O/T History and price of the family farm

When my Grand Paw left my Grand Mother back around 1918 she lost everything, and moved into town. After a couple years she saved up enough money to buy 100 acers on time payments. The price was 500.00 total. She almost lost it because the payments could not be kept up, By that time the three brothers were able to help out, and was able to keep the place. Dad stayed and farmed and raised us three boys. Both of my Grand Mothers lived in seperate houses there also. Dad and his brothers sold it around 1957. Dad bought another farm down the road and continued farming until around 67. My brother and my self still own what's left of that, about 4 acres. stan

As told to me by my grandfather, in 1847 my GGGgrandfather built a house on mostly uncleared land and set up farming. 1862-1864 he was in the war between the states. When he came home, he and his wife had a bunch of kids,one of which was my Great uncle who built my barn in 1900.From there it went my grandfather,my dad and finally to me.That makes us five generations on this land. That's 164 years . Ed

Our home place, a quarter section, has been in the family 107 years. My great grandfather bought it in August, 1903. The next day he went in to a local bank and wrote a mortgage on it for $4800. Eight years later to the day, he walked into the bank and paid the mortgage off in cash.

Life was a whole lot different back then Some people call them the good old days. However--my paternal great grandmother had ten children and outlived five of them, including my grandmother.

A 4 year old boy who would have been my great uncle was buried in Germany in 1871 before they came to the States. A 2 year old boy and a 4 year old girl died two weeks apart of whooping cough in 1879, and a 14 year old girl was killed by a runaway horse in 1884. My grandmother died in 1899 at age 31 the day after my father was born. Probably a simple complication they'd fix without thinking today.

It's mind boggling when you think of the emotional trauma they went through.

Well, since we're telling history here, here's the story of our ranch and how it came to be...

My great-great grandad ran a trading post in the late 1850's in Ponca NE and traded with the Pawnee indians there. He became friends with them and went with them when they'd go on their annual spring hunts to western NE....it was on one of these hunts when he rode through the area of the Nebraska Sandhills where our ranch is currently located....

Several years later, he owned cattle near Fremont NE and decided to find a place out west to raise them, and he rode a train to the end of the railroad(Valentine, NE at that time) and rented a mule and rode south until he found what he was looking for where our home place is....he had his cattle shipped here, had more driven up from Texas, and had a man stay to care for them... but due to hard winter losses decided he'd move here himself to care for them himself, which happened in the late 1870's....while here, he built a store building and along with a cousin they started the town of Brownlee, Nebraska. The town was 30-some miles between railroads and the store did a thriving business as homesteaders moved into the area...one year they sold more mowing machines than any other dealer in the state...

Anyways, these homesteaders soon found out they couldn't make a living farming on land allowed by the government. This area's good for cattle, not for farming. He always sold on credit at his store, and as the homesteaders starved out and quit their claims, as often as not they'd give great-great grandad the deed to their land instead of paying their debt.

In 1900, my great-grandad got married, and his dad gave him our original home place along with other acquired property surrounding it. Great-great grandad then moved on to Washington state. My Great-Grandad then continued to build and improve on the ranch. He was named a "Master Farmer" by the Nebraska Farmer magazine in 1927. My grandad, born in 1912, took over a portion of the ranch where our home place is when he married in the late 30's....he had 7 brothers and sisters and great-grandad divided his property up equally between them all...only 4 siblings stayed in the area and most of the land went back to the ones who stayed....

I'm the 5th generation on the place now, at the same location homesteaded by my great-great grandfather.

Interesting topic. My ancestors came here (north Arkansas)from North Carolina in 1812 right after the New Madrid earthquake. In 1905 my great grandfather made a down payment on 6000 acres for my grandfather to keep him from becoming a professional baseball player. In 1908 my grandad built a house and started his family. He raised 3 boys and a daughter but in 1935 he sold off 4500 acres to keep from losing it all. In 1958 a flash flood nearly wipped him out and he lost a good part of his cattle so he sold another 875 acres. The daughter died in the 50's and the oldest son moved off so that just left the 2 youngest boys one of them was my Dad. I still have 300 acres and a cousin has 240 acres. A couple of years ago I bought back 20 acres of what was sold in 1958.

Remember ! ..."LAND IS THE ONLY THING THAT LASTS" ,Scarlett O'Haras'Daddy told her ...those wrds from "GONE WITH THE WIND" were burned into my mind at early age ,from Dad and Uncles . they also claimed " No One Ever GAVE ME ANYTHING but a OPPoRTUNITY , .. . and we worked hard to make good on everything that come along !.. . and I reckon for that reason, I am a "chip off the Ol' Block.". LOL . in 1980 at age 22 Wife and i bought 11 acres and a 120yr. old house You could throw a cat thru, for 20 grand ,We remodeled Home properly and sold out in 1984.. more than doubled our money for our efforts ...,taking Our 6 Beef mommas to a 27 acre broken down farm i Bought for 30 grand,about 4 miles from all OUR parents .the House was at least livable this time ..But we gutted it to Make the beautiful home it is today... Worked All day Doing HOme Improvement, Farmed in the evenings and fed Hoggs at Nite ,. Was makin'$$$$$ HAND over Fist'... somehow Raised 4 kids during that Blur of little sleep and constant productivity,,. Was buying corn off the combine of a nice 40 acre field in 1987 ,heir new Owner was in FLORIDA never even saw what his uncle left him, current tenant was broke and asked me to buy it so he could keep farming it ,, asking price 25 grand! . We Jumped FAST ! tenant quit for health problems before next season , so we been harvesting since then , 1989, Putting on a Neighbors barn roof ,WHEN , Good Ol 'Allis Chalmer Dealer stopped by , SAID he was having a tuf way to go with banks and sales,, He needed to unload some of his debts and Wanted to interest Me in a 140 acres he had got on a debt trade 4 yrs earlier ,, HE revealed " That farm simply Would not CASH flow no matter how ya farmed it ", But the Price was Reasonable for 55 acres of nice laying dormant crop land ,and 85 acres woods that was never timbered rite and Looked LikeHALE, We Agonized for 6 monthes, then FINALY DECIDED TO BUY and Took a GOOD neighbor to look at it in early april,Just To Make SURE... He looked at Woods , And Said " NO Help Here RITE NOW, Jim .. But you get in here and do Timber Stand Impropvement Stewardship , Ya might be Surprised how well it will come back and Reward Ya " ,.had 10 good grain crops years STRAIT ! without a problem ?,when others in our area could not ..Just Lucky with the rain ,( BUT ,Last 4 of 10 yrs not so lucky with weather ).., and The timber ?, starting in 1996, Had 8 cleanup type timber sales over the years , With one of the "Finest Timber MAN in these Parts" ,I MUST ADD , And I have paid for the 140 acres with timber proceeds,,District Forester is Very pleased with our work ,, We got Lucky,, some might Say,, but itell Ya ' , the HARDER I WORK, The luckier I GET !... Back in the days of Quick $$$$$ in the home improvement Busines, whan My competetors were buying Mercedes and New trucks and expensive trips and toys ... I followed My instincts and bought Land and cheap fixerupper equipment .. my Stuff is Still here,, Most of the toy buying guys?.. Those guys lost their az when everything started drying up couple years ago...

if you guys don't mind a little more history ,5 generations before me My dads ancestors came from fertile Alsace /Loraine region between France and Germany , Got Tired of the constant real estate wars between cuntries and getting killed ,... Moms folx came over from upper Black Forest area of Germany arond 1815,settled in Ferdinand In,German was primary language til mid 1930s when the Priest Strongly insisted congregation to Speak only ENGLISH !..(in retrospect probably was a good idea) Granpa run a sawmil,carpentered a couple houses , Farmed and was Twp and school trustee ... Family lore claims for a time in the depths of the depression they Made very good Corn Whiskey for FRENCH LICK , that ended up in Chicago ,St Louis , Louisville.. just To pay the bills,,.Buy a new WC Allis, Ford pickup and a top of the line 1932 CHRYSLER , Granpa quit ,and Demanded his 2 sons to QUIT or ELSE !, they were getting $20 per gallon ,and wanted to go LEGAL ,but that was very complicated .. .ww2 Come along,brothers and Mom moved to Louisvile to Work building airplanes ,Mom met Dad , Then sent him off to War in early 42 , and joined others to pray for Safe Return of so many ... 2nd cusins have the 180 acre farm now ...Dads folx Got their start peddling goods and produce in Louisville ,, Parlaying the profits to buy a large parcel of land FEGENBUSH creek runs thru ,..Today Some of General Electric LOUISVILLE Plant sits on a portion of that Land ..,Grandma had 7 Brothers and 6 other sisters . there was a financial scare before 1900 .Her shrewd Daddy bought another farm on a shoestring ...the run down historic FARMINGTON plantation (Designed by T. Jefferson, Lincoln stayed there often in 1830s) at auction,, And the Large Bischof Family all scraped by from the bounty of the land and carpenter work , ..From the 6 mile Lane Farm they loaded potatoes straight from the feild on RXR cars between and during both World Wars off of the Old 6 mile siding,.. Dad said He worked daylite til dark alongside as many as a hundred Field hands during the busy times , .. "Race Made no difference , work needed to be done and it all payed good to anyone willing to work " For over 30 years the Bischoff Bro. threshed most of the grain in the area,, having 2 sets of threshing equipment..after ww2 ended , my parents lived there at Farmington until march of 1947(they Bought 120 acre of ditchesdairy farm at Lanseville IND. for 7 thousand ) ,my Oldest 2 Sisters can boast she were the last children concieved of Bischof ancestry at Farmington,Dad Claimed "the only way you could heat that house was to Set it Afire" ... 1949,Great Grandma sold Farmington estate to Daughters of American Revolution/and Watterson Expressway sawed the rest up into home sites and clover leaf intersections .Property was more a liability than a asset in those Years and She Did not get alot of money like most would think , In comparison in 1969 the 240 acre 6 mile Lane Farm brought just over 1 million and proceeds was divided among over 50 heirs .. i recall my great Uncles commenting . Look !,What we got for that Ol'Place . Wow! ..LAND Has gone up in 20 Years!! Grandma should had held on to Farmington instead of giving it away like she did ... It would a brought A bunch in 1969 ,..