Last week we looked at the events and people involved in founding the Future Farmers of America (FFA). We then asked you to vote (via Qualtrics) on whom you thought should be recognized as the father or fathers of the FFA. In this Footnote we will share the results of that poll and tell you more about these individuals.
We had 96 people who had responded to the poll at the time this Footnote was written. The instructions said to vote for one or more of the five individuals listed. A total of 145 votes were received. The voting breakdown was:
- 61 individuals voted for 1 person
- 26 individuals voted for 2 people
- 1 individual voted for 3 people
- 6 individuals voted for 4 people
- 1 individual voted for 5 people
- 1 individual did not vote but left a comment
If this activity occurred years ago on the “To Tell The Truth” television show, we would ask the Father of the FFA to please stand up. On the show some of the imposters would halfway rise then sit back down. So we will sort of do that. We will tell you about the five individuals and why they are deserving of the title; then you have the ultimate decision.
Introducing the Five Finalist
James Otey Hoge (1899 – 1966) was the agriculture teacher at Rural Retreat High School near Blacksburg, VA and happened to be on the Virginia Tech campus that day in September of 1925 when four people were meeting to discuss forming an agricultural student organization. He was the brother-in-law of Walter Newman, one of the participants in the meeting. He was asked to sit in on the meeting. He was nervous and carved a small hole in a desk drawer of the table around which the meeting took place.
Later Jim was at the July 1926 agriculture teachers meeting where Henry Groseclose was presenting the Future Farmers of Virginia plan. Jim asked “Why not a national fraternity to be known as the Future Farmers of America?” According to several sources, this appears to be the first mention of the name Future Farmers of America. At this July meeting a committee of teachers were appointed to work with Groseclose on the final draft of the FFV plan. Jim was one of the teachers appointed to that committee.
In the early days of agricultural education, there was a designation of Master Teacher. Jim was the first agriculture teacher in Virginia to receive this recognition. In 1928 Jim moved into a district supervisors’ position and served as a district supervisor until he retired in 1962.
Mr. Hoge received a total of 3 votes out of 145 as being one of the founders of the FFV.
Harry Sanders (1895-1984) was the most junior member of the faculty at the September 1925 meeting at Virginia Tech having just joined the faculty. He taught agricultural education at Manassas High School (1917 – 1924) where he organized the Manassas Poultry Club in 1922-23. Seeing the need for an organization with a broader scope, the club became Tomorrow’s Farmers’ Club. He was the first district supervisor for agricultural education in Virginia (1924-25).
In 1925 he joined the faculty at Virginia Tech as an assistant professor. In 1932-33 he served as a consultant and helped start a department of agricultural education in Puerto Rico. A focus area for Sanders was job analysis techniques used for classroom teaching. In 1940 Sanders became head of vocational education at Virginia Tech and served in that position for 17 years. He retired in 1962.
Sanders provides a first-hand look at the founding of the FFV/FFA in an article titled “The Future Farmers of America Story” published in The Southern Planter in April of 1952. This article was reprinted in The Agricultural Education Magazine in November of 1953.
Mr. Sanders received 8 votes out of the 145 cast by the respondents as being one of the founders of the FFV/FFA.
Edmund Magill (1889-1940) was a native of Kansas. He received his education at Kansas State College, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, and Cornell University. After teaching agriculture at Wayzata, Minnesota, for three years he moved to Maryland to become a managing partner of a large orchard. Following this activity he served as extension specialist in horticulture in Virginia. He joined the staff of the Department of Agricultural Education at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1919. He was an itinerant teacher trainer and, in that role, provided in-service assistance to agricultural education teachers throughout Virginia. He rose to the position of head of the Virginia Tech Department of Agricultural Education in 1925. In that capacity, Magill encouraged and approved the work being done by Groseclose and Newman for the FFV. Ironically, he died during the 14th Virginia FFA State convention in 1940. He was known as “Mr. Mac” in Virginia.
We are fortunate that Mr. Mac wrote a detailed article about the founding of the FFV/FFA in Chapter Chats. It was titled “Future Farmers in Virginia Celebrate Fifth Anniversary” and was published in Volume 4, Number 2 (March 1931) of Chapter Chats. More about that article later.
Magill received 10 votes out of 145 cast as the founder of the FFV/FFA.
Walter Newman (1895-1978) taught agriculture at Windsor High School in Virginia. While teaching he organized boys corn clubs in two communities. In 1922 he joined the Ag Ed faculty at VPI. In 1925 he became the state supervisor for agricultural education. In 1942 he was Assistant State Superintendent for Public Instruction in Virginia. Newman was chosen as the tenth president of Virginia Tech, a position he held from 1947 to 1962. In his capacity as a teacher educator and then head state supervisor. Newman was well known and respected throughout the country. He made numerous speeches and presentations at both regional and national conferences advocating the establishment of a national organization based on the Future Farmers of Virginia.
Newman received 38 out of the 145 votes cast in the poll as being one of the founders of the FFV/FFA.
Henry Groseclose (1892-1950) was an agricultural education teacher in Buckingham County Virginia. In 1919 he organized an agricultural club at his school. He was a member of the Grange and Masons. Both organizations influenced Groseclose and the work he did for the FFV and the FFA. He did many important things for the FFV. He named the organization after the First Families of Virginia; socially prominent and wealthy families who descended from 17th century English colonists. He wrote the FFV constitution and created progressive levels of membership. In addition, after observing and being influenced by a Danish agricultural emblem he designed the emblem of the Future Farmers of Virginia. All of these were used as models for the National FFA. Groseclose was the National Executive Secretary of the FFA from 1928 to 1930 and was the national FFA treasurer from 1928-1941.
Groseclose received 86 out of the 145 votes cast in the poll as being one of the founders of the FFV/FFA.
So Who is the Father of the FFA?
According to our poll the respondents indicated that Henry Groseclose is the Father of the FFA. However, before we give him that title, it might be prudent to dig a little deeper.
Let’s hear from Duncan Lyle Kinnear. He was a native of Virginia and had been a school principal. In 1938 he joined the Department of Vocational Education at VPI as an assistant professor of education. He later was promoted to head of the Division of Education and Psychology in the Department of Vocational Education. He personally knew all of the players involved in founding the Future Farmers of Virginia.
In 1952 Kinnear wrote a doctoral dissertation at The Ohio State University titled “A History of Agricultural Education in Virginia with Special Emphasis on the Secondary School Level.” This scholarly 657 page document provides a first hand account of the founding of the FFV/FFA. Kinnear writes (1952, pp. 459-461):
Before concluding the story of the development of the F.F.V. and the F.F.A. in Virginia, it seems well to make a slight digression for the sake of insuring clarity and accuracy concerning the part played by the state leaders in the formation of these organizations. In the first place, it was Walter Newman, not Henry Groseclose, who conceived the idea of an organization designed to build up the morale and act as an inspiration to the boys enrolled in vocational agriculture In Virginia. Wheeler in his Two Hundred Years of Agricultural Education in Georgia misses this point entirely and without mentioning Newman gives Groseclose full credit for the idea. It was Newman who first proposed the idea of such an organization to the boys and their teachers, and it was Newman as State Supervisor of Agricultural Education and Magill as head teacher-trainer who recognized the peculiar talents possessed by Groseclose and assigned to him the job of developing a plan, or constitution, for the proposed organization. Furthermore it was Newman and Magill who in a manner possessed only by these two men, furnished the inspiration which kept Groseclose’s talents centered on the idea of a state organization until he succeeded in developing the constitution which, as already related, became the basis for the plan of organization of the state F.F.V. and of the national F.F.A.
The foregoing statement of the responsibility shared by these men in the formation of the F.F.V. and the F.F.A. is in no way intended to detract from the contribution made by Groseclose in setting up the new organization. While it is true that many of the ideas he incorporated into the new constitution may be pointed out as having been in existence in other organizations, it is equally true that he was the first person to isolate these ideas and recombine them in the form of a constitution which essentially has served the F.F.A. in Virginia and the nation for nearly a quarter of a century.
As already related, it was J. 0. Hoge who in Virginia first advanced the idea of a national organization to be called the Future Farmers of America, and it was Walter Newman who carried the idea outside the state to the Southern Regional Conference at San Antonio, Texas. As the idea spread, however, and more and more states wanted to know about the F.F.V. plan, it was Groseclose who was usually sent to explain the organization. The sending of Groseclose to these several states was quite logical, since he had formulated the constitution, and as itinerant teacher-trainer had visited more schools and seen the plan in operation in more circumstances, perhaps, than anyone else in Virginia at the time. As an ambassador of the F.F.V. Groseclose was at his very best. His magnificent physique, his pleasing personality, and his unassuming manner soon made him a well-known and welcome figure at gatherings of workers in vocational agriculture. His activities in visiting states and in helping set up the national F.F.A. organization and his subsequent work as the first executive secretary and as the treasurer of this organization earned for him a well- deserved reputation as one of the founders of the national F.F.A. This richly deserved reputation and the valuable work he did on the state level have caused many writers out of the state to give Groseclose credit for originating the idea of the older F.F.V. as well as originating the plan of organization. As far as the F.F.A. in Virginia is concerned, Newman originated the idea of a state-wide organization and presented it to his fellow workers. Groseclose took the idea and organized a highly successful plan for making it work.
A careful reading of what Kinnear wrote reveals that both Walter Newman and Henry Groseclose should be recognized for their work in creating the agricultural student organization.
Edmund Magill, the Ag Ed Department Head at VPI during the initial years of the FFA, would agree with this assessment. In the article titled “Future Farmers in Virginia Celebrate Fifth Anniversary” published in 1931 in Chapter Chats he recognizes both Newman and Groseclose (Magill, 1931, p. 8):
Newman originated the idea of a State organization and convinced his fellow-workers as well as the boys of its place and need; once the idea was accepted, he worked unceasingly to attain the goal of a chapter with a strong program in every department of vocational agriculture; more than anyone else he was responsible for guiding the State Association to financial independence; he ably presented the Virginia program to others, first in the Southern Region and then to representatives from other states . His intense interest and enthusiasm, his intelligent planning, his ability to work with others and inspire their confidence, and the high ideals he always held for the organization were as invaluable as they were indispensable in the development of the program.
Groseclose originated the name; produced the constitution and bylaws which, with some minor revisions, was accepted by both the state and national organizations; he gave the idea of progressive membership based on achievement and the names for the degrees; developed the emblem, the key, and the seal which was almost identical with that of today with the exception of the cross – section of an ear of corn; he perfected the induction ceremony for the Greenhand; wrote the first handbook and arranged for financing it with the Farm Journal Company; secured the plow emblems from John Deere Company; and played an important part in securing incorporation for the national organization . He was the first executive secretary, and for more than twelve years served as national treasurer. In recognition of his services he was the first to receive the Fourth Degree of Honorary American Farmer.
Magill’s last sentence is not exactly accurate. At the 1929 FFA convention four people were awarded honorary American Farmers degrees, among them were Henry Groseclose AND Walter Newman.
Figure 1. This image appeared in the 1931 issue of Chapter Chats.
Magill recognized Groseclose and Newman as “founders and organizers” of the FFV.
E. Y. Noblin, an assistant professor of agricultural education at Virginia Tech wrote in 1942 (p. 8) “In Virginia Walter S. Newman has been commonly referred to as the organizer of the FFA and Henry C. Groseclose as the founder.” He then writes more about “the contributions of each of these two men who were so largely responsible for F.F. A.”
Concluding Remarks
Several people submitted comments on the poll associated with this Footnote. One individual wrote “As with everything in life, five or more people do the work, some contribute more than others, and one person receives the credit.” Another respondent wrote “Fathers is the correct term. No one person could have done all of the things needed to be done to start this great organization.”
Figure 2. A Historical Marker near Virginia Tech.
A historical marker near the Virginia Tech campus recognizes Harry Sanders, Edmund Magill, Walter Newman, and Henry Groseclose as the Founders of the FFA. While we have substantial information on the involvement of Newman and Groseclose we know less of what Sanders and Magill did. But we have an idea.
Mr. Groseclose, while still on the VPI faculty, also served as executive secretary of the fledgling national FFA Organization. Magill writes this about Groseclose in Chapter Chats (1931, p. 8):
No one on the outside can realize the amount of mail, the vexatious problems, and the misunderstandings that would appear in a single day from instructors, State and national leaders and commercial firms…much assistance and time of Mr. Gloseclose’s co-workers [was needed] in counseling and even in carrying his Virginia load as best it could be done when the national load was too heavy. Finally, the task was so great that Mr. Groseclose’s health broke under the strain and his entire load, national and State, had to be carried by his co-workers in Virginia as best as it could be done for some months. All this was done gladly, even at the sacrifice of a Virginia teacher training program over two years in succession—all for the sake of an ideal that your leaders in Virginia believed in. Future Farmers, here is a lesson in real cooperation for you of today.
So while Groseclose received the accolades, his colleagues at Virginia Tech were supporting him and carrying part of his work load. That allowed Groseclose to do what he did. Therefore all four who sat around that table in September of 1925 should be recognized as the founders of the FFA.
Figure 3. The Virginia Tech table. Photo from The Agricultural Education Magazine.
Acknowledgements
John Hillison at Virginia Tech provided valuable information about the individuals featured in this Footnote, Phil Fravel at Clemson provided additional insight into these individuals, and Jim Connors at the University of Idaho got this train moving by first writing about the Founding Fathers in agriculture.
References
Bryant, Bradley, W. (2001). History of the Virginia FFA Association. Doctoral Dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Hillison, John (1993). The Role of Virginia in the Development of the FFA. Journal of Agricultural Education. Volume 34, Number 2.
Kinnear, Duncan Lyle (1952). A History of Agricultural Education in Virginia with Special Emphasis on the Secondary School Level. Doctoral Dissertation. The Ohio State University.
Magill, E. C. (March 1931) “Future Farmers in Virginia Celebrate Fifth Anniversary,” Chapter Chats, Volume 4, Issue 2.
Noblin, E. Y. (1942). The F. F. A. Chapter Its Organization and Activities. Bulletin of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Volume 35, No. 14.
Sanders, H. W. (1953). The Future Farmers of American Story. The Agricultural Education Magazine. Volume 26, Number 5.