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Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, June 21, 2019

| CENTURY OF FARMING

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INDIAN HILL

Indian Hill owners work to preserve history of area

BY VINDE WELLS vwells@oglecountynews.com An almost unknown century-old farm and mansion with its woods and gardens lies a few miles northwest of Stillman Valley.

Indian Hill Manor and Farm, on Kishwaukee Road a bit north of the Ogle-Winnebago County line, recently began offering tours and lectures to introduce the public to the history of not just the manor, but also the surrounding area.

It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001 as the Indian Hill Manor and Farm Historic District.

The 300-acre property is owned by the Smeja Family Foundation, which is working to preserve and restore it.

Jerry Paulsen, the foundation’s interim executive director, said the district includes three parts, the manor house with its carriage house and grounds, the farm, and a forest preserve across Kishwaukee Road.

All three parcels were once part of the 400-acre estate of Charles C. and Esta Barrett, who purchased the property in 1915 as a rural retreat and gentleman’s farm.

Charles, a Chicago businessman, and Esta, an actress who had performed on Broadway, purchased the property from Herbert Lewis.

The Barretts hired Rockford architect Charles W. Bradley to design the Colonial Revival mansion with its seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, seven fireplaces, and two stairways.

Paulsen said the original plan was to have gas lights in the house, but electricity became available to the rural area during its construction.

Consequently the mansion was

ABOVE: Indian Hill Manor and Farm on Kishwaukee Road celebrated its centennial in 2016. Rockford architect Charles W. Bradley designed the Colonial Revival manor house and carriage house, which were built in 1916-18. BELOW: The children of William and Lucile Smeja form the Smeja Family Foundation, which owns Indian Hill Manor and Farm. Pictured clockwise from the bottom are: James Smeja, Bonnie Smeja, Robert Smeja, Kim Smeja, and Jill Smeja Gnesda. Their sister Gayle Smeja Krase is deceased. Photo supplied built with not only electric lights, but also a central vacuum system, an electric intercom system, and a large electric stove in the kitchen.

Lewis had begun the development of the farm, building a Jamesway dairy barn and other buildings. A house for the farm manager was built at the farmstead before 1900.

Paulsen explained that the Jamesway barn was part of the “sanitary milk movement” on the early 1900s, when concern arose over the conditions in some dairy barns.

The barns, designed by the James Manufacturing Company, Ft. Atkin-

See INDIAN HILL, Page 3

Native Americans frequented Indian Hill area Black Hawk served feast to chiefs nearby Indian Hill Manor and Farm, along with Indian Hill Forest Preserve, have a rich Native American history which led to the name.

Jerry Paulsen, interim executive director of the Smeja Family Foundation, said numerous artifacts have been uncovered over the years on the site, which is situated on a limestone ridge near where the Kishwaukee River joins the Rock,

indicating it was a hunting and fishing ground frequented by Native Americans for centuries.

In addition, the first battle of the Black Hawk War was fought just a few miles away in Stillman Valley on May 14, 1832.

According to the Bicentennial History of Ogle County, at the time of the battle, Black Hawk and his band were trying to convince Potawatomi chiefs Shabbona and Waubonsie to support them in their effort to regain their hunting ground from European settlers.

They were camped, the history

book reads, at the confluence of the Rock and Kishwaukee Rivers, where Black Hawk was serving a dog feast.

In an effort to preserve the more recent history of the area, the Smeja Family Foundation, which owns Indian Hill Manor and Farm, is conducting a survey of historic barns and other building in the rural area around the old village of Kishwaukee.

Paulsen said the village was platted where the manor currently sits.

The site was abandoned and moved a short distance away, he said, due to the difficulty of digging wells

through the limestone ridge.

The foundation has hired Andrew Rogers, an architecture student at Judson College, to conduct the survey in the northeast Marion Township and northwest Scott Township in Ogle County and southwest Rockford Township in Winnebago Township, in the area bounded by the Rock and Kishwaukee Rivers, Illinois 72, and Illinois 251.

Rogers will contact landowners from mid-June through Aug. 1.

For more information about the survey contact Paulsen at 815-9646464 or Smejafdn@gmail.com.

• INDIAN HILL Continued from Page 2

farm buildings with the help of the Stillman Valley High School FFA. Twenty-six acres of the cropland is leased to the FFA Alumni Association for teaching students about modern farming techniques with profits going to support the program.

FFA students help with landscaping at the manor and also keep some livestock projects at the farm.

The remainder of the cropland is rented to a local farmer who plants corn and soybeans.

For more information about Indian Hill call 815-964-6464, email smejafdn@gmail.com, or visit IndianHillManor.net.

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On the Cover TOP LEFT: Millard Deuth is all dressed up and ready to go in his courting carriage to see his future wife Mary Coffman who lived about two miles away.

Photo supplied by Lyle Deuth TOP RIGHT: Edward Drake, the grandfather of Lester Brooks, drives a team of horses pulling a load of oats for threshing on the family farm southwest of Forreston during the 1920s or 30s. On the wagon is Edward’s son Melvin. Photo supplied by Darlene Brooks BOTTOM LEFT: Members of the Deuth family take a break from shocking oats to have lunch in the field. Photo supplied

by Lyle Deuth BOTTOM RIGHT: This photo of the Deuth farm buildings north of Polo on Goose Hollow Road was taken around 1900. Photo supplied by Lyle Deuth

model for soil and wildlife conservation. He donated 50 acres of the farm to the Natural Land Institute, which later gave the land to the Winnebago County Forest Preserve District to become the Indian Hill Forest Preserve in 1989.

Reed sold just the manor and its grounds to William and Lucile Smeja in 1971.

Their five living children formed the Smeja Family Trust in 2001 to restore the property and promote historic preservation.

The foundation purchased the farm portion of the estate in 2010 from Tim Ferrell, Reed’s adopted son, and began restoration of the

CENTURY OF FARMING | Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com

son, Wisconsin, were mail-ordered from a hard-bound catalog and all components, along with blueprints and assembly instructions, were shipped by train.

The barns featured concrete and steel in the milking area, cork floors in calf pens, an efficient ventilation system, and a manure handling system.

“Everything was designed to be as sanitary as possible,” Paulsen said.

The Barretts were contemporaries of Frank and Florence Lowden, who owned Sinnissippi Farms southeast of Oregon, and Medill and Ruth McCormick, who owned Rock River Farms north of Byron.

Paulsen said the Lowdens also had a Jamesway dairy barn, and Esta Barrett and Ruth McCormick were friendly rivals over the milk production of their Holstein cows.

Charles Barrett died in 1918 during the flu epidemic, and Esta continued the operation until her death in 1947.

Paulsen said World War I from 1914-18 was considered the “golden age” of farming because American farmers were feeding the U.S. troops fighting in the war, as well as the citizens of some European countries devastated by the war.

That changed, he said, in the 1920s when the farm economy collapsed due to over-production and poor land management practices.

During the 1920s and 1930s, things changed drastically, mostly due to mechanization, he said.

“Between World War I and World War II, there was a major change in agriculture,” Paulsen said. “Tractors, trucks, and electricity came in the 20s and 30s, barbed wire became available in the 20s. All that was going on on this farm. That era is what we’re trying to showcase here.”

Gentlemen’s farms often teamed up with universities to serve as testing places for both land and livestock development.

Crop rotation was promoted to build fertility and control pests and weeds. Animal genetics was studied to develop healthier, higher producing livestock.

“These gentlemen’s farms became the model farms,” Paulsen said.

After Esta Barrett’s death, her son from a previous marriage Harry Reed and his wife Lillian took over management of Indian Hill.

Their son Charles Reed inherited the estate in 1969.

He wanted the farm to become a

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Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, June 21, 2019

| CENTURY OF FARMING

4

MODERN BARN

Jamesway barns were designed to be clean As part of an effort to produce cleaner milk, the James Manufacturing Company, of Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin, began producing and marketing “sanitary” dairy barns and equipment in the early 1900s.

The barn at Indian Hill Farm is one of those influenced by the company’s new plans.

According to a study done in 2013, the barn was probably already existing and was retrofitted with Jamesway equipment.

The barns and equipment could be mail-ordered from a hard-bound catalog and all components, along with blueprints and assembly instructions, were shipped by train.

Barns were not the only thing the company manufactured — they also offered other farm buildings, including horse barns, hog houses, and chicken houses.

The Jamesway dairy barn at Indian Hill Farm was built in 1914 and is undergoing restoration. Photo by Vinde Wells

ABOVE: Steel stanchions line both sides of the dairy barn with calf pens at each end in this Jamesway design. The concrete floors with gutters behind the cows for manure made the barn easier to keep clean. Note the track for the barn cleaner at the ceiling. AT RIGHT: Jerry Paulsen, interim executive director of the Smeja Family Foundation, holds the hardbound catalog published the early 1900s by the James Manufacturing Company to market its barns and other farm buildings. Photos by Vinde Wells

AT RIGHT: This chain controlled the air supply to the ventilator shaft in the ceiling of the dairy barn on Indian Hill Manor and Farm. FAR RIGHT: An old milking machine sits by the stanchion in the dairy barn.

Photos by Vinde Wells

5 CENTURY OF FARMING | Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com

AT LEFT: Jerry Paulsen points out the weather vane on the ventilator that has been repaired and will be restored to its place on the roof of the barn at Indian Hill Farm. Note the dents made by bullets during target practice over the years. ABOVE: Two curious and friendly Angus heifers are on the welcoming committee. The heifers are one of the livestock projects that Stillman Valley FFA members keep at the farm. Photos by Vinde Wellsa

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Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, June 21, 2019

| CENTURY OF FARMING

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LIFE ON THE FARM

Oregon man grew up on two large dairy farms Becker’s father worked for McCormicks and Lowdens Editor’s note: Bill Becker, of Oregon, who will be 90 years old on Aug. 11, told his story of growing up in rural Ogle County during the 1930s and 1940s to his son Randy.

BY RANDY BECKER Growing up on two large farm operations during the Depression and beyond left Bill Becker with a quite interesting childhood.

In the beginning, his father Howard was employed as the first Ogle County certified milk tester, as far as Bill knows, traveling many times at night to test milk.

At the time, the quality rating of certified was applied, long before homogenized and pasteurized ratings evolved.

Howard traveled around the county, often staying overnight on farms to test milk evening and morning. Many times this included breakfast and/or dinner.

Later, from 1938 to 1943, he took the position of dairy superintendent at the McCormick Farm [Rock River Farms] north of Byron.

Approximately 80 head of quality Holstein dairy cattle were milked twice a day.

Among others, a crew of 20 men helped keep the operation running smoothly.

The men were all single and were paid room and board, living on the farm.

Bill’s family lived at the McCormick’s chicken farm north of the main farm.

Sadly, Bill’s mother Eva-Valdean passed away quite young, and his grandmother Jessie Bain helped raise his sister Rachael and him.

They walked to and attended Superior Country School — superior meaning there were inside toilets but water still had to be pumped outside by hand.

Grades 1-8 were taught by one teacher, who let older students help out the younger ones with studies.

In winter, the older boys would help tend the fire in the wood stove where students could warm their lunches.

The first teachers to teach there, as Bill recalled, were Ernest Bubb and Alice McGregor.

Bill kept busy doing farm chores and selling smaller amounts of extra milk to highway workers on Illinois 2 and others.

He eventually earned enough to buy a new Hawthorne bike from Montgomery Wards for $28.

Depression bartering was also popular back then.

The family would trade eggs against their bill at the grocery store in Byron.

If the tab went over $30, the kids would get a free candy bar and Dad a free cigar from the storekeeper.

With gasoline priced at five gallons for $1, the family could drive to Byron on Saturday nights in the summer to watch a free movie.

The theater was close to the gas station on Illinois 2.

ABOVE: Bill Becker, 10, holds the halter of a Holstein calf in 1939 at the McCormick Farm (Rock River Farms) north of Byron. Becker, who lives in Oregon, spent his childhood growing up at the McCormick Farm and Lowden Farm (Sinnissippi Farms) southeast of Oregon. In the background is Bill’s grandmother Jessie Bain. Bill’s hat was a Kool-Aid promotional item. BELOW: This aerial photo shows the McCormick’s Rock River Farm north of Byron in the 1930s.

Photos supplied by Bill Becker

During the intermission, the movie manager would take donations from Byron merchants to cover costs.

Another night of memorable entertainment, Bill recalled, is when Mrs. [Ruth] McCormick, who had just purchased the Rockford News Tower, hired two people to roller-skate at high speed in a circle on the top of it.

The event was held at night with spotlights on them and no safety nets.

As he remembered, it was a promotional event commemorating her purchase of the building.

In the fall of 1944, Bill’s family relocated to another large Ogle County dairy operation, rich in its own history — the Gov. Frank Lowden Farm [Sinnissippi Farms] south of Oregon.

Howard was employed as a herdsman.

Besides attending Oregon High School, Bill baled hay and did other farm chores for 50 to 75 cents per hour.

Originally from the Marshfield, Wisconsin area, Howard went on to work for the American Breeders Service (ABS), of DeForest, Wisconsin.

He was artificial inseminator for them, again traveling locally to many different farms in the area, including the Lowden Farm.

Bill also did this while working in the local printing trade, beginning at Kable Printing in Mt. Morris.

Next was Blackhawk Engraving, Progressive Graphics, and Combined Communication Services (CCS), of Oregon.

Bill and his wife, the former Mary Anne Robertson, of Oregon, raised four children.

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CENTURY OF FARMING | Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com

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Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, June 21, 2019

| CENTURY OF FARMING

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HOOF & MOUTH DISEASE

Epidemic in 1914-15 was devastating An epidemic of hoof and mouth disease, also called foot and mouth disease, greatly impacted Ogle County farms, as well as many others in the U.S., in 1914-15.

The severe, highly contagious viral disease of livestock had significant economic impact because all affected animals had to be destroyed.

The disease mainly affects cattle, but hogs, sheep, goats, and other cloven-hoofed ruminants can also contract it.

Cattle that contracted hoof and mouth disease developed lesions in their mouths which prevented them from eating.

Their hooves rotted and eventually they could not stand.

Wherever an outbreak occurred in 1914-15, the entire herd on the farm, ABOVE: A quarantine sign is posted on a tree at the entrance of the Deuth farm to alert the public that hoof and mouth disease had both healthy and sick, were killed.

Large trenches were dug and the been diagnosed in the cattle and hogs on their farm in 1914. BELOW: This crew digs a trench at the Deuth farm to bury the livestock cattle or other animals were driven infected with hoof and mouth disease. Photos supplied by Lyle Deuth into them and shot, under the supervision of a state veterinarian.

Lime and lye was then spread over the dead animals before they were covered with dirt.

After contact with the animals, the clothing of the state veterinarian was fumigated to prevent him from spreading the disease.

Farms with outbreaks were quarantined for six weeks.

During that time, the children were not allowed to go to school, and the farmer and his wife could not leave the property or even talk over the fence with a neighbor.

At the end of the quarantine, clothing and bedding was burned.

All species of deer and antelopes as well as elephants and giraffes are also susceptible to hoof and mouth disease.

Thank You! Thank you to all of our readers who supplied photographs for this section.

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THREE GENERATIONS

9 CENTURY OF FARMING | Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com

ABOVE: Art Schelling runs the binder to harvest oats on his family farm west of Leaf River on Pond Road in 1946 while his grandson Duane Schelling drives the tractor. AT RIGHT: Ray Schelling shocks oats. He is the son of Art and father of Duane.

Photos supplied by Arnie Schelling

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Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, June 21, 2019

| CENTURY OF FARMING

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FAMILY FARM

Cox family farm became Castle Rock State Park

BY CAROL KINISON My family farmed in Ogle County from the mid-1800s until the 1970s.

My great-great-grandfather came out from Maryland probably around 1848 and settled in the Grand Detour and then the Pine Creek area.

He is buried in Oak Ridge Cemetery on Ridge Road.

His son, Hiram Cox, farmed off of the Ridge Road.

My great-great-grandfather also was a Civil War veteran, serving with the 74th Illinois Infantry.

Hiram’s sons, George Cox and Bert Cox purchased farmland off of Illinois 2, just below Castle Rock.

Hiram’s son Jerome farmed for a while then became the circuit clerk and recorder for Ogle County.

George Cox was my great-grandfather.

He built the farmhouse just south of Castle Rock and later a larger house just up the road.

My grandfather, Fred Cox, lived in the original farmhouse.

Both farmhouses did not have electricity until 1940. Neither house ever had indoor plumbing or running water.

When I was young, there was a

George Cox Sr. and Letha Cox stand in front of their farm house south of Castle Rock State Park. This house later belonged to Fred Cox, their son, about 1900. Photo supplied

by Carol Kinison well with a hand pump for water.

Later on, my grandfather did put in an electric pump — still had the outhouse though and never did put

in any plumbing.

Both my great-grandfather and grandfather used plow horses to farm.

They had to hand pick the corn.

My mother often said that they would pick into December before all of the corn was picked.

He had a hand grinder for the corn to take the kernals off of the cobs. I thought that was a lot of fun when I was a kid.

My grandfather did finally get a tractor, sometime in the 1930s.He never did have any of the modern machinery used today.

I believe that most of what he grew was used for animal feed. He milked cows until the late 1950s, and there were always a lot of chickens.

He kept the milk in the milk house, which had a trough with cold water.

He would wheel the milk cans out to the road every day for the milkman to pick up.

In the 1970s the State of Illinois purchased the farm for Castle Rock State Park.

The farm was located at the first pull out on the south side of the park.

The road pulling into the park is part of the original road into the farm.

Both farmhouses were removed by the state when they purchased the land.

ABOVE: Waiting for the milk man to pick up the cans of milk in 1955. ABOVE LEFT: George Cox Sr. and his horses. BELOW LEFT: Fred Cox and his first tractor. Photos supplied by Carol Kinison

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11 CENTURY OF FARMING | Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com

ABOVE: Joe Stevens plants corn on his farm at Lost Nation with an Allis Chalmers WD and John Deere two-row planter in 2002. AT RIGHT: Stevens picks his corn with his Allis Chalmers WD and a New Idea two-row picker in the late fall of the same year. Photos supplied by Don Stevens

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Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, June 21, 2019

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Vernon Cassens held an open house on his farm south of Polo in 1958 to show how his new milking parlor with pipeline milkers worked. ABOVE: Vernon and his son Bob milk their Holstein cows in the new parlor. BELOW LEFT: Vernon is in the milk house with the new bulk tank. BELOW RIGHT: Vernon’s son Henry takes his turn milking. Photos supplied by Alice Cassens

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ABOVE: Jim Imel and his son Mike get acquainted with a new Hereford calf on the family’s farm at the corner of West Canada and North Summerhill Roads northwest of Polo. AT RIGHT: Mike and Linda Imel get ready to take a horseback ride in the 1950s. Turn to page 14 for another photo of the Imel farm. Photos supplied by John Imel

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Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, June 21, 2019

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George LeFevre combines oats on his farm on Oregon Trail Road west of Oregon in 1954. Photo supplied

by Joyce Tremble

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Jim Imel raised beef cattle, as well as hogs and dairy cows on his farm northwest of Polo in the 1050s. Photo supplied by John Imel

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July 25-28

CENTURY OF FARMING | Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com

ABOVE: Russell Poole holds a team of horses on his family’s farm on Donaldson Road northwest of Polo. ABOVE LEFT: Avis Gatz Poole gets ready to go disk - note the dress! MIDDLE LEFT: Russell Poole’s new Gleaner combine is pulled with Farmall F20 around 1950. BOTTOM LEFT: The Poole’s neighbor Halle Nichols with his Rumely Oil Pull in 1915 in Eagle Point Township. Photos supplied by David Poole

Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, June 21, 2019

| CENTURY OF FARMING

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