The Journal Times from Racine, Wisconsin • 15

CLASSIFIEDS INSIDE 1 7:30 an mt 30 "-vjot fof Sal 762 Mom tof ONE tOOOM 4 bmaroam. IV barf I oof country Mtttng. IWS2SVN Mom ESDAY, OCTOBER 14, 199 cor I of the 1 PHOTO BY JIM SLOSIAREK Journal Times J. Above, Russell Skewes stands in front of his family's farmhouse in Yorkville. Skewes says the front of me house hasn't changed much over the yeas.

Above left, an early photo of the homestead. BY LEE B. ROBERTS Journal Times PHOTO BY LIANA J. COOPER Journal Times PHOTO BY LIANA J. COOPER Journal Times If we could peek backwards through the looking glass ISO years, we would see a rural Racine County quite different from that of today, learns of horses pulled plows through the fields, stagecoaches carried residents from settlement to settlement, and towns consisted primarily of a church, a cemetery and maybe a school.

While the technology and development of the landscape have changed over the years, one thing that has remained the same is the names of some of the families living on those farms. According to a list compiled by Richard Minton of the Racine Heritage Museum, 52 farms in Racine County were acknowledged as Century Farms in 1948. Since then, some have been sold and families have moved on. But other families still live and work on the same land their ancestors did 150 years ago. These families and their farms play a central role in the history of our county.

There is a saying that 'wheat made said John Buenker, a history professor at UW-Parkside and local historian. The first farmers here grew the wheat, some of the earliest businesses were the mills that ground the wheat, and one of the main purposes of the port of Racine was to export wheat. Agriculture was the main reason settlers came to this area," he said. "Everything else was a spin-off from that Below are the stories of three farm families that have helped shape that heritage The Drought Farm George Drought came to what is now the town of Norway in 1838 from Ireland, via Canada. His family still has the deed that records the purchase of his land from Native Americans.

The amount of land he bought is uncertain, but Drought's descendants still operate the dairy farm he started at 21636 7 Mile Road. While some of the property has been sold or donated over the years, the family owns and farms about 220 acres, according to Jeanette Drought, widow of Walter, the fourth Drought generation to run the farm. Jeanette, 79, lives on the farm and two of her sons, Gene and Jerry, are the joint owners. Jerry handles most of the daily operations, Jeanette said. Gene and a third son, Jim, live close by in Norway but are employed outside the farm.

Jeanette's nephew owns and operates a farm near hers, and a niece lives next door in the house where Jeanette and her family lived when she was 14 (and first met Walter). Having moved from Milwaukee to this rural area as a teen-ager, Jeanette said it took her a long time to adjust to farm life "I didn't like it at all," she said. "In fact, it wasn't until after I was married that I began to enjoy it here I knew that if I married him (Walter) that this is where I would live, so I chose to learn to like it." The Droughts have one of the few dairy farms left in the area. At times, it has been tough to keep it going, Jeanette said, but her sons have no plans to sell the family spread. "They seem to like living here," she said.

"I haven't heard any regrets." When asked about the Droughts' earliest days on the farm, Jeanette recalls this story that has been handed down from generation to generation: Two young members of the Drought family traveled to Racine, on their own, from Canada. The boy, 16, and the girl, 12, had a horse that ran away after their arrival Before leaving to retrieve the horse, the boy asked local Native Americans to look after his sister. They gave her shelter in a cave and took care of her while he traveled on foot to what is now Fond du Lac to recapture the horse. Above, Brian Gunderson harvests sweet corn in the field next to his home on Gunderson Road. Above right, the original dairy barn at the Gundersons is now used for storage.

It was recently State project will help preserve farm buildings Barns, silos, fields and cows were listed as favorite Wisconsin sights in a recent survey conducted by Wisconsin Trails magazine Yet, some residents fear these sights won't be around much longer. Urban expansion and consolidation of small farm families into larger corporate farming operations over the years have caused the number of farms in Wisconsin to drop rapidly. From 1959 to 1992, state farms decreased by more than 40 percent, with dairy farms decreasing more than 70 percent, according to the Wisconsin Trust for Historic Preservation (WHTP). "Barns are the icon of rural Wisconsin," said Chuck Law, community planning and design specialist with the UW-Extension. "Wisconsin's rural environment is defined as much by its structures as it is by its activities.

"The farms and barns that dot the landscape provide an essential sense of our identity. As we lose these, we begin to lose our collective sense of self." To retain this important part of our state's heritage, the WTHP, along with the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin-Extension, has begun a program to help preserve and protect Wisconsin's historic agricultural buildings. The Wisconsin Barn Preservation Initiative was created with three goals in mind: to raise awareness, to help educate people about barn preservation projects and to create resources to help people restore barns. One way it is doing so is by offering barn restoration workshops around the state. So far, workshops have been held in Kewaunee, Grant, Green and Bayfield counties and more are scheduled through spring 1999.

Upcoming dates include: Oct. 18, Marathon County Nov. 2, Walworth County April 1998, Sauk County More on BARNS, Page 2C PHOTO BY LIANA J. COOPER Journal Times Above, Brian Gunderson 's home at 4004 Gunderson Road is the original farm house, built in 1886. At left, this photo from the Drought family album shows Gene Drought as a youngster in 1947.

Gene lives in the town of Norway but not on the family farm, where his mother, Jeanette Drought, still lives. Move on FARMS, Page 2C WHAT'S IN A NAME BACK IN TIME Haft's Visit Jones School Excitement filled Racine in 1908 when William Howard Taft made a personal appearance here during his presidential campaign. The boiler shop builcung at State and Superior streets, which belonged to the J.I. Case Threshing Machine was obtained for the occasion since it was the only building in town considered large enough for the expected crowd of 10,000. Merchants along State Street were requested to decorate their buildings, and shops and office throughout the city were asked to close at noon their employees could see the man expected to the 27th president.

According to the newspaper account, 5,000 people showed up at the train station to welcome the Republican candidate And 10,000 packed into tb boiler shop to hear him speak, but he was so hoarse that he could not be heard for more than SO feet ''--T r--- 1 Photo courtesy of Racine Heritage Museum Journal Tlmee photos first woman president of the Racine County Medical Society and the first female to serve as chief of staff at St. Luke's Hospital. Prior to becoming a physician, Jones taught school in Racine, Wausau and Philadelphia. It -was her father, a paving contractor, who urged her to go into medicine Jones died i 1966. After his appearance, there was a rush of moi Dr.

Beatrice a Jones, a pediatric specialist, was a medical consultant to the school district and a children's doctor in Racine for 30 years. Jones helped pave the way for professional women in the community. She served as a member of the school board for 12 years and was president of the board in 52 and 1953. She was the cars, horses, buggies and bicycles in the direction the train station to send him off that resulted in a car crash, some bruises and abst purse. i tit.