F E AT U R E S S M A L L FA R M S
Colby Farms
The American Spirit, Alive and Well Colby Homestead Farms in upstate New York will be passed on to the eighth generation of a family that can trace its American roots to 1630, from some of the earliest settlers of the Winthrop Fleet WR IT TE N BY J O S É R IVE R A / PH OTO G R APH E D BY DAN I E L U LR I C H
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magine a company that has been around for as long as the United States Capitol, is as old as West Point Academy, and is still family-owned and -operated today. There’s such a farm in Spencerport, New York, conducting business 219 years after its founding. In the beginning, it was a small family farm started by several brothers who bravely traveled from Salisbury, Massachusetts, to Western New York, where they purchased land and began clearing that land for a farm. For 219 years, Colby Homestead Farms has continued farming while living and participating in their community. They cultivated the land decades before the town was founded, and they’ve been contributing to local community, business, government, and faith-based activities for the past two centuries. Addressing the challenges and opportunities of each generation hasn’t always been easy, but from the American Civil War to World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the present day, the Colby family has remained active in their community in many ways.
decision to move west, to what was then an undeveloped part of America. The original family home was donated to the Bartlett Cemetery Association, in 1899, as a memorial to the Colby and Macy families. Several brothers made the trek to Western New York in the early summer of 1802. While clearing the land they bought, they used the fresh lumber to build a new family home. There was little time for them to rest though, because as soon as they finished building they rushed back to Salisbury—just in time for Thanksgiving—and had their families pack all their belongings and load up wagons for a perilous journey. The Colbys took off just after the new year. It should be noted that, at the time, there were neither heated interiors nor snow tires—they traveled by horse-drawn carriage. They raced to Mount Morris, New York, trying to beat the spring so they could cross the Genesee River while it was iced over. Since the route had no bridges back then, had the ice melted, the Colbys would have been stuck until the following winter. They made it across the river and arrived at their new home ahead of the spring planting season. In the early years of the farm, the Colbys focused on increasing the arable land area and building more houses for the brothers and their families. Up until the 1800s, the brothers and their children farmed and did their best to slowly improve the land and grow enough food for their own needs. At this time, the area was also gaining other farmers, and the community started developing into the towns seen today.
1600s to 1800s: Earliest Beginnings
The Colby family can trace their lineage back to a man named Anthony Colby who came to America among the earliest settlers with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. Sometime later, around 1640, Anthony settled in Salisbury, where he planted his family’s roots. The Colbys remained there for approximately 150 years until they made a difficult and dangerous
AMERICAN ESSENCE
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ISSUE 2