Paul Peterson Farm: 52 Ancestors 2020 Prompt "Land"

           During a recent visit to Minnesota, I enjoyed looking through family photos with my brother. I loved seeing the photos of the family farm over the decades. The land my brother now farms has been in our family for over one hundred twenty years, providing a living for four generations, from my grandfather Paul Peterson down to my nephew Jacob Peterson.

            Studying plat maps and homestead paperwork, I can see that my ancestors established their homestead claims just one or two miles from the farm Paul Peterson bought. To prove up a homestead claim, a farmer had to reside on the land for five years, build a home and make improvements. After five years, they could file paperwork with the local land office to receive title to their land. My great-grandfather Peder Pederson got title to his homestead in 1877, less than a year before his death in a farm accident. His homestead was just down the road from the homestead claimed by my Syverson ancestors. Ove Syverson received title to his property in 1881. Peder and Ove’s children, my grandparents Paul Peterson and Regina Syverson, married June 30, 1892.

1889 Plat Map showing Syverson land, Peterson and Joramo land in green

            The 1900 plat map for Lake Hanska and Linden Townships show several properties owned by “J Jaramoe” or “Jac Jaramoe”. I believe this refers to my great uncle Jacob Joramo, Paul Peterson’s brother. The parcels included land that Jacob’s sons and grandsons eventually farmed, as well as the land that became Paul’s farm. I am guessing that at least some of the land with Jacob’s name on it was jointly owned by the brothers, as they both would have inherited from their parents. The parcel that eventually became my grandfather’s farm was just to the north of the homesteads owned by Peder Pederson and Ove Syverson. According to Paul Peterson’s obituary, Paul and Regina bought their farm the year they married. I have no evidence yet to confirm this assertion.

1900 Plat map showing Syverson land, and two plots owned by Jacob Joramo. Top is Paul's farm

            The earliest photo I have of Paul and Regina’s farm is below. The photo shows the original house; the current house was built around 1930. I believe the house already stood on the property when they acquired the farm, but I am not positive. It was a small house considering that Paul and Regina raised  nine children there. I doubt there were more than four or five rooms. Behind and to the left of the house is the outhouse; there was no plumbing yet. To the left rear is a large red and white barn. I think it may have been the same barn that stood there when I was a child, but by that time the red wood had been covered with a blue-gray metal siding. I was surprised at how many trees were clustered around the farmsite. I don’t know if they were planted by the original homesteaders, or if the entire tract was wooded and had to be cleared for farming. I assume this photo was taken around 1910.

            The second photo is another view of the first house. By this time, some of the trees have been cleared, leaving a packed dirt area where the horses, wagons and equipment would have come through, past the house to the barnyard. The fencing seems to have been improved; tilted wood fence posts were replaced by metal gates with wire gridding, and barbed wire fencing. A porch has been added to the left end of the house to shelter the door. The family is growing a bit more prosperous. I would guess this photo was taken around 1920.

            The remaining photos show the farm decades later, when airplanes were common and available to take aerial shots. The photo below was taken in the late 1940s or early 1950s. The new house is up, and a clearer copy of the shot than this one shows my grandmother, Regina Peterson, climbing the steps to the kitchen door. Paul’s mother Anna’s old house, moved from Jacob’s property and now converted to a granary, is visible above and to the left of the house. The barn now has its metal siding, and several new outbuildings are visible in a huge packed dirt barnyard, including a chicken house and two brooder houses, one possibly for ducklings, the other for baby chicks.

            In this shot, the brooder house has been moved a bit, and you can see a windmill base behind it. Just a few years later, this windmill was replaced by an electric water pump; the concrete base was all that remained when I was a child. Until I saw this photo, I had never known the farm had a windmill. I was surprised by the number of chickens Regina had; she must have supplied eggs to others with that many hens.

            The next photo shows my dad’s farm, the post-Paul and Regina era. It looks much like I remember from my preschool years in the early 1960s although I believe this photo was taken about ten years earlier, in mid- or early-1950s. There are some striking changes from the previous photo. The dirt barnyard has now been planted with alfalfa to feed the cattle. As I grew up, this alfalfa gradually shifted to clover and grass. A fence between the alfalfa and the house indicates that the cattle were occasionally freed to eat the feed. A new metal shed has been built to house the tractors and farm equipment, recognition that horses were no longer needed. A round metal grain bin is behind the barn, and there’s a new garage to house my dad’s car and pickup truck, tucked behind the farmhouse. The brooder houses are gone and the chicken house looks abandoned; now that Regina has died, my father has no desire to raise chickens. I love the giant stack of hay or straw bales behind the barn. I remember climbing up similar stacks as a child, feeling like I was high atop a castle rampart looking down on my kingdom.

            The final shot shows the farm in my brother’s era. The old barn is gone, replaced by a variety of new buildings and grain bins. The trees have grown up in some areas, while the grove to the west has shrunk a bit to make room for the new buildings. The house has been expanded a bit as well, and a pretty white fence lines the edge of the property before the road ditch.

            It is wonderful to see the farm change and adapt to the family’s needs over the years. Each generation makes improvements. The farm’s basic footprint has remained the same, while the buildings and trees come and go, rise and fall. I hope this land will continue to remain in our family for generations to come.