100 Years of Farming for Sellers

This appeared in the Chariton Herald-Patriot on March 21, 2013, by Sandra Knebel

Joe Sellers, the Beef Specialist at Iowa State University's Extension office in Chariton says

that farming had a big influence on his family.  Joe, his brother, Thomas, and his father all went to Iowa State University and majored in animal science.

There are two Century Farms in the Sellers family, both in rural Chariton.  Both were originally purchased by David Lewis in the mid 1800's.  In 1886, one of the farms was deeded to Joe's Great Grandfather, John P. Sellers, who married David's daughter, Weltha.  David Lewis (1819-1886) farmed the other with his wife, Lorilla.  Generations later, Harris and Twila Sellers had their farm certified as a Century Farm (1976).  In 1987 Harris and Mary Alyce Sellers, Joe and Tom's parents, had their farm certified.

Both David Lewis and his son, Frank, served in the Union Army during the Civil War, both returning to farming after the war.

Joe Sellers and his brother, Thomas, grew up in the house John P. Sellers built east of what was originally David and Lorilla's homestead.

John Sellers' son was the first of the next three generations whose first names were Harris - Joe's grandfather, his father, and Joe - whose actual name is Harris Joseph Sellers.  The last three generations, including Thomas, have specialized in livestock farming.

Both of the Century Farms are now owned by Joe and Cindy Sellers and Joe's brother, Tom.  After 158 years of the families farming the homesteads, Joe says when he and Thomas retire, it will be someone else's chance to carry on.

Werts Family Settle in Russell in 1864

The following article and pictures appeared in the Chariton Herald-Patriot on March 21, 2013, written by Sandra Knebel.

The Werts Family farm has been in their family for 118 years and was recognized and honored by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation in 1996 as a "Century Farm".

The family legacy began with John Jackson Werts (1831-1901) and his wife, Esther (1837-1912).  John and Esther were both born in Muskingum County, Ohio.  At the age of 21, John took a job as a farmhand for $13 a month.  He saved his money and the next year rented a 50-acre farm in an adjacent county.  By the year 1864, with six children and the loss of one baby, John and Esther could see the necessity of having more land in order to feed a growing family.  John made a trip to the new state of Iowa where his Uncle William Maple had homesteaded a farm on the prairie, paying the government $1.25 per acre.  He was favorably impressed with the land and the prospects for future settlement and growth.  He purchased 160 acres of prairie including 20 acres under cultivation and a newly built house.  He also bought 40 acres of timber for fuel, fence posts and lumber.  The entire package cost him $2,100.  The farm was half a mile north of "Ragtown", a village having a store, sawmill, and a few houses.  A school was added in a few years.  John hurried back home to Ohio to move his family and what possessions could be carried across the prairie to Iowa.  With the fall of 1864 came the big move to Iowa with six children and all the household goods they could pile on one

wagon.  The family rode to Iowa on a train.

John was proud of the flock of sheep he had in Ohio and was determined to move them as well to Iowa.  The sheep were driven from the farm to the railroad yard and loaded into a railway car.  During the train trip, John spent most of his time with the sheep, watering and feeding them and keeping them as comfortable as possible in order to prevent costly losses.

In Chicago, it was necessary for passengers to move from one railway station to another to board a train to Eddyville, Iowa, the end of the line and about 40 miles from their farm.  The carload of sheep, on arrival in Chicago, was most likely also switched from one road to the other.  At Eddyville, the two weary families crowded into a stagecoach which took them on another dirt road to Lagrange, Iowa, a village that was still a good 10 miles from their farm.  There they were welcomed by the Maple family who helped them make the final trek leading to the farm that would eventually become a Century Farm.  

The sheep were unloaded in Eddyville and the flock driven out on the prairie and on to the farm.  There was a trail they could follow during daylight hours.  John Quincy Werts was nine years old at the time and remembered that he went with his Uncle Alex McCurdy to get the sheep and bring them the remainder of the way to the farm.  They could not find the trail in the darkness and prepared to stay all night.  They eventually heard a dog barking and were able to find a house where a man showed them the trail and they completed the journey, arriving about daybreak.
Having arrived in the fall of the year, the first winter was a difficult one.  The men had to work hard to begin preparing the land for a crop the following year.  Prairie sod was deep and tough and their tools were primitive, but they were able to turn over a good-sized plot before the weather became severe.  The young boys worked along with the men and all were hungry.  Those were the days when neighbors helped neighbors and all worked together to provide for the needs of the community.  Labor was shared and food was shared.
There was no town of Russell for another three or four years.  The first store there opened in 1865.  Until then, staples of food and equipment were hauled from Eddyville to Chariton and the farmers drove their teams and wagons the six or seven miles to Chariton for their necessities.
In 1867 the railroad tracks were completed through Lucas County.  The first train came through in July of 1867.  Soon afterward a general store was built and women were able to buy cotton fabrics for dresses, buttons and thread.  The town of Russell grew and Ragtown, the village that had been a half mile south of the Werts farm, disappeared except for the schoolhouse.
In 1891, after 27 years of thrift and hard work, John and Esther built a house in the west end of Russell and retired, leaving the farm in the hands of their son Clifton Elmer Werts, whose name was on the original deed with his father.  Cliff had learned farming from his father and neighbors, but more than others, he learned to appreciate the advent of the mechanical age and used his ingenuity for the construction and application of farm machinery.
In 1905, Cliff mounted two gasoline engines on a horse-drawn wagon, the engines providing power for a threshing machine.  He then helped many neighborhood farmers with their threshing.  He assembled and built one of the first gasoline tractors in the county.  The equipment enabled him to farm more land and he added neighboring farms until he had 620 acres.
In 1932, Cliff invented a pipe-laying machine and used it to lay underground piping for farmers and other industries.  He built a motor home on an auto chassis about 1926.  A few years later he built a larger one.  Over more than 17 years he and his wife, Clara, used their motor home to explore the 48 states, Canada and Mexico, often in the company of family and friends.
From Cliff and Clara, the farm passed to their son, Richard Werts, who was born in 1899.  Richard attended Russell high School and learned farming from his father.  From Richard, the farm was purchased in 1964 by Richard's nephew, James Elmer Werts.  James, born in 1931, was the son of Ralph and Alice Werts.
After completing the public schools in Russell, James went into the Air Force, serving much of his four years in Frankfurt, Germany.  On returning home, "Jim" went into farming.  In September of 1952, he married Beverly Ann Pierce.  Jim and Beverly's daughter, Terry and her husband, Rick Elmore, now live on the farm.  Rick was born in Corydon.  He helped coach football and basketball at the Russell High School and farmed with his father-in-law.  Rick and Terry raise cattle, mostly Angus, and the usual crops found in Lucas County - corn, soybeans and hay.
Rick and Terry have three children.  Their son, Conrad, is currently involved with raising the cattle.  Their grandaughters, Alixis and Alivia VanRyswyk, are members of 4-H and raise their 4-H cattle on the farm.  In addition to their daughter, Kelly VanRyswyk (Chariton), son Conrad (Chariton), they also have a daughter, Kayla, who lives near Des Moines.

LaFavre/Buttz Family Century Farm

This article appeared in the Chariton Herald Patriot newspaper on March 21, 2013

For 111 years, the LaFavre/Buttz Family has farmed in Lucas County, building a legacy with hard work and family values.  "Century Farm" signs are proudly posted on farms throughout the state of Iowa.  These are awarded to those who have families that have farmed their land for over 100 years.  Of the 85 Century Farm families in Lucas County, the LaFavre/Buttz family is one.  Five generations of the LaFavre/Buttz family have operated their farm on S56 about four miles south of Russell.

In 1902, when Grant W. LaFavre purchased and founded the family farm, advanced agriculturists were talking about "scientific farming."  The improvements in which the farmers of 1902 took pride were indeed astounding when viewed in the light of their grandfathers' experiences.  Farmers had ceased to broadcast seed from a heavy shoulder bag.  No longer did they harvest with sickles and scythes. Horse-drawn grain drills and two-row corn planters, sickle-bar mowing machines, twine binders and steam threshing machines were beginning to appear in the fields.  Hay loaders were replacing pitchforks.  It was the beginning of a 50-year period when agriculture in America was becoming revolutionized.

Grant's only son, Kenneth remembered that his "growing up" years may have been easier, but they were not easy.  Farming was still pretty labor intensive.  His father didn't grow a lot of crops because he was still plowing by hand behind horses.  He raised cows and pigs and sheep.  The weather was challenging.  In addition to being Depression years, the 30's was the decade of dryness, with two years, 1934 and 1936, of extreme drought.  Corn yields that had previously average near 25 bushels per acre fell to 10, 5 or even 2 or less in some areas.

Kenneth told stories to his children and grandchildren about the many huge maple trees that gave the "Maple Grove" name to the homestead and lined the lane leading to the house.  The drought was so bad, in order to provide for the cows, Kenneth's father, Grant, cut down one of the huge trees each day to feed the leaves to his eight to ten cattle.  The wood was cut up to supplement the coal that the family used to heat the house.

Kenneth took over the farmstead in 1957.  He and his wife, Opal, raised their two girls, Evelyn and Alice, on the farm.  By the time Evelyn married Guy Buttz, the original house had been updated considerably with a new addition that substantially increased the size with a new kitchen and living room.  In alignment with the times, Evelyn had a large garden that provided fruits and vegetables for canning to tide the family over the winter.

The LaFavre/Buttz Family holding their Century Farm
Certificate at the Iowa State Fair in 2005.

Pictured to the left are:

Back row - L to R - In parenthesis the generation number in the family:  Josh Flanders (5) holding Cruize (6); Linda Johnson (4), Lori and Scott (5) Johnson with their son, Garrett (6)  Front Row L to R:  Heather (5) and Cody (6) Flanders, Guy and Evelyn LaFavre (3) Buttz, and Mark (5) and Wesley (5) Johnson.  Not pictured in the Century Farm family photo are sixth generation Johnson great grandchildren:  Ava, Abby, Lucy, Kent, Ty and MaCayla and Elizabeth Buttz.

Guy's experiences of those days were similar to the LaFavre family.  "I remember riding the pony every morning about four miles to my Grandma's.  We cut down trees as well so we could feed our cows.  Farming was tough, hard work.  I hoed beans and corn by hand."  He added that his father, in order to make a living, was a coal miner in addition to being a farmer.

Guy said that his family's farm would also have been a Century Farm, had the county not come along and taken the land for a road and interrupted history.  His family farm was passed down from his mother's side of the family - the Kerns.  It was located about three quarters of a mile south of the Confidence cemetery.

Evelyn and Guy's son, Doyle, lived on the farm for a number of years, before their daughter, Linda, and her husband, Donald Johnson, took residence.  Linda and Don were the last family members to actually farm the homestead.  They raised crops, cows and hogs.  It was Linda and Donald who planted new maple trees to replace those cut down to feed cows in the 1930's.

Their son, Mark, now lives on the Century Farm.  He works in Chariton.  The land is leased out by Evelyn and Guy.  Since moving in, he has built a new house, it no longer being feasible to fix up the original home.  The original barn, built with pegs rather than nails, is still standing.  The family also still has two antique tractors, a 1984A and a 1968 40x20LP -that they use in the Russell parades.

While not a farmer per se, Mark and his wife, Jill, are into gardening, a carry down from both Kenneth and Evelyn.  His mother, Linda, recalled, "My Grandpa Kenneth was a very good gardener.  He always had a huge garden.  Even after we moved in and he moved into Russell, he would come out every day and garden and involve my kids in gardening."  Evelyn added, "My dad (Kenneth) would be very proud that his great grandson is living on the farm."

Across the road from the LaFavre/Buttz Century Farm is a farm owned by Linda and Don and farmed by their son, Scott, who is carrying on the farming legacy begun in 1902 by Grant W. LaFavre.