Kelley, Oliver Hudson

Kelley, Oliver Hudson, 1826–1913, American agriculturist, b. Boston. He was a founder of the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, the central influence in the Granger movement of the 1870s. Kelley took up land on the Minnesota frontier in 1849 and farmed until, in 1864, he became connected with the U.S. Bureau of Agriculture, traveling in the West and South to report on agricultural conditions. At this time he conceived the idea of the Grange as a social and fraternal organization of farmers, and in 1867 he and six others secured the charter and Kelley became secretary. After 1873 the leadership passed to others, and Kelley resigned as secretary in 1878. He wrote Origin and Progress of the Order of the Patrons of Husbandry (1875).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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