Above: Simon Snyder Rathvon was Lancaster's brilliant, self-taught scientist / tailor / bug collector. Throughout his entire career, he was a mild-mannered tailor by day, and a brilliant scientist by night. He co-published and edited The Lancaster Farmer, printed by Wylie and Griest.
Simon was born in Marietta, Lancaster County, and had only the basics of an elementary education. But Simon was intensely interested in the sciences, and became a leading American entomologist (insect study), and focused on protecting our crops from insect damage.
Simon was a founding father of Lancaster's natural-history society, the Linnean Society, which studied the county's biology, botany, and outdoor sciences. 40,000 specimens collected by the Linnean Society helped create Lancaster's North Museum of Natural History and Science.
In 1869, Simon founded The Lancaster Farmer, which he edited and co-published. In this 1879 issue, Simon's son Linnaeus is listed as the publisher.
At the peak of his career, Simon was the proud owner of 1,000 books and 10,000 insect specimens in his personal collection. Franklin and Marshall College gave him a well-deserved, honorary PhD in 1878.
Simon Rathvon was Lancaster County's most colorful, home-grown editor-scientist-tailor.
Simon's Lancaster Farmer was Lancaster County's third farming journal. It followed two short-lived periodicals, the Pennsylvania Farm Journal and the Lancaster County Farmer.
Today, Lancaster County has another farm newspaper, Lancaster Farming, published in Ephrata. It is online, Here. It has been in continuous print for more than 50 years.