Landed ...... When I first see this word, my mind immediately goes to the skies, as in Aviation. It's automatic since there are many individuals in recent family that have been involved in that industry, including us. But. of course, I think for this week's topic, I need to stay on the ground and think ..... Farmers.
If your ancestors have been in America for longer than a hundred years or so, you may find a few farmers among them. It would not be surprising, especially if they were the wandering type always looking for good farm land. One great grandfather in particular was a very successful farmer, more specifically, horticulturist and orchardist.
Foster James Heacock (1869-1939) was born in Benjaminville, Illinois to James W Heacock & Sarah Nixon who moved there in 1865 from Washington Co, Indiana. It's hard to say what happened, possibly Sarah's father could not manage the farm any longer, but in 1873, the family moved back to Indiana where James was in the nursery business and acquired the title to Spring Hill Farm from his father in law in 1874. Eventually, Foster inherited the farm and was a well educated and well known fruit expert. However, Foster did not immediately settle into farming.
The Benjaminville Quaker Meeting House, the only remaining building of the town. This would have been where the Heacock family worshiped.
Coming from a Quaker family, education was important, so he attended the Valaparaiso Normal School and became a teacher, then later moved east to Pennsylvania where he was the Principal of a Business College in Butler until 1897. After this, he returned to Indiana to begin his farming as manager of the Heacock Fruit Company. His apples won many prizes, notably at the Indiana State Apple Show in 1916. Foster also grew peaches and was known for his Leghorn chickens. Foster also served as President of the Indiana Horticultural Society for 5 or 6 years.
Foster's wife died in 1917 leaving him with several dependent children. In 1919, he sold Spring Hill Farm and moved with his 3 youngest children to Bedford, Pennsylvania. He purchased the Friendly Fruit Farm in Clearville, Pa near Bedford and continued his successful fruit growing business and also remarried.
His apples continued winning prizes at fairs and Foster was a popular speaker giving lectures at horticulture societies. Over the years Foster was granted at least 4 patents for inventions relating to the fruit business, a fruit grader and several fruit shipping containers as well as a combination lock.
Fruit Grader Patent 1916 - this sorted the fruit by size
One of his sons, Oliver, continued in his footsteps as the owner of his own farm, the Honeycomb Fruit Farm in Adams county, Pennsylvania, from 1930 to 1980 growing apples and peaches and supplying apples to the Musselman's Company for their applesauce.
Another son, my grandfather Floyd, kept a bit of the farmer in him in the form of his large backyard vegetable garden. Lots of corn, potatoes, peas and beans and probably other things as well.
Floyd's garden in the background
It doesn't seem to matter how much land one owns, it's still a strong drive in many people to have some land to call their own and maybe even have a little plot to grow things on. I would like to have a green thumb like my ancestors but I don't. I still try a little tho.
Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved.
What a wonderful rich history of farming, land ownership and diversity of occupations. Nice that you have the clippings and photos. Enjoyed it all coming from a heritage of Iowa Farmers and one who loves digging in the dirt. Thanks for your comments on my Aviation post.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I have so many clippings for him, wish I could have put them all up!
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