Gather ‘Hound the Table

By Staff
Published on September 1, 1984
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Charlie Thaxton throws bundles of wheat into the 1934 McCormick Deering thresher.
Charlie Thaxton throws bundles of wheat into the 1934 McCormick Deering thresher.
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Powering the threshing machine was this 1919 Nichols & Sheppard I6-60 HP steam engine owned by Russell Winters of Jacksonville, Illinois.
Powering the threshing machine was this 1919 Nichols & Sheppard I6-60 HP steam engine owned by Russell Winters of Jacksonville, Illinois.
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Charlie Thaxton stands at throat of 1930s baler, feeding in wheat straw.
Charlie Thaxton stands at throat of 1930s baler, feeding in wheat straw.
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Bill Johnson surveys the day's work from atop his 1934 McCormick Deering thresher.
Bill Johnson surveys the day's work from atop his 1934 McCormick Deering thresher.
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Powering the threshing machine was this 1919 Nichols & Sheppard I6-60 HP steam engine owned by Russell Winters of Jacksonville, Illinois.
Powering the threshing machine was this 1919 Nichols & Sheppard I6-60 HP steam engine owned by Russell Winters of Jacksonville, Illinois.

Route #1 Greenfield, Illinois 62044

A favorite memory from my childhood on a west-central Illinois
farm is of summer days spent baling straw. Neighbor boys would come
over to buck the bales. Being just a young girl, I had the
privileged job of driving the tractor.

At noon, we’d wash up and go in to a lunch of Mom’s fine
country cooking. Sitting in the comfort of the air-conditioner, I
could hardly wait for Dad to start telling of threshing days when
he was a boy.

Charlie Thaxton (who was later to become my dad) remembers being
the water boy when the threshing crews came to his home near
green-field, Illinois. He and the other boys would be hanging from
the picket fence when they heard the first sounds of the
steel-wheeled tractors pulling the binder up the road. But they
were out in the field when it came time to stack the bundles into
shocks.

On threshing day, neighborhood men came in to help toss the
bundles into the threshing machine. In the meantime, their wives
were inside cooking up a country dinner big enough to feed an army.
By the time the men answered the dinner bell, the saw-horse tables
were so full of food they practically swayed in the middle. The
only air-conditioner in the ‘good ole days’ was right next
to the wash stand under the maple tree!

Dad’s memories of those days are precious to him. He shares
them with over 50 members of his Tri-County Antique Club (Greene,
Jersey and Calhoun counties in west-central Illinois). Their
organization specializes in the restoration of antique farm
machinery, gas engines and a few vintage automobiles. Dad has
everything from a 1918 Fordson to a 1939 McCormick Deering 20. All
his tractors are authentically restored to running condition, right
down to the color of the paint.

For the past few years, the Club has hosted threshing
demonstrations at area celebrations Greenfield Home coming, etc.
Planning must start a year in advance with the planting of a wheat
field expressly for the purpose of binding and shocking. The shocks
are hauled to town where, in front of several hundred interested
spectators of all ages, wheat is threshed and baled with
fifty-year-old equipment.

This year, our home town of Greenfield is celebrating its
150-year anniversary. At the Sesquicentennial, held August 2-4, the
Club members displayed their many tractors, field equipment and a
collection of antique toys.

The biggest attraction was the threshing. The wheat had been cut
by Dad with his F20 pulling fellow-member Bill Johnson on his
reaper.

In town, old and young men alike vied for the thrill of throwing
wheat bundles into Johnson’s 1934 McCormick Deering thresher.
Providing the power to the thresher was a 1919 Nichols &
Sheppard, 16-60 HP, steam engine owned by Russell Winters of
Jacksonville, Illinois.

Following the threshing, men gathered around for a chance to
stand at the throat of Dad’s 30’s vintage baler, pitching
in the wheat straw.

There are many similarities between threshing then and now: the
hot days of an Illinois summer, the smell of the wheat straw,
neighbor helping neighbor, swapping tales around the dinner table.
But oh, how things have changed!

Fixing up the old tractor used to be such a cussed chore.
Breakdowns cost precious time in the field. Now, the members of the
Tri-County Antique Club find it hard to get to the field because
they so enjoy working in the shop on their old relics!

The retired farmers (and city slickers) who looked forward to
reliving threshing days at the Greenfield Sesquicentennial have
totally forgotten how hot and tired they were back in the ‘good
ole days!’

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