The COUNTRY BOOSTER, May 6, 2014 – Page 14
County honours local farm families By Murray Green
Camrose County honoured 10 farm families from within the area during its Agricultural Awards Banquet at the Silver Creek Multi-plex on April 2. Thirsk
James Whitten Thirsk married Charlotte MacDonald in Sherbrooke, Quebec in 1908. They came west and settled on a homestead in the Kelsey district, located at NE 35-44-19-W4M. This was now the home place to their three children: Kathleen, James Jr. and Dorothy. The children attended Albury School. The mixed grain farm also had cows, horses and pigs. James Jr. stayed on the farm. He then attended the Vermilion School of Agriculture in 1940, after which he returned home to the farm. In 1952, James married Ellen. They continued to have a mixed farming operation. James farmed until 2000 and then rented out his land. Ellen still resides on the farm and continues to rent out the 160 acres of the original homestead. Trautman
In 1911, John Trautman came from Genesse, Idaho. In 1913 he purchased the section of 29-45-21-W4M. He set the farmsite on the quarter of SW 29-45-21-W4M and continued with a mixed farming operation. John’s son, Pete Trautman, farmed with him and later lived on the NE 29-4521-W4M. Pete’s son Don then bought the homesteaded quarter of SW 29-45-21W4M in 1943. That too was a mixed farming operation. Don farmed with his brothers Jim and Stan Trautman. In the spring of 1977, Rick Trautman came home to farm with his cousins, Odean and Les Trautman. In 1980, Rick bought the homestead from his father Don. Rick has now sold the homesteaded quarter to his son Mark, who is the fifth generation on this quarter. Together Rick and Mark now farm 3,000 acres of cropland. They also ran a cow/calf operation until 2008. Their crops currently consist of wheat, barley, canola and pulses. Tschirren
On July 22, 1913, Clara and Adolph Tschirren settled and set up a mixed farming operation on the SE 22-4321-W4M. They farmed there until 1932 when their son John, and his wife, Mary, settled there and continued the mixed farming operation and raised their family of four. Their only son, Ben, took over the family farm in 1961 and he and his wife, Dolores continued mixed farming. They also built a large 300 capacity hog feeding barn. Ben and Dolores raised their family of five and continued farming until June 1999, when Ben passed away. Their son Dean (and Dolores) harvested the crop that year, but it was not feasible to continue farming, so Dolores has rented the crop
land out. Ben was always so proud that he raised the fourth generation of Tschirrens on the property which Dolores still owns. Van Petten
William Stewart Van Petten farmed south of Camrose with his father and brothers. They would come down to Harry Potter’s farm to buy seed because their crops always froze. In 1911, William purchased the SW 22-44-19W4M on the north side of the Battle River from Harry Potter. Their farm name was Belford Farms, which consisted of Belgium horses and Hereford cattle. They milked 20 jersey cows and had chickens, pigs and turkeys as part of their farm. In 1917, William married Alice Pierce. They had four children and also raised a niece. They continued to farm until William passed away in 1945. At that time their two oldest sons, Stewart (who was Norman’s dad) and Leon, were already involved in the farming operation. Norman Van Petten married Brenda Boden in 1972 and moved on the original homestead in 1973 when he and his brother, Dennis, bought all of their grandma Alice’s land. They raised four children and their youngest son Kevin started farming with them in 2002 and married Michelle Hayes in 2008. They built a new home on the homestead in 2012 to be the fourth generation on the farm and they crop approximately 1,200 acres and have about 200 Simmental-Angus cross cows and calves.
Ellen and Scott Thirsk were happy to receive a Century Farm Award from Camrose County Reeve Don Gregorwich on April 2.
The Trautman family, from left to right, Dane,Michelle (with Ethan) Lindholm, Rick, Connie, Mark, Desiree, Brad and Danielle were congratulated by Reeve Don Gregorwich.
Wilcox
In 1901, James Casper Wilcox, along with his wife Harriet Anne and family, moved to Canada from Parks Rapids, Minnesota, and homesteaded on three quarter sections. Marshall Wilcox, one of his sons was next to James’ quarter. They had a mixed farming operation together. One acre of land was donated to the municipality, on which Daresbury School was built in 1903. Following James’ death in 1921, Marshall farmed both quarters until he had poor health at which time he crop shared with Curly Beasley and then later sold the two quarters to his nephew, James Gordon Hougestal in July, 1973. Gordon continued to crop share until 1982 when Gordon purchased some of Curly’s farm equipment and started farming on his own. Gordon married Sylvia in December, 1983 and continued grain farming. They moved into the old house (1912) for spring and fall work and travelled back and forth from an acreage in the Ardrossan area. They were dubbed the suitcase farmers and were called Suitcase 1 and Suitcase 2 on their CB’s. They built a new home on the site of the old farmhouse in 1996 and became full time farmers until Gordon had health issues, which have led them to crop share their land with Rick Bratrud.
The Tschirren family, left to right, Joe Tschirren, Helen Johanson, Jane Sharkey, Colleen Kruger, Annette Lidberg, Delores Tschirren, Nancy Weinkauf with Reeve Don Gregorwich.
The Van Petten family, from left to right, Norman, Brenda, Michelle and Kevin received the 100-year farm family award from Reeve Don Gregorwich on April 2.
Sylvia and Gordon Hougestol were presented the Wilcox-Hougestol Century Farm family award from Reeve Don Gregorwich during the celebration at the Silver Creek Multi-plex.