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| Obermoller farm attains century status |
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One hundred years of family ownership has been recognized on the farm of Ron and Karen Obermoller. They point out the purchase date, noting that there have been 25 anniversaries of that date, February 29, 1912. | |
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One hundred years of family ownership has been recognized on the farm of Ron and Karen Obermoller. They point out the purchase date, noting that there have been 25 anniversaries of that date, February 29, 1912.
“It’s easy to remember the date,” Ron said of the purchase date. Ron’s great-grandfather, Peter Obermoller, moved to Minnesota from Hooper, Nebraska.
“No one seems to know the reason they came here,” Ron added. Peter brought his 22 horses and machinery to Minnesota on board the train. “He rode along to feed and water the livestock,” Ron said.
The Obermollers bought a tract of land south of Brewster and raised their family. Peter’s son, Ludwig and his wife Wehelmina, bought the land in 1935 and owned it until 1992.
The family built a home in 1939 that still stands today. It has been extensively remodeled over the years. Ron, and his wife Karen, purchased the acreage and building site in 1977 from his grandparents.
Ron’s father, Alvin, still lives on the nearby farm where Ron grew up. Alvin and Lucille (now deceased) raised their family on a farm that has likely been owned by the Obermoller family for more than 100 years.
“We think it has been owned longer that thin,” Ron said. Alvin has documentation of family ownership since about 1913. “The records were lost when the State Bank closed,” Karen explained. “Dad has been looking (for the ownership records) for his farm for a while,” Ron added. “That’s how we found out ours is a century farm.”
When Ron and Karen bought the acreage from his grandparents, he was helping his father farm. Ron had gone to college in Worthington for two years and two years at South Dakota State University in Brookings with degrees in Animal Science and Agronomy, he was beginning his farming career.
Ron chose to attend SDSU because of it’s size and closeness to the Brewster area. “I came home on weekends and helped dad farm,” he said of his college years.
“That’s how we did it, a little at a time,” Ron said. Starting with the acreage, the couple began acquiring the land from Ron’s grandfather.
Shortly after they purchased the acreage, a strong wind went through the area, knocking down several of the older out buidlings. “That was on June 19, 1979,” Ron said. “We changed the whole layout when we rebuilt.”
It took a few years of cleaning up and rebuilding before the Obermollers got things reorganized. Ron and Karen stated their family, Melissa and Jonathon, as they continued to farm with his parents.
“We bought this quarter (section of land) in 1992”, Karen said. Over the years, they had done some remodeling to the family’s home.
“I work with some research projects and with the development of leaders,” he said. Several years ago, Ron took part in the MARL (Minnesota Agricultural Rural Leadership). Ron is on the state soybean board and had been on the Minnesota Soybean Processors board.
Ron and Karen grow corn and soybeans on their farm. “We have four small finishing barns that we lease out,” Ron added. They enjoy not being tied to everyday chores of raising livestock, and are enjoying more time traveling.
Karen recently retired from working at the Brewster school. “We just got back from Alaska,” karen said. “They had always wanted to see the state and enjoyed a land and sea trip. “It’s a whole different world there,” Ron added.
For the remainder of the story, please see our print edition or check out our electronic edition website at http://eedition.tricountynewsmn.net. Call 507-793-2327 or email tcnews@roundlk.net for more information. |
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