8 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



method and operation of which weretnore and more seen 

 to be of indisputable utility. It may be remarked that the 

 society is not only prior in date to all others in the State, 

 but, as a corporation, to all others in the United States. 

 In New York and Pennsylvania, and possibly in one of the 

 more Southern states, societies had been formed a few 

 years earlier, the first in 1785. In the Canadian provinces 

 one, or possibly two, existed. The petition alludes to 

 these, and, in the same connection, to European societies. 

 They were but few in number. Britain appears to have 

 had but two, the Dublin society, which is stated to have had 

 " but small influence for many years, " and the Highland 

 society in Scotland, which was incorporated in 1787. The 

 British Board of Agriculture was not established till 1793. 

 It is noticeable that the fathers of the Massachusetts society 

 disclaim in their petition any pretence as originators ; but 

 their praise is that they were in the world's front rank as 

 " advanced thinkers r on the important subject for promot- 

 ing which they organized, and, as respects public opinion, 

 they were, as one of the later official publications of the 

 society declares, " ahead of the age. " 



Two names are at once recognizable in the list of peti- 

 tioners as of the highest distinction and of national renown, 

 Samuel Adams, " the father of the Revolution, '' and Ben- 

 jamin Lincoln, the companion in arms and personal friend 

 of Washington. If the shadows of forgetfulness have in 

 varying measure crept over the others it is fitting that, 

 for the present occasion, they be singled out from the long 

 roll of one hundred years, as pre-eminent, the fathers and 

 founders, the brethren ab urbe condita. 



JOHN A VERY JK., the first secretary of the society, was 

 at the time of its organization also the secretary of the Com- 

 monwealth. He was of the Truro family of that name ; 

 born in 1739 ; graduate of Harvard, 1759 ; secretary of 

 State from the adoption of the constitution in 1780 to his 

 decease in 1806. He does not appear to have been a prac- 



