WRITING HISTORY OF OUR LAND

                                              Published in Intermountain Farm and Ranch on
                                                               Friday, June 24, 2011

This is the time of year for family reunions. We sometimes enjoy these, sometimes not. But they are important. It is a time to reunite, thus the word reunion. Many times family members are only seen once a year – at reunions or maybe at funerals. As we get older these times mean more to us. We start thinking of histories, where we came from and where we are going. What are we leaving our children in terms of their historical background? Do our children know where their grandparents came from, do they know what occupations their aunts and uncles have, do they even know their cousins?  So I would like to address the idea of writing histories.

            Writing history can be fun. The more one researches, the more one learns and the more one wants to learn. The first thing in writing a history is to determine what type of history to write. One area I have found interesting is the history of the land. What makes this type of history so interesting is that as farmers most of us refer to the fields we farm with the name of the original owner. At the ranch we have the “Anderson” place, the “Doman” place, the “Rushton” place, “Cal’s and Eli’s”, etc. With some research, it is often possible to find some descendents of those people. Most are willing to share life histories of their parents and grandparents. When you get that information you have a treasure as the land starts to reveal its secrets to you! These histories will contain information about droughts, price of products grown, illnesses, celebrations, and many other things the people recorded.  Let me quote a couple of things from my book, Dehlin, A Forgotten Community:

Joseph Olsen wrote: “I filed a squatter’s right on land across Willow Creek, what is known as Dehlin or Horse Butte. Later we filed a homestead on 240 akers.”[original spelling]” (Dehlin, p 13)

“The Thomas Joseph Pearce told how, during the years of the depression, the people struggled to make a living. Prices hit rock bottom. The price of wheat was down to twenty cents a bushel. It became difficult to make it on the dry farm. Gradually more and more of the Dehlin dry farmers moved to the valley to try to find employment elsewhere.” (Dehlin, p 109)

            This type of information makes history come alive, helps us understand what our ancestors went through, and why they sometimes lost their land and moved on.

These early homesteaders were not rich. With the use of a metal detector we have found old farm equipment, a bent tea kettle, parts to stoves, a bed frame, a saw, and many nails, bolts, and pieces of harnesses. That in itself is history. 

We have also located the foundations to many of the homes. There are a couple of the old homes still standing, one is about ready to fall down and probably isn’t safe to go into anymore. But they tell a story about the lives lived in them.

The Bureau of Land Management has a website that enables you find the names of homesteaders. You need the legal description of the land you are interested in, or just the name of the person you think homesteaded your land, and this website will do the search for you. The web site is:  http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/ . 

This is an exciting website! Not only can you get the information on who homesteaded certain pieces of land, but you can print a copy of the homestead papers.

            A quote I have in my files, but I’m not sure where I got it from, says it all: “family history is not just delving into your past, but it is preserving your future.” What better gift to give our children than a sense of belonging, a sense of importance because of where they came from! And what fun to have the history of the land we farm!