History is in the making

In the song, History, Matthew West sings, 


"Every choice that you are making
Every step that you are taking
Every chain that you are breaking
History is in the making
Every word that you are saying
Every prayer that you are praying
Every chain that you are breaking
History is in the making"

In our last post, we talked about the Ohio Century Farm project and how we had traced back the history of our farm as far as the deed records go. It was such a neat project to see how "history is in the making," right here on our family farm. Here's a quick look at our farm's 175-year history.

The first record of the dairy farm in the county recorder's office is in 1837. In this year, Barbara Swalley deeded 80 acres of our farm to her son, Solomon. Barbara originally came to Ohio many years before, when she and her husband settled near Zanesville. Her husband met an early death, and she traveled back to her home state of Pennsylvania with her young children. Research shows she came back to the Lykens area in the early 1830s to be near family that was already here. When her son got married in 1837, she passed the land on. One of the most interesting things about this deed transfer was that Barbara couldn't write. Her signature is indicated by an "x" on the deed, with a notation by the recorder saying that he witnessed her mark. As a female who loves to write, this particular point struck a cord with me. Among our many blessings is our access to education, which both men and women in the 1800s didn't always have.

Solomon held on to the land until 1840, when he sold it to Samuel Hall. We were not able to find a relationship between Solomon and Samuel, but we did find that Solomon only one child, a daughter. It is likely that there was not an immediate relationship between the two. 

Samuel Hall only had one son, who moved out of the area. In 1866, he transferred the deed to Lambert Myers. Lambert had an interesting story. He only owned our farm for one year, because in 1867, he and his wife moved to Missouri, where they eventually died. By 1867, he had acquired 120 consecutive acres, which he split between three people before moving to Missouri: William Tippin, Mary Seery, and J.H. Barrow. 

William Tippin was married to Frances Seery, the sister of Mary Seery. William obtained 53 2/3 acres of the farm from Lambert, while Mary bought 26 1/3, and J.H. Barrow got the remaining 40. When William passed away in 1889, his nephew, Jacob Seery, administered his estate. He transfered the deed to Samuel Dewalt. We'll come back to him in a second. In 1901, Mary Seery passed away, and her sister, Frances Tippin, administered her estate. Mary's 26 1/3 acres were sold to Frances's son-in-law, E.L. Mesnard. E.L. was married to William and Frances's daughter, Alta. 

It is unclear why E.L. sold his land to Samuel Dewalt in 1901. E.L. is buried just a few miles north of the dairy farm, so it's not probable that he left the area. Irregardless, by 1901, Sam Dewalt now had the 80 acre parcel, in addition to several hundred acres that are not part of our farm today. 

Sam Dewalt was married to Mahala Shock, and they had several children together, including a daughter, Hattie. Hattie later married Marvin Hartschuh, Allen's grandfather. In 1940, Sam passed away, leaving his estate to his children. Hattie and her husband Marvin purchased the dairy farm, where we still milk today. Hattie passed away in 1976, leaving sole ownership to Marvin, who owned it until his death in 1997. Allen and Diane had been farming the land since 1982, so in his will, Marvin gave first option to buy to Allen, who has owned the farm ever since.   

In case you weren't able to follow along, what this lineage of deed transfers shows is that Sam Dewalt acquired part of our farm in 1889. Sam was Allen's great-grandfather, making Greg, Brian, and Jason the fifth generation to farm the same land.

Our research was a great way to better understand the legacy of family farms. There is so much pride and tradition that goes into farming, and we're blessed to be a part of it.

Century Farm

Brian is a fairly new veterinarian; he graduated from OSU in June and has been practicing since then. To accommodate his on-call schedule, we had our family Christmas last Sunday. On a dairy farm, there are always chores to do. Naturally, the morning started with milking, feeding cows and calves, and tending to "ladies in waiting," otherwise known as artificially inseminating cows and heifers in heat. After those chores were completed, we gathered at Allen and Diane's for a huge spread of food and time together as a family.

We took the customary Christmas photos, and then it was time to open presents. A couple of months ago, Greg and I decided that we would do the legwork to get the dairy farm recognized as an Ohio Century Farm. The Century Farm program is designed to recognize farms that have been in the same family continuously for at least one hundred years. It requires the applicants to show deed records and tell how previous owners are related. Here's the letter that we gave to Allen and Diane on Christmas:

December 17, 2011

Mom and Dad,

Farming in our family has a rich heritage. We are proud of the traditions you have set for us, but at the same time, we realize that our family has a long and proud history, much greater than we can sometimes fathom.

About a month ago, we began a project to nominate the dairy farm for the Ohio Century Farm Program, which recognizes farms that have been farmed by the same family consecutively for one hundred years. We started by researching the deed records for the property at the County Recorder’s Office. From there, we set out to connect the dots and map out our family’s lineage along with the deed transfers.

The time we spent trying to decipher relationships between deed grantors and grantees was confusing, frustrating, puzzling, and also very rewarding. The farther back we traced the property, the more adamant we became at finding connections. We relied on a great deal of internet genealogy, but we also discussed the relationships with neighbors and family members. The deeds set out on our office floor for the better part of a month with colored papers showing arrows, jotted notes, maiden names, family trees and more.

We eventually reached a roadblock, when we could no longer show a relationship between Samuel Dewalt (Hattie’s father) and E.L. Mesnard, who he purchased part of the farm from. We were able to trace part of the farm that Samuel bought back to 1889, which shows that 53 1/3 of the acres have been in our family since that point.

What we thought would be a simple project that we could complete by Christmas was just recently finished. While we hoped that the sign commemorating the farm’s status would be here by Christmas, the project consumed more time than we anticipated. So, your gift for today is copies of the deed records (as found in deed books and on microfilm in the Recorder’s Office,) a table outlining the property’s history, a copy of the Century Farm Application, and our utmost appreciation for instilling in your family farming traditions that date back long before paper records show.

Thank you,

Greg and Rose

Allen and Diane reading a table that lists the previous farm owners and relationships.

We'll talk more about what we learned about our farm's heritage in the next post, but the moral of the story is that farming and family are intertwined. Enjoy this time with family this Christmas and as you count your blessings, remember the American farmers that feed and clothe you. Merry Christmas!