| Notes |
- The First Hundred Years are the Hardest?
By Clara Roblee
The Roblee family originated in England, but the family that cane to Section 14, in the Town of Clayton, Winnebago County, were from New York State.
Julius and Mary Brown Roblee were born (1818 and 1819) and raised in Grandville and Kendall, New York. Their first child was born there.
The heard stories of the great country west of New York state. The U.S. Government encouraged westward moves.
William Orson Roblee, brother of Julius, was one of a group of scouts to scout the land in the West.
What they were told, about the land, and what they found were much different, as we learned by his
assessment of the trip. The scouting was done about the year 1833.
On the back fly leaf of an 1828 Bible, belonging to William Orson Roblee, is the information he took back to his family.
The following are his own words: "Its prairies in perticular has been represented as an unbroken flat and
even, as we have supposed, an area of from ten to fifteen or thirty miles of an unbroken plain with no elevations or depressions more than are met with on our salt marshes. But, the country is all unequal-not presipitious-and the prairies presents a continual change of tables and sloughs while the timbers are broken by high knolls and deep ravines. Besides I had supposed that the tables in the rolling prairies all run in parallel lines and equal distance from each other, whereas they are of all sizes and shapes and lay in every direction in the same prairie, therefore affording a greater variety and greater facets for cultivation. The timber on the bottoms are dense and heavy and tangled with a most dense growth of vines, thorn briars and rank brushes. The bottoms are on all the rivers and creeks skirting the prairies and making beautiful buttes running in every direction through the country. Besides these there are barrens of oak openings, as many are called, which are composed of the large trees of the various kinds of oak, hickory, maple, elm, etc."
"The soil of these Barrens is a fine solicious loam and not more than from eight inches to eighteen inches in dept, but rich and will adapt to produce in the lighter grains and corn with careful culture."
The Roblees of Grandville must have been impressed by the discription of the country. Among those who came west in 1837, was Julius and Mary, a new baby and William. The loaded all their belongings on a Lake Erie barge and came through the great lakes to Illinois. Among the furniture was a large heavy oak bureau. It's about shoulder high, about six feet wide and two and one-half feet deep, containing six drawers, and is very very heavy. It is still in constant use today.
They settled in Hebron, Illinois, where two more children were born.
After five years they all moved to Lynn, Wisconsin. Two more children were born there.
Julius came ahead of the family to build a log cabin for a home. After the cabin was built, he went back and brought his family and goods by ox cart. When they arrived at their new home, a man and wife and two children were living in his new home, in the Town of Clayton. Because winter was near, the strangers were allowed to stay. Julius, Mary, five children, brother William and the four strangers lived in the one room cabin until it warmed up in the spring and the guests could move on.
On June 24, 1846, Julius went to Green Bay and secured ownership of the Town of Clayton, two hundred acre farm from the United States Government.
The Roblees raised oats, barley, corn and potatoes, a dairy herd, pigs and horses. The women made butter and cheese. The men peddled the butter and cheese and potatoes in town.
In about 1890, Julius and his son Chester started a cheese factory. The cheese factory was on what is now the corner of Fairview and Oakwood.
As the family got larger, a bigger house was needed. (There were ten children in all.) A frame house was built attached to the log cabin. The house was 26' x 48'. The top floor contained two dormitory rooms. At this time, hops became an important cash crop. Girls and young men from near by were hired to harvest the crop. The girls slept in the North part of the house, and the men slept in the south part. The children of the family slept with the hired workers.
In 1857, a piece of land, a short distance West of the house, was sold for a school. The land was sold for $15.00 to the district. "So long as needed for school purposes." By 1892, the children, all except Willis, had gone their separate ways. The place was then willed to Willis and Sophia Roblee. The continued with the help of their four children, the same operation as his parents had.
In 1901, Willis sold a strip of land across the South end of the farm. It was sold to the Central Railroad Company for a set of tracks. The price was $15.00.
Frank, the youngest child of Willis and Sophia, bought the farm in 1952. Frank and Clara had three children, Frank Jr., Allen and Gladys. We increased the dairy herd, got rid of the horses and bought tractors. Sweet corn and peas were raised for cash crops.
The buildings were electrified in 1945. The entire cost was $539.28, for the house, barn and all out
buildings.
In 1946, this farm was honored as one of five Century Farms in Winnebago County. Later, in 1948,
at the State Fair in Milwaukee, we received a Certificate signed by Governor Oscar Renabaum.
At that time Wisconsin was one hundred years old. We also received a thirty star U.s. flag.
Wisconsin joined the Union in 1848 and was the thirtieth state to join hense the 30 star flag.
The plumbing was installed in the house in 1958. The house was then divided into an upstairs and
downstairs apartment. Allen and his wife Nancy lived upstairs. Frank and Clara sold the farm to Allen and Nancy in 1969.
Allen and Nancy razed the big house in 1979, and built the present one story house. Frank and Clara moved into a mobile home a few feet away.
At the present time Allen is getting rid of the dairy herd, and is raising hogs. When the change over is completed he will have a herd of four hundred to five hundred hogs at a time.
Dean and Paula, the children of Allen and Nancy are the fifth consecutive generation to live on this farm. (1846-1983).
We wonder, is it true: the first hundred years are the hardest?
Century Farms of Wisconsin
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1818 - 1892 (74 years)
