Simington Heritage Farm dates back to 1870

By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY Farm News writer

When David and Sharon Simington reflect on how their farm — the only Heritage Farm in Clay County — was established more than 150 years ago, the story almost sounds too unlikely to be true. Yet it’s a true story of grit, perseverance and success.

It all started with David Simington’s great-grandfather Joseph O’Brien, who was born in 1837 in Pennsylvania and was orphaned by age 9.

“From that young age until he enlisted in the Union Army in 1861, Joseph and his brother operated a canal boat,” Simington said.

The brothers worked on the Susquehanna Canal, transporting anthracite coal from Scranton, Pennsylvania, south to Baltimore, Maryland — a distance of about 200 miles.

In the fall of 1864, O’Brien’s Army regiment was ordered to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for guard duty. They were stationed there in April 1865 when President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Armed with a gun and bayonet, O’Brien stood near the casket and helped control the crowds when Lincoln’s body lay in state in Independence Hall. He also served as a guard of honor when Lincoln’s remains were moved to the railway station, so Lincoln’s body could be returned to Illinois.

Following the Civil War, O’Brien, like many of his fellow veterans, also headed west. He farmed in Dane County, Wisconsin, near Madison. Here he met and married a local school teacher, Emily Ames.

By 1870, his thoughts turned again to the west.

Simington Heritage Farm

Established: 1870 Township: Summit Acres: 160

Heritage Farm Award: 2021

Generation: 5th

“Iowa was open for homesteading, and Civil War veterans were eligible to claim 160 acres,” Simington said.

“Joseph took the train to the end of the line in Algona and walked to Emmetsburg, where he hired a ‘locator’ who knew what land was available in the area.”

After taking a buggy ride with the locator to inspect the land and make his selection, O’Brien walked to the patent office in Sioux City to apply for his patent, Simington said. “The patent was the document that transferred ownership of the land from the United States to the homesteader.”

From 1870 and into the spring of 1871, O’Brien stayed with one of the other three men living in Summit Township and built a sod barn and a frame house.

“This was the first frame house built in Summit Township,” said Simington, who noted the lumber was hauled from Sibley, about 50 miles away.

No trees grew on the prairie, so the house was heated with a hayburning stove.

“The only fuel was the prairie grass, and it had to be twisted into a rope-like shape to make it anywhere near suitable for fuel,” Simington said.

By June 1871, O’Brien returned to Wisconsin to bring his wife and their young son to northwest Iowa.

“When Emily saw her new home, she cried,” Simington said. “There was nothing else as far as she could see, no trees, no neighbors, only miles of unbroken, uncompromising prairie.”

Homesteading in the 1870s was a matter of growing enough food to sustain the family and livestock through the winter. Until the railroad came to Spencer in 1878, there was no way to market any sizable quantities of farm produce. Mother Nature didn’t make it easy on the homesteaders. In

June 1873, massive grasshopper plagues destroyed the crops, including the potatoes.

Through it all, the homesteaders who stuck it out needed a way to educate their children.

From 1872 to 1879, Emily O’Brien taught classes in her home. The prairie grass grew so tall that in the fall, furrows were plowed from the homes with school-aged children to the O’Brien house so the students could find their way.

The O’Briens raised three children, all of whom graduated from Spencer High School (SHS), including their youngest daughter Gertrude (SHS Class of 1903), who would become Simington’s maternal grandmother.

“My dad, Wayne, graduated in 1933. I graduated in 1963, and all our kids graduated from Spencer High,” said Simington, who spent kindergarten through seventh grade at Summit No. 6, the country school one mile southwest of the family’s farm.

Not only did Simington always want to be a farmer, but he married a farm girl from the Milford area, Sharon Knudtson, in 1965. The couple can remember when 100 bushels of corn per acre was a good yield in the 1960s.

The story of the Simington family’s Heritage Farm is currently part of an exhibit of Clay County Century and Heritage Farms at the Clay County Heritage Center in Spencer. “We’re blessed to have a Heritage Farm, and it has been a blessing to spend time with our kids and grandkids on the farm,” said Sharon Simington. The couple’s children are also involved in agriculture, including their youngest son, Joseph, who is farming. “We have so many great memories here.”

By DOUG CLOUGH Farm News writer

SCHLESWIG — The Clausens of Morgan Township surely have something to celebrate with a 240-acre farm purchased by Andrew Clausen in 1920.

Andrew’s grandson Delbert Clausen, at 85, has been around for more than eight decades of its operation. Delbert farms the land with a corn and soybean rotation with his son Trent, 58, and grandson Hunter, 24.

In 1892, Andrew Clausen came to America from the Island of Fehmarn, Germany, eventually settling in Crawford County. In 1920, he purchased 240 acres of land for $340 per acre — a grand total of $81,600. Andrew and his wife Catherine had two daughters and five sons. One of their sons was Delbert’s father Paul; Paul with his wife Irene had two children, Delbert and Arlis.

Delbert Clausen with his late wife Frances (Hollander) has