Willis Gaylord

Background

Willis Gaylord was born in Bristol, Connecticut. He was the son of Lemon Gaylord and Rhoda Plumb.

Education

In 1801, when Gaylord was nine years old, his father took his family to Otisco, Onondaga County, New York, where he is credited with being the third settler.

As no schools were at that time established in the village, the boy received his educational training at home and through reading.

He was a natural student and took advantage of every opportunity to extend his education, reading with avidity any books that chance brought within his reach.

At twelve, Gaylord had a severe illness which resulted in a curvature of the spine, crippling him for the remainder of his life and while still young he was further handicapped through an accident to his arm which rendered it entirely useless and caused him severe suffering for many years.

Being unable to engage in active pursuits, he turned his attention to study and to literary work.

Career

Among Gaylord's early effort was a history of the War of 1812 which he wrote in 1816-17. He was unable to get it published, but the rebuff did not discourage him from continuing to write. He later became a regular contributor to the press.

He began writing about 1833 for the Genesee Farmer, published by Luther Tucker at Rochester, New York, became assistant editor in 1837 and later senior editor. In January 1840, after the death of Jesse Buel, the well-known editor of the Cultivator, Albany, New York, the Genesee Farmer was combined with the Cultivator, and Gaylord continued in the capacity of editor until his death.

He was a joint author with Luther Tucker of American Husbandry; Being a Series of Essays on Agriculture, compiled principally from the Cultivator and the Genesee Farmer.

His “Treatise on Insects Injurious to Field Crops, Fruit Orchards, Vegetable Gardens, and Domestic Animals, ” published in the New-York State Agricultural Society Transactions, for 1843, was the prize essay of the Society for that year.

His series of articles entitled “Dictionary of Terms used in Agriculture” ran in the Cultivator from January 1840 to December 1843, but was completed only through the letter “M” at the time of his death.

He died after an acute illness of thirty-three hours, at “Lime Rock Farm, ” Howlet Hill, Camillus, New York.

Achievements

• Gaylord wrote on a variety of subjects, scientific, religious, and literary, but his most valuable work was in the field of practical and scientific agriculture, which became the chief interest of his later years. Through his paper and writings he did much to advance the agriculture of his day, particularly that of New York State. While there were several agricultural writers of the state who were as well or better qualified to discuss a single topic, he is said to have had no equal in his ability to discuss clearly and correctly every department of agricultural science. A number of his articles on meteorological subjects appeared in the American Journal of Science.

Works

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• book

  • American Husbandry. Being a Series of Essays on Agriculture; Volume 1

    ( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

  • American Husbandry: Being a Series of Essays on Agriculture. Comp. Principally from 'The Cultivator' and 'The Genesee Farmer.' Volume 1

    (This is a reproduction of a classic text optimised for ki...)

Personality

Gaylord was practical and judicious in his views and possessed a happy faculty of communicating them to others.

He was placable and forgiving in his temper, modest, disinterested, and unprejudiced. Unprepossessing in personal appearance, he possessed a rich, melodious voice, was a fascinating conversationalist, and notwithstanding his ill health, was always cheerful and uncomplaining.

Connections

Gaylord never married.

Father:

Leman Gaylord

16 December 1765 - 30 April 1841

Mother:

Rhoda Driggs Gaylord

1766 - 23 June 1845