This framed certificate hangs in a collage of items on a wall in my entry hall. The farm your Dad grew up on had been owned by the Johnson family for a full century in the year 1993. Aunt Joan, his sister, still lives on the homestead and a portion of that farm land was part of our inheritance. The house and a few other buildings have been replaced through the years, but, the big old barn remains the same. So many of the small farms throughout the country have sold out to large farm corporations, so it is unique to find land still owned and operated by 3rd and 4th generations of a family. The farm land lays next to a major highway and around that year, the state wanted to take a large part of the land for an interchange and widening. Joan and Verne fought the state, tooth and nail, and won their case. Consequently, the Century Farm is intact.
Posts
I had not seen this photo of the old house on the Johnson Century Farm until you sent it to me and asked what and where it was taken. I immediately recognized the house to be the one that your Dad grew up in, although, by the time I became part of the family, it had been "remodeled" !! Porches were enclosed and siding had been installed. The vintage beauty had been lost. When I questioned your Aunt Joan about the house, she thought it had already been built when the farm was purchased in 1893. The photo from the letter on 10/21/o8 pictures a piece of one of the porch posts from this house, repurposed into a decorative flower stand. Whatever inspired your Great-G'ma Lottie to keep the posts when the remodeling was done is a mystery. I do know that she was a creative and talented woman, always looking to do something new and unusual. She and my Mom became great friends with their gardening and sewing being a common ground. 
