Pierson, Iowa 51048.
I was born in Sioux City, Iowa on June 23, 1927, lived on S.
Lemon in Morningside. We moved to a 160 acre farm, 2 miles west of
Pierson, Iowa, the spring of 1931. Dad farmed for about five years
with six horses until 1936 when he traded in 4 horses for a new
‘B’ John Deere on steel, 2 row cultivator, and 2 bottom
14′ plow (a #45). I still remember Dad in the field (before us
kids got up) picking corn by hand and coming in after dark and
unloading corn with 2 horses powering the elevator by pulling a
horsepower. As a kid I remember men coming out to fix the deep well
(165′ deep) and also in the spring we had one old gray horse
that you couldn’t hook up to the disk unless she had a
blindfold on. After my dad had the gates open to the field and was
sitting on the disk with the reins in his hand, it was my job to
jerk the blindfold off and away they went! After a couple of rounds
of the field she settled down and behaved. Three bay horses and
this gray one named Silver were used on the disk. When Silver was
used with a bay horse for a teammate, the bay horse was named
Tina.
Our family and Dad’s sister’s family used to get
together about once a month for Sunday dinner and after dinner Dad
would get out the hand clippers and give everyone a haircut. He
would cut my uncle’s hair and then Dad would get his hair cut.
I don’t believe I had a barbershop haircut until I went in the
service. This was in the 30’s, remember?
One Sunday the uncle’s car got stuck in the lane (dirt lanes
and dirt roads in the late 30’s) and since Dad was sick with a
bad cold, I got to start the B and pull the car out! Pretty heady
stuff for a 10 year old kid! I spent a lot of times plowing,
disking, and dragging with that old B. I can’t remember how
many times when dragging, I would get up on the top of a hill and
put the B in 3rd gear and try to go faster. No luck with steel
wheels and a fast 3rd, it just wouldn’t hack it.
I used to hate mowing and raking hay with horses. In the middle
of the morning and afternoon the sickle would almost stop moving. I
might of dozed off a time or two myself. I can’t remember what
year we got rubber on the tractor, but WHAT A DIFFERENCE! About
this time Dad bought a new #5 John Deere mower with a seven foot
bar instead of five and moving in 3rd gear instead of two old slow
horses. Boy, that was really living!!
Uncle Sam called in 1945 (I enlisted) and I was sent to Great
Lakes Naval Training Camp, Company 926. Seems like all the farm
boys from the mid west wanted to serve in the Navy. While home on
leave from Boot Camp, I woke up late in the morning and one of my
younger brothers was driving up the lane with a new B John Deere
(1945) with starter, lights, power lift and six speeds forward.
After 10 months with the 121st Sea Bee Battalion on Saipan, I
returned home in September of 1946 to help tear down our old horse
barn. The next spring I rented 80 acres, 2 miles north and raised
seed corn for $3.56 a bushel. Now almost 40 years later corn is
selling for $2.18 a bushel. What happened??? During this time Dad
had traded our first B for a 1939 A which would be mine if I helped
Dad farm his land also. I was using most of his machinery at that
time also. The spring of 1948, with some of the money for the seed
corn and trading in the 1939 A I got a new 1948 B (serial no.
227473) which was the first and looks like the only NEW tractor
I’ll ever own. After two years of college at Morningside
College in Sioux City, Iowa, where I took Livestock Marketing, in
1949 I met a good looking blond named Darlene. We were married
Easter Sunday 1952. We started farming 120 acres across the road
from the Home Place and my next John Deere was a 1941 G (serial #
10661). What a lot of power! Later a 1949 G that a neighbor had
burn up on him, was able to be bought by me from the insurance
company and I fixed it up. I consider myself somewhat of a mechanic
from the years working on old John Deeres.
Later a 1936A (serial #435530) came along to sit on the side of
the road and hold our mail box. About 1966 our first John Deere
with live power and live hydraulics was a ’50’ (serial
#5018300) and first John Deere with live power, hydraulics and
power steering was a ’60’ (serial #6015324). Right up town
now!
In 1969 we started buying the home place from the folks, moved
into the house when they retired to town and also rented 160 acres
3 miles north. Three sons have arrived over the years. All three
are married and we have one granddaughter and one grandson.
Our latest Deere is a 720 Diesel, pony engine (serial #7221405).
TALK ABOUT POWER AND ECONOMY!!! Now I have a 520 (serial #5208584)
with a loader on it, the 50 with mower on it, 1948 ‘A’
(serial #602005) with mounted 227 picker and the 720 diesel is
almost always hooked on a Gehl grinder-mixer for grinding hog feed.
A 1949 A (serial #633072) does a lot of odd jobs, as does a GM 1946
(serial #19758) and I have also acquired a M, MT, AR, BR, R diesel,
GP, 80 Diesel and H to name a few.
Since the boys are not at home now, we are only farming the
original 160 acres, where I grew up as a boy. Don’t raise as
many hogs or corn, do have more time for shows, parades and the
latest craze: antique plowing with tractor and plows manufactured
before 1938. I won the state match in 1980 and have been in the
national contest in six different states. When I won the state
match I used a 1936 ‘A’ full steel (serial #443924) and
2-16 #52 plow. Now I use a #4 B plow in 2-16 inch. Nationals in
Iowa and Minnesotta were when I used my Spoker ‘D’, full
steel (serial #34866). In Pennsylvania and Ohio I used a small
radiator G with full steel, lent to me by good friends The Johnson
family of Napoleon, Ohio. Last year in South Dakota I used the 1936
A with full steel and 4 B plow and in 1985 at Dwight, Illinois I
used a 1927 D (serial #48519) full steel and 4 B plow. The 1927 D
and I are the same age, and I had a lot of fun but can’t seem
to place any higher than 6th out of 10 to 14 entries. I did receive
the Sportsmanship Award in 1984 and 1985 which was voted on by
about 40 plowmen. I also have another 1936 A (serial #443777) built
on November 30 and 1936 A (serial #443924) built on December 2.
G.P. serial #200468.
A serial #443777 shipped to the dealer in Pierson, Iowa and a
serial #443924 shipped to Anthon, Iowa to a dealer are both owned
by me as second owner. These two towns are about 12 miles apart.
Over the years I have 11 D’s from spoker D 34866 to D serial
#177031 with individual brakes. Also have early G serial #1080,
built June 14, 1937 which I restored and take to state antique
plowing to qualify in the national matches. Now on the original 160
acres that Dad farmed with 1936 B, I use an 80 diesel factory cab,
720 diesel, 60, 520 and 50 from around nine HP in 010 ‘B’
to 260 HP. I have sold parts to a lot of nice guys and I’ve
never met many of them. We meet a wonderful group of people in our
travels to shows and plowing matches and hope to attend many more
in the future.
By the way, the 1948 B that I bought with $3.56 a bushel corn
cost $1818.00 and last year we bought a riding lawn mower (John
Deere, of course) for $1145.00 and corn was selling for $2.60 a
bushel at the local elevator. With all the John Deere tractors we
have also a Gleaner combine and a Gehl grinder-mixer, but as long
as we keep them in separate sheds we haven’t had any trouble
yet!
If you’re in the area drop in we’ll put the coffee water
on and talk old tractors, toys, guns, belt buckles John Deere
literature and of course grandchildren.
