The Will and Nancy Belle Conner home is pictured with one of their eight children, Anna Belle. (Inset) Will and Nancy Belle Conner are pictured in their later years. (Contributed photos) [Click to enlarge]

Bill Conner remembers, as a young boy, working with teams of horses his grandfather, Will Conner, probably trained.

"What I actually did when I drove the team was just harrow the ground," he said, adding they didn't disc back then, only plowing and harrowing before planting.

He also "go-deviled corn," a few times, which he explained was a way of cultivating the crop, which was planted in deep furrows.

"It was two runners and had little flat pieces out on the side. Then at the back of it there were little gangs, one on each side with about three or four disc blades, like a small disc," explained Bill. "That sled would go down in that furrow a little bit and then pull that furrow back together up over the top of your grass and weeds and it would level the ground back up," he explained.

He said that the well-trained horses made a difference in the job.

"A team that worked knew what to do," he said, adding they knew to stay off the corn plants, walking on the ridges between the 40-inch rows.

As a small boy, however, he had to be careful to keep the "go-devil" from turning over.

"They could turn over on you, if you turned too short," he said.

Conner and his sister Judy Marie (Conner) Taylor, now each own 80 acres of the 160-acre farm, which was recently named one of Saline County's Century Farms.

In 1873, their great-grandfather, John T. Minor purchased 80 acres of cropland west of Marshall from John and Virginia Kiser. He made other purchases through the next 20 to 25 years and expanded his farm.

Their grandmother, Nancy Belle Minor, who was John and Molly Minor's daughter, inherited the farm in 1904. In December of that year, she married Will Conner and they later moved to the acreage. They had eight children, although one died in infancy.

The couple raised corn, oats, hay, beef cattle, dairy cattle and hogs on the farm. Will raised horses, breaking them to harness and training them for fieldwork.

"They say he raised good quality-type horses," said Bill, adding he, however, doesn't remember much about his grandfather, who died in 1947.

At that time, Bill and his parents, William "Frank" Conner and his wife, Waneta, lived in the Kansas City area. Frank worked at the Wilson slaughter facility near the K.C. stockyards.

Sometime after his death, they moved back to the area to help with the farm. Nancy Belle continued to live on the farm until she died many years later.

"Granny was a wonderful Christian lady," said Linda Conner, Bill's wife. Bill actually stayed with her from the time he was 8 years old, while his parents and sister lived in another house on the farm.

Frank, the oldest son, continued the farming operation, using teams of horses for several years until he bought a used TO20 Ferguson tractor. It was purchased from one of his classmates, Martin Bryan, who had a dealership west of the Marshall Square.

Even though they farmed with tractors later on, Frank, who eventually purchased the farm from his mother, still kept horses.

"He had horses all along to pull a cart," said Bill.

One time, Frank took a team of horses down to the bottoms to show Linda and their son, Dennis, how corn was picked before pickers and combines were widely used.

"He had his team of horses and was teaching us how to shuck corn," said Linda. Bill had helped his father "shuck" corn on the farm when he was younger.

Frank also had a cart and a team of ponies he used to give his grandchildren "sleigh rides" in the snow.

He passed away in 1984, but two of the horses he owned are still alive on the Conner farm.

Bill still farms the land, raising cattle, corn and soybeans. Jeff Thomas, son of Judy Taylor, now lives on the farm with his family.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net