Saline County Century Farm: Family recalls living without modern conveniences on farm near Shackleford

Several members of the Jones family were on hand Friday, Nov. 14, at the Saline County Courthouse when their 160-acre farm near Shackleford was named a Saline County Century Farm. From left are Jason Price, Lorin Price, Carson Price, Kristie Price, Kaye Wright, Kathy Tyre and Seth Tyre. (Marcia Gorrell/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

Kaye Wright of rural Marshall remembers growing up on her farm in the Shackleford area.

She still owns the 160-acre farm, which was recently named a Century Farm for being in the same family for 100 years or more. The land first belonged to her great-uncle Frank Jones, who purchased it around 1889. He then moved to Howard County in 1917, and her grandfather, Charles Wellington Jones Sr., who owned several other acres in the area, purchased the farm.

Through the years, many of the Jones' family farms have been sold.

The old photograph to the right is of Kaye Wright's grandfather, Charles Wellington Jones Sr. (at left on fence), at the old Kansas City Stockyards. Although the exact date is unknown, Wright said the white-faced cattle shown were part of three loads of cattle he shipped from Shackleford to be sold there. Wright said they sold at "the top of their class." (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

"You don't think of it as being of any importance until you realize I am the only one that still has the land," said Wright.

Shortly after her birth, her father, Charles Wellington Jones Jr. "Chick," and mother, Kathryn Logsdon Jones, moved to Kansas City, where he worked at Lake City.

Around 1945, they moved away from the city conveniences, including electricity, and back to an old house, "which wasn't in too good a shape."

The painting in this photo shows the house Kaye Wright grew up in on a Century Farm near Shackleford. Her oldest daughter, Kristie, painted it for her from a photograph. Underneath the painting is the sign her father, Charles W. "Chick" Jones Jr., had nailed to a post at the farm's entrance. Both hang in Wright's kitchen. (Contributed photo) [Click to enlarge]

"My mother was not a happy camper," Wright said. "We lived there for two or three years without electricity. I can remember the lights with the reflectors on the walls," she said, explaining that the oil lights, which hung on the walls, had reflectors behind them to give more light.

Wright's grandparents moved to Marshall around the same time, where they would have electric power. They took the young family's electric refrigerator and gave them their old-fashioned icebox.

"My mother wasn't real thrilled about this," she said.

Wright remembers they cooked on the old wood cook stove.

"I do remember it had a broiler," she said, explaining that you poured water in the broiler and when the stove would heat up, so would the water. "Then it had a spigot on the end and you had hot water."

She also remembered her father curing hams on the back porch, where he had a salt box. This is also where the icebox was kept.

It was about 1946 when they got electrical service, "because I can remember coming home from school and flipping the switches, and we had lights."

In 1948, they got a television set, and she invited a friend over to watch Howdy Doody on the two-day old set. "We got home and something had happened to the sound, and I was horrified -- my best friend and Howdy Doody and no sound."

As a self-described tomboy, Wright enjoyed the farm and remembered riding home with her father from Sedalia after he purchased their first tractor.

"I can remember in 1948, Daddy bought a new Minni-U (Minneapolis-Moline) tractor from Harvey Brothers in Sedalia," she said. "He drove it home and I rode with him."

She said the large tractor came with a mounted cultivator and a plow.

They still used a team of mules on the farm, including for mowing hay, for some time after getting the tractor.

"We had the mules a little while," she said.

They also had cattle and hogs.

"We weren't the most efficient," she laughed, explaining what they called the "big pig roundup."

"I can remember we raised hogs, and we had a place back in kind of a wooded area on the farm. They had hog houses some, but sometimes they'd go tear up the grass and build these huts themselves," she said. "Then we had what we called the 'big pig roundup' and we'd go over there and see how many pigs they had."

Wright also spent much of her childhood riding a horse.

"I carried water to the crew on the threshing machine across the road on a horse. I did everything on a horse. If I couldn't do it on a horse, it couldn't be done," she said.

She also rode her horse the two miles everyday to Sunnyside School, where she attended through the eighth grade. She had to wear a dress every day, but wore jeans underneath.

"They had a shed out there (at the school) that you'd tie your horse up in and every once in awhile you'd forget to tie your horse up good and he'd go home and you'd have to walk," she said. "You wanted to make sure you had the horse tied up good."

In ninth grade, Wright went had to ride the bus to Marshall High School, about eight miles away.

Although they moved to town about the same time she moved to the farm (1944), Wright remembers her grandparents, Charles Wellington Jones Jr. and Alma Earl Grimes.

"My grandmother came up from Paris, Ky., in a covered wagon. She was quite a lady. She always wore a dress with an apron," she said.

She also remembers the formal holiday dinners where they used crystal and goblets.

"My granddad would carve the turkey," she said, laughing that they would "starve to death" waiting with their plates for the food. She said they also had to sit at the kids' table, "because you couldn't sit at the table, you might knock the goblets over."

"Those are fond memories … things you didn't think about at the time," she said.

Around 1960 her parents moved to town, and her father gave up farming the land, although he still kept the old house painted.

"My mother was a fine lady, but farming never was her cup of tea," said Wright. "When they moved to town, she was quite happy."

Kathryn had been raised in Blackburn, where her father, John Logsdon, was an auctioneer and also served as sheriff of Saline County.

After Jones quit farming, Kaye and her late husband, Bud, farmed the ground. Through the years Delbert Barr, Pete Solomon, and most recently, Vince and Wayne Buck have farmed the land.

This spring, her grandson, Seth Tyre, will take over, becoming the fifth generation of family members to farm the land.

Wright said she would like to see the farm stay in the family.

"I hope it's never sold," she said.

She has three daughters, Kristie Price of Marshall, Kathy Tyre of Marshall and Paige Erickson of Oklahoma; seven grandchildren; and one great-grandson.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net