Somerset County, PAMarker Text: On this farm lived Flora Black, a civic leader active in the county and Commonwealth. Here on October 14, 1914, she organized the Society of Farm Women of Pennsylvania. In the ensuing years, groups in many Pennsylvania counties became Society affiliates, in furtherance of its aim to strengthen the role of farm women and promote better conditions in farm homes across the Commonwealth.
Location: On U.S. Route 219, three miles northwest of Meyersdale, PA. Erected by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in 2006. Note: This marker may have been a replacement for an earlier marker dedicated in 1989.
"Being it is necessary and advisable to perpetuate that which was good in the pioneer homes of our grandmothers; and to preserve their spirit of patriotism and sacrifice; to foster a love for the farm and rural life of today; to uphold the dignity of farming, to teach the responsibility that lies in working the soil; to enhance the charm of a real country home; therefore to create and maintain organized groups to accomplish these ends, we, the Society of Farm Women of Pennsylvania, do associate ourselves together and adopt this constitution" Preamble, Official Bylaws and Constitution, Society of Farm Women, 1951.
Photo taken looking north on Route 219. Click any photo to enlarge.
Flora Snyder was born in Somerset, PA on February 20, 1870. As a girl growing up in rural Pennsylvania, she helped her mother and learned the skills necessary to be a good wife and mother. After attending schools in Somerset, Snyder went to the Maryland College for Women. In 1883, she married Franklin B. Black and assumed the duties of a rural wife and mother of four children. She applied the knowledge she learned as a youngster to keep her family's home. She did miss the social networks she had experienced during her college years. Mrs. Black became convinced that farm women should also have time to get together for "fun and learning."
