52 Ancestors in 2018 - Week 39: On The Farm

 I’ve missed a couple of weeks, but I’m back with Week 39. I’ll catch up on the others as soon as I can.
This week the magic phrase is ‘On The Farm’. I have a lot of famers in my ancestry — a lot! So rather than choosing one, I’m going to give a quick synopsis of the farming background I have.

 I have farmer’s in virtually every branch of my ancestry. I created this color-coded chart to give me a quick visual on my farming background and where the farms were located. 

 The white backgrounds are ancestors who either weren’t farmers, or I’ve not yet determined their careers. For the most part, the female ancestors are blank. In general, their occupations have been listed as ‘housewife’, however, if they were married to a farmer and lived on a farm, I’m pretty sure it would be safe to label them as ‘farmers’, too!
More recent generations, my parents and grandparents, have chosen occupations other than farming,

My mother’s paternal ancestor’s were from Italy, indicated by purple. My maternal great-grandfather did not farm once he came to the United States, but I have no doubt that he at least helped his parents with farming while he was still in Italy! Both he and his wife grew up in a very small village in Tuscany, and their parents and grandparents were all farmers!
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My mother’s paternal grandfather was also a farmer. He lived in central Illinois when he first came to the U.S. and may have farmed there. I’ve not found evidence of this, but I do know he owned a farm in Michigan, indicated by pink. Here is a picture of him on his farm, probably during the Great Depression.

 My dad’s side of the family were also farmers. My paternal grandfather farmed with his father as a young man, but moved on to other things as industry moved into the area. However as you move back, you can see that almost all of his ancestors were farmers, with farms very close in proximity. The red, yellow, and green all indicate farms in Fosterburg Township of Madison County, Illinois. The turquoise indicates a farm in the next county, Macoupin, that abuts to Fosterburg, so it was just a few miles away. Below is a plat map of Fosterburg Township illustrating just how closely located they were. 

 The red indicates farms owned by my dad’s paternal grandfather and his brother. The yellow and green are farms owned by his maternal ancestors. And the blue? Well that came as quite a surprise to me. It turns out that those farms were owned by farmers who are probably part of my sister-in-law’s ancestry! It just shows that you never know who you will connect with!

To learn more about my 52 Ancestors in 2018 project, read my introductory blog post.