Ella G Agnew (1871–1958) – Encyclopedia Virginia encyclopediavirginia.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from encyclopediavirginia.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
SUMMARY
T. O. Sandy was Virginia’s earliest agricultural extension agent. A farmer, scientist, and teacher, he opened the state’s first extension office in Burkeville in 1907, serving the residents in surrounding counties with practical agricultural advice. In 1914, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (now Virginia Tech) in Blacksburg assumed the administration of the statewide program. Sandy, who had briefly attended Virginia Tech, coordinated Virginia’s extension efforts until his retirement in 1917. During Sandy’s tenure as extension agent, farming practices and attitudes toward scientific agriculture in Virginia significantly improved.
Thomas Oldham Sandy was born in Essex County, Virginia, on February 22, 1857. He matriculated at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1875, but did not complete a degree and left the next year. In 1879 he bought a cattle and horse farm in Westmoreland County. On June 25, 1891, Sandy married Sallie Thweatt Miller and the couple settled at her ance