(Below you will find the name of applicant(s) under the ...
(Below you will find the name of applicant(s) under the county where the farm is located, along with the acreage qualifying and the year first in family.)
*ADAIR COUNTY*
Loyce Jane and Ray Ford 80A, 1883
Roma Louise Salladay 130A, 1891
Dale and Virginia Watson 72.21A, 1901
*ANDREW COUNTY*
Richard, Dorothy J., & Donald Caywood 289A, 1888,1889,1892,1897 & 1898
Kunz Farm, Inc. 89.1A, 1902
Paul and Sumalee Kunz
Georgia Lee and Warren W. Stucki 80A, 1900
*ATCHISON COUNTY*
R. S. Irvine Farms, Inc. 240A, 1894
Lyllis M. Vette, Trust 90A, 1878
*AUDRAIN COUNTY*
Henry and Kathleen Borgmeyer 82A, 1903
Henry and Kathleen Borgmeyer 100A, 1903
Roy and Phyllis J. Everhart 80A, 1858
Katrina L. Everhart
Larry Lynn and Betty Jo Lewis 80A, 1903
*BARRY COUNTY*
Philip E. Arnaud 114A, 1881
Robert O. and Wanda F. Banks 76A, 1903
Linda Bass & 109A, 1896
Billie Jean Dart – reserve life estate
Irene (Wooten) and DeWayne Day 111A, 1860
Charles A. and Helen L. Rupp 80A, 1898
*BARTON COUNTY*
Rodney and Suzanne Bunton 160A, 1893
*BATES COUNTY*
James D. Wells 70A, 1865
*BENTON COUNTY*
Roland and Mildred Kerksiek 276A, 1903
*BOLLINGER COUNTY*
Gale and Marlene Francis 300A, 1835, 1882 & 1892
Harold Lee Sitze
Gary G. and Rebecca L. Stilts 90A, 1897
*BUCHANAN COUNTY*
James G. and Donna M. Gibson 110.55A, 1900
*BUTLER COUNTY*
Joan C. Elliott 80A, 1903
*CALDWELL COUNTY*
Arthur M. and Paula L. Holder 80A, 1861
*CAMDEN COUNTY*
Robert M. and Marian R. Wyper 160A, 1903
*CAPE GIRARDEAU COUNTY*
Charles H. and Alice M. Ahrens 81A, 1879
Donald R. and Anita L. Sievers 78A, 1903
*CARROLL COUNTY*
Randall L. and Janet A. Horine 160A, 1870
*CASS COUNTY*
Elmore and Ramona R. Sherman, III 62.5A, 1850, 1851 & 1855
*CHARITON COUNTY*
Garvin R. and Joyce M. Kottman 142.92A, 1903
*CHRISTIAN COUNTY*
Andy R. and Denise A. Arndt 175A, 1854
Robert E. and Deanna F. Gunnett 80A, 1902
Richard G. and Nancy J. Little 77A, 1891
Don H. and Soni S. McHaffie 115A, 1875
Ray D. Nelson 40A, 1902
Billy J. and Victoria Lynn Ragan 40A, 1901
*CLARK COUNTY*
Madeline Hopp 240A, 1890
James B. Robertson 101A, 1903
*CLINTON COUNTY*
Robert Burr and Mary Lee (Burr) Tutt 120A, 1876
140A, 1865
*COLE COUNTY*
Howard C. and Dolores A. Walther 49.5A, 1902
*COOPER COUNTY*
Jack L. and Sharon M. Baslee 79.73A, 1861 & 1889
Robert V. and Elizabeth A. Betteridge 260A, 1903
George E. and Clara M. Horst 80A, 1897
H. E. Schnuck 157A, 1900
*CRAWFORD COUNTY*
Abraham Jamison 223A, 1894
(Geneva Jamison Burton-surviving family)
*DADE COUNTY*
Paul W. and Mary Hoover 100A, 1902
James and Kay Hoover
*DALLAS COUNTY*
John Harris 162.56A, 1885
Carroll J. Lindsey 160A, 1900
Ella Pauline Lindsey 40A, 1900
Dean and Mattie Rowland 40A, 1868
Anna B. Vuchinich
*DEKALB COUNTY*
Wilbur D. Roloson 120A, 1902
Donna Roloson Roe
*DENT COUNTY*
McGee Family Farms, LLLP 100A, 1845
Helen I. Miller 158A, 1902
*DOUGLAS COUNTY*
Steve Thompson 80A, 1896
*FRANKLIN COUNTY*
LeRoy G. Riechers 200A, 1902
*GASCONADE COUNTY*
Johnson Family Revocable Trust 228A, 1846, 1848, 1853, & 1856
Stella A. Johnson & Patricia A. Mundwiller
Dale A. and Anita Schulte 120A, 1820
Darline Schulte 193A, 1884
*GENTRY COUNTY*
Vernon T. and Beverly N. McCord 80A, 1902
*GREENE COUNTY*
Bobbie A. and Carol Ann Coble 40A, 1872
Ryan and Angela Ricketts 75A, 1892
*GRUNDY COUNTY*
Wayne A. and Loraine L. Moore 156A, 1902
Huella Robinett, Ida Lee Little, 80A, 1902
Wendell Gott, Phillip Gott, Donna
DeGraffenreid, Henry Gott, and
Sherril Belvel
*HARRISON COUNTY*
Richard L. and Shirley A. Elliott 240A, 1868
*HICKORY COUNTY*
Alvin R. and Alice Mae Kugler 280A, 1903
*IRON COUNTY*
Lewis and Joyce Hale 80A, 1855
*JACKSON COUNTY*
Leonard S. and Mary Alice Stock 70A, 1890
*JASPER COUNTY*
Donald W. Ingle, Jr. Trust 160A, 1903
Mr. and Mrs. Peter S. Lanyon 120A, 1902
*LAFAYETTE COUNTY*
Erwin L. and Norma Jane Bergman 80A, 1901
Erwin L. and Norma Jane Bergman 99A, 1880
Mary Drunert 320A, 1891
Barbara A. Fristoe 80A, 1896 & 1901
John and Robin Koenig 172A, 1894
Strickler, Burgess and Trader 147A, 1876 & 1880
*LAWRENCE COUNTY*
Eugene H. Carr Trust 113A, 1903
Hardy A. Carl Trustee
Bonnie J. Cummins 80A, 1891
Melvin and Berta Maples 76A, 1903
Cindy Woodbury
Virgil and Vera Mattlage 180A, 1892 & 1902
George and Ann Marie Rausch 40 A, 1900
Robert Rausch
Georgia Wallace 80A, 1881
*LIVINGSTON COUNTY*
Fred D. and Leila E. Crackenberger 200A, 1903
*MCDONALD COUNTY*
Lowell Gum 80.77A, 1901
Christine Hardy 200A, 1903
James Maness 68.5A, 1882
*MARIES COUNTY*
Edward Haring 120A, 1889 & 1891
Brenda Smoot
*MARION COUNTY*
Maurice L. Happel, Trustee 161.7A, 1902
*MILLER COUNTY*
Oleph and Kathleen Crane 256.2A, 1876
Sherman Wesley and Connie E. Horton 235A, 1883
Henry and Shirley Kemna 440A, 1903
Leonard Schanzmeyer 422A, 1883
Frank G. and Mary M. Schulte 243A, 1903
38 Kliethermes Bridge Rd
Alverretta Mae Waltz 90A, 1903
*MISSISSIPPI COUNTY*
Mark and Mary Kathryn Rolwing 144A, 1900
*MORGAN COUNTY*
Charles Calvin Marriott 145A, 1881
*NEWTON COUNTY*
Alfred A. and Betty L. Kolkmeyer 40A, 1879
*NODAWAY COUNTY*
Raymond F. and Marilyn L. Jermain 400A, 1869 & 1885
Mary Virginia Scott/Lyman 100A, 1856
*OREGON COUNTY*
Dave W. and Patsy R. Norman 160A, 1902
*OSAGE COUNTY*
Ralph E. and Cynthia A. DeOrnellis, Jr. 160A, 1903
Patrick and Mary Haller 240A, 1850
Edward D. and Suzanne M. Schneider 189A, 1903
Wright Family Farm 120A, 1857
*PERRY COUNTY*
Adrian J. and Clementine C. Breig 271A, 1900
David and Lisa Brickhaus 129A, 1863
James E. and Marsha R. Buchheit 148A, 1866
Mary Ann and William B. Clifton, Jr. 63A, 1903
*PETTIS COUNTY*
Esther Lou Jene and Larry Joe Ream 320A, 1901 & 1902
*PHELPS COUNTY*
Dean Joint Living Trust 525A, 1892
Charles L. and Linda J. Dean, Trustees
Hubert W. and Ruby M. Feeler 200A, 1867
Robert W. and Agnes L. McLeane 74A, 1860 & 1870
William M. and Edna Wilson 80A, 1865-1870
Joe and Corrine Zulpo 52A, 1901
*PIKE COUNTY*
William H. Smith, James M. Smith, 243A, 1862
Lucy Smith, Emily and Clarence Smith
*PLATTE COUNTY*
Billie L. Amos 90A, 1882
*POLK COUNTY*
Howard D. and Mary E. Emmert 100A, 1884
Craig A. and Susan B. Huff 60A, 1894
John and Ruth Zidlicky 160A, 1902
*PUTNAM COUNTY*
David and Sara Lou Brydon 40A, 1896
Sydney Buster and Harlan Bradley Buster 110A, 1897
Calvin and Carol Gray 100A, 1888
Dale L. Lawrence Sr. Trust 82A, 1863
Dorothy L. Reichert
*RAY COUNTY*
James A. Campbell, A. Frank Campbell, 127A, 1819
T. Andy Campbell and John A. Campbell
Norman Smithey and Elaine Strickler 100A, 1888
*ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY*
James H. and Anna E. Murphy 175A, 1891
James L. and Kattie J (Smith) Sherrill
Lynn J. and Bessie G. (Smith) Neisius
*STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY*
Jon P. and Dana C. Fallert 40A, 1868
Richard C. and Joyce K. Huber 440A, 1837, 1852 & 1854
Bernard J. and Nancy L. Kraenzle 234.85A, 1896
Thomas J. and Linda R. Smith 336A, 1871
*SALINE COUNTY*
Winifred C. Soper 87.50A, 1871, 1874 & 1882
Leland and Loretta Steinkuehler 120A, 1902
Willard and Melody Steinkuehler
William B. and Sidney W. Sullivan 87A, 1903
William B. and Sidney W. Sullivan 132A, 1877
Don E. Viets 70A, 1898 & 1903
Michael J. and Mary E. Walsh 80A, 1899
*SCOTLAND COUNTY*
Hillis and Geraldine Baker 160A, 1896
Rhonda Shultz 120A, 1871
*SCOTT COUNTY*
Alfred and Helen Martin 120A, 1881
Donald and Denise Martin
*SHANNON COUNTY*
Larry and Sherrill Smith 110A, 1903
*SHELBY COUNTY*
Isabel Hutcherson 340A, 1903
Billie Bob and Gayle Wilt
Janice Lyman and James Lyman 101A, 1901
Donald and Shirley Quigley 40A, 1888 & 1896
*STODDARD COUNTY*
Virgle D. and Carolyn M. Lowe 40A, 1881
Kenneth and Revalee Minton 120A, 1900 & 1903
*STONE COUNTY*
Robert and Joleen Holt 47.17A, 1890
Mease Limited Liability Co. 160A, 1903
Joe Mease
*SULLIVAN COUNTY*
Dennis K. and Jo Anne Maggart 200A, 1898
M. Keith Maggart 200A, 1854
*VERNON COUNTY*
Elizabeth Brown 160A, 1902
*WARREN COUNTY*
Marilyn J. Lanning 134A, 1877
Eunice A. Mische 160A, 1894
Vahle Farms, Inc. 200A, 1903
*WAYNE COUNTY*
Lee Roy and Ruth Hefner 99A, 1896
*WEBSTER COUNTY*
Dale and Donna Galloway 200A, 1903
Willie Arthur Miller 73A, 1800
John and Vicki Vinyard 80A, 1881
Dan D. and Nancy G. Wester 160A, 1853,1869,1875 & 1879
*WRIGHT COUNTY*
Rilley Floyd Stewart 160A, 1903
History passed on to us by the applicants:
*ADAIR COUNTY*
Loyce Jane and Ray Ford: William Handley Brundage purchased the family farm in 1883, migrating from Scotland County Missouri. Four generations of Brundage’s have now lived on and owned consecutively the original homestead, with two more on the scene and ready to become involved.
After living in a log cabin for eighteen years, William Brundage built their new home in 1901. In 1912, Charles Edward Brundage and wife, Ellen Loyce (Campbell), took over ownership of the farm and added acreage and improvements. After the death of Charles in 1943, Charles Vern Brundage and wife, Roxie Myrtle (Sholley), dwelt on and improved the farm, purchasing it from Ethel in 1968. In 1989 Loyce Jane Brundage Ford and husband Ray became the fourth generation to own and operate the farm.
As the generations continue to come and go the Brundage farm continues to provide wealth and pride to the family.
*ANDREW COUNTY*
Kunz Farm, Inc.: Albert Kunz bought the original home place in 1902. Albert and his wife Lydia were married in 1901, and came to this farm after purchasing it from the heirs of John Piper. The land was patented to Piper in May 1846. Albert Kunz had been “farmed out” by his mother after his father Christian had died when he was only 5 years old. The other family had raised him in return for his work on their farm, so he had little money and borrowed from Lydia’s uncles to buy the first farm.
Albert was always interested in trying new things. He would order new seeds from catalogues, such as vetch or a black soybean, just to try them. Although most of them were less than revolutionary successes, he was always trying something new. A favorite family story about Albert’s farming was how he was one of the first farmers to add agricultural lime to his soils. He would have a rail car load of lime shipped into Cosby by train. He would unload the lime from the train car onto the siding, of course by hand and scoop shovel. Then he would drive a team and wagon to the siding and load up a wagonload of lime and return home with it. While Lydia drove the team across the field, Albert would sling the lime onto the field from the back of the wagon, wagon load after wagon load, and hefting it for the third time, a scoop shovel at a time. Albert bought his first tractor in 1916, a one cylinder Mogul. It was used mainly for plowing.
Acreage was added to the farm in 1915, and again in 1929. As a partner of the Cosby State Bank, Albert used the value of the farm to help prop up the bank during the hard times in the early 1930’s. Of course that did not work out so well, and Albert’s son, Ivan, had to pay off that debt before buying the farm from his mother Lydia, his sister and brother.
The farm has continued to grow and was incorporated in 1981. Additional cropland and pasture ground is rented for the corn, soybeans, and registered Angus cattle herd it produces. It is now owned and operated by the third generation, Paul and Sumalee Kunz along with their children Andrew, Justine Valdivia, and Albert.
*ATCHISON COUNTY*
R. S. Irvine Farms, Inc: Robert Irvine, son of Noble Irvine, was born in a village in Libbellon County, Fermanagh, Ireland on July 25, 1862. He came to the United States in 1881, landing in New York City in June of that year. He settled first in Illinois, moving on west to Atchison County in 1884. There he purchased his first farm in 1894 where he made his home in the York Community. In 1918 he retired from farming and moved to Tarkio, where he lived until his death on April 14, 1929.
York was a small village 8 miles southeast of Tarkio, with a blacksmith shop, store, and United Presbyterian Church being built in 1883. Robert was involved in the church as a member and treasurer until he moved to Tarkio. The church was destroyed by a tornado in 1916 and rebuilt that same year. York Church was disbanded in early 1960 and later dismantled and moved to another location.
On October 8, 1885 Robert was married to Jennie Irvin. Jennie was born in Weeping Water, NE. She survived Robert by three years, passing away July 14, 1932 in Tarkio.
Robert and Jennie had three children, Margaret, Noble J. and Robert Samuel. The family farm is now in the hands of the third generation with the exception of two more to follow.
Lyllis M. Vette, Trust (widow of Adolph C. Vette): This farm is now being farmed by the fourth generation of the Vette family. Henry Vette, Sr. purchased the farm in 1878 and it was then passed to his son, William. From there it went to Henry Vette, Sr.’s grandson, Adolph Vette and his wife Lyllis. The fourth generation to farm the land is Lyllis’ daughter Jill and her husband Russ. Jill and Russ Sharp, along with their two daughters, Stephanie and Michelle now live on the farm.
The old Farm City Store was once located on this farm.
*AUDRAIN COUNTY*
Larry Lynn Lewis and Betty Jo Lewis: In the spring of 1903, before any woman could vote or married women could officially own property, Larry’s widowed grandmother, Margaret Elizabeth (nee Denton) Lewis bought an 80 acre farm in Audrain County about 3 miles north of Centralia, Mo. His grandfather, Albert Marion Lewis had died of Typhoid Fever on December 8, 1902. His Grandma always told everyone her husband died and left her with a barn full of mules and house full of kids! Not one to wallow in self-pity, she sprung into action as the sole provider of her 5 children, ranging in age from 3 to 16. One of those 5 children was Larry’s father, Artie, who was 10 years old in 1903.
Two stories have merged through the years of how Larry’s Grandma was able to afford the farm. Some said she sold the mules and others insist she collected life insurance. It may have been a bit of both scenarios. They do know Grandma had two brothers living in Centralia and one of them had a banker brother-in-law. These men may have served as a financial safety net for Grandma Maggie. However, they don’t think she borrowed very much money to buy the farm. She was quite independent and a hard worker and expected the same from her children.
The farm, located on the first curve of Hwy C going north out of Centralia, had a simple two-story, five room house. The Amish had built it in 1899 – the house still stands today. The road, known then a SC, was dirt and didn’t curve at all in 1903, but later the county changed Hwy C to curve to the east and the corner was known for years as “Widow Lewis Corner.” It was necessary for Grandma Maggie to deed about an acre of land to the county for the curve in the road to be possible.
There is a barn and smokehouse on the property. The family thinks these out buildings are just as old as the house, but they are not sure. Larry’s Dad wired the house for electricity in the 1940’s, but they depended on well water until the 1960s when the county brought water to the property. Two side porches were enclosed in the 1950s and a bathroom was added. One of the porches is a sunroom today and the other is a utility room. This year, 2003, major renovation to the house is planned to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Lewis Farm. A birthday party and family reunion are planned in August.
Grandma Maggie lived continuously on the farm until her death in 1946, when Larry was 12 years old. He remembers her having lots of pain from arthritis and her crying and praying in the night for relief. He also remembers her love for flowers and the morning glory vines that grew into “walls” around the front porch. She tended a vegetable garden long past the time she was physically able to do it. Larry has been told of her active church involvement and how she faithfully loaded her kids in a buckboard wagon and took them to Bethlehem Church come rain or shine!
Larry’s Mom and Dad and himself moved from St. Louis to the farm with Grandma in 1937 so his Dad could help Grandma keep the farm through the Great Depression. The two years in St. Louis were the only years of Larry’s Dads life that he lived away from the farm. Larry was about 2 years old and the only child of his parents when he began living at the farm and lived there until he went to college at age 17.
In the latter part of the 1930s Larry’s Dad added another 80 acres making up the total farmland as they know it today. His Dad farmed in a progressive fashion, always concerned about conservation and ecology. He was a pioneer in raising Charlais cattle after raising white-faced Hereford for many years. His dad farmed actively until the last 5 years of his life, then depended on a neighbor to do most of the farming. That neighbor’s son-in-law still farms the farm today. The land has been cultivated continuously since 1903. Larry’s Dad died in November 1970.
Even though Larry was any only child, at his dad’s death, he counted 16 people who had lived at the farm for a while from the 1930 to 1981. These people were small children-nieces and nephews of Larry’s Mom or Dad, foster children, the foster children’s children, and the aged parents/relatives of his parents. One adult cousin came to stay two weeks and lived 17+ years on the farm-she always reminded Larry she lived there longer than him.
Larry and his wife Betty Jo inherited the farm from his mother at her death in 1981. In his 6 decades, he has moved many times and lived in several states, but always loved coming home to the farm. His wife and himself have been married 39 years and though she is from Texas, the farm is home to her also.
*BARRY COUNTY*
Robert O. and Wanda F. Banks: Sometime between 1832 and 1835, Moses Banks and Charlotte Grindstaff brought their family from east Tennessee to southwest Missouri. They settled on the fertile bottomland between Capps Creek and Shoal Creek, about a mile west of the future location of Jolly Mill in Newton County.
Over the years descendants of the family slowly moved up the Capps Creek drainage toward Monett in Barry County. On April 15, 1903, Alba Eric Banks, a great-grandson of Moses and Charlotte Banks, bought the current Banks farm 1-½ miles southwest of Monett. It was the fourth Missouri farm in his direct line of descent.
The farm originally encompassed 80 acres but the family donated 4 acres for the New Site Baptist Church, which was built on a corner of the farm in 1916.
DeWayne and Irene (Wooten) Day: James D. Wooten, Irene’s grandfather, was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee on February 15, 1836. In 1858 he came to Sarcoxie, Missouri, located in Jasper Co., and taught school there for 3 years before going on to Newton Co. and teaching one year there. In 1861 he engaged in farming and when the war broke out he enlisted in Company I, Eighth Missouri Infantry, with which he served until hostilities ceased. He was a lieutenant in the company and was captured while on detached duty and held prisoner at Johnson’s Island, Ohio, for eleven months. After the war he returned to farming along with selling hardware at Exeter from 1881 to 1883 (his was the first hardware store). From 1873 to 1874 he served as assessor and from 1875 to 1876 as sheriff. James owned two farms in Shoal Creek Valley, which totaled 310 acres.
James married Mary M. Price in 1860 and their union was blessed by the birth of eight children. The family farm was passed on to one of their sons, James M. Wooten and his wife Jewell and then after their passing in 1979 and 1999, their daughter Irene and her husband DeWayne acquired the land. Along with raising beef cattle, both Irene and DeWayne are employed off the farm.
*BOLLINGER COUNTY*
Gary G. and Rebecca L. Stilts: Located at the north end of the Stilts farm was a bridge, which crossed the Castor River. The County placed it there approximately 75 years ago. It was used and then relocated from Greenbriar, Missouri and it was the 1st bridge at Gipsy. After being torn out in 2002, a new bridge is currently being built.
*BUCHANAN COUNTY*
James G. and Donna M. Gibson: James’ great-grandparents purchased this land from Wm. T. Wright in October of 1900. This was joint purchase with their oldest daughter, Anna M. Bridges, who had been recently widowed. James and Sarah Jane had immigrated to this country in the mid 1800’s, he from Ireland and she from England. They had lived in Iowa and Illinois before coming to Missouri. They and three of their thirteen children are buried in the New Harmony Cemetery, which is across the road from the farm. James and Donna Gibson currently serve on the cemetery board.
The original acreage was divided between James Waters and Anna Bridges. The Waters family lived in a house that was framed over a log cabin. In 1934, this house was torn down and replaced by the dwelling in which James and Donna, along with their children, Jamie and Jeffrey, live at the present time. James’ mother told him that bullets were discovered between the logs as the old house was being demolished. It is thought that they dated back to the Civil War.
Members of the family have had possession of this land since its purchase in 1900. It has always been used for farming. James’ parents added a large pond stocked with fish. James and Donna have done some terracing and have made other improvements.
*CAMDEN COUNTY*
Robert M. and Marian R. Wyper: In 1893, a young Scotsman, 24-year-old David Wyper (Robert’s father), came to the United States by boat. He landed at Ellis Island and soon after he traveled to Kentucky where he tried to find work. After no work could be found he enlisted in the United States Army. He said he really wanted to be assigned with the US Calvary but he had “hammer toe” so they put him in the infantry instead. He wound up being assigned to the US 6th Infantry where he served five years. While in the army the United States went to war with Spain. During this time period he fought in the Spanish American War, and being with the 6th Infantry, he and other members, along with General Roosevelt, made that famous charge resulting in taking San Juan Hill. After the battle, and while still with the 6th Infantry, he spent three months in a New York hospital with Yellow Fever. While still in the Army, he read an article in the paper that said the state of Missouri was giving land (160 acres) as part of the Homestead Act. He told his officer that he was going to “look into that”.
He received his Naturalization papers after he completed his term of service and was honorably discharged in the State of Kentucky. While in Kentucky he then applied for land from the Homestead Act in Missouri.
On January 3, 1903, David began his journey by train and horse and buggy to begin proven on his land in Missouri. His young wife joined him and they lived in a neighbors “shack” until they built a log cabin and a chicken coop. He kept a daily log for the following year. He recorded all clearing of the land, the cutting timber for cabin logs, making shakes, chinking, planting tobacco, potatoes, cane and corn. They hunted, fished, they visited with friends for occasional dinners and went to Richland and Stoutland and Montreal for supplies. His daily log of the year 1903 was hand written by himself in his excellent English and beautiful script. (The Wyper family still has the original logbook.)
Today this Homestead Land is owned by Robert M. Wyper, David’s son and has been in his continuous ownership since his father’s death, in 1957. Vandals, fire and time have long ago destroyed the log house and chicken coop.
Robert, along with his children and grandchildren, use the 160-acre farm as a recreational and hunting retreat. Four acres have been cleared, 200 plus trees have been planted, a well dug, a barn built, and some timber has been sold.
*CAPE GIRARDEAU*
Donald R. and Anita L. Sievers, Trustees: Henry and Bertha Maevers, along with one son and one daughter, bought an 80-acre farm six miles west of Jackson, MO., on Byrd’s Creek, between Tilsit and Burfordville in May of 1903. The farm was purchased from Conrad Loose who had built a house on it in 1890. The main living room was surrounded with walnut logs and weatherboards on the exterior. The one bedroom was on the second floor with the steps on the outside. The small kitchen was off to one side. The house had a porch on the front and back. In 1908 the back porch was removed and a rock cellar was built with a new large kitchen on the main level
By 1914 the family had one more son and two more daughters so two more bedrooms were added, with indoors steps to the second floor, and a pantry.
The log barn was moved from near the big spring to a location near the house. Each log was numbered and a wood pin held them together. The house roof was changed from wood shingles to tin in the early 1950’s. Nearly every year Byrd’s Creek flooded the seventy acres of bottom ground several times. Some of the floods have as much as five feet of water over the fields.
Henry, Don Sievers grandfather, had dug a well with a posthole digger, about six feet deep, to water the hogs. The house and the barn each had a cistern for drinking.
The machinery used to farm the fields was pulled with teams of mules until 1948. At that time a brand new Red Belly 8N Ford was bought and delivered to the farm. Henry never learned to drive the tractor. He would stay in the fields and watch Don drive the tractor when he just was 8 or 9 years old. In 1960 Don’s uncle added a second Ford tractor (601). Both tractors have been refurbished and remain on the farm today. Grandchildren and great-grandchildren use the tractors today for hayrides and pleasure rides.
Each year, the first weekend following Thanksgiving was time to butcher a beef. The beef was hung in the barn, skinned and cut up. A portion of the meat was stored in the smokehouse to be ground the following weekend. The next weekend several Uncles and Aunts would gather early Saturday morning and process five to seven hogs. The fires under the kettles were started at 5:00 a.m. to heat the water for scalding. Everyone was busy doing the tasks that they were best at. A variety of traditional German sausages were made to include liver, fry, blood, and headcheese, along with the original summer sausage that contained the ground beef.
On Sunday the family members would be back to fill the kettles with cuts of fat, which they rendered into lard to be used the following year. The sausage would be hung, the hams would be wrapped, and select meat cuts would be placed in the saltbox. The last butchering at the farm was done in 1969. Many memories and pictures exist today during conversations between the grandchildren and great-children. The family continues today to make the summer sausage and process country-cured hams.
The farm was struck by a tornado in 1971, which destroyed the garage and chicken house and partially destroyed the log barn. The family then built a machine shed from timber raised on the farm. The barn was partially reconstructed but not to the same design as originally built.
The house was totally repainted in 1981. No one lived in the house since the early 1970’s but was visited frequently by Anita E. Sievers (daughter of Henry and Bertha Maevers) and her children and grandchildren. The house still had wood stoves in the kitchen and living room that were part of the original furnishing. The living room contained a player piano bought in the 1920’s and still played today, (totally destroyed).
The house and surrounding buildings and trees remained of the shade trees in the vicinity of the buildings. Since the farm had been a big part of the family’s life, they felt someone had took a big part of them and left a hole. The family vowed to rebound from the damage and be good stewards of what God had let them use.
Today the farm is continuing to raise corn, soybeans, wheat, and hay. The tractors have changed from the 8N Ford to the bigger 135 HP TW-10 Ford and 10 other tractors. The old kitchen that withstood the storm, along with the cellar, is being rebuilt with porches on threes sides. A portion of the old log barn will be incorporated into a new machine shed. The old log granary and harness room will serve as a reminder of what Henry and Bertha Maevers used to raise their family.
The farm today is called Springdale Grain Farm, named by Alvin Maevers, being a partner with Elmer and Anita (Maevers) Sievers and operated by the Don and Anita Sievers family.
The Maevers family came from Germany in an area called Lower Saxony, that is located between Hanover and Berlin, in the early 1800’s. Many of the German traditions are still carried on today in the Byrd’s Creek Valley.
After the death of Henry and Bertha Maevers the farm was puchased by Alvin Maevers, and Elmer and Anita (Maevers) Sievers. Then after the death of Alvin, Elmer and Anita bought out his part. After the death of Elmer, his wife, Anita continued to own the farm, but their sons, Tim and Don, did the actual operation of the farm. This continued until her death in 2001. In 2002, the Don Sievers family purchased the farm from Don’s brother and sister, Tim Sievers and Betty Schuetts.
It is the dream of Don Sievers to have his grandparents homestead to remain in the family and be passed down to the children and grandchildren. After construction on the remaining part of the kitchen to include porches, the family can once again enjoy family weekends with BBQ’s and hay rides.
Thank God when the 2003 tornado struck, no one was in the old homestead. Old buildings can be replaced but lives cannot. The family has a lot of pride and memories surrounding the homestead. The hard working spirit of the Maevers family continues to live on today.
*CARROLL COUNTY*
Randall L. and Janet A. Horine: From the abstracts, at least part if this quarter section farm has been in the family since May 15, 1876 when acquired by Daniel Heiney, Randall’s 2nd great-grandfather. The U.S. Government originally granted this quarter section to soldier Samuel Peyton in 1857.
Randall’s grandmother, Nellie Horine, was left 1/3 of this property in the will of Daniel Heiney, who died April 17, 1926. She subsequently acquired the other 2/3 from her sisters. Nellie registered this farm in the Century Farm program in 1988. On November 19, 1993 her son, Roger L. Horine, purchased the property and maintained ownership until selling it to his son Randall L. Horine on October 6, 2002.
Five generations have grazed cattle and raised row crops on this farm’s rolling hills. Currently the farm is nearly all in use as pasture or hay production for their cow-calf operation.
*CHARITON COUNTY*
Garvin R. and Joyce M. Kottman: On August 3, 1903 Fred W. and Louise Kottman purchased 143 acres in Chariton County. Robert L. Kottman bought the farm from them in the 1920’s and from there it was sold to Robert’s son, Garvin, and his wife Joyce in January 1968.
Garvin and Joyce added an additional 126 acres to the farm when they purchased an adjoining farm in January 1982. The original house was replaced with a modern ranch style house in 1955. Crops currently grown on the farm consist of corn, soybeans, wheat, and tobacco.
*CHRISTIAN COUNTY*
Billy J. and Victoria Lynn Ragan: Fredrick and Emelia Bohm (great-great-grandparents) were living in a log house (still standing but not in good shape) on this family farm in the late 1890’s but the family cannot find their name on a deed. On March 4, 1901 Albert and Minnie Bohm, Fredrick and Emelia’s son and his wife, purchased the farm from them.
The family farm has been lived on and farmed by a family member since the time it was first acquired. The current owners moved to the farm in 1983 after the death of Uncle William Bohm. Uncle Bohm moved out of the log house in 1963 and built the house that is standing today.
Grain farming was always the number one money crop on the farm. Each generation learned at an early age how to shock grain and help with the threshing, and they continued to thresh until 1977.
In past years there was a rail fence around the log house and Victoria’s grandfather used to say that the deer would jump over it and eat in the garden.
*CLINTON COUNTY*
Robert Burr and Mary Lee Tutt: (Robert and Mary Lee have 2 farms that qualified for Century Farms) Burr Farm: James Burr came to Clinton County, Missouri in 1854 from Jefferson County, West Virginia and settled in the Smiths Fork Community. He built and operated the first steam-powered mill near Round Prairie. He owned 80 acres that is part of the Burr farm, but was not continuous ownership. His son, Robert Brown Burr, purchased 40 acres in Section 10 of Clinton County in 1876 and he later purchased an adjoining 87 acres in 1882. This property is located ¼ mile east of the Ditmars farm.
Robert Brown Burr married Mary Louise Hughes in 1883 and they had two sons, Willard Samuel and Montgomery Slemons, who farmed with their father. In 1920 Montgomery married Thelma Lillian Gray. Lillian was the granddaughter of Abraham Ditmars and an heir of the Ditmars farm. After Willard Samuel Burr died, Montgomery and his son, Robert William, farmed the land. Montgomery and Lillian’s children, Robert Burr and Mary Lee (Burr) Tutt currently operate the Burr acreage.
Ditmars Farm: Abraham Ditmars came by horseback from Sabina, Ohio to Clinton County, Missouri around 1849. Upon arrival he met Eliza Jane Perkins and they were married May 31, 1850. By 1865 Abraham had purchased 160 acres from Amos Hart. This land is located 5 ½ miles south and 1 mile west of Osborn, on the west fork of Smiths Fork Creek (now know as the Little Platte River). The Rock Island Railroad ran through one corner cutting off a small acreage. This was sold at a later date leaving the current 140 acres. The Ditmars home place was located in the northeast portion of the farm and the original home stood until 1972. One of Abraham and Eliza Jane’s eleven children, Mary Elizabeth, married William Tecumseh Gray. All eleven Ditmars’ children and three Gray grandchildren were born in that house.
Abraham Ditmars donated land on the northeast corner of the farm for a school. It was known as the Pleasant Ridge School or Ditmars School. The school closed in 1939 when it was consolidated with Osborn school. Two of the students that year were descendants of Abraham and Elizabeth, Mary Lee and Robert, who are the current owners of the farm. Three generations of descendants from the Ditmars family attended the Ditmars School.
Also located on the Ditmars farm is the State Champion Eastern Cottonwood tree. The Forestry Department of the Missouri Department of Conservation presented the current landowners with a plaque on August 15, 2002 certifying that it is the largest known tree of its species in the state. The estimated age of the Eastern Cottonwood is at least 150 years old and has the following measurements: circumference – 27’ 0”, height – 90’, spread – 125’.
The Burr-Ditmars farms have produced tobacco, oats, wheat, corn, and soybeans. Also over the years they have had a successful cattle and hog operation.
*COOPER COUNTY*
Jack L. and Sharon M. Baslee: John George Neubauer, great-grandfather to Jack, was born in Colburg, Germany. On January 1, 1861 he purchased 30.12 acres of the present farm and then on June 21, 1889 he purchased an additional 49.61 acres, bringing the total original family farm to 79.73 acres. In September of 1899 he sold the farm to his son, Paul Neubauer. Emma Neubauer, widow of Paul, then sold the farm to her daughter, Ann C. Baslee and her husband, Bob Baslee (Jack’s parents) in May 1945.
Interstate 70 divided the farm in approximately 1958. Highway 41 also took some of the land where the house sits.
Jack Baslee first purchased 100 acres, which joined the family farm, from his parents in 1973, and then in 1980 Jack’s mother sold him the original family farm. On January 31, 1983 Jack and Sharon purchased an additional joining 200 acres from Mildred K. Miller, widow of Harry Miller.
These 200 acres were mostly timber and the land that had not been farmed for many years. Jack cleared trees, brush, and etc. a few acres at a time. In this process he discovered an old still. A cast-iron kettle, 21 ½ inches tall and 39 inches in diameter was also found. The kettle has no cracks only a 9 ½ inch piece chipped off the top edge.
Jack and Sharon purchased an additional joining 160 acres from Bob Buschmeyer bringing the farm total up to the present 500 acres, approximately.
In January 1992 Jack and Sharon started complete restoration and remodeling of the original farmhouse. They started with replacing the roof and continued throughout the house. All interior walls were removed; new plumbing, wiring, windows, and a flue for a wood stove were replaced. Also sidewalks and a screened in patio were added.
Many antique items were found during the restoration. Old hats from the late 1800’s were found in the attic when the roof was replaced. When the interior walls were removed German newspapers from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s were found, as well as journals, recordings of the sale of grain and animals, and purchases made. Many bottles, salve-cans, a baby shoe, a small corset, small tools (which could not be identified), as well as straw used for insulation were among the items found.
The upstairs bedrooms were wallpapered and had 8 layers of paper on them. The original layer of paper was nailed to the wall instead of pasted down. The walls and ceilings of all the rooms, under the wallpaper, were wainscoting and other wood. The wood had never been painted or varnished – it was all original from the building of the house. The 2 flues in the upstairs rooms are exposed and each has a slight curve in them.
The original front door on the porch has a transom, which had been painted many times. When the paint was removed, the glass in the transom was ruby red, etched and frosted. The doorbell in this front door is dated 1852.
The woodwork, which was all painted (at least 7-8 different colors one on top of the other) throughout the house, was completely removed. Any and all of the woodwork and window frames that could be reused were completed stripped of paint, restained and finished. The staircase and staircase wall under the stairs had 8 different layers of paint, along with 4 broken spindles, which were all replaced. After stripping these it was discovered that they were all walnut wood. The process of stripping, sanding, and refinishing took 14 months of hard work.
The kitchen cabinets were all removed, stripped, refinished and 3 new cabinets, made to match, were added. The house has 25 windows and they were all replaced. Only 2 window casings from the original windows could be salvaged.
A handmade German trunk brought over by John Neubauer from Germany sits in an upstairs bedroom today. The inscription on the top of the trunk (John’s name and address, etc.) is all in German and it is all completely intact and original.
Jack and Sharon did all the restoration (stripping of the wood, refinishing, plumbing, tearing out of the walls, etc.) except the new wiring, brick and flue work and the sidewalks all around the house. They also added a 4-car garage and shop in 1996 across from the house.
After 2 years and 4 months of nights, holidays, and weekends the remodeling was finally finished. Projects such as replacing barns, tearing down old buildings and updating are still going, as Jack has a love and interest for the farm and its history.
Robert Verne and Elizabeth Ann Betteridge: In 1888 William A. Betteridge founded the Crestmead Shorthorn herd and his cattle operation was located in Cooper county Missouri. In 1903 William purchased a farm in the Clear Creek Township. The farm was purchased because of its proximity to the MK & T Railroad. William A. Betteridge shipped cattle to all parts of the United States.
Will, as friends and neighbors knew him, had a keen knowledge of pedigrees and bloodlines and many in the livestock industry sought his advice. Many letters from Dr. Trowbridge, the professor of Animal Husbandry at The University of Missouri, along with others indicated that a visit to his farm was informative and enjoyable. Will maintained his prize herd until his death in 1934.
Will’s only son Verne assumed the duties of the farm upon his father’s passing and he continued to maintain the Shorthorn herd. Verne was one of the first in the area to farm with a tractor and he was also one of the first to use hybrid seed corn on his farm. He owned and managed the farm until his death in 1980.
In 1980 Verne’s youngest son Robert became the owner and manager of the farm. Robert also continued to raise registered Shorthorn Cattle but he began to use polled bulls instead of horned bulls. Robert and his son William began exhibiting cattle at many fairs and shows in the Midwest. In 1988 the State Shorthorn Picnic was held at the farm to observe one hundred years of Shorthorn production by the Betteridge family. There was a large crowd and all enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch in the large tent that had been set up for the event. In 2003 the farm and historical home located on the property were featured on the Home and Garden Network’s show, If Walls Could Talk.
At present the Betteridge’s have maintained a registered Shorthorn herd for one hundred and fifteen years. The year 2003 also marks the hundredth year at the same Cooper County farm that William A. Betteridge purchased to be near the railroad. The railroad is gone and is now a hiking and biking trail. The Betteridge family is anticipating another hundred years and the challenges that they bring to rural Missouri.
H. E. Schnuck: (From “History of Cooper County, Missouri”, by W.F. Johnson, Published 1919, Page 619) H.E. Schnuck, proprietor of “Walnut Range Stock Farm” in Saline township, one of the most beautiful country places in this section of the state, was born in November 25, 1866, on a farm located one-half mile east of Big Lick, Missouri.
John Schnuck was born in 1830 and in the early fifties he immigrated to America and settled in Missouri on a farm near Gooch’s Mills. Mr. Schnuck died in 1880 and he was laid to rest in the cemetery at Pleasant Grove. His widow now makes her home with their son, John in Boonville Township. The children of John and Catherine Schnuck are: Mary, the wife of Samuel Oerly, of Saline Township; Mrs. Catherine Smith, deceased; H. E., the subject of this sketch; Ann, the wife of Ed Twillman, of St. Louis County; and John H., of Boonville Township.
H. E. Schnuck attended the public schools of Cooper County and spent one year in attendance at Hooper Institute at Clarksburg, Mo. Leaving school, Mr. Schnuck was for nine years in the mercantile and milling business at Big Lick, or Gooch’s Mills. In 1897 he moved to the farm where he now resides. “Walnut Range Farm” is one of the splendid stock farms of the county, a part of the original Kelly Ragland farm of nearly 2000 acres. Mr. Schnuck owns the old home place, a farm of 300 acres of land, in addition to 110 acres of river bottomland. Kelly Ragland, a Mississippi River boat Captain and one of the wealthiest men in Missouri in the days gone by, was at one time owner of 100 slaves. He was a Virginian. Mr. Ragland built the residence in which Mr. Schnuck now lives, a two-story structure, “T-shape”, made from brick from a kiln on the farm. The style of architecture is that of Colonial days. There are 10 rooms in the residence, all unusually large, and originally each contained a huge fireplace. A second brick residence, which was built for the Ragland slaves, is now used as a granary and storehouse. Kelly Ragland died shortly after the Civil War. His heirs sold the place to H. E. Schnuck in 1987. “Walnut Range Stock Farm” is conveniently located 12 miles from Boonville and two miles from Overton. Mr. Schnuck is engaged in general farming and stock raising. He raises registered Poland China hogs, Shorthorn cattle, and blackface sheep. A registered Shorthorn male leads the herd of cattle. Mr. Schnuck raises annually from 200 to 500 chickens. There are four barns; two tenant houses, a large granary on the home place, and a good residence on the river bottomland. Mr. Schnuck is very proud of the splendid chicken house, 20 x 24 feet, exclusive of an extra shed called “The Fool Proof”. The building has excellent ventilation and is vermin proof. Everything is done on a large scale at “Walnut Range Stock Farm, a country place to which the citizens of Cooper County point with pride. Mr. Schnuck has improved the appearance of the old homestead by the addition of concrete porches and cement walks.
November 25, 1897, J. E. Schnuck was united in marriage with Ida Vieth, a daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Selck) Vieth, both of whom are now residing on a farm in Kelly Township, near Bunceton. Mrs. Schnuck is one of the following children born to her parents: Ida, the wife of the subject of this review; Emma, at home; Tillie, the wife of Charles Barta, of Kansas City, MO.; Henry and Carrie, at home. To Mr. and Mrs. Schnuck have been born four children: Lorine, Arthur and Lloyd, and Wilbur, the latter deceased.
Mr. Schnuck is a republican. He is a valued member of the Pleasant Grove Lutheran Church. Honest, industrious, capable, Mr. Schnuck stands very high in his community, and he and Mrs. Schnuck are numbered among Cooper County’s most respected citizens.
*CRAWFORD COUNTY*
Geneva Jamison Burton: The Jamison family is a unique family in Crawford County in that they were the only black family landowners in the area. In 1894 Mr. Abraham Jamison, Geneva’s great-grandfather, was allowed to buy property from his owner/father. He also took his owner’s surname, as was the custom at that time. While they were accepted in the town of Steelville, they were not allowed in town after dark, nor were they allowed to attend school or church.
A descendent of the Jamison family came to Crawford County in 1832, arriving at Cherry Valley and being the first settler there. Children from this family grew up and settled in various parts of the county and one of the sons was instrumental in the founding of Cuba. Another son was County Coroner and member of Board of Trustees when Steelville was first incorporated. Another son was Assessor and his brother held the position of Prosecuting Attorney. Thus this family was very prominent in Crawford County. Abe Jamison himself was the soul of honor and given the same treatment in the home as the white brother. He had accomplished a goodly sum of goods without much effort and was a substantial citizen of the Cherry Valley neighborhood.
*DENT COUNTY*
Helen I. Miller: The Norris family came from England in 1775 and settled in New York. Family members moved to Tennessee and later came to Missouri, settling in the area now known as Dent County.
The Rev. Herman M. Norris was married to Madge Evelyn Lewis in 1898, and in 1902 settled on a 158-acre farm on the Meramec River in Dent County, near Twin Springs, now referred to as the New Home Community. In 1915, an additional 59.5 acres adjoining the farm property was purchased. Herman and Madge’s union produced six children, among them Everett M. Norris who married Irene Dent in 1933. They had one daughter, Helen Irene (Norris), who married William L. Miller in 1955. The Miller’s have one daughter, Susan, who is married to Karl Schmerbauch, and they have three children, Ann, Julie and Mark.
Herman and Madge raised beef cattle, milk cows, horses, sheep, pigs, chickens, ducks, and geese on the farm. They also grew corn, oats, alfalfa, and hay. In 1903, the Norris’ built a large two-story barn and as the story goes, a man fell to his death while working on the roof of the barn. In the summer of 1955 the Norris’, with help of their children, redecorated and painted the inside of the house and installed new siding on the outside. Then on August 26, 1955 the Norris farm home burned to the ground. Herman and Madge were able to escape the house unharmed with only the clothes they were wearing. By November 1955, a new house was standing where the old house had been. The new house was built by family and neighbors without a cent of labor cost to the Norris’. Herman and Madge lived on the farm from 1902 until his death in 1962. Madge then moved to Salem and their youngest son, Everett, and his wife, Irene, purchased the farm. Herman and Madge are buried in the Union Cemetery, land donated to the community by Herman’s grandfather.
Everett Norris raised Angus cattle and grew corn, alfalfa, and hay on the old Norris farm until his death in July 1996. Everett and Irene added a utility room and garage to the rebuilt five-room home. At Everett’s death, the Norris farm was then passed on to his daughter Helen who was born in the old farmhouse.
Helen and husband, Bill Miller, reside on the 217.5-acre farm where they grow timber and lease the pasture for cattle production. They have remodeled and updated the home and added two bedrooms and bath. In 1996 the old antique barn was still standing and the Millers’ repaired the roof and replaced some of the wood siding. Then on July 10, 2002, the 100 year-old barn was demolished by a storm with a 90-mile straight-line wind.
*FRANKLIN COUNTY*
Leroy G. Riechers, Living Trust: This farm has primarily been used as a diversified farm, with crops consisting of corn, wheat, soybeans, and hay. Primary animals raised were hogs, beef cattle, dairy cattle, and chickens.
Presently the crops are mainly soybeans and hay, with beef cattle being the primary animal raised.
Original buildings still existing on the farm is a smoke house and a large barn. Newer buildings have replaced other buildings.
The family farm first transferred from the original owner, Frank Kappelmann, to his wife Helena. Helena then sold the farm to George and Ella Riechers (mom and dad of present owner). From them it went to their son, Leroy Riechers (grandson of Frank Kappelmann).
The next generation to inherit the farm will be Kevin and Stephen Riechers and Deborah Reynolds, children of Leroy and his wife, Myrna Riechers.
*GASCONADE COUNTY*
Johnson Family Revocable Trust; Derald Johnson (deceased), Stella A. Johnson and Patricia A. Mundwiller: Henry W. Sunderwirth came from Hanover, Germany in 1837 and settled on a farm between Bay and Swiss, Mo., Boulware Township, Gasconade County. Four tracts of land, for a total of 228 acres, were homesteaded and the homestead papers from 1846-1856 were signed by Presidents James Polk and Franklin Pierce. Henry chose a location 150 yards south of a creek (now known as Sunderwirth Creek) to build an oak log home and then constructed a two-story rock addition from limestone. His first wife, Wilhelmina, died in the winter of 1852 leaving him with four children ages 2-12 years. Her gravesite and tombstone are located on a knoll overlooking the homestead just west of the farmhouse. Stella Sunderwirth Johnson, the great-granddaughter, and Patricia Johnson Mundwiller, the great-great-granddaughter of the union of Henry Sunderwirth and his second wife Charlotte, currently live in the original farmhouse, making it a home for five generations of the same family.
Farming has contributed to the income of all the descendants living on the original homestead. Over the years the farm has been used for the production of cattle, hogs, sheep, corn, wheat, and sorghum. In the early days the farm was self-sufficient with livestock, a vegetable garden, fruit orchard, vineyard, and sugar maple trees. Cattle and hay production are the primary source of farm income at present.
Many of the old outbuildings are gone, but a large barn with interior hand hewn log walls sits just east of the house. Recent renovations to the farmhouse in 1998 and 2000 have exposed the original hand hewn oak log walls, oak ceiling beams, and stone faces of the original farmhouse.
No major historical events from this family have been or probably ever will be recorded in the history books. However, the obituary of Frank Sunderwirth (the second generation to live on the farm) depicts the character of their family: “He was an active farmer, in every respect a good citizen, a true Christian, also a loving and concerned husband and father, whose passing out of our midst will be mourned in the entire community.” America could not be what it is today without pillars such as this from our past – a tradition to continue on a quiet Missouri farm.
*GENTRY COUNTY*
Vernon T. and Beverly N. McCord: Thomas Farleigh McCord and his wife Laura Alice (Barber) McCord, purchased this farm in February 1902. They moved there with their family of two daughters, Mahala and Margaret, and son, Benjamin Farleigh. Later two more daughters were born, Pauline and Opal.
After Thomas Farleigh passed away in 1915, Ben purchased the farm from his mother and sisters. He and his wife, Anna (Hulet), lived there and raised their four children in a little 4-room house. Their children were Victor, Martha, MaryEtta, and Vernon. Ben and Anna moved from the farm in 1948 and Victor lived in the house for a time. When Vernon and his wife, Beverly (Olney), were married in 1957 they moved into the little 4-room house. Their oldest child, Ricky Lee, was born while they were living in the house. After they moved out the house was torn down, so there are no buildings on the property today. Vernon and Beverly purchased the farm from the estate of Ben and Anna in 1985. It lays on the East Grand River and is all in row crop.
*GREENE COUNTY*
Bobbie A. and Carol Ann Coble: The first Coble ancestor to purchase the Coble farm was Christopher C. and Lucy S. Potter Coble on September 17, 1872.
Christopher was boy of 14 when he came to America from Bern, Switzerland along with his parents, Jacob and Elizabeth Hermann Kobel. They sailed from the port Havre in Normandy, France and arrived in New York on July 8, 1850. Christopher and family spent some time in Ohio with some relatives and then moved to Jefferson Co., Mo. Christopher left there and came to Greene Co., Mo in 1855 to work for the Potter family as a laborer. This is where he met and married Lucy Potter in 1858. While living with or near the Potters they had their first son William Jacob. Christopher joined the Christian and Greene County Home Guards in 1861 and later the 8th Missouri Reg’t. They had another son Richard B.F. in 1863, and Johns S. in 1866. They purchased a forty-acre farm in Webster County in 1868 after both of Lucy’s parents had died and left two younger siblings for them to raise. While living there they had Nancy Ann in 1870 and Thomas A. in 1872.
They decided with their growing family, and two other family members to raise, they needed a bigger farm. This is when they purchased what was to become known as the Old Coble Farm. It was a rolling farm with rolling hills on all four sides. They built two log cabins with a dogtrot to connect them together. There was a real good spring located close to where the cabin was, which made it handy for cattle water and also for water for the house. This spring furnished water for the farm until a well was drilled in 1968. Christopher made his living by farming and digging wells. He dug most of the hand-dug wells in the vicinity. Christopher and Lucy continued having children, Ira Leroy in 1975, Franklin in 1878, Nora in 1882, and James Albert in 1884. There was another child either stillborn or who did not live long enough to get on the census.
James (Jim) and Sarah Clementine (Tine) Popejoy Coble purchased the farm in 1924. They had three sons born to them, Christopher, Harry, and Hiram. Jim liked to roam around looking for greener pastures and worked in Kansas City as a streetcar conductor for a while, and then went to Detroit, Michigan and worked in the Ford Motor Plant for some time. He left a brother-in-law in charge of the farm while he was away. They milked Jersey cows, raised hogs, and worked the land with a team of Percheron workhorses. They raised hay, corn, wheat, and oats to feed the livestock. Tine churned butter in the concrete springhouse and peddled it from door to door in Springfield, MO. They continued to farm the land until they decided to sell it to their son Harry and his wife Madge Campbell Coble.
Madge and Harry continued the dairy business for several years. They raised hay and grain for their milk cows. Madge raised a garden and canned food for the family. The farm was plentiful with the best blackberries you ever saw. They were picked and taken to Springfield and sold to many people who had a standing order for them. Harry liked to trade on cattle so he would go to sales and pick out several milk cows and bring them home. After he milked them for a while, he would sell them to some cow jockey.
The family farmhouse burned down in 1954 so the family had to move to another place, but continued to milk the cows on the farm. Electricity came to that part of the country about 1946 and this made life on the farm much more comfortable. Harry bought a milking machine, which he thought he would like, but soon decided you could get more milk milking by hand. Of course he had a couple of boys to help.
Madge and Harry decided to move to Springfield and Harry was to work at a grocery store. They decided to sell the farm to their oldest son Bobbie in 1962. Bobbie had always wanted to farm and this was one of his dreams. It was not until 1968 that he and wife Carol built a new house and left their little forty acres located about 3 miles north and moved into their new house. At this time there were no buildings left except the concrete springhouse, but it is still intact today. Eventually a new milking parlor was built and registered Holstein cows filled the parlor. Bob quit his city job and came home to help his family consisting of four sons, Bobbie Jr., Ricky, Randy, Ronnie, and wife Carol, who had been doing most of the farm work.
Carol and Bob kept adding land to the original farm until it contains about 256 acres. It is now very productive and it raises some of the finest cattle and hay of any farm in the locality, supporting a dairy herd of about 125 registered Holstein cows along with their offspring. Carol and Bob’s youngest son and his wife, Ronnie and Tammy, along with their sons Ronnie J., Ryan, and Riley, are now engaged in the farming operation. They plan to take over and continue the operation after Bob and Carol retire.
*GRUNDY COUNTY*
Huella Robinett, Ida Lee Little, Wendell Gott, Phillip Gott, Donna DeGraffenreid, Henry Gott, Sherril Belvel (The Jacob Craig Farm): Benjamin Franklin Craig, Jr. purchased one hundred acres of farmland at the base of Tater Hill on September 30, 1902. This land was believed to have been used by the areas Indians as a ceremonial ground. Even today special permission must be obtained before digging or filling in this area. On October 7, 1913 Benjamin deeded this land over to his son Jacob Vernon Craig and his wife Cora Belle Chase Craig. Jacob’s wife Cora was a cousin to Salmon Portland Chase, who was the Secretary of Treasury under Abraham Lincoln and later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. He presided over the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson. Jake and Cora, along with their four children, Verna, Leota, Grace, and Forest, farmed the land for several years until Cora’s death in 1918. Cora death was due to the influenza epidemic of that time. Eleven years later, in 1929, Verna married Hugh Gott and lived in the homestead with her sister Grace until Grace’s untimely death in 1931. During the following years of the Depression, their land was left neglected as it became necessary for the family to move around in search of work. In 1935 Jake split the one hundred acre plot into two sections. One, a twenty acre homestead located in Daviess County, and the remaining eighty acres directly across from the homestead in Grundy County. Verna and Hugh’s four oldest children, Huella, Ida Lee, Wendell, and Donna were all born on the 20-acre homestead, while the remaining three children Phillip, Henry and Sherril were born in various other states.
The one hundred acre farm was divided between the remaining siblings, Verna, Leota, and Forest. As the only surviving son, Forest inherited the 20 acres with the homestead, however Verna and Hugh moved back to the homestead in the early 1950’s where they remained until Hugh’s death in 1963. While on the land, Verna tended to a large garden located on the side of the house, canned vegetables, made her own pickles and jam, and made beautiful quilts in her spare time. They also raised a few cows and guinea hens as well as tended to field crops. Hugh passed away in 1963 and Verna was left to work the farm until the 1980’s when she moved out of the homestead and into a mobile home that she had placed onto the eighty acres across the road. While in the mobile home, the homestead was rented out and eventually burned down by a fire caused by faulty electrical wiring.
In 1989 Leota passed away and Verna and Forest decided to divide the land so that Verna ended up with the 80 acres in Grundy County. Forest kept the remaining 20 acres in Daviess County plus 60 acres of the original Benjamin Craig, Jr. homestead which is located in Grundy County about one mile north of the “80”. Verna died in 1993, at which time the 80 acres were passed on to her seven children. At the present time, some of this land is in a government sponsored conservation program (CPR). The remaining acres are used for hunting and growing crops. The mobile home has been removed from the farm, but the site has been set up for the family to visit whenever they are in the Trenton area. Picnics are held on the land where they reminisce about all the good times that were had growing up there, eating homemade ice cream, chasing fire flies, and shooting off fireworks. The 20-acre homestead is now in the possession of Forests’ daughter, Sylvia Gott and grandson Bradley Gott. Forrest Craig, the last of the Jacob Craig children, is still alive and living in the state of Washington and was a substantial citizen of the Cherry Valley neighborhood.
*HARRISON COUNTY*
Richard L. and Shirley A. Elliott: (From the Memoirs of Walter W. Wyant, son of Aaron Wyant, the original owner) “When we came to Missouri there was no stock law. Everyone’s stock ran out on the range, cattle, hogs, horses and sheep. People would brand their stock so as to tell them from their neighbor’s. I remember we branded our hogs by cutting a round hole in each of their ears and our sheep were marked by a clip in each ear.”
“He put a cow bell on the cow that was boss of the herd as the cattle all had horns and there was always a boss cow that could boss the rest of the herd. We would go out on the range every evening and listen to hear the bell so as to know where to find them. Sometimes they would wander off two or three miles. The neighbors had bells on their cows but no two bells had the same sound and when you got used to the sounds, could tell which one was our cowbell. In those days, very few people had lots to put their cows in at night. They milked them in the road and the cows would lie down in the public road and every little while some would get hurt by running over some stock lying in the road. I never heard of anyone being sued for damages for getting hurt. I suppose they thought as there were no stock law the cow had a right to be in the road.”
*HICKORY COUNTY*
Alvin R. and Alice Mae Kugler: Johannes (John) Kugler and his wife, Mary Ort Kugler, purchased what was to be Kugler’s Oak Grove Stock farm in March of 1903. John, a native of Switzerland, was in the real estate, insurance, and farming business near Stanberry, Missouri when he sold his property and moved his family (seven of the eight children were still at home) to Hickory County. Three adjoining farms were purchased to comprise the 280-acre farm. A new home was built soon afterward, which is still being used today as the family home. In about 1908 a reporter from the Kansas City Star came to Hickory County to do a feature article on farming in the area. The Kugler farm was among those featured. John raised Angus cattle, Merino sheep, and Duroc hogs on the farm.
In 1932, John and Mary’s youngest son, Henry Ort Kugler and his wife, Nancy (Nannie) Kugler, moved their family of one daughter and seven sons to the farm. Following his father’s death, Henry purchased the farm from the other heirs. Henry continued to farm raising Angus cattle, sheep and hogs. Nannie served twenty-seven years as the local postmaster, retiring a few months before her death in 1962.
The following year, in April of 1963, H. O. and Nannie’s youngest son, Alvin, and his wife, Alice Mae, purchased the farm from his father. Alvin raised Angus cattle and Hampshire hogs along with field crops. In 1972 an eleven-acre lake was built, which served to irrigate row crops. Alvin and Alice have two children, Roger and Alice Marie, and two granddaughters, Jeddie and Wendy. Alvin has lived all but four years of his entire life in the Kugler farm home.
*JASPER COUNTY*
Donald W. Ingle, Jr. Trust: Don’s great-grandfather, James Ingle, purchased their 160-acre family farm in 1903. In 1906 James purchased 80 acres adjoining his farm to the north. James and his wife Emma lived on the original farm and their son and his wife, Fred and Della, lived on the North farm. During the winter of 1911-1912, the snows were so harsh that you could walk right over the top of the fences.
The summer of 1913 was one of the driest in Jasper County. That summer James and Fred switched houses since Fred and Della needed more room for their children (Don and Bessie). This was the same year Don started school at Deer Creek. Those were the times when country kids only went to school for 5 months and helped on the farm the rest of the year.
In 1915, the south wing of the farmhouse was torn down and a full two-story wing was added. An inside bathroom was constructed upstairs, a water tank placed in the attic, acetylene gas piped in, and the Ingle farmhouse became one of the first to have running water and gas lights! That same year, Fred Ingle purchased a 1915 Ford Model T.
Upon James’ death in 1944 Fred inherited the two farms. After Fred’s death in 1959 the farm was then passed to his wife Della. Upon her death in 1960 Don Ingle inherited the farm and lastly Don Ingle, Jr. inherited it in 1996.
*LAFAYETTE COUNTY*
Mary Drunert: On February 28, 1891, Frederick Christian Drunert of Warrenton, Missouri purchased 320 acres in Lafayette County from Horace Galbraith. Frederick was a land speculator and did not farm the land. On November 11, 1913, Frederick’s son, William Drunert, inherited the farm. William and his wife, Mimmie, farmed and lived on the land.
In September 1918 William sold 160 acres to each of his first cousins, Edwin Drunert and Charles Drunert. In 1968 Edwin Drunert died leaving the farm to his sons Norman and Vernon Drunert. Upon the death of Charles Drunert’s in 1969, Norman and Vernon purchased Charles’ 160 acres.
In 1993, Vernon Drunert died leaving Norman and his wife Mary sole owners of the farm. Upon the death of Norman in 2002, Mary is the proprietor. Upon Mary’s death, her children, Thomas Drunert and Mary Anne Drunert Parker, will inherit the farm.
The farm has been in the Drunert family for 112 years. In 1973 Norman’s son Thomas joined Drunert Farms as a partner. Then in 2000 Gregory Drunert, Thomas’ son, joined Drunert Farms. Currently, Thomas and his son Gregory are farming the original 320 acres, as well as other acres purchased and rented over the years. During the past one hundred years there have been many changes in agriculture and the Drunert Farm has changed with the times. Soil conservation measures such as terracing and waterways have been added. On farm grain storage bins were built and modern machinery shops were built.
*LAWRENCE COUNTY*
Hardy A. Carl - Trustee for Eugene H. Carl Trust: Jacob and Wilhelmina (Minnie) Hardy arrived at Mt. Vernon, Mo in the summer of 1903. They were from a Swiss immigrant family that had settled in St. Clair County near New Athens, Illinois during the early 1800’s. The reason for them moving to Missouri is unknown because the Illinois farm was in a fertile area with many friends and relatives. Perhaps the coal companies bought them out and they could buy cheap land in Southwest Missouri. Whatever the reason, Jacob loaded up Minnie, Marie, Pauline, Richard, and Ben, along with all possessions and livestock, onto railroad cars and arrived in Mt. Vernon, Missouri.
Marie Hardy related to her grandchildren that they had lived in an old log cabin while the house, along with a beam and post barn, was being built. The farm was approximately 160 acres, which they planted with corn, wheat, oats, and barley, except for one 8-acre field in the middle, which was never plowed and which remains in native prairie grass today.
Over time the Hardy family eventually died out. Ben was killed in an accident and Richard and Pauline never married. Marie married Henry Carl and was the grandmother of the present owner, Hardy Carl. Henry and Marie Carl built a house on adjacent land that belongs to Larry Carl (grandson), and Hardy Carl (also a grandson) built a house adjacent to that. Martha Carl Morgan (granddaughter) remodeled the old Jacob Hardy house and lives in it today. The old peg barn is still standing and is in good condition after 100 years.
Bonnie J. Cummins: Peter Oler Olson, Bonnie’s grandfather, joined the Norwegian Navy at age 15 and came to America. He ended up in Wisconsin where he enlisted in the Union Army and passed through Missouri on the way to Vicksburg, Mississippi. He liked Missouri and after getting out of the army, and living for a time in Arkansas where he married and had four children, he finally got back to Missouri. He was seventy years old when Bonnie’s father, Lee Lawrence Olson, was born in 1904 on these eighty acres that Bonnie is claiming as a Century Farm. Peter Olson died when Lee was only 10 years old. Lee and his mother continued to live on the farm until Lee married. Bonnie was born in 1931 and her grandma lived with them part time until her passing in 1945, at which time Bonnie’s dad inherited the farm. Bonnie inherited the farm after her mom’s passing in 1997; her father had already passed away in 1977. Bonnie is hoping to later pass the farm on to her daughter.
Melvin and Berta Maples & Cindy Woodbury: Berta’s great-grandpa, Albert Prater, purchased the family farm in March 1903. Her grandpa Sam Prater inherited the farm in 1910 and he then turned it into an apple farm. It remained an apple farm until 1953 when Berta’s father, Eugene Prater, inherited it and turned it into a stock and pasture farm. Upon her father’s death in 1991, Berta inherited the family farm.
George and Ann Marie Rausch & Robert Rausch: The original 40 acres of the Rausch farm were purchased in 1900 by paternal great-grandparents Claus and Emma Meyer. Their daughter Anna married Charles Rausch and Rausch’s have farmed the place since then.
Charles and Ann Rausch first lived in a log cabin and the first Rausch children were born there. By the early 1900’s Charlie Rausch and sons, Albert, Loren, Willis, George and Carl, and daughters, Emma, Leona, Margaret and Enola had a new house, a huge hay barn, and were milking cows, selling eggs, growing wheat, and growing blackberries, strawberries, watermelons, cantaloupes, apples and peaches. Equipment was horse drawn, apples were hand picked, the wheat/chaff separator was hand cranked, and a surrey was used for trips to Monett 2 miles away.
By 1909 Charlie was grossing $1400.00 on small fruit, a respectable amount and technology was improving. Charlie filled in the cistern beside the house and had a well drilled to 129’, a blessing to other farmers during dry spells. An “Aermotor” windmill pumped water, the lights were kerosene, and horsepower was actual horse power. Electricity was several decades away but the telephone was already a necessity. Once young Emma Rausch answered the phone and friends, living along the highway, told her that Charlie had just gone flying by, hauling on the reins and trying to stop a runaway team.
Albert and George were feeding fodder one frosty winter morning when the horses came scampering up, kicking and playing. One horse turned and kicked young George squarely in the stomach. Nothing could be done in those days, and he lay on the kitchen table for two days until he died. Young Carl later died from diphtheria.
Charles passed the farm on to Loren (the current owner’s father) and he died in 1930, just as the Great Depression started. The rest of the children found jobs throughout the country. Albert Rausch had returned from World War I and bought the place across the highway to continue farming.
During the 1930’s, World War II, the 40’s and 50’s Loren Rausch farmed the 40 acres. By the 1950’s two horses, Dan and Molly, did the hard pulling and Loren grew apples, peaches, strawberries, milked a dozen cows, and grew corn and wheat. Once he grew tomatoes for a local cannery, and once he tried peanuts. A hired family came every summer, lived in the garage, and they all used the outhouse behind the garage. The smoke house still stands, the rafters still black from the hickory smoke curing bacon and hams. Men were men in those days. Loren cut his own Osage orange fence posts and could drive them with two 16-pound sledgehammers, swinging one in each hand.
Loren Rausch eloped with Marie Schwandt during World War II and they continued to farm. Electricity arrived in the late 1940’s, as soon as Marie convinced Albert to sign up; the Empire District Electric Company wanted two customers on a road to run the power lines. Loren and Marie had two boys George and Robert. During the early 1950’s water was piped into the house and a bathroom built. In 1958 a television set arrived. The Rausch family would sit in front of it until time for the program, then Loren would reach over and turn on the television and turn it off at the end of the program.
By the time of terrible droughts of 1950’s a 40-acre farm would not support a family, so Loren took work in townbut kept a few Black Angus. His sons, George and Robert later left the farm for other careers, but George moved back in 1979 and so the farm stays in Rausch ownership.
Today George and Ann Marie Rausch and theirs sons, Andrew and John, grow seven varieties of U-pick blueberries on three acres of the original farm. The blueberry shed is located on the site of the original 1930’s strawberry shed, and the blueberries are on one of the old strawberry fields. Everyone is invited during June and July for the best blueberries in the area.
Georgia Wallace (wife of Wayne Wallace): In the early 1880”s the Wallace farm became know as “Takein” because of a swampy place where horses and cattle kept getting mired down.
There have been three different schoolhouses located on this farm. The first was a log house built sometime around 1866. The second was deeded to the school district on January 26, 1889 by Marcus and Lillie Wallace, and the third and last one was one-acre deeded to the school district in 1907, with the understanding that the acre would return to the farm when no longer in use. It was later returned in 1957.
In 1903 and 1904, William Marcus Wallace purchased the farm from his mother, Ellen (Wallace) Smith and stepfather, James T. Smith, and his brothers and sisters. William passed away in 1930 and in 1933 Wayne and Georgia Wallace purchased 40 acres from William’s widow, Lillie. After Lillie’s death in 1957 the farm was left to Eunice, Onas, Wayne, Evva, and Exra Wallace. On August 18, 1958 Wayne and Georgia purchased the rest of the farm from his family.
Wayne Wallace passed away in 1999 but Georgia still resides on the farm today.
*MCDONALD COUNTY*
Christine Hardy: While hauling wheat from his farm in Indian Territory to the Seneca Mill in the late 1800’s, William Hardy caught his first glimpse of the picturesque river valley farm near Elk River. Pleasant Manning then owned the farm located eight miles north of Southwest City, Missouri. When the land was offered for sale in 1903, Mr. Hardy leaped at the chance to purchase the 350-acre farm with the money he had saved by selling his wheat to the mill at Seneca.
William and Viola Hardy then moved into the ten-year-old farmhouse with their four children, and added two more members to their family after the move. William‘s wife, Viola, died on the farm in 1909 and William stayed on the farm with his children until he retired and moved to Southwest City in 1927. His third son, Price, then began farming the farm at the age of 22. In 1928, he married Christine Smith and purchased the land from family members to become the sole proprietor. Price and Christine Hardy raised five daughters, Wilma, Colleen, Glenda, Donna, and Polly on the farm in the rural traditions of the times. Daily life was filled with chores of feeding chickens, gathering eggs, picking and canning vegetables, and caring for the farm animals.
Not having a son, Price tended the fields by plowing corn first with mules and then by tractor, and sewing fields of grain. During the Great Depression Price sold his hogs for three cents a pound and corn for twenty-five cents a bushel. Christine sold eggs for fifteen cents a dozen and made dresses for her daughters from feed sacks. The bad economic times of the thirties were replaced by climbing farm prices in World War II. The farm produced many acres of wheat, oats, and corn, and raised hundreds of hogs to feed the nation and Armed Forces overseas.
Postwar America was a period of change for the Hardy farm. Price and Christine began to raise cattle and did less tilling and planting of crops. With a deep commitment to the nurturing of the land and the progressive needs of agriculture, Price helped to organize the Prairie Township Soil Conversation Board and was a charter member of the McDonald County Soil Conservation Board. The farm was used as a model for county farmers and FFA students to view conservation practices such as prevention of erosion by land terracing and the growing of clover, alfalfa, orchard grass, and fescue for hay production.
Over a century has now past with members of the Hardy family residing in McDonald County. Price Hardy stayed on the farm until his death in 1987. Ownership of the land today resides with his wife Christine who, at the age of 93, still lives in the 110-year-old farmhouse with her daughter Donna. The house and barn, which is also 110 years old, have been preserved throughout the years to keep their original look. The land today is used primarily for cattle grazing and hay. Mrs. Hardy’s daughters return frequently and feel a real connection to the land and its’ place in history. They remember well their fathers’ love of the farm. As he once said, “I’ve traveled to many different parts of the world but I wouldn’t want to live any other place than right here on the banks of Elk River in McDonald County”.
*MILLER COUNTY*
Leonard Schanzmeyer: The Schanzmeyer Farm was bought in 1883 by Joseph and Katherine Schanzmeyer, Leonard’s grandfather. Bill Loethen was the original owner. Bill Loethen owned several farms in the area. He was a livestock thief and hid in caves on the farms from the law. He later was hung in the state of Oklahoma for his crimes.
August Sr. and Rose Schanzmeyer bought the farm from his father, Joseph. They had 5 children; 3 sons and 2 daughters. Leonard, the oldest son, bought the farm from his dad in 1947. Leonard and Marie Schanzmeyer had 10 children; 8 daughters and 2 sons. The oldest son died in 1970. Leonard still owns the farm today and his son also farms the land.
There was a rural schoolhouse on the farm. It was originally named the Barnhart School in 1874, but the name was changed to the Schanzmeyer School when Joseph bought the property in 1883. The school district was a large area covering over 15 square miles. Children had to walk to school because there were no roads to this site. The school closed in 1939. Leonard, the present owner, and all his sisters and brothers attended this grade school. They also had to board many of the schoolteachers who taught there.
There are 110 acres of cropland that is used to grow corn and wheat. There are 100 acres of woodlands and about 400 acres of hay land. Leonard raises over 100 head of beef cattle each year for slaughter.
Frank G. and Mary M. Schulte: In 1898 Frank Schulte started off renting this farm from John Fisher. He married Katie Dickneite on April 25, 1899 and they lived in a log house on the farm. They then purchased the farm in March 1903 from the John Fisher heirs. In 1912 they built the original house and tore down the log house. They had 6 children, Mathilda “Tillie”, George, Henry, Otto, and the two youngest who were born in the new house; Maria who died as an infant, and Rose Schulte Doerhoff who now lives near St. Louis, MO.
Frank and Katie also built a concrete smokehouse and a cellar. The upper barn next to the house was built prior to Frank renting the farm in 1898 but Frank built the lower barn around 1909. Frank and Katie moved off the farm in the fall of 1925 and George and his sister Tillie lived there and continued to work the farm.
George married Regina Bax on April 28, 1926 and together they contracted to buy the farm in 1929, and received the Warranty Deed in 1941. All four of their sons were born in the house, Harry, Jimmie, Larry and Danny. In 1948 when electricity came to the area they remodeled the house and added a washbasin and tub. They also dug a well to replace the cistern. In the early 1960’s George bought a sawmill from his son Harry and placed it on the hill where it still sits today. This sawmill has sawed many feet of lumber over the years for the Schulte family and many neighbors. In 1963 the square pond was dug, which is across the highway from the house.
In 1936 the road was in the current location but it was a county dirt road and the Schulte family gave right-of-way to install the culverts that are on either side of the house. In 1958 the State of Missouri took over and rebuilt the road, at which time the family donated right-of-way again. The roadbed was cut down 7 feet to its current location, and then in 1965 the State blacktopped it.
George’s son, Jimmie, and his wife, Angela (Angie) Ewers were married in April 1954 and they lived with George and Regina until George and Regina moved to Eldon, MO in the fall of 1954. Jimmie and Angie had 4 children, Delphine Kliethermes, Frank G., Lisa Herx, and Lois Wankum. Jimmie and Angie bought the farm in 1964. In 1958 Jimmie had to tear down the car shed and rebuild it to widen the right-of-way for the road and then in 1965 he added the workshop to it. In 1992, Jimmie replaced them with the current workshop. In 1966 they built the big pond below the house, stocked it with fish, and the children and grandchildren enjoyed many hours fishing in it. In 1974 they remodeled the house adding a kitchen and modern day bathroom on one side and an attached garage on the other side of the house. Angie’s new kitchen had a double oven, which she still uses today to make cakes for weddings, birthday, anniversaries, etc. In 1973 Jimmie cut and sawed the lumber to build a machine shed, which blew down in a strong windstorm in April 2000. Along with the machine shed the storm blew a part of the lean-to off the old hog buildings, across the road from the house, and embedded a piece of this lumber into the shutter next to Angie’s bedroom window. She was awakened by pieces of debris and glass from her broken window blowing in her face. It blew down power lines across the highway, took a few pieces of tin off the barn, some siding and trim off the house, and left lots of debris in the yard and around the buildings from the lower barn to the big pond. Angie hired her son Frank and Harry’s son Richard to build her a new machine shed back that summer. In 1983 Jimmie built a hay barn next to the lower barn. Jimmie and Angie raised cattle, hogs, and crops, which included hay, wheat, corn, and soybeans. Angie still has cattle today but they sold out of the hog business in 1996 due to the low prices.
The Big Tavern Creek runs along the bottomland across the road from the house. Due to erosion, approximately 54 acres of bottomland have been lost to the creek over the years. Hay, wheat, and soybeans are still raised in the bottom today.
Jimmie was born in the house on the farm in 1931 and lived his entire life there until his death in May 1999, with the exception for the two years he served in the US Marines. Angie has lifetime rights to the house on the farm and will continue to live there.
100 years later in 2003, Frank Schulte owns the family farm again. This time it is Frank’s great-grandson, and Jimmie’s son, Frank George Schulte. Frank George married Mary Holtmeyer on April 24, 1982 and they live outside of St. Anthony. They have 3 children, Margaret Angela, Jonathan David and Michael David. Frank and his family will continue to work the farm with the hopes of someday passing it on to one or both of his sons.
*NEWTON COUNTY*
Alfred A. and Betty L. Kolkmeyer: Alfred’s great-grandfather, James C. Cox, who was the founder of Joplin, originally purchased their farm in 1879. A round barn, springhouse, and a home were all built by James with local help and are still standing today. There used to be a weather vane at the top of the round barn but lightening took it out. At one time there was a tall silo but when Alfred took over the farm, him and his son David cut it and made two-grain bins. Small old original barns were torn down to make room for a milking bar and loafing shed for their cattle and also a new machinery building was added. There has been at least two roofs put on the round barn, spring house, and the home place during the last 40 years and of course some changes were made to the inside of the house.
In 1976 the Missouri Conservation Department recognized Alfred for having a Liberty Tree on his farm. The Liberty Tree was a White Oak tree that was over 200 years old. Unfortunately the Liberty tree is no longer standing because a tornado came through the property on April 15, 2001 and took it out along with the roof and panel siding off the round barn.
After 3 years of service in the Marine Corps, Alfred married Betty and they built their home on the farm and put in two ponds. He stocked them with bass, perch, and catfish. Water was furnished by the spring on the farm. The spring is still a very active spring and is checked yearly by the state as all springs are
checked and recorded. From 1879 to present this farm has seen sheep, pigs, horses, chicken, Guernsey and Jersey cows. Of course there was also crops of corn, wheat, soybeans, and square bales of hay. Today they have round bales of hay and Charolais cattle. Future heirs will be Alfred and Betty’s son and daughter and two grandsons.
*OREGON COUNTY*
Dave W. and Patsy R. Norman: James W. and Ida Norman originally bought the family farm in March 1902 from Washington Carlock. James was a livestock farmer who raised Hereford cattle, mules and horses. At the death of James, his son, Dow, along with his wife Vora, took ownership of the farm. Dow and Vora were livestock farmers who raised cattle and mules.
Dave W. and Patsy R. Norman purchased the farm from Dave’s father and mother, James and Vora, in 1957. Dave and Patsy are dairy farmers and also the parents of 4 children, Debbie, Nancy, Paul, and Mark. Dave and Patsy established the first registered herd of Holstein Fresian cattle in south central Missouri. They received the Progressive Breeders award from the Holstein Fresian Association of America for 6 years.
Over the years Dave and Patsy have torn down the old farmhouse and constructed a new home. They have also built a new Grade A dairy barn and then later constructed a new tile stall dairy barn for the dairy herd.
Dave and Patsy have held many 4-H and FFA judging of dairy cattle seminars on the Norman Farm.
*OSAGE COUNTY*
Patrick and Mary Haller: A warranty deed shows where Patrick’s great-grandmother, Katharina Koerber, willed the family farm to his grandparents, George & Margaretha Gradl, in 1890. (Gradl was spelled with an “e” in later years, Gradel.) Anton and Odelia Gradel then became owners, and then around 1940 the farm was sold to Patrick’s parents, Andrew and Mary (Gradel) Haller.
The original log house and 3 other log structures are still standing today and are used for storage. A two-story farmhouse built in the early 1920’s has been removed and a 40 x 60 farm shop was built in its place. A spring cistern with the date 1918 inscribed in the concrete wall can be found near a small creek. This was the water supply and also served as a cooler for cream and butter.
Cattle, hogs, and sheep were all raised on the farm over the years. Sheep were no longer raised after 1950 and hogs were no longer raised after 1992. Laying hens were also part of the farm income in the earlier years. Today a few still roam the barn lots to supply fresh eggs for breakfast.
*PERRY COUNTY*
David and Lisa Brickhaus: This farm was first recognized as a Centennial Farm in 1976 while it was owned by David’s great-uncle, Martin H. Brickhaus.
James E. and Marsha R. Buchheit: William Buchheit purchased a farm consisting of eighty acres, located in southern Perry County Missouri near Longtown, on April 13, 1866. An adjoining thirty acres were purchased on July 15, 1881 and another adjoining forty acres were added to the farm on February 11, 1891.
William Buchheit began as a pioneer, clearing the land from forest to tillable crop ground. The crops produced included oats, barley, hay, and corn. The grains were fed to hogs that provided food and were sold for income. Cows produced milk for family use and cream to sell. William raised many chickens, providing food for the family and eggs to barter for groceries at the local general store. Firewood was sold to neighbors in Longtown and fur trapping generated needed income.
The next generation, Anton E. Buchheit, purchased the farm on September 29, 1900. He produced similar farm products as the past generation along with new innovative sources of income. Anton owned a rock crusher that produced agricultural lime. He also preformed various veterinary practices for himself and neighbors to generate income. Pork production expanded, becoming a major income source.
The third generation owner, Anton J. Buchheit, purchased the farm on April 24, 1944. He started a feed and fertilizer business at the farm. Anton also had a trucking business, hauling hogs and cattle to market for many neighbors. The commodities he produced on the farm were similar to those of past generations consisting of corn, wheat, oats, barley, hay, hogs, and beef. In the 1960’s the original log house was replaced with a modern frame structure. The red oak lumber used to build this new home came from trees cut on the farm.
The fourth generation and present owner, James and Marsha Buchheit, purchased the farm on August 1, 1991. Farm income was supplemented with full time off the farm jobs, along with custom farm work for neighbors. The primary farm operation at this time consists of a large cow/calf operation and hay production. They also produce soybeans, corn, wheat, and firewood. This generation has added a modern water system, expanded and modernized existing farm buildings, and remodeled and updated the family home.
The next penetration has grown up enjoying farm life and plan to keep the Buchheit Family Farm alive and growing into the future.
*PHELPS COUNTY*
Charles and Linda Dean (Simily Farm): Mr. Joseph Simily, the founder and great grandfather of Linda Dean, purchased their farm on October 27, 1892. The farm has been operated continuously as a crop and livestock farm since that date. The line fences of the farm were originally fenced with 26-inch woven wire for hogs and sheep, which pretty well had the run of the whole farm. The barn, which is 72’ by 60’, is a peg barn and was built in 1908 from lumber cut and sawed on the farm. Joseph was killed when a tree fell on him while helping cut lumber for the farm. The barn still stands today, but the wood shingles have been replaced with metal roofing and metal has been placed over the board siding. The inside of the barn has not been changed, all the horse stalls and cattle feeding areas are in place as they were built in 1908.
The farm lays on both sides of Big Dry Fork Creek, which has supplied water for the livestock and for recreation over the years. Timber has been cleared and tillable ground developed, fences replaced and/or built new, and grass has been seeded bringing the total tillable acres to approximately 300 today.
Over the last several years the farm has been converted to a grass and cattle farm, which supports approximately 100 head of cows for a cow calf operation.
The sixth generation is now living on the farm and it is Charles and Linda’s hope that their family will continue to own and care for the farm after they are gone.
Hubert W. and Ruby M. Feeler: This farm has 200 acres that qualify as a Century Farm. Ruby’s grandparents bought the first 80 acres in June of 1867. Another 80 acres was added after that and then the final 40 acres was purchased in 1897. It was on May 3, 1953 that Hubert and Ruby purchased the family farm.
The 200 acres originally included the Camp Creek Cemetery and the Old Camp Creek Grade School, which is no longer there. Although the original house is no longer there, Hubert and Ruby’s daughter and son-in-law, Joe and Delinda Gillardi, now reside on the original home site. The land has been used for cattle farming and hay production since owned by the family. The farm is also the home of Feeler Lumber LLC, which consists of a sawmill/lumber operations and farming. The lumber business began about 1954 and is owned by Hubert and his son Gary Feeler.
William M. and Edna Wilson: This property was purchased by William’s great-grandfather, Bill Wilson, for a place for his wife, Mary A. Wilson, to live and raise their children as the northern army had burned their home on Little Piney River. William then left the area, as he wouldn’t sign the amnesty and this left him a wanted man (This info is documented in a book “The Bushwhacker” by George C. Arthur). Mary lived on the home place until her death and then her son, Lee Wilson, acquired the property from his brothers and sisters. Lee also lived there until his death, and then his son, C. E. Wilson acquired the property from his brothers and sisters. C. E. left a lifetime estate to his wife, and after her death William and Edna began the process of purchasing the parts from his 13 brothers and sisters, and this has been accomplished.
William (Bill) and Edna are in the process of redeeming the overgrown fields and have built themselves a home on the farm. The farm will now be used to raise livestock and hay.
*PLATTE COUNTY*
Billie L. Amos: The 90 acres that make up this Century Farm, was purchased by Billie’s grandfather, Franklin Amos, from Hugh Chance in January 14, 1882. William Kim Amos, Billie’s father, was born on the farm in 1892 and lived there his entire life. He and his father raised hogs on the farm.
Billie lived on the farm with his parents and brother until adulthood. The farm then became his at the death of his parents, William Kim and Pearl Amos. Ten acres of the farm is on the Platte River and Billie enjoyed swimming and fishing in the river.
Billie’s parents had built a new house on the farm in 1959 and one of Billie’s daughters, Jill Fain, and her family are living there. The original house, which was a log cabin, is still standing and is in remarkably good shape for its age.
*POLK COUNTY*
Howard D. and Mary E. Emmert: Mary’s great-grandfather, George H. Shuler, owned this land first and then her grandmother, Cora Shuler, one of George’s children was heir to it. From there, Cora’s daughter, Elva Kirksey, got it and then it was passed on to Mary after her mother’s death.
Mary’s parents farmed the land, had dairy cattle, and milked, and when Mary and Howard got married they milked along with her parents until they both retired. At present Howard and Mary are still farming and still have dairy cows, but when they retire they plan on running all beef cows on the farm.
*PUTNAM COUNTY*
David and Sara Lou Brydon: This family’s love affair with this wonderful white frame farmhouse began on March 12, 1896 when Sara’s great-grandfather, Lawson Collins Clark, purchased the house and 110-acre farm from a lovely Jewish family, John A. and Ella E. Helferstine. Mr. Helferstine was a real-estate agent in the Unionville area and was then living in the plain but substantial two-story farmhouse. Being a good businessman, Mr. Helferstine soon saw how the three Clark family members, Lawson, his son William Robert, and his wife Lulu Vaughn Wilson Clark, (who recently come from Ohio) loved his home and eventually sold it to them on March 12, 1896.
Two of the four Clark sisters, Mary (Mrs. Paul Melton) and Helen (Mrs. Paul Dean Smart), were born in this home. Two other sisters were born in Unionville; Ruth (Mrs. Don Carlton Pollock) in their home across Main Street from Comstock’s Funeral Home (called the Underwood Home, it later burned and was rebuilt) and Esther (Mrs. Edwin Loosely) in their home on the corner just north of the Grant Street Church of Christ. In October 1906, W. R. Clark helped in organizing this church where they were long-time active leaders.
Sara never knew her great-grandfather, Lawson Collins Clark who died in 1923, however, her grandfather, William Robert Clark, was a great influence on her life as he and her became companions throughout her childhood. How fortunate she was that in addition to her beloved parents, Don and Ruth Clark Pollock, she had this Godly, kind, learned gentleman to shape her life in their happy, light-filled home where her parents, brother, and her were asked to move when her grandmother, Lulu Vaughn Wilson Clark passed away in 1944. At that time Sara was 5-years old and her brother was 8.
The white frame home was beautifully situated atop a gentle hill with an open southern view, of about half of the farm and beyond, from its one-story columned front porch. In summer the many tall windows were raised on the south and north to catch summer breezes and the ten-foot ceilings helped keep the rooms cool. On August nights that refused to cool down they brought sheets and mattresses from upstairs bedrooms and slept on the big front porch, always needing a summer blanket by dawn.
When they moved there in 1944, only a few fruit trees were left of the once flourishing orchard west of the house. A lush overhead Concord grape arbor, supported by white posts and beams, shaded them as they stepped out the back door where they could sit in the big wooden swing connected by chains to the beams. Concrete slabs and a walk formed a patio running between three buildings important to the day-to-day operation of the house. One was the well house, where “Gran” and Sara would go each day to start the pump to bring double filtered water to another well in this building. This supplied running water to the house. The drinking water well was located down a concrete walk to the south of the house nearly to the road. Since it was Sara’s job to keep fresh drinking water in the house, it seemed a very long way to that pump to her.
To the left of the back door, also under the grape arbor, was the washhouse, which held a big black cook stove, copper boilers, big washtubs, and a washing machine and hand wringer. A well nearby supplied water for washing clothes but was too near the house to be considered for drinking. The third building was the smoke house with its double walls. Big meat hooks hung from beams and the smell of smoke had permeated the wood, its smell stinging your nose when you were inside. There were additional barns, a granary, added garages, and a once used chicken house.
This being the ancestral home of sorts, the Clark girls and their families would come for big family dinners. It was always Sara’s job to set the tables the day before such meals, and at Christmas time they would have about 30 people. Sara would set the dining room table, along with card tables in the living room and bedroom. Sara was married before she ever “made it” to the dining room table as age gave you seating priority.
Mary Jo Melton remembers always spending Christmas Eve dinners there and having quite a ceremony when they lighted candles on the Christmas tree. The children were so excited. “Granddad Clark would always bring in some buckets of water before he and Mamo lighted the candles”, she adds.
There were two fires at the house that Sara knows of. The black-scarred timbers in the attic show the seriousness of one. Sara’s mother, Ruth, described it as being inside the box-framed south wall of the house. It was so fueled that flames stretched over the roof and came down on the ground at the rear of the house.
Another event greatly anticipated was the summer visit of the (4) Loosley brothers from Oklahoma and their parents who came later. Having all of the cousins together making ice cream, playing games in the yard into the evening, swimming in the pond, and eating huge family meals made for a delightful childhood.
One wonderful family event was the beautiful wedding of Shirlee Ann Melton, granddaughter of W. R. Clark, and Richard Wayne Ryals who were married in the Clark home on June 25, 1950.
Stories passed down included ones about wagons coming to the house loaded with goods for sale. Fabrics would be unrolled on the dining room table for choosing and a seamstress would spend a month at the house cutting and making dresses for the Clark sisters. A painter would also come every day for weeks in the summers when the house and buildings needed painting.
This family has all loved living on this farm very much. Sara’s father, Don Pollock, was a very active farmer and Angus cattle breeder. Among other things, he was president of the Missouri Angus Association, owned and operated a John Deere Implement Company with his cousin, was on the County Court, was County Treasurer for sixteen years, and was one of the Unionville Feeder Calf Sale founders. Sara’s mother loved working side by side with her father and worked in the Treasurers office for many years, always keeping cattle records and the financial workings of the Feeder Calf Sale. Over the age of seventy, Don and his wife also raised two grandsons in that very special home, Sara’s brother Don’s two boys, D.C. Pollock, Jr. and Matthew Carlton Pollock.
*RAY COUNTY*
Norman Smithey and Elaine Strickler: The original owners of this farm were John W. and Ella Smithley. They were married in February 1888 and were the parents of 10 children; 5 boys and 5 girls.
The original farm was 200 acres and John and Ella left each child a portion of land. Vernon, who was the youngest child, bought some of his sibling’s part giving him a total of 100 acres. Vernon and his brother, Ralph, lived together on the farm following their parent’s death, then in 1927 Vernon married Cornelia Crowley and they began housekeeping on the farm, living there until their deaths in 1984 and 1992. They farmed and raised cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry. They also butchered their hogs and some calves for meat. Vernon never worked anywhere else.
Vernon had a heart attack in 1980 and he then deeded the farm to their children, Norman and Elaine. No one has lived in the house since Cornelia’s death, but the farm is being farmed by two of their grandsons who live close by. Vernon and Cornelia had a total of 5 grandchildren.
Corn, hay and beans are the crops raised on the farm today.
*ST. FRANCOIS COUNTY*
James H. and Anna E. Murphy: Arthur Marion Smith, Anna’s great-grandpa, purchased the family farm, consisting of 175 acres, around 1891. This land borders the Wesley Chapel Road. He raised his family of nine children on the farm. When Arthur Marion died his son, Leo Franklin Smith, rented the farm from Arthur’s second wife, Martha, for several years. Leo then purchased the 175 acres from the Arthur Marion Smith estate in 1941.
Leo Franklin and his wife, Easter, had previously purchased 80 adjoining acres from J. C. Williams in 1909. Then in 1911 they purchased an additional 160 acres from Nathaniel Howlett, this land borders Smith Road. They raised their family of five children on the farm.
Leo and his son, Franklin Downing Smith, purchased another 135 acres of adjoining land in 1929. This land borders Wesley Chapel Road. With this last purchase, the total acreage of the farm was 550 acres.
Franklin Downing, Anna’s father, lived on the farm and helped his dad with all the many chores. Of course, everything they did for years was done by mules or by hand. They raised cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, etc. They had a few milk cows so they could have milk to drink and make their own butter, cottage cheese, etc. They always had a big garden for canning enough vegetables for the year. Leo tells of trapping animals, including skunks, to help out with expenses.
In 1937, Franklin married Verona May Dix. They had four daughters, Patsy Joann (Mrs. Harry Patterson), Anna Easter (Mrs. James Murphy), Bessie Genevieve (Mrs. Lynn Neisius) and Kattie Jane (Mrs. James Sherrill).
Anna can remember when it was time to harvest, many of the neighbors would come over to help put up hay, thresh wheat, pick corn, etc. The men would all go to the field and the women would help Anna’s mother prepare dinner. At that time Anna’s mother did all the cooking on a coal oil stove and there was no running water in the home. All four of the girls, Anna and her sisters, had chores such as doing dishes, cleaning house, feeding animals, working in the garden with a hoe or pulling weeds, gathering eggs, carrying in wood and coal in the winter, etc. Anna says there were always many, many things to do, there wasn’t any time for them to say, “I’m bored”!
After Anna’s Grandpa Smith died, her dad, her sisters, and herself did all the work. By that time they had a tractor and bailer. They started working in the hay fields around age 10. Anna had the job of raking the hay. At that time they bailed the hay and used an old forklift to take the hay into the loft. So after Anna had the hay raked, she drove the tractor or truck to pull the hay into the loft.
This family all worked for years making sure all the crops were harvested and in the barn for wintering the animals. They have all taken a very active part working on the farm. When they got married, their spouses helped with summer work. When their children got big enough, they always helped to. Now the grandchildren want to help out with chores.
Franklin’s grandson, Andrew James Sherrill, and family live on the farm and are helping to run it.
*STE. GENEVIEVE COUNTY*
Jon P. and Dana C. Fallert: This family farm was founded first by Michael Stoll. He was born in Baden, Germany and emigrated in 1857. He and his brother settled in the River Aux Vases area, then known as Staabtown.
Michael Stoll served as a private in the Union Army during the Civil War. He purchased his first plot of land in 1862. Over the next 20 years he acquired more land, in 1868, 1869 and 1885. Michael Stoll married a local girl (Philomenia Staab), whose mother was also an emigrant from Baden, Germany, on February 18, 1864. They settled on the farm, built a house, and had 10 children. Michael Stoll was a farmer and carpenter.
In 1902 Michael sold the farm to his daughter Rosina and her husband, John Langelier. They continued to farm and had 8 children.
In 1923, Rosina and John sold the farm to their daughter Cora and her husband, Frank Fallert. Cora and Frank lived on the farm and had 9 children. During their ownership, Frank was a farmer and blacksmith.
In the 30’s, Frank and Cora built a new home on the foundation of the old four-room house that had housed the first three generations. The new house was large by their standards with 5 bedrooms and an indoor bathroom. The water for the indoor toilet was piped down from the pond on the hill. Because the county electric stopped at the top of the hill, one quarter of a mile away, the new home was powered by batteries. Frank and Cora lived in this house for many years. The farm encountered a tornado in the fifties that wiped out all the farm buildings but left the house untouched. The farm was rebuilt better than ever and continued to prosper.
Frank and Cora’s son, John, and his wife Ruth joined the farm when they married in 1960. John and Ruth built a home next door to the old house and raised their 5 daughters and 1 son there. John and Frank ran the farm together for many years until Frank’s death in 1976.
In 1976, John purchased the farm and the old home from Frank’s second wife, Irene Langelier. During this time the farm became a dairy farm, raising and milking Holstein cattle. The old home was rented out to the farm hands. The dairy cattle left the farm in 1983.
In 1984, John and Ruth’s son, Jon, bought the farm and the old home for his new family. John and Ruth continue to live on the farm, enjoying their grandkids. The buggy horses from the old days have returned to the farm as a retirement project for John.
Jon, the current owner, is the great-great-grandson of Michael Stoll, the original owner. The farm continues to raise corn, soybeans, and a herd of mixed breed cattle, along with an assortment of other animals, rabbits, goats, cats, a large golden lab named Max, and of course the horses.
The home farm has remained much the same as it began; a small family run farm, deep in tradition, and a good place to raise children. Jon and Dana are looking forward to passing on the traditions at some time in the future to their three boys.
Richard C. and Joyce K. Huber: Rick’s great-great-grandfather, Benedict Huber, purchased original patents starting with 80 acres in October 1837. He then purchased 40 acres in December 1847, 40 acres in February 1850, 40 acres in January 1852 and the final 240 acres in September 1854 for a total of 440 acres.
In 1870, 229 acres went to Rick’s great-grandparents, Francis S. and Ursula Huber, and 211 acres went to Rick’s great-uncle and great-aunt, Benedict and Josephine Huber.
In 1889, the 229 acres then went to Rick’s grandfather David Huber. In 1919 David Huber purchased the 211 acres from Josephine Huber and her children, which brought the farm back to its original 440 acres.
The 440 acres was then deeded to Rick’s parents, George and Frieda Huber in 1941 and then to Rick, the fifth generation to own and farm this land, in 1980.
*SALINE*
William B. Sullivan and Sidney W. Sullivan: The “Bottomland Farm” has been farmed, for the Sullivan family, for over 75 years by the families of Dorothy and Joe Clements, Sr. The relationship began prior to 1927, the year of Dorothy’s birth. Dorothy recalls as a child that her grandfather, Rance Luther Jenkins, with help from her father, Ross Rance Jenkins, farmed the land for Dr. A.H.W. Sullivan. Her grandfather and A.H.W. died the same year, 1935. Later, her father, with help from Dorothy, continued the farming for A.H.W.’s son and heir, Dr. Frank Sullivan. In 1951, Dorothy and her husband, Joe Clements, Sr., took over for her father and in the years that followed, they and their children, Joe Jr. and Alan Clements, with their wives and children, have farmed the property without interruption. In the 1950’s, several wooded acres were cleared and since then almost all of the bottomland has been planted in corn and/or soybeans, with an occasional crop of milo, alfalfa, or wheat. The farm abuts the Missouri River and its size varies from time to time as the river floods, overflows the levee, and changes course, resulting in either a net addition or subtraction of acreage. More information on Sullivan Farms can be found on the Sullivan Farms webpage: .
*SCOTLAND COUNTY*
Hillis and Geraldine Baker Living Trust: D. Franklin Baker and his wife, Margaret Ellen Ebling Baker, purchased this farm on February 27, 1896. Then in 1920 he deeded it to his son, W.E. Baker and his totally heirs, for the sum of $2.00. The interesting part of this story is that he gave a farm and land to each of his three other sons and a daughter also. As each of the boys married, the farms were turned over to them and homes were built and furnished for them. The Baker’s daughter inherited the town property with some acres attached upon their death. At present, two of the farms and a portion of the property in the town of Memphis are still owned by three of the grandchildren of D. Franklin and Maggie. This was possible because D. Franklin had his will set up so that his sons and daughter could not sell the properties during their life time but their heirs could. The will was tried a few times but held firm.
Hillis and Geraldine think Grandfather Baker was an exceptional person, and they are using their part of the land and it will be passed to their heirs, Lord willing.
*SHANNON COUNTY*
Larry and Sherrill Smith: On September 24, 1903 William George Phillips purchased 128 acres of land in Deslet, Shannon County, Missouri for a sum of $1000.00. He later purchased the remaining 32 acres to complete his quarter section. On July 13, 1923 after Williams’ death, one of his sons, Christian Luther Phillips became owner of the farm. Christian passed away in 1972, leaving the farm to his children, Louise, Imogene, Herman, Myrtle, and Betty. Myrtle’s son, Leonard Larry Smith, showed an interest in owning the farm so in October 1973 he purchased the farm from the heirs. Forty acres of the farm was passed down to another granddaughter who still owns it. Also a cousin and nephew live on lots that were given to their parents by Christian and Anna.
The area in Shannon County where the farm sits was once called Deslet and had a post office on Carr’s Creek road. Now this area is called Carr’s Creek and sometimes Log Yard road. In the 60’s the National Scenic River Ways bought up easement to build a road to the river. That road is HH and goes through the middle of their farm. It divides the fields and pasture on the east and the forest area on the west. There is a cemetery on the farm and it has 75 graves; the earliest marked grave is 1874 and the last burial was in 1949. When Larry and Sheri began renovation of the farm the cemetery was high on their list. The fences were down, stones broken, 20-foot multi-flora and honeysuckle and poison ivy were the only ground cover. Four months of hard labor brought it back. Now is sits on the hill looking peaceful with a new fence and sign.
During the 1800’s farmers began to use Osage orange trees as fences to keep livestock from straying. The farm still has a few of these hardy thorny trees; the largest is on the north side of the house.
In 1991 Larry and Sheri moved to the farm and began the long task of renovation. After sitting idle and empty for eighteen years, there was much to do. Fence rows were cleared of trees, brush, and old fencing; new ones installed. The 100-year-old barn needed foundation work. Walls repaired, roofing repaired and new gates. Five horse stalls and 3 storage
rooms were added. Just like a hundred years ago the house was the last to get a face life. From top to bottom the home was gutted. All the virgin wood in the home was saved, sanded, and reinstalled. New metal roofing, plumbing, electricity, doors, windows, and a native rock fireplace were installed and built. The renovation of the home took seven years. Four years ago Larry and Sheri opened their home to the public as a bed and breakfast. Because of its quiet serene location it is a popular place for those who wish to escape the city.
Grandpa Chris was a farmer raising row crops, hogs and cattle. It was difficult to raise a family of five so he found other ways to earn income. There was small home on the farm when he purchased it and he turned it into a general store. It became a vital part of the rural community. He also was the first farmer to have a hay baler, not only using it for his own needs but also hiring out for custom baling. He also hired out as a gang leader for timber crews. He was the first in the area to have running water and electricity. He purchased a gas-powered electric generator, placed a water barrel upstairs and presto, running water.
As a child a trip to the farm was always a treat for Larry and his four sisters. A visit with Chris and Anna at the farm was joy for city kids. All those open spaces to explore, run and play. Now another generation is traveling those curvy roads to the farm. Every July 4th Larry and Sheri host an old fashion family gathering. A fried chicken meal is served and then the visiting begins. Yard games are played and a trip to the Current River to cool off is a must. Later in the evening there is a campfire and everyone roasts his or her own hot dogs and smores. At dusk the fireworks display begins, and stories told around the campfire go deep into the night.
The farm continues to be a place where memories are gathered. During Larry’s 20 year Naval career, he traveled all over the world and he says, “this farm in Shannon County is the only place I’ve ever wanted to live”, Sheri agrees.
*SHELBY COUNTY*
Isabel Hutcherson & Gayle and Billie Bob Wilt: William George and Rosa Belle (Taylor) Gamble (Isabel’s grandparents) purchased this 340-acre farm in March 1903. They then passed it to their two children, Fanny Lee (Gamble) Bowen and Charles Milton Gamble. At present, the farm is owned by Isabel (Bowen) Hutcherson, Fanny’s daughter, and Isabel’s daughter, Gayle (Hutcherson) Wilt and her husband Billie Bob.
Isabel also has 3 other children; Denise (Hutcherson) Quinley, Earl Wm. Hutcherson and Paul Dennis Hutcherson.
Janice Lyman and James Lyman: James McNeeley, great-grandfather to Janice and James, married Alice Barker in the state of Indiana. They were friends of the Thomas Lincoln family (Abraham Lincoln’s father) while living there and Alice is buried in the Nancy Hanks Cemetery, as she requested if she should die while living in Missouri, as the family did not intend to remain in Missouri.
They came to Missouri by covered wagon and settled at Maude, Missouri and after Alice’s death; James bought the farm at Lentner and lived there until his death in 1929. His daughter, Emma McNeeley Nisbeth, inherited a portion of the farm and bought out the shares of the other heirs to the farm and kept the farm in the family. Her only daughter, Lorene Nisbeth married John Lyman and had two children, Janice and James Lyman, the current owners.
*STODDARD COUNTY*
Virgle D. and Carolyn M. Lowe: This farm was originally a 40-acre farm purchased by Virgle’s great-grandfather, Thomas W. Miers, from William J. Black in 1881. Thomas Miers moved to Stoddard County from Mississippi County after he retired as keeper of the ferry on the Mississippi river during the Civil War. After his death, the farm was divided equally among seven of the living heirs; one being Virgle’s grandmother, Mary Ann Miers. It wasn’t until 1903 that Mary Ann and her husband, Albert Williams, were able to buy out the rest of the heirs. In 1906 they purchased another 40 acres joining on the south and later another 40 acres joining on the north.
There were no buildings on the original 40 acres but in 1926 a smokehouse was built, and Albert and Mary Ann, along with Leucille Williams (Virgle’s mother) lived in it until a house could be built. It consisted of 4 rooms with front and back porches. The two columns on the front porch are still there and in good condition. Leucille Williams married William Lowe in 1932 and Virgle was born in November of that same year. In 1938, Grandpa Williams became ill and they moved in with them to help with the farming, and remained there. When Albert and Mary Ann died, Leucille was sole heir to the farm.
Over the years, Leucille and William have built a barn, chicken house, and a small machinery shed. They have always milked some cows, sold cream and eggs, and raised hogs. Leucille sold eggs to a hatchery in Poplar Bluff for several years.
Virgle spent 2 years in the army and while he was gone, his dad built a grade A dairy barn. When he was discharged in 1955 and came home he joined his dad in farming and helped build a good Holstein herd. They have milked as many as 35-40 head, which was a nice herd at the time.
In 1958, Virgle married Carolyn Ashbaugh, a local girl, and she joined him and his parents in the family farm. In 1964 they decided to sell the dairy herd due to changes in the dairy industry that called for an on the farm bulk tank storage, which meant increasing the dairy herd and Virgle’s dad didn’t feel that he was able to handle it anymore. The dairy had been profitable and had enabled them to buy more land to farm. They also decided to start a beef cow/calf operation, and although Virgle has retired from row crop farming, they still have the cattle and he bales and sells hay every year.
Virgle and Carolyn live in a very diversified part of southeast Missouri where many different crops can be grown. They have raised cotton, corn, milo, wheat, soybeans, and have added rice.
After Virgle’s parents died, he was sole heir and is the 4th generation to farm this land. In 1991,Virgle and Carolyn decided to remodel the house. It had been enlarged over the years to include a utility room, 2 small bedrooms, a ½ bath upstairs and a full bath downstairs. They decided to add a sunroom on the south with 3 large windows overlooking the yard and garden. This is where they spend their spare time when they can.
Kenneth and Revalee Minton: William J. Corlies and Margaret L. (Maggie) Hagman Corlies came to
Missouri in 1900 with their three children; Abbie age11, George W. age 9, and Louise age 4. They purchased their first 40 acres in 1900. This was located southwest of Dexter in what is referred to as Pyle Community. In 1903 they purchased 80 acres and in 1905 an additional 39 acres. The 120 acres purchased in 1900 and 1903 later became the property of their three children. Each child became the owner of 40 acres. The 39 acres purchased in 1905 became the property of their son; George W. Corlies, Sr. Each of the 40 acres have remained in the possession of each child’s descendants.
George W. Corlies Sr.’s 40 acres are presently owned by his grandchildren; Velma Corlies Ray, Charles Corlies, Bobby Corlies, and Georgia Ann Corlies Haney.
Abbie’s 40 acres are presently owned by her grandchildren, James M. Carlton and Mary Carlton Medlock.
Louise’s 40 acres are owned by her daughter and son-in-law, Revalee Barker Minton and Kenneth D. Minton.
Velma Ray, Georgia Haney, and James M. Carlton have their homes on their property. Grandfather, W. J. Corlies, is listed as an orchard grower in the 1912 list of Stoddard County records. The property today is used for hay pasture and some row crops.
The family members who make their home on the farm owe their Grandmother Maggie. She had made many moves with Grandfather Corlies. The sequence of moves included meeting in South Dakota where Maggie’s family had lived for several years. They were married in South Dakota and their first child, Abbie, was born there. Their second child, George W., was born in Illinois and their third child, Louise, was born in South Dakota. Four years later they were in Missouri. When the western expansion began, Grandfather Corlies wanted to move again, but Grandmother Corlies was very firm that she had made her last move. If Grandmother had not been firm, no telling where his next venture would have taken them.
Grandfather Corlies seemed to like adventure and valued education. He left ledgers, which gives the family a glimpse into his business ventures. One of the first things he did in Missouri was plant an orchard. He ordered his trees from Stark Bros. His order is in his ledger but is very pale and fragile. He also raised chickens and sold eggs. He kept records of how many were used by the family and how many were sold.
Revalee’s mother attended high school in Dexter and graduated with the class of 1916. She attended college in Cape Girardeau and later became a teacher. This was rather unusual for that time.
Grandfather Corlies had his children keep records of any special activity. His records of his first car purchased in 1918 lists the cost of every item down to the oilcan. He also kept a record of the weather. He recorded the first frost and the inches of snowfall for the year.
Grandfather Corlies died with dysentery during the epidemic in the summer of 1920. Two grandsons, Eugene and Jamie (Abbie’s sons), also lost their lives in the epidemic.
Revalee was born sometime after Grandfather Corlies death and did not have the privilege of knowing him, however, she has appreciated his life by tracing his activities through his journals and public records.
*STONE COUNTY*
Mease Limited Liability Co. (Joe Mease, owner): This farm history began in 1903 when Arthur W. Mease and his wife, Mabel Mease, were living on land they homesteaded in that year. They were living with their family in a log house located in Stone County, Missouri. This house was located by a primitive road which lead from northern Arkansas to Springfield, MO.
Livestock men would stop by while driving their cattle to market and ask to pen their cattle overnight, then move on the next day.
In 1908 Arthur and Mabel built a new 2-story frame house that is now occupied by their great-grandson. They had a variety of livestock, horses, cattle, and hogs. They cultivated the land, growing corn and other forages for their livestock. Much of the country was open rangeland and they had native blue stem grass. There was not much underbrush in the woods at that time because everyone burned in the spring. The men and boys would have to fight fire to keep it away from what fencing they did have (wood rail fence).
Arthur and Mabel later had a peach orchard. At that time spraying was not necessary, as they did not have the disease and insects that are prevalent today. They marketed their peaches in Springfield, Mo and this was a 3-day effort. One day to travel by horse drawn wagon, stay over night, and then the next day driving the streets in the residential area peddling the peaches, stay over night, and then the next day travel home. Through buying and trading for small acreages, Arthur expanded the farm to 390 acres.
In 1928 Arthur and Mabel’s son, Floyd, and his wife, Alma, became owners of the farm. They had cattle, both beef and a few milk cows, laying hens, sheep, and hogs. Sometimes in the fall they would turn their hogs out into the woods to eat acorns. Floyd raised mule colts to sell as yearlings. He still used horses for fieldwork until 1947 when he purchased his first tractor. He quit raising corn about 1940. At times he owned goats to kill brush on the farm.
In 1997 Floyd and Alma’s son, Joe Mease and his wife, Marcella, became owners of the farm. It is now a commercial cow/calf operation. The farm has been divided into smaller pastures by the use of electric fencing. The farm is used exclusively for grazing, hay is purchased. Brush control is by use of chemical spraying.
The farm has been in the Mease family for 3 generations and it is Joe and Marcella’s hope that it will continue through the fourth and fifth generations.
*SULLIVAN COUNTY*
Dennis K. and Jo Anne Maggart & M. Keith Maggart: After John B. Harmon Sr. (Dennis’ great great great-grandfather) moved to Missouri in 1854, from Kentucky, he homesteaded the original 80-acre farm which is included in the 200 acres now owned by Keith Maggart (Dennis’ father). Over the years of his life John Sr. added to his holdings until his death. At that time the land passed to his son, John B. Harmon Jr. in 1898. John Jr. was a very prosperous farmer during these years and accumulated approximately 5 200- acre farms with homestead houses on each. The original family house is situated on the 200-acre homestead farm now owned by Keith. What they consider the main farmhouse is located on the farm purchased from Warren McCullough in 1898. Mr. McCullough built this house about 1885 and it originally was a 4-room house with 3 attached porches. It has been expanded significantly, primarily by John Jr., to accommodate his 4 daughters. He needed the extra room also for living quarters for the hired hands necessary to help work the large farm. This explains one of the unique features of the house, two separate upstairs with no adjoining hall and separate staircases at each end of the house. It was one of the first rural houses to have electric lights and used its own generator located in the adjacent “smoke house”. John Jr. considered himself primarily a cattleman and grew crops and hay primarily to support this cash crop. The land was worked by hand with help of several good teams of draft horses. Milk and eggs along with a large garden provided most of the food with a small surplus for sale in town.
An interesting story surrounds the early years of the farm that has been passed down through the generations. It involves the small role that the farm played on the locally famous 1929 Meeks family murders. As the historical records show, a pair of local brothers plotted to steal several head of cattle from a local farmer and asked for the help of the hired hand of Mr. Meeks. Even though he refused to participate the brothers went ahead with the rustling plan one night. John Jr. and several other members of the family were working making sorghum that evening and witnessed the illegal cattle drive down the road that divided the property. Later as word spread of the theft the brothers got nervous that Mr. Meeks might expose their cattle theft so they lured him and his family into a late night visit where they were killed. Unfortunately, one of the young Meeks children survived and was able to tell her tale. One of the brothers was caught and hanged while the other escaped and was never apprehended.
John Harmon Jr. died of pneumonia in 1929 at age 64. He left each of his daughters one of the 200-acre homestead farms and a house. The original 200-acre farm and main house were left to his widow. He was concerned about the financial “security” of his widow and her possible selection of a new husband and thus stipulated in his will that his wife shall have the original farm only as long as “she remains his widow”. He was also concerned about the vices of two of his son-in-laws so he encumbered these two farms with the restriction that “…(they) shall have no power to sell, mortgage encumber, or otherwise dispose of the farms they live on during their lifetimes, and at their death it is to pass to their respective heirs”. As you can tell John Jr. always placed a high value on keeping these farms in the family.
The land has been the primary income source for the Harmon family for many years. Dennis’ grandfather, John Bradford (J.B.), helped work the land for his grandfather, working cattle and working the fields with his favorite team of horses. As he grew up and became more attached to the land he became committed to preserving it as a family farm. He was able to buy 400 acres of the original farms in 1946 and 1954. He and his wife raised 5 children on the farm, two of which are still involved in farming in the area. J.B. farmed the land for over 50 years before he passed away in 2000. He and his wife taught each of the children and grandchildren many invaluable life lessons on the farm. While most of the following generations may have left the farm, it remained “home” for all of the children and grandchildren and even their great-grandchildren. J.B. was a practical farmer and enjoyed the wildlife on the farm, and each hunting season that come around. Keeping the farm in the family was a very important goal for J.B. as his health began to fail. Out of respect for his wishes and reflecting the importance of land to the family, his wife (Dennis’ grandmother and Keith’s mother) chose to sell the farm to Keith and Dennis on 12/11/2001.
*VERNON COUNTY*
Elizabeth Brown: Elizabeth inherited her farm in 1986 from her father Roy Carlton, son of Oliver Carlton (original owner of the farm). The buildings that were on the original 160 acres were destroyed in 1982 by a tornado.
Elizabeth’s parents lived on the farm until 1980. Her father bought 40 acres that join the 160 acres in 1913. Elizabeth was born on the farm in 1921. Her parents, children, and grandchildren have had an Easter Picnic on the farm for many years and still do. Although Elizabeth was an only child and only grandchild, she has 6 children and the farm will be passed to them when she is gone.
*WARREN COUNTY*
Vahle Farms, Inc.: Fred H. Vahle came to America with his family as a young boy. They settled in the Warren and Lincoln County area. He went to work as a young man on a farm that was located in northern Warren and western Lincoln County. This is where he met his wife to be and it was part of her family that owned the farm that he would purchase in 1903. The purchase was made before he was married and thus the deed was only made out to him. The previous owners, the Drunert family, stayed on the farm with the newlywed couple until some of the Drunert’s cattle, that were on feed, were ready to sell.
An old log house that was located on part of the farm was moved to the homestead and was used as a harness room. Ears of corn were hung in the upstairs to dry so that the seed could be used the following year.
Forest Grove Farm was painted on the end of the barn in the early days of the farm. The farm was also part of the tree farm program, and in later years a segment of film was shot on the farm from the film “The Main in Green”. In the early days of the herbicide “Roundup”, the Monsanto Company filmed on the farm a couple of times also.
The first tractor used on the farm was a steel wheel tractor in 1938-39. A new rubber tired tractor was bought in 1940. The last of the horses were sold about 1950.
Fred H. Vahle was proud of his Hereford cattle and never considered crossbreeding. His grandson changed the color of cattle on the farm when he had Angus for his 4-H and FFA projects. Besides the cattle, Fred H. and family had a lot of laying hens with some of the eggs being shipped to a bakery in St. Louis. Milk cows (Jerseys) were raised with the cream being shipped out via railroad.
Fred H. and Emilie Vahle raised 4 children on the farm. The three oldest were girls and they all taught school at some time and all married farmers. Melvin was the youngest and he and his wife Elizabeth also raised 4 children. Melvin started college at the University of Missouri but had to return home to help on the farm, but his 4 children all graduated from the University of Missouri at Columbia.
Melvin and Elizabeth were involved with extension and 4-H for many years, as well as, many other community groups. Melvin still lives on the farm today, and actually, his bedroom is the same as when he was born.
*WEBSTER COUNTY*
Dale and Donna Galloway: W. W. Galloway was born in north Missouri but he later moved to Oklahoma and homesteaded a tract of land near Stroud, Oklahoma. He was married to Ollie Simmerman and they had three children, 2 boys (Herbert and Howard), and 1 little girl. Ollie died during the little girls birth.
W. W. sold his homestead and brought the boys back to Missouri to live where his dead wife’s family was. He then bought the current family farm and married Effie Pandora Simmerman Caldwell, who already had a daughter Sydney by a former marriage. W. W. helped raise Sydney along with his boys. To W. W. and Effie’s union one son was born, Forest Leon.
Herbert and Howard both served some time in the military World War I. They married and lived not to far away most of the time. Sydney married, had 4 daughters and spent most of her life in Kansas. Forest grew up on the home place. He married Freeda Triplett and raised 2 sons, Carl and Dale. They each married and have 4 children each.
Dale stayed on the farm after 2 years of trucking. W. W. and Forrest milked cows and raised hay. Effie passed away in 1956. Forest and Freeda then moved into the original house with W. W. Dale’s family moved back in the extra house and they continued to milk. W. W. passed away in 1960.
Forrest passed away in 1989. His widow Freeda still lives in the original house. She is 96 years old. There are 3 sets of 5 generations on or near by the farm.
Dale quit milking in 1999 and now raises hay and beef stock. Plans are to leave the farm to the coming generations as long as there is a true Galloway.
Willie Arthur Miller: The Wester farm was homesteaded back in the 1800’s. George W. Wester was the first one to do the earliest and most extensive farming west of Fordland, Missouri. He was a full-blooded Irishman and Union Army Veteran.
George owned the first threshing machine, food mill, and sorghum mill in that part of the county.
This farm has been passed down from generation to generation and the current owner, Willie Miller, is the great-grandson of George W. Wester.
*WRIGHT COUNTY*
Rilley Floyd Stewart: In October 1903, William Augustus (Gus) Christy, his wife Louella, and their little 3-year-old girl Cozella, left their home in Stroud, Oklahoma in a covered wagon for their new home in the Missouri Ozarks between Macomb and Mansfield. Earlier that fall, Gus had ridden a horse from Stroud, Oklahoma to Wright County, Missouri in search of a farm to buy. Their year old boy had died in July and their girl was sick. The doctor told them that if they stayed there where the water was so bad they might loose the little girl too. The doctor told them the best water in the country was in the Missouri Ozarks.
Mrs. Christy had taught school to the Indians in Oklahoma when it was Indian Territory, before it became a state, and after it became a state she got $25.00 a month for teaching. They bought the farm with money she had saved. They arrived at their 160-acre farm in the covered wagon on November 1, 1903. Someone was living in their 3-room house at that time so they moved into the smoke house until spring when the other people left. In 1906, a baby girl named Lolella was born at their new home.
In 1907, a sawmill was set up on their farm and they sawed a lot of lumber for themselves and their neighbors. The Christy’s had a 2-story barn built for cattle, with the top part for hay. They also had 3 rooms built onto the house. Gus farmed the land and kept 6 or 7 cows and several horses.
Gus Christy died in 1931 and his wife Louella lived until 1952. At her death their 2 daughters, Cozella and Lolella, each received 80 acres of the farm. Cozella’s daughter, Ella Stewart, and husband Everett, bought 40 acres from her and then Ella got the other 40 acres at her mother’s death in 1983. Ella and Everett milked Guernsey cows, had hogs, sheep, and goats there on the farm for almost 40 years along with raising 3 boys, Rallace, Rollan, and Rilley Floyd. When Ella and Everett moved 3 miles from the farm in 1988, their youngest son Rilley Floyd, and his wife Giselle moved into the home place.
Rilley and Giselle bought the other 80 acres of the Christy place after Lolella died in 1994 (from her 3 sons) so now the 160 acres are back together again. Today the fifth generation of family, Rilley and Giselle’s sons, Aaron Drew and Austin Floyd help work on the farm.
The entire family has made their living on the farm since 1903. The Christy’s milked, skimmed the milk and sold cream, and then fed the skimmed milk to the hogs and chickens. Then years later, the Stewart’s sold milk in a cream can and they would sit the cream can in cold water to cool it. They went from milking by hand to a gasoline powered milking machine, then electric milkers and later to a pipeline milker. They also built a grade “A” barn in 1956. The barn has been milked in every day since that time.
During the past 100 years horses, hogs, sheep, goats, cattle, chickens, turkeys, guineas, geese, and ducks have had their place on the farm. Several excellent Scotch collie dogs have been used to drive the stock. At present, Rilley Floyd uses four-wheelers to drive the cattle. Times have sure changed in the past 100 years. Horses were used on the farm until sometime in the fifties, but from there they went to small tractors to bigger and better tractors with cabs on them.
The same mailbox is still in use today that the Christy’s bought in 1905 when the first rural mail route was established out of the Macomb, Missouri post office.
More pictures sent by applicants:
3 Oldest Farms for 2003
James A. Campbell, A. Frank Campbell, T. Andy Campbell, and John A. Campbell, Ray County, 1819
Dale A. and Anita Schulte, Gasconade County, 1820
Gale and Marlene Francis, Harold Lee Sitze, Bollinger County, 1832
3 Largest Original Acreage’s for 2003
Charles L. and Linda J. Dean, Phelps County, 525A
Richard C. and Joyce K. Huber, Ste Genevieve County, 440A
Henry and Sherry Kemna, Miller County, 440A
Century Farm program guidelines used in the selection and recognition of Missouri Century Farms are:
1. The same family must have owned the farm for 100 years or more as of Dec. 31, 2003.
2. The family shall consist of direct descendants (spouse, child, grandchild, sibling, nephew or niece). If the farm is a family corporation or partnership, one of the principal stockholders must be a direct descendant.
3. The present farm shall consist of no less than 40 acres of the original land and shall make a financial contribution to the overall farm income.
Sponsorship
The College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources jointly sponsors the Missouri Century Farm program with University Extension and coordinates activities including appropriate recognition. Local sponsorship is also important in helping publicize the program, collect and certify nominations, and to arrange for local recognition. University of Missouri Extension Councils are the local sponsors.
Extension and Agricultural Information-Extension Publications serves as coordinator of the Century Farm update. The address is Extension Publications, University of Missouri, 2800 Maguire Blvd., Columbia, MO 65211. For more information, call 573-882-7216, FAX 573-884-5038, or e-mail extpubs@missouri.edu.
Check out the Missouri Century Farms web page at . We hope to have some of the pictures and history sent to us this year on the web page within a few months.
Thanks to Karen Nolting, Extension Publications, for typing the applicant information and histories contained in this brochure and helping process this year’s applications.
Andy Shirkey
Coordinator, 2003 Missouri Century Farm Program
“Believe in yourself, your neighbors, your work, your ultimate attainment of more complete happiness. It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn.”-B.C. Forbes
-----------------------
2003 Missouri Century Farms
Missouri Century Farms
is a joint effort by
University Extension
and
the College of Agriculture,
Food and Natural Resources
Freeda and Forest Leon Galloway; Freeda is Forest's widow and is current person running farm.
Current picture of house
Second story being added in 1921
House pre-1921
Alba and Ada Banks family in the mid-1930s. Left to right: Agnes, Arthur, Alba, Alba Jr. (front), Thomas, Ada, Ethel and Robert.
House on Lowe Farm
House in 1973
House in 2001
Barn in 1998
Barn in 2001
Phillips Cemetery after renovation
Phillips Cemetery in 1996
Christian Phillips on tractor with some of the family taking a ride. Larry Smith, grandson is the boy standing 3rd from the right.
Christian Phillips on the left and Clarence Macy on the right. The two men killed 42 rabbits in a single day.
Home pictured in 1954
Four of the generations who lived in the William Robert Clark home from 3/12/1896 to present. Mary (Mrs. Don Pollock) b. 1/6/1899; Ruth (Mrs. Don Pollock) b. 1/6/1899Helen (Mrs. P.D. Smart), b. December 27, 1907; Esther (Mrs. Ed Loosley), 12/6/1900.
White frame farmhouse
W.R. (William Robert) and Lulu Vaughn Wilson Clark
Buchheit Farm, 2001
Buchheit Farm, 1951
Buchheit Farm, 1920
A lighter moment around 1917. Albert and Lydia Bodenhausen Kunz with their children Vera, Melvin, and Ivan (in front). The cow's name has been lost as well as the bonnet.
Marry Ellen Cathell (wife) and William H. Brundage.
William Brundage built the pictured home in 1901.
Dave and Patsy Norman with daughters, Debbie and Nancy.
Mule colt show at Couch, MO near the Norman Farm. James Norman took part in this show in early 1900s.
Dave and Patsy Norman with sons, Paul and Mark. The cow pictured is DAPAT Pioneer Suzie.
Present owners Alfred and Betty Kolkmeyer
Kolkmeyer Farm, 2/23/03 after 12" snow Picture taken by Betty Kolkmeyer
View of round barn on the Kolkmeyer farm.
Springhouse
Sawmill purchased by George in early 1960’s, still sits on the hill today above the big pond. Pictured are Jimmie and Angie’s nine grandchildren in April 2000.
Damage from the storm in April 2000. Note the piece of lumber embedded in the side of Angie’s bedroom window.
The house after Jimmie & Angie remodeled and added to it in 1974.
View of farm
Leonard, Marie and children: Front, Carolyn Halderman, Betty Kever, Diane Juergensmeyer, Kathleen Schwartze, Janet Beck. Back, Joe Schanzmeyer, Doris Fisher, Mary Lou Rehagin
The Hardy home is 110 years old.
The Hardy barn is 110 years old.
Takein School House pictured in 1958. Built in 1907.
Ann Marie Rausch in the "Martha Washington" blueberry variety during the season.
Original Rausch farm house. From L to R: Albert 4 yr old Loren, Charles, baby Willis in the wicker carriage, Anna, Emma, and young Leona. Photo taken in 1910.
H.O. and Nannie Kugler with grandson Roger Kugler pictured in 1958
Alvin and Alice Kugler pictured in June 2003
John and Mary Kugler pictured in 1908
The picture of the Homestead taken in 1978. The house has since burned down.
Front Row: Jacob Craig, Jake's Daught Verna Craig Gott, Ben Craig Jr., Nellie Craig, Solomon T. Craig's daughter, Backrow: Cora Chase (Jake's Wife), Charley Craig, Ralph Craig, Solomon Turpin Craig, Illa Chase Craig (Solomon's wife and Cora Chase Craig’s older sister.
Carol and Bob Coble
Harry and Madge Coble
James (Jim) and Sarah Clementine (Tine) Popejoy Coble
Christopher C. Coble and Lucy S Potter Coble
Ben and Anna McCord and family, 2nd generation owners.
Martha Victor, Vernon and Mary Etta McCord in front of the house in early 1940s.
View of the original barn with interior hand hewn log walls.
View of Sunderwirth farm
George Riechers, Leroy's father.
Original barn
A winter scene of the present day home of William L. and Helen I. (Norris) Miller on the "Old Norris Farm."
Left: Home of Mr. And Mrs. Abe Jamison. Left to right, Ferd Jamison, Hattie Jamison, Mrs. Emaline Jamison, and Harry Jamison.
Right: Baby Geneva, mother Hattie Jamison, father A. G. Stubbs
Crestmead farmhouse
View of Crestmead Farm
Cast iron kettle from an old still.
John George Neubauer
House in 2002
The Baslee farmhouse in the late 1800s
Montgomery Burr and Lillian (Gray) Burr, granddaughter of Abraham Ditmars
Robert Brown Burr, original landowner of the 40 acres purchased in 1876.
The back of the original log home that Fredrick and Emelia lived in.
Original house
Maever’s family picture in 1925. Front row left Henry, Bertha; Second Row Left Lydia, Anita and Alma; Back Row Left Alvin and Albert.
This picture shows what remained of the house, barn and smokehouse after the tornado in May of 2003. The picture also shows the bottoms with four feet of flood water from Byrd's Creek. The family is attempting to restore the remaining portion of the kitchen.
Henry and Bertha with Henry's favorite team of mules and Bertha feeding her chickens.
This picture of the house was taken during a family reunion in the fall of 2002. The house was unchanged after the two new rooms were added in 1914. The original 1948 Ford tractor was used for the family hay ride.
Sunday crowd visiting original house when James Gibson was a teenager.
Farmhouse on the Stilts Farm, built almost 100 years ago.
Bridge located on the Stilts Farm
Alba E. Banks & Ada L. Fleetwood at the time of their marriage, 11/26/1905.
Don, David, Deana, Doug; coming generation to own farm; Freeda in front. Original house in background.
Cozella and Lolella Christy, 1919. Two daughters of W.A. and Louella Christy.
Finishing building the Christy Barn in 1907. Family and 2 carpenters.
Rilley F. and Giselle Stewart with sons, Aaron and Austin
Barn on the Richard and Joyce Huber farm is over 100 years old
Picture of Joe and Corrine Zulpo farm in 1907 (Phelps County)
Picture of new home grandfather James Smith had built on the Smith Farm (Pike County)
Grandfather James Smith loved horses and had cattle on the farm. He and his wife had nine children. Picture of property now with outbuildings and house in background. Emily M. Smith, one of the present owners is the 4th generation of the Smith family to own the farm. (Pike County)
Home today on the Calvin and Carol Gray Farm. The “peg and pin” barn on the right is still standing. (Putnam County)
Leroy Linden Tilden, original owner of the Farm now owned by his grandaughter Joleen Holt and husband Robert. Picture shortly taken before his death. (Stone County)
Glenn and Mary Hefner, July 1957, relatives of Lee Roy and Ruth Hefner. (Wayne County)
Lee Roy Hefner, current owner, with tractor. (Wayne County)
Robert Burr and Mary Lee (Burr) Tutt receive plaque from Missouri Forestry Department. On right is a full view of the State champion Eastern Cottonwood on the Burr Farm.
Original house
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