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Sunshine Women's Institute Tweedsmuir History Book 1 searchable pdfa ERLAND LEE (1864 - 1926) Of United Empire Loyalist stock, Erland Lee had a reputation as a good farmer, and had a keen interest in the welfare of his fellowman. On the Lee farm, he raised Jersey cattle, was one of the first to grow grapes commercially, and he shipped carloads of R.I. Greenings apples from his orchards to the British market. He was one of the first maple producers in the area to use an evaporator. He served many organizations: secretary of nis local Farmer’s Institute for 19 years, Township Clerk for 20 years, first president of the Wentworth Seed Fair, president of the Wentworth Agriculture Board, and Secretary-Treasurer of the Saltfleet Agricultural Society. But it was his work with Mrs. Adelaide Hunter Hoodless to found the first Women’s Institute in the world that gained him most acclaim. The organization was his idea originally; he convinced Mrs. Hoodless of its merit and proceeded to develop the Constitution and By-Laws and carried out the necessary negotiations with the Minister of Agriculture to secure the Charter. The Erland Lee (Museum) Home is now an historic site at Stoney Creek, preserved and maintained by the Federated Women’s Institutes of Ontario in memory of its co-founder, Erland Lee. O6