402 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Freeman was a graduate of ]<kIunroe Collegiate Institute, 

 N. Y., and afterwards a teacher of mathematics and rhetoric in 

 the same institution. His whole life was the life of a student. 

 He arose early, and by judicious planning of his daily work no 

 day w^as so busy that he did not secure several hours for study. 

 He was an omnivorous reader and kept himself thoroughly in- 

 formed upon current events, history, scientific research, religious 

 progress, modern methods of farming, etc. He never read fic- 

 tion. Said he had no time for it. He never read secular read- 

 ing upon the Sabbath. This day was devoted to the worship of 

 God. He was a member of the Baptist church for forty-six years, 

 being Sunday school superintendent and deacon for many years. 



Mr. Freeman was a Christian gentleman and a philanthro- 

 pist in the broad sense of the word. He follow^ed the golden rule 

 implicitly. He was never known to cheat a person in a business 

 deal. His word was as good as his bond. The slightest deviation 

 from truth and honesty was impossible to him. Even inaccuracy 

 was considered by him almost a crime. His mind was very bright 

 and active, his capacity for hard study upon the matter under con- 

 sideration was wonderful, and had he possessed good physical 

 health he would have been much more widely known among his 

 fellows. 



The remembrance of his merry smile and hearty laugh, his 

 enjoyment of an apt repartee, his intense interest in every move- 

 ment which might benefit his fellowmen, the cheery personal mag- 

 netism of his presence and musical voice, are an heritage worth 

 more to his many friends than money or fame. 



From i860 to 1870 Mr. Freeman was engaged in teaching 

 and clerical work in New York state and Connecticut, interspersed 

 with work upon his father's farm among the Catskills. His 

 health suffered from the confinement of in-door life, so in 1869 

 he and his wife removed to Iowa, settling upon a farm near Wa- 

 verly. Here were spent thirteen very busy years. Mr. Freeman 

 was intensely interested in the starting of an apple orchard upon 

 his farm. He also devoted some ten acres to the raising of a grove 

 of European larch and evergreens of msftiy varieties. He was 

 among the first to engage in the creamery business. 



Durng this time he was either president or secretary of nearly 

 every local farmers' organization in the county. For seven years he 

 was secretary of the Farmers' Fire Ins. Company of Bremer Co., 

 Iowa, at one time the largest cooperative insurance company in 



