Tyrus Frerking of Leawood, Kan., has fond memories of summer visits to Blackburn, especially the time spent with his grandfather, Herman Miller.

"He loved the Fourth of July, so I got to shoot off all the fireworks I could and eat all the ice cream I could," said Frerking, who was born in 1929 and was Miller's first grandchild.

His grandfather was already retired at the time and would take Frerking with him to "visit with the other retirees."

"They'd keep me busy eating ice cream," he said.

Frerking laughs when he recalls a story his grandfather told him.

"I distinctly recall my grandfather telling me that I was never to sell the farm because the topsoil was 20 feet deep," he said. "I know now he was probably just pulling my chain, but he'd say, go behind the barn and start digging -- here's a shovel," he said. "I never did dig."

Frerking said his grandfather would tell him the farm would raise anything except oranges or grapefruits.

"He'd say if I kept that farm, I'd never starve," he said.

Frerking would always stay with his grandparents for one week and then with his aunt and uncle on the farm for another week.

"The first week I'd get all the ice cream I could eat, and the second week, I'd get all the tapioca pudding I could eat," he said.

He was usually on the farm the week of wheat threshing and would help with several tasks.

"I was the water boy. I had a big jug, about three gallons," he said.

He would carry it, riding on a horse and his job was to keep the threshing crew watered.

"Sometimes my uncle had to tell me to ride faster," he laughed.

His grandfather's job was to run the McCormick-Deering to cut the wheat, he recalled.

He said the "crew" were usually neighbors who moved farm to farm.

"Each farm would furnish a team and a man and then they would move on to the next farm. They would do that until everybody got theirs threshed," he said.

Although the times he recalled were probably during the "depths of the depression," he said the threshers always ate well.

"My aunt would have all the fried chicken you could eat. We'd have a picnic under the tree in the yard," he said.

Now corn and soybeans are the only thing grown on the farm, but Frerking said his aunt and uncle raised cattle, chickens and pigs, as well as crops.

He also remembered "butchering time" on the farm.

"My grandfather was the expert," he said. "He knew how to cut up a hog."

They also had an orchard, and Frerking remembered the different fruits and picking peaches.

"Grandpa even made wine from the grapes," he said, recalling they also had a big garden.

"Everything was homegrown," he said, adding that he was also at the farm about the same time the roasting ears were ready.

"It was feast time."

He said even though his grandfather wasn't born in the United States, he loved this country.

"That's the reason he celebrated the Fourth of July all week with me," he said.

Frerking said he has passed on his grandfather's advice to his own son and grandsons.

"I have apprised my son, Dr. Tyrus R. Frerking of Columbus, Ohio, and my grandsons, Andrew and Kevin, that the Herman Miller farm is not to be sold because the topsoil is still 20 feet deep."

Miller was a German immigrant who came by himself to the United States in 1890 when he was just 14 years old.

He worked for a Mr. Schmidt who farmed in the Davis Creek area near Flora in Lafayette County.

In 1899, he married Frerking's grandmother, Flora Kessner, of rural Concordia, and they were tenant farmers until 1906, when they purchased a 120-acre farm from August Kramer for $10,200 -- $85 an acre.

The farm, which is located near Blackburn, is now owned by Frerking and was recently recognized as a Saline County Century Farm.

It now consists of 112 acres because in the late 1970s the Missouri Highway Department purchased eight acres to widen Highway 20.

The Millers stayed on the farm until 1927, when they retired to Blackburn. Their oldest daughter, Anna, married Charles Klingenberg in 1925 and they lived on and operated the farm until 1942, when they purchased a farm in Aullville.

In 1927, Frerking's mother, Edna, married Elmer Frerking, a Concordia merchant.

Mrs. Miller died in an automobile accident in 1951.

Frerking's grandfather sold his house in Blackburn and resided with his daughters until he died in 1962.

He had deeded the farm to his daughters, but retained a life interest.

When Mrs. Klingenberg died in 1987, Frerking's mother bought out her sister's heirs.

In 1992, she passed away and Frerking purchased the farm from her estate.

After the Klingenbergs moved, several people rented the farmground, including Chester Nolte, Ray Cook and the Dierking Brothers.

Since 1985, Everette Rehkop and his sons have rented the ground from the family.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net