Herman W. Danforth, First lAA President, Dies 



Association's Early Leader 

 Saw Organization Which He 

 Helped To Organize Grow 

 From A Membership of 4,000 

 to 167,000. His Death Re- 

 calls Beginnings of Farm 

 Bureau in Illinois. 



F.HMAN W. DANKOKTH. iiist 

 |)re>iik*iil ol llie Illinois .\f;riciil- 



Hlural Asr-ociatioii. dii-d Oct. 

 alter a short illru-ss in Daniortli. 

 tiie lro(|uoi> counlx <(>niinnnit\ 

 loundetl by his tamily. He was 77 at 

 the time ot his death. 



Mr. Daiitorth. in addition to serxini: 

 as the first j)resident of the lAA in 

 1916. had a grt-al deal to do uitli or- 

 j;anizing the >tate I'arni ISureau. At 

 lirsl the lAA uas not a direct nieniLer- 

 sliip organization as it is today, liiit a 

 federation of county Farm llureaus. Il 

 was -Mr. Danfortli. who was then presi- 

 dent of the Tazewell lionnty Farm 

 Bureau, and K. T. {{ohliins. Tazewell 

 farm adviser, who promoted the settint; 

 up of a federation of the county Farm 

 Bureaus in Illinois. 



Mr. Uanforth ser\ed as temporary 

 chairman when 20 ot the 22 organized 

 counties met at a preliminary session 

 on Jan. 26. 1916 in the Old Agricultural 

 Building. Lni\ersity of Illinois, to form 

 a state federation of Farm Bureaus. 



At tliLs preliminary meeting Mr. Dan- 

 forth uas named to a committee of fi\e 

 to uork out a plan for organization. The 

 comniittee decided that tiie name oi the 

 new organization was to be the Illinois 

 .-Xgricultural Association. Its object 

 was to be ""the improvement of agricul- 

 ture." Its membershi]) was to consist ol 

 several agricultural associations and 

 membershii) fees for each county were 

 to be SlOO a year. 



It was on March 15, 1916. when dele- 

 gates from 17 counties met in Ottawa. 

 La Salle county, to put the finishing- 

 touches on the new federation and elect 

 Mr. Danforth as the first lAA president. 

 On June 19. IMK.. the lAA held a spe- 

 cial meeting in I rbana to launch its 

 infant legislative jirogram. Over the 

 signature of President Danforth. a letter 

 was sent to "inlluential senators" at 

 Washington urging passage of a grain 

 grading bill then being considered. In 

 his letter. Mr. Danforth told the senators 

 that "the Illinois Agricultural Associa- 

 tion is a federation of county Farm 

 Bureaus in the state of Illinois having a 

 total membership of about 4.000 of the 



Herman W. Danfortht 

 the Illinois Agricul- 

 t u r a I Association's 

 first president who 

 died recently , is 

 shown as he regis- 

 tered for the lAA an- 

 nual meeting last No- 

 vember at the Hotel 

 Sherman in Chicago. 

 Registering him is 

 Grace Powel/ of fhe 

 lAA. 



most up-to-date and |)rogrcssive farmers 

 throughout central Illinois." .Mr. Dan- 

 forth lived to sec that membership grow 

 to l()7.0()l). 



After completing a vcar as |)residenl 

 of the I A A. Mr. Danforth was named 

 the first president of the Federal Land 

 Bank of St. Louis, and John \\ . Kirkton. 

 Livingston county, was named to suc- 

 ceed the retiring lAA jiresident. Mr. 

 Danforth served as Land Bank pri>idcnt 

 for five and onc-iialf years, resigning in 

 1922 to join the lieal Fstate Mortgage 

 Trust (.Company of St. Louis as vice 

 president. This organization was later 

 absorbed by the Franklin American 

 Trust Company atul Mr. Danforth con- 

 tinued with the com|)any uiiti! his re- 

 tirement in I9:')() when he returned to 

 Danfortli. Mr. Danforth uas elected to 

 a two-year term on the lAA board in 

 19^)6 to re])resent the llltii district which 

 comprises Kankakee. Iroquois. \ ermil- 

 ion. Fdgar. (Jark and (!umberland 

 counties. 



Mr. Danforth hrst entered coo|)erati\e 

 and farm organization endeavors in 

 1907 when he took over the o|)eration 

 of his father's farms. He helped or- 

 ganize the farmers" elevator at Dan- 

 forth. served as its president and later 

 was elected ])resident of the National 

 Farmers (jrain Dealers Association. In 

 the latter |)Osition he was called upon 

 manv times to defend the farmers" 

 rights. Mr. Danforth used to recall in 

 interviews that in the early days "he 

 went to the mat with the Board of 

 Trade. " in representing the producer. 

 He also appeared many times before 

 the Interstate Commerce ("ommission as 

 a witness to jirotest proposed increases 

 in freight rates on grain. 



In 1913 Mr. Danforth helped to or- 

 ganize the Tazewell County Farm Bu- 

 reau, was its first president, and served 

 in that capacity for seven years. It is 

 interesting to note that the name Farm 



r>ureau was first used in the Lnitcd 

 .Slates when Tazewell county farmers 

 set up their organization on June 1. 

 1913. L\enlually the other coimtics 

 tliat had organizeil under tiie names ol 

 soil and crop im])rovement associations, 

 belter farming associations, etc.. changed 

 their names to county Farm Bureaus, 

 fazeweil was the eighth coiintv Farm 

 Bureau to be organized in Illinois. 



-Mr. Danfortlfs family can rightly be 

 called early >elllcrs oi the stale. Mr. 

 Danforlhs grandfa; her. Asa. came to 

 W asiiington in Tazewell county in 1M.S2. 

 file grandfather saw an ad\erli>emcnt 

 oilering swam|)!anil in Iroquois county, 

 nought 27.000 acrt s under contract, put 

 in ditches and drained it. The com- 

 munity of Danforth was established in 

 Iro(]uois count) and Mr. Dantortli was 

 born there in 11)72. Mr. Danforth"s 

 father and family left Danforth in liiiU 

 and went to Washington in lazewell 

 county. Mr. Danforth was graduated 

 from high school in Washington and 

 attended ihe L niversily of Illinois. He 

 later transferred to the I niversity ol 

 Michigan where he was graduated Irom 

 the school of law in 1«'!99. He was a 

 member of the track team at -Michigan 

 and attended the Olym|)ics meet at Paris 

 in 1900. Following graduation. Mr. 

 Danforth jtracticed law in Peoria for 

 eight years and then returned to manage 

 the home farm because of his father's 

 illness. He took short courses at the 

 I niversity of Illinois to increase his 

 knowledge of farming and continued to 

 o|)erate the farms until 1917 when he 

 went to St. Louis with the Federal Land 

 Bank. 



Mr. Danforth leaves his widow, two 

 daughters and one son. Funeral serv- 

 ices were held Oct. 10 in the Danforth 

 Community Hall. Among the repre- 

 sentatives from the Illinois -Agricultural 

 Association at the services were Paul E. 

 Mathias. secretary, and Floyd F,. Morris, 

 vice president. 



12 



I. A. A. RECORD 



