NAOMI FLETCHER, LECTURER
14685 25.75 Road
Rapid River, MI 49878
Tel: 906-399-2815
Naomi.fletcher54@gmail.com
MARCH/APRIL 2025 GRANGE NEWS
It's March already!! and April isn't far behind! Have you planned ahead for Grange Month? There are numerous resources available on the National Grange website to get you started. Have you visited the National Grange Facebook page? Even more ideas there! The Upton Grange in Massachusetts recently posted a very informative article on Susan B. Anthony. The text from the article is below. I hope this helps you build a program for Grange Month. The Grange was the fore-runner including women as a full member of the organization from its inception. We can thank Caroline Hall for her insistence that the woman's role on the farm was important to the success of the farm/community success, and the Grange should recognize that with full membership.
Susan B. Anthony 1820-1906
Very sincerely yours,
Susan B Anthony
The National Grange continued to support the women’s suffrage movement over the years, and even had a Committee on Woman’s Suffrage. At the fiftieth annual session of the National Grange, this Committee made the following recommendations:
Resources: https://www.nationalgrange.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/150thMailing-FINAL.pdf
It's March already!! and April isn't far behind! Have you planned ahead for Grange Month? There are numerous resources available on the National Grange website to get you started. Have you visited the National Grange Facebook page? Even more ideas there! The Upton Grange in Massachusetts recently posted a very informative article on Susan B. Anthony. The text from the article is below. I hope this helps you build a program for Grange Month. The Grange was the fore-runner including women as a full member of the organization from its inception. We can thank Caroline Hall for her insistence that the woman's role on the farm was important to the success of the farm/community success, and the Grange should recognize that with full membership.
Susan B. Anthony 1820-1906
Ms. Anthony was born in Adams, Massachusetts. Ms. Anthony is noted for being an American reformer and was one of the greatest leaders in the advancement of women. She founded the first state Women’s Temperance Society and was one of the founders of the National Woman Suffrage Association. She was very active in the anti-slavery movement.
In 1869 she founded the Woman’s Suffrage Association along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was arrested, tried and fined in 1872 for attempting to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment in New York. Susan Anthony looked to the Grange for support in her cause, since women in the Grange were equal to men in all the roles within the organization. Many Grange women supported her cause.
On November 10, 1895 Ms. Anthony wrote a letter to The National Grange and delegates. The letter is as follows:
My dear Friends:
I see by the newspapers that you are to meet in national convention in the good city of Worcester on November 13th, and while feeling grateful for the many resolutions you have passed in favor of woman’s enfranchisement during the last several years, and also for your practical recognition of “equal rights for all” by the election of women to the various offices of your association, I still want to remind you that now is the time for you to give a stronger expression in favor of woman suffrage than ever before.
We have obtained school suffrage from the legislatures of twenty-three states, municipal suffrage from one, full suffrage by constitutional provisions in three, and there are today pending woman suffrage amendments to the state constitutions of five different states, viz: New York, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and California. In California, the amendment is to be voted upon at the election of 1896, and you surely will agree with me that the hope of carrying it depends very largely upon the constituencies of the Patrons of Husbandry and of the Grange in that state.
It therefore becomes the duty of your National Convention to send out recommendations, if not instructions, to your local branches in California to do all in their power to carry the amendment at the polls. The suffrage Amendment Committee of California with Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper and Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent at its head, is now organizing township societies throughout the rural districts and ward societies in the cities, for the purpose of forwarding the educational work on this question and a word of encouragement from your national body will do a great deal to stimulate the members of your branches in that state to unite with and help on the work of this campaign committee.
In the hope that you will throw the weight of your influence on the side of the establishment of a genuine “republican form of government” in every state in the Union, and wishing you the best of success in your convention, I am,
In 1869 she founded the Woman’s Suffrage Association along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton. She was arrested, tried and fined in 1872 for attempting to vote under the Fifteenth Amendment in New York. Susan Anthony looked to the Grange for support in her cause, since women in the Grange were equal to men in all the roles within the organization. Many Grange women supported her cause.
On November 10, 1895 Ms. Anthony wrote a letter to The National Grange and delegates. The letter is as follows:
My dear Friends:
I see by the newspapers that you are to meet in national convention in the good city of Worcester on November 13th, and while feeling grateful for the many resolutions you have passed in favor of woman’s enfranchisement during the last several years, and also for your practical recognition of “equal rights for all” by the election of women to the various offices of your association, I still want to remind you that now is the time for you to give a stronger expression in favor of woman suffrage than ever before.
We have obtained school suffrage from the legislatures of twenty-three states, municipal suffrage from one, full suffrage by constitutional provisions in three, and there are today pending woman suffrage amendments to the state constitutions of five different states, viz: New York, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada and California. In California, the amendment is to be voted upon at the election of 1896, and you surely will agree with me that the hope of carrying it depends very largely upon the constituencies of the Patrons of Husbandry and of the Grange in that state.
It therefore becomes the duty of your National Convention to send out recommendations, if not instructions, to your local branches in California to do all in their power to carry the amendment at the polls. The suffrage Amendment Committee of California with Mrs. Sarah B. Cooper and Mrs. Ellen Clark Sargent at its head, is now organizing township societies throughout the rural districts and ward societies in the cities, for the purpose of forwarding the educational work on this question and a word of encouragement from your national body will do a great deal to stimulate the members of your branches in that state to unite with and help on the work of this campaign committee.
In the hope that you will throw the weight of your influence on the side of the establishment of a genuine “republican form of government” in every state in the Union, and wishing you the best of success in your convention, I am,
Very sincerely yours,
Susan B Anthony
The National Grange continued to support the women’s suffrage movement over the years, and even had a Committee on Woman’s Suffrage. At the fiftieth annual session of the National Grange, this Committee made the following recommendations:
- That the National Grange reaffirm its unqualified endorsement of woman’s suffrage and urge all State Granges to take similar action.
- That the National Grange endorse and support the movement to secure equal suffrage by amendment of the Federal Constitution.
A Brief Biography of Susan B Anthony by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Journal of Proceedings of the National Grange 1895, Vol.26-29 page 49.
JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2025 GRANGE NEWS
The first is the Distinguished Grange Award. Our own First Lady, Connie Johnston, is the National Chair for this program. This simple application can be found at the National Grange website. Some items are as easy as submitting a resolution to your State Grange, or hosting a State or National officer or program chair at one of your meetings. https://www.nationalgrange.org/distinguished/
More about each of these programs will be provided quarterly to you in the Lecturer's bulletin.
Did you answer the question to last month's Question of the Month? The Agate, the emblem of the 4th degree, symbolizes Fidelity. May your principles of manhood and womanhood be as firmly impressed as the lasting colors in the stone, and may our friendship be as firm as the stone itself.
Question of the month: What is the season of the 3rd degree?
WOW!! What a way to recharge your Grange batteries! Attending both Michigan State Grange and National Grange annual sessions within two weeks of each other, seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and learning about the progress each Grange is making!
One program that I'd like to encourage your Grange to participate in is the Heirloom Program. It teaches new members about the history and ritual of the Grange as many of us older members know it, and might even impart information to long-standing members who may not know all there is about our wonderful organization. Following is a quote from the program information that can be found at the National Grange website. https://www.nationalgrange.org/heirloom-program/
One program that I'd like to encourage your Grange to participate in is the Heirloom Program. It teaches new members about the history and ritual of the Grange as many of us older members know it, and might even impart information to long-standing members who may not know all there is about our wonderful organization. Following is a quote from the program information that can be found at the National Grange website. https://www.nationalgrange.org/heirloom-program/
"Change is inevitable, as our founders told us through the ritual work they left us. Even as we change, evolve and grow, it is essential that we retain and impart upon new members our most sacredly held values – not only those of faith, hope, charity and fidelity, but also of civility, respect for others, nonpartisanship, lifelong education, the reverence for those who allow us to meet our most basic of needs (agriculturalists and others that produce our food and shelter), and more."
So let's embrace change, yet keep our roots deep in agriculture. We've become a community service organization as a result of our own generosity over these last 150 years. I hope to be able to provide you with information about other programs and encourage you to participate as your Grange is able.
So let's embrace change, yet keep our roots deep in agriculture. We've become a community service organization as a result of our own generosity over these last 150 years. I hope to be able to provide you with information about other programs and encourage you to participate as your Grange is able.
The first is the Distinguished Grange Award. Our own First Lady, Connie Johnston, is the National Chair for this program. This simple application can be found at the National Grange website. Some items are as easy as submitting a resolution to your State Grange, or hosting a State or National officer or program chair at one of your meetings. https://www.nationalgrange.org/distinguished/
More about each of these programs will be provided quarterly to you in the Lecturer's bulletin.
Did you answer the question to last month's Question of the Month? The Agate, the emblem of the 4th degree, symbolizes Fidelity. May your principles of manhood and womanhood be as firmly impressed as the lasting colors in the stone, and may our friendship be as firm as the stone itself.
Question of the month: What is the season of the 3rd degree?
