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Sunday, August 11, 1974, was a hot, sticky Sunday
afternoon, much like today. The Pennsylvania Colony Picnic was held
at the Jacob G. Heim farm northeast of Dawson, at that time it was
the home of my parents, Arthur and Lucille Heim.
I remember the day well. The area south of the house was mowed
like a golf green. The tables were set up among the walnut trees
that are now gone. At the business meeting, my father read a tribute
to his grandfather Jacob, who had come out from Pennsylvania just
a hundred years before, seeking land on which to build a house and
raise a family, so that the sons who followed him could also be
farmers, owning land. Three sons lived to adulthood, and it was
Jonathan who stayed on the home place. Today, I have been asked
to follow up on that story. But how could I convey what it is like
to grow up in a house, on a farm, in which there is so much family
history, all around. I will give some examples.
In 1893, Jonathan married Lousia Shafer, and to accommodate the
new couple, the east wing was built on to the original breadbox
shaped house. Louisa was a lady who liked "nice things",
so Jonathan bought a very ornate parlor stove, or baseburner, as
it was called. It required a high grade Pennsylvania coal, but it
would hold fire all through a cold winter night.
In 1914, farmers were buying tractors, and Jonathan bought a tractor.
It was a Moline Universal, and it looked like an over grown garden
tractor. When the first one proved inadequate, he bought a better
one. So while some little farm boys have a junked tractor to play
on, I had two of them! One was sold for scrap in World War II, and
the other went to a tractor museum in New Jersey. Family history
everywhere!
Jonathan wanted modern lightening in the house, at a time when
modern meant acetylene gas. An apparatus to produce the gas was
installed in the basement, and connected to fancy light globes in
the living areas. Turning a key caused a flint and steel device
to make sparks, igniting the gas.
But there was one closet in a dark hallway to which Grandmother
Louisa had to bring a lamp, if she wanted to search for something.
One of her sons thought his mother deserved something better, so
out of wire and tin he made an electric light fixture for the ceiling
of that closet, using two dry batteries and a tin switch in the
door frame, so that the light would work automatically. Yes, this
was my Uncle Howard; later on he taught electrical engineering at
Purdue University for many years.
Electricity really came to the farm with the "Delco System"
--- a set of 16 acid filled battery cells that looked like big glass
jars and a gasoline engine powered generator to charge them. I remember
that system well --- the sounds it made, and how it would start
up by itself, even when you didn't want it to! With the Delco came
a few luxuries; an electric fan to cool the air, and an electric
pump to draw water from the spring.
Then the hard times came to the farm, just as it came to the entire
Midwest. The out buildings went with out the paint they needed;
so did the house. The coal stove was stored in the basement - that
is where I first saw it - and it was replaced with a wood stove.
(After all you do not have to order wood from Pennsylvania!)
When the Delco batteries would not hold a full charge any longer,
the electrical fan was stored in the attic, and the electric pump
was taken out of service. The wires were cut, and the pipes rerouted
to a hand pump in the kitchen.
This was the farm my father took over in 1930; four years later,
he married Lucille Stratton, and the couple lived on the hope of
better days to come.
So, it was good times and bad times; scarcity and abundance; triumph
and tragedy. Dad died in 1982; he would have loved to be here today.
I lived in Lincoln for 38 years. Now I have retired and come back
to my child hood home, to see to its upkeep. I am going to do my
best. History is worth preserving!
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