Iowa Family Receives Heritage Farm Award for 150 Years on Same Farm
Rachel, age 84, reading from a genealogy report, compiled by her late brother Daniel, said that her great-grandfather, Daniel Brownson, pronounced Brunson, came to Iowa around 1839 after marrying Asenath Tyler; they had heard that the land was better in Iowa and that they could grow crops, which they couldn’t do in up state New York where it was too rocky.
“Daniel’s main objective when he came here was to get money to buy a house – he worked at the white forest in Wisconsin and he bought forty acres of land at $1.25 an acre – this is what we are living on now,” Rachel said. “There was another speculator who wanted the land too, he took a boat from McGreggor to Dubuque to beat Daniel – Daniel had walked from National to Dubuque and beat the land speculator by 20 minutes,” she added, reading from her records.
Rachel explained that when Spring came they built the log cabin, which was replaced in 1861 by the red brick house and small red brick wash house, which later became a smoking house. The house she currently lives in, also in red brick and situated next door, was built in 1929.
After the Civil War was declared, two Northeners escaped from the South and fled up the Mississippi to McGreggor, and as luck would have it, they were bricklayers and probably carpenters, she explained. Daniel hired them to build the house. The house was built of brick and the cellar walls were constructed of quarried limestone and the bricks were transported on the river to Clayton and hauled by oxen to the farm; a ten mile trip, she pointed out.
“Daniel was the one to recognise that the horse was better than the oxen, he owned 40 or 50 horses,” Rachel said. “Indian ponies were used for riding and light hauling duties. He could see the use or the need for a better horse – one that could do the work of oxen quicker and more responsively,” she continued, reading from the records.
Consequently, after the Civil War, Daniel went to France to buy Norman or Percheron stock. His nick name was Frenchy because he spoke French, Rachel said.
“He [Daniel] makes a speciality of breeding fine stock which he shipped to America at heavy expense. His yard of colts is one of the wonders of fine horse flesh. He sold several thousand dollars of stock this Spring, and his herd numbers fifty, of various ages and value,” it said, in the Clayton County History book.
Rachel’s grandfather, son of Daniel, was Freeman Brownson, they ran the family business which was known as D.Brown & Son. Importers and Breeders. Later, Rachel’s father, Lloyd, joined the business.
Rachel had three siblings, all deceast, but she recalls her childhood on the farm fondly. She was very close to her brother Daniel who past recently.
“We helped our mother with the housework,” she said. “I used to mow hay with a team of horses. It was before the days of snow ploughs and farmers had to make a path through other peoples fields to get out – it was different,” she continued. “When we were married, we rented from my father until 1958 – then we bought the farm for about $200 an acre,” she explained.
“Harold just can’t sit still.”
Rachel and Harold have been married for 61 years, they were married in 1945. Harold has been a truck driver ever since they retired from farming. “Harold just can’t sit still,” Rachel commented.
“I always liked living in the country – I think that it’s a good life,” Rachel said. “I used to put in the crops and help take them out in the fall. One time I was picking corn – and all of a sudden the tractor was on fire – luckily I had the presence of mind to switch off the ignition as I jumped from the burning tractor to save my life,” she chuckled.
Rachel and Howard rent the farm, to what she called, a responsible young farmer, these days, but they do still reside on the same plot just a short distance from the original log cabin built by her pioneer great-grandfather.
“I guess the very last year we just combined corn and sold it as a cash crop,” said Rachel explaining how they wound down their farming. “We had livestock and grain, we fed the cattle which we sold at market when the price was right,” she said.
Rachel pointed out that they had at one time farmed oats too, but that they discontinued it. They also had hogs for a while, and she pointed out that it wasn’t a disease problem that caused them to get rid of the hogs, it was just that they were getting older and they still had a hundred head of cattle.
“I used to help with the feeding of the cattle, milking doesn’t interest me,” Rachel said, referring to not having dairy cattle. “We always grew a garden, we had our own vegetables – now I plant one patch of tomatoes, I can’t do much anymore – past eighty,” she said smiling.
“I liked to be out in the garden, I always had to do a lot of field work. I didn’t have much time for myself,” she said, explaining why she didn’t have much time for her hobbies of recipe, miniatures and cookie jar collecting.
Rachel was happy to have received the award but wished her brother Daniel could be around to enjoy it too. Rachel has one surving grandchild, Daniel, who lives in Dubuque. Rachel and Harold had three children together, Douglas, who now lives in Colorado, Susan, who lives in LaCrosse and Steven, in Dubque, father of grandson Daniel. Rachel had four siblings; Daniel, who had two children, Jeanette, who had three children, Eloise, who had three children and Berna, who had four children. A total of 15 offspring, all stemming from great-grandfather and pioneer of Northeastern Iowa, Daniel Brownson.
The picturesque farm, a scenic site off the beaten track, cannot be seen from 190 Street in Farmersburg, which is a gravel road, because it is set in a secluded valley off a dirt road.
The Heritage Farms Program
The Heritage Farms Program was initiated by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship this year. The ceremonies honoring the families who have owned farms for 150 years or more was held on August 17 at the Iowa State Fair.
Two families in Monona received the honor, as did two families in Farmersburg. The Heritage Farm Awards were presented by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge.
The Heritage Farm Program, according to a report by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, says that Secretary Judge stated, the program acknowledges Iowa farm families, it honors them by recognizing their contribution to the land and the responsiblity that comes from working the land. Their extraordinary contribution having been part of forging the Iowan way of life.
