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Honeymoon in a blizzard
Heldt/Sprecher Heritage Farm holds legacy of service to nation
BOONE COUNTY
By LORI BERGLUND Farm News writer
OGDEN — Even a prairie blizzard couldn’t chill the passion that Peter Heldt and his new bride must have felt when they married on Feb. 14, 1869, and set out to begin married life on a farm in Yell Township, north of Ogden. It would be a long and successful union for Heldt and Miss Wiebke (pronounced VEEP-keh) Henkens. Born in 1843, she had come from Germany as a young girl with her parents. Born in 1841, Heldt had arrived in 1868 and worked for a year to prepare a home before taking a bride. He was from Schleswig, Holstein, an area known for its farming and its soughtafter Holstein dairy cows. Located in the northern region of Germany, it bordered Denmark, which also claimed this productive land as its own. In the Austrian/Prussian wars of the day, Heldt had served in the Danish Army and would, for the rest of his life, earn an annual pension from Denmark of 100 crowns, or about $24 — a tidy sum for the times. Here in Iowa, the couple would find even more productive farmland. Their descendants, Kathryn Sprecher, her brother Keith, and his wife, Dena Sprecher, still treasure the farm that their great-grandparents worked so hard to establish. That land is now both a Century and Heritage Farm, held for more than 150 years by the same family. The Sprechers have long heard the story of how their great-grandparents, Peter and Wiebke Heldt, arrived for their honeymoon in a blizzard. “They came on their honeymoon, in a blinding storm, and walked to the log cabin in Yell Township, six miles away,” Kathryn Sprecher said. Looking back on the occasion of the Heldt’s 50th anniversary in 1919, a local newspaper of the day posited that the storm had been too tough, even for the team of oxen that Heldt drove in those pioneer days. The couple had reportedly arrived by train about midnight and then proceeded to set out by foot to their new home. Pioneers had to be of hearty stock, and the cold walk did nothing to deter
Sprecher Heritage Farm Established: 1873 Acres: 76.74 Township: Yell Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photo by Lori Berglund
FROM LEFT, Dena, Keith and Kathryn Sprecher share a collage of clippings showing the history of the Heldt/Sprecher Heritage Farm in Yell Township, north of Ogden.
-Submitted photo
THE FAMILY OF PETER AND WIEBKE HELDT is shown in this photo from approximately 1920.
the couple’s determination to start a new life together. The Heldts would eventually have eight children. Two daughters, Emma and Phoebe, would marry brothers, Christian Sprecher and John Sprecher, respectively. Christian and Emma Sprecher would have a son Clarence. He and his wife, Arlene, would eventually pass the farm to their children Kathryn Sprecher and Keith Sprecher. Now retired, Kathryn Sprecher and Keith Sprecher each have warm memories of growing up on the Heldt family farm. They are both graduates of Ogden High School: Kathryn in 1969, and Keith in 1971. For her part, Dena Sprecher has listened to all of the stories and treasured them for her children. “From the outside looking in, back in those days, the girls did things with their mother, and the boys did things outside with their dad,” Dena Sprecher said. “Kathryn would be inside with her mom, and my husband, as a little boy, would be out working with his dad.” The memories shared by siblings agree with that description, and note that it was a simpler time, and a happy time, despite some hardships along the way. “I would help with a little bit of everything,” Keith Sprecher recalled. “Especially if I could drive a tractor, that’s what I was interested in doing. The first tractor I drove was a Case 600. I think I was in third grade when I started driving it.” His typical jobs were hauling manure, plowing, cultivating, and baling hay. See BOONE, Page 5C
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Boone Continued from Page 4C “My dad always did the planting until I was grown up,” he recalled. “My dad would still help me harvest when he retired.” Keith and Dena Sprecher farmed for about seven or eight years until the price of equipment didn’t match their number of acres, and he became an off-farm laborer in a number of professions. For Dena, his work experience was always a plus. “The things he did benefited us, because he did additions and remodeled our house,” she said. “He learned a lot of that farming.” That handiness could have also been handed down by his father, Clarence Sprecher, who is recalled by his children as a man who could fix just about anything. “He took a Model T or Model A car and made a high clearance sprayer out of it,” Keith Sprecher recalled. “He always had a scrap iron pile around and could pull things out of there.” For Kathryn Sprecher, she remembered that Saturday mornings always meant it was time to give the house a good cleaning. She would help her mother with the garden, canning, and getting fresh chickens ready for the dinner table “Dad always killed the chickens, but I remember plucking them,” Kathryn
-Submitted photo
HORSES WERE AN IMPORTANT PART of farm life in the early days of the 20th century, as seen in this photo from the Heldt/Sprecher Heritage Farm in Boone County.
Sprecher recalled. Perhaps a more pleasant job was gathering the eggs, even if the occasional hen was liable to peck as its eggs were collected for the breakfast table. The farm, in those years, was very self-sustaining. “We raised cattle, hogs and chickens,” she said. “Going to the freezer to pick out a steak was no big deal. We were pretty well self-sustained. When we
would go out to eat, I would order shrimp because that was something different.” Their mother, as Keith Sprecher recalled, didn’t just can vegetables from the garden, but also meat, usually beef. A relish tray was another staple and, again, their mother grew her own vegetable. “She made a lot of pickles,” he added. His sister remembered the
root cellar in the basement that held the preserved foods that would taste so good when the winds howled, just as they had for their great-grandparents back in 1869. The Heldts could likely not have imagined the bounty that would await their descendants in their new homeland. Nor could they fathom that three grandsons would journey back over the Atlantic Ocean to fight the land
of their birth. A 1919 newspaper clipping tells the story: “Three grandsons of Mr. and Mrs. (Peter) Heldt are in France with Uncle Sam’s army, being Arthur P. D Heldt, Arthur Jones, and Henry P. Heldt. The latter is the son of Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Heldt, and grave concern over the young man is experienced by members of his family, as nothing has been heard of him since last October.” The family would later learn that grandson Henry Heldt did indeed give his life in the cause of freedom in World War I. Pfc. Henry P. Heldt, 117th Infantry Regiment, 30th Division, was killed Sept. 24, 1918, and rests at Somme American Cemetery, Bony, France, according to interment.net. Kathryn and Keith Sprecher’s father, Clarence Sprecher, would also serve his country in World War II with the Army Air Corps in North Africa. He was one of the fortunate ones — the “Greatest Generation,” who came home, who married, and gave the nation the Baby Boom. In doing so, they created a time of unprecedented growth after the Great Depression. For the descendants of Peter and Wiebke Heldt, there would be times of hardship and times of great happiness in the span of more than 150 years — and it all started with a honeymoon in a blizzard.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
A double milestone
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Two family farms mark 100 years near Newell
BUENA VISTA COUNTY
By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
NEWELL — Five generations have worked the two Bellows-Frederiksen farms in rural Newell over the past 100 years. Bob Bellows, of Pocahontas, along with his sister, Nancy (Bellows) Frederiksen, of Cedar Falls, form the fourth generation. Together, Bellows, his wife Janet, and Frederiksen, own both farms, which earned Century Farm status in August 2025 at the Iowa State Fair. One farm was passed down from their father’s side of the family, while the other was passed down through their mother’s side. The homeplace The farm passed down from their mother’s side is the place Bob and Nancy called home growing up. In the early 1900s, their greatgrandparents, Henry and Minnie Beckfield, moved from Pennsylvania to Iowa. On Feb. 12, 1913, the Beckfields purchased 120 acres in Buena Vista County for $130 an acre. Their farm was later passed down to their daughter Hattie (Beckfield) Neitzel and her husband, Robert, and then to their daughter Verna Belle (Neitzel) Bellows and her husband, Carl. Finally, the farm, which lies about fiveand-a-half miles northeast of Newell, was passed down to their children, Bob and Nancy. Grandpa’s farm Also in the early 1900s, Tallman Chester Bellows, Bob and Nancy’s great-
Bellows-Frederiksen Century Farm 1 Established: Feb. 12, 1913 Acres: 120 Township: Coon Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
Bellows-Frederiksen Century Farm 2 -Submitted photo
THE BELLOWS AND FREDERIKSEN CLANS gathered at the Iowa State Fair in August 2025 to receive their Century Farm Awards. From left are Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, with Betty Bollard, Bob and Janet Bellows, Nancy Frederiksen, Jacob and Kayleen Tometich, Karla and Jason Weiss, and Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson.
great-grandfather, was making his way from Pennsylvania to Palo, Illinois, and finally to the Newell area. On April 10, 1923, his son, Orson Floyd Bellows, purchased 100 acres of land in Buena Vista County for $73 an acre, just a few miles away from the Beckfield farm. According to Bob Bellows, his greatgrandfather Orson was a carpenter and farmer. He and his wife, Frances, raised their family on the farm, eventually passing it down to their children. Their son, Farley Bellows, and wife
Established: April 10, 1923 Acres: 48 (originally 100) Township: Coon Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
Louella became the eventual owners after Farley bought his brother’s and sister’s shares. Farley Bellows, Bob and Nancy’s grandfather, farmed the land north of Newell until 1971, when he and his wife moved into town. He primarily raised sheep, corn and soybeans. The farm was then passed down to their only son, Carl Bellows, and his wife, Verna Belle, and eventually to their children, Bob and Nancy.
farm years, Bob Bellows recalls hearing about corn being picked by hand and shocking oats. In the mid-1940s after World War II ended, O.F. Bellows became the proud owner of a new Minneapolis Moline tractor, which Frederiksen said was “either the second or third one off the line after Minneapolis retooled to build tractors.” The tractor remains in the family to this day and still runs, having made a few appearances at the Albert City
Early years While little is known about the earliest
See BUENA VISTA, Page 7C
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Buena Vista Continued from Page 6C Threshermen and Collectors Show. “It has a homemade cab on it; that’s what makes it so unique,” said Janet Bellows. That cab was built by O.F. Bellows. Carl Bellows primarily raised corn, soybeans, oats and hay. Bob Bellows said his father and grandfathers shelled corn for a lot of neighbors. As far as livestock, Bob Bellows said, “We had everything — cows and pigs and sheep and chickens and ducks.” Frederiksen said their father also had feeder lambs for a few years. However, he quit raising livestock in the mid-1990s. The family experienced some lean years when hail destroyed their crops. “Those were the years we couldn’t go to the Dairy Queen for an ice-cream cone,” said
Frederiksen. A family affair When there was a big job to be done on the farm, everybody helped. Frederiksen especially remembers all the chickenrelated chores — from “gathering eggs to washing eggs to packing eggs to helping in the brooder house when we’d get a new batch of babies.” At one time, the family raised 200 to 250 chickens and at least 50 roosters, which they butchered themselves. “Those were big days when you did the butchering,” Frederiksen said. “The grandmas came and everybody helped.” The same happened when the sweet corn was picked. “We had a pretty good-sized patch of sweet corn,” she said.
-Submitted photo
LOUELLA BELLOWS AND HER SON, CARL, stand in front of the family’s Minneapolis Moline tractor.
“When it was time to can the corn, everybody showed up.” Since their Grandma Hattie Neitzel lived until age 99, “she
was a big part of all the work,” said Janet Bellows. Frederiksen recalled doing “small tractor jobs,” like helping
rake hay and sow oats. Bob Bellows remembered baling hay and straw, which he said was “the worst” because he was allergic to oat dust. Equipment has changed significantly since he began helping on the farm. “I first cultivated with a John Deere B and a two-row cultivator,” Bob Bellows said, “so times have really changed.” After marrying, Bob and Janet Bellows moved away from Iowa for a couple of years, returning in 1982. From 1982 to 1988, Bob Bellows farmed the couple’s Pocahontas County farm, and also helped his Dad farm the two Newell area farms. He then worked as a fertilizer manager for the Cargill elevator in Fonda. See BUENA VISTA, Page 19C
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Two farms, one heritage
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Calmer Farms near Manson are ‘working farms’
CALHOUN COUNTY
By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
MANSON — Side by side along Iowa Highway 7 in Calhoun County lie Calmer Farms — two farms with a rich history dating back more than 150 years. The Calmer family describes them as “working farms” — a place where everyone pitches in to do what’s needed to ensure the farms’ success — always with an eye toward the future. Both Calmer farms can be traced back to the legacy of one man — John P. John P. Calmer. Calmer One heritage In the late 19th century, three orphan boys — John P. Calmer, his twin Oscar and brother Olaf, immigrated from Sweden to the United States, first settling in Galesburg, Illinois, before making their way to Iowa. Two of the three, John and Oscar, put down roots in what is today’s Calhoun County, while Olaf returned to Illinois. On Sept. 24, 1875, John Calmer purchased 160 acres through the Morrill Act, which allowed states to establish public colleges with funds from the sale of federal land grants. In Iowa, those funds helped found Iowa State University. John Calmer would eventually come to own 720 acres in Calhoun County. According to family records, he built his 1875 home “from lumber obtained from a Manson lumber yard.” His obituary stated, “While his wife
Calmer Farms 1 Established: Sept. 24, 1875 Acres: 80 Township: Lincoln Century Farm Award: 1976 Generation: Fourth
Calmer Farms 2 Established: Sept. 24, 1875 Acres: 70 Township: Lincoln Heritage Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth -Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
MARK CALMER, Phillip Calmer, Rhonda and Morey Hill stand next to the Heritage Farm sign on Calmer Farms. Mark Calmer, Phillip Calmer and Rhonda (Calmer) Hill are three of six siblings who grew up on the family farm just east of Manson.
and children took care of the farm, (John Calmer) operated a blacksmith shop in Manson. Each evening, summer and winter, he would walk up the track the three and one-half miles to his home, getting home as late as eight and nine o’clock at night and starting out early the next morning.” He later served as a council member and mayor for a number of years. Eventually, he and his wife Christina passed the farm down to their son Oscar and his wife Rose. The couple built a new home in 1922. They in turn passed the
farm down to their two sons, Ralph and Robert “Dan” Calmer, in the early 1950s. “The homeplace” Ralph Calmer, the oldest of eight children, and his wife Marie lived on what is considered the “original home place,” or east farm, receiving a Century Farm Award in 1976. They had two daughters, Gail and Gwen. On the 1976 Century Farm application, Ralph Calmer listed his farm’s main crops as corn, soybeans and pasture. He also raised cattle and hogs.
About a year after graduating high school in the 1970s, Mark Calmer, Ralph’s nephew, began sharecropping with his uncle and operating a farrowto-finish hog operation together. Instead of paying rent, he kept up the buildings and made any needed improvements to the farm. “We built our own hog sheds; we poured our own cement,” he continued. “Nobody complained. You just did the work.” They quit raising hogs in 2003 when hog prices fell. Ralph Calmer lived on the farm until age 98, and took his last combine ride on See CALMER, Page 9C
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Calmer Continued from Page 8C his 100th birthday in 2004. “He was a very nice, humble guy,” Mark said of his uncle. He recalled many a Saturday, sharing a cup of coffee with his aunt and uncle around the dining room table. For the past 20 years, Ralph’s daughter, Gwen (Calmer) Ewing and her husband John have lived on the home place. The couple continues to sharecrop corn and soybeans with Mark Calmer (Gwen’s cousin). Named a Century Farm in 1976, the farm is now eligible for the Heritage Farm Award. “It’s a big honor to be able to hang on to (the land) for 150 years,” said Mark Calmer. “When you think back, our ancestors were on this land with a horse.” The west farm Robert “Dan” Calmer, the
youngest of Oscar’s eight children, and his wife Evelyn made their home on the west farm, where they raised six children — Rozanne, Danny, Mark, Rhonda, Rebecca and Phillip. Dan Calmer raised beef cattle, hogs, chickens, ducks — and even milking cows for a time. “He finally got tired of raising the hogs to pay for the cattle,” said Mark Calmer, and gave up the cattle. Today, 70 of the original acres are owned by Rhonda (Calmer) Hill and her husband Morey, of rural Madrid. The Hills received a Heritage Farm Award, recognizing 150 years of ownership by the Calmer family, at the Iowa State Fair last August. “Farming runs deep with us,” said Rhonda Hill. “It’s an honor that it’s just gotten passed down
through so many generations.” Rhonda’s brother, Phillip Calmer, farms the Hills’ land along with his own. He began farming with his dad in the late 1970s, raising corn and soybeans and operating a farrow-to-finish operation. When he got married in 1992, his parents moved to the farm place across the road. Phillip and his wife Jody continued to live on the farm, where they raised their children: Johnathon, Olivia, Victoria and Grant. The couple has made many improvements to the home. Today, Phillip Calmer operates a wean-to-finish operation, raising antibioticfree hogs for Niman Ranch. He has added several hoop barns over the years, as well as grain storage. See CALMER, Page 13C
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-Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
GWEN (CALMER) EWING and her husband John stand with their Century Farm sign on the original Calmer homeplace. Here they stand next to the bell, once used as a warning signal if any Native Americans were seen in the area.
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150 years and counting
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Grossman continues family legacy on Heritage Farm
CARROLL COUNTY
By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
CARROLL — Four generations of the Grossman family have farmed south of Carroll since 1875, and Don Grossman hopes to someday pass that legacy on to his children. His current home and outbuildings lie on the original 40 acres that his great-grandparents, Lawrence “Lorenz” and Margaretha Grossman, purchased for $198 from the Iowa Railroad Land Company on April 24, 1875. Those 40 acres received the Heritage Farm designation at the Iowa State Fair in August 2025, marking 150 years of ownership by the same family. Having a Heritage Farm means “everything” to Don Grossman. “I get pretty emotional about it,” he said. “I don’t want to be the one to fail. If they did it from nothing, why can’t I?” Born in Bavaria, Germany, in 1843, Lawrence Grossman came to America in 1868, eventually making his way to the Carroll area. In 1881, he bought another 80 acres from the railroad company, and in 1886, he purchased 40 more acres from another landowner. Together, those 160 acres form the main part of the Grossman farm. The pioneering couple had 10 children: John, Joe, Frank, Bernard, George, Frances, Mary, Anna, and two others who died in infancy. In 1914, Lawrence Grossman sold the land to two of his sons, Frank and Bernard, Don’s great-uncle and grandfather. Then in 1945, Bernard bought his brother’s share. Bernard and his wife, Mary, raised nine children on the farm
Grossman Heritage Farm Established: April 24, 1875 Acres: 40 originally (now 240) Township: Pleasant Valley Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
DON GROSSMAN holds his Heritage Farm Award sign outside his home in rural Carroll, just northeast of the small town of Willey. His great-grandfather bought the 40 acres the home and buildings stand on in 1875. In the background behind the tree stands a corn crib, which is one of the farm's original buildings.
— Marie, Louis, Robert, Helen, Imelda, Rita, Freda, Delores and Marilyn. Two others — Lucy and Andrew — died in infancy. In 1969, Bernard sold the land to his son, Robert Grossman, and wife, Lorena. Together they raised six children: Dennis, Randy, Jane, Jim, Don and Tim. In 2017, Don Grossman and his wife, Susie, purchased the original 40 acres from his parents, while his mother, Lorena, continues to own the remaining farmland. Don Grossman said his greatgrandfather would have farmed mostly with horses. In addition to cattle and
hogs, he raised corn, hay, alfalfa and had pasture. When Grossman was growing up, his father, Robert, had a small cow-calf herd and a few chickens, along with corn, oats and pasture. “As a little kid, my older brothers used to help milk cows — enough for the family,” he said. When he was a teenager, his father quit raising cattle and “got bigger into hogs.” He also farmed more row crops of corn and soybeans. “There were always chores. Whether you liked it or not, you pitched manure for the livestock and you fed them,”
Grossman said. “It seemed like there were always rocks to pick up in the spring, and walking beans in the summer time.” For entertainment, he and his siblings would sometimes play ball in the cow pasture. At age 16, Grossman began taking on more responsibility. “Dad always did all the planting. Then one spring, he said I had to learn how,” said Grossman. “For the last 47 years, I’ve been planting with the same tractor — not the same planter, but the same tractor. It’s a 666 International.” He said his dad bought the tractor new in 1974, and his family has always “been red” when it comes to farm equipment. “That’s what I learned how to plant on, and that’s what I planted on every year since then,” Grossman said. He and his father farmed together in a 50-50 arrangement until the late 1980s, when his parents moved to a neighboring See GROSSMAN, Page 11C
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Grossman Continued from Page 10C place. Once married, Don and his wife, Susie, made the farm their home, raising two children, Jessica and Ben. Grossman said he had “quite a few hogs in the day,” running a farrow-tofinish operation until a couple years ago. Uniquely located at the end of a gravel road, the lane to the Grossman farm meanders halfway down a hillside to the home and other farm buildings. While most of the older buildings, including the barn, wooden granaries and a hog house, have been torn down, an original corn crib still stands — now with steel siding to better withstand the elements. Though not original to the 1875 farm, the current family home was built in 1893. While Grossman grew up with indoor plumbing, his older brothers recall using an outhouse. In the early 1950s, his parents got electricity. In 1970, they added a basement by jacking up the
house on stilts and digging underneath. “The original home had a small cellar,” he said. “The only way you could get to it was from the outside.” Looking to the future, Grossman said his goal is to keep the original 160 acres of the farm together. “My dad made it possible that I could at least have the original 40,” he said. “What happened after that was kind of up to me.” His father has since passed away, while his 94-year-old mother lives in Carroll. Grossman’s children are now grown. His daughter Jessica Seidl and husband John have two children: Ada and Waylon; his son Ben and wife Michaela have two daughters: Elliott and Emery. Though neither of his children currently farm, Grossman plans to one day pass the farm on to them. “My intentions are to give them something when I’m gone, so they’ll continue it on.”
-Submitted photo
THE GROSSMAN FAMILY received their Heritage Farm Award in August 2025 at the Iowa State Fair. From left are Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig; John, Ada and Jessica Seidl; Lorena Grossman; Don and Susie Grossman; Michaela and Ben Grossman; and Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
‘They worked hard together’
Family farm holds 'a lot of history, a lot of memories' for 2 sisters
CERRO GORDO COUNTY
By CLAYTON RYE Farm News writer
PLYMOUTH — Prior to buying their farm in Cerro Gordo County in 1911, John and Dora Harman were living in Gladbrook, having moved there from Pennsylvania. In 1934, their son Roy and his wife Eva became the next owners, with the farm passing to Eva in 1956. Eva Harman was born in 1898 and died in 2005 at age 107. She was a college graduate. The farm was then passed to her son Robert and his wife Dorothy, parents of sisters Kim Harman and Julie Kuntz, the current owners. It is the memories of their parents that the Harman sisters recall with fondness and admiration. Julie Kuntz described her dad saying, “There was a lot of history, a lot of memories. He was tough and stubborn.” Robert Harman and Dorothy McKee were high school sweethearts and married 67 years. He died at age 88 after spending his entire life on the farm. “My parents were there the longest,” said Kim Harman. “My dad worked really hard.” It seems there was not a job that Robert Harman backed away from. His daughters said he took care of machinery, made it through the ’80s, built bins, dehorned cattle, had beef and dairy, worked at the sugar beet plant where he was foreman of the boiler room, worked nights, got an insurance license to sell crop, hail, and commercial insurance, and hauled mail. The sisters said their parents were partners. Dad would start and Mom would be right behind. “They worked hard together,” said Kim Harman. “They were always in a hurry,” said Julie Kuntz. They described their mother
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Harman Century Farm Established: Feb. 28, 1911 Number of acres: 139.7 Township: Plymouth Century Farm Award: 2021 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photos by Clayton Rye
ABOVE: Robert Harman is ready for another day of work, even if he has to carry his oxygen tank. LEFT: Sisters Kim Harman, left, and Julie Kuntz came to their Century Farm interview with lots of photos and many memories.
This aerial photo is of the Harman family's Century Farm.
as “a very talented woman” who always had hired hands who required big meals.
The Harmans have a long history with the Methodist Church in Plymouth. Robert
Harman was the first baby baptized there. They were staunch supporters all their lives.
“We’re very proud of our parents,” said Julie Kuntz. “They instilled a work ethic and value of history.” Rufus Glassel was a family friend who worked alongside Robert Harman on whatever job needed to be done. His grandson owns the acreage on the farm. After their mother’s death, the sisters went through 70 years of belongings. “You can’t keep everything,” they decided. Some things were burned and they held “a ceremonial burning.” Other things were buried. Much of their parents' belongings were sold at auction. There were five auctions for their dad’s possessions and three auctions for their mother’s items. The farmland remains in the family. “We’ll never sell the land,” said Kim Harman. On the day of the presentation of Century Farm awards at the Iowa State Fair in 2021, the Harman family was not in attendance. Dorothy Harman’s health had deteriorated and she was failing. The decision was made that it was more important to be with their mother as her life was ending than to be at the award ceremony, and they stayed with her on that day. Dorothy Harman passed away on the day the Harman family received its Century Farm Award.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
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Calmer Continued from Page 9C Inseparable memories Sitting around the dining room table, with Mark and Phllip Calmer, Rhonda and Morey Hill and Gwen Ewing, it soon becomes clear that the stories, memories and histories of the two farms that are John P. Calmer’s legacy are inseparable. In the early days, their grandfather, Oscar, raised oats, corn and alfalfa. The oats were essential for feeding the horses used to run the farm. “I must’ve been 3 or 4 when they were just about done with the horses,” said Ewing, who recalled sitting atop the horses while they took a drink. Mark Calmer recalled putting up hay bales with forks in the “big barn” and ringing sows and boars, while Ewing remembers putting up loose hay in the ’50s. Work on the farm was divided. “The girls helped Mom; the boys helped Dad,” said Rhonda Hill. “We always had chickens,” she said, adding that she “hated gathering eggs.” She still remembers the old stump with bent nails on top where the chickens’ heads were laid for butchering, and the foul aroma those chickens created afterward. Ewing said they would raise about 200 fryers at a time. In addition, Rhonda Hill said, “Mom always had a huge garden. We had a pretty good-sized orchard too. We had lots of apple trees. A lot of canning was done.” Ewing still remembers Mark Calmer driving a tractor over to the east farm at around 5 years of age. “He couldn’t reach the clutch or the steering wheel,” she laughed.
As kids, the Calmers made their own fun, whether playing in the snowbanks or pulling a sled behind a tractor. “We worked hard, but we played hard,” Phillip Calmer said. Special guests At least two types of guests were known to “drop in” on the farm over the years. In the early days, Mark Calmer said, “Indians would come to the house.” A bell on the Ewing farm was once used as a warning signal for Ewing’s grandmother, Christina. “They would ring that bell if they spotted Indians while the men were working or in the field,” said Gwen Ewing. “The men would come to protect them.” Growing up, Gwen and her sister Gail were instructed never to ring that bell, which still stands on the farm today, because it meant something was wrong. In later years, hobos needing a meal were also known to visit. “There were signs along the railroad tracks that this was a place to stop to get a warm meal,” Ewing said. Changing times Farm equipment has changed a lot over the years. Threshing machines gave way to corn shellers and corn cribs, which eventually led to the large planters and combines of today. Mark Calmer still recalls the two-row cultivators and planters. He said they also once had their own slaughter shed for butchering beef cattle. One standard piece of “equipment” was the children.
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“Walking beans was a family affair,” said Rhonda Hill. Unless someone managed to “weasel out” of helping, chimed in Phillip Calmer. “Someone would always ‘plant a weed’ that was pulled out of their row and into mine, as if I’d missed one,” said Rhonda Hill. “I don’t remember that,” Mark Calmer laughed, not admitting guilt. Phillip Calmer remembers shelling corn. “I was always in the cob wagon,” he said. “I wasn’t big enough, but I could be in the cob wagon.” He said shelling corn was “a neighborhood thing,” where farmers helped one another by going farm to farm. “Whatever farm you were at supplied the lunch that day,” he said. All remember the rats that were attracted to the farm at corn shelling time, which they would beat with sticks or shovels. “These rats would go place to place in great big droves,” Ewing said. Looking to the future Both Calmer Farm families plan to continue their family’s legacy into the future. Today, Mark’s son, David Calmer, who lives nearby with wife Brenda, handles a large share of the farming. His daughters Nikki Steinberg and husband Rian, and Kassandra Graeve and husband Dave, are also getting involved — the husbands with helping farm and Kassandra with the bookkeeping. Nikki works in Rockwell City. “I’ve been very blessed,” said Mark Calmer. “We are truly a family farm, which is endangered.” On Phillip Calmer’s farm, his oldest
-Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
MARK CALMER, right, stands on the combine with his uncle, Ralph Calmer. Ralph Calmer lived on the farm until age 98, and took his last combine ride on his 100th birthday in 2004.
son Johnathon works with his hired man, while the youngest, Grant, recently took over the planting duties. “It makes you feel a little better about the future,” Phillip Calmer said, knowing the younger generation is getting involved. All are in it for the long haul. “My dad always said, ‘Some years are good; some years are not,’” said Ewing. “You take the good with the bad.”
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Civil War united president, farmer
Pitts Heritage Farm traces history to President Grant
CHEROKEE COUNTY
By LORI BERGLUND Farm News writer
CHEROKEE COUNTY — Two men, veterans of the same war, both would try their hand at farming. One would leave a long line of descendants to carry on the family farm tradition in northwest Iowa. The other would struggle as a farmer, return to his earlier military career and, as 18th president of the United States, end up putting his name to thousands of land patents enabling others to homestead, to break the prairie sod, and start a farming legacy of their own. Brothers Timothy and Thomas Pitts have more time on the family’s Heritage Farm than any of the generations before them. Now in their early 70s, there really wasn’t ever a time when the brothers were not helping in some way or another on the farm. They have farmed with their parents, several of their 10 siblings, and look to the past with great admiration and appreciation. “We are thankful for what we have here, and how we got here,” said Tim Pitts. How they got to Cherokee County is an incredible story. Their great-grandfather, John R. Pitts, was reportedly born in England in 1842. At just 4 years of age, he came to Dodgeville, Wisconsin, with his parents, and there the family would remain for several years. Five months after the start of the Civil War in 1861, 19-year-old John R. Pitts joined up with Company C, Wisconsin, 12th Infantry. They were called the “Marching 12th,” and march they did, covering thousands of miles in the course of the war and fighting in multiple battles. They guarded railroads and fought at Vicksburg, Mississippi, where Gen. Ulysses S. Grant would earn the deep respect of President Abraham Lincoln. “He fights,” Lincoln said of Grant. When Grant moved up as general of the Army, overseeing the entire war for Lincoln, the Marching 12th, as part of the Army of The Tennessee, was put under the command of another Civil
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Pitts Heritage Farm Established: March 10, 1875 Number of acres: 80 Township: Sheridan Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Photo courtesy of Pitts family
DESCENDANTS OF CIVIL WAR VETERAN John R. Pitts gathered to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Cherokee County farm in the summer of 2025. Gathered here is the fourth generation. From left are the Pitts siblings: Pat, Larry, Carolyn, Don, Jerry, Sharon, Joan, Tim, Tom and Barb. They are the 10 children of the late Joseph and Alice Pitts, and great-grandchildren of John R. and Eliza Pitts.
War legend, Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman. They would march with him through the South, leaving their supply lines behind and living off the land in a final, devastating sweep to put down the rebellion and unite the nation under one flag again. After the Civil War ended, and before they were discharged and headed home, they even marched in the “Grand Review” down Pennsylvania Avenue to celebrate. Grant watched from the reviewing stand with President Andrew Johnson, who had been sworn in after the assassination of President Lincoln. Did John R. Pitts ever fire off a salute to Gen. Grant, or talk with him over a warming fire at night? Only history knows. But as president in 1875, Grant signed the land patent granting 80 acres of unsettled land in Cherokee County’s Sheridan Township to John R. Pitts “to have and to hold … and to his heirs … forever.” That’s how it began, 150 years ago, and the family is still putting down new roots. “Tom and me are actually the fourth
generation here,” Tim Pitts said of himself and his brother. “My son Dan is farming with us, and my son Dave also farmed with us for awhile. I also have two grandsons that are farming with us now. It’s pretty cool to have so many generations working together.” The family had long known that John R. Pitts was a Civil War veteran, but most of the stories had been lost to the decades. Scattered newspaper articles found online fill in some of the history. John R. Pitts and his young wife, Eliza, had come to Iowa from Wisconsin in a covered wagon, according to her 1937 obituary. Son William Pitts was born in 1874, a year before they acquired the land patent for the now Heritage Farm. He would marry Gertrude Schmitz, and she would be the only grandparent that the current generation of the Pitts family would know. Her father, Joseph Schmitz, born in Germany, was also a Civil War veteran. “She was just a sweetheart,” Tim Pitts said of his grandmother Gertrude (Schmitz) Pitts. “She lived on what is the Heritage Farm, and we grew up on
a farm that adjoins it. It was fun to go up to her house, sit around and talk, and she would always have something for us to eat.” Sugar cookies were a favorite and, like every farm of the day, there were always chickens in the yard and fresh fried chicken on the table. While the Pitts brothers were young, only about 6 and 8 years old, when they lost their grandmother, her sweet smile and warm cookies left memories to last a lifetime. William and Gertrude Pitts followed the tradition of big families, and their son Joseph would do the same when he married Alice (Tracey) Pitts in 1943. Joseph and Alice Pitts are mom and dad to Tim and Tom Pitts, and eight others, all of whom joined in the labor of the family farm. “From our parents, we learned the value of hard work,” Tim Pitts said. “They were both very honest, hardworking people.” As a long-time dairy farm, there was always work to be done. “We did all the labor ourselves,” Tim Pitts said. “Dairy is something that you either like or you don’t, and we liked it.” As the brothers got a little older, they realized they may have to start hiring workers, and having been just a family operation for so long, it was a road they didn’t want to go down. “We quit milking in 2013; otherwise dairy cows had been on the farm forever. We were up to 150 milk cows,” he recalled. See PITTS, Page 17C
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Friday, July 24, 2026
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Pitts Continued from Page 16C The brothers switched to another labor-intensive operation and went to a cow-calf herd of about 250. Slowing down isn’t in their nature. “Everybody asks, ‘When are you going to retire?’ We say, ‘We’re semiretired; we quit milking 13 years ago.’” Like most farm kids of the Baby Boom generation, the brothers were working on the farm from a very young age — and they just never stopped. Several siblings have also been a part of the operation over the years. The farm passed at one point to their uncle, the late Melvin Pitts, and they farmed it for him. Tim and Tom Pitts would buy the original 80-acre Heritage Farm from their uncle in 1976. It has been a long road since John R. Pitts came home from the Civil War and set out with his wife in a covered wagon for Iowa. The rich topsoil of Cherokee County beckoned him then, and has bountifully provided for generations of his family ever since. “We are blessed,” Tim Pitts said simply.
To celebrate, and as a way of honoring past generations, the brothers hosted a Heritage Farm celebration last summer at the farm. They sowed down a few acres of oats for a parking lot, and put out the welcome mat for about 250 guests. “Deep down, in the back of my head, it was to honor the past — to be thankful for what we have and how we got here,” Tim Pitts said. Like his great-grandfather, Tim Pitts is also a veteran, having served six years in the Army Reserve, although he is very humble about that and doesn’t mention it until asked. Just as John R. Pitts and his wife, Eliza, must have dreamed about the future as their wagon made its way across Iowa, Tim Pitts is looking to the future, to the generations that follow after. “It’s so amazing to have this many generations that have farmed; with my little great-grandkids — if it all works out — maybe we’ll have the seventh generation on the farm someday.”
-Photo courtesy of Pitts family
JOHN R. PITTS is pictured in his Civil War uniform. He enlisted in Wisconsin in 1861 and would serve through the duration of the war. His unit became part of the Army of The Tennessee, a Union army, and was commanded at various times by first Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and later by Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Surviving tough times Farm News writer
GREENVILLE — Joseph S. (“J.S.”) Beck decided to migrate north to Iowa (with his brother) from Wheaton DuPage County, Illinois, in 1864, seeking opportunity for himself. A young J.S. Beck located 160 acres in Gillett Grove Township in Clay County on which to stake a claim and begin building his life. So at the age of 33, he dug in and found the grit to pay the $23.38 per acre — a total of just over $3,740 in 1897. Meanwhile, 19 years after Beck’s arrival in Iowa, a young woman named Karoline Kristine Olesen also made her way to Iowa from Denmark. She took a job as a housekeeper, where she met J. S. Beck. The two married in 1910 and began their family on the land Beck had purchased before they met. That farm is located at the intersection of 430th Street and 250th Avenue near Greenville. Beck and his wife would eventually come to own four quarters of land in total, all touching each other. The farm raised corn and soybeans, along with cattle, hogs and chickens over the years. Beck died in 1927 at the age of 63, so Karoline Beck took over sole ownership. “They had four children
The
Widow holds farm together so she can pass it to the next generation
CLAY COUNTY
Beck Century Farm
By KAREN SCHWALLER
www.farm-news.com
-Submitted photos
Established: 1897 Acres: 160 originally; now 152.7 Township: Gillett Grove Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Third
LEFT: J.S. and Karoline Beck didn't get to raise their family together, as J.S. died in 1927. Their son, Joseph S. Beck, eventually went on to continue operating the farm after Karoline Beck was no longer able to help. BELOW: J.S. and Karoline Beck are shown here around 1915 with their daughter, Annie. The house and barn were the original buildings, as was the case for many farms just starting out.
by then and she raised them and kept four quarters of land together,” said current owner, Joseph S. Beck, grandson of J.S. and Karoline Beck. J.S. and Karoline Beck built a home and a barn on the land, and throughout generations and the succession of ownership, other buildings were added, mostly by J.S. and Karoline Beck’s son and wife, Joseph S. and Lucile Beck. They included a chicken house, two garages, a silo and cattle shed. A machine shed was later added by Joseph S. and Lucile Beck’s son, Jon, who farmed with his father, Joseph S. Beck. “The roof blew off of the cattle shed from a tornado a few years ago, but the shed is still there,” said current owner, Joseph S. Beck. Beck, who now lives in Dakota Dunes, S.D., remembers raising corn, soybeans and oats/ See BECK, Page 19C
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Beck Continued from Page 18C
Buena Vista Continued from Page 7C
hay, cattle, hogs and milking cows there, raising chickens for eggs, and butchering chickens in the fall. “You learn things like that (butchering) on a farm — and that you just have to do some things. I also learned I didn’t want to farm,” he said with a chuckle, adding that he learned to practice law. The acreage on the property was sold to Beck’s cousin a handful of years ago, but the farm land is still owned by the Beck family. The land will next be passed on to Beck’s daughter, who lives in Florida. “It’s interesting that property is able to stay in a family for over 100 years,” said Beck. “My grandmother kept that land all together through the Great Depression, which was really something.”
A gathering place For the Bellows’ and Frederiksen’s children, the farm became a gathering place — and a place to spend time with their Grandpa Carl and Grandma Verna Belle Bellows. “The (kids) built a fort way out in the grove, and that’s where they spent a lot of time,” Frederiksen said. Once in the early 1980s, when several young grandchildren were spending the night on the farm, a tornado came through, damaging the barn and a few windows in the house. “Mom gathered them in the corner of one bedroom, covered them with blankets and that’s how they rode it out,” Frederiksen said. Luckily, no one was hurt. No one has lived on the homeplace since 2010, when Verna Belle moved to the
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-Submitted photo
THIS PHOTO shows four connecting quarters of land originally owned by J.S. and Karoline Beck, which Karoline Beck kept together following J.S. Beck's death in 1927.
Friday, July 24, 2026
nursing home. Few of the original buildings remain on the farm, and the ones that do — a chicken house, oil building and old farmhouse — will be leveled soon. Today, the Bellows’ son, Jon, farms both Newell farms in addition to his own — becoming the fifth generation to work the land. Comparing the work loads of then and now, Bob Bellows said, “He can do in a half hour what we took days to do.” Having a Century Farm means a lot to the family. Eventually, the two farms will be passed down to the Bellows’ three children — Karla, Kayleen and Jon — and Frederiksen’s three children — Shawn, Scott and Jodi. “We’ve been on that land for years and years,” Bob Bellows said, “since 1913.” And he hopes it will be in the family for years to come.
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-Submitted photo
THIS MINNEAPOLIS MOLINE was “either the second or third one off the line” after after World War II, according to Nancy Frederiksen. The tractor remains in the family today and has appeared at the Albert City Threshermen and Collectors Show.
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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The luck of the Irish
White is fifth generation on Crawford County Heritage Farm
CRAWFORD COUNTY
By KRISTIN DANLEY GREINER Farm News writer
WESTSIDE — Growing up, Jim White experienced both the upside and downside of life on the farm. White’s family farm was established in February 1875 by an ancestor, John F. White. They were Irish immigrants who first settled in eastern Iowa, then relocated to Crawford County. “Our farm is located about three miles from the Union Pacific railroad. President Abraham Lincoln had awarded land to people who were in the Civil War, so that’s how the original owners got the land,” White said. “That area of Crawford County was predominantly Irish and they settled in a grove of trees a mile from the present site.” The farm originally started with 160 acres, then 120 more were added a few years later. The family farm now has 280 acres. White now lives where he grew up, he said. White’s children are the sixth generation tied to the farm, which was typical for its time, although a bit bigger compared to others. It featured row crops and pasture ground when it first started, as well as livestock and oats. As the fifth generation on the farm, White recalled milking cows by hand. That method was later replaced by milking machines. In junior high, his family sold off their dairy cows and focused on feeding out their cattle. “I remember chopping silage, which was a big thing then. We also knew our neighbors and went to school and church with them,” White said. “As a boy, I suffered from hay fever and allergies and animal dust, so it wasn’t meant for me to be a farmer. My sister and her husband farmed the land for awhile and then they went to work at Iowa State.” So the family farm was tended to by a series of renters until White moved back to the farm and took over the management. His sister and brother-inlaw now own a 120-acre parcel that will reach Heritage Farm status soon. “The farm is still actively farmed on a custom basis,” White said. “I still work at the bank as chairman of the board, but I’m no longer president.” The farm features two houses,
White Family Heritage Farm Established: 1875 Acres: 160 originally, now 280 Township: Jackson Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Sixth
-Submitted photo
JIM WHITE stands in a pasture on the family farm in Crawford County. He is the fifth generation to manage the family's Heritage Farm near Westside.
-Submitted photo
THE WHITE FAMILY FARM HOUSE is shown in this photo, circa 1910.
“Everyone is still connected to the farm, and that’s a great feeling.” Jim White Crawford County Heritage Farm owner including an original farm house that’s been remodeled extensively. In fact, it sits in the same spot where it was built. Even though White’s kids live off the farm, they do return often and enjoy the pond there, as well as collecting pumpkins and other fun activities. His four grandkids love visiting the farm, too. “We’ll have a fishing tournament during the summer and pumpkin gathering around Halloween,” White said. “I grow a bunch of pumpkins and the kids will go out and gather them, then we divide them up. It’s a nice tradition to have.” He added that it’s exciting to be honored for having a Heritage Farm and offered a chance for his family to gather at the Iowa State Fair for the award ceremony. “My kids and grandkids were there, my sister and all her kids. There were 25 of us there,” he said. “Everyone is still connected to the farm, and that’s a great feeling.”
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
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-Submitted photos
ABOVE: The Jim White farm is shown in this picture from the 1960s. LEFT: The Jim White family gathers at the Iowa State Fair in August 2025 to receive their Heritage Farm Award. BELOW: The Jim White farm in Crawford County now has 280 acres. White’s children are the sixth generation tied to the family farm.
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Fighting to keep the farm
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Diversity key to Brewer Family Farms operation
By KRISTIN DANLEY GREINER Farm News writer
DALLAS CENTER — In 1875, the Royer brothers traveled to Iowa from Pennsylvania and bought 120 acres in Dallas County where they set up their farm. More than 150 years later, the Brewer family farms their ancestors’ land, which has 270 total acres. Owned by Dan and Linda Brewer, along with their kids, Emily and Joe, the family farm can be found near Dallas Center. “Back then, the farm had chickens, hogs, cattle, horses and crops. It’s where Emily lives now and where a grandson of the family members who settled the farm first lived,” Linda Brewer said. “The 188 acres where we live was purchased as a wedding gift for one of the three children of an original owner. It was a wedding gift to her, and it’s been in the family 117 years.” Emily Wynn lives at the original farm, while her brother, Joe, lives at their parents’ house. Another brother and his wife live in a barndominium not far from them. Dan and Joe Brewer handle the dayto-day responsibilities of the crops, cattle and hogs. In 1998, Linda and Dan Brewer put up a Smithfield site with three hog barns and a Slurrystore. Recently, they switched to JBS to contract finish hogs, she said. Emily Wynn and her husband, as well as Joe’s wife, help out on the weekends when they aren’t working their full-time jobs. Linda Brewer is the backbone who keeps everyone on task, makes sure everyone is fed, knows where they’re supposed to be and has clean clothes, Emily Wynn said. The family has diversified their operation to include a meat business called Brewer Family Farms. “What really started the meat business was Joe and Emily were interested in making a skinless beef brat. That eventually led to a cool connection with Iowa Craft Beer, who we have a relationship with and partner up at a stand during RAGBRAI,” Linda Brewer said. “We raise all the beef we sell in our farm store. In 2024, we were awarded a Choose Iowa Grant and we used that to build and renovate one of the sheds into our farm store. It’s open on the weekends
-Submitted photo
THE BREWER FAMILY stands in a pasture on their Century Farm in Dallas County. From left to right are Joe Brewer, Brenda Brewer, Jeff Wynn, Emily Wynn, Dan Brewer and Linda Brewer.
and then we also do the Grimes Farmers Market,” Emily Wynn added. “We also have an online store and ship nationwide. We also are in some local stores in Dallas Center and Woodward.” Brewer Family Farms sells everything from hamburger patties to steaks, sticks to brats and summer sausage, Emily Wynn said. She and her sister-in-law also make tallow lotion that they sell at the farm store, as well as products from others, including milk and ice cream from Pickett Fence Creamery. “We do a lot of pop-ups with our sourdough business. The last four years, we have had an open house at Christmastime where vendors come out and, for a weekend, sell their wares. We also sell candles and other items in the farm store,” Emily Wynn said. In the past 151 years, the Brewer farm has evolved. “When Joe came home from college to finish cattle, he had a barn that subsequently ended up being the county’s largest calving barn, because it didn’t end up working well for feeding out cattle,”
Linda Brewer said. “It couldn’t handle the capacity with the moisture, so we use it for finishing cattle but primarily for cowcalves in the winter.” They’ve also sadly lost big barns over the years to Mother Nature and wear and tear. Reflecting back on their time farming and the Heritage Award they received, Emily Wynn said it’s rewarding to know they’re still operational. “We all know farming is hard and there’s a lot of people who don’t make it. To have our farm reach 150 years, it means a lot. We fight every day to keep it,” she said. “It helps us that we are located close to the metro. When Joe and I came home from college, we needed to bring something with us. We don’t have a lot of available land in Dallas County, so we had to bring something else home with us. The idea for the meat business has been successful because of our location to Des Moines, Dallas Center and Grimes.” However, being so close to the metro area also means that growth continues to creep closer.
DALLAS COUNTY Brewer Family Heritage Farm Established: 1875 Acres: 120 Township: Grant Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fifth “The biggest thing that opens your eyes is that we’re probably now 11 miles from Waukee to our house,” Emily Wynn said. “All of those farms around Waukee that are selling, the people need to reinvest that money, so they run the price up on everything. The sky’s the limit for them and that leaves you in the spot where you either can’t expand because you’re not in the position to do so and you’re not selling your family ground.”
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
‘It all started with Grandpa’
Friday, July 24, 2026
Only three generations have called Reno Farm home
DICKINSON COUNTY
By KAREN SCHWALLER Farm News writer
TERRIL — John and Maryln Reno stood before a crowd of onlookers at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines in 1975, congratulating them on their Century Farm status. Today they own a Heritage Farm (150 years in the family), which lies two miles east of Terril. But the road hasn’t always been easy. “In the 1980s, I started driving a truck and ended up doing it for 30 years,” said John Reno. “I had to start something else or I was going to lose the farm.” The original owner, his grandfather John Christofer (“John C.”) Reno, arrived in Iowa from Norway in the late 1800s at the age of 25. He eventually made his way to the Terril area and purchased 160 acres of land in November of 1875. He later married Mary Ellingson, and she died in 1896, leaving her husband to raise their five children on his own. The Reno generations have owned that same quarter for 151 years, with no one else ever owning the land they homesteaded. Only three generations have lived on the farm. Following John C. and Mary (Ellingson) Reno’s ownership, the farm has been owned and managed by many family members, including their daughter, Mattie Reno; Andrew and Irene Reno (parents of John Reno); Marilyn Reno (John Reno’s sister), and now John and Maryln Reno. John C. and Mary (Ellingson) Reno, Andrew and Irene Reno, and John and Maryln Reno are the only three couples who have lived on the farm in 151 years. “We feel very blessed,” said John Reno. Their home still has the original dining room ceiling and living room, upstairs bedrooms and original basement from the original home. While the Renos have expanded over the years, the basement is completely divided with two entry points — one for the original portion, and one to the newer side. The original portion features log walls. Maryln Reno said it was important to maintain family history by preserving those parts of the original home. John Reno said they found Norwegian
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Reno Heritage Farm (formerly ‘Elmhurst Farm’) Established: 1875 Acres: 160 Township: Lloyd Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Third
-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
ABOVE: Maryln and John Reno look through a centennial book at their farm home in Dickinson County. BELOW: This barn that was once part of the Reno farm proclaimed the farm as "Elmhurst Farm," which John Reno attributed to the various trees that graced the farm at the time. -Submitted photo
THE RENO FAMILY has enjoyed this “tongue-in-cheek” photo of a tractor from the late 19-teens or 1920s, with a one-bottom horse plow behind it. It has delivered many a chuckle over the years within the family.
newspapers in the walls of the home during expansion, used as original insulation. Reno, who never knew his grandfather, said his grandfather set up the homestead to include a house, barn, hog house, chicken house, two brooder houses, wash house, machine shed for horse-drawn equipment, a corn crib and pump house. Many of the buildings have now been removed, with the house, garage, wash house and hog house still standing. He said the barn once featured the sign, “Elmhurst Farm,” during the 1930s or
1940s. He thinks it was due to the kinds of trees found on the farm in its early days. “This was a very modern farm in the day because it had a gravity system to get water to the livestock,” said Reno. “My grandpa and my dad’s brother were forward-thinking people.” The farm grew sugar beets for a few years during the 1930s. Andrew Reno hauled them to Terril on a flatbed wagon and loaded them onto a railroad car. Besides that, the farm has grown corn, soybeans, alfalfa, cattle, hogs and
chickens. Andrew Reno was killed while attempting to load a bull in 1957, while John Reno was in the hospital with a broken leg during his senior year of high school. But once healed, he began running the farm, with the help of family and neighbors at first. John and Maryln Reno have four children, 12 grandchildren and (currently) eight great-grandchildren. Their granddaughter, Katy Ward, will eventually move onto the farm when John and Maryln decide to move into town. John Reno said his blessings on the farm have been many. “We have so much to be proud of because of all that the Renos have accomplished,” he said. “It all started with Grandpa. He gave us the basis of a rich and full life. Dad kept it going, and I guess I’ve also done that for a long time.”
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Innovative ancestors
Henry Cronk brought the first thoroughbred horses to Emmet County
EMMET COUNTY
By KAREN SCHWALLER Farm News writer
ARMSTRONG — The U.S. Civil War was raging in 1862. Just five years prior, the Gardner family near Spirit Lake was murdered by Sioux Indians, and in just three months to come, the Minnesota/ Dakota uprising would be sparked. Nonetheless, Henry and Bessie Cronk decided the time was right to stake a claim to a quarter section of Iowa farmland. “When the Homestead Act came out, my great-grandfather (Henry Cronk) homesteaded it — I think that was just after the Civil War,” said Brian Cronk, great-grandson of Henry and Bessie Cronk, and current co-owner (with his wife, Jackie) of that Heritage Farm. “The original homestead papers are fragile. The original abstract is also very fragile.” Henry and Bessie Cronk’s Homestead Act papers were formally approved in 1871 when they received the deed, signed by Grover Cleveland, prior to him becoming president. Brian Cronk’s great-grandparents emigrated to the U.S. He hailed from Canada, and she from England. They were on the land before Armstrong was even a town. Cronk said Henry and Bessie Cronk built the barn first and lived in a sod hut until the final paperwork came through for the Homestead Act. Then they built their house. That was in 1890. Cronk said the farm is at the top of a notable hill, since the lowland area near there was wet and marshy. Henry Cronk was an innovator, bringing the first thoroughbred horses to Emmet County, along with Shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs. He hauled wheat to Algona for the first five years he lived on the claim of that land. Family lore says Cronk survived a prairie fire by releasing his team of horses and overturning a wagon to be used for shelter. The horses returned home and Cronk used them to grade the rail bed that crossed his property a few years later. The property beneath the rail bed remains Cronk family property. The farm was passed on to Earl and Lena Cronk (Brian Cronk’s
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Cronk Heritage Farm Established: 1862 Acres: 156 Township: Armstrong Grove Heritage Farm Award: 2024 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photo by Karen Schwaller
ABOVE: Brian and Jackie Cronk, of Armstrong, reminisce at their kitchen table over some aerial photos of their family's Century Farm through the years. BELOW: This aerial view shows the Cronk family farm at it appeared in 1993. RIGHT: Don and Brian Cronk are shown here with Don and Mary Cronk's new 1650 Oliver tractor, photo circa 1966-1967.
grandparents), then to Donald and Mary Cronk (Brian Cronk’s parents) — who received the Century Farm award in 1979. “The Cronks have been the only ones to farm that land,” said Brian Cronk. “There has never been another family name on this farm. In fact, my grandfather was 80 years old before he
ever spent a night away from the farm.” Brian Cronk said he was told of a winter that was especially difficult, at a time when the farm payment needed to be made. The Earl Cronk family sold three loads of hogs to make that payment, but after the weather broke, had to start shoveling the long driveway by hand to be able to get a truck in to get the hogs
to market. “They didn’t own a tractor then. They said it was snowing to beat the band as the last load was going down the lane,” said Brian Cronk, adding that the last of the hogs on the Cronk farm left in 2004. The farm once featured a corn crib, hog house, cattle shed and chicken house/ brooder house. Today, outbuildings include a machine shed, hen house and garage. The original house came down in 2008, and the family’s current home was built. Brian and Jackie Cronk agreed that there is a sense of pride in owning and raising a family on a Heritage Farm. Their daughter, Becky, is an ag instructor and FFA advisor in Rockford, Minnesota, and their son, Jim, is the sales manager at ArtsWay in Armstrong and farms with Brian and Jackie Cronk. The Cronks feel confident that grandchildren will carry their Heritage Farm — now 164 years old — into the future. “I hope we can see this farm reach 200 years in the family,” said Brian Cronk. “I’m confident that it can happen.”
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
A good place to grow up
Friday, July 24, 2026
Keninger family recognized for their environmental stewardship
FRANKLIN COUNTY
By CLAYTON RYE Farm News writer
ACKLEY — The Keninger Century Farm had its beginning when Thomas Fahey bought 80 acres on May 17, 1893. Thomas Fahey was born in Ohio in 1857 and his wife Mary in 1859. Their daughter Irene Fahey married Frank Keninger and she inherited the 80 acres in 1925. Frank and Irene were parents of nine children. Frank Keninger was born in 1888 and died in 1979. Their son William and his wife Evelyn were parents of eight children. Frank Keninger’s adult grandchildren have many memories of their grandfather. “Most of us knew him pretty good,” said his grandson, Mike Keninger. “Every Sunday after church we would go to his home for coffee cake,” said grandson, Kent Keninger, who now owns the Century Farm with his wife Audrea. “That coffee cake was the best,” said Mike Keninger. His grandsons tell of Frank Keninger farming with horses and raising beef cattle. In the 1920s he owned 500 acres of land that included the farm where he grew up, the farm that is the Century Farm and neighboring farmland. “He was a good businessman,” said Mike Keninger.
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Keninger Century Farm Established: May 17, 1893 Acres: 80 Township: Osceola Century Farm Award: 2024 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photo by Clayton Rye
KENT AND AUDREA KENINGER, the couple on the right, are the owners of the Century Farm. Next to them are their children, Chelsea and Ryan (center). On the far left side is Mike Keninger, holding his grandson Atlas Bateman with grandchildren Brinna, Emerlyn, and Zane Bateman in front.
Frank and Irene Keninger’s son Leo, at age 20, died in the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. His grandsons talked about their grandfather saying his wife Irene “cried every day for a year.” The Century Farm passed from Frank and Irene Keninger to their son William and his wife Evelyn in 1961. The other farmland
was bought by family members. William (known as Bill) and his wife Evelyn stayed on the farm as long as they could. “Bill was born and died here,” said Audrea Keninger, their daughter-in-law. “They raised all eight kids here,” said son Kent Keninger. William Keninger enjoyed
raising livestock, feeding cattle, both beef and Holsteins, chickens, and pigs. “He’d feed anything,” said son Kent Keninger. William Keninger was a longtime supporter of environmental practices on his farm. His farm was the first farm in Franklin County to build
terraces in his fields. At the 2019 Iowa State Fair, the Keningers received recognition for environmental stewardship along with 53 other Iowa farm families. Their practices included cover crops, wetlands, bioreactors, and saturated buffers. A press release from the ceremony stated, “The award acknowledges farmers who take voluntary actions to improve or protect the environment and the state’s natural resources.” William Keninger’s sons described him as “an environmentalist first.” “The farm has been improved and is better than it ever was,” said Mike Keninger. Kent and Audrea Keninger moved on to the Century Farm in 2012 after the death of Evelyn See KENINGER, Page 26C
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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Keninger Continued from Page 25C -Submitted photo
Keninger in 2011. They are the parents of three children, Chelsea, who is a consultant in special education; Jacqueline, an administrative assistant for Summit Carbon Solutions; and Ryan, who helps with farming duties. Kent Keninger has lived here all his life. Beaver Creek flows a short distance from the farm. It is where he went fishing, hunting, and trapping while growing up in this area known as Beaver Creek Valley. “When I was growing up, this was the best thing to happen to me,” said Mike Keninger, who is number six of eight kids. He said all the brothers would go trapping in the five creeks that were close by. Trapping was a source of “good money” in the ’80s. He remembers growing up with neighbors who had large families, and that meant lots of activities. Kent Keninger continues the family’s livestock tradition. He buys feeder cattle and finishes 250 head each year. He has 40 head of cattle as a cow-calf herd plus farrows show pigs, and has laying hens and broilers.
THE KENINGER FARM, in this photo from years ago, shows the barn that is now gone and the house that has since been replaced. The farm received a Century Farm Award in 2024, marking 100 years of ownership by the same family.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm’s history tinged by tragedy
Son carries on after losing 4 family members in 1873 fire
GREENE COUNTY
By LORI BERGLUND Farm News writer
GREENE COUNTY — It would be a Heritage Farm by now, owned by one family for at least 150 years. Ulysses S. Grant was president of the United States when Alexander Cairns bought a tract of land in Greene County’s Bristol Township for $8 an acre in 1869. It was a time of great promise in America. The bloodshed of the Civil War had ended. America was expanding rapidly to the West. At Promontory, Utah, the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads drove “golden spikes” to unite the new Transcontinental Railroad. After settling in Iowa in 1869, Cairns and his wife, Rebecca (DeLong) Cairns, were building their farm and a growing young family until the winter of 1873. What would come next is a fourdecades long gap in ownership driven by personal tragedy so great that the family seldom spoke of it, leaving succeeding generations often in the dark as to what happened on a winter’s night in Bristol Township. “It was pretty hush in the family,” said Teresa (Vestal) Euken, great-greatgranddaughter of Alexander Cairns. “We heard very little about it.” It wasn’t until an aunt started doing some genealogy work in the 1960s or 1970s that the story of a horrific fire and four resulting deaths came more fully to light for current generations. “I don’t know if my aunt had known about it before that, or just didn’t have all the facts,” Euken said. “I think she found old news articles at the library in Jefferson.” Indeed, the Feb. 7, 1873, edition of the Jefferson Bee told the story of the fire in
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Cairns/Vestal Century Farm Established: 1913 Acres: 160 originally, 49.56 currently Township: Bristol Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Submitted photo
ERNEST CAIRNS built his home on the same general location of the home where his father and three other family members perished in a fire decades earlier. Unlike the original home, where those who died were trapped in an upstairs bedroom, Cairns chose to build a single-story home. This is where his children and some of his grandchildren were born.
heartbreaking detail. Killed in the fire were Alexander Cairns, 34, his brother, Henry Cairns, 29, and Henry’s children, Willie and Johnnie, ages unknown. Alexander Cairns owned the home and 320 acres of farmland, according to the Jefferson Bee. They had taken in his brother Henry and his family, as his wife had been bedfast for a time. Alexander’s wife, Rebecca Cairns, made it out safely with her children in tow. The two brothers helped Henry’s wife out, and then returned to rescue his children. But that was not to be. Neighbors came to help beat down the fire, but at least half of the house had already been burned. Rural fires, yet today, are difficult to fight without
adequate water supply. In those days, it would have been nearly impossible to save a wood-frame house. The body of Alexander Cairns was found a few feet from the door of an upstairs bedroom. The body of Henry Cairns was a few feet away, and his children, Willie and Johnnie were nearby. Rebecca Cairns took what was left of her family back to the home she had known in Illinois. But son Ernest Alexander Cairns never forgot Greene County. He would return to Iowa as a young man, and in 1913 paid $105 per acre to buy back the farm he had known as a child. Despite the tragedy associated with the farm, family members believe that Ernest Cairns always wanted to get back home
— and that’s just what he did with this purchase. He would build a new home on the farm and raise his family there. His descendants now celebrate the land as a Century Farm — a place of joy — and have great respect for that desire to hold on to farmland. “My grandmother talked a lot about the farm,” Euken recalled. “She had such fond memories there as a child.” Euken’s grandmother, Alberta (Cairns) Vestal was the youngest of Ernest and Elizabeth (Buchmiller) Cairns’ eight children. She was born and raised in Greene County, near Farlin. While the family would retain ownership of the now Century Farm, she would not be able to come to
adulthood on the farm. “I think she was about 12 years old when her father died of appendicitis,” Euken explained. While it is now rare to die of appendicitis, it was a feared ailment at that time, and with good cause. Ernest Cairns had actually been to two doctors seeking care, but they each sent him home. Finally, he became so ill at home that a doctor was summoned to the house. “His appendix ruptured and the doctor came to the house and operated on the kitchen table,” Euken said. The family moved to town, and that only added to the heartbreak of his daughter, Alberta, Euken’s grandmother. She missed her father and the farm that had meant so much to him. More than her older siblings, Alberta (Cairns) Vestal was determined that the farm would not leave the family again. “I think that was really hard on her, leaving the farm,” Euken said. “To my grandmother, it was always very important to keep it in the family. Her siblings all ended up selling the portions they inherited, but grandma kept hers until the day she died and See GREENE, Page 28C
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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Greene Continued from Page 27C passed it on to her children.” If there is a hero to be honored here, Her grandmother kept the farm even it is a man known only as Sheriff Watts though she ended up moving to Mills who served Greene County in 1873. County, where she and her husband, the For the saddest part of this story is that late Paul Vestal, would farm throughout a brother-in-law on Rebecca Cairns’ side their married lives. of the family was suspected of starting Eventually the farm passed to Euken’s the fire, and possibly locking the door or father, Charles (Chuck) Vestal and his preventing the exit of the four who lost sister, Betty (Vestal) Howard, who has their lives that day. That man’s guilt or since passed. innocence was never proven, nor was he For Euken, it has been a hard, hard ever charged. year. Her mother, Patricia (Reynolds) Area residents, who fed on this Vestal passed away in February. Her allegation, attempted to take the law into father, Charles Vestal, passed away in their own hands. The suspect, fearing for May. After 64 years of marriage, they his life, fled to the sheriff for protection. went quickly together. She was a Sunday A mob of more than 20 came for him, but School teacher and 4-H leader. He was a Sheriff Watts would have none of it. farmer who restored old cars and tractors As the Jefferson Bee reported at the and served on the school board. As a time: “About midnight a ‘Committee’ couple, they loved to square dance. of about 20 surrounded the sheriff’s “I was blessed with the best,” Euken residence and demanded the custody of said of her parents. (the suspect). The sheriff did not see fit Today, no one lives on the farm to surrender him without resistance, and where Alexander Cairns and three others the leaders of the ‘Committee’ instead of Ad NFTM 2021.pdf PM perishedCentury in theFarms fateful fire. But 1it 3/22/2021 remains12:58:04 ordering a charge on the sheriff, counseled a mysterious part of the family legacy. a retreat and soon left for their homes.”
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The Bee stood with Watts and encouraged readers to “let the law abide its time.” No charges were ever filed. Watts did his job for the sake of justice over mob actions. “It does take courage to do what Sheriff Watts did,” said current Greene County Sheriff Jack Williams. “Most people don’t realize it, but the sheriff is responsible for those in his care or in jail regardless of what they may or may not have done.” Whether or not there was a crime in this tragic fire will never be known. But there may be a clue in the suspect’s action in running to the sheriff. “In my experience, I have never had a guilty person come to us for protection,” Williams said. Every family has its share of tragedy, some more than others. For the descendants of Alexander Cairns, their story did not end with tragedy, but with the resolve to carry on — for more than a century and counting.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
Fonkens, Kamrar just go together
Celebrating a century of farming and small town life
HAMILTON COUNTY
By LORI BERGLUND Farm News writer
KAMRAR — It’s a name that’s been around Kamrar since just about the beginning. This little farm town was platted as a rail station in 1881 and is still a community that lives and breathes with the family farms that surround it. The Fonkens arrived here early on, sinking deep roots into the community. The family name is indicative of the community’s German heritage, with a 1906 Fonken stone at the Presbyterian Church Cemetery carved in German. Born in 1837 and 1839 respectively, Geerd Fonken and Moentje (Bosma) Fonken were married in Germany before striking out together for a new life in the United States. At Kamrar, they found a thriving German American community. It was a good move for the young couple in the mid to late 1800s. There would be sacrifice, as one of their descendants would earn the Purple Heart for his nation. But they would also prosper. Today, their great-great-grandchildren share the legacy of what is now a Century Farm. Purchased in 1909, the Hamilton Township farm originated with immigrants Geerd and Moentje Fonken. It would pass next to son John and wife Harmka (Rigter) Fonken, then to grandson Conrad and wife Etta (Hassebrock) Fonken, before passing to great-grandson Lee and Norma (Olthoff) Fonken, and now to great-greatgrandchildren and spouses, Nick and Cindy Fonken, Cara (Fonken) and Jim Sink, and Eric and Sue Fonken, who see it as a legacy to steward for succeeding generations. To Cara (Fonken) Sink, growing up on the family farm with siblings Nick and Eric was like growing up in the most idyllic of American small towns. “I always say we grew up in Mayberry, because it was such a great place,” Sink said. “God and family were the most important things in our lives.” Only a few miles from Kamrar, the siblings grew up in a time when kids were raised “free range.” They had the run of the countryside on their bicycles. They never needed a screen to be entertained. “The neighbor girl and I would ride our bikes into the co-op at Kamrar,”
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Fonken Century Farm Established: 1909 Acres: 159.69 Township: Hamilton Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fifth
-Farm News photo by Lori Berglund
NICK AND CINDY FONKEN are the fifth generation of Fonkens to call the family Century Farm home. Like the generations before them, they have updated and renovated over the years to make it a beautiful place to call home.
-Photo courtesy of Cara Fonken Sink
LEE AND NORMA FONKEN are pictured with their children, Nick, Cara and Eric in a family photo from the 1960s. Lee and Norma were the third generation to raise their family on the now Century Farm at Kamrar.
Sink recalled. “Snickers bars were like a quarter or 50 cents, and we’d go to town and get a pop and a candy bar and then
ride back home.” If their parents, the late Lee and Norma Fonken, did happen to wonder where they
were, they could call on the party line phone and the farmers gathered at the coop — drinking coffee and talking about the weather — would be sure to tell them just what the kids were up to and not to worry. But it wasn’t all play. Sink also remembers the chores that went along with farm life in the 1960s and ’70s. “I was in charge of the chickens, gathering the eggs and feeding and watering them,” she recalled. “The job I hated most was walking beans.” Brother Eric Fonken also recalled riding his bike to Kamrar, especially to school when the weather was nice. After school, they knew just the place to stop before going home. “After school got out, we would ride our bikes to our grandma’s house in Kamrar and she would have snacks for us,” Eric Fonken said. “Her big deal was bread with butter and sugar on top, or just cookies.” Like his sister, he said Kamrar farm life was hard to beat in mid-century America. “It was the best childhood that you could think of,” he said. “There were lots of things to do outside, and we were always making things for the go-cart to pull around. We made a baler for the go-cart and we’d rake the lawn and then bale the grass.” Their dad had made the go-cart, and the kids contributed to the work with other attachments. They even had a cab for the go-cart to stay warm in the wintertime. “It was just a lot of fun,” Eric Fonken added. Nick and Cindy Fonken are thankful to be the fourth generation actually living on the Fonken farm. Like many generations See FONKEN, Page 30C
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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Fonken Continued from Page 29C b efore them, they have made their own additions and renovations to the foursquare house that has long been home to so many family members over the years. “I always liked the farm,” Nick Fonken said. “When I was a little kid, that’s all I wanted to do is farm.” In those days, his dad had an active farrow-to-finish hog operation with up to 400 head of hogs. They also raised 4-H calves, a tradition that continues today for children and grandchildren. While hogs supplemented the row crop income for his dad, Nick Fonken and his son share a custom spraying business to augment their own farm income. “We’ve been spraying together for about 10 to 12 years,” he said. “Running machinery is something we all like to do. We’re independent and we get quite a ways out.” But he still remembers those simple days with his dad and siblings in the bean field. His dad was a quiet man who served with the U.S. Army in Korea and earned the Purple Heart. Like many of his generation, it was something he seldom talked about. “The only time he would open up and talk a bit was when we were walking beans,” Nick Fonken recalled. “That’s when he would talk about stuff like that. I know that they were pinned down and he got hit, but he got out and he survived.” Often called “the forgotten war,” Korean War veterans sacrificed greatly for their nation, and Lee Fonken’s Purple Heart is a tribute to him and sign of devotion to the cause of freedom. Lee and wife, Norma, would both die young. She was just 64 and he was 71. Like every American generation of Fonkens
“I always liked the farm. When I was a little kid, that’s all I wanted to do is farm.” Nick Fonken, Hamilton County Century Farm owner
-Photo courtesy of the U.S. Dept. of Defense
ARMY VETERAN LEE FONKEN earned the Purple Heart when he was wounded in the Korean War. Like most veterans of his time, he seldom talked of his service.
before them, they rest at the Kamrar Presbyterian Cemetery. Sadly, he passed before the Honor Flights that would have paid him special tribute as a veteran. Kamrar is still a small town, but it can draw a crowd to its famous Pickles Pub, and the farmers still gather at the co-op to drink coffee and talk about the weather. Geerd and Moentje Fonken could hardly have imagined what would come their way when they decided to leave their German homeland and become Americans. They planted a dream that their descendants are still harvesting every year at Kamrar.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
A life centered around livestock
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Friedow family once raised Poland China hogs
HANCOCK COUNTY
By CLAYTON RYE Farm News writer
KANAWHA — Rory Friedow’s life has revolved around livestock. He explained it in one sentence. “The most important thing is the livestock,” he said. His dedication to livestock goes back to Rory Friedow’s great-grandfather, Frederick Friedow, a native of Germany, who raised Poland China hogs and was responsible for bringing the first purebred Poland China hog to Hancock County in the early 1890s. He purchased the Century Farm in 1925, moving on to the farm in 1926. His son Floyd Friedow, Rory’s grandfather, continued breeding purebred Poland Chinas. He was the one responsible for putting up the buildings on the farm. Floyd had three sons — Verlyn, Doyce, and Milton, who was Rory Friedow’s father. Besides purebred Poland China hogs, the Friedows had dairy cattle — milking and selling purebred Holsteins. The dairy operation started in the 1930s and continued until the early ’50s. It ended because the three sons went off to war. The dairy resumed in 1954 and continued until 1966. Rory Friedow was born in 1954 and, while a young boy, he helped with the daily milking. “My job was to wash the teats on the cow,” he said. The farm had three houses on it at one time. The main house was occupied by Floyd and his wife Edna. Rory Friedow’s family was in “the small house” until there were four children, and it was decided to trade houses with Floyd and Edna. “The family was close,” said Rory Friedow. The daily chores kept the family busy. From the 1950s to the 1970s, the Friedow family held a sale of Poland China breeding stock each fall. They later combined with other breeders to have a sale at the Mason City fairgrounds. Being a producer of purebred Poland China hogs means not only raising them but also selling them as breeding stock. In the ’50s, the Friedows placed an ad in a paper advertising their purebred breeding stock. A hog producer in Cuba wrote
Friedow Century Farm Established: March 2, 1925 Acres: 160 Township: Erin Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photos by Clayton Rye
ABOVE: Rory Friedow holds a book of Friedow family history. ABOVE RIGHT: The Friedow farm made the cover of The Poland China World magazine in February 1965.
about the possibility of shipping their hogs to Cuba. It was no simple arrangement to ship
live hogs to another country. First, a local veterinarian has to issue a health certificate for the livestock, followed by
approval of the state veterinarian. An express company shipped two gilts by train to Miami in individual crates and then by plane to Cuba. In Miami, the gilts were thoroughly rechecked before the next part of the trip. After the initial purchase, the buyer in Cuba bought four boars and four gilts. The Friedows received the same price from the Cuban purchaser as they would have received locally. The buyer in Cuba paid for all the shipping expenses. The hogs weighed an average of 125 pounds and sold for about $90 each. This was done at a time when there was only mail for communication. Computers, internet, and email were in See FRIEDOW, Page 33C
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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Friedow Continued from Page 32C the very distant future. With so much animal experience, it’s no surprise Rory Friedow graduated from Iowa State University in 1978 from veterinary school. His veterinary practice was located in West Bend from 1978 to 1998 and in Fort Dodge for two years. He is now semi-retired, traveling to Algona and Goldfield doing veterinary work. In 2003, he and his wife Linda moved from West Bend to the house on the Century Farm where his mother was living. His mother moved to a house a short distance north, where she now lives on 10 acres with four of the acres as virgin prairie. Even with their now-limited usage, the buildings on the Century Farm are in good shape. A corn crib was used for hosting their granddaughter's graduation reception, and also last summer when 62 family members arrived for a family reunion in honor of being named a Century Farm. Rory Friedow participated in 4-H and FFA showing Poland China hogs. Anyone who has participated in a show ring knows about judging, and Rory Friedow is an experienced judge, just like his father who judged both purebred and market hog classes. In addition to judging hogs, he and his wife are both judges at dog shows. The Friedows have traveled all over the country, as well as to England and Australia, as dog show judges. Rory Friedow is a judge for collies and four breeds of Belgian dogs. At home, they train Belgian Tervuren dogs, making use of the facilities at the Fort Dodge Kennel Club. Gwen Friedow, Rory’s sister, owns the farmland on the Century Farm. Rory and his wife Linda own the acreage. Linda Friedow works as a library director in Britt. “She loves to read,” said Rory Friedow. “In the morning she sits with a book, and I don’t talk to her for an hour.”
-Submitted photos
ABOVE: The Friedows held a reunion last summer in honor of their Century Farm award and had this photo taken.
Buy, Sell, & Trade Farm Equipment New & Used Parts National Locater Service Parting Late Model Tractors & Combines THIS OLD AERIAL PHOTO of the Friedow farm shows "the small house" that was occupied by Rory Friedow’s parents and their four children.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Coming home to farm
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After traveling the world, Madden returns to family's Century Farm
By CLAYTON RYE Farm News writer
ALDEN — Randy Madden grew up on the Madden family’s Century Farm purchased by his great-grandfather Niels Peterson, a native of Denmark, in 1924. Peterson was the father of eight sons and one daughter, Rose. Each of the nine children received a farm of their own from their father. Rose became the owner of the Century Farm. When Rose Peterson married Aaron Madden, the Century Farm was bare ground. Aaron Madden built the solid brick house that remains on the Century Farm. He built a second smaller house near his home for Randy Madden’s parents. Once Randy Madden’s parents began their family, it was decided to trade houses as they would need more room for their growing family. Randy Madden graduated from Iowa State with a degree in farm operation and came home to farm in 1977. His father Merl died suddenly in 1978. After the farm crisis of the 1980s, Randy Madden returned to Iowa State, doing both teaching and research. He received his doctorate in microbiology and plant physiology. He completed his advanced education at an excellent time. This was the beginning of GMO seed, and he was employed by Northrup King and Monsanto for several years. It was a time when everyone, seed companies and farmers, were learning the value of GMO seeds. “It was a very exciting time in agriculture,” said Randy Madden. His job required worldwide travel, and Randy Madden returned to the farm in 2000. “The position was stressful for the family,” he said.
HARDIN COUNTY Madden Century Farm Established: Dec. 30, 1924 Acres: 80 Township: Buckeye Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photos by Clayton Rye
ABOVE: Randy and Connie Madden have a copy of the book on the life of Coach John Madden of the Oakland Raiders, a relative of theirs. BELOW: This old aerial photo shows the original house on the left and a second house that was built for Randy Madden's parents.
“We’ve been blessed by the people around us.” John Madden Hardin County Century Farmer Randy and Connie Madden are the parents of three children. Their daughter works with patients at Boston Children’s Hospital. Their two sons both work for John Deere, and their jobs involve traveling to other countries. “We’ve all traveled the globe,” said Randy Madden. Besides their jobs with John Deere, both sons, Lee and Brent, are involved in the operation of the Century Farm. Lee Madden’s son Dylan Madden, age 23, is nearing graduation from Iowa State and wants to start farming. He will be the sixth generation on the Century Farm. “We’re getting more See MADDEN, Page 35C
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
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Madden Continued from Page 34C comfortable with a succession plan,” said Randy Madden. The three generations of Maddens have all been members of Alpha Gamma Rho, the ag fraternity at Iowa State. Randy Madden values the advantages of being a fraternity member. “It has the advantage of networking and socializing,” he said. Randy Madden maintains contact with the people he worked with in the seed and chemical companies who employed him. “We’ve been blessed by the people around us,” he said. Madden Century Farm has grown over the years, raising corn and hogs. The corn is used to feed the hogs and is also delivered to the ethanol plants nearby. The farm employs three full-time people. The men of the Madden family have a tradition that began with John F. Madden seven generations ago and continues to this day. It is the tradition of the oldest son receiving the middle name of Franklin. It began with John F., then continued with his son Aaron F., followed by Merl F., his son Randy F., then son Lee F., and his son Dylan F. In recent Madden family history, it was learned that the Iowa Maddens have a connection with football coach John Madden, who coached the Oakland Raiders for 10 seasons,
taking them to Superbowl XI where they defeated the Minnesota Vikings. Several generations of the Madden family are buried in Hardin County. John F. , great-grandfather to coach John Madden and Randy Madden, is buried at a cemetery in Eldora. John F. Madden’s oldest son, Charles F. Madden, along with
his oldest son Aaron F. Madden, are buried at a cemetery at Buckeye. Also buried at the Buckeye cemetery is Merl F. Madden, the only son of Aaron F. Madden and the father of Randy Madden. Hardin County gets mentioned in the first chapter of Madden’s book, telling of the senior John Madden family
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-Image of submitted photo by Clayton Rye
THIS RECENT AERIAL PHOTO of the Madden Farm shows the original house and barn remaining from the original homestead.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Diversity key to Johnson farm By ELIZABETH ADAMS Farm News writer
EAGLE GROVE — Expansion and diversity are the glue that holds the Johnson farm together. Originally purchased in 1917, Carl and Cheryl Johnson’s Century Farm is located in southern Humboldt County, outside of Eagle Grove. Johnson’s ancestors came from Norway originally, and while it isn’t known what exactly drew them to the area, they purchased 160 acres and the Johnson farm got its start. “We farm row crops (corn and beans), chickens, and cattle,” said Johnson. “We have some cattle here, but most of them are in southern Missouri on our ranch.” Carl and Cheryl Johnson divide and conquer their work; Cheryl manages much of the operations in Missouri and Carl on the home place in Humboldt County. Historically, Johnson’s ancestors used to raise purebred Hampshire pigs alongside row crops up until the late 1960s. “I myself managed a farrow-to-finish operation, but got out of it in the ’80s,” said Johnson. It’s not so unusual to keep farms diversified; today, the Johnsons are able to tap into different resources to keep operations moving. Livestock farming is an important aspect of Johnson’s farm. He raises cattle and meat birds (chickens) to add an alternate income. The family butchers around 600 birds per year and will sell
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Humboldt County couple raises chickens, cattle, corn, soybeans
HUMBOLDT COUNTY Carl and Cheryl Johnson Century Farm Established: 1917 Acres: 160 Township: Norway Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
“I like offering a product to folks that is quality, local, and at a fair price.” Carl Johnson Humboldt County Century Farm owner
-Farm News photo by Elizabeth Adams
CARL JOHNSON of Johnson Family Farms is pictured with his dog, "Bear."
See JOHNSON, Page 37C
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Johnson Continued from Page 36C them fresh direct. “I like offering a product to folks that is quality, local, and at a fair price,” he said. Johnson added that he had a round of birds ready for the middle of June and relies primarily on word of mouth for sales. Raising and selling meat birds is an important part of the Johnson farm, but Johnson said that he is aging, and he may not be raising chickens much longer. Like many in rural Iowa, Johnson is looking toward the future and impending retirement. “I am 70 years old now, and I am not sure how many more years I will be able to keep going,” he said. When asked about a succession plan, Johnson agreed that the family farm will stay in the family but doesn’t know what that will look like quite yet. He has two sisters that live near the Des Moines area.
Johnson has a hired hand to help with the farm work. He explained that his hired hand is skilled at handling the chickens and helps with a lot of other jobs on the farm. Of all his farm duties, Johnson said he enjoys row crop farming most. “I went to school for agricultural mechanization at Iowa State University,” said Johnson. Ag mechanization is now known as ag industrial technology. “I like equipment and I like technology,” he added. That interest and education in ag continues to keep Johnson busy. He works on his family farm full time, but he enjoys playing golf, spending time with his dog “Bear” and tending to his garden. Johnson believes that good stewardship and preserving the Johnson family’s legacy is important. He said he enjoys farming as his life’s work and intends to do the work as long as he can.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Built for Belgians
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Groth Century Farm features unique early 1900s barn
By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
BATTLE CREEK — In the 1890s, a wave of German immigrants made their way to Iowa. Among those was Roger Groth’s great-grandfather, John Groth, who settled in Durant. After his wife passed away from “some kind of fever,” he moved with his seven children to the Battle Creek area. One of his children, Herman Groth, Roger’s grandfather, later rented a local farm for a couple of years. In 1925, he and his brother-in-law bought the 280-acre farm for $185 per acre from a local wealthy family, the Baileys. At the time, Herman Groth ran a grocery store in Battle Creek. “How they ever got the money together to buy 280 acres, I’ll never know,” said Groth. In August 2025, the Groth family farm received a Century Farm Award at the Iowa State Fair. To Groth, an interesting piece of the farm’s history began before it came into his family. Based on information shared by a neighbor, the Baileys were the “wealthiest people in the area,” owning a bank in Battle Creek and a grain elevator. They only owned the farm for eight years, but in that time, the oldest of their three sons — Edward II — attended Iowa State University, where he learned about the latest farming techniques. “The progressive thing to do at the time was to farm with Belgian horses,” said Groth. So the Baileys built a barn specifically to house Belgian horses. That well-built, twostory tile barn with a hayloft still stands on the Groth farm today. Inside it features eight sturdy
-Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
ROGER GROTH, of Ida Grove, stands in front of the barn on the rural Battle Creek Century Farm where he grew up. The barn was originally built by the farm’s previous owners to house Belgian horses in the early 20th century. Today, his son David Groth lives on the farm.
horse stalls and a room for an expecting horse to have a foal. “I’ve never seen another barn like this. The horse stalls are built for Belgian horses,” said Groth. “This was the ‘machine shed’ for horses. Horses were their tractors.” And those horses left a souvenir. “To this day,” Groth said,
“there is a horseshoe in the concrete on the north side of the barn from a Belgian horse.” In addition to the barn, other original buildings remaining are the house, a scale house or summer kitchen, and a hog house made from the same tile as the barn. Over the years, Groth’s father added other buildings.
Groth knows little about how his grandfather farmed the land other than he farmed with horses. His grandparents, Herman and Louise Groth, raised their two sons, Orville and Chester, on the farm. The farm was later passed down to Orville. After he See GROTH, Page 39C
IDA COUNTY Groth Century Farm Established: June 5, 1925 Acres: 280 Township: Grant Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
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Groth Continued from Page 38C of chickens. “It was her contribution,” Groth said. “She sold eggs. Egg money was used for school hot lunch money and grocery spending money.” Some years, snowstorms were bad. Groth’s father, Orville, once told him about the snowstorm of 1936. The family farm lies in a hilly area, which at the time had 20-foot banks. Snowplows hadn’t been invented yet. “The neighbors got together with scoop shovels and got the road open,” he said. “They had to get to town to get coal.” But overnight, the snow drifted back in. Afterward, they cut the fences. Groth said it was seven miles to Battle Creek, and the only way to get there was to drive through the fields. Two tornados touched the place over the years, in 1957 and 2011. The 2011 twister destroyed a machine shed. Groth, who has an ag engineering
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degree from Iowa State, began farming his father’s land in 1997 when Orville’s health no longer allowed him to do so. Though he and his wife Phyllis didn’t return to live on the homeplace, Groth continues to farm the rural Battle Creek land. He and his three siblings — Ronald, Linda and Dianne — inherited the land and share ownership in an LLC. Groth gave his one-fourth share to his four sons — Joel, Jerry, David and Dennis. Today, his son David lives on the homeplace. Though this is the first Century Farm award on his father’s side, his family owns three other Century Farms in Crawford County, which were inherited from his mother’s side — receiving those awards in 1990, 2008 and 2012. On receiving the most recent award, Groth said, “It’s very important, and we want it to stay in the family. I want my sons and grandsons to continue to farm.”
-Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
THIS HORSESHOE is cemented into the concrete on the north side of the Groth barn, a souvenir left from the days when Belgian horses were used to farm the land in Ida County.
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returned from serving in World War II around 1946, Orville Groth began farming. He and his wife, Donna, raised their four children — Ronald, Roger, Linda and Dianne — on the farm. The barn that once housed horses became a place to store hay and machinery. “My dad fed a lot of cattle,” said Groth. “He would feed up to 500 a year. He bought feeder cattle and finished them out.” He also had pasture, oats, hay, and corn. “All the crops were to feed the cattle,” Groth said. He said the last year his father raised cattle was 1979. His dad occasionally bought feeder pigs and finished them out. “Every day you were on the farm, everything was hard work,” said Groth. “I picked ear corn, and baled hay, and baled oat straw.” He recalled that his mother raised a lot
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
A lifetime of memories
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Valvick sisters helped their father on Kossuth County farm
KOSSUTH COUNTY
By CLAYTON RYE Farm News writer
Poppe Century Farm
LAKOTA — When the Valvick families received their Century Farm award at last summer’s Iowa State Fair, the certificate stated the award was to the Poppe Family Farm. What is the connection between the Poppe family and the Valvick families? The connection was made when the Poppe sisters, Zada and Annette, married the Valvick brothers, Marcus and Arlyn. The Poppe Family Farm had its beginning when Adolph Poppe, Sr. and his wife Carolina bought 160 acres on March 4, 1924. The house that they moved into was built in 1920 and is still standing. A new barn was built in 1925. However, it was damaged by strong winds and could not be repaired because of its stone foundation. Wood from the barn was salvaged and made into benches by a family member, Donald Goetz. Adolph Poppe, Jr., father of Zada and Annette, was born in that house on March 4, 1927, exactly three years after the farm’s purchase. When the senior Poppe became ill, his son, Adolph Jr., quit school in eighth grade to work on the farm. Adolph Poppe Jr. and his wife Geneva were married in 1950 and became parents to Zada in 1959 and Annette in 1962. He was a believer in education and went back to school to receive his GED in 1969. Upon their marriage in 1950, Adolph Jr. and Geneva moved into the farmhouse, living with his father and mother until Adolph Sr. and Carolena retired, moving into town. Adolph Jr. and Geneva retired
Established: March 4, 1924 Acres: 160 Township: Lincoln Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Third
-Farm News photos by Clayton Rye
TOP LEFT: Annette Valvick poses with a tractor she remembers well. BOTTOM LEFT: Zada Valvick stands by a tractor she still knows how to drive. She and her sister played a key role in helping their dad while growing up on the farm.
from the farm in 1989, moving into Lakota. The Poppe sisters grew up on a traditional farm with crops and livestock. The crops were soybeans, corn, oats, and alfalfa. Livestock was dairy for a few years, and then came beef cattle, along with pigs, sheep, chickens, ducks, geese, and rabbits. The memories of growing up on the farm remain strong and vivid for both sisters. Zada Valvick remembers a ram that behaved like a dog around her father. The ram would follow her father See POPPE, Page 41C
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
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Poppe Continued from Page 40C all around and run up and down the rows in the field chasing the tractor. “The ram, however, would love to head butt my sis and me,” said Zada Valvick. “We would run out of the house to the big rock (looking at it now, it isn’t that big) to stand on to prevent being head butted.” “Dad decided the ram had to go,” she said. “He loaded him into the truck and my sister and I got in the cab with Dad. He was taking the ram to the sale barn. We cried all the way there. We were terrified of the ram but didn’t want him to go.” Having two daughters and no sons to help with work on the farm meant the sisters took on the roles that usually went to the sons. “One of my sister’s and my chores was to feed the chickens and gather the eggs,” said Zada Valvick. “The chickens always pecked at us. I’m not sure of the reasoning, but we didn’t want to get our shoes or boots dirty, so in the summer we gathered the eggs barefoot. We took the eggs to the
basement where we washed them and then packed them into crates to be taken uptown and sold.” The sisters had a role in getting the hay in the barn. “To put the hay into the barn, Dad would stand on the hay rack and set the fork into the hay,” said Zada Valvick. “Then my sister would back up the station wagon, which had a rope attached to it, and pull the fork into the barn. Dad would trip the fork, and the hay would fall into the haymow. I would then back the grain truck, which had a rope attached to it and pull the fork out of the haymow and the process would start over.” The sisters were not exempt from would sit in the tractor until their dad saw driving tractors, either. “With only two girls, we were the only they weren’t moving and came to get 2103 US-169 straightened out. | Algona, IA help dad had,” said Annette Valvick. “I them “Dad never got mad at us for our was driving tractor at 9-10 as I’m sure farming antics,” said Zada Valvick. “A Zada was as well.” with a lot of patience.” Website: They were taught to disc, drag, and guyelectronicspecialtiesinc.com 2103 US-169 | Algona, IA “We didn’t plant or combine because plow. The tractor had a narrow front end. Zada Valvick said they struggled with the plowing, ending up in the furrow and See POPPE, Page 42C
ADOLPH POPPE JR. and his wife Geneva were a team inside and out.
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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Poppe Continued from Page 41C we couldn’t drive straight," she added. “Planting time meant my sister and I would be spending time in the back of the grain truck. We would fill five-gallon buckets with seed so he could fill the planter. There weren’t any iPads, phones, etc. to entertain us. We would pull snake grass apart and put it back together, make crowns with braided dandelions, search for four-leaf clovers, play in the dirt and, if we got really bored, we would read.” Like many farms of that time, the Poppe farm grew and processed much of its food. “We butchered, processed, and smoked our own meat,” said Zada Valvick. “They saved all the parts of the cow when they butchered. “Our basement looked like a butcher shop with a large industrial meat saw, tenderizer, grinder and bologna stuffer. Dad made the best ring bologna. The rings were hung onto broomsticks and then
smoked in a small building outside.” Generosity was part of growing up on the Poppe farm. “Mom and Dad freely welcomed people into their hearts and their home whether they were strangers, relatives or friends,” said Zada Valvick. “Guests never left the house without a meal,” she added. “Mom was known to invite people who otherwise would have spent the holidays alone to join us for a meal. Many became lifelong treasured members of our family.” Zada Valvick asked her son Jordan what he remembers about growing up on the Poppe farm. “As soon as Jordan learned to walk,” said Zada Valvick, “he followed my dad around the farm and in the tractors. He was my dad’s right-hand man. I asked Jordan if he had any memories. His reply was, ‘He had a lifetime of memories.’” -Submitted photo
ABOVE RIGHT: The farm of Adolph Poppe Sr. and Carolena is shown with its new barn that above the door says, "A. Poppe 1925."
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
141 years and counting By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
GEORGE — When a farm has been in a family for 141 years, the maze of names connected to its heritage can start to resemble a crookedly planted corn row. For John and Arlyce Elias, their family farm heritage in Lyon County dates back six generations through the maternal side of John’s family. On Oct. 14, 1885, Jelderk and Hermina Wessels bought 320 acres in rural George for $6,400, selling it one month later for the same price to Wessel and Grietje Wessels, John Elias’ great-greatgreat-grandparents. Over the next 100-plus years, the farm was passed down through the family. When Wessel Wessels died in 1898, the land ceded to his wife and their three children: Jelderk, Robert and Martha. Martha’s daughter, Engel {Ludwig) Schoon and her husband Gerd (George) Schoon purchased the land in December 1901. The Schoons had eight children — including John’s grandfather, John (Johannes), who inherited the land when his parents passed away. He and his wife Martha Schoon had three children: Angeline, Henry and Frances. Angeline and her husband Ben Elias, John Elias’ parents, purchased the family farm in
1948, raising three children — Shirley, Daryl and John. They farmed the land until they moved into town in 1976. For a short five-year period, Daryl Elias farmed the land. In 1981, John Elias and his wife Arlyce moved from Sibley onto the home place, where they have lived ever since. Their farm, which includes 79 of the original 320 acres, received Century Farm status in August 2025 at the Iowa State Fair. A portion of those original acres were given to the Zoar Presbyterian Church in 1894. John Elias said he doesn’t know much about how the place was farmed by previous generations, other than through the stories told by his father. “Dad explained to me how they did the planting with a wire check,” Elias said, referring to a method used in the early 1900s where corn was planted in a grid pattern — evenly spaced in all directions. A roll of wire on a drum, with knots every 40 inches, would be rolled across the field. The planter would drop three corn seeds to a hill at each knot. Stakes at each end of the field guided the process. “When you’d get to the other end of the field, you'd just move that stake over so far, hook it up to the planter and plant back,” Elias said. Around the 1940s, he said they switched to drilling seeds every six inches in a row instead
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Six-generation Elias Century Farm survives tornado, fire
LYON COUNTY Elias Century Farm Established: 1885 Acres: 79 Township: Grant Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Six
-Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
JOHN AND ARLYCE ELIAS, of rural George, hold the Century Farm sign they received at the Iowa State Fair in August 2025. Their farm, which has been in John Elias’ family since 1885, is just nine years away from earning Heritage Farm status.
of planting three to a hill. One memory that stands out to Elias is the year his dad decided he was old enough — about 10 or 12 years old — to
try dragging the field. His dad warned him not to get too close to the fence. “I kept getting closer and closer,” said Elias. “Finally, I got
it stuck in the fence.” The process to get “unstuck” took hours. “You can’t back a drag out, so I had to take the whole drag apart and move each section over one by one until it was out of the fence.” He still recalls looking over the rise at one point only to realize his dad had been watching the whole process. “If he had come and helped me, I wouldn’t have learned anything,” Elias said. Other farm antics involved trying to lasso pigs from the haymow over the barn door. “We would go and throw some hay down, just little pieces,” he said. “Then the pigs would come, and we’d sit there and try to lasso them. We found out in short order that you didn't do that See ELIAS, Page 46C
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All in the family Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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Five generations have called Hilleman Anderson farm home MARSHALL COUNTY
By KRISTIN DANLEY GREINER Farm News writer
STATE CENTER — Developments in Altoona erased Karl Anderson’s family farm, but Nancy Anderson’s family farm continues to flourish in Marshall County. Nancy Anderson’s family hailed from Germany and her great-great-grandfather, Fredrick Hilleman, settled not far from State Center. Today, the Andersons’ son, Kevin, his wife, Stef, and their children live on the family’s land. “We sold 10 acres of the original farm to our son, who is buying the remaining 230 acres. He has wanted to farm since he was 5 years old,” Nancy Anderson said. “We rented it from my parents, who farmed it, in 2012, which is the year Kevin graduated from college. So he has been helping out on the farm for years.” Nancy Anderson worked an off-farm job in insurance while Karl Anderson farmed and worked off the farm, too. “He farmed in Polk County where he grew up. At one time, he farmed for about eight retired farmers, plus his uncle and his dad,” Anderson said. “He used his father’s equipment, as well as bought his own. We’re thrilled to have another generation on the farm, but farming is very hard. Karl had to have an off-farm job, because farming doesn’t pay for everything you need, like insurance. Kevin works off-farm as a subcontractor for John Deere, so he’s still involved in the ag industry.” Kevin’s wife, Stef, also works offfarm for Hertz Farm Management. The Andersons also have a daughter who lives in Kansas City, Missouri, whose kids love returning to visit the family farm.
Hilleman Anderson Heritage Farm Established: 1875 Acres: 240 Township: Minerva Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fifth
We’re thrilled to have another generation on the farm, but farming is very hard. -Submitted photo
THE ANDERSON FAMILY was well represented to receive their Heritage Farm Award at the 2025 Iowa State Fair. In back, from left, are Iowa Secretary of State Mike Naig, Stef and Kevin Anderson, JeNell Hilleman, Nancy and Karl Anderson, and Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson. In front, from left, are Maggie Anderson, and Anderson and Lylla Burke.
“It was so cool to receive the Heritage Farm award,” Nancy Anderson said. “My son, daughter-in-law and daughter were all there the day we received it. Even my mom was able to go.” A sixth generation happens to love farming as well, but only as much as she can take on. Maggie, 5, Kevin and Stef’s daughter, helps feed the cows and horses, and gathers eggs. She’s able to scamper up the farm fence and dump water in the
buckets for the livestock. She’d love to have a bottle calf, but her dad says only one thing can have a bottle on the farm at a time, and that’s Maggie’s new monthsold sibling. “So next year, she’ll be a little older and able to take on a bottle calf,” Nancy Anderson said. Sadly, the derecho of 2020 wiped out a lot of the farm’s original buildings and new ones had to be erected in their place.
Nancy Anderson Marshall County Heritage Farm But the farm continues to be in the Hilleman-Anderson family, which is what’s most important. “We wish the buildings were still here, but sometimes you have to roll with the punches. At this point, we’re not a big farmer, but it keeps us tied to the land and enjoying the outdoors,” Nancy Anderson said. “It’s important for us to make sure the land stays in the family, especially since my husband’s family lost their land to where Facebook and Bass Pro were built. We want to keep this farm alive.”
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
Farmstead serves as local landmark
Town of Philby bore family's name
O'BRIEN COUNTY
By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
HOSPERS — When Norm Philby talks about life on his family farm in O’Brien County, the memories are as vivid as if they happened only yesterday. But the farm’s legacy began long before he was born — with his great-grandfather, Enoch Philby. Early beginnings Born in 1841 in Indiana, Enoch Philby’s family migrated west, settling first in Winterset. When the Civil War started, Enoch, his father James and brother John fought side by side. James and Enoch were both discharged early — James due to an injury, and Enoch due to pneumonia. After the war ended, Enoch headed to O’Brien County, staking a claim in the northwest corner of Baker Township 10. “You had to build a home on it within a year,” said Philby. “It was all prairie grass at the time, so he built a little sod hut on it. ... All he had was a wagon and a couple of horses, and he slept underneath his wagon while he built it.” He later returned to Winterset to marry Martha Brown, who joined him in the sod hut to homestead for two more years. On May 20, 1874, Enoch Philby received the official deed to the land from President Ulysses S. Grant. That fall, he built a timber house with red stone hauled from South Dakota for a foundation and lumber from the east, as building materials were scarce. “The nearest lumber was Marcus, where the railroad came from Cherokee,” said Philby. “So he went with his wagon and horses, and loaded up with lumber and built a one-room house.” In addition to crops, Enoch Philby raised horses for the U.S. Cavalry, until one year a sleeping sickness killed the entire herd. Afterward, he continued to raise crops, as well as cows, pigs, sheep and chickens. The small town of Philby sprang up on the corner where the farmstead was located, and included a blacksmith shop, post office, general store, school and church. Enoch Philby was active in the community, serving in a variety of offices, including supervisor of Baker
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Philby Heritage Farm Established: 1874 Acres: 80 Township: Baker Century Farm Award: 2024 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
NORM PHILBY, of Humboldt, stands next to a wall in his home displaying many of the implements and photos from his life on the farm. At left is the Century Farm sign his father received in 1975. In 2024, his family’s farm in O’Brien County earned a Heritage Farm Award, marking 150 years of ownership by the same family. RIGHT: This sign marks where the town of Philby once stood on the edge of the Philby farm in O'Brien County. The Philby Heritage farmland stretches out behind the sign.
Township. Enoch and Martha had four children: Nevada, Elbert, Enos and William. When Enoch died, he had acquired enough land to give 80 acres to each of his children, but only the original 80 remains in the family. This land passed to his son Enos and wife Mae Belle, who raised two children — Howard and Harriet on the farm. Then the farm went to Enos’ son Howard and his wife Madeline, and finally to their son, Norm Philby, and his wife Sharon, of Humboldt. The original Philby farmstead was declared a Heritage Farm in 2024 at the Iowa State Fair, marking 150 years of family ownership. “It’s nice that we have such a long history and record of the farm that goes all the way back,” said Norm Philby, who turned 90 in July.
A shocking move Though Philby’s early years were spent in Sheldon, his father decided to move the family back to the farm in 1944. “I was in the middle of third grade,” said Philby. “We moved out from Sheldon where we had electricity and all that … (to the farm), and we had no running water and no electricity, so it was quite a shock.” He said their outhouse was about 50 yards northeast of the house. “That was always fun when it was cold in the winter,” he said. It was a couple more years before the family would have running water and electricity. This move meant new chores for young Philby. “It was my job to keep the water bucket filled in the house,” Philby said. He said he would trek to the water
pump in the yard so his mother could have water for washing and cooking. There were also usually five to eight cows to milk, twice a day, by hand. When it snowed, everyone had to pitch in. Philby recalled 1949 being a particularly bad year for blizzards. “We had to shovel paths from the house to the barn, to the chicken house, to the hog house,” he said. He and his sister, Marylis, would both stay home from school to help their parents shovel. “We’d all four of us ... go out and scoop all day long trying to get out to the road because we didn’t have any loaders or anything like that,” said Philby, who still has the shovel he used as a child. Winter was also a time to stock up on ice. “They would go down to the crick and cut blocks of ice,” said Philby. That ice would be hauled by horse and wagon from the crick, placed in a hole and covered with sawdust until it was needed. “That would last all summer,” he said. Philby recalled baths as a kid were usually on Saturdays, which his wife Sharon described as “horrible.” See PHILBY, Page 48C
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
www.farm-news.com
Elias Continued from Page 43C too much to any pig over 50 pounds!” On the farm, his family raised oats, hay, corn, beans, hogs and cattle. Elias recalled how they used to walk the oat field and pull all the mustard weed. They also had around 30 sows farrow to finish twice a year. Before combines, they used to pick corn and put it in the corn crib until it could be shelled. When they got a combine in the 1980s, Elias’ father built a shed for it. The Elias farm has seen many buildings come and go over the years, including a barn, corn crib, chicken house, brooder house and machine shed. The oldest remaining building is a hog house that was built in the 1930s or ’40s. Shortly after the Eliases moved back to the farm, the machine shed buckled when the weight of the snow on the roof caused it to collapse. Arlyce Elias, who was in the house at the time, still remembers hearing the loud “whoosh” it made when it fell. The Elias home, built in 1964, was fortunate to survive a tornado when John Elias was growing up. One day, he and his dad had just finished putting in a picture window, only to look out and see a tornado heading across the pasture straight for the house. “About halfway across (the pasture), it lifted up, went over our farm, and back down in the field behind,” said Elias. He said it did this a couple more times, missing the neighboring farms and a nearby church, before it disappeared. There was no damage to any of the farm buildings or property. In 2011, their 1907 barn — once featured in a Historic Barns of Iowa premier issue — was not so lucky. One day, with “no wind to speak of,” Elias was burning sticks and other debris
in a burn hole out in the field when a spark flew up and landed on the roof of the corn crib. “I was sitting out there in the tractor watching the fire, and all of a sudden I looked and I saw a little fire about this big on top of the corn crib on the roof,” Elias said, gesturing with his hands. He immediately called the fire department, but by the time they arrived, the corn crib was fully engulfed. From there, it went to the barn. Another little shed also burned. It took four fire departments to put the fire out. They were able to save the house, garage and a chicken house by keeping them hosed down, though the chicken house was later torn down. “We were very lucky. … The wind was coming this direction,” Arlyce Elias said. “We could have lost the garage. We could’ve lost the house.” Today, John Elias is semi-retired. He still does much of the field work, such as disking and cultivating, but hires others to do the planting and combining. Arlyce owns a bookkeeping business in nearby George. With only nine years until their farm is eligible for Heritage Farm status, the Eliases appreciate their Century Farm even more. “It’s an honor because it takes a lot to have something in one family for 100 years,” John Elias said. Arlyce Elias agreed, and said they plan to someday pass the farm down to their four daughters: Kimberly, Kayla, Andrea and Leisa. In the meantime, she said, “I think we’ll stay here as long as we can.”
-Submitted photo
THIS AERIAL PHOTO shows the Elias family farm as it appeared in 1979. In the foreground are the barn at center and corn crib at right, both of which burned down in a fire in 2011.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Farming with family
Friday, July 24, 2026
Father, sons share farming duties on Osceola County farm
OSCEOLA COUNTY
By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
MELVIN — Larry and Sue Benz’s farm is a working farm that has been passed down through four generations. In August 2025, the Benz family farm achieved Century Farm status, being recognized at the Iowa State Fair as having been in the same family for more than 100 years. The family legacy started with Larry Benz’s great-grandfather, John G. Benz, who immigrated from Germany to Iowa. On March 6, 1913, he bought 80 acres of land in rural Melvin in Osceola County for $80.50 an acre. The owner of four farms, he never lived on the current Benz farm. Instead, it was passed down to his son, Louie Benz, the second oldest of his five children. “Grandpa Louie ended up with this farm and also 80 acres across the road,” said Larry Benz. When he passed away, his three children — Russell, Helen and Don, who are Larry’s father, aunt and uncle — inherited the land. Years later, Benz purchased 13 acres each from his aunt and uncle to add to his father’s land, which was passed down to him and his brother, Dave. When his brother passed away eight years ago, Benz bought his share. Today, he and his wife still live in the original home, likely built in the late 1800s, that came with the land when his great-grandfather bought it. Though the house has since been added onto, two rooms downstairs and two upstairs are original. Around 1930, a living room and upstairs bedroom were added. Over the years, the buildings on the farm have changed. At one time, there were two brooder houses, one chicken house, a feed shed, hog house, and even an old wash house. In 1999, a corn crib was taken down to make room for a new shop, and the barn was taken down in 2012. An old feed shed remains on the farm. A lot has changed in other ways since Grandpa Louie farmed the land. He had pasture and raised cows, chickens and pigs — a typical farm for the day, said Benz. When his dad began farming, he milked cows, fed cattle, and also had
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Benz Century Farm Established: 1913 Acres: 80 Township: Baker Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Submitted photos
ABOVE: The Larry Benz family gathered at the Iowa State Fair in August 2025 to receive the Century Farm Award for their rural Melvin farm in Osceola County. In front, from left, are Simon and Samuel Benz. In the middle row, from left, are Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, Stephanie Benz, Larry and Sue Benz, Megan Benz and Nikole Nuttall, with Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson. In back, from left, are Matt Benz holding Sadie Benz, John Benz and Ashley Benz. BELOW: The Larry Benz farm is shown in an aerial photo as it appeared in the 1950s.
chickens and pigs, in addition to raising corn, oats, beans and alfalfa. “He even had flax when I was a little kid,” said Benz. He still remembers helping his dad on the farm. “I planted some beans for my Dad when I was 13,” Benz said. He still owns the first tractor he learned to drive on — a 1939 John Deere B, which he hopes to restore one day. “It’s hand start. I think it went a whopping 11 miles an hour in high gear,” said Benz, adding that it has no hydraulics or headlights. The Benzes also went from a four-row
planter to a 16-row planter. When his dad retired in 1984, Benz took over the farming operation. He and his wife raised three children, Megan, John and Matthew, now grown, on the farm. For the past 18 years, Benz has raised corn on corn. He also has a 2,400-head hog building, and he plans to have cattle again soon when prices come down. Farming has been made a bit easier since his sons began helping with the operation. Matthew Benz began farming in 2015, while John Benz started farming three years ago and also works as an electrician.
“It makes a difference when you’re farming with your kids, too,” Benz said. “When three of you are buying stuff, you can buy bigger, newer equipment.” It also makes a difference in the workload. “I haven’t had to run the corn planter for two years or the combine for two years,” Benz said. When it comes time to haul corn to the elevator, his daughters-in-law can often be found running the combine. His wife, Sue, helped more before they had children, sometimes plowing at night, but now has a job off the farm. Their children began helping at a young age. “Matt started driving tractor when he was 4 1/2, just putzing around the yard,” said Benz. “When he was 6, he was hauling manure. He’s always been my motor head.” His older son, John, preferred helping with the livestock growing up, but today is often found behind the wheel of the planter come spring time. “If he gets in the seat, you don’t get him out,” said Benz. Meanwhile, his daughter, Megan, who is now the band instructor at Alta-Aurelia High School, once helped sort pigs to help pay for college. “She had bruised knees from the panel hitting them,” Benz said, so she later wore kneepads to protect them. “That’s about the extent of her farming.” Having a Century Farm in the family means a lot to Benz, especially since it’s getting harder for families to hold onto them. “There aren’t a lot of Century Farms,” he said, “so hopefully my boys can go for the Heritage Farm in another 30 some years.”
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
www.farm-news.com
Philby Continued from Page 45C “We had an old metal tub that we brought in from a brooder house,” he said. “We’d heat water on the cook stove and dump it in. My sister always got the first bath, and I always got the cold gray water after her. I was probably the dirtiest because I was always out in the elements more.” Life on the farm Threshing bees were a big deal on the farm. “All the neighbors would get together and help each other one at a time,” Philby said. Neighbors with horse-drawn wagons and hay racks would begin arriving early in the morning, while another neighbor brought his threshing machine, along with an old steam engine and big belt to make it run. “They always had huge meals for the threshers,” he said. “As hot as it was, they had to have those cook stoves going to make meals. I would have to bring in cobs and wood so they could make pies and all that food. I don’t know how they stood it. There was no air conditioning.” Putting up hay before balers came along was another big job. After the hay was cut and raked, Philby said the loose hay would be lifted into the barn on a sling, using a pulley system. “I’d pull a trip (or rope) and dump the hay to the back of the barn,” he said, “wherever we wanted to trip it.” Philby would be kept out of school for a few weeks at cornpicking time. “We had horses with a bang board on one side,” he said. “You could throw the ear and it would hit the bang boards and drop into the wagon.” At corn shelling time, he remembers tying their pant legs off to keep rats from going up them. Philby still recalls his father’s first tractor — a steel-wheeled
-Submitted photos
LEFT: Enoch Philby, at left, and his sons, Enos and William, work with the horses on the Philby farmstead in 1941. BELOW LEFT: Norm Philby and his father, Howard, rebuilt their barn together after a wind storm blew down the west side of the barn of the old barn. Norm Philby said they had enough lumber left over to build a chicken house and garage, with some to spare. BELOW RIGHT: This aerial photo shows the Philby farmstead as it appeared in the 1970s.
Farmall regular. “It was slower than slow,” he said. “The only thing it would pull was a 214 moldboard plow.” But he said he would rather help in the field than with milking cows. “I loved to help my dad,” said Philby. “I couldn’t wait to get home from school; I’d jump on the old tractor and work until supper time.” Changes on the farm Around 1949, Philby said a
wind storm blew the west side of the old barn in, so he and his dad tore it down and built a new one using the same lumber. “We saved every board, pulled every nail out of it, and we built a new barn with that lumber,” he said. The old barn provided enough lumber to also build a chicken house and garage, with lumber to spare. “We did everything by hand as a family,” he said. “We mixed the cement; we dug the footings. We did all the building of the
barn, the shingling, the whole works. We never hired anybody to do anything. It’s still standing today.” While Philby was in the service, his father tore down the old house built by his ancestors, which had served the family for 82 years, and moved another house onto the same spot. Howard Philby farmed until about 1958, then began renting the land. He later sold the acreage with the buildings, but Norm and Sharon Philby still own the original farm land.
Though the town of Philby no longer exists, a sign that says “Philby Corner” remains on the corner of L56 and 400th Street in O’Brien County as a local landmark near the farm. What happens to the land next will be up to the Philbys’ children: Janet, Greg and Susan. Regardless, the Philbys are proud of their farm’s heritage. “It’s nice to achieve that 150 years,” Philby said. “It’s quite a feat.”
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
Unwavering commitment
Marcellus family maintains farm’s legacy in Palo Alto County
PALO ALTO COUNTY
By ELIZABETH ADAMS Farm News writer
WEST BEND — When hearing the phrase “Century Farm,” many think of words like “legacy” or “family.” The Marcellus family has worked hard to keep their farm’s legacy alive for more than a century northwest of West Bend in Palo Alto County. John Peter Marcellus, born in 1880, was an architect and the son of one of the original founders of Humboldt. Marcellus was known to purchase farms around the area, improve them with his architectural skills and resell them to other families. That is exactly what he had in mind when he purchased the original 311.72acre farm northwest of West Bend. Marcellus ended up reclaiming the farm after the purchasers defaulted on payment. He married Luciile Ambrose, assumed a new occupation as a farmer, and the rest is history. John Aaron and Dixie Marcellus are the fourth generation of Marcelluses to work the farm and moved out to the farm in 2013 after living in Mallard. Today the Marcelluses rent out and maintain their 53 acres of the farm, while the remaining original acres belong to other family members. The Marcelluses grow corn, beans, alfalfa and raise livestock. They put up a hog barn in 2021 and agree that it has been a beneficial addition to the farm. The couple gives much credit for their farming success to John’s grandfather, Jim.
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Marcellus Family Century Farm Established: Feb. 15, 1924 Acres: 311.72 Township: Ellington Century Farm Award: 2024 Generation: Fourth
-Photos submitted by John and Dixie Marcellus
ABOVE: Grandpa Jim Marcellus, John Aaron’s grandfather, is pictured on his tractor on the family farm. LEFT: John A. and Dixie Marcellus are the fourth generation to farm their family’s Palo Alto County farm near West Bend.
“Grandpa Jim kept everything going.” Dixie Marcellus “Grandpa Jim kept everything going,” said Dixie Marcellus. Grandpa Jim’s father, (John Peter), had a stroke when he was only 17 years old. At that young age, Jim Marcellus found himself responsible for a majority of the farming. His commitment to the farm and family never wavered after that. It was Grandpa Jim who gave John Aaron the opportunity to start farming when he was younger and was committed to helping the younger Marcellus until his passing in 2012. In addition to the acres that the Marcelluses rent out, they keep 10 acres set aside for working with antique
John Peter Marcellus
Lucille Ambrose
equipment with their kids. “I really enjoy fixing up the antique equipment and getting the kids involved in farming,” said John Marcellus. The couple has three children: Gracie is the oldest at 18 years, Cooper is 12, and Colt is 8. Dixie Marcellus said she enjoys working with the baby pigs on the farm and has enjoyed helping Gracie show animals at their county fair. When not working on the farm, John Marcellus works at the West BendMallard School as the industrial tech instructor. He enjoys driving old cars and restoring and working on equipment. Dixie Marcellus works as an allied health coordinator for Iowa Lakes and enjoys gardening and camping. The Marcelluses both agree that they value watching their children grow. They look forward to them building their skills and hope one of them may one day farm. “We really hope when they get the opportunity to farm,” said Dixie Marcellus, “that they keep things manageable so they might continue the legacy.”
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
‘Raising kids, cattle and corn’
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Ohlendorf farm passes 100-year milestone
By BRET HAYWORTH Farm News writer
REMSEN — Not only does the Ohlendorf family have a farm with the Century Farm label, but fourth generation owner Cody Ohlendorf shared that family members wear shirts with an apt saying: “We Have Been Raising Kids, Cattle And Corn Since 1924.” Located in Remsen Township, just eight miles southeast of the town of Remsen in Plymouth County, two of the original buildings are still functional, with the house and also the barn, which dates to the early 1900s. “I use my barn every day. I have a 3,000-head feed lot; the barn is a hub,” Ohlendorf said. Ben and Ella Ohlendorf bought the tract of 160 acres at $100 per acre in August 1924 after living a few miles away. They soon began farming row crops and small grains, while also raising chickens, dairy cattle and other livestock. Cody Ohlendorf said he isn’t sure what exactly appealed to Ben Ohlendorf about the location: “The story I heard was that Grandpa Glen moved there (with his parents) when he was 6 months old.” The subsequent owners were Glen and Betty Ohlendorf, their son Dean Ohlendorf, and now Dean’s son Cody and wife Jennifer Ohlendorf.
As he operates Ohlendorf Feeders, Cody Ohlendorf likes the location along a paved county road for being about equidistant to both Remsen and Marcus, and for proximity to the Little Sioux ethanol plant. “There are lots of opportunities for grain purchasing and merchandising,” he said. Ohlendorf knew the 100th anniversary of Ohlendorf
ownership was approaching, and looked forward to pursuing that. “I knew we were very close to being a Century Farm,” he said. However, his father Dean died in late 2023, and that made for a “blur” and a lot to process, so some things got sidetracked. Some time later, a friend helped get the Century Farm application
Ohlendorf Century Farm Established: 1924 Acres: 160 Township: Remsen Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
PLYMOUTH COUNTY -Submitted photo
THIS AERIAL PHOTO is a relatively recent view of the Ohlendorf farm in Plymouth County.
See OHLENDORF, Page 51C
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-Submitted photo
THE OHLENDORF FARM is shown as it appeared in 1955.
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Ohlendorf Continued from Page 50C paperwork, and also helped him fill it out and get it filed at the courthouse. In working through that, Cody and Jennifer, via talking to relatives from the older generation, got a much better grasp of the family history. They eventually learned the farm got the designation. There are other Century Farms in the area near the Ohlendorf place. Cody Ohlendorf somewhat frequently hears compliments from neighbors about the award. Not a fan of big crowds, he skipped the August 2025 ceremony, but that doesn’t mean he is not appreciative of the Century Farm designation. “I view it as an honor and a privilege,”
Ohlendorf said. “I am grateful that we have been able to earn this honor ... and look forward to carrying it forward for more generations in our family.” Jennifer Ohlendorf was not raised on a farm, but grew into that lifestyle, and now she “helps out a lot,” Cody Ohlendorf said. Also providing labor and other skills are their three children, with two daughters and a son, ranging in age from 14 to 17 years old. “They help work cattle,” Ohlendorf said. All in all, he said farming has been a good occupation for the Ohlendorfs over four generations on their Plymouth County family farm.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
A four-generation farm
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Century Farm once featured area’s first all-electric home
By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
POCAHONTAS — The home forms the hub of life on the farm — and that was true for each generation of Janet Bellows’ family who lived on their rural Pocahontas farm. This legacy began with her grandparents, George and Julia Stroup, who originally bought 80 acres in Grant Township for $60 an acre on Jan. 29, 1924. George Stroup’s parents died at a young age, so when he was 16, he and his brother Sam moved west together from Pennsylvania, settling a few miles southwest of today’s Pocahontas. “Grandpa worked on different farms until he got enough money to farm and buy his own place,” said Bellows. After living on the farm a few years, George and Julia built the house that four generations would call home. They raised their two children — Loren and Marjorie — there. When they retired, they passed the farm down to Bellows’ parents, Roy and Marjorie (Stroup) Balder, who lived upstairs in the farm house when they first got married. They raised their children — Dennis, Julie, Janet and Betty — on the farm. “My dad farmed it, and he raised a lot of livestock,” Bellows said. “He had cattle, pigs and chickens, and sold the eggs. That was kind of a money maker.” She said the egg money was used to buy groceries. But the chickens created a lot of work, from raising them in the brooder house to butchering time when they filled the freezer with meat. “(Mom) would tie them to the fence and cut their heads off and let them flop,” Bellows said. “That’s what you remember about being a kid on the farm.” In addition to corn and soybeans, the Balders also raised a few sheep, but there were always cattle. “My dad would have calves all the time,” she said. “He brought in the bull to breed the cows and we’d have little calves.” Bellows also recalls walking beans
and baling hay with her dad. When her brother left to serve in the military during the Vietnam War, she had to step into a new role on the farm. “My sister didn’t care much for farming, so I got promoted to the tractor,” Bellows said. “I probably grew more love for the land by helping my Dad more.” She even helped inoculate the soybeans with chemicals by hand. The Balders farmed the land until Janet and her husband Robert returned to the farm in 1982, where they in turn raised See BELLOWS, Page 53C
Janet and Robert Bellows Century Farm Established: 1924 Acres: 62 Township: Grant Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Third
POCAHONTAS COUNTY -Submitted photo
MARJORIE BALDER, Janet Bellows' mother, is pictured near her new electric range. The Balder home was featured in an article for having the area's first all-electric home.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
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Bellows Continued from Page 52C their three children — Karla (Bellows) Weiss, Kayleen (Bellows) Tometich, and Jon Bellows. Janet Bellows said the farm was unique in that a crick ran through it, so her Dad would drive a tractor over a bridge, which connected the two sides of the farm. Today, the farm land she and her husband Robert own is on one side of the crick, while her three siblings equally share the land on the other side. The Bellows’ 62 original acres achieved Century Farm status in 2025 at the Iowa State Fair. “I’m very proud that we’ve had that farm,” Bellows said. Now retired, the Bellows live in Pocahontas. Their son Jon and his wife, Lynn, live on and farm the land, where they are raising their four children — Brody, Maci, William and Henry — becoming the fourth and fifth generations to work the land. In addition to corn and soybeans, they have a couple of cattle and a few chickens, which are mainly raised to meet the family’s needs.
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“I was very sad when the house burned; there were a lot of beautiful memories there.” — Janet Bellows Century Farm owner
Jon Bellows still remembers helping his dad on the farm with livestock and also row-crop cultivating. “He had a tractor with a cab, and there was a fender inside that cab where I would sit,” he said. “I was pretty little.” He also recalls playing in the yard as a kid, and “the sheep would be yelling” at him. Sadly, the four-generation home his family lived in burned in a tragic electrical fire in 2025. Today, the farm home is being rebuilt. “The thing that is unique about it is we all lived in the house until the fire,” said
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Janet Bellows. “I was very sad when the house burned; there were a lot of beautiful memories there.” She said their family’s home was once featured in an Iowa Lakes Rural Electric Cooperative pamphlet as being the area’s first all-electric home, with a photo of her mother proudly standing beside her electric stove. Looking to the future, Janet Bellows said, “It’d be nice to see one of the grandkids (farm), but the way farming is, you just wonder what the future is.” For now, that future looks bright, as Jon Bellows’ wife and children are all invested in the farm. “Everybody helps,” said Jon Bellows. He said his oldest son Brody likes to help with the equipment, while his daughter Maci enjoys working with the livestock and wants to be a vet. “It’s an honor and a privilege,” said Jon Bellows, reflecting on his family’s Century Farm status. “It’s pretty awesome that I get to farm the same ground that my family has for over 100 years.”
-Submitted photo
THIS ARTICLE, published circa 1960, features Roy and Marjorie Balder’s home on their farm near Pocahontas after the installation of several pieces of electric equipment, including a range, water heater, clothes dryer and freezer.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Life on the edge
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Hommer family maintains Polk County Century Farm
By KRISTIN DANLEY GREINER Farm News writer
POLK CITY — From farming to the Marines to racing, Jay Hommer has lived a life on the edge. His family’s Polk City farm now rests in the hands of his two sisters and himself. Hommer’s children own 10 acres with the family’s farm house and a pond on it, while the remaining 70 acres consists of tillable ground. “My grandparents bought the farm in 1925. My grandfather’s parents were from Germany, and my grandmother’s family lived in the Indianola area,” Hommer said. “My grandmother was the first female letter carrier in Iowa. We have a photo showing her driving a horse-drawn cart as she delivered the mail in the Sandyville area.” When originally settled, the farm had corn, oats, soybeans and alfalfa hay ground, as well as livestock. Hommer’s father, William, was born on that farm, as was his aunt. His dad carried on the tradition of tending to the ground most of his life. “I still have the old cream separator they used to separate the milk from the cream produced by the cows on the farm,” Hommer said. “They also had chickens and a huge garden. They even had a produce route where they delivered cream, vegetables and eggs in north Des Moines.” Hommer’s dad built a new farmhouse decades ago for his new bride, Hommer’s mother, Eunice, who happened to be a Fuller. “She’s a Fuller, as in West Des Moines’ Fuller Road. Her family had a little 40See HOMMER, Page 56C
-Submitted photo
THE HOMMER FAMILY received their Century Farm Award at the 2025 Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. From left are Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, Jay Hommer and his wife Linda, their daughter Lindsay Hommer and son Lee Hommer, with Iowa Farm Bureau President Brent Johnson.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
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Hommer Continued from Page 55C acre farm in what’s now the Jordan Creek area. Unfortunately, they sold that long ago. If they’d have waited to sell, they wouldn’t have had to work,” Hommer said. “The Bennett School House — my grandmother on my mom’s side taught in that school.” Hommer’s parents retired from farming in the late 1950s and moved into a cozy house in Ankeny. They rented the farm out to others at that point. “I grew up where my dad lived as a child just 1.5 miles from the heart of the family farm,” Hommer said. “All through high school, I helped farm, then went to Iowa State for college, got my commission in the Marine Corps and spent the next 10 years as an officer in the Marine Corps. We lived all over in those 10 years. I was commissioned in 1976 with Quantico in Virginia, Camp Pendleton in California, then North Carolina, Okinawa, Kansas City and finally Yuma, Arizona. Along the way, I accumulated a wife, Linda, and a couple of kids. My wife and I just celebrated our 50th anniversary last year. I feel very fortunate for that.”
POLK COUNTY Hommer Farms LLC Century Farm Established: 1923 Acres: 70 Township: Lincoln Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth After returning to Iowa from their worldly travels, Hommer and his family settled in Ankeny and worked for an East Coast financial services company, training registered reps, approving and disapproving securities trades. Sadly, Hommer’s mom died at 69 and his father passed away in 2017, leaving the family farm in the care of him and his sisters in a limited liability corporation they formed.
Currently, the ground is rented out to a high school friend, who has farmed all his life. “I farmed for the first 18 years of my life. I knew I didn’t want to be a farmer, but knew I wanted to keep the farm alive and in the family,” Hommer said. “We were excited to be honored as a Century Farm. My two kids live in the original farmhouse. One has the upstairs and the other downstairs.” A 45-by-70-foot machine shed on the farm was refinished by Hommer. He poured concrete over the dirt floor and put new siding on it. It’s now called their toy barn. “My wife and I have a hobby involving Corvettes. My wife actually is a very accomplished competitive driver, so we keep the Corvettes at the barn along with other antique cars. I initially raced and encouraged her to attend an event with me and try it. When she finished her race and got out of the ’Vet, she had two questions for me — when was the next event and how could the car go faster. She even won a national event in 2007
“I farmed for the first 18 years of my life. I knew I didn’t want to be a farmer, but knew I wanted to keep the farm alive and in the family. We were excited to be honored as a Century Farm.” Jay Hommer Polk County Century Farm owner with over 700 competitors.” Linda Hommer races a 1972 Corvette Coupe fondly called “the toad.” “She wanted red with tops that came off,” Hommer said, “and I came home with a green Coupe that looks like a toad sitting in the driveway.”
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
For the love of the farm
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Allen preserves family farm’s 150-year legacy
By DEANNA MEYER Farm News writer
EARLY — Farming is in Steve Allen’s blood, just like it was in his father’s and grandfather’s and great-grandfather’s before him. At age 7, he learned to drive using his grandfather’s 1935 F20 Farmall tractor. “By the time I was 11 years old, I was stacking bales on the (hay) rack six high,” said Allen. “Some kids shudder at the thought, and it drives them off. I was one of those guys, for some reason or other, that loved the punishment.” For Allen, whose ancestors once served in George Washington’s army, this farm heritage is one worth keeping. “That kind of history, some people it doesn’t mean much to,” he said, “but for some of us, it just stuck.” The lure of the farm — and its history — is what led Steve Allen and his wife, DeAnn, to leave their life in Washington, D.C., where they met shortly after graduating from college, to return to Iowa. In 1976, they moved onto the rural Early farm that had previously been owned by Steve’s aunt, Nellie Falconer. At that point, the land had already been in the family for 100 years. Allen’s great-great-grandfather, Charles Falconer, immigrated from Scotland to the United States in 1841. After working as a gardener in Massachusetts for about 14 years, he moved to Delaware County, Iowa, where he bought some farm land. On Jan. 26, 1875, he bought 400 acres in today’s Sac County from the Iowa Railroad Land Company for $6.60 an acre as an investment. “It really wasn’t settled until the 1890s when his son James moved out here and established this farm,” Allen said. That first winter, the James Falconer family lived in a small building, which later became a granary, while their house was being built. That granary still stands today; in the 1980s, Allen shored it up with steel siding to preserve the building and its history. Over the years, many additions and changes were made to the 1890s farm home. Small porches and a second floor were added, replacing a small attic. When the Allens moved in, “DeAnn
SAC COUNTY Steve Allen Heritage Farm Established: Jan. 26, 1875 Acres: 180 Township: Cook Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fifth
-Farm News photo by Deanna Meyer
STEVE AND DEANN ALLEN, of rural Early in Sac County, hold the Heritage Farm Award they received in August 2025 at the Iowa State Fair, marking 150 years of ownership by the same family.
started a massive refreshment of this place,” Allen said. The current dining room was once a kitchen, and today’s kitchen still had an old cob cook stove when they first moved in. DeAnn Allen repainted the woodwork and reframed doorways, and had the porches enclosed. The original barn was torn down in the 1980s. “I would’ve loved to save that barn, but it was in terrible, terrible shape,” said Allen. Pictures from the farm’s early days show two buggy sheds and a barn for Angus cows. Allen said the lumber for the barn came by team and wagon from Odebolt.
On the barn’s south side was a milking parlor, on the east was a loafing barn, and on the west were box stalls for horses. “From stories, I can tell you James Falconer farmed the ground with horses,” said Allen. He is also said to have used tiling spades to lay in all of the old tile and to have dug several cisterns. “I cannot believe how hard they had to work,” Allen said. James Falconer and his wife Mary, Allen’s great-grandparents, had three children: Everett, Nellie and Effie. When the couple passed away, the farm was divided among the children. Allen’s grandparents, Effie and George Allen,
received 130 acres. His great-aunt Nellie inherited a share, and later acquired her brother’s share, owning the other 270 acres. During her years of ownership, she sold a portion of the land. Today, Steve and DeAnn Allen own his grandparents’ original 130 acres, plus 50 acres his father bought back from Nellie Falconer. Their 180 acres was designated a Heritage Farm at the 2025 Iowa State Fair, marking 150 years of ownership by the same family. Though Allen grew up on a farm near Odebolt, he recalled spending a lot of time at his grandparents’ place. Married around 1920, George and Effie farmed what Allen now refers to as “the place next door.” The couple had two sons — Gail and Stanley, Steve’s father. “My dad was born in the house next door in 1927,” said Allen. A World War I veteran, George Allen raised hogs, sheep and dairy cattle. In 1930, just before the Depression, he built a barn, corn crib and hog house. He also sold Dekalb hybrid seed corn during the 1930s. In the fall of 1935, he bought an F20 Farmall from Wadsley Implement in Early. “Supposedly, it was the first rubbertired Farmall that got sold,” Allen said. “Everything prior to that had been steel tires.” Allen later learned to drive on that very tractor. “In 1957, my dad put me on it, raking straw behind his combine,” he said. “I was 7 years old, and I could barely reach See ALLEN, Page 59C
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Friday, July 24, 2026
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Allen Continued from Page 58C the clutch. ... Back in the day, that was a thrill for me as a farm kid. I loved driving that old tractor.” He has since had the tractor restored and today uses it for his hobby of antique tractor pulling. Since Gail Allen never farmed, the farm eventually went to his brother Stanley and his wife Charlotte. “My dad dropped out of school after the first semester of his freshman year, and he became the hired man,” said Allen. “Dad could build anything, fix anything.” In 1968, his father was one of the first to delve into conservation with a Buffalo ridge till operation — a system of farming where ridges are formed to plant the seed, using a cultivator to first throw dirt away from the row, then back up into a ridge on the second pass. This system made use of the “trash,” or last year’s crop residue, to hold moisture and to serve as a natural mulch, helping control weeds. In 1975, Stanley Allen received the Sioux City Journal’s Conservation Farmer Award.
Steve Allen continued his father’s conservation farming practices, raising corn and soybeans. In 1974, while Allen was still working in D.C., he and an Iowa friend formed a hog corporation with a group of friends and fellow farmers. “We had the first hog farrowing unit built (near Cushing). The first pigs started coming out in 1975,” said Allen. “We fed out feeder pigs from the unit and farmed together until 1991.” That was when his dad and uncle were ready to retire. Allen continued to farm and upbreed cattle, selling most of his herd in 2024. At 76, Allen is slowing down a bit. He rents the farmland to a neighbor and has a small herd of 25 heifers that graze in the front pasture. The Allens plan to pass their Heritage Farm on to their two sons, Eric and Greg, and their grandchildren. “The heritage and history thing always meant a lot to me,” said Allen. “I always liked life on the farm.”
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-Submitted photo
THE ALLEN FARM in Sac County is shown as it appeared in the 1920s.
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Faith and perseverance
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Winter Heritage Farms stand the test of time SIOUX COUNTY
By BRET HAYWORTH Farm News writer
BOYDEN — Less than a decade after the Civil War ended, one of the first properties in Sioux County was homesteaded. Now, 150 years have passed and the property has earned the Heritage Farm designation from the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. The 80-acre parcel that now lies along 290th Street was homesteaded by Claus H. and Metta Winter in October 1871, after a journey of 300 miles. They then added a second piece close by, across the road, in 1873. Both got the Century Farm designation in 1971 and 1973, then the Heritage Farm honors in 2025, said Debbie Woelber, who is a great-granddaughter of Claus and Metta. Woelber said their tale is one of faith and perseverance. “The settlers at that time worked hard. They were immigrants,” she said. “They went through severe weather, blizzards, grasshopper swarms.” It took perseverance just to get to Sioux County. Most of that story is retained today, since Woelber’s mother wrote an article that was dictated by Woelber’s grandfather in the 1960s. Claus Winter was an immigrant from Germany, who came over with a brother, August, in 1869. He initially lived near the hilly Mississippi River area of McGregor, Iowa. He met and married his wife Metta in 1870. “A trapper persuaded him to come west,” Woelber said. Arriving with two young children, plus two oxen, a cow
Winter Heritage Farm 1 Established: Oct. 5, 1871 Acres: Originally 80 Township: Sheridan Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
Winter Heritage Farm 2 Established: Sept. 5, 1873 Acres: Originally 80 Township: Sheridan Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
--Submitted photo
THIS WOOD-FRAMED HOUSE, built by Claus Winter in 1873, still serves as the garage on the family farm today, which is owned by Claus' great-granddaughter, Susan.
“The settlers at that time worked hard. They were immigrants. They went through severe weather, blizzards, grasshopper swarms.” Debbie Woelber Sioux County Heritage Farm owner
and a covered wagon as their main possessions, the Winters liked the flatter Sioux County landscape. There were no trees, so they first lived under the upside down wagon. Next came a sod house, then a wooden frame house. They were required to live on their claim for five years before they became the rightful owners. In 1876, Claus Winter then mortgaged the land to buy the 40 acres directly across the road for 50 cents an acre. The subsequent farm owners were his son, William A., and wife Maria Winter, followed by their son, Wallace C., and his wife Lena Mae Winter. The four See WINTER, Page 61C
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Friday, July 24, 2026
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Winter Continued from Page 60C children of Wallace and Lena include Debbie Woelber, Daryl Winter, Mary Beth Johnsen and Susan Bonestroo, who is the family member living at the original homesteaded property. One original building still stands and is now used as a garage. At the time, the area was populated by many Germans of the Lutheran faith, before a large influx of Dutch people followed. Claus Winter was among the founders of a Lutheran church and later donated land for a cemetery. “They were true to their faith,” Woelber said. “They only had their faith when they came here. They had to be selfsupporting. They had to raise what they ate.” The Winter farm operation consisted of livestock and grain
farming. “My great-grandfather raised cattle, and my Dad had a dairy herd,” Woelber said. She has a lot of pride in the Winter family farm’s legacy of the past 15 decades. Her husband Ken undertook much of the work at the county courthouse to pursue the Heritage Farm designation, with applications needed for each of the two properties. Woelber gets a bit emotional when she reflects on having two Heritage Farms in the family, with a legacy that has now reached 155 years. Pausing to collect herself, she said, “Someday I hope there is a fifth generation of Winter farm ground still being farmed on 290th Street.”
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--Submitted photo
THIS WOODFRAMED HOUSE was the first home of Claus and Metta Winter, according to family history records. The home was built in the spring of 1876. Its dimensions were 14 feet by 20 feet. The lean-to was built at a later date. The couple's previous home was made of sod. The first child born in the house was Peter Frederick Winter, on Nov. 22, 1877.
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Finding joy in hard work
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Uthe family passes on a legacy of farming STORY COUNTY
By LORI BERGLUND Farm News writer
STORY COUNTY — One never knows the moments that a grandchild will remember, that will serve as a legacy of one’s life, that will teach and help guide that younger generation someday down the road as they make their own way in life. For Jordan Uthe, that one little moment happened on a blistering summer day on a dusty gravel road near what is now the Uthe Family Century Farm in Lafayette Township of far northwestern Story County. “We farmed a farm that I guess was a half mile away, and I remember offering grandpa a ride on this really hot day,” Jordan Uthe recalled. “He said, ‘I’m fine, I’ll just walk.’ And that’s just an example of how he always was.” Work was second nature to Jordan’s grandfather, the late Dan Uthe. And a walk between farms, even in the summer heat, came with the territory. He recalls his grandfather as a man who took pride in his work and, just as importantly, who enjoyed it. “You didn’t cut corners, you just did the job right,” Jordan Uthe recalled. “And he was always happy, always laughing. I guess in my (off-farm) work life, you see a lot of people who wake up every day and it’s like the world’s against them. He never had that attitude, and I think that takes you a long ways.” Jordan Uthe’s dad, Gary Uthe, recalled yet another generation back, to his own grandfather, Anton Uthe. “He was a big man, big hands, kind
Uthe Family Century Farm Established: March 1, 1920 Acres: 120, originally Township: Lafayette Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photo by Lori Berglund
JORDAN AND HOLLY UTHE are raising their children where his dad grew up. The Uthe family includes, from left, Gary, Sue, Holly, Justin, James, Jordan and Annabelle. While this house is not part of the Century Farm tract, it is nearby and is part of the larger family farm.
of strong — not stern — but a powerful man,” Gary Uthe recalled. His nature was that of a hard-working German man who also enjoyed playing cards. Long before screens, a simple deck of cards was a very popular form of entertainment that allowed people to converse as they played. “That’s how I learned to play cards,” Gary Uthe recalled. “We played Pitch. I was playing cards before I was in school,
maybe 4 or 5 years old.” But play came second to work. In addition to a big garden, he remembered how his grandfather would butcher his own hogs and cattle. “They would cut it up in the garage, hang it upstairs in the house, and then they would dry it and salt it,” Gary Uthe recalled. Such early preservation methods ensured there would be protein in the diet
year-round. During the Great Depression, it gave farmers a healthy advantage to be able to provide their own food for their family. It was Anton Uthe, with his wife Esther (Reichart) Uthe, who first purchased what is now the Century Farm in 1920 at a cost of $325 per acre. The parcel would also pass to Gary Uthe’s uncle, Joseph, and wife Grace Uthe, before now being shared by Gary and wife Sue Uthe, and son Jordan and wife Holly Uthe. The Century Farm tract is one part of the larger family farm that has gone through many changes, seasons of growth and challenges over the years. A 1956 Ames Daily Tribune article noted that Anton and Esther Uthe’s sons, Dan and Clarence Uthe, were farming some 520 acres together — a sizable number for that time period. The elder Anton Uthe joked with the reporter that “I do the bossing” for the farm. Of his original 120-acre tract, which See UTHE, Page 63C
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Friday, July 24, 2026
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Uthe Continued from Page 62C is now the Century Farm, planting intentions for 1956 included 38 acres of corn, 25 acres of oats, 8 acres of beans, and 30 acres for hay and pasture, with the remainder not designated, but clearly a very diversified farm, as was common in that era. The same 1956 news article said the Uthes raised 100 head of hogs in 1955, but were anticipating a smaller herd in 1956. They also had a buck and 28 ewes, along with 10 cows and 28 head of feeder cattle. They were busy, and that is something that has not changed for the Uthes. While Gary Uthe works full-time on the farm, his son Jordan Uthe works on the farm and also has a full-time, off-farm job as a district sales manager for Corteva. They also have a 40-head cow-calf herd. Jordan Uthe is an Iowa State University grad with degrees in agronomy and seed science.
-Photo courtesy of the Uthe family
THIS MID-CENTURY AERIAL VIEW of the original farmstead purchased by Anton and Esther Uthe in 1920 depicts the typical diversified nature of farms during that time period.
“It can be a lot at times, but it’s kind of been what I’ve done. I don’t know any different,” Jordan Uthe said. “I always wanted to farm, absolutely.” Work is a theme that resonates through the generations of this family. But it is work in which they find value and meaning,
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something Jordan Uthe describes easily. “I kind of like everything about it, to be honest,” he said. “I like the fact that there are seasons and that the job changes. Every day, you don’t know exactly what you are going to get into. I like the ownership of it. If you
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want to do a better job, you can succeed. It’s up to you.” Lessons learned from his grandparents, Dan and Marie (Jordan) Uthe, still resonate with this youngest generation on the farm. “I like being part of the family legacy,” Jordan Uthe said. “This is what Grandpa did; this is what Dad did.” Both Gary Uthe and son Jordan Uthe also gave great credit to those who have joined the family and added to its legacy for the future. While Gary’s wife, Sue, grew up on a farm, the life of a farmer’s wife was completely new to Jordan’s wife, Holly. She grew up in West Des Moines, more familiar with multi-lane interstates than dusty gravel roads. “The biggest challenge for me was not having quick access to things, not living right next to a grocery store,” she said.
But she is learning there are benefits, such as fresh vegetables from the garden and fresh eggs every morning. “I like having a garden and chickens,” Holly Uthe said. While she has done a little canning, she is also busy as mom to the couple’s three children, and has a full-time job in physical therapy at McFarland Clinic. The couple’s three children, Annabelle, Justin, and James, clearly enjoy living on the farm and learning more about the generations that went before them. As for Jordan Uthe, the youngest generation of current farmers, he hopes to do the same. “The farm isn’t yours,” he said. “It’s not really for you. You’re just the keeper of it. That’s the way it was always presented, and I think that’s been a good, driving force for us. We are stewards of it to get it to the next generation.”
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Family farm grows from diverse roots
Three branches of family share Century Farm
WEBSTER COUNTY
By LORI BERGLUND Farm News writer
DUNCOMBE — Thomas Gannon had deep roots in the American story. Born in Vermont in September 1855 — just six years before the start of the Civil War — Vermont was a state that had already embraced freedom. Its motto, “Freedom and Unity,” was backed up by the fact that Vermont was the first state to abolish slavery, doing so in 1777, when the nation was but a year old, according to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Not only that, but Vermont even granted African American males the right to vote. Women, of every color, would have to wait more than another century. It is in this America — one on the verge of Civil War — that Gannon’s parents, Patrick and Ellen (Mullen) Gannon, who had come from Ireland, decided to follow the westward migration. The family settled first at Waukesha, Wisconsin. Thomas Gannon was raised in Wisconsin from the age of 5. He would move to Iowa as a young man and begin farming, first in Hamilton County. He would eventually meet a girl by the name of Julia Anthony. Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, she was seven years younger than Gannon. They married in 1882 and would have one son, Porter Gannon, and three daughters: Hattie (Gannon) Fetrow, Ida (Gannon) Steinmaus and Clara (Gannon) Berry. From their scattered beginnings in Ireland, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Michigan, Thomas and Julia Gannon found a home where their descendants
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Gannon/Berry Century Farm Established: June 9, 1925 Acres: 75.31 originally, 288.57 currently Township: Washington Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Farm News photo by Lori Berglund
THREE BRANCHES of the Thomas and Julia Gannon family now share the Gannon/Berry Century Farm near Duncombe in Webster County. From left are Mary Berry, Diane (Berry) Willard and Gary Moeller.
could sink deep roots into the rich prairie soil of Webster County, settling down near Duncombe. Theirs is a story truly common to many early immigrants, as hunger from the great potato famine drove millions from Ireland in the mid 19th century. Here in Iowa, they found a land of fertile soil with the capacity to help feed the world, even a century hence. The family tradition is carried on yet today by three branches of the Gannon family tree, who together shared the
Century Farm designation under the Gannon/Berry Family Farms name in 2025. Gannon was 70 years old when he and wife Julia purchased the Washington Township farm that would become the Century Farm. He paid $252.29 per acre in 1925. The couple’s youngest daughter, Clara (Gannon) Berry was living on the farm with her husband, Russell Berry, and she would eventually pass it on to succeeding generations.
Diane (Berry) Willard; Mary Berry, wife of the late Richard Berry; and Gary Moeller, husband of the late Jane Moeller, each own separate tracts of the Gannon/ Berry farm and proudly share the legacy of a century of farming near Duncombe. Their stories are unique, but entwined by their common roots within the family farm. “I fed a lot of people on the farm,” Mary Berry recalled. Whether it was haying time, or shelling out the crib, like many farm wives of her day, she seemed to be always busy cooking homemade meals for hungry men who worked long hours in the hot sun. Diane Willard recalled those days as well, and especially how the neighbors all worked together. “There was a baling crew,” Willard recalled. “It was really a group of neighbors and they went from place to place, all baling together. It was just See BERRY, Page 65C
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Berry Continued from Page 64C neighbors who would come in and help each other.” Baling and shelling took many hands, but it was anytime, really, that if a farm needed help, the neighbors were quick to lend a hand. “A lot of times, if someone was sick, the neighbors came in and helped without asking,” Mary Berry recalled. A Ruthven area native, Mary Berry also grew up on a farm and met her husband, Richard, while he was in the service. She now spends winter in town, but has lived nearly all of her life on the farm, and was happy to raise the couple’s four children on the farm. “There was a lot of room to play,” she recalled. “But we were also close to town (Duncombe), and it was just a good place for kids to grow up.” Willard is quick to agree, and it seemed to make for stronger bonds among siblings. “I have lots of good memories on the
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-Submitted photo
AN AERIAL VIEW of the Gannon/Berry farmstead was taken in the mid 20th century.
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Friday, July 24, 2026
Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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Berry Continued from Page 65C
-Submitted photo
THOMAS AND JULIA GANNON purchased their Washington Township farm in Webster County in 1925.
farm,” Willard said. “My brother and sister and I were very close in age, so we played together all the time.” At least three branches of the family were all within a section of each other, so it was easy to go back and forth — visiting for the adults, and playing for the kids. Even bean walking time wasn’t all bad when the family worked well together. “My birthday is July 6, so we didn’t start walking until July 7,” Willard recalled. “I always got to have my birthday before we started.” When Willard’s mother passed away in 2008, she and her siblings took their time, thinking it over, about what to do with the farmland. “We held onto it for a while, just trying to decide, just sitting on it,” she recalled. “I was wanting to keep it, so one day it dawned on me, I’ll buy them out.” Looking back, Willard is pleased with her decision. “It went very smoothly,” she said. “We were all in agreement, and I gave them market price.”
Gary Moeller considers himself a steward of the land for his children. His wife inherited the farm from her parents and placed it in his trusted hands. He said the farm was always a place of happy memories for his wife, Jane Moeller. “I remember her talking about going to her grandmother’s house in town, five or six blocks away, and it was a great childhood for her,” he said.
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In time, he looks forward to passing down the farm to his daughter and grandson, keeping it in the family for another generation. From diverse paths, Thomas and Julia Gannon found their way to rural Webster County more than a century ago. Now, as the nation celebrates its 250th birthday in 2026, their descendants continue to honor the family farm tradition.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Generations of hard work By BRET HAYWORTH Farm News writer
SALIX — After emigrating from Germany, when some of the Topf family came to Iowa in the late 1800s, they initially lived in Clinton County in eastern Iowa and then Crawford County and Monona County in western Iowa over the course of less than 30 years. So it was perhaps impossible to imagine that the family would plant longstanding roots south of Sioux City. However, Nicholas “Nick” and wife Lucy Topf moved to rural Salix in Woodbury County in August 1925 on an 80-acre parcel. Then, in 2025, the Topf clan got to be part of a Century Farm
designation event. Matt Topf, who lives with wife Anne as part of the fourth Topf generation along 280th Street just east of Salix, recalls his greatgrandfather Nick picking him up from grade school. Matt would then help on the farm from a young age. “My Great-Grandpa Nick put everything he had into this farm. There is no doubt he would be proud (of the place becoming a Century Farm),” Topf said. The four generations included Nick and Lucy Toph, Lawrence and Eileen Topf, Larry and Marilyn Topf, and Matt and Anne Topf. Nick Topf was born in 1896 and, after serving in World War I, married Lucy, who had been a teacher. While See TOPF, Page 69C
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Topf family takes pride in carrying on their Century Farm's legacy
WOODBURY COUNTY Topf Family Century Farm Established: 1925 Acres: 80 Township: Lakeport Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fourth
-Submitted photo
MATT AND ANNE TOPF are the owners of a Century Farm near Salix in Woodbury County.
-Submitted photo
THE TOPF FAMILY CENTURY FARM is shown in this aerial photo taken in 1972 in Woodbury County.
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Topf Continued from Page 68C raising crops of corn and soybeans, he also raised Duroc boars for 40 years on that farm, which is located in Lakeport Township. Nick Topf also was involved in organizing the Woodbury County Rural Electric Cooperative when modern infrastructure came to the area. Other big pursuits for him included being on the Woodbury County Farm Bureau and Woodbury County Fair Board for more than 40 years. The home acreage added modern conveniences as the years rolled on. The next Topf generation on the farm was Lawrence and Eileen (Ordway), who continued farming and raising purebred Durocs. The third generation, Larry and wife Marilyn Topf, added the Chester White breed to the Duroc boars sales. Larry also served in the 185th Air National Guard unit near Sioux City. “The fact that the farm has been in the family is a huge accomplishment. It’s
“Being a part of the family chain that made 100 years possible is something I take great pride in. It’s not always been easy, but it has always been worth it.” Matt Topf Woodbury County Century Farm owner
taken generations of hard work,” Matt Topf said. “Being a part of the family chain that made 100 years possible is something I take great pride in. It’s not always been easy, but it has always been worth it.” All four of the Topf generations had many children and grandchildren. Matt Topf continues to farm and work at MidAmerican Energy, and continues the family legacy of serving on the Woodbury County Fair Board.
Caron, a son of Matt and Anne, was at the Century Farm ceremony last year, and was glad to be there. “Maybe the future will continue with the Topf name,” Matt Topf said. Most counties in Iowa have anywhere from 90 to 400 Century Farms. Woodbury County has 200 such farms.
-Submitted photo
ORIGINAL FARM OWNERS Lucy and Nick Topf are shown here.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
One event, two awards
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Pals family celebrates farms’ heritage WRIGHT COUNTY
By CLAYTON RYE Farm News writer
BELMOND — The Pals Family Farms received a Century Farm award in 1997. Their farm had its beginning when the land was bought on April 17, 1875. While the family was doing the research to receive the farm’s Heritage Farm status, they discovered that a second family farm, purchased Aug. 5, 1884, was eligible to be designated a Century Farm. The Heritage Farm was bought by Lambert and Martha Pals from the first owner, who only had it a year. Lambert Pals Sr. was born May 20, 1840, in Ostfriesland, Germany, located in the extreme northeast part of the country. Lambert Pals Sr. came to America at age 25, along with his brothers, Harm, Dick, and John. Two sisters remained in Germany. The brothers got as far west as Ackley, Iowa. While living in Ackley, he and his wife had a son, John L. Pals. His wife passed away after several years while in Ackley. He was remarried to Peter Kena Veldhouse Blankman, who had a daughter named Clousina Blankman. This family left Ackley by horse and wagon, crossing prairie land until they arrived east of Belmond at what was known locally as the Henn farm. They became the parents of three children: a son, Dick L., and daughters, Manna and Altje. Family history tells of the trip from Ackley to Belmond. The weather was very cold, and John L. would be frequently told to walk alongside the wagon to keep from getting too cold. In his younger days, John L. herded cattle on the prairie land and stayed with the cattle night and day, guarding them from wild animals. Food was brought to him once a day. One night, the storm was so bad he spent the night crying. Once again, Lambert Pals Sr. was widowed. Martha Steiler, who arrived in America in 1882, was his third wife and together they had 10 children: Ella, Minnie, Rosa, Anna, Lambert Jr., Harm, Martha, John, Tillie, and Ollie. To get coal, it was necessary to use a team of horses to go to Chapin, a full
Pals Family Heritage Farm Established: April 18, 1875 Acres: 160 Township: Pleasant Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fifth
Pals Family Century Farm Established: Aug. 5, 1884 Acres: 155 Township: Pleasant Century Farm Award: 2025 Generation: Fifth
-Farm News photo by Clayton Rye
LUANN PALS, left, stands in front of the Pals Family Farms sign with her son Kevin, far right, and his wife Ashley Pals, along with their children, John, Eleanor, and Andrew.
day’s trip. One trip that was done by Dick L. and Buss Steiler had them returning home late in the day from Chapin at dusk. A pack of wolves kept running around the sled. It was not easy, but they made it home safely.
Before the railroad arrived in 1886, grain was hauled by horse and wagon to Garner and Sheffield. It was an overnight trip, and the wolves would follow the team as they made the journey. By 1884, Lambert Pals Sr. owned a
large amount of land. When it was decided to organize a church, Pals donated a part of his land, which is where Immanuel Reformed Church is located today. One mile north of the church, a little town named Palsville was built. At its peak, the town had a store, elevator, creamery, and later, a stockyard. The town lasted five years. The Pals Century Farm got its start when Lambert Pals Jr. married Marie Stadtlander. She inherited the farm homesteaded by her parents, John and Pauline Stadtlander, in 1884. They had three sons, John, Alvin, and Marvin Pals. Alvin Pals started farming at age 13 or 14 while in eighth grade. He married Eleanor Soma, and they were parents to four children. Sadly, the three brothers, John, Marvin, and Alvin, passed away in 2007. The farm was eventually owned by Alvin Pals’ son, Curtis Pals, who bought out his father’s brothers in 1977. Curtis Pals and his wife LuAnn were living on the Century Farm before moving to the See PALS, Page 71C
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
Pals Continued from Page 70C Heritage Farm. Curtis Pals passed away in 2019. He was active in the community and received awards for his involvement. The Century Farm is now occupied by their son Kevin Pals, his wife Ashley and their three children, John, Andrew, and Eleanor. After receiving his education at Hawkeye Tech, Kevin Pals worked as a mechanic for a John Deere dealer in Woolstock, repairing combines and planters. He started farming in 2012. Kevin Pals has restored a 1944 John Deere A that was bought by Alvin Pals, his grandfather. See PALS, Page 72C -Submitted photo
THE PALS HERITAGE FARM is shown around 50 years ago when the family was raising hogs.
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Pals Continued from Page 71C The day of the Century FarmHeritage Farm award ceremony at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 14, 2025, was notable for the Pals family. The day began at 9 a.m. with the presentation of the Century Farm awards, county by county, in alphabetical order. The Heritage Farm awards started in the early part of the afternoon, once again in alphabetical order, county by county. When the Pals family made their applications for a Century Farm and a Heritage Farm, the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, which is in charge of the awards, told them they would receive both awards during the Heritage Farm program in the afternoon. On that award day, 246 farms received their Century Farm award, and 203 farms received their Heritage Farm award for a total of 449 awards. Since Wright County is the last county in Iowa alphabetically, the Pals family was the 449th farm to receive their award — the very last one. The ceremony is held in the livestock pavilion, a huge auditorium which was filled with people throughout the day. However, as each family received their award, many began leaving the auditorium and it slowly became vacant. The Pals family received their awards in an almost empty building, but there are reasons to believe it was worth the wait.
-Submitted photos
TOP RIGHT: The Pals Century Farm is shown in this winter aerial photo. BOTTOM RIGHT: This aerial photo of the Pals Heritage Farm, while not recent, shows the farm closely to how it appears now.
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Farm News/Fort Dodge, Iowa
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See WOR
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By KATH IE OBRADOVI CH Iowa Capita
writer
l Dispatch
JOHN AND KARLA FLICK recent April INGER aren’t day to start well suited corn planti for full ng.
r-round E1
FISCHLER
Naig: Pseudorabies detection in Iowa ’contained’
S
BERGLUND
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US House pa Iowa Capita
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WHILE FA
Farmers are used to a uncertainty lot of . at the right Will the rains come amount, or time, in the right at all? Will will they not come crops in July?the sun burn up the drop hail in Will thunderheads August? But farme worrying aboutrs are used to the weather. There’s a out there, whole new world of worries. and a new world Will the Hormuz open? Strait Will there of more tariffs be ? to afford dieselWill they be able health insura fuel, fertilizer, or nce? The Iowa Farm Federation (IFBF) noted Bureau this year that earlier seen the greate the Midwest had st increa number of farm bankr se in the the last year. uptcies in the hardest Iowa was among doubling overhit — more than the But if 18 filing previous year. s doesn’t sound like a great to the numbnumber, compared Iowa, consid er of farms in are not eligiber that most farms bankruptcy le for Chapter 12 farms, when protection. Most faced with does not keep debt that simply close. up with income, “I wish these young guys best,” said the long-time County farme Hamilton “I want and r Richard Mason. hope for them succeed.” to But Mason is not alone is worried, and he .
By JACOB
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l Dispatch
-Farm News
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The U.S. House appro 224-200, ved, a five-year farm bill April 30 as gress attem members of Conpt to updat agriculture e and nutrition major after three years of exten policy sions. The bill subsidy and would authorize nutrit ion tance progr ams throug assis2031. The h fiscal gressional nonpartisan ConBudget Office timated an earlier versio esthe bill would n of not meaningfully affect THE U.S. eral spend discretionary fed-Messenger HOUSE appro ing file photo members ved, 224-2 window, and over an 11-year of 00, a five-y nutrition policyCongress attempt would add ear farm to updat million in $162 after three bill mand years of exten e major agriculture as over the next atory spending sions. and six Most Demo years. Kim Schrie crats r of Wash opposed Josh the bill, but ington Riley vor. Three 14 voted in fa- ren Soto of New York, Dar-, the Supplemental Nutrit Republicans of sistan ion Florida and Asagainst. Six voted Vasquez Gabe about ce Program that helpe members did of New vote. d 1 in 8 not The Repub Mexico. groceries in Americans afford The Demo against were: licans who voted 2024, the farm passed April Brian Fitzpa were: Sanfo crats in favor of bill 30 Penns trick rd was a “skinny” gia, Jim Costa Bishop of Geor- barino ylvania, Andrew Gar- on version and relatively of New York of California, and Adam Gray et short major policy and HarriHageman of Henry Cuell and Vicente The bill wouldupdates. Wyoming. ar Gonzalez of still have to pass the Senat Sharice David Texas, Few policy s of Kansas, yet introduced e, which has not ald Davis chang Donof Because Repub es its version. Marcy Kaptu North Carolina, Arkansas licans sive spend ing and tax ’ mas- John Boozm Republican Sen. McDonald r of Ohio, Kristen cuts law last year Rivet of Michi an, made Marie Glues Senate Agric who chairs the enkamp Perez gan, es to some U.S. major changulture Comm cheered House ittee, and Agric Department passage and of ulture progr said ams, mainl y See FARM , Page 2A
DES MOIN ES — The detection of the pseudorabie virus in a s central Iowa swine herd in isolated incidelast week was an nt that has contained, Iowa Secre been tary Agriculture Mike Naig of Friday. said N a i g and State Veterinaria n Jeff Kaisand emphasized in a news confe rence May 1 that there is no dange r Mike to huma n Naig health or food safety from “There’s no the virus. food safety concern here, human health there is no to pseudorabieconcern related thing we want s, and the last producers to is for our pork suffer more because of harm an impact marketplace to ,” Naig said. the Although expect to find they do not the virus beyonany spread of d the affect herd, Naig said the diseased is “reportable,” e which means the U.S. Department Agriculture of has to trading partne to report it “there’s alway rs. Naig said trade disrup s a potential for tion like this, which in situations is why, again, we move so swiftl to comply with y, decisively the standards.” He said he disruptions expects any trade to be “mini mal, if any” and short term. As of See NAIG , Page 2A
’ farm bill
Iowa lawma
kers, ag gro
ups
Feenstra sa lutes House passage of measure By BILL SHEA Farm News
writer
U.S. Rep. Bill by the Randy Feenstra salute full d “Today marksHouse of Representat the passage of a new ives on Thurs Farm a major miles Iowa agricu day. tone lture, but for agriculture not just for country,” the across the written statem Republican from Hull critical legisl ent. “I’m proud to help said in a ation across delive He asserted the finish line.” r this that the measu known as re — forma the ty Act of 2026Farm, Food and Natio lly that he introd — includes part or nal Securiall of 26 bills uced, co-sp onsored or Those bills, otherwise led. n Lay out he said, would: role in negot the Department of for livestock iating regionalizationAgriculture’s Randy country in exports from unaffected agreements the event of Feenstra areas of the an animal n Provide disease outbre loans for precis n Develop ak. ion agriculture. ment of beef, cold storage and port impro pork and other n Expand perishable vements to enable shipoversight of items. n Expand behavioral foreign ownership of health servic farm land. n Work to prevent tracto es to rural n Support communitie enhanced genetr rollovers. s. n Modify the time frame ics research. for payment rate adjust ments in the See FEEN STRA, Page 2A
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