Still Home Sweet Home More Than A Century Later

Lee and Shirley Wohler in the kitchen of their farmhouse south of Waterville, Kan.

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LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Homestead Act of 1862. That piece of legislation sent thousands of settlers westward for a chance at a free farm. And eventually nearly two million Americans took part. A German immigrant named Frederick Wohler was one of those early homesteaders. One hundred thirty-eight years ago this weekend, Fred Wohler received the deed to 80 acres of farmland in north central Kansas. And today, his descendants are still on that farm. Reporter Becky Sullivan went to meet them.

BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Down a gravel road, just up U.S. Route 77 stands a lone tin mailbox leaning slightly in the afternoon wind. Dip down the hill and look behind a row of cedar trees and you'll find an old farmhouse, the home of Lee and Shirley Wohler. It's been here for 100 years and it looks the part, complete with white trim and flowerpots lining the porch.

(SOUNDBITE OF CREAKY DOOR OPENING)

SULLIVAN: Stepping out onto the porch, Lee Wohler surveys over 500 acres worth of soybeans, wheat and a grain called sorghum - or milo, as they call it out here.

LEE WOHLER: It's going to be a pretty decent crop, I'll believe it. And our beans, I think, will be all right. You know, it won't be nothing outstanding, but then...

SHIRLEY WOHLER: They'll still be OK.

WOHLER: Yeah.

SULLIVAN: Lee says they've escaped the worst of the drought this summer, and it's hard for him to get too worked up about one year's mediocre crop. Generations of his family have grown up here, and they've seen good summers and bad. Over the years, the Wohlers' original 80 acres have grown to 560. As he walks the original boundary, Lee points to what's now a field of soybeans.

WOHLER: The divide was right back here back to our cedars. And my dad tells me that when he was a kid, there was a log cabin right north of here.

SULLIVAN: That cabin is long gone now, but the yard is still decorated with relics from its own yesteryear: an ancient-looking hand plow, an old windmill turning slowly in the breeze and a couple garages full of treasures.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR SLIDING OPEN)

WOHLER: In there's some more of my tractors and antiques. I think we have about 14 of them or so. This is my collection.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOOR SHUTTING)

SULLIVAN: Lee and Shirley are retired now. They spend their days minding the house, tending to its decorative plates and model tractors. Their three children are all grown, each one over 50. Their eldest son, Steve, bought just under half of the land from his parents about five years ago. He runs things now, leaving Lee mostly to his own devices.

WOHLER: But I still help on the farm. But then I don't get as much out of it, and I don't put as much in it.

(LAUGHTER)

SULLIVAN: Their other son, Jim Wohler, helps out too. He chose to live in the nearby town of Junction City, population 23,000. There's a downside, though, he says. His two kids don't have the same connection to the homestead farm that he does.

JIM WOHLER: I wish I could give them the joys that I had growing up there. Walking the pastures and finding all the trails and hearing all the stories and things like that. Oh, getting emotional here.

SULLIVAN: Jim's kids are both teenagers - too young to know yet what their futures will hold.

WOHLER: What happens after we're dead and gone, I can't say that for sure. I'm hoping that maybe my son will take an interest in it and try to keep it.

SULLIVAN: It's a tough for Jim, waiting to see what decision his kids will make. But for Lee and Shirley, retirement means their time to worry about that has passed.

WOHLER: I don't think I'll probably be around then. I'm 77 now, so I question whether...

(LAUGHTER)

WOHLER: I'm 84.

SULLIVAN: They agree that it's up to the younger generations - Wohler or not - to pick up the reins. It's satisfaction enough, Shirley says, that the farm has fed and clothed the Wohlers for well over a century.

WOHLER: It's been a good life.

SULLIVAN: At that moment, the main thing on the Wohlers' minds was the storm brewing out to the west. Maybe it would finally bring some rain. Becky Sullivan, NPR News.

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