Nine generations of a Clay Township farm family have been honored as the sole Bartholomew County recipients in the latest round of Hoosier Homestead awards.
The original 80-acre Schroer farm, located near the intersection of East Base Road and County Road 400E, received the Centennial Award from the Indiana Department of Agriculture for remaining in the same family for 138 years.
That wasn’t easy to maintain. In fact, it took nearly 60 years to restore the homestead back to its original size after it was broken into small tracts near the end of the Great Depression. That’s according to Jason Schroer, who represents the seventh generation on the homestead who farms when he’s not working as an agricultural and commercial banker at German American Bank.
After the land was reacquired, family members continued to purchase adjacent or nearby property. Today, the Schroer family controls about 300 acres of farmland, according to Jason’s father, Jeffrey.
“That can be overwhelming,” Jeffrey said. “But you just keep doing (the work). We’ve been doing it all our lives.”
History
The founder of the homestead was Daniel Zacharias Scheidt (1837-1893). He immigrated when he was 13 from the town of Gohfeld, Lorne, located in the Herford district of Prussia (now Germany). The journey that would eventually lead Daniel, his mother, Anna, and siblings to Bartholomew County began immediately after the death of Daniel’s father, Wilhelm Scheidt.
In 1859, Daniel Scheidt married Caroline Engel Nolting (1836-1884), forming a union that would produce 12 children. It was on Dec. 28, 1886, that Daniel Scheidt purchased the 80-acre tract of land in Clay Township for $4,000 from Lewis and Madaline Clark.
Just three days later, on New Year’s Eve, Daniel Scheidt sold 60 acres to his eldest son, William H. Scheidt, Sr. (1861-1937) for the sum of $3,000. The father kept the rest of the acreage for himself.
In 1890, William Sr. married Emilia Rittman Scheidt (1873-1912). Four of their children would inherit the 110 acres in Clay Township: Elizabeth, Walter, William, Jr. and Emily. A fifth child, Edward Scheidt, received nearly 40 acres of farmland his father owned in Columbus Township.
In 1923, Emily (1902-1983) married Elmer J. Schroer (1899-1987). Emily inherited 30 acres of land, while her siblings split the remainder into 20- to 30-acre tracts during the Great Depression.
The couple had two sons that included Harold M. Schroer (1924-2013), who wed Isabelle Harden in 1945. The couple moved into the homestead’s original residence and became highly respected members of their rural community.
Both served as Clay Township Trustee (Harold for two terms and Isabelle for four terms). Harold was also a member of the Bartholomew County REMC Board of Directors, Bartholomew County Drainage Board the local Farm Bureau, and served as a school bus driver for 20 years.
Isabelle, who was a longtime cafeteria manager at Petersville Elementary School, also served two terms on the Bartholomew County 4-H Fair Board.
“They didn’t do it for the pay,” said their son, Jeffrey. “You just served your community. That was kind of a way of life among farm families.”
However, Jason believes his grandparents set a family standard for community service. For example, he is an active board volunteer with the 4-H Fair, Purdue Extension Service and St. Paul Lutheran Church – Clifty.
While Harold and Isabelle did their share for their community, family members were extremely grateful to the couple for undertaking a daunting effort to reacquire all the original homestead that was fragmented after the 1937 death of William H. Scheidt, Sr.
“Mom was pulling her hair out,” Jeffrey said. “To begin with, she really struggled to contact (heirs). They were scattered all over the place, but she kept working at it until everybody was in agreement it needed to be put back together.”
In 1992, the original farm was reacquired after deeds were obtained from 18 different relatives residing in about a dozen states, Jason said.
The homestead was eventually handed down to Harold and Isabelle’s sons, Jeffery M. and Daniel J. Schroer. Today, Daniel and his wife, Taffy, own the original homestead farm they are renting to Jason.
Meanwhile, Jeffery and Claudette Schroer, who are Jason’s parents, inherited another farm purchased by Elmer and Emily Schroer in 1927.
Today
The farmstead has gone through many changes over the years. In the mid-1960s, a new brick home was built and the original house was torn down. The original transverse frame barn was dismantled in the 1990s, but Harold repurposed the wood to remodel and repair an old barn at his other farm along County Road 50N by Otter Creek, his grandson said.
While his ancestors had raised livestock for several generations, Jason says he’s focusing on crops that include corn, soybeans and occasionally hay.
Jason was less than a year away from earning his bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics when he married fellow Columbus East High School graduate Laurie Ann Doty on May 20, 1995. Laurie holds a degree in finance from Indiana University, and has worked several years with a local investment firm.
While Jason has been involved in banking since 1996, he was able to return to farming in 2014, he said. He purchased the acreage north of Base Road by the Dellasburg subdivision to add to his existing holdings.
“I have to use spare time and some of my vacation to do the farming,” Schroer said. ”But my job (at German American Bank) is focused on providing financial services to farmers. So when they are busy working in their fields, my phone gets quiet and I can also get out to work in my fields.”
While Jason is the main farmer, his father and uncle assist him extensively in the fields. Jason’s sons, Josh and Jesse, assist when they can, but one is working full time and the other is enrolled full-time in college.
Tomorrow
Jason Schroer is the first to admit nobody can predict the future.
Other than himself, descendants include his two sons, Josh and Jesse; Dan Schroer’s children, Clint and Ryan; Jason’s second brother, Zachary Schroer of Indianapolis; and his two daughters, Sophia and Ava. The ninth generation is represented by Clint Schroer’s two children, daughter Izzie and son Eli.
With so many heirs, is there a possibility all that farmland could wind up be split up again?
“I think we’ll keep it together,” Jeffrey said. “I think it’s important to everybody to have all of our farms working together.”
