Justus Gage papers

Record Group

Identifier: UA-1.1.9

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The papers of Justus Gage contain two volumes of indexed correspondence concerning his position on the State Board of Agriculture. The letters relate to the Michigan Agricultural College (now Michigan State University), including discussion of faculty appointments, discipline at the College, construction projects and progress at the farms. There are summaries of the periodic State Board of Agriculture meetings as well. There is also a folder containing loose newspaper clippings and correspondence that were removed from the second volume.

Dates

Creation: 1863 - 1874

Creator

Gage, Justus (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Permission to publish material from this collection must be obtained from University Archives & Historical Collections, Michigan State University.

Biographical Note

Justus Gage was one of the first members of the State Board of Agriculture, the precursor to the Board of Trustees. Gage served from 1861 to 1869 on the Board. Gage was instrumental in the establishment of the Michigan Agricultural College and remained active in its affairs until the end of his life. Before the formation of the State Board of Agriculture, he was an executive board member on the State Agricultural Society, beginning that post in 1854. He was also a farmer and Universalist minister in Dowagiac, Michigan, in Cass County.

Gage was born on March 13, 1805 in De Ruyter, Madison County, New York. He was a teacher and married in 1832. He came to Michigan with his family in 1837, shortly after statehood was granted. He had three sons and two daughters who survived to adulthood. There is now an elementary school named for him in Dowagiac and he was instrumental in the building of the Universalist (now Episcopalian) Church in Dowagiac in 1859. He died in 1875.