Ohio History Journal

A HISTORY OF LOCAL AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES

IN OHIO TO 1865

 

 

BY ROBERT LESLIE JONES

 

Local agricultural societies are among the victims of the pres-

ent war. To cooperate in conserving rubber and in eliminating

unnecessary travel, many of them cancelled their fairs in 1942, and

doubtless most, if not all, will do so in 1943. The disappearance

of the fairs, even if it is temporary, emphasizes their significance

as an institution, and makes it worth while to trace the early his-

tory of the societies which have sponsored them.

At the time of the settlement of Ohio, there were already

agricultural societies in the eastern states. These were mostly in

the larger towns, and were in practice restricted to men of capital

and education, that is, to those who were, or who aspired to be,

gentlemen farmers. They were in general patterned after British

societies of a little earlier period. All of them were supported by

fees from their members, which were used to build up agricultural

libraries and to provide prizes for essays on various subjects of

farm interest and premiums for the best crops. They were much

closer in their functions to the learned associations of the day

than to modern agricultural societies.1

With their New England background, it was natural for the

Ohio Company pioneers to reproduce in their new home the

eastern institutions with which they were acquainted. As early

as they could, which was "soon after the close of the Indian war

in 1795," they organized an agricultural society at Marietta. The

members were prominent citizens who "attempted to aid the com-

munity with their knowledge and experience." As the society,

1 Rodney  H. True. "The  Early  Development of  Agricultural Societies  in  the

United States;" Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year

1920  (Washington, 1925), I, 295-9.

(120)

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO                  121

 

like its eastern prototypes, made little appeal to practical farmers,

it did not last long.2

So far as is known, no successor appeared for more than

twenty years. Then, as in the East, there was a sudden interest

in agricultural societies, and several came into existence at ap-

proximately the same time, all modelled more or less on the Berk-

shire plan of Elkanah Watson. The Agricultural Society of the

County of Trumbull was organized at Youngstown in December,

1818. It was dissolved after four years, owing to a dispute over

changing the place of the annual meeting. Another was formed

at Marietta early in 1819 by representative citizens of Washing-

ton County and of Wood County, Virginia. This had little vitality,

for within two years it was not known whether it was even in

existence. All that its officers accomplished was the printing of a

constitution. In July, 1819, a general meeting of citizens of Cin-

cinnati appointed a committee which drew up a constitution for

a third society, "The Cincinnati Society for the Encouragement

of Agriculture and Domestic Economy," with membership re-

stricted to Hamilton County.³ Other societies were formed dur-

ing the 1820'S. Their location, their dates of organization and of

disappearance (when known) and other remarks in connection

with them will be found in the tabular summary given later. With-

out state support, and without any tangible appeal to the rural

population, most of these societies soon withered away. In October,

1831, it was declared that "we could have fifty societies where

there are now but five."4

The early societies frequently lacked even the small amount

of money necessary for printing announcements or defraying other

incidental expenses. It was therefore not infrequently suggested

that they should be subsidized by the State, in imitation of the

practice of Pennsylvania, where, it was said, a grant of about

 

2 Julia Perkins Cutler, Life and Times of Ephraim Cutler prepared from his

Journals and  Correspondence  (Cincinnati, 1890), 196.

3 Cincinnati Western Spy and Cincinnati General Advertiser, August 21, 28, 1819;

Marietta American Friend, February 26, 1819; ibid., February 23, 1821; Marietta

American Friend & Marietta Gazette, August 19, 1825; Ohio State Board of Agri-

culture, Annaul Report for the Year 1860 (Columbus), Part II, 426-7. Hereafter this

authority is cited as Ohio Agricultural Report.

4 Farmer's Reporter and United States Agriculturist; containing Original and

Selected  Essays  (Cincinnati), October, 1831, 9.

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122    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

fifty dollars to each county society had given a great stimulus

to the organization of such bodies.⁵ As a result of this agitation,

an act was passed February 25, 1833, "to authorize and encour-

age the establishment of agricultural societies in the several coun-

ties of this state." It provided that the county commissioners

should be required to call a meeting to organize an agricultural

society for their county; that an assembly thus called, if exceed-

ing twenty persons, could elect officers, including a president, a

vice president, a recording secretary, a corresponding secretary,

a treasurer and ten directors; that the president, treasurer and

directors should have power to make all necessary by-laws; that

no member should be required to pay a fee in excess of five dollars

a year; and that the county commissioners might, "if they deem

it expedient, appropriate out of the county funds for the bene-

fit of the society, a sum  not exceeding fifty dollars in any one

year."6

The law of 1833 proved to be most unsatisfactory. It made

no provision for a state board to collect information or supervise

or coordinate the county societies. Moreover, the county commis-

sioners were not obliged to grant money from the county treas-

ury unless they chose, and most of them declined to do so. Ac-

cordingly, after a flurry of interest in creating new societies in

1833, doubtless largely in anticipation of obtaining county grants,

few more were organized. The existence of many of these, more-

over, was almost nominal. It was stated in 1841 that there were

in Ohio only "some half dozen very efficient, and double the num-

ber very inefficient county societies."⁷

In the table below, an effort is made to list the county societies

which had an existence before 1846. It is not claimed that the

enumeration is complete, but it is hoped that it will be useful.8

 

5 Cincinnati Commercial Register, December 27, 1826, quoted in "Old Northwest"

Genealogical Quarterly (Columbus), X (1907), 315-6.

6 Statutes of Ohio and of the Northwestern Territory, adopted or enacted from

1788 to 1833 Inclusive . . . (edited by S. P. Chase, 3 vols., Cincinnati, 1833-5), III,

1943-4.

7 Western Farmer and Gardener (Cincinnati), II (1840-1), 268; Ohio Cultivator;

a Semi-Monthly Journal of Agriculture and Horticulture (Columbus), II (1846), 36.

8 County Agricultural Societies in Ohio before 1846.

County                Organized                 Disappeared           Remarks

Trumbull                     1818                          c. 1822

Washington                1819                          c. 1821       First society. With Wood County, Va.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO            123 The societies of the period before 1846 had a variety of activities. Those in Washington County, which may be regarded as typical, at different times offered prizes for the best fields of wheat and corn, obtained seed wheat for the use of their mem- bers, and built up a small library of eastern agricultural periodi- cals.9 The most noteworthy object, however, was the holding of exhibitions at which premiums were offered. 9 Marietta American Friend & Marietta Gazette, October 25, 1826; Marietta Gazette, August 17, 1833; ibid., March 22, November 8, 1834.

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124    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

When and where the first fair was held in Ohio is not certain.

All of the early agricultural societies planned to hold fairs, but

not all of them managed to do so. The society at Youngstown, for

instance, planned to have an annual cattle show, though it does not

seem to have ever held one. Similarly, the first society at Cincin-

nati had a meeting in 1820 at which it agreed to award premiums

at its fair, which was to be held at a local hotel. In 1823, the

Ashtabula County society held a cattle show and fair at Austin-

burg, and the Geauga County society one at Chardon. The first

exhibition in southeastern Ohio was held at Marietta in 1826.

Other counties in which fairs were held before 1833 were Portage,

Athens and Butler.¹⁰

These early fairs did not much resemble those of today, for

they were close imitations of those sponsored by Elkanah Watson

and his followers in the East. The first fair of the Washington

County society was thus described:

At 10 o'clock, A. M. the Society met in the Court Room and received

a handsome accession in numbers--elected the officers for the ensuing year;

at 11 the procession was formed under Capt. F. Devol, as marshal of the

day, and with music preceding, marched to the Church fronting the Com-

mon, where we had music, prayers, and an address by the President,

Joseph Barker, Jr., Esq., which was cordially received.

More time having been taken up in examining the stock &c. &c. than

was anticipated, the company sat down to an excellent dinner at 3 P. M.--

At 4, the Society repaired to the Court Room when the several committees,

by their several chairmen announced the names of the persons to whom

the premiums had been awarded, & who were requested by the President to

come forward to the Treasurer, sitting at the table, and take their cash.11

As the items entered in competition were few, the societies

needed no special grounds or even buildings for these exhibitions.

In some places the exhibition was held on the village square. The

Montgomery County society held its fairs in the wagon-yard,

stables and sheds of a hotel at Dayton.l²

Judging   was informal and      unscientific.  Its defects were

10 American Former, I (1819-20), 295; Marietta American Friend & Marietta

Gazette, October 25, 1826; Farmer's Reporter, October, 1831, p. 9; Charles M. Walker,

History of Athens County, Ohio, and inc dently of the Ohio Laid Company and the

First Settlement  of  the                   State  at  Marietta   (Cincinnati, 1869),  184; Ohio  Agricultural

11 Marietta American            Friend & Marietta Gazette, October 25, 1826.

12 Western Farmer and Gardener, III (1841-2), 55.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO                 125

 

clearly revealed by a critic of the Hamilton County society (which

disappeared about 1837):

We have never been provided with suitable pens for the domestic animals

--the committees have thus labored under the greatest disadvantages in

their examination of them. The animals have been huddled together in a

small circle, surrounded by the spectators and owners, this one and that

one obtruding their remarks, confusing and interfering with the judges.

All that they were enabled to do, was to give the animals a hasty glance

of the eye, a slight handling, and they are disposed of about as fast as a

Kentuckian would count over a drove of hogs! This is very unsatisfactory

both to the committee and owners.¹³

Premiums were small. At the Ashtabula County exhibition

of 1823, they amounted to only $40. At Chillicothe in 1833, they

amounted to about $200, mostly in silver plate. Yet even prizes

like these were a strain on the meagre financial resources of the

societies. The Pickaway County society of 1833 had in its treas-

ury only $188, of which $80 came from membership fees, $58

from voluntary donations by members, and $50 from the appro-

priation by the county commissioners.¹⁴

It will be noticed that it had no revenue from admissions.

Possibly the first society to charge admission was that in Cuya-

hoga County, which in 1841 collected twelve cents and a half from

non-members who entered the exhibition room.¹⁵

It was doubtless to keep the premiums on livestock as attrac-

tive as possible that it seems to have become the practice by the

early 1840's, if not sooner, to award to the successful competitors

in the class of "domestic manufactures," which included various

grains, "honey, silk, butter, &c. &c.," merely medals and cer-

tificates.l6

The show of livestock was ordinarily the outstanding aspect

of these early fairs. The consequence was that it became almost

conventional to claim that the local society, no matter how small or

weak it might be, was doing a great deal to improve the breed of

 

13 Ibid., II, 78.

14 "A Brief History &c.," 773; Journal of the Senate of the State of Ohio,

32 General Assembly, 1 Sess., 1833-4, p. 416; Journal of the House of Representatives

of the State of Ohio, 32 General Assembly, 1 Sess., 1833-4, p. 455.

15 "A Brief History &c.," 775.

16 Western Farmer and Gardener, III, 245.

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126    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

cattle, horses, sheep or swine.¹⁷ Unfortunately, the exhibitors

were often altogether professional breeders or importers. Never-

theless, the mere display of superior stock was a great advantage,

for ordinary farmers thus became acquainted with it, and could

compare it mentally with the grade animals in their own barn-

yards. Sometimes there were only a few improved Shorthorns or

Devons, or a thoroughbred, or a couple of Bedford or Big China

hogs. In 1834, however, the Ohio Company for Importing English

Cattle exhibited at the Ross County fair nineteen head of purebred

Shorthorns recently selected by its agents from some of the best

herds in Great Britain.¹⁸ This came to be considered a landmark

in the history of cattle improvement in the Scioto Valley.

Yet displays of livestock did not altogether dominate the ex-

hibitions. Occasionally variations were introduced into the pro-

grams. In 1834, the directors of the Washington County society

presented a shepherd's crook to Benjamin Dana of Waterford,

"as the man who, above all others, has cherished the wool growing

interest of the County."¹⁹ Again, in 1833 Obed Hussey, who had

recently invented a reaper, gave it a public demonstration at the

Hamilton County exhibition at Carthage.20 Threshing-machines,

driven by horse-power, were similarly demonstrated by their

manufacturers.²¹ Some of the exhibitions had plowing matches,

but these were usually disappointing. At Carthage in 1844, it was

stated that "there was but little spirit manifested at the Ploughing

Match, and hardly any competition, only two teams entering the

field. The premium   was too small to create any emulation.^"22

Some of the early exhibitions terminated in a sale of the articles

which were in competition. At Marietta in 1826 "several articles

were sold at auction, at fair prices."²³ These seem to have been

mostly butter and cheese. At Chillicothe in 1833, there was "a

general sale," at which "the articles sold for very high prices, flour

 

17 Cf. John Delafield, A Brief Topographical Description of the County of Wash-

ington, in the State of Ohio (New York, 1834), 31.

18 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1857, 301.

19 Marietta Gazette, November 1, 1834.

20 William T. Hutchinson, Cyrus Hall McCormick; Seed Time, 1809-1856 (New

York and London, 1930), 159-60.

21 Marietta Gazette, November 11, 1836.

22 Western Farmer and Gardener, V (1844-5), 81. The premium was $3.00.

23 Marietta American Friend & Marietta Gazette, October 25, 1826.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO                   127

 

(for example) at about $5 and $6 per barrel, saddles for $30,

leather at an advanced price, jeans and other woolen manufac-

tures, for more than their intrinsic value, and hats at the rate of

from $5 to $16."24

The early agricultural societies were at best small and weak.

The history of any one of them might be summarized in the

phrases applied by the local historian to the Licking County so-

ciety of 1833: "Its revenues were small, exceeding small; the

number of its members was small; . . . its premiums were small

in amount, and awarded to a small number of exhibitors; the

attendants at its fairs were small in number; indeed, it was the

'day of small things' with it from beginning to end."²⁵

Various explanations were given for their weakness. A fairly

common one was that the farmers were apathetic towards the work

of the societies. Thus, the exhibitions of the Montgomery County

society, organized in 1839, it was reported,

have been of an interesting character, but have been sustained by but a

few and have been very slimly attended by the farmers of the county. To

the disgrace of the farmers, the burden of the expense of these exhibitions

has been borne by the citizens of the town, and it becomes more difficult

each year to procure money, as the argument that "by and by the farmers

will wake up to their interests," has grown very threadbare already.26

The farmers had a reason for this attitude towards the so-

cieties, as another extract shows.

The farmers say--we know it, for we have heard it often repeated--

that they were aristocratic affairs, in which a common, plain farmer had

no voice, and was looked upon as nobody; that these big-bugs, as they are

termed, did everything their own way; awarded great premiums, which

they carried themselves, etc., etc.; that these intruders from the city came

among them to dictate, and to attempt to teach those who were better

informed than themselves.27

In recognition of the justice of this assertion, the Montgomery

County society in 1844 decreased the premiums offered for fine

stock and increased those offered for grain and farm      products.²⁸

 

24 Ohio Senate Journal, 32 General Assembly, 1 Sess., 1833-4, p. 416.

25 N. N. Hill, History of Licking County, 0.: Its Past and Present (Newark, Ohio,

1881), 266-7.

26 Ohio Cultivator, I (1845), 62.

27 Western Farmer and Gardener, II, 260.

28 Ohio  Cultivator,  I, 62-3,

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128    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

Nevertheless, when every excuse is made for the resentment

of the farmers towards the patronizing city-dwellers, the fact

remains that the farmers did little or nothing towards maintaining

the societies. The passage last quoted continues:

. . . Did these very farmers, who now grumble, and throw the blame upon

others, do their duty? We rather suspect they did not; and it ill becomes

them to find fault with those who did. Who furnished the greater part of

the funds? Who did the labor--the hard work, necessary for carrying on

the affairs of such a society? Did these gratuitous labors result in no

good? Were the laborers ever even thanked for their toil, or receive aught

but after-complaints? If evils existed, how did it happen that farmers

took so much less interest in that which was intended for their improvement

than the residents of the city? Why was there not a majority of farmers

in an Agricultural Society?

There were other factors in the weakness of the societies such

as the farmers' contempt for theoretical agriculture and their belief

that the agricultural associations could not help them to make more

money. Again, as mentioned earlier, the societies had little income,

and worked without knowledge of one another's activities and

problems.

It was recognized that an agency of supervision and co-

ordination was needed. Proposals were therefore made from time

to time for the establishment of a state board of agriculture, to be

financed in whole or in part by grants from the government.²⁹ In

1838, on the initiative of the Licking County Society, a meeting

of delegates from different parts of the State was held at Colum-

bus. The convention proceeded to organize a state agricultural

society, and to elect officers. It is quite clear that this society never

accomplished anything of significance, for in 1841 its activities

seem to have been limited to holding an exhibition at Chillicothe,

which drew from only Ross and one adjoining county.³⁰

During the winter of 1845, several well-known leaders of

agriculture in the State proposed that a convention should be held

during the summer to discuss a program which included the pos-

sible establishment of a state board of agriculture, governmental

or other encouragement to the county societies, and suggestions

 

29 Cf. Ohio Senate Journal, 33 General Assembly, 1 Sess., 1834-5, p. 180.

30 Hill, History of Licking County, 266; Western Farmer and Gardener, II, 268.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO              129

for legislation to be offered to the General Assembly on such sub-

jects as destruction of sheep by dogs. The convention accordingly

met at Columbus June 25-26, 1845, and drew up a series of reso-

lutions. One requested that the next General Assembly should

make provision for the election of a State Board of Agriculture.

Another recommended that the General Assembly should modify

the existing law affecting agricultural societies, to bring it into har-

mony with the New York law. By this, the state treasury would

grant a small sum each year to every county society which raised

an equal amount by fees or contributions, and complied with what-

ever regulations might be drawn up by the state board. As the

delegates were of the opinion that a few thousand dollars of state

money spent for the promotion of agriculture would be repaid in

greater prosperity and so in more revenues, they recommended the

appropriation of $2000 to the state board, and $5000 for distribu-

tion among the county societies.31

On February 28, 1846, the legislature enacted a law creating

a State Board of Agriculture, consisting of fifty-two persons, half

to be elected each year. The board was organized April 1, 1846.32

The act also provided for a fairly satisfactory arrangement for

financing the county societies. It was made mandatory, when

thirty or more persons in a county (or in a district including two

counties) formed an agricultural society, which then raised $50

or more voluntarily, for the county auditors to add an equal

amount, this not to exceed $200.33

The effect of the act was to revive a number of the dormant

county societies and to bring about the organization of many new

ones. By the end of 1846, there were nineteen revived or new

county or district societies. Eight more were added in 1847, nine

in 1848, seven in 1849 and ten in 1850. By the end of 1852, there

were over seventy in Ohio. In 186O there were eighty-four county

societies.³⁴

 

31 Ohio Cultivator, I, 41, 73, 105.

32 Beginning in 1850, one of the most important functions of this board was the

holding of the State Fair. Though the development of this fair falls outside the sub-

ject matter of this article, it is worth noting that its managers encountered the same

problem as did those of the county societies.

33 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1846, 71-3.

34 Ibid., 1846-5I, passim; ibid., 1859, 520; Ohio Cultivator, VIII (1852), 361.

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130   OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

The societies organized after 1846 benefited from the pre-

vailing prosperity possibly even more than from improved organi-

zation. Their fairs became larger and more popular, and under-

went a rapid metamorphosis.   Indeed, the purely agricultural

aspects of the exhibitions tended to be overshadowed in many

instances by other features. These, if they added nothing to the

educational value of the exhibitions, did bring the crowds.

To lure farmers to the exhibitions, some of the societies re-

vived the attractions of the Log Cabin and Hard Cider political

campaign. At the Mahoning County exhibition of 1849 "a marked

feature was the township trains of working oxen. Boardman, Ells-

worth, Green and Canfield, each furnished a train containing in

the whole, near TWO HUNDRED PAIRS. . . . Each train

came on to the ground drawing a huge wagon decorated with

branches of forest trees, evergreens, flowers, and flags, and filled

with happy, smiling men, women and children--and in some a

band of the good old continental music of the drum and fife."35

Within a few years, the exhibitions were drawing such large

crowds that the directors, not without trepidation, decided to en-

close their grounds and charge admission. It was soon shown that

there was no reason for fearing that the patronage would end

forthwith. The remarkable growth in popularity of the fairs of

the various societies may be traced in the expansion in the size of

the crowds and the corresponding increase in gate receipts of one

of them. In 1846, the newly organized Washington County so-

ciety was so uncertain of the success of its coming exhibition, that

it held a special meeting, and "Resolved, That we will furnish a

free dinner on the day of the fair, and invite all to come." Ac-

cordingly, on the day of the exhibition, "the Society and invited

guests" when to a hotel for dinner. Two years later, the society

collected $52.25 from admission fees, evidently from those who

wished to view the exhibits of manufactured articles, for the money

was applied to premiums on these. In 1856, at "the best Fair ever

held in Washington County," the amount received from an esti-

mated 5,500 persons was $1,141. The next year the receipts were

over $1,300, and in 1860 nearly $1,400. It is impossible to tell

 

35 Ohio Cultivator, V  (1849), 323.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO                  131

 

what the attendance was, for under the "family ticket" system, a

dollar admitted a farmer, his wife, their children, the hired man

and as many neighbors as could crowd into a wagon.³⁶

For a few years, beginning about 1852, the "hen fever" helped

bring crowds to the fairs.³⁷ The two great drawing cards, begin-

ning about 1850, however, were sideshows and other amusements

or entertainments, and horse racing.

As soon as the exhibitions began to attract even small crowds,

all kinds of parasites appeared. At the Knox County exhibitions

in 1852, it was stated that "in the way of 'noise and confusion' we

had any quantity of catch-pennies, in the shape of peddlers of

soap, toothache drops, etc."³⁸ Even more of a nuisance than the

medicine-shows were the refreshment stands located in the vicinity

of the grounds, which were usually merely "drinking-shanties."

To help eliminate the latter source of disorder, a law was passed

in 1856 which prohibited the setting up of shops, booths or tents

within two miles of a fair ground, and subjected offenders to fines

ranging from $5 to $50.³9

The sideshows proper were harder to deal with. At first they

were mere accompaniments of the exhibitions. They came with

their monkeys, fat women, two-headed calves and other monstrosi-

ties, and their swings and whirligigs, and established themselves

as near the spectators as they could. Though the directors of the

societies had no control over them, they found that they brought

discredit to the exhibitions. Yet, as the sideshows undeniably

helped to draw crowds, most of the societies by 1860 were admit-

ting them to the exhibition grounds for a fee. Sometimes they

became disgusted, and tried to get rid of them again. One writer,

who had worked for their elimination from the exhibitions of the

Highland County society, described the result. He wrote:

I at one time took an active part in opposition to sideshows, and suc-

ceeded a few years ago in moving them out; but I now frankly own that

 

36 Marietta Intelligencer, July 30, October 22, 1846; ibid., November 30, 1848; ibid.,

October 15, 1856; ibid., October 14, 1857; ibid. (triweekly edition), October 6, 1860.

37 A report on the Wayne County exhibition of 1852 asserted that "the hen fever is

raging rather favorably--some twenty coops of fancy fowls being upon the ground."

Ohio Cultivator, VIII. 315. The rage for "Shanghai" and other Asiatic fowl had run

its course by 1857. Ohio Agricultural Report for 1857, 25.

38 Ohio      Cultivator, VIII, 309.

39 Ibid.,     XII  (1856), 132.

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132    OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

I have changed my opinion. I find that our funds get low, and our crowds

small. And besides, if we don't let them in, they will fix themselves up

outside.... When we have them inside, we have them under our control,

and receive a good deal of money from them. We rented the right for a

swing for $35, which was perhaps too low. We must resort to some

means to get the people inside, and, as the church people say, if we once

get them inside, they can't help but imbibe some good, and we will get their

money.40

The directors as a rule, therefore, to get the money necessary to

operate their societies, admitted the sideshows, though it was said

that probably no society in the State made as much as $200 directly

from them.⁴¹ In 1861 a "law to protect fairs" made it possible for

them to keep such sideshows as did not pay a fee, or were other-

wise undesirable, at a distance of a quarter of a mile from the fair

ground.⁴²

Of course, not all the amusements were provided by fakers

or sideshows. At the Washington County exhibition of 1856,

there was a brass band on the grounds all day long, and a local

fire brigade put on a demonstration with their new engine.^{43    In}

1858, "a band of Callithumpians afforded a good deal of amuse-

ment by their grotesque costume and clownish actions. The Dan

Rice of the band was a fellow of considerable jest and humor, and

at his second apperance in the ring caused great merriment." Nor

was this all. "In the evening, the exhibition of Fire Works, by

Mr. Deihl, drew together 500 or 600 people. It was by far the

finest and richest display ... ever seen."⁴⁴

It was found that some type of horse racing attracted crowds

more effectively than any other inducement that could be afforded.

Horse racing was, of course, of long standing in Ohio.        There

were three-day meetings on the Pickaway Plains in 181O, 1811 and

1812, with purses ranging up to $80, and on the common at Mari-

etta in 1814.⁴⁵ Annual fall meetings were held about 1825 at Cin-

 

40 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1865, Part II, 57-8.

41 Ibid., Part II, 60.

42 Ohio Cultivator, XVII (186l), 180.

43 Marietta Intelligencer, October 15, 1856.

44 Ibid., October 27, 1858.

45 Chillicothe Supporter, April 7, 1810; ibid., November 2, 1811; Marietta American

Friend, October 22, 1814. It is worth noting that even the latter was conducted

"agreeably to the rule of racing in Virginia."

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO                   133

 

cinnati, Chillicothe, Dayton and Hamilton. About 1838 or 1839,

there were fifteen regular race-courses in Ohio. Most of these

disappeared in the middle ¹⁸40's.⁴⁶

These races were all of the running type. Those which came

to flourish at the fairs were trotting races, or "trials of speed."

These, however, did not obtrude themselves on the fairs fully

developed. In Ohio at least, they were preceded by what was

referred to as "female equestrianism."

In 1851 the Licking County society offered three premiums

"for ladies' riding horses." Evidently the intention was that each

rider should put her horse through a few conventional paces in the

ring, displaying as she did so the latest in riding habits. The

directors were as much astonished as any of the spectators when

a country tomboy (who had probably never heard of Godey's

Lady's Book) upset their program.

Three horses were entered, and made their debut within the ring at

an easy pace. Misses Seymour, of Madison, and Marple, of Newton, at

first led the ring with decided advantage. Miss Hollinbeck, of Hanover,

followed riding the horse of N. B. Hogg, in walking dress, but being a

girl of true knightly grit, soon dexterously reined in her horse, and by a

few well applied blows from her riding whip, brought up his mettle to the

guage of her own, then giving him rein, dashed forward, and taking the

"inside," such a wild Arab flight sober Buckeyes never saw before. On,

on flew the beautiful steed, and the thousands cheered heartily--the winds

played the mischief with her petticoats, but her victory was complete. Then

a series of evolutions, curvettings and contra pas, showed what country

girls can do when they get the reins into their own hands.47

The next year, as one would expect, many societies offered

prizes for ladies' saddle-horses, that is, for displays of riding.⁴⁸ At

the Columbiana County exhibition in 1854 it was announced that

"the steed with his fair rider will grace the ring and draw thou-

sands to the exhibition, notwithstanding some considerate people

have voted ladies riding a very indelicate business. . . . The first

premium is to be a splendid horse! and the second a gold watch."⁴⁹

The exhibitions by the equestriennes in some instances,

46 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1857, 356; Hill, History of Licking County, 155.

47 Ohio Cultivator, VII (1851), 331.

48 Ibid., VIII, 329.

49 Ibid., X (1854), 161. About 1854, "female equestrianism" became a popular fea-

ture of fairs in other parts of the country. Wayne C. Neely, The Agricultural Fair

(New York, 1935), 193-4: Blanche H. Clark, The Tennessee Yeomen, 1840-1860 (Nash-

ville, 1942), 88-9.

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134   OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

strange to relate, became very partisan in character. At the Wash-

ington County exhibition in 1855, a girl from Wood County, Vir-

ginia, won the first prize, a $50 gold watch, one from Athens

County the second prize, a $40 gold watch, and one from Wash-

ington County the third, a gold chain and locket. The spectators

were much displeased by the award of the first prize to the Vir-

ginia girl, claiming that it should have gone to the Ohioan from

Athens County, and made remarks "calculated to wound the com-

petitors, and judges."⁵⁰ The following year, evidently as a con-

sequence of the hard feelings thus engendered, only two ladies

appeared in competition, both from outside the county. "If the

'Lady Equestrian Performances' degenerate as rapidly the year to

come as they have the last twelve months," the local editor wrote,

"they must be given up entirely at our next Fair."⁵1 Though as

late as 1859, the equestriennes "proved to be the great attraction

of the day" at the Franklin County fair,⁵² they had, for the most

part, lost their popularity throughout the State. It would seem

that few of them revealed the unconventional enterprise of the

spunky Miss Hollinbeck.

Men regarded the best performances of the equestriennes with

an amused condescension, but they became passionately excited

over the trotting matches which displaced them. At the Washing-

ton County exhibition of 1856, there was, for the first time, a

trotting match with four horses entered. Though one of the horses

proved to be "a wheezy old fellow, [who] lost his wind after two

or three rounds, and 'give out'," the competition seemed to please

the spectators. The only drawback was "a trifling disturbance in

the trotting ring" of a nature not specified, but presumably con-

sisting of somewhat drunken fisticuffs among the supporters of the

different horses.⁵³ In 1857, the "Trotting Match was the most

exciting exhibition of the afternoon." It was so exciting, in fact,

that before the next year's exhibition was held, the directors of

the society enlarged the ring.54

 

50 Marietta Intelligencer, October 17, 1855.

51 Ibid., October 15, 1856.

52 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1859, 157.

53 Marietta Intelligencer, October 15, 1856.

54 Ibid., October 14, 1857: ibid.,  October 27, 1858.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO                135

 

Why did there thus come to be such an emphasis on horse

racing? Some of the agricultural society directors rationalized an

explanation.

The design was to afford an opportunity of introducing horses of great

speed to the notice of the public. For fast trotters there is high market

value. In the eastern, and in all our city markets, they sell for great, and

sometimes enormous prices; for hundreds, and sometimes for thousands

of dollars. Even horses of quite rough and common appearance, with this

one recommendation, sell at high rates. This quality is property, and when

known, may be a source of income to the individual owner, and wealth to

the county. It is an appropriate part of our Fair to develop it, and likely

to result more in the pecuniary benefit of those taking part in it, than

anything connected with the Society. A common work horse, worth prob-

ably $90 or $100, was exhibited at our last Fair. His speed as a trotter

was there made known. This one quality got him into notice, and he has

since been sold for $300, simply because he would trot fast.55

But no matter what was claimed, the truth was that the horse

races with their attendant excitement brought the crowds, and

nothing else would.

By the late 1850's, there was a real danger that horse racing

would ruin the exhibitions. In 1857 and 1858, the independent

agricultural society in Scioto County held fairs, which were "uni-

versally acknowledged to have been decided failures--the fast

horse mania having destroyed all of their interest, excepting in

the one article of horse flesh."⁵⁶ That there was a horse-racing

mania at this time there is no doubt. In 1858 and 1859 there were

several exclusive "horse-shows," nominally exhibitions, but actually

nothing but horse races, and those often of a discreditable kind.57

The editor of the Ohio Cultivator, after attending one of them,

held at Orwell in Ashtabula County, remarked that "we never can

help laughing under our beard to see the comical juxtaposition of

the deacon managers about the stand, and the devil jockeys in the

ring, thus mutually engaged in 'improving the breed of horses'.^"58

The situation was such that the friends of agriculture all over the

State were alarmed. Accordingly, in 1858 the State Board of

Agriculture decided to offer no premiums at the State Fair for

 

⁵⁵ Ibid.  (triweekly  edition), August 27, 1859.

56 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1858, 235.

57 Ohio Cultivator, XIV (1858), 344; ibid., XV  (1859), 209.

58 Ibid., XV, 209.

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136    OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

trials of speed, and recommended that the county and district

societies should follow its example.⁵⁹ In spite of this recommenda-

tion, horse racing was not eliminated from the exhibitions.

The directors had problems in addition to those created by

sideshows and horse racing. One problem was the tendency on the

part of a certain class of members to take no responsibility in the

affairs of the society or in its exhibitions, except to pay their

membership fee, and endeavor to get it back, and more with it, in

premiums.⁶⁰ Another was in connection with the judging of the

exhibits or races. Sometimes the judges, however competent,

could scarcely manage to give satisfaction, owing to the difficulties

under which they worked. Thus at Marietta in 1853, nearly 100

cattle were turned into an open lot, and the judges had to go about

finding the animals before they could come to any decision on

their merits.61 Sometimes, unfortunately, the judges were chosen

for their personal popularity, without regard to their qualifications

as experts. An inhabitant of Butler County showed the rather

ludicrous results.

Several years since, at our county fair, a three year old colt received

the premium as the best yearling--a stallion was awarded the ribbon as

the best draft stallion, when at the same time he would not, to my certain

knowledge, draw his day's rations! At our last county fair, a stallion that

ran at least one mile of the three, in a trotting race, was awarded the first

premium over a stallion that trotted the entire three miles within 8 seconds

of his running competitor.62

Though the accommodations provided for the patrons of the fairs

were primitive enough, there were few complaints about them.

Little would have been expected at a picnic, which the fairs in

some ways resembled, with groups of friends and relatives sitting

on the grass eating their lunches and visiting.

As the societies grew in resources and experience, their direc-

tors were able to avoid many of the mistakes they had made

earlier. Moreover, by 1860 most of them found it possible to

acquire permanent fair grounds. That of the Medina County

society in 1864 had sixteen acres of land, partly covered with

 

59 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1858, 176-7.

60 Ibid., 1860, Part II, 3-4.

61 Marietta  Intelligencer, October 26, 1853.

62 Ohio Cultivator, XIV (1858), 6.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO                 137

woods, a race-track a third of a mile in circumference, a large

exhibition hall, a dining hall, an oyster saloon and a grocery.63

In addition to the county agricultural societies, there were

sometimes local ones, which drew their members from a few town-

ships at most. One of the first of these was established at Oberlin

in 1835, under the name of the Oberlin Agricultural and Horticul-

tural Society. It was evidently very short-lived. Another came

into existence at South Charleston in 1837, and was still in exis-

tence in  1845. In    1845 several others appeared, in Licking,

Muskingum, Franklin, Washington and Lawrence counties, at

least, and possibly elsewhere. These local societies, often called

"farmers' clubs," began to be fairly numerous throughout the State

during the late 1850's.64

These clubs owed their formation to varied factors. Some of

them were evidently the outgrowth of a suggestion made by Mor-

ton Townshend of Elyria in a letter to the Ohio Cultivator. In

this he proposed that farmers should meet once a month or oftener

to discuss the merits of different practices, describe experiments,

and, in general, stimulate one another to improvement. If possible,

they should obtain lecturers to give a course of instruction, as was

later to be done by the farmers' institutes.⁶⁵ One such club was in

operation in Lawrence County in 1846. Its activities were de-

scribed as follows:

The meetings are held monthly--one at the house of each member of

the "Club" in rotation. The member at whose house the meeting occurs,

is required to furnish the company with "a substantial farmer's dinner," and

to exhibit to them such improvements as he may have made on his farm

during the year, and give a statement of any experiments that he may

have tried, etc. Others may entertain the company with short addresses,

discussions or remarks on matters relating to the objects of the Society.

In this way the meetings never fail to be highly interesting and profitable,

and greatly conducive to improvement in agriculture, as well as to friend-

ship and good will among the members and their friends. We were told

that the meetings are fully attended, in all seasons of the year, and are

looked forward to by all as occasions of much social enjoyment as well as

 

63 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1864, 173.

64 "A Brief History &c.," 774, 781; Ohio Cultivator, I, 42; Ohio Agricultural Re-

port for 1846, 47-8, 57, 111; ibid., 1859, xiv.

65 Ohio Cultivator, 1, 31.

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138   OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

instruction. The ladies, too, have of late participated quite generally in

these social meetings.66

Another of these discussion clubs, located in Montgomery County,

had a library of forty-two books, and met once a month to hear a

lecture from one of the thirty-nine members, and to discuss reports

from the standing committees. These committees were supposed

to collect information on such subjects as farm conveniences,

implements, horticulture, and farm stock from the library, and to

embody their findings in an essay.67

Other clubs were formed because the farmers felt the need of

improving their agriculture, and yet did not think that they would

derive much benefit from the county society. Thus one in Wash-

ington County, in giving its reasons for continuing a career inde-

pendent of that of the county society, stated that the benefits of the

county society "would only be realized in this part of the County

by a few of the more opulent men, while the common farmer, the

class who most need information, will be but little benefitted. They

will not be willing to spend two or three days, and as many dollars,

to attend the meetings and exhibitions of the society, and even

that would be inadequate to take stock to the county seat for

exhibitions."⁶⁸

These clubs were in most respects like the county societies.

The South Charleston society, for example, held exhibitions every

year from 1837 to 1845. One in Muskingum County had exhibi-

tions in 1845 and 1846, and that in Washington County in 1845

and later. In 1851, other clubs in Cuyahoga and Summit counties

were said to "hold their annual fairs."⁶⁹

Occasionally the clubs considered branching out into sub-

sidiary activities. The Madison Township Club in Licking County,

for instance, proposed to buy a threshing-machine, as well as some

other implements, to be used by the members in rotation. As the

editor of the Ohio Cultivator pointed out the difficulty of assur-

 

66 Ibid., II. 114.

67 Ibid., IX (1855), 84.

68 Marietta Intelligencer. July 2, 1846.

69 "A  Brief History  &c.,"  774; Ohio  Agricultural Report for 1846, 57; Marietta

Intelligencer, November 2, 1848; Western Agriculturist (Columbus), 1 (1851), 339.

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AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES IN OHIO              139

 

ing agreement in the use of these machines, it is possible that the

experiment was not made.⁷⁰

The Civil War tested the quality of the societies, large and

small, especially in the southern part of the State. As soon as the

war broke out, many societies found themselves in doubt whether

to proceed with their arrangements or to abandon their exhibitions

temporarily. For some of them, the problem disappeared when

their grounds were taken over by the military authorities. This

was the case in Washington, Muskingum, Ross, Lawrence,

Hamilton and other counties. Unfortunately for these societies,

the soldiers felt themselves under no obligation to preserve the

property they were using. In Lawrence County they destroyed

everything that would burn, except the buildings they used for

shelter, and in Ross County, through carelessness, they even burned

the sheds and other structures.⁷¹

The other societies found that their patrons were too much

affected by the war to be interested in exhibitions. The low prices

of produce in 1861 had a depressing influence, with farmers exer-

cising as much economy as they could. People were in an unsettled

state, "with a disposition to congregate where the latest news was

to be had, there to discuss the affairs of the country."⁷² Many of

the societies therefore did not hold exhibitions, and those that did

found the attendance limited, and the receipts correspondingly

small. In 1862, the exhibitions were still further handicapped. In

Clermont County, for example, the exhibition was almost a failure,

because a rebel raid was expected at any hour. Elsewhere in the

State, the military draft came at about the same time as most of

the fairs, with the result that there was a feeling of depression, as

well as difficulty in getting in the crops. In 1863, except where

the grounds were occupied by the troops, and along the Ohio

River, the exhibitions showed signs of revival. They were held

in more counties than in 1862, and had a larger attendance.⁷³

With the advent of peace in 1865, almost all the societies

 

70 Ohio  Cultivator, III  (1847), 49.

71 Ohio Agricultural Report for 1862, 171; ibid., 1865, Part II, 228.

72 Ibid., 1861, 148-9.

73 Ibid., 1862, 142, 158-8, 174; ibid., 1863, vii.

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140   OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

 

revived. Once more farmers loaded their families into wagons

and drove off to the exhibitions, where the children could drink

pink lemonade and ride on the merry-go-round, the women could

gossip and the men could wrangle with one another over the trials

of speed. The difficulties incident to the war had proved the vital-

ity of the fairs. Working solutions had been found for most of

their problems. In the future there would be many variations and

some improvements, but their essential character would be little

changed.

• 21