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Wood, Jethro

(Encyclopedia)Wood, Jethro, 1774–1834, American inventor, b. either in Dartmouth, Mass., or in Washington co., N.Y. In 1814, while a farmer in Cayuga co., N.Y., he patented a cast-iron plow in which he later embo...

Rusk, Jeremiah McLain

(Encyclopedia)Rusk, Jeremiah McLain, 1830–93, American political leader, b. Malta, Ohio. He became a farmer in Wisconsin, where he entered politics and held numerous offices. After serving in the Civil War, he wa...

Firestone, Harvey Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Firestone, Harvey Samuel, 1868–1938, American industrialist, manufacturer of rubber products, b. Columbiana co., Ohio. The son of a prosperous farmer, Harvey Firestone began to manufacture rubber ti...

Fergusson, Robert

(Encyclopedia)Fergusson, Robert, 1750–74, Scottish poet, b. Edinburgh. He was a precursor of Robert Burns, who proclaimed his debt to Fergusson's Poems (1773). After careers in the clergy and in medicine, he work...

Day, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Day, Thomas, 1748–89, English social reformer and author. He supported the American Revolution and the abolition of slavery and was interested in improving the lot of the small farmer. His moralisti...

T'ao Yüan-ming

(Encyclopedia)T'ao Yüan-ming or T'ao Ch'ien, 365–427, Chinese poet. After several bitter experiences in government employment, he became a gentleman farmer. His poems, composed in simple diction at a time when o...

Tillman, Benjamin Ryan

(Encyclopedia)Tillman, Benjamin Ryan, 1847–1918, U.S. Senator from South Carolina (1895–1918), b. Edgefield co., S.C. A farmer, he became the leader of the backcountry whites in South Carolina and fostered thei...

Airy, Sir George Biddell

(Encyclopedia)Airy, Sir George Biddell, 1801–92, English astronomer. The son of a poor farmer, he distinguished himself as Senior Wrangler at Cambridge, where he was elected fellow of Trinity College (1824) and a...

Hoyt, John Wesley

(Encyclopedia)Hoyt, John Wesley, 1831–1912, American educator, b. Worthington, Ohio, grad. Ohio Wesleyan Univ., 1849. In Madison, Wis., he published the Wisconsin Farmer and Northwestern Cultivator. A founder of ...

Johannes von Saaz

(Encyclopedia)Johannes von Saaz (Johannes von Tepl) yōhänˈəs fən zäts, tĕpˈəl [key], c.1350–c.1414, Bohemian humanist and writer. Johannes is best known for his powerful work Der Ackermann aus Böhmen (c...