History of the Farm

The farm began when George and Eliza (Baxter) Berry bought the original 70-some acres in the mid-1800s. The farm passed to their daughter Flora, married to Uriah Hosfelt. While they lived in the village of Kimbolton, he carried mail by horse and buggy and they kept a few cows at the farm. He frequently recalled arriving by boat to the United States as a small boy with his father from Germany.

 

The farm passed to their daughter Adah who had married Earl Weber; originally from Indiana. He boarded a room with Adah's parents while working since the age of 16 for AT&T setting the first telephone poles across America. Having saved most of his earnings, he purchased a farm close to his in-laws and added to it to grow the farm in his lifetime to around 450 acres. They survived The Great Depression on egg and milk money as well as a big garden. Adah was a stay at home mom until the age of 40 when she went to work at St. Francis hospital, where one of her patients offered her a job at the Agricultural Stabilization Conservation Service based on her business training she had acquired as a young woman. She helped many farmers over the course of her years there.

 

The farm passed to their son, Jesse, many years after he and his wife Laura (Sarchet) purchased their own farm a couple miles away, adding to it over the course of their lifetime to pursue the passion and lifestyle of farming. Jesse worked full time for Columbia Gas while farming his 350 acres, and Laura worked full time as a bank teller for First National until the age of 36. They raised two daughters on the farm, Kay and Terri.

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Gary and Kay Rose, along with their son, Jesse, and his wife, Jennifer (Howell), farm the land today. Terri also lives on the farm, and her two sons, Matt and Bill Booth, have always loved the farm and their grandpa Jesse's passion for farming.

 

The farm survived in the family during The Civil War, The Great Depression, World War I, World War II, The Cold War, and The Great Recession. The supply chain issues ushered in by the Covid virus was a wakeup call for the 6th generation farmers, Jesse and Jennifer. As a family, the decision was made to not only be seedstock producers, but also be a local supplier of family farm raised, roughage finished beef from a breed of cattle picked out by Jesse Weber and his father before him for its maternal instincts, docile temperament, and quality carcass finishing.

 

George, Eliza, Uriah, Flora, Earl, Adah, Jesse, and Laura are buried in the Kimbolton Cemetery, ground that was originally part of the farm they all worked. 

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Earl Weber was fond of saying, “If you take care of the land, it will take care of you.”  He was right and we all do well to hold to that.