis, treasurer. There is said to have been great enthusiasm 

 when this association was formed, and for some years the con- 

 ventions were attended by delegates from many parts of the 

 country. But after a time it was found that the dairy business 



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