OCN-SS_06252015

A

A S u p p l e m e n t T o O g l e C o u n t y N e w s pa p e r s Forreston Journal • Mt. Morris Times • Oregon Republican Reporter• Tri-County Press

C

entury

10’s

20’s

30’s

40’s

of 50’s

60’s

g

Farmin

70’s

80’s

90’s

00’s

10’s

thursday, June 25th, 2015

Century of Farming

2 • Thursday, June 25, 2015

Ubbens treasure owning family farm

By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com A thick, weathered abstract details the history of Warren and Carol Ubben’s farm on Maple Grove Road northwest of Mt. Morris and how it came into their family 142 years ago.

Warren’s great-great-grandfather Andrew Stengel bought the first piece in 1873 of what eventually became the 172-acre farm where the Ubbens live.

In the abstract’s early pages, the details of ownership changes and mortgages are hand-written in intricate script. Later transactions are typewritten.

“Back then, farmers loaned each other money on a handshake,” Warren said.

Those details and the day-to-day history of the operation are important to Warren, who is the fifth generation to work the same ground.

“I treasure it. I don’t think there’s a day goes by that I don’t think about,” he said.

Warren Ubben’s greatgreat-grandfather Andrew Stengel settled in Ogle County and worked for other farmers to raise the money to buy his own land.

Carol is equally attached to the farm.

“I love it,” she said.

She documents all the goings on at the farm and in their lives in an indexed daily log.

She grew up in Chicago, situated in the flyway for Midway Airport.

The couple met through a relative of Warren’s who worked in the city with Carol.

Her first trip to the farm was an eyeopener.

“It was so quiet, and you could see the stars,” she recalled.

She remembered that Warren’s parents had a large garden.

“I didn’t even know what the tops of vegetables looked like,” she said with

a laugh.

A row of massive larch trees stands in the Ubben’s yard.

Warren believes they were planted by his great-great-grandfather to mark the section line.

At one time, Midtown Road ran farther west along the section line, bisecting their farmyard. The road now tees into Maple Grove Road across from their driveway.

Andrew was born in 1828 in AlsaceLorraine. He was of German descent but by the time he emigrated to the United States, Alsace-Lorraine was under French control.

He entered the U.S. at the port of New Orleans and lived for a time in St. Louis.

During the summer he came north to Forreston and West Grove, a community then to the northwest of Mt. Morris, and worked for farmers.

He married Marie Hoppe in 1857 in St. Louis and they moved permanently to Ogle County, settling first in a log Turn to page 3

The dinner bell behind Carol and Warren Ubben dates back to the 1800s. Photo by Vinde Wells

On the Cover Top row: at left, Walter Ubben and his young son Ralph drive a team of horses pulling a wagon in the late 1940s; center, Walter Ubben puts a bundle of oats into a shock in the summer of 1949; at right, workers build the Joseph Stengel’s oval barn in 1914.

Bottom row: at left, John Stengel drives a Farmall H in the summer of 1949 on the farm now owned by Warren and Carol Ubben; center, Warren and Carol Ubben stand beside one of the larch trees planted by his great-great-grandfather Andrew Stengel; right, Lavern Binkley shovels out after the big snow of 1950 on the farm where John and Michelle Gilbert live.

Harry’s Farm Tire, Inc. “Serving the area for over 30 years”

16262 WALLER RD (RT 84) FULTON, IL.

309-887-4447 ON-FARM SERVICE

Big enough to serve you, small enough to know you u.

ELEVATOR • TRUCKING • FERTILIZER • SEED Rochelle 815-562-8723 Amboy/Lee Center 815-857-3523 / 3521 ww www ww.maplehurstfarms.com

• RIMS AND WHEELS • SEMI TRACTOR TRAILER • FARM & IMPLEMENT TIRES ALL MAJOR BRANDS Firestone, Titan, Goodyear, Michelin, BF Goodrich, General, Bridgestone, Cooper, Uniroyal, Multi-Mile, Michelin, Bandag and Recaps STOP IN OR CALL FOR PRICES

YOUR FARM YOUR FAMILY YOUR FUTURE...

OGLE COUNTY FARM BUREAU Serving Agriculture in Ogle County Since 1917 421 W. Pines Rd., Oregon, IL 61061

Century of Farming

Thursday, June 25, 2015 • 3

Warren Ubben’s older brothers Ralph and Stan feed the chickens in the late 1940s.

Farm bought parcel by parcel From page 2 cabin near West Grove.

He continued to work for other farmers and in 1860 purchased his first 10 acres for $122.50.

Andrew cleared his land and continued to work for other farmers while he bought additional parcels until he acquired the homestead on Maple Grove Road.

Andrew raised livestock on the farm and the crops needed to feed them.

His brother Michael Stengel followed him from Alsace-Lorraine in 1868 and settled in the West Grove

Kent Feed NutriSource Pet Franklin MiraFount Stronghold Weldy Feeders Smidley

area.

Andrew sold the 80 acres where the farmstead is located to his son oldest son Joseph, who was one of nine children, in the 1890s.

Joseph and his wife Anna also had nine children and all but one, Henry, went into farming. Henry was a well-known physician in Mt. Morris.

Warren explained that all Joseph’s children lived nearby and worked together, helping each other when needed.

“They lived close and were always close,” he said.

“If they ever disagreed, I

never heard of it.”

Joseph purchased an additional 90 acres, bringing the farm to 170 or so.

His brother, Fred, in addition being a farmer, was also a general contractor, and in 1914 built a large oval barn on Joseph’s farm.

The design of the barn was developed by Ogle County carpenter Frank Barnes, who Fred worked for as a young man.

Barnes’ crew built at least five other oval barns in Ogle and Stephenson Counties.

When Barnes retired Turn to page 5

ANDERSON FEED COMPANY “We are more than just feed” We Offer Bag & Bulk Deliveries Monday thru Friday 9-5, Saturday 9-3 & closed Sunday

3338 S. Chana Rd. • Chana, IL 61015

815-732-3338 • www.nuzufeed.com • nuzufeed@gmail.com

Century of Farming

4 • Thursday, June 25, 2015

Fred Stengel helped build oval barns Ogle County carpenter Frank Barnes developed a unique barn design more than a century ago and built them with a crew that included Fred Stengel, Warren Ubben’s great uncle.

Four of the six oval barns built in the early 20th century, using Barnes’ design in Ogle and Stephenson Counties, are still standing and in use.

Barnes believed his large oval barns were stronger, cheaper to build, and held more hay in their spacious lofts than other barns.

Fred Stengel, then 22, joined Barnes’ construction crew in 1912. He helped Barnes construct three of the oval barns.

When Barnes retired in 1914, Stengel organized his own crew and built an oval barn for his father Joseph Stengel west of Mt. Morris on the farm now owned by Warren and Carol Ubben.

That barn is one of the two no longer standing.

The barns still standing are on German Valley Road east of German Valley, Springfield Road northwest of German Valley, Crane’s Grove Road west of Baileyville, and Adeline Road north of Adeline.

The other barn once stood on a farm on the corner of Rock City and German Valley Roads in German Valley.

This view of the Ubben farmstead shows the oval barn, now replaced by grain bins, and the farmhouse, torn down and replaced in 1977.

A Heritage of Serving Local Agriculture Serving You Since 1882

Walter Ubben takes care of his hogs on a snowy day in 1958.

Bocker Grain Since 1971

2744 N. West Branch, Polo 815-946-2600

Stillman Bank has been committed to ag lending for over 130 years. And we’ll be around for years to come, working with local farmers, our neighbors, to solve your unique banking concerns.

Let us put our experience to work for you. Stop in or call to schedule an appointment for us to come to you.

Member FDIC

Tom Hughes 815-645-2023

Bob Goelitz 815-561-3003

Farming can be a tough business - that’s why we make banking easy!

www.stillmanbank.com Byron 815-234-5626

Oregon 815-732-7956

Rochelle 815-562-7071

Rockford 815-332-8100

Roscoe/Rockton 815-623-1800

Stillman Valley 815-645-2266

Century of Farming

Thursday, June 25, 2015 • 5

Family raised livestock and crops

Warren remembered with a chuckle that one of his jobs as a youngster was to “poke” the chickens out of the trees at twilight.

Some of the chickens would fly up into the low branches of the trees at dusk to roost for the night rather than going to the safety of the hen house.

To protect them from predators like owls and raccoons, Warren would use a long stick to bump them off the branches so they would then fly to the chicken house.

He took over the farm in 1972, at first raising beef

8:00 PM

and hay for the livestock.

“Dad really loved the animals,” he said. “He had a way with them.”

The fields were fertilized with manure from the livestock.

“It was all organic except for a small amount of starter fertilizer that Dad put on the corn,” he said. “They had their own milk and eggs and a big garden. They prided themselves on being selfsufficient.”

His mother sold eggs to Ruth Felker to serve at the lunch counter at Felker’s Drug Store in Mt. Morris.

cattle and hogs. The hogs were sold in 1974, Warren said, because he didn’t want to raise them in confinement.

At first he said, he considered building confinement facilities but opted not to.

He and Carol were married in 1976, and their two daughters grew up on the family farm.

They raised beef cattle until 1984 when the operation became totally grain farming.

Today the Ubbens farm 750 acres, raising corn. They owns most of the land but also rent a nearby field from his brother.

Warren does the planting and harvesting, while Carol, Cattle graze in a pasture at the Ubben’s farm in this old who is also an artist, does the photo. book work and maintains the lawn and farm yard.

Fri., Aug. 7, 2015

•

in 1914, Fred formed his own construction crew and continued building.

Warren said the old barn was torn down in 1980 due to its deteriorating condition and the cost of repairing it.

Fred, who was still living then, took the demolition philosophically.

“Uncle Fred asked for a piece of the barn as a keepsake, and said ‘Times change,’” Warren said.

The farm passed from Joseph to John and Nora Stengel, and then to their daughter Irma and her husband Walter Ubben, Warren’s parents.

Growing up on the farm, the youngest of three boys, Warren remembered they milked cows and raised hogs, beef cattle, sheep, and chickens, as well as the grain

“They had their own milk and eggs and a big garden. They prided themselves on being self-sufficient.”

— Warren Ubben

DUSTIN LYNCH

From page 3

The oval barn, which is no longer standing, provided ample room for livestock below and grain and hay storage above.

63RD A N N U A L

CARROLL COUNTY FAIR AUGUST 4-8, 2015

28374 Milledgeville Rd. • Milledgeville, IL 61051 • 815-225-7444

www.carrollcountyfair.info

Century of Farming

6 • Thursday, June 25, 2015

Gilberts feel connected to farm in family for five generations

By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecountynews.com While he was growing up, John Gilbert spent a lot of time on the farm that’s been in his family for 167 years.

His parents farmed nearby, and John spent a lot of time with his grandparents on the family homestead where he and his wife Michelle live on Maryland Road north of Polo.

“There’s always been a connection here,” he said.

John’s mother, the late Audrey Burkholder, also felt that connection.

“John’s mom was born in the living room,” Michelle said. “She was so proud of the family farm. She liked to help on the farm, too. It was definitely in her blood.”

The bell outside the Gilbert’s back door has called generations of the family to dinner. Photo by Vinde Wells

John Gilbert’s greatgreat-grandfather David Butterbaugh was a homesteader, purchasing his farm from the U.S. government in 1848.

The Gilberts received a Sesquicentennial Farm designation in 2000 from the Illinois Department of Agriculture, meaning the farm has remained in the same family for at least 150 years.

John farms the same 145 acres that his ancestors did, raising corn and soybeans.

He does all the farm work himself except for planting the beans and applying anhydrous ammonia, which he hires a neighbor to do.

“As far as corn and harvesting beans, I do all that myself,” he said.

He enjoys his chosen career.

“I look forward to all the seasons,” he said. “I like running the machinery. I like the combining part of it.”

John currently farms 750 acres, some he owns and some he rents.

He said he has never raised livestock, “I was strictly in the grain end of it,” he said.

John’s great-great-grandfather David Butterbaugh bought the land from the U.S. government in 1848.

He also owned more land nearby.

815-946-2660 800-848-9519 Full Time Auctioneer & Real Estate Household • Antiques • Real Estate Farm Machinery • Industrial, Etc.

Joe Wegener, AUCTIONEER • 815-766-0756 Chris Wegener, AUCTIONEER • 815-451-2820

60+ Years Combined Experience go2wegenerauctions.com • go2joewauctions@gmail.com

As far as John knows, David came to Ogle County from Pennsylvania and ran a typical farming operation of the era, raising livestock and the grain to feed them.

David died in 1866 and his wife Catherine sold the farm in 1898 to their daughter and son-in-law Sylvia and Calvin Binkley.

John believes they lived on a farm just down the road at the corner of Ill. 64 and Maryland Road.

Calvin began building the house where John and Michelle live in 1878.

John and Michelle still have the handwritten offers from businesses in Polo, Woosung, and Mt. Morris to supply the materials needed for the house.

All the offers include making arrangements to deliver the lumber and other supplies by train to Maryland Station, less than a mile way, where a depot was once located.

John said the railroad spur which once went from Oregon to Forreston ran across one corner of the farm.

Ownership of the farm passed to John’s grandparents Lavern and Mabel Binkley in 1929.

John remembered watching his grandfather milk cows in the large dairy barn that burned in 1971.

His grandparents also raised hogs, feeder cattle, and chickens.

Calvin kept busy but still made time for his grandson.

“There was always something going on with Grandpa,” John remembered with a grin. “He was always painting John and Michelle Gilbert pose beside the sign Turn to page 7 designating their farm a Sesquicentennial Farm.

7074 W. Penn Corner Rd. Polo, Illinois 61064

Public Auction Service

Lenny Bryson Auctioneer

Sales of all types

Lyle and Sheryl Hopkins, Mgrs.

Phone or Fax

• Complete Auction Service • Real Estate and Property Appraisals

900 S. Division, Polo

815-946-4120

Century of Farming

Thursday, June 25, 2015 • 7

Modern structures have replaced old buildings at Gilberts From page 6 something - the buildings, the fences. He wanted the farm to look nice.”

John’s father Carl Gilbert, Audrey’s first husband, farmed with his grandfather for several years.

The farm was passed down to Audrey in 1973.

John began farming it in 1975. For a time, he also worked the original Gilbert farm on Milledgeville Road.

He and Michelle were married in 1992 and purchased the farm from his mother the following year.

None of the original farm buildings remain except for a corncrib.

The large dairy barn has This photo of John and Michelle Gilbert’s farm was taken when his grandfather Calvin Binkley lived there. Note the been replaced by shiny round small fenced fields. Most of these farm buildings have been replaced by more modern structures. grain bins; a machine shed and chicken house have been replaced by a large machine shed.

The house has been

State’s Sesquicentennial and Centennial Farm programs honor family farms The Illinois Department of Agriculture’s Centennial Farms and Sesquicentennial Farms programs honor generations of farmers who have worked to maintain family farms in the state.

To qualify for Centennial Farm status, an agricultural property must have been owned by the same family of lineal or collateral descendants for at least 100 years.

A lineal descendant is a person in the direct line of descent, such as a child or a grandchild.

A collateral descendent is not a direct descendent, but

is otherwise closely related, such as a brother, sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece or cousin.

Applicants who complete a form and meet all requirements of the Centennial Farms program receive an official Centennial Farm sign suitable for outdoor display and a certificate bearing signatures

of the Governor of Illinois and the Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

A $50 application fee is charged to offset the cost of the sign.

More than 9,500 Illinois farms have been named Centennial Farms since the program was created in 1972.

Every county in the state has at least one Centennial Farm. Ogle County has 153 on its list.

The Sesquicentennial Farms Program recognizes farms that have been held by descendants of the same family for 150 years or more.

To qualify for

Sesquicentennial Farm status, an agricultural property must have been owned by the same family of lineal or collateral descendants for at least 150 years.

Applicants who complete a form and meet all requirements of the Sesquicentennial Farms program receive an official Sesquicentennial Farm sign and certificate.

A $50 application fee is charged.

More than 600 Illinois farms have been named Sesquicentennial Farms since the program was created, and 21 of those are in Ogle County.

renovated, and the lawn is landscaped with graceful trees and lush perennial beds, thanks to Michelle.

The biggest change in local agriculture over the years, John said, is the consolidation of small farms into large ones.

“You just don’t see all the small farms anymore,” he said.

Another major change is the disappearance of livestock from most farms.

“What livestock operations there are now are huge, too,” John said.

He remembered the difference from his boyhood.

“My grandpa had small fields fenced off for crop rotation and so the livestock could be moved around from field to field,” he said.

“And you had lanes fenced off so that you could get the livestock where you needed them to go.”

FORRESTON MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY

Serving Central & Northwestern Illinois Since 1877

Since 1877

815-938-2273 800-938-2270 www.fmic.org

Century of Farming

8 • Thursday, June 25, 2015

At the Gilberts’

Renee Gray

Lending/Business Development Officer

The original corn crib is still in use on the Gilbert Farm. It’s the last of the original farm buildings. Photo by Vinde Wells

(815) 946-2777

YOU, Ever ay h t i W y Step of the W Personalized Service

Lavern Binkley and his grandson John Gilbert, age 3, take a break from mowing the lawn in the early 1950s.

+

Foundation of Banking Excellence

=

.

Solutions for YOUR BUSINESS

www.fsbshannon-polo.com

Century of Farming

Thursday, June 25, 2015 • 9

Put the expertise of our investment team - the same team that’s helped keep our company strong - to work for you. Contact me for a no-cost, no-obligation review of your investments.

What should I do with my investments now?

Above, young Audrey Binkley is bundled up to play with her dog in the snow. Note the large dairy barn, windmill, and other buildings. Above right, Calvin Binkley holds his granddaughter Audrey on Sept. 5, 1927. They had the same birthday — he was 77 and she was 1.

33 Years of Service Built on Honesty, Integrity & Service • Home Heating

• Grain Drying

• LP Gas Heaters

• LP Tank Sales & Service

• Gas Grills

• Forward Contract for LP Gas for Farmers

• Hot Water Heaters

• Guaranteed Winter Rates

Investment management, retirement, trust and planning services provided by COUNTRY Trust Bank®.

Dedicated to Se ing Your A g r i c u l tu r a l L e n d i n g N e e d s .

hew choll

Ag Loan Officer

Burkardt’s LP Gas Located on Rt. 26 - 2 miles south of Polo Business: 815-946-3081 • Home : 815-946-3080

0609-526HO

Since 1942

M

24-HOUR SERVICE • 7 DAYS A WEEK

Chris Mueller Gary Davis 815-732-6106 815-732-6106

g & Commercial Real Estate & Equipment Loans 4 1 N. Main Ave. • Milledgeville, IL • 815-225-7171 www.milledgevillebank.com

www.birkeys.com

Your Local Case IH Dealer 928 South Division Ave., Polo

815-946-2393 Serving the area for over 37 years!

Century of Farming

10 • Thursday, June 25, 2015

On the Ubben Farm

A hay rake is shown in this photo taken in 1949 at the Ubben’s farm.

John Stengel, Warren Ubben’s grandfather, stands outside the machine shed.

Walter Ubben is ready to go threshing at 6:40 a.m. in August of 1949.

Ed Stengel threshes oats at what is now Warren and Carol Ubben’s farm.

Note the roof of the oval barn in the background.

The old farmhouse is no longer standing at the Ubben’s farm. It was taken down in 1977 after a wall started to collapse.

Century of Farming

Thursday, June 25, 2015 • 11

PASSPORT & FOID PHOTOS

SENIOR SHOWCASE

WHILE YOU WAIT

We’ll publish your wedding, engagement, or anniversary notice for FREE. Email news@ oglecountynews.com or call 815-732-6166, ext. 32

Ogle County Newspapers 121A S. Fourth St., Oregon 815-732-6166

Serving our communities for over 145 years

Just for the fun of it for those 55 years and above

TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH 10AM - 3PM Northland Mall • Sterling

FREE ADMISSION • VENDORS • DOOR PRIZES • GIVEAWAYS AND LOTS OF FUN

B V-A

BRADFORD VICTOR-ADAMS

MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY Member Owned and Operated

Our Contact Information 120 W. South Street, Franklin Grove 815-456-2334 www.bradfordmutual.com

Mark your calendars and plan to attend this FREE, FUN event!

BINGO SENIOR SHOWCASE STYLE For more information contact Ed Bushman 815-625-3600 ext. 5681 Email: ebushman@saukvalley.com

Century of Farming

12 • Thursday, June 25, 2015

Strong Protection for Small and Large Farms After all, it’s a local call!

1865-2015 Celebrating 150 Years!

We offer quality insurance protection for today’s complex farming operations with friendly, local service and a knowledgeable staff to back it up.

For competitive rates and great service from a local insurance company, call for an agent in your community.

Mutual Insurance Company Hugh F. Miller Insurance Agency, Inc. Rock Falls 815-626-1300

Dimond Brothers Insurance Agency Ohio 815-376-2954

Dimond Brothers Insurance Agency Amboy 815-857-3966

Scholl Insurance Agency Polo 815-946-2324

Sauk Valley Insurance Services Dixon 815-288-2541

First Class Insurance Agency Milledgeville 815-225-7777 Dixon 815-284-7070