Lenton Yager and Virginia Ella (Sydenstricker) Yager, who purchased a farm in 1897. The 200-acre farm is now owned by their great-great-granddaughters, Lynda Louise Page Bergman and Ina Frances Snoddy Dysart. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

Lenton Yager had often remarked when he passed a farm on the Malta Bend-Marshall Road -- now known as Highway 65 -- that he hoped to own it one day.

It was Jan. 30, 1897, when his wish came true and he and his wife Virginia Ella (Sydenstricker) Yager, signed the deed for the 200-acre farm.

Now, more than 100 years later, two of his great-great granddaughters, Lynda Louise Page Bergman and Ina Frances Snoddy Dysart, and her husband Edward, now own the farm.

(Contributed photo)

The farm was one of 11 Century farms honored in 2007 for belonging to the same family more than 100 years.

According to family history, Lenton was born in Madison County, Va., in 1847 and was "too young to fight in the Civil War."

So at age 21, he decided to "go west and get rich" and traveled to Missouri with his cousin, Jim Harrison.

By the time he got to Saline County, he had 50 cents in his pocket. He apparently worked as a carpenter for 10 years. Deciding he would "never get rich that way," he started farming for Andrew J. Sydenstricker.

He soon fell in love with Sydenstricker's daughter, Jennie (Virginia Ella). A day before her father's death, Virginia heard her father tell her mother (Mary E. Sydenstricker) that, "if Jennie wants to marry that 'Yager,' not to discourage it."

They were married in 1877 and first lived on a flat Missouri River bottomland farm, west of her girlhood home. They then moved to a farm adjoining the Andrew J. Sydenstricker farm before they were able to purchase the farm he had hoped to own.

After buying that farm, they eventually built a home there in 1905. The home stood until it burned in 1982. A barn still stands on the land, which is now planted in corn and soybeans.

Bergman has a few mementos from the old house, including a brick her mother recovered.

She also recently refurbished a Seth Thomas kitchen clock that was given to Lenton and Virginia as a housewarming gift when they first built the house. After taking it to a clock clinic near Kansas City, she said the repairman told her it was "ready to go for another couple generations."

Bergman said she remembers her mother, Marjorie Page, talking about getting in a horse and buggy and traveling to her grandparents' home from their farm near Miami.

They would meet cousins there who came by train from Overland Park, Kan. One cousin, according to Bergman, who recently died at age 98, helped to preserve much of the family's history by passing on family stories.

Bergman said she is very proud of the legacy that is hers to share now, and the fact that the farm has been in the family for more than 110 years.

She said her uncle, W.A. Snoddy, always stressed to the family, including her and his daughter, Ina Francis, how important land was.

"He used to say 'God doesn't make any more land. We need to take care of it.'"

"I'm very proud I have a little stake in that land," she said.

Bergman said she and Dysart hope to pass the land onto their children some day.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net