(Feb. 20, 1858 - April 10, 1906) In 1902 Alabama native Isaac Newton "Newt" Gresham was a Rains County farmer and newspaper editor. Wishing to help local farmers organize to take advantage of farm prices, he called a meeting in a nearby barn that summer. With an initial membership of ten neighbors, the Farmers Educational and Cooperative Union of America was founded. At first a secret organization, the idea soon spread throughout the south and west. The union eventually became a national organization. Gresham and his wife, Ida May, were the parents of four children. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986