Jesse Buel (January 4, 1778 – October 6, 1839) was an American newspaper publisher, politician, and agricultural reformer.

Early life

Jesse Buel was born on a farm in Coventry, Connecticut, the youngest of 14 children. At the age of 12 he moved with his family to Rutland, Vermont. He served an apprenticeship to a Rutland printer and later worked as a journeyman printer on New York City and upstate New York newspapers.

Early career

Between 1797 and 1821, Buel published newspapers: the ''Northern Budget'' (

Lansingburgh Lansingburgh was a village in the north end of Troy. It was first laid out in lots and incorporated in 1771 by Abraham Jacob Lansing, who had purchased the land in 1763. In 1900, Lansingburgh became part of the City of Troy. Demographics Lansi ...

and Troy), 1797-1801; the ''Guardian'' ( Poughkeepsie), 1801-02; the ''Political Barometer'' ( Poughkeepsie), 1802-03; the ''Plebian'' (

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

), 1803-1813; and the ''Argus'' ( Albany), 1813-21. In the process, he built up a considerable fortune in capital and property in the process. He was also the official state printer during his time in Albany. After 1821, he shifted his professional energies toward agricultural reform, a cause to which he devoted the latter part of his life.

Work in Agricultural Reform

In 1821, Buel, then 43, surprised many of his acquaintances by announcing that he was leaving his profitable printing business to pursue his long-standing interest in the cause of agricultural reform. Echoing Thomas Jefferson, Buel believed that, "Agriculture is truly our nursing mother, which gives food, and growth, and wealth, and moral health and character to our country. It may be considered the great wheel which moves all the machinery of society." He bought an 85-acre property west of Albany to establish his own farm where he could put his reform principles into practice. Like other reformers of the period, he saw close links among social, moral, and economic improvement, and translated these into farming through an emphasis on good stewardship of farmland through maintaining its fertility rather than exploiting it in search of faster profits. In addition to demonstrating the effectiveness of his farming methods, Buel was a vocal champion of agricultural reform in both print and politics. He served in the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

for many years and was Ulster County's judge of the court of common pleas while living in Kingston. In 1826, he was appointed to the

Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York The Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York is responsible for the general supervision of all educational activities within New York State, presiding over University of the State of New York and the New York State Education Depar ...

. He ran unsuccessfully as the Whig candidate in the

1836 New York gubernatorial election The 1836 New York gubernatorial election was held from November 7 to 9, 1836, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of New York The lieutenant governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government ...

. Buel also campaigned for the establishment of a state agricultural school and helped to found the

New York State Agricultural Society The New York State Agricultural Society was founded in 1832, with the goal of promoting agricultural improvement. One of its main activities is operating the annual New York State Fair. Activities A major activity of the society is running the ...

in 1832 and served several times as its president. In 1834 he launched ''The Cultivator'', one of the most popular of the many agricultural journals being published for American farmers in this period. He also wrote extensively for other agricultural publications, and his ideas were widely disseminated in two collections of his work,
The Farmer's Companion; or Essays on the Principles and Practices of American Husbandry
' (1838) and the two-volume
Farmer's Instructor
', chiefly made up of selections from ''The Cultivator''.

Death and burial

Buel died in Danbury while there to deliver a lecture to the local agricultural societies. He was buried in Albany's State Street Cemetery, and later reburied at Albany Rural Cemetery.

Writings

* (editor)
A Treatise on Agriculture
', John Armstrong (1819) *
The Farmer's Companion; or Essays on the Principles and Practices of American Husbandry
' (1838) *
The Farmer's Instructor
' (1839)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buel, Jesse 1778 births 1839 deaths People from Coventry, Connecticut American male journalists New York (state) Whigs 19th-century American politicians New York (state) state court judges Members of the New York State Assembly Burials at Albany Rural Cemetery