Long history on the farm

[Digger_O'Dell]

Hi All,

Just wanted to share about some interesting information I researched about the farm I recently moved to. I finally located a plat map from 1894 listing the owner's name. I then researched that person in hope to find a bit more information. It turns out that the owner was a German immigrant who married a woman who was born nearby here in Wisconsin. Sh was 16 when married and 9 years younger. I would assume he already had the farm by this time to afford getting married and supporting a wife and any future children. The first child was born in 1870, and they had 11 children in total! (Geez!) So what this tells me doing the math is that the farm was operational by at least 1870 if not even earlier. The farm plot has not changed since that time other than a small strip at the far edge where there is now a house on a small lot.

The layout of the buildings has changed a lot over the years as told by an aerial photo I found from 1938, but that gives me a lot of information to work with and the ability stop searching many areas that look good now but I'm sure now have nothing of value as they had buildings on them until recently. Now, I just have to wait for the soybeans to be harvested end of October to search the fields.

Hope you like the history! GL and HH!

[groundhog53946]

Very interesting knowing the history of the area that you hunt. Good luck. I'm sure there's some goodies waiting for you yet

Sent from my XT830C using Tapatalk

[Digger_O'Dell]

That's what I hope-just as long as things haven't been too dug out over the years. I would like to locate where some of the more traveled areas were such as to the outhouse, location of the clothes line, and the trash pit that farms always had. Plus, I'm sure there must be a lot of parts from the old carriages and sleighs used there. Maybe a crotal bell would be nice, or even some very old coins. But with 11 children, I suspect there probably wasn't much money so was closely kept track of.

One edit though-I found a listing of the 2 oldest children on a New York passenger list. Maybe they were born overseas? That would then date his ownership of the farm to maybe 1880? There is nothing older I can find as yet to a previous owner. Just know the area was settled around the 1840's.

I'll try to get some photos up soon of some of the more interesting historical features such as the hand hewn beams on the barn, log house support beams, etc. In the mean time here's a plat map from 1892:

49668

I'm at the bottom row left of center, west of the river listed as "A. Rosskopf"

[chief5709]

Neat! That's one way to get permission for an old farmstead, buy it! Congrats and good luck.

[Digger_O'Dell]

Just renting, but got access to 50 acres, plus the nature preserve behind that I guess must be a few hundred acres more. :cheesysmile:

[MangoAve]

Nice research. The only thing that I noticed is how you mentioned most of the buildings changed a lot over the years. The majority of finds would be closer to the building. Think of picture from space of all the lights at night in a region. The dense lights are around the house while they become more sparse further from the house. I am sure the areas where it is 'sparse' for finds weren't changed. No fill. No grading. There would be no need if the farm was already in operation in 1870 to change anything in the fields over the years. Just, it would be tilled. So that might just reinforce how you mentioned to wait until the soy is harvested and check the fields. It just be longer between targets. If the house was originally located at a different spot. You can try around there. 1870 might have brick or block foundation. The cellar might be filled and any dirt near the foundation might be taken away now, but that is prob an area no more than 40 ft from the house. (Judging by how houses today are built just a tad further from the street so there might be a shallower pitch).

[Digger_O'Dell]

MangoAve-Almost the whole lot (almost 5 acres) was under roof of one kind or another, the rest was multiple gravel driveways between the buildings. Looked to be quite the complex even in the 30's. The house is on the original fieldstone foundation and was build in 1915 according to records. But I am sure it's the second house on the first foundation. I located the original well, but nothing there. I think it was likely indoors going by the photos, and then filled in when the building was razed. The area all around the house itself has been terraformed in recent years. Easy to tell by loose soil mixed with gravel and nothing under maybe a couple inches. Everything I found is late 80's on up. The only older stuff I found was the perimeter of the property closer to the fields. Nothing older than 2 relics from the 20's or 30's.

[del]

sounds like your doing it right with the research , if it don't help you where to look it will still save you time by telling you where not to but I suspect you finding a good place to hit some nice targets. keep us informed with how you do .

Dan

[MangoAve]

I have found some surprising areas. One I hit when I pulled up a large button had a big footprint and 4 more depressions from some sort of outbuildings. I can't tell anything what it looked like from the aerials because the place was long gone before the aerials were taken. But that was surprising to see that many buildings on the edge of a hill. Most other places I see didn't have that many buildings .
The well isn't a guarantee. It just means there was more activity near it, therefore more probability. As long as you look at areas that look the same in the 30's as they do now, you should still be ok. As Dan, said, you are doing good with the research.

[Skamaniac]

That's great that you can find maps from long ago to help. I've learned a lot locally by digging through old maps too. Good luck!