jNio. (i DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUKK. 



TIIK GKANGi;. 



OKDEK OF PATRONS OF UUSJBANDKY. 



ITS ORIGIN. 



The Order of the Patrons of Husbandry originated iu the mind of 

 O. H. Kelley, a man of New England birth, who went to Minnesota 

 iu his early manhood, and became a farmer in that section of the 

 country. 



In 1804 he was appointed a clerk iu 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 iu regard 

 to the condition of the South, and report the same to the Department 

 at Washington. 



It was while traveling iu the South iu obedience to these instruc- 

 tions, that the thought of a secret society of agriculturists, for the 

 protection and advancement of their interests, and as an element to 

 restore kindly feeliug among the people, first occurred to Mr. Kelley. 



The idea of giving women full membership in the proposed Order 

 originated with Miss 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 originating the Order, Eev. A. B. Grosh, of 

 the same Department, William M. Ireland, of the Postofiice Depart- 

 ment, Rev. John Trimble and J. R. Thompson, of the Treasury De- 

 partment, and F. M. McDowell, a pomologist, of Wayne, N. Y., 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 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. 



Flaving formed a constitution to govern the Order to which thi» 

 ritual was adopted, these men met on the fourth day of December, 



