Oliver Hudson Kelley
Encyclopedia
Biography
In Boston, he moved to the MinnesotaMinnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
frontier in 1849, where he became a farmer. In 1864, he got a job as a clerk for the United States Bureau of Agriculture and traveled the Eastern and Southern United States following the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
. 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
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
through the organization of the Grange, of which he was the first secretary until he resigned in 1878.
Oliver Kelley died in 1913 in Washington, DC.
The other founders of the Grange were William Saunders, Francis M. McDowell, John Trimble
John Trimble
John Trimble was one of the seven founders of the Grange.-Biography:Born in New Jersey, he was a student of the Protestant Episcopal Church, receiving his Doctor of Divinity. Following the American Civil War, he served in the Treasurer Department as agent for the collection of war claims for...
, Aaron B. Grosh
Aaron B. Grosh
Reverend Aaron Burt Grosh , a Universalist minister, was one of the seven founders of the Grange. He had a major part in the design of the Grange ritual and was also responsible for the various songs used during various celebrations of the Grange...
, John R. Thompson
John R. Thompson
John Richardson Thompson was one of the seven founders of the The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry.-Biography:...
, William M. Ireland
William M. Ireland
William M. Ireland was one of the seven founders of the Grange.-Biography:He served much of his life as chief clerk in the offices of the U.S. Post Office Department. Also an avid Mason, Ireland added valuable knowledge to organizational systems and methods in the formative period of the Grange...
, and Caroline A. Hall
Caroline A. Hall
Caroline Arabella Hall was an early associate of the seven founders of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry.-Biography:She was born in Boston in 1838 to Hepzibah and Nathanial Hall....
.
Kelley was inducted into the National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame
National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame
The National Agricultural Center and Hall of Fame was issued a rare federal charter by the US Congress in 1960 to serve as the national museum of agriculture and a memorial to industry leaders...
on October 27, 2006. The Oliver H. Kelley Homestead
Oliver H. Kelley Homestead
The Oliver H. Kelley Farm is a historic farmstead once owned by Oliver Hudson Kelley, one of the founders of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry. The farmstead is a U.S. National Historic Landmark, which also places it on the National Register of Historic Places. The farm is currently operated as a...
in Elk River, Minnesota
Elk River, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 16,447 people, 5,664 households, and 4,400 families residing in the city. Recent estimates show the population at 21,329 as of 2005. The population density was 385.5 people per square mile . There were 5,782 housing units at an average density of 135.5 per...
is maintained by the Minnesota Historical Society
Minnesota Historical Society
The Minnesota Historical Society is a private, non-profit educational and cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was founded by the territorial legislature in 1849, almost a decade before statehood. The Society is named in the Minnesota...
as a living history
Living history
Living history is an activity that incorporates historical tools, activities and dress into an interactive presentation that seeks to give observers and participants a sense of stepping back in time. Although it does not necessarily seek to reenact a specific event in history, living history is...
farm with interpreters giving people a taste of what Oliver Kelley's life was like on the farm in the 1850s frontier.
Further reading
