AN EARLY AMERICAN CRUSADER:
NORTON STRANGE TOWNSHEND1
By JOHN F. CUNNINGHAM
Writing to G. Sprague, corresponding
secretary of the Ohio
State Board of Agriculture in 1854--just
ninety years ago--a
young physician of Lorain County, Ohio,
said:
I send you facts and observations
relating to agricultural education;
also a brief notice of an attempt to
establish an agricultural college in Ohio.
We will not stop to demonstrate, but
will take it for granted, that agricul-
tural education is desirable--that it
will conduce greatly to individual profit
and happiness, as well as to national
wealth, and that a special education
with reference to his business is as
desirable for the farmer as for the
lawyer or physician. The question that
then presents itself is: "How is
this education to be obtained"?
Must it be picked up here and there pro-
miscuously--a part from books, a part
from periodicals, a part through the
help of societies and a part from experiment? Men are trained for the
medical profession in medical schools,
for the law in law schools, for min-
isters of the gospel in schools of
theology, for artists in schools of design
and for commercial business in
commercial colleges. Can anybody give us
a reason why agriculture should not have
its colleges, also?2
He then recited what was being done in
England, Scotland,
and Ireland; in France, Italy, Belgium,
Germany and Austria in
well supported agricultural schools,
with this comment:
Is it not surprising that this great
nation, with its immense agricul-
tural interest and enterprise, should
still be destitute of a class of institu-
tions elsewhere found to be so
beneficial? Ought we not to have an
agricultural college, under state
supervision, at the capital of every state,
and supplied with a library, museum,
laboratory, spacious lecture rooms, a
sufficient corps of lecturers and open
without charge to every citizen of the
state?
But in the meantime what should be
done? Agricultural professor-
ships appended to all of our literary
institutions would doubtless he highly
beneficial to all who could avail
themselves of college instruction, but the
majority of young farmers could not find
the means or time to profit by
1 This paper was originally given before
the Kit-Kat Club of Columbus, Ohio,
March 21, 1944.
2 Ohio State Board of Agriculture, Report for 1854,
209.
355
356 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
this arrangement. . . . we have
thousands of practical farmers, young
and old, who could not take the time to
attend a course either at univer-
sities or on an experimental farm, but
who, nevertheless, are anxious to
attain a knowledge of the scientific
principles involved in their daily occu-
pation. It is to meet the needs of such
that the Ohio Agricultural College
has been established.
He then gave a brief description of the
four-way program
of lectures and demonstrations: I. Geology and chemistry; 2.
Whatever pertains to animals, in health
or disease; 3. Devoted to
Botany, plant physiology and habits; 4.
Related to farm opera-
tions, agricultural mechanics, rural
architecture, surveying, and
farm accounts. Continuing, he said:
"Thus it will be seen that this
institution . . . [offers] the
sciences that are supposed to have
direct application to agriculture.
The school is located at Oberlin, in
Lorain County. The lectures
for the first session commenced on the
fourth of December, 1854."
Thus wrote Norton Strange Townshend, who
had a vision of
the place science should have in the
development of the world's
greatest productive enterprise. With
him, in his new and daring
project in the field of education, he
had enlisted the interests of
Professors James H. Fairchild and James
Dascomb of Oberlin
College and Dr. John Strong Newberry of
Cleveland. Dr. New-
berry was destined later to become one
of the country's outstand-
ing men of science, an incorporator of
the American Academy
and one of the founders of the American
Association for the
Advancement of Science,3 while Professor
Fairchild later served
as president of Oberlin for many years;
so Townshend's judgment
of men manifested itself early in his
career.
A copy of the announcement of that early
agricultural college,
shows clearly the breadth of interest
that the lecture program
involved. But, like another voice that
wasted itself in the wilder-
ness, ages before, the crusading voice
and the hopeful energies
of the good young doctor were
unavailing. The school failed for
want of practical appreciation.
Four years later, Secretary John Hancock
Klippart, of the
Ohio State Board of Agriculture, wrote:
3 A. E. Waller, "The Breadth of Vision of Dr. John Strong
Newberry, Ohio State
Archaeological & Historical Quarterly, LII (Oct., 1943), 324-46.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY -- PRE-CIVIL
WAR 357
Ohio, the first agricultural state in
the Union, in many respects, can
boast nothing whatever in the direction
of agricultural education. True,
there were several patriotic as well as
scientific and otherwise properly
qualified gentlemen who, during a
portion of two successive years, delivered
lectures upon subjects, and established
a nucleus for an agricultural school;
but not receiving any encouragement from
the legislature, this school failed
to command the confidence of the public;
the number of pupils Did not
warrant the continuance of the school
whilst the lecturers were remunerated
for their services by the consciousness only
of having discharged their
duty.... The propriety of establishing
an agricultural college by legislative
authority is so manifest that no labored
argument is necessary to sustain it.4
Throughout their lives both Townshend
and Klippart were
powerful crusaders in the interest of
higher education in the field
of agriculture and it is quite
significant that only recently the
daughter of Mr. Klippart made a sizable
bequest to the Ohio
State Universitv, the income of which
was to be used in the in-
terest of the students of the
College of Agriculture. Knowing
Klippart's passion for writing and
publishing in this field the
university believes that it followed
what would have been his wish
when it was decided to use this money
for prizes to be awarded
those students whose published writings
should receive the ap-
proval of the board of judges appointed
annually for that purpose.
But what of our crusader? Did he retire from the scene and
sulk in his tent as a result of his
first great disappointment? By
no means. That sort of rebuff seemed to
be what it took to fire
the combative spirit of this man who had the vision
of a very
real quest. He began a campaign aimed to
develop public interest
in education for farmers and few
important meetings of farmers
of that day were complete without an
address, short or long, on
this subject by this extremely earnest
advocate.
He had set his hand to a real task and
would not turn back.
What was the background of this man who
was so strongly
inspired and so persistent in promoting
a movement that was des-
tined to develop into the world's
greatest system of higher edu-
cation? He was born at Clay Coaton,
Northamptonshire. England,
December 25, 1815. With his
parents he came to America in
1830 and settled on a farm in Lorain
County, Ohio. near the little
4 Ohio State Board of Agriculture, Report
for 1857, 66.
358 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
town of Avon. His father was a man of
ability and at that early
time possessed a small library of which
the young man made
good use. So he had the advantage of a
stimulating home atmos-
phere. This library, by the way, was probably one
of the first
circulating collections in Ohio, because
the neighbors, for miles
about, borrowed the books to read. Part
of that original collection
brought from England now reposes in the
Library of Congress,
while the remainder is in the possession
of his grandson. Some
day this remaining collection may come
into possession of the
Ohio State University, with which Dr.
Townshend had so much
to do at the start and in whose service
he spent the last quarter
century of his life.
In his early years Dr. Townshend took an
active interest in
the antislavery and temperance reforms.
In 1836 he taught the
district school and in 1837 started his study of medicine with
Dr. R. L. Howard, of Elyria. That same
winter he attended lec-
tures at the Cincinnati Medical College,
returning in the spring
to continue his medical studies together
with courses in Latin.
Greek and French with different
teachers. The winter of 1839
finds him at the College of Physicians
and Surgeons in New York
City, at which time he also acted as
voluntary assistant in the
chemical laboratory of Professor John
Torry. He received his
degree of M.D. in March, 1840, from the
University of the State
of New York of which the College of
Physicians and Surgeons
was a part.
Following his graduation he planned to
spend a year or more
in Europe, visiting hospitals, and
studying the most modern
methods. So he was delegated to carry to
similar societies in
Europe the greetings of the Temperance
Society of the College
of Physicians and Surgeons. This opened
the opportunity for
him to meet many well known temperance
men in his native coun-
try. On the same trip he was made the
delegate of the Anti-
Slavery Society of Ohio to the World's
Anti-Slavery Convention
that was held in London, England, in 1840. This also gave
him
added opportunity to meet distinguished
antislavery men from
many countries. Following this convention he went to Paris
where he spent the summer and autumn
observing hospital prac-
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 359
tice and taking private lessons in
surgery, auscultation and other
advanced methods coming into use at that
time. The winter was
spent in Edinburgh and the spring in
Dublin, after which he
returned to Ohio and took up the
practice of medicine, first in
Avon and later in Elyria.
But his supreme interest was in public
affairs, especially as
public activities and controls affected
the lives of people. He was
strongly opposed to human slavery and
was outspoken in his
opposition. As a result, the antislavery
element of Lorain County
elected him to the Ohio legislature in
1848 and he took an active
part in the debates that led to the
repeal of the so-called Black
Laws that were in effect in Ohio. These
laws: I. Prevented the
settlement of black or mulatto persons
in Ohio unless they could
show certificates of freedom and have
two freeholders pledge
security for their good behavior and
maintenance in case they
might become public charges. It was also
a penal offense to
employ a person of colored blood unless
he could show a certificate
of freedom, duly recorded. 2. Negroes were excluded from the
common schools; 3. No Negro could be
used as a sworn witness
to testify in a case where a white
person was concerned.
During this term in the legislature He
was also influential in
the election of Salmon P. Chase to the
United States Senate.
The two were warm friends as a result of
something that had
happened while Townshend was a medical
student in Cincinnati.
A man from the South, visiting in
Cincinnati, had brought with
him a slave girl, who ran away when her
master was about to
return to his home. Captured and placed
on trial for return to
bondage, she stood before the court
without a defender. So a
young man, about Townshend's age,
presented himself as her
attorney without cost. His defense was
so impressive
that Town-
shend inquired his name. The answer was,
Salmon P. Chase,
and that started life-long friendship
between these two men.
In the fall of 1848 when he was elected
by the Abolishionists
to represent them in the Ohio
legislature, over the opposition of
both the Whig and Democratic parties,
Townshend was definitely
instructed to act as their
representative "with any party, or
against any party, as in his judgment
the cause of freedom should
360 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
require." It developed that the
most important task confronting
the session was the election of a United
States senator and it
was also discovered that the division
between the Whigs and the
Democrats was even, and that each
lacked one of having half the
membership. Outside these two factions,
bitterly opposed to each
other, were two Free Soil
members--Norton S. Townshend of
Lorain County and Col. John F. Morse of
Lake County. Each
had been elected over the opposition of
the Whigs and Democrats
and could, therefore, be quite
independent of both. In view of
this division no organization of the
House could be effected with-
out the votes of these two Free Soil
members. The Democratic
candidate for senator was William Allen
while Thomas Ewing
was the candidate of the whigs. Joshua
R. Giddings of Ash-
tabula County was the preference of
Morse while the choice
of Townshend was Salmon P. Chase of
Hamilton County, who
was destined later to become Governor of
Ohio. Secretary of the
United States Treasury and Chief Justice
of the United States.
So the balance of power held by
Townshend and Morse, after a
deadlock lasting from December 4 until
December 23. was utilized
to secure an organization of the H-ouse
of Representatives, to
secure the repeal of the Black Laws, and
the election of Chase
to the Senate of the United States.
In 1850, Dr. Townshend was elected a
member of the con-
vention which framed the Ohio
Constitution which continued to
he the fundamental document of Ohio
until 1912. Here again
he had triumphed over both Whig and
Democratic opposition.
That same year he was elected a member
of the 32nd Congress
of the United States and during his
service continued to be out-
spoken and courageous in support of what
he considered righteous
principle. Two incidents will indicate
the virile courage as well
as physical bravery that enabled him to
maintain his standing.
The question of slavery in the minds of
congressmen of that
day can be described as explosive--a
powder keg that was likely
to be touched off with any spark.
Rampant slaveholders there
were who were curt and domineering and
whose spirit was likely
at almost any time to provoke physical
assault, such as was visited
later upon Senator Sumner. Townshend, a
new member in the
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 361
House, and Wade, a new Senator from
Ohio, early were made
to feel this bitter resentment.
Townshend had made several strong
antislavery speeches on the floor of the
House and received, one
morning, a call from a friend of a congressman from North
Carolina, with a challenge to fight a
duel.5 Townshend was a
man of great physical power. He weighed
more than two hun-
dred pounds and had spent a vigorous
young manhood. "What
does Stanley want," he asked the
representative of the challenger.
"Does he want to kill me or does he
want me to kill him?"
The abruptness of the question and the
manner in which it
was put rather upset the friend of
Stanley, who replied: "I think.
Mr. Townshend, he does not want either.
But you have made
offensive speeches in the House and in
duty to himself and his
constituents Mr. Stanley feels that you
must retract your remarks
or accept the alternative."
Deliberately but impressively Townshend
replied: "We do
not fight duels in Ohio. Public
sentiment there looks upon duel-
ing as murder. I will not fight Stanley
in this way, but if he still
insists, you can tell him that we will
go out and fight in my way."
"When I went to Ohio wild game was
plentiful. I am ac-
counted a dead shot with a rifle. I
spent over a year in Paris
studying my profession and while there
took lessons that made
me expert in the use of the small sword.
If Mr. Stanley insists
upon fighting he will find me ready to
defend myself in my own
way."
The Southerner said that he would report
to his principal.
but the Doctor was not challenged again.
On another occasion a member from North
Carolina, in the
course of debate, sneeringly alluded to
Townshend's English birth.
The reply that followed gives evidence
of his alertness and ability
as a ready debater. This reply was
delivered on June 23, 1852
and was, in part, as follows:
A man does not choose his birthplace, so
I do not consider it a subject
of either glory or fame. Could I have
chosen it I would not have selected
any other spot--on one hand was the
field of Naseby where that stern
apostle of liberty, Oliver Cromwell,
overthrew the power of the royal tyrant
Charles I. On the other was the River
Avon, whose waters flowed by the
5 Agricultural Student (Columbus), IV (1897-98). 118.
362
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
birthplace of Shakespeare. Could any
spot be more suggestive of all that
is heroic and glorious in action, or of
all that is true and beautiful in ex-
pression? How much I owe to those
associations I cannot tell but this I
know--that Cromwell and Milton, and Pym,
and Vane, and Hampton, are
among the saints in my calendar and I
trust I cherish something of their
hatred of oppression.
I think men may understand and
appreciate the principles of civil
liberty though not born on this
continent. The Pilgrims were not behind
in this particular, though foreigners,
like myself.
The portrait that hangs before me
reminds me of another foreigner
(Lafayette) who understood the
advantages of free government and to whom
this country owes her gratitude.
Persons born within the limits of a
monarchy are not necessarily
Monarchists. The fathers of the
Revolution--Washington, Jefferson, the
Adams' and Patrick Henry were born under
the same monarchical gov-
ernment as myself. It is true that men
born under a free government and
who have known no other have not always
the best appreciation of the
value of freedom. How will you explain
the fact that the sons and grand-
sons of those who fought and died in the
war of the Revolution to secure
the liberty that we enjoy, are now, in
the Southern states, laboring with
an equal zeal for an opposite purpose,
to extend and perpetuate the curse
of human slavery? The true friend of
freedom would scorn alike to be
a slave or to own one. Some men are
Republicans from choice and some
are so only by accident. After seeing
the evils of other forms of govern-
ment, I prefer that under which I live.
I have to say further to that gentleman,
that my constituents consider
themselves entirely competent to select
their own representative: ... for
myself I will add that representing a
hundred thousand free men, I shall
take the liberty to speak as I please
and when I think proper, without
asking special permission of any man,
and least of all one who comes here
the representative of whips and manacles
and slaves.6
The remainder of that speech was an able
argument against
the policy that was under consideration
having to do with carrying
slavery into the territories to the
west.
How much influence he had on the
development of sentiment
favorable to agricultural education
among members of Congress
can never be known. It is known, however, that he was a man
who expressed his thoughts clearly and
courageously; and that
he was terribly in earnest in his
advocacy of education that would
lift the rural people into higher and
broader realms of citizenship
6 Quoted by the Hon. L. B. Wing,
address at dedication of Townshend Hall, Jan.
12, 1898.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 363
as well as to make them more efficient
in the great business of
production of food and raiment. He was a
man who made and
kept warm friends; he was a man who
impressed others with his
sincerity and great strength of
character. It is not a far stretch
of the imagination, then, to assume that
he did promote a line of
thought and discussion that may have had
a stimulating suggestion
for such a man as Justin L. Morrill,
congressman from Vermont,
who a few years later introduced the act
now famous as the Land
Grant College Act, which was passed in
1859 and vetoed by
President Buchanan, and which was
introduced and passed later
and signed by President Lincoln in 1862. Certain it
is, that with
all of his previous crusading for
education for farmers, and his
personal effort and subsequent sacrifice
in actually starting an
agricultural college, he was ripe for
the effort of pushing into
useful service the plan made possible by
the Morrill Act when it
was finally perfected.
Following his one term in the Congress
of the United States
he was elected to the Ohio State Senate
in 1853. Here he demon-
strated his practical interest in
unfortunate humanity through the
presentation of a memorial for the
establishment of a state institu-
tion for the training of feeble-minded
children. At the next session
the act became a law and Dr. Townshend
was appointed one of
three trustees to put it into action.
This trusteeship he continued
to hold, by repeated appointments, for 21 years. During that long
term of service he gave methodical and
constant thought to the
welfare and development of the
institution. Commenting on this
phase of his work the late Lucius B.
Wing, for many years a
trustee of the Ohio State University,
said, at the dedication of
Townshend Hall in 1898: "The
present great asylum in this city,
the best of its kind in the world,
stands today as much of a monu-
ment to Dr. Townshend's love of
humanity, his wise foresight
and indomitable will, as does this
building, which hears his name,
to his efforts in behalf of industrial
education."7
While serving in legislative halls of
State and nation he re-
linquished his medical practice, so he
returned to the farm in
Lorain County near the town of Avon.
Shortly thereafter, he
7 Ibid.
364 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
projected the agricultural college to
which reference has already
been made.
In a notable biographical sketch by a
member of the medical
archives committee, attention has been
directed to the fact that
many of the practical scientists of that
day were men trained in
the field of medicine.8 Medicine was
early in the field of applied
science and probably the first to
utilize the laboratory method, so
it was only natural that men of that
profession should be enlisted
in other fields where the objective was
the application of science
to material in the interest of human
welfare and progress.
In 1858, Dr. Townshend was chosen a
member of the Ohio
State Board of Agriculture, which had
been functioning since
1846. He served as a member for six
years and later served in
1868 and 1869, being president of the
board during part of each
term of service. In 1863, he had been
made a medical inspector
in the army of the United States where
he served until the end
of the war. In 1868, he was appointed on
a committee to investi-
gate the department of wool appraisal of
the custom houses of
Boston and New York, the report of this
committee being made
the basis of the wool tariff of that
same year. In 1869, he became
professor of agriculture in Iowa State
College and in 1870, he
was appointed a trustee of the Ohio
Agricultural and Mechanical
College, which was established under the
law of that year. That
assignment pointed his life toward the
climax for which he had
been groping for so long a time. He was
now able to devote
his great energy and his keen vision to
a project that enjoyed
the public support for which he had
argued so persistently
during his younger manhood. There were
still long marches to
be made and many uphill fights and, in
fact, some real disappoint-
ments, but his courage was strong in the
face of perplexities and
his natural optimism supported him in
his disappointments.
It should be recalled that in November,
1862, Governor Tod
had called a meeting of the Ohio State
Board of Agriculture and
laid before it the Act of Congress which
had been approved by
President Lincoln on July 2, of that
year. since known as the
Land Grant Act. In his annual message
the following January
8 A. E. Waller, "The Breadth of Vision of Dr. John Strong Newberry."
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR
365
the Governor recommended the acceptance
of the federal grant,
largely because it provided for military
training. During that
dark year the importance of military
training needed little argu-
ment to support it inasmuch as'160,000
citizens of Ohio had been
called into the Union army without any
previous training. At a
meeting of the Ohio State Board of
Agriculture, that same month,
a committee was appointed to present a
memorial to the legisla-
ture requesting the acceptance of the
grant. This committee con-
sisted of the president of the board
(Dr. Norton S. Townshend)
and the Hon. Thomas C. Jones of
Delaware. The memorial was
prepared and laid upon the desks of the
members of the legis-
lature, but the sentiment for acceptance
was far from unanimous.
In fact, each of the several related
acts introduced in that session
Of the legislature was sidetracked by
being buried in committee
or pigeonholed by some unsympathetic
member to whom it was
referred.
The Agricultural Convention of 1864,
however, adopted a
resolution strongly favoring the
acceptance of the grant of land
provided by Congress and on the
following day the Hon. Colum-
bus Delano, of Knox County, started a
bill through the lower
house which became a law on February 9,
1864.
It was under authority of the Act of
March 22, 1870, that the
first
Board of Trustees of the Agricultural and Mechanical Col-
lege was appointed. Each of the 19
congressional districts of the
State was represented by one member. Dr.
Townshend was ap-
pointed from the 14th district. The
governor at that time was
Rutherford 13. Hayes, who took a great
interest in the new uni-
versity and who served later as a member
of its Board of Trustees.
In passing, the author would like to pay
further humble
tribute to a forward-looking,
substantial group of men to whom
agriculture and engineering owe a
perpetual debt. He refers
again to the Ohio State Board of
Agriculture, dominated in no
small way by the persistent and
aggressive leadership of Dr.
Townshend, both while a member and
officer of the board and
while he was on other assignments of a
public nature. In the
words of Captain Alexis Cope, author of
the first volume of the
history of the University:
366
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
"It was the State Board of
Agriculture that 'kept the fires
burning during this period the Civil War
and the days of recon-
struction] and it was through the
activities of this Board and its
individual members that the passage of
the Cannon Act of 1870,
the 'Charter of the College' was brought
about."
The new Board of Trustees had two
distinct tasks to perform
--to decide on a location for the
college and to determine the type
of college that it was to be. After visiting the several sites that
were offered it was decided to locate the
college at Columbus and
then began the debates as to whether the
institution was to he a
training school for technicians in
agriculture and mechanic arts,
or whether it should be an institution
of broad higher learning
and culture. The leadership of Townshend
favored the limited
training that would fit young men to be
experts in the technical
fields mentioned, while the
leadership favoring a program to edu-
cate American citizens, to fit students for the practical duties of
life was largely assumed by Mr. Joseph
Sullivant, Hon. Thomas
C. Jones and Hon. V. B. Horton, the able
president of the Board.
After a prolonged discussion continuing
through two days, a
resolution was offered favoring the
program of studies that had
been proposed by Mr. Sullivant and it
was adopted with but one
dissenting vote. The record does not
show who voted "NO" but
there was good reason to believe that it
was Townshend. The
program set up ten
departments--Agriculture, Mechanic Arts,
Mathematics and Physics. Chemistry
Geology with Mining and
Metallurgy, Zoology with Veterinary
Science, Botany with Hor-
ticulture, Vegetable Physiology. etc..
English Language and Liter-
ature. Modern and Ancient Languages, Political
Economy. The
adoption of this program was thought to
have settled the char-
acter of the institution, but when the
Board came to choose the
members of the teaching staff. Dr.
Townshend moved to strike
out
the provision for appointing professors of English and of
Modern and Ancient Languages. Thus there
was poised another
extremely critical decision which would
affect the whole future of
the college. After a prolonged debate
the vote was taken and
Dr. Townshend's motion was lost by a
vote of eight to seven.
Shortly thereafter a rather dramatic
event took place in the
`
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-ClVIL WAR 367
Board. Dr. Townshend had taken strong
positions on a number
of occasions and while many members
disagreed violently all
respected his views. So, according to
tradition, he was asked to
resign from the board. It was a crushing
climax to his fight for
the institution of his dreams, but when
he was assured that it
was the wish of the board he did resign.
Then, still according
to tradition, he was asked to leave the
room but not to leave the
building. In a little while he was
recalled into the presence of
the Board and informed that he had been
elected Professor of
Agriculture!
After the character of the college was
established, some of
his associates expressed serious doubt
as to whether Townshend
was so genuinely opposed to an
institution of broader learning.
He made a strong fight for the purely
technical training in order
to make sure that such training would be
included in the broader
program and to prevent its being
swallowed up in any program
such as was offered by the classical
college of that day. Certain
it is that he favored education in the
sciences, for that was the
type of education that he had enjoyed
and his early associates
had been men of high scientific
attainment.
So the new professor of agriculture
began groping in a new
field, utilizing largely the lecture
method of the medical college
and drawing upon the observations that
he made on his father's
farm. He was the entire staff of the
Department of Agriculture,
of Veterinary Medicine and Botany. He
was also superintendent
of the college farm. Even with few students it would not be
possible for one man to cover such, a
field which is now occupied
by two fully equipped colleges.9
Naturally the progress was not
great and there was little satisfaction
on the part of the farmers
of the State or the Board of Trustees of
the College. As the
years passed, criticism grew, but
Townshend had a strong fol-
lowing personally among the farmers and
was such an engaging
personality that when a committee from
the Board went to talk
with him about resigning, so that a
younger man might take up
the work, he dismissed them curtly with
the remark: "You had
better be about your rightful business
or I will have you removed."
9 The College of Agriculture and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
368 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
"And," said one of the
committeemen later, "he could have
done so."
Throughout his early crusades, Townshend
had plead for
education for farmers to be supplied by
the State at no cost to
the student. He quickly discovered,
however, that the resident
student
must pay something, but his theory has been quite well
materialized to the end that the state
and nation do now supply
education, both generalized and
specialized, which is greatly help-
ful to agriculture and to the general
public as well. One must
not disregard the fact that agriculture
is something fundamental
and that whatever helps or hurts it also
helps or hurts the entire
public.
The spirit of Townshend is probably
carried out quite fully
through the operation of the Extension
Service, which is operated
by the College of Agriculture. This
program includes not only
the work of the Farmers' Institutes,
special extension schools and
correspondence courses, but also a vast
personal advisory and
service system with a permanent
agricultural agent in each county,
a home demonstration agent and often a
4-H club agent to serve
youth groups. In addition there are available on call, various
subject matter specialists who stand
ready to supply emergency
information, advice and service in their
particular fields. The
work of the Extension Service is
supported by both State and
federal funds.
As an educator Dr. Townshend was highly
regarded, even
though the sciences in the field of
agriculture were not yet or-
ganized. But, as Director Charles E.
Thorne of the Ohio Experi-
ment Station said in 1911:10 "Doctor Townshend had been drawn
into the work of agriculture at a time
when it was an uncharted
sea. ... He was a generation in advance of the farmers' insti-
tute lecturer, or the extension school
lecturer of today. It fell
to his lot to lead the way through an
unexplored wilderness, and
if he groped blindly and made a
multitude of mistakes as he did--
what wonder?"
The truth is that at that time there was
not only lacking any
organized program of education in the
agricultural sciences but
10 History of the Ohio State
University 1, 462.
OHIO MEDICAL HISTORY--PRE-CIVIL WAR 369
the sciences did not exist: neither was
there any gauge to measure
or any unit of value by which they might
be appraised.
Dr. Edward Orton, first president of the
University and for
years the Ohio State Geologist, said of
Townshend: "His whole
life, early and late, is a witness to
his zeal in the service of a
rational and scientific agriculture.
... No man in the country,
certainly no man in Ohio, was as active
and persistent as he in
keeping before the people the great fact
that the only successful
agriculture of the future must be
scientific agriculture."11
The regard in which he was held
nationally is told by Uni-
versity Trustee L. B. Wing. He said:
"I remember the day
when the sad news was flashed over the
wires to the city of
Denver. The Ninth Annual Convention of
the Association of
American Agricultural Colleges and
Experiment Stations was in
session with representatives from more
than 20 states. When
someone in the audience announced the
death of Dr. Townshend
the sympathetic thrill was by no means
confined to his Ohio
associates."12
At the time of his death the Board of
Trustees of the Uni-
versity recorded an appreciation of his
high services ending with
the statement: "Few lives have been
fuller of noble purpose and
good deeds, and few men through so long
a career have main-
tained so high, pure, and unselfish a
character."13
Some years after his death his former
students raised funds
to provide a memorial tablet which may
be seen on the north
side of the entrance of Townshend Hall.
It was the writer's
pleasure to deliver the address at the
presentation of this tablet,
and the acceptance was made by one of
the founders of the Kit-
Kat Club then a trustee of the
University, Mr. Walter J. Sears.
11 Agricultural Student (Columbus), IV (1897-98), 122.
12 Address at dedication of Townshend
Hall, Jan. 12, 1898.
13 History of Ohio State University, 1, 527.
370
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The wording of the Tablet is as follows:
To the Memory of
Norton Strange Townshend
1815-1895
Beloved Physician, Friend of the Cause
of
Human Freedom, Wise Law Maker, a Pio-
neer in Agricultural Education, one of
the
Founders of the University and its First
Professor of Agriculture, the Students
of
Agriculture and of Veterinary Medicine
have placed this Tablet.
A.D. 1999
Perhaps his personal philosophy is
expressed by a statement
that was found in one of his books after
his death. It was in
his handwriting and probably it was his
own composition.
We see ripeness everywhere, not only in
fruits and seeds, hut in the
woods, the thicket and among wild
plants. Even the leaves finish up their
season's work and prepare to fall.... So
passes, in a well ordered life, the
head of the household. The vital forces,
the activities of middle life, attach
this leaf very strongly to the branch;
as the ripening, mellowing influences
of passing years begin to be felt, in
his axil or home, appears that which is
to be a continuance of his life in
another generation: its care and guard-
ianship become the chief office of his
existence. When the paternal leaf
has done what it could toward perfecting
this bud, it prepares to fall. The
line of separation appears. The
processes of Nature are so ordered that
no harsh or open wound is made, when in
due time this ripened leaf, having
fulfilled its earthly mission. falls,
gently, to the ground.
AN EARLY AMERICAN CRUSADER:
NORTON STRANGE TOWNSHEND1
By JOHN F. CUNNINGHAM
Writing to G. Sprague, corresponding
secretary of the Ohio
State Board of Agriculture in 1854--just
ninety years ago--a
young physician of Lorain County, Ohio,
said:
I send you facts and observations
relating to agricultural education;
also a brief notice of an attempt to
establish an agricultural college in Ohio.
We will not stop to demonstrate, but
will take it for granted, that agricul-
tural education is desirable--that it
will conduce greatly to individual profit
and happiness, as well as to national
wealth, and that a special education
with reference to his business is as
desirable for the farmer as for the
lawyer or physician. The question that
then presents itself is: "How is
this education to be obtained"?
Must it be picked up here and there pro-
miscuously--a part from books, a part
from periodicals, a part through the
help of societies and a part from experiment? Men are trained for the
medical profession in medical schools,
for the law in law schools, for min-
isters of the gospel in schools of
theology, for artists in schools of design
and for commercial business in
commercial colleges. Can anybody give us
a reason why agriculture should not have
its colleges, also?2
He then recited what was being done in
England, Scotland,
and Ireland; in France, Italy, Belgium,
Germany and Austria in
well supported agricultural schools,
with this comment:
Is it not surprising that this great
nation, with its immense agricul-
tural interest and enterprise, should
still be destitute of a class of institu-
tions elsewhere found to be so
beneficial? Ought we not to have an
agricultural college, under state
supervision, at the capital of every state,
and supplied with a library, museum,
laboratory, spacious lecture rooms, a
sufficient corps of lecturers and open
without charge to every citizen of the
state?
But in the meantime what should be
done? Agricultural professor-
ships appended to all of our literary
institutions would doubtless he highly
beneficial to all who could avail
themselves of college instruction, but the
majority of young farmers could not find
the means or time to profit by
1 This paper was originally given before
the Kit-Kat Club of Columbus, Ohio,
March 21, 1944.
2 Ohio State Board of Agriculture, Report for 1854,
209.
355