Iowa Back Roads

VanGone

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tamrock

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Reminds me of hunting Pheasant. The wife of my dads cousin Blanch Brandenburg, just died at 97 this last February in Stuart, Iowa, a place I'd hunt roam around and help out on the farm many moons ago. Blanch lived maybe 10 years after her husband Carl Brandenburg and the county welfare went out and told her she had to go and live in the old folks place for better care. She reluctantly agreed after many attempts and only lived for two days in the old folks home after leaving the farm. The old farm house was in such a wreck it was decided to just put a torch to it and burn it down. She and maybe a 100 cats was all that was there the day they moved her off. The farm was once my great grandpa and she and her husband Carl bought it in 1944. They helped raise my dad, Bill Brandenburg, after my grandma died in 1940. I'd stop and talk to her when I drove back that way. She and Carl never had kids of their own and she missed Carl very much being all those years on that farm without his company, "they were truest of soul mates". They were wonderful folks and she was a sweet lady who had great faith in Jesus. I only wished I had one more visit with her and that farm I so loved. There just isn't many folks like them left to visit as time goes on these days. :( I found a little history of the place on line. I have wonderful memories of that place and Iowa. Thanks, for posting your picture.

Carl I. Brandenburg, son of Clem and Alvina Brandenburg, was born north of Howe on a farm, February 13, 1910. His grandparents were Rufus and Clara Brandenburg and Christopher and Anna Horn. The Horns had come from Germany. Blanche Elizabeth Brandenburg, daughter of Charles and Emma Barnhouse, was born west of Menlo, north of the railroad bridge on Highway 6, July 17, 1917. Carl Brandenburg lived and farmed with his father and in 1933 he did patrol work on the road, fixing culverts. Many men worked their poll tax with him. In 1939, he and a cousin, Harry Horn, were working down by John Coffman’s farm on a culvert. About 4:00 they finished work and saw a bad looking cloud coming up. They rushed to get to the barn of John Coffman with their team and wagon and in minutes a tornado ripped across the culvert where they had just been working. The cloud lifted right across the road from the culvert. They recall seeing how the cloud lifted the water out of the river as it went over it.
Carl and Blanche were married April 8, 1939 and have since made their home in Jefferson Township. They lived one year upstairs with Clem and Alvina Brandenburg and then five years on the John (Jack) Hogan farm. In the muddy spring of March, 1945, they moved to where they now live.
The first history of this farm was recorded back in 1855. A deed was made to John D. McCall for $350.00. To older people this place is known as the Murphy farm. Murphy owned it for several years and was a big cattle feeder. People recall when the upstairs was used for a schoolhouse and Tom Rhody was one who went to school there. It is one of the oldest houses that was built in the early settlement.
This farm has been sold many times. In the 1920s it was sold to Frank Thurman for $250.00. He moved and for one year Royal McNelly’s family rented it. The next year Thurmans moved back but the depression came and they could no longer hold it. The farm was lost to Central Life Assurance Co. It was rented several years to Arthur Hadley, Pete Hogan, Ray Miller and Charles Defenbaugh families. In April, 1944 Brandenburgs bought the farm and moved the next spring. They rebuilt the barn in that year in 1947 they put in electricity.
In 1953 a twister went through and took the hog house and shop and they were hailed out. In 1956 a big black cloud came up and a tornado went through and took the barn, hog house, and windmill. It took many barns in the area at that time. They replaced the barn, hog house and hen house with new buildings.
Brandenburgs built an addition to the house and remodeled it in 1967 also building a double garage.
In 1958 concrete rock was discovered by the E. F. S. Schildberg Corporation and was quarried. They filled the holes back as the land had been, but left the last large hole so that it made a nice recreation area for boating and fishing, which is enjoyed greatly. Carl’s hobby in his early years was raising horses, but they have since been replaced by tractors. Blanche enjoys community activities, gardening, and helping out on the farm.
Carl and Blanche helped to raise Bill and Kenneth Brandenburg, cousins of Carl, after their mother died. They were the children of Ira Brandenburg.
 

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VanGone

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Jul 28, 2007
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Tamrock, lots of history in those lives and farm. Im not sure where Stuart is located, but think NW Iowa is that correct?
i really love driving the back roads of Iowa and looking for cool farms and barns. I did an article in an Iowa magazine called "Our Iowa" in last years March Febuary issue called "Rustic Roads". Lots of cool farms in Iowa and Wisconsin, well cool to me any way. You mentioned above obout the Wife of your Dads Cousin passing on after being put in old folks home. Sad deal, but that does happen. Thanks for you response I enjoyed reading it.
Van
 

tamrock

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Tamrock, lots of history in those lives and farm. Im not sure where Stuart is located, but think NW Iowa is that correct?
i really love driving the back roads of Iowa and looking for cool farms and barns. I did an article in an Iowa magazine called "Our Iowa" in last years March Febuary issue called "Rustic Roads". Lots of cool farms in Iowa and Wisconsin, well cool to me any way. You mentioned above obout the Wife of your Dads Cousin passing on after being put in old folks home. Sad deal, but that does happen. Thanks for you response I enjoyed reading it.
Van
Stuart is maybe 30 miles west of Des Moines. My dad had grown up in the area and we'd have many family get together's as I grew up at the park in town. About the only thing that ever happened in the town was back in 1934 when Clyde Barrow hit the bank. One of my dads cousin was was working at that bank back then when she was in her early twenties. According to her it was Clyde Barrow and Henry Methvin that robbed the bank that day and Bonnie wasn't there. I remember her telling the story of that day she was working at the bank, and she said Henry Methvin was a good looking guy and much more polite then Clyde. That's just one of the old stories of my ancestors I remember from those days. I would think the last get together like that was in the mid 1970's as I left the home turf for good shortly after that.
 

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