2024 Week 6 – Earning a Living: Farming, a Family Tradition

 Most of my ancestors were farmers either in the Midwest or in the Deep South.  Some have multiple occupations.

My Kludt family have been innkeepers, farmers,

saloonkeepers, mechanics, and a school bus driver.  My 3x Great Grandfather Johann Carl Joachim Kludt held many jobs. According to the 1819 Friedrichsmoor, Church District of Tramm, Mecklenburg-

Schwerin, Germany census, he was a schneider (tailor).  Then when his son was born in 1832 in Goldenbow, Mecklenburg, Germany, he was an innkeeper.    I just did a query to a Facebook group on his burial record from 1861 to determine if an occupation was listed.  The response was basically, yes, a
haubwirtsaltensteinler (translated to mean half-farmer/landlord). 

His son, my 2x Great Grandfather Heinrich Johann Ludwig Kludt (John), immigrated to the United States in November 1851.  The 1860 Wisconsin census showed him as a farmer in the Barton area (Washington County). However, when the family moved to Cedarburg, Ozaukee County, WI, in the late 1860’s he became a saloonkeeper (per the 1870 Wisconsin Census).  In the late 1870’s the family moved again, this time to Fayette County, Iowa.  He returned to farming per the 1880 and 1900 Federal Censuses.  He sold the farm in November 1903 and moved to the town of Hawkeye and passed away shortly afterwards.

The farming tradition continued to his son, William.  Great Grandfather William Edward Kludt purchased a farm in the West Union area of Fayette County, IA in 1892, after having rented it for three years. In 1899, he decided to go to Fulda, Murray County, Minnesota, so he held a public sale on his farm selling horses, cows, sows, chickens, oats, corn, barley, potatoes, and timothy and clover hay.  He rented the farm out and moved.  In Minnesota, he rented a farm until 1903, when the family returned to Iowa.  He sold the Iowa farm in 1906 and moved his family to the Chehalis area of Lewis County, Washington. The farm he had on the Newaukum River was approximately 127 acres.  He operated a dairy.  William had purchased a lot in the town of Chehalis in 1920, renting it out until the 1940’s.  In 1922, William purchased property in Adna and turned the Newaukum River farm over to his oldest son, John.  The Adna farm had chickens and strawberries.  The farm was sold in 1943 and William and his wife moved into town.

I already mentioned that William’s son, John was in farming.  However, I descend through his other son, Edward William Kludt.  Farming continued as a family tradition but not nearly as extensive.  Ed, as he was called, started out as a mechanic at the age of 18, working for an automotive garage in Tacoma, Washington.  However, by the time he was 21, he was working as a laborer for the Chehalis Mill Company until it was destroyed by fire.  Then he went to work for Weyerhaeuser.  He was a mechanic for the big logging equipment, then went into road construction (or it may be the other way around).   His job had him and his family constantly moving around due to the various logging camps.  In 1943, Ed and his wife purchased land in Galvin, Washington.  This was expanded in 1952 and was the family farm.  Based on stories from my Dad, the family raised chickens and had an orchard.   In 1954, Ed purchased another farm, this time a dairy, at the north end of the town of Centralia in an area called Zenkner Valley.   This was the farm I grew up on for most of my life (more later).  They sold the property in Galvin. Papa retired from Weyerhaeuser in 1965.  However, he continued to potter around with woodworking and mechanics.  The farm in Zenkner Valley came under the care of my Dad, William (he was named after his grandfather).

Family tradition continues – William (known as Bill) also learned mechanics as well as farming.  He was a mechanic in the National Guards.  He took over the farm in the valley in approximately 1958 (about a year after his marriage).  When he and mom were first married, they lived in Seattle and Dad worked for Boeings.  He didn’t like it there and came home to Centralia where he took up farming.  In 1962, he purchased his own dairy farm in Rochester, Washington.  It wasn’t making much money, so he went to work for the Centralia School District driving school bus.  They sold the dairy farm in 1967 and moved back to the valley, this time running beef cattle.  They lived in the old farmhouse until about 1980, when they sold part of the acreage and built a new house.  They didn’t have the farm but still had lots of acreage (majority in trees).  He retired from driving school bus in the 1990’s and sold the rest of the acreage in about 2020 and moved to town.  That ends the era of farming as a family tradition.

However, a new family tradition continues for another generation.  My brother, Edward (named after his grandfather), had a knack for being a mechanic.  When he was very young (maybe 10), he took apart three lawnmowers that didn’t work and assembled one that did.  He was always taking things apart to see how they worked. So, it wasn’t a surprise that he studied Heavy Duty Diesel at a technical college after graduating from high school.  He was working for a local firm at the time of his death in March 1985.

I left farming behind and became an accountant working for the State of Washington.  No mechanical inclinations.  My niece had my brother’s music capabilities and is currently working for a 911 dispatch center.  And my son is into computers – software programming.