OSCEOLA

the family lived on a farm east of Ashton that his father was renting. Streit, however, considered the century farm his home until 1980 when he graduated from Iowa State University. After graduating, he moved to Kansas City, but his roots remained on the farm.

“I applied for a Heritage Farm as I have a lot of respect for my dad and the whole farming life,” said Streit. “So much seems to have changed in farming. Dad maintained the whole concept. There's a lot of family connections that make it special to all of us. It’s the family anchor.”

First-generation landowner, John Streit — “Johann” his given name in Prussia — was son of Michael and Helena Streit, and he was 13 years old when he immigrated with his family to the United States from Prussia. When he was 27 years old, John came to Osceola County. In 1871, he broke up 30 acres of raw prairie land northwest of Ashton and planted his first crop on the homestead parcel that is still owned by the Streit family today.

In 1876, John married Anna Marie Becker, who had also immigrated from Prussia. John and Anna Marie Streit had seven children: Mike, Lena, Anna, Nicholas, Mary, George, and Tony. Over the years, John plowed the rest of the 93 original acres and purchased other adjacent farmland until he owned and farmed 346 acres.

-Submitted photo

"FOR THE KIDS, it was hard for us to buy gifts for Mom and Dad," said John Streit. "This monument to the farm was an easy choice because they had such pride in the farm. The rock sets on the northeast corner of the parcel that we still own." The Streit Century Farm sign has now been replaced with the Heritage Farm sign.

When John Streit retired, his sons Mike and Tony took over the farming operation. Tony married Mary Staudacher in 1918. They had nine children: Marian, Donald, Robert, Anthony, Leonard, Paul, James, Kathleen and Betty. Mike never married but lived with Tony and Mary’s family.

John’s original homestead

See STREIT, Page 78C

By DARCY DOUGHERTY MAULSBY Farm News writer

When you gaze out the window in David and Ruth (Nolan) Rouse’s home overlooking Five Island Lake, you can almost imagine the Native Americans who frequently passed through this area in the 1850s. The land, which is part of the Nolan-Rouse family’s Heritage Farm, reflects the unique history that defines this part of Emmetsburg and northwest Iowa.

“John and Bridget Nolan moved here in 1856 and intended to own property through the Homestead Act,” said David Rouse, referring to his wife, Ruth’s, greatgrandparents.

The lake (which was known as Medium Lake long before it was renamed Five Island Lake) was appealing to the Nolans, since it provided abundant fish and wildlife to help supplement the family’s diet.

Thanks to the many oak and walnut trees in the area, timber was readily available for cooking, heating and constructing buildings.

Although the Nolans lived on the property and improved it, as required by the Homestead Act of 1862, delays caused by the Civil War, the assassination of President Lincoln and their aftermath meant the Nolans didn’t receive the deed (signed by President Ulysses S. Grant) until 1871.

Like many early settlers who came to this area (which would become Emmetsburg by the mid1870s), the Nolans were Irish.

“The Nolan farmstead and family home were always a warm, welcoming place to the large, extended Nolan family in the area, as well as the entire Emmetsburg

Established: 1871 Township: Freedom Township Acres: 146 acres originally; now 81.69 acres

Heritage Farm Award: 2022 community,” according to a written family history.

Native Americans would stop at the farm for food. Other settlers also frequented the Nolan’s home. “The first post office in Emmetsburg consisted of a milk can located on the Nolan farm,” David Rouse said. “Local residents would come by from time to time, sort through the letters, and take the ones addressed to them.”

John and Bridget Nolan passed the land onto their son, P.C. (Charles) Nolan and his wife, Alice. Then the land went to their son, John F. Nolan and his wife, Ellen. Their daughter Ruth was born on the farm in 1933.

“My grandpa was the farmer,” said Ruth (Nolan) Rouse, who remembers him planting corn with horses. “My dad ran a clothing store in Emmetsburg, although he sold that during the Great Depression to help pay off debt on the farm. Then he started farming.”

Ruth’s mother was a teacher, and she wanted all seven of her children to go to college.

Ruth, a 1951 Emmetsburg High School graduate, took advantage of this opportunity and also became an educator. During her career, she taught various grade- school classes in Pocahontas, Algona, Emmetsburg, as well as Wilburton, Oklahoma (where her husband, David Rouse, was a bank president).

In 1966, Ruth had married David, who had grown up on a Palo Alto County farm near Ayrshire. David’s banking career took them from Iowa to Oklahoma in 1987, where they lived for 15 years.

They knew they wanted to return to Iowa someday, however. They purchased the majority of Ruth’s family’s original farm in 1995.

“We wanted to build our retirement home on the west shore of Five Island Lake,” David Rouse said. The balance of the shoreline was transformed into a housing development where the primary street is named Nolan Drive. “Our family, including our daughter, Anita, wanted to keep Ruth’s family’s name as part of Emmetsburg’s history and honor her ancestors,” David Rouse said.

By DOUG CLOUGH Farm News writer

HINTON — To appreciate immigrants’ contribution to American farming, you don’t have to look any further than Mark and Kaye Held’s Plymouth County Century Farm. The Held brothers, six in all, whose father Philip came from Darmstadt, Germany, raised shorthorn cattle, Poland China hogs, German coach horses, Shropshire sheep, and Barred Plymouth Rock chickens.

They also farmed 2,200 Plymouth County acres of land with horses, which was most likely one of the largest farms in the area.

In the 1930s, the brothers agreed to operate independently, and one of the six — Benjamin Franklin (B.F.) — moved south of Hinton to the farm where his grandson Mark, 68, lives today with his wife Kaye, 66. B.F. Held continued raising shorthorns, but his son Howard, Mark’s father, had other ideas. One day Howard brought home a few Angus cows, which were much smaller animals in the 1940s.

“His dad said, 'What are you going to do with those little black cows?" Mark Held said.

Howard's “little black cows” are a tale of big things starting off small. He experimented with his Angus herd, which grew larger, as well as more sale and show worthy. “Dad said he was married to his cattle first and his wife