F. D. Coburn
Portrait of Foster Dwight Coburn
Secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture
In office
October 1881[1] – January 11, 1882[2]
Preceded byJoseph K Hudson[2]
Succeeded byWilliam Sims[3]
In office
January 12, 1894 – June 30, 1914[4]
Preceded byMartin Mohler[5]
Succeeded byJacob C Mohler
Personal details
Born(1846-05-07)May 7, 1846
Jefferson County, Wisconsin, US
DiedMay 11, 1924(1924-05-11) (aged 78)
Political partyRepublican
Military service
AllegianceUnion
Branch/serviceArmy

Foster Dwight Coburn (May 7, 1846 – May 11, 1924) was an American farmer and statesman. He served as secretary of the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

Early years

He was born Dwight Foster Coburn[6] in Coldspring Township, Jefferson County, Wisconsin in 1846, a son of Ephraim W. and Mary Jane (Mulks) Coburn. He was reared on a farm until the age of 13 years. He received his elementary education in the country schools. At age 18 he enlisted and served during the latter years of the American Civil War in two Illinois regiments—first as corporal in Company F, One Hundred and Thirty-fifth infantry, and subsequently as private and sergeant-major of the Sixty-second veteran infantry. In the winter of 1866, his Army career ended at Fort Gibson. He was by then a Sergeant-Major. After several months he walked across the frozen Missouri river into Kansas to find his former commander. Finally settling in Franklin County, Kansas in 1867. There he took work as a farm hand making $12 a month, and later worked his own farm and bred improved livestock. In addition, He taught at the local school. During this time, he left such an impression that the residents would later insist their new post office be named Coburn.[7] It was during this these early years that he wrote his first book Swine Husbandry and the notoriety this brought would lead him far. His time as secretary of agriculture begins when Joseph K Hudson, then secretary of Agriculture recruited F. D. to his clerkship and made sure he was his successor.[1][8][2][9]

Career

F. D. Coburn Served 20 years as Secretary of Agriculture for Kansas. During his tenure he became an internationally recognized expert on agriculture and a very popular republican in that state. Being a very humble man,[9] though he refused appointments to the US Senate and US Secretary of Agriculture in order to continue serving Kansas.[10][11][8]

Service, honors, and achievements[2]

Personal life

In 1869, he married Miss Lou Jenkins, and they had two daughters, and a son, Clay.[2] His Daughter Gertrude, attended the Kansas Agricultural College and late was Head of Domestic Economy at the Stout Manual Training School.[13]

Partial works

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Foster Dwight Coburn

Much of his popularity results from the many books and reports that he wrote and published.[14] These books were translated into many languages and used as text books as far away as Australia,[11] and were know as Coburn's red line series[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "What they say about the new Secretary". Kansas Farmer. Topeka, KS. October 26, 1881. p. 4. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Blackmar, Frank Wilson (1912). Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence (Public domain ed.). Standard publishing company. pp. 22–. Retrieved February 19, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Meeting of the State Board of Agriculture". The Industrialist. Topeka, KS. January 19, 1882. p. 3. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ "Secretary Coburn To Retire Today". The Evening Herald. Ottawa, KS. January 16, 1914. p. 4. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ↑ "A farmers Institute". Osage County Graphic. Lyndon, KS. March 15, 1894. p. 1. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ "Coburn changed his name". The Ottawa Daily Republic. Ottawa, KS. June 23, 1909. p. 3. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Post Offices in Franklin County Kansas, 1828-1961; Historical Society.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Eastman, Phillip (1905). "Men of the Month". Hearst's Magazine: The World To-Day (Public domain ed.). Current Encyclopedia Company. pp. 1005–1007. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Just Found Coburn". The Ottawa Herald. Ottawa, KS. May 30, 1901. p. 3. Archived from the original on January 3, 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ "F. D. Coburn Succeeds Burton". Los Angeles Herald. Los Angeles, CA. June 5, 1906. p. 6. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 3 "F. D. Coburn to investigate California Methods". Los Angeles Herald. Los Angeles, CA. October 24, 1909. p. 23. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ "A Kansas College". The Weekly Commonwealth. Manhattan, KS. April 7, 1883. p. 3. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ↑ "Well suited for the position". Manhattan Nationalist. Manhattan, KS. September 29, 1893. p. 1. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ↑ "Coburn's Reports". Capper's Weekly. Topeka, KS. March 31, 1903. p. 3. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ↑ "Sheep in Kansas". Salina Herald. Salina, KS. May 26, 1893. p. 4. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ↑ "A new book on Swine". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Santa Cruz, CA. May 14, 1908. p. 4. Archived from the original on January 5, 2024. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ↑ "Dr. Eliots List of Books". The Ottawa Daily Republic. Ottawa, KS. June 29, 1909. p. 4. Archived from the original on January 4, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
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