The History Center on Main Street, 83 N. Main Street, Mansfield PA 16933   histcent83@gmail.com

Albert M Cornell was born August 19, 1861 on the farm in Columbia Township once occupied by Mr. And Mrs. Foster Garrison.

He married Emma Talbot of Dighton, Massachusetts. They had two children, Eva and Harold.

Mr. Cornell joined Columbia Grange No. 83 in 1877 and held a continuous membership in the order for 79 years. At an early age he attended sessions of the National Grange and there met and come to know several founders of the Grange including Oliver Hudson Kelley. His enthusiasm for the Grange continued to the day of his death. He served as lecturer of the Pennsylvania State Grange from 1900-1906 – traveling countless miles by train, stage, horse and buggy and even on foot!

He retired from farming in 1916. Mr. Cornell located in Washington D.C. and affiliated with the "Grange of the Founders", Potamac Grange No. 1. He was honored by the National Grange in 1947 with a special certificate commemorating his 70 years of Grange membership.

In his last years he resided in a rest home in Elmira. He died May 23, 1956 at the age of 95.

Funeral services were held in Troy, May 26^th with the Past Chaplain, Earl Kerstetter, of the Pennsylvania State Grange conducting the burial service. He was buried in the Glenwood Cemetery, Troy, Pa.

A memorial fund has been set up from contributions of Grangers, friends and relatives for scholarship purposes. From this fund a young person who is a granger may borrow if there is a need. One of the contributor’s making a yearly donation is Ruth’s brother-in-law, Harry Williams.

There are a few young people who have already benefited from this fund.

The Bradford-Sullivan Pomona Grange hosted a dinner meeting at the Wysox Presbyterian Church to honor Mrs. Ruth Fish who had served as a grange secretary for 30 years.

Over 175 persons were present to congratulate Mrs. Fish. Special guest for the occasion was J. Luther Snyder, Pennsylvania State Grange

Master, and his wife.

Mrs. Fish had been a member of grange for 50 years. Other offices she had served in have included the offices of state deputy and state Ceres.

Mrs. Fish was lauded by her fellow grangers for her long, faithful and efficient service.

Grangers of Troy and all of Bradford-Sullivan County lost an outstanding citizen, Joab K. Mahood, on June 19, 1985. He was a prosperous farmer in the Troy area, marrying Jane Peckham on September 8, 1919.

Mr. Mahood was active in many lines of endeavor – the Methodist Church, past master of Troy Grange and past Pomona Master. He was a former Secretary of Mutual Fire Insurance Company and a former Secretary of the Pennsylvania State Grange. He was active in Masonic work and a 32^nd degree member of the Williamsport Consistory.

Mr. Mahood served as chairman of the Pennsylvania Milk Control Commission from 1960 to 1968.

The Troy Grange as well as all grangers of Bradford-Sullivan Counties have felt the loss of an outstanding man. He was born of a grange family and joined Troy Grange on August 27, 1910, serving later as Master and other offices in the Grange. He was degree captain for 20 years in the Troy Grange. In 1946 he was asked to be degree captain of the Bradford-Sullivan Pomona Grange. He later organized a youth degree team.

His wife, Lola, was his right hand and was always with him in his grange work.

He was the recipient of his 50-year sheaf and subsequent 50-60 year shield.

He passed away on January 19, 1971.

Mrs. Lizzie M. Rightmire, a member of Lincoln Grange No. 237 was elected secretary of Pomona Grange in 1910, and for thirty-five years served in that office, never missing only three meetings. She was a loyal member of her own Grange; holding terms as Master, Lecturer and Secretary.

Charles R. Shaw was master of Bradford-Sullivan Grange from 1906-1910. He was a native of Sheshequin and was successful as a berry grower with general farming. He went to Columbia about 25 years before his death and was a member of Columbia Grange No. 83.

He died at the age of 52 years – June 2, 1910 after a long illness. His wife died seven weeks previous. His funeral was in Elmira and he was buried in the Austinville Cemetery.

Senator Albert Madigan, who represented Bradford County in the state legislature for 24 years, passed away on August 22, 1984 at the age of 95 at his home in Luthers Mills Towanda RR 3, where he operated a dairy farm.

He was elected to the State House of Representatives in 1942 and in 1952 was elected to the State Senate until 1966 when he retired.

He was past master of Bradford County Pomona Grange; a member of Mayflower Grange for 58 years. He was a past member of the Executive and Legislative Committees of the Pennsylvania State Grange; former member of the Bradford County School Board; past president of Pennsylvania State Association of Artificial Breeding Cooperatives; and a former trustee of Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pa.

Following him, his son Roger Madigan served several years in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and is presently a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

The Grange was organized as a helpful group,

To keep farming people from flying the coop.

The time was the close of the civil war,

When times were really not up to par.

The meetings were really a wonderful plan,

To learn who were neighbors and who were a clan.

The order of Grange was quite a creation,

To keep rural people a helpful arm of the nation.

It also gave rural people a chance

To enjoy with their families a song and a dance.

If you joined at the start your number was low,

But really when you think about it, how fast it did grow;

Each state could have it’s own organization,

Then work with the others to help enrich the nation.

With the Odd Fellows and Masons, no women allowed,

Unless they gathered and had their own crowd;

But the Grange started out as a family affair;

If the men took their wives, no one seemed to care.

When the children were fourteen, they also could join,

And all came along to have a good time.

Oliver Hudson Kelley was a very smart man;

He dreamed and conceived a wonderful plan,

To help men achieve a pleasanter life

That when decently used would eliminate strife,

His wife was a help; she stayed on the farm,

Took care of the family and urged him along.

When he grew discouraged, her small legacy came,

She placed that in his arms, and said "try again."

The dictionary definition of grange, how strange—

A farm and buildings are a grange.

I thought that must have come from Scotland,

A land that should not be forgotten—

And to my surprise, I looked and found out

William Saunders who named he Grange was a Scot.

The first Grange—Freedonia—founded in 1868;

Minnesota with eleven was the very first state.

Oliver Kelley’s wife lived there and probably she

Gave a boost to the new society;

But along came 1874 when there were 11,940 more.

I am thankful we can open and close our meetings with prayer,

So far, the Supreme Court doesn’t seem to care.

The Grange instigated the R.F.D., or rural free delivery;

It surely seems a daily boom, to get your mail nearly every noon.

There are thirty-two Granges in Bradford County today,

Of course, several have vanished away.

Wysauking Grange was the first to emerge,

I think Victor Piollet must have given the urge.

It seems sad to see the Piollet home neglected,

How nice if a County Grange building could have been erected.

I think we all enjoy the Grange and it’s trends,

But most wonderful to me are all the new friends.

My biggest surprise at National Grange—O, my, O—

Was when we met Mr. And Mrs. Frank Cole from, Troy, Ohio!

There is a Grange motto I never forgot—

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty’ in all things, charity."

Another—"The office should seek the man, not the man seek the office."

May the Grange of the future grow and thrive,

And may God bless the people who keep it alive.

God bless our Grange, O may it live forever!

One hundred years it flourished in our land.

The work it does is known to all the nation,

Its members from a strong and loyal band.

As we have lived through storms and fears and doublings,

So may we conquer war and spite and hate, -

And may the world grow better through our being –

God bless our Grange in each and every state.

God bless our Grange, and may we still keep striving,

To glorify the healthful way we live.

That boys and girls may follow in our footsteps,

May we look up and laugh and lift.

And as we feel the need for higher guidance,

We seek Thy face again and yet again,

Grant us our needs with strength and wisdom, -

God bless our Grange, God bless our Grange, Amen, Amen!

There are consolidations among the above in progress.

The History Center on Main Street, 83 N. Main Street, Mansfield PA 16933   histcent83@gmail.com