I’m going to depart from the theme of Black Female heroes in America today to tell another story. For Black History Month Day 19, I am going to tell a story about a Black family in Iowa who does not live in one of Iowa’s urban areas. This family, the Western family, are farmers and are descendants of the Western family who started farming in Iowa during the 1860s. This is highly unusual in Iowa.
Family farms are a staple in Iowa and everyone in the state knows and appreciates the legacy of a family farm. Most lifelong Iowans have some connection to a family farm regardless of where they live now. My family farmed in Harrison County (western Iowa) for many generations, on both sides of my family, and I spent many summers working on that farm for income. My Henderson family line pioneered in Harrison County in 1853, and each succeeding generation farmed there until after WW II.
The biggest boon to family farms came in 1862 with the passage of the Homestead Act in Congress which allowed any (white) citizen, or even an immigrant who had initiated the citizenship process, to claim 160 acres of land simply by paying a fee of $10. If the citizen “lived upon or cultivated” the land for five years it was his for free, or he could get title to the land after six months if he paid $1.25 per acre.
Land under the Homestead Act mostly served “white” Americans and immigrants. Most Black families were not allowed land grants under this law. But there were a few Black families that were able to take advantage of the opportunity. In Iowa, by 1900, there were around 300 Black farm families in the state. One of those families was the Western family who settled in Mahaska County, near Oskaloosa.
In 1944, an article in the Iowa Farm Register reported that Todd Western Sr. was a well-respected Black farmer in Mahaska County, where his grandparents first purchased land in 1864. At that time only .06 percent of Iowa farmers were Black, and for me growing up in Iowa, I didn’t even know there were any Black farmers. But even in the 2017 count, Black farmers, although slightly larger, were still less than 1%.
The Western family was not exceptional simply because they were Black, but they were also very successful…and prosperous. The Westerns still own that original farm today, making it one of only about 1,700 Heritage Farms — 150 years or more — in Iowa, and likely the only one owned by a Black family. They also own a farm in Black Hawk County near Waterloo.
The original Western family was enslaved in Virginia when Thomas Western was born in 1800. Thomas grew up to marry Susannah, and with the help of some Quakers, was able to purchase their freedom. Their freedom came during the Civil War, and Thomas and his wife decided to move to Iowa. They bought 80 acres of Iowa farmland near New Sharon, about 30 miles south of Grinnell, and added another 80 acres in 1886.
In the 1870 agricultural census, Western reported he had “five horses, two milk cows, and a dozen hogs,” according to a report compiled in 2012 by the Iowa Historical Society. Western reported raising 400 bushels of wheat in 1869, along with 800 bushels of Indian corn, 50 bushels of oats, 50 bushels of Irish potatoes, and five tons of hay for livestock feed. “Some indication of the contribution made by the women of the family is evident in the 100 pounds of butter that they had churned in 1869 and they were likely involved in producing the 20 gallons of molasses reported for that year,” the report notes.
Thomas Western, who died in 1878, handed down the farm to sons George and Kossuth, who worked the land together. One of the sons, Kossuth Western, was born in 1855 and was likely named after Lajos Kossuth, a Hungarian political reformer who led Hungary’s efforts to gain independence from Austria in 1848 and 1849. The Hungarian inspired the Iowa Legislature to name a county after him in 1851. A Western family photo, likely from the 1910s, shows Kossuth Western and his wife, Clara Moore Lucas Western, with their children Frances, Todd, Alma, Myra, and Lena Lucas Benning (a daughter from Clara’s previous marriage).
Todd Western, Kossuth’s son, inherited the farm in 1922. He was known as Todd Western Sr. Todd married Grace Jeffers, who was from Buxton, a southeast Iowa mining town unique for its mix of African Americans, Swedes, and other Eastern Europeans who lived peacefully in mixed neighborhoods. (See Rachelle Chase’s books on Buxton Iowa here)
The Iowa Farm Register reported in 1944 that the Western family was raising 40 head of cattle, 80 hogs, 20 sheep, and eight milk cows. The Register report went on to say, “The crop plan on the farm this year is 53 acres of corn, 25 acres of oats, 10 acres of soybeans, 30 acres of hay, 22 acres of clover, and eight of alfalfa. The first hay crops yielded 28 tons.” By all accounts, the Western family was running a prosperous farm.
Black farmers faced more challenges than their white neighbors in the 20th century. For example, seed dealers and other businesses treated them unfairly or refused to work with them. The segregated Black land grant universities struggled to get adequate funding. Black farmers repeatedly faced discrimination that prevented them from getting appropriate loans and being able to keep up with the pace of modernization. Yet, these obstacles didn’t keep the Western family from prospering as an Iowa farm family.
Todd and his wife Grace gave birth to three daughters Betty Lou, Charlene, and Joyce, all born on the farm with the help of a midwife. When their son Todd Jr. came along, the others teased him because he was the first child born in a hospital. The two girls grew up and moved on and one became a teacher in the Waterloo School District and the other a school counselor in Las Vegas. continue the tradition.
Todd Jr. would inherit the farm and attend North Mahaska High School in New Sharon, where he participated in sports and music. He was also the senior class president.
State Senator Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, remembers meeting Todd Western Jr. in the early 1960s when Rozenboom was around 12 years old and Todd Jr. was 18 or 19. Rozenboom was spending the afternoon visiting the farm of a church friend who lived down the road from the Westerns. The boys walked over to say hello. “In rural Iowa, it was unusual to see a Black man,” Rozenboom said. “That was probably the first time I saw a Black family on an Iowa farm. That’s probably why I remember it.”
Todd Western Jr. went to William Penn and the University of Northern Iowa, where he met Barbara Gordon. They married in 1966 and after Todd was done serving in the U.S. Army, they moved to Waterloo in 1968 and Todd Jr. started working as a process engineer at John Deere, his wife said. But he would go back and help his father on the farm whenever he could. “He was homesick for farming,” Barbara Western said.
When Todd Western Sr. died of cancer in 1974, the farm passed to his wife and then to his son, Todd Jr. During the 1970s Todd Western Jr. and Barbara Western would load up their farming equipment and young sons (Todd III and Christopher) and drove two hours from Waterloo to Mahaska County. They slept in a mobile home at the farm, driving back to Waterloo each Monday morning so Todd Jr. could shower and return to work at Deere.
Then in the late 70s, the Westerns purchased 35 acres on what was then called Sheep Hill Farm, just east of Waterloo. To this day, when Todd Western III and Christopher Western plant and harvest on that land, they feel close to their father. “Some people visit cemeteries to think of their loved ones,” Christopher Western said. “I like to come out here to think of my dad.” Todd III and his brother Christopher farm the land near Waterloo and still rent out the land in Mahaska County.
There is now another generation of Westerns farming this land. Not many Iowa farm families can boast of unbroken generational connections from as early as the 1860s to now. But the Western family has shown that despite racial discrimination, segregation, and unfair practices, their hard work and determination have allowed them to continue to farm and prosper on the rich Iowa farmland. This story, though not famous, is important for our collective memory.
“It’s an immense sense of pride,” said Todd Western IV of the Western Family Heritage Farm. “That’s why we have ‘Legacy’ on the back of our shirts.”
Great story. Thank you so much for sharing.