University of Massachusetts Amherst - Index Yearbook (Amherst, MA)

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THE 1911 INDEX VOLUME XLI ENYON Leech Butterfield was born at Lapeer in the South- eastern part of Michigan some sixty miles north of Detroit in 1868 . His father was a Michigan farmer of exceptional ability, intelligence and accjuirements, who after four 3 ' ears ' service on the Board of Agriculture, which in Michigan, practically controls the Agricultural College of that state, became and for six years remained Secretary of that body. At present, the elder Mr. Butter- field resides in Detroit, where he fills the important position of Secretary of the State Fair. It was natural that the son should seek his education in the institution with which his father was for ten years thus closely connected. It is the oldest of the important group of state land-grant colleges, now sixty-three in number, having been established by the State of Michigan a few years before the passage by Congress of the Morrill Act of 1862. He was gradu- ated B. S. in 1 89 1 with high honors as a scholar, evincing, even at that early period in life, a strong inclination toward the special studies in which he has since distinguished himself. He was known as a diligent, painstaking, thorough and conscientious student. After six months ' work upon the farm immediatel} following his graduation, he served a like period as Assistant Secretary of his College. Then came three full years of valuable training as Editor of the Grange Visitor, the organ of the Michigan State Grange. It was undoubtedly this experience which fixed and confirmed his literary style which is one of unusual charm and effectiveness. In 1895 he was promoted to the important post of Superintendent of Farmers ' Institutes, a work carried on with great success by his college, and which he advanced to a position of unprecedented importance and wide recognition. Retiring from this post in 1899 he spent a year in further study and writing along the lines of his favorite topics. In 1900 he entered the University of Michigan for graduate work. There he received his Master ' s degree in 1902 and at once became Instructor in Rural Sociology in that great intsitution. In this position he remained until called