Saline County Century Farm: Study of farm abstract highlights family history

The Sylvester Farm near Sweet Springs was one of 10 farms to be honored as Century Farms during the annual recognition ceremony held Nov. 12, 2009, in the Saline County Courthouse. From left are Harvey Sylvester Jr., Saline County Commissioner Norvelle "Brownie" Brown, Jeremy Sylvester and current farm owner Vernon Sylvester.
(Geoff Rands/Democrat-News)

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"I knew Grandpa owned it, but I didn't know great-grandpa owned it," he said, adding that his father wasn't really interested in "that stuff at all."

It wasn't until Vernon started reading the abstract that he realized his great-grandparents John and Mary Sylvester originally purchased the farm in 1890.

"He (John) came over from Germany," said Sylvester, adding that his great-grandmother came from Germany also, although they met after moving to the area.

The farm, northwest of Sweet Springs, is one of 10 farms recently honored as Century Farms for being in the same family for more than 100 years.

The farm was originally 160 acres, but apparently some of the farm was sold.

"It's 110 acres, but it used to be 160. After he (John) died, Mary sold off 50 acres, I guess to settle the estate or something," Vernon said.

His grandparents, Emil and Doris Sylvester, purchased the farm next.

Although he doesn't know a lot of stories about the farm during that time, a newspaper clipping from The Concordian in 1989 hangs on his shop wall. It features a picture of an invention that Emil and his brother, John, built and apparently patented in 1909. According to the caption, Emil would have been 21 when the brothers built the combination hay rake, loader and stacker.

Sylvester said he didn't know anything about the invention until his aunt put the picture in the newspaper. Looking back, he thinks as children they played on the implement.

"I thought it sat out here in the orchard, and we played on it," he said.

After returning from military service in 1947, Sylvester's father, Harvey, and mother, Virginia, purchased the farm. They moved into a two-story house on the property, which had previously been used as grain storage by his grandfather.

"So they had to clean it up," he said, adding that his grandparents lived on a farm nearby.

In 1967, a wood stove fire burned the house to the ground and his parents built a new home in 1968, where Vernon still lives.

His father opened Sylvester Machine Shop in 1952, next to the home. Vernon still runs the shop today, working on cars and machinery.

"He couldn't make enough money farming, so then he started the shop to help pay bills," said Vernon. They also had about 15 milk cows, which his mother primarily took care of, as well as raising row crops. Vernon also remembers that they had hogs on the farm when he was younger.

From 1958 to 1982, they ran a sawmill, where they did custom sawing. Vernon remembers working there as a child.

"I was the slab packer. I packed the boards off," he said. "I did that after school, and some nights we'd be till 8 or 9 o'clock sawing logs."

To run the saw, they used a 1937 Case L tractor, which they nicknamed "Old Ironsides."

"It had steel fenders on it, and they were all rusty," he said, adding that's one reason it got its nickname. "The thing never had any paint on it; all you could see was the 'Case' down the sides of it, it was just a rust bucket."

He said running the sawmill was, "all it was good for," but his father may have used it to disk with "a little." He said it originally had steel wheels, but his father eventually put on rubber tires.

It was February 1971 when Vernon started working at the machinery shop full time. He said in later years, his father drove a truck -- something he enjoyed doing.

"He worked until he died; I guess I probably will, too," he said.

Besides running the machine shop, Vernon also farms, raising cows, as well as corn, soybeans and "some wheat."

Building and inventing seems to be something that has been passed down through the generations of family members. His father built two tractors, which he said were basically toys for his two older brothers.

"We called them 'put puts,'" he said. "He used pickup rear ends, and then put a couple of transmissions behind a Wisconsin motor, basically 8 feet long," he said. He still has the tractors, although they haven't run for 30 years.

"He built another tractor before his heart attack," said Vernon, explaining it was made from an old combine. The iron Harvey intended to use to build a drawbar is still on the floorboard of the tractor.

His father only got to drive the tractor once.

"He drove it one time to the 'T road' and back, and that's as far as it got," he said, adding that the tractor still ran when they parked it in the shed in the late 1980s.

Vernon also recalled a buzz saw that his father made to cut firewood. It was mounted on a three-point hitch.

Like his grandfather, great-uncle and father, Vernon also has "built a couple of things."

One invention is a hitch pin, built onto his ball hitch, to hook up trailers. He built it because his pickup didn't have a receiver hitch.

"It's nothing you want to head to Kansas City with, but around here it works pretty slick," Vernon said.

He said he plans to keep the farm in the family, adding that his son, Jeremy, has plans to move back after he retires from a job in the Kansas City area. It was Jeremy who did the paperwork for the Century Farm award.

Vernon also has three daughters: Paula Case, Wilena Schleicher and Crystal Nading, as well as 13 grandchildren.

Contact Marcia Gorrell at marshallag@socket.net

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