Oliver Hudson Kelley
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Oliver Hudson Kelley
Oliver Hudson Kelley (1826 – 1913) is considered the "Father" of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry (or 'Grangers').
Born in Boston, he moved to the Minnesota frontier in 1849, where he became a farmer. In 1864, he got a job as a clerk for the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture and travelled the eastern and southern United States following the American Civil War. He felt a great need to gather together farmers and their families to rebuild America as he once knew it, and thought an organization of fraternal strength would best serve the needs of the farm families.
As he traveled throughout the country, he built partnerships that developed into the seven original founders of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. On November 15, 1867, he laid the groundwork to build a new foundation for American agriculture through the organization of the "Grange", of which he was the first secretary until he resigned in 1878.
Oliver H. Kelley died in 1913 in Washington, DC.
The other founders of the Grange were: William Saunders, Francis M. McDowell, John Trimble, Aaron B. Grosh, John R. Thompson, William M. Ireland, and Caroline A. Hall.
Oliver H Kelley is to be inducted into the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame on October 27, 2006. The Oliver H Kelley Farm in Elk River, Minnesota is maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society as a living history farm with interpreters giving people a taste of what Oliver Kelley's life was like on the farm in the 1850s frontier.
