Main barns are gone, burned down in fire. Other outbuildings have been changed or removed. I grew up on this farm from 1953 - 1965.

Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your memories of the farm captured in our 1968 aerial photo! It's fascinating to hear about the changes over the years. Do you remember any specific crops or livestock that were raised on the property during your time there? We'd love to learn more about the farming practices in Stephenson County during that era.

We had a large Holstein Dairy herd, milking around 100 cows per day. We also had pigs and some chickens. As for crops, we grew corn, oats and alfalfa (hay) primarily. The house had a very large wood burning furnace in the basement. The farm at that time was around 400 acres with approximately 80 acres of woods. We cut tons of wood every fall in order to stay warm all winter. The wood was all cut using chainsaws and hand split using mails and axes. There was always plenty of work to go around.

The farm was well known as "The Bennethum Farm" because it was owned by Roy M. Bennethum of Freeport, Illinois. Mr. Bennethum was President of Burgess Battery in Freeport. I believe the Farm had been part of the Bennethum family going back several generations. I can recall speaking with Roy's Uncle Eli Bennethum who told us about trading with Native Americans while on the farm. I was very young then.