267 



In 1868 tlie Department building was finished, and in August tlie 

 records and other property of the Department, with the exception of the 

 museum, were moved from the Patent Office bnikliug. The museum was 

 moved a month or two later. In 1869 the small botanical collection of 

 the Department was greatly enlarged by the transfer of the extensive 

 and valuable collection of the Smithsonian Institution, which had been 

 contributed by various Government surveying and exploring expeditions. 

 Mr. C. 0. Parry, a scientific botanist, was placed in charge of the 

 herbarium thus created, and the botanical work of the Department has 

 since remained in his hands. In 1870 the large conservatory of the De- 

 imrtment was commenced, and in 1871 it was completed. 



On the 27th of June, 1871, Commissioner Capron tendered to the 

 President his resigiiation, to take effect August 1st, and Hon. Frederick 

 Watts was commissioned in his stead. General Capron was born in 

 New York, and was the son of Dr. Seth Capron, who served with dis- 

 tinction in the Revolutionary army. His attention was earl}- directed 

 to cotton manufacture, a business which he prosecuted 'for many years. 

 In 1836 he became the owner of a large manufactory of cotton goods 

 and of another manufactory of cotton machinery at Laurel, Maryland. 

 He also became the owner, at the same place, of an exhausted farm of 

 1,200 acres. This farm he brought to a high state of fertility, and by 

 his management of it, and his frequent contributions to the agricultural 

 press, he became widely known as a progressive farmer. In 1851 he 

 removed to Illinois and again engaged in farming on a large scale. In 

 1862 he recruited the Fourteenth Eegiment of Illinois Cavalry, and 

 served with it to the close of the war. He was successively commis- 

 sioned lieutenant colonel and colonel of the regiment, and at the close 

 of the war was made brigadier general by brevet. November 29, 1867, 

 he was appointed the second Commissioner of Agriculture. 



The total expenditures by the Government for the encouragement of 

 agriculture, from the first appropriation of 81,000, in 1839, to the 30th 

 day of June, 1871, exclusive of the cost of printing the agricultural 

 reports, were $2,019,893. The total cost of the building erected for the 

 use of the Department of Agriculture, furniture included, was 8110,000, 

 and the cost of the conservatory was about 823,000. 



HON. HENRY L. ELLSWORTH. 



The following sketch of the life of Hon. Henry L. Ellsworth, first 

 Commissioner of Patents, and founder of the agricultural division of 

 that bureau, is furnished by one of his near relatives, and is given 

 here as written, in lieu of a longer sketch, the preparation of which has 

 been meditated : 



Hon. Henry L. EUswortli was bom at Windsor, Connecticut, in the year 1790. He 

 -was the twin-brother of Hon. William W. Ellsworth, late chief justice of Connecticut, 

 also deceased. His father was Hon. Oliver Ellsworth, third Chief Justice of the United 

 States. His mother was Abigail Wolcott, a relative oi Oliver Wolcott, a signer of the 

 Declaration of Independence. Mr. Ellsworth was a graduate of Yale College in 1810, 

 was a classmate of Professor Morse, and jierhaps did more than any other single man, 

 when Commissioner of Patents, to secure the appropriation from Congress to test the 

 Ijracticability of the telegraph, in which he tirmly believed. 



He studied law at the Litchtield (Connecticut)' Law School, and married for his first 

 wife Nancy Goodrich, daughter of Elizur Goodrich, treasurer of Yale College. His 

 father, Oliver Ellsworth, was both a farmer and a lawyer, in the days when the men of 

 mark lived in the country and upon farms — not simply at country-seats — and not in the 

 towns; and he himself was in the same way a farmer, living first flt Windsor, Connec- 

 ticut, and carrying on the home farm, at the same time that he commenced the practice 

 of law at Hartford. He, however, soon removed to Hartford, and preferred to engage 

 in politics and various piu'suits rather than adhere to his profession. My impres- 



