Barr seeks Century Farm designation to honor father born on the land he farmed for decades

Several old barns stand on the Barr farm, located in rural Marshall. The Century farm was purchased in the late 1860s by Wayne Barr's great-grandparents, Thomas and Mary Grant Barr. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

Wayne Barr still farms the ground that was purchased by his great-grandfather sometime in the late 1860s. This farm, located in rural Marshall, was recently honored as a Saline County Century Farm, along with 10 others in the county.

Barr said although the farm had been eligible for many years, he didn't do the paperwork until this year to get the Century designation.

"I did it for my dad, who lived there the longest of anyone," said Barr.

Barr's great-grandparents, Thomas and Mary Grant Barr, came to Saline County from Burlington, Iowa, in 1865, first living in a log cabin southwest of Shackleford.

They then purchased the land from a man named Watson, and moved into their second home, a white framed house with dark shutters that faced west.

According to family history, "It sat one-quarter mile from the road in a pretty pasture." Thomas was born in Donegal, Ireland, in 1824 and was 46 years old when Charles T. Barr and his twin, Rosa Lee Barr Castle, were born there on March 30, 1870, joining two older children. Another daughter was born in 1874 and died in 1875.

Barr has a document dated Oct. 19, 1884, which showed that the county road commissioners created a public road to his great-grandparents' house. According to the document, Thomas Barr had to pay $231.55 for the road to be built.

"It seems like an awful lot to me for the times," said Barr. The road was on the south border of the farm and, according to the document, was three-quarters of a mile long and 20 feet wide.

In 1903, Charles T. Barr brought his bride, Harriet Catherine Thompson, to the house and their first four children were born there, including Barr's father, Walter. The family then moved to another farm, where seven more children were born.

After leaving school, and before he was married, Barr's father, Walter, moved to the frame house, to begin farming on his own.

He built the standing home in 1935 and lived in it with his wife, Evelyn Cromley Barr, until shortly before their deaths in 1998. Barr and his three siblings were all born in the house, which is now being rented out.

According to Barr, his father said at one time they set up a sawmill on the farm and two of the barns were built with logs from the farm. The barns, which contain 12 and 16 inch boards, are still standing, although Barr has covered parts of them with metal through the years. One of the barns was for cattle and had a corn crib in the middle of it, and the other was built for horses.

When his father was farming, Barr said it was mostly a livestock farm.

"They were all livestock farms in those days." His father milked cows until about 1965 and the family sold the cream.

"My mother was always popular at family reunions," he said, because the family had "real butter and cream," which they produced on the farm. "When she brought a cake, it was rich," he added.

The family also raised beef cows, hogs and chickens.

The equipment has changed a lot even since the days when Barr started farming.

"We started out with (International) H and C tractors and two bottom plows," he said.

"Now a four-wheel drive pickup probably could pull more than those did," he said, adding the tractors of yesterday were more "like lawn tractors now."

Barr still raises corn and soybeans on the family farm but is currently in the process of selling out his beef cowherd.

Barr doesn't have any children, but hopes to pass the farm onto relatives someday.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net