Saacke Family of Farmersburg Received Heritage Farm Award

One of the ways to acquire land in the 1800s was to be given it by the government in lieu of money, if you were a soldier or a railroad worker. Robert and Joyce Saacke were honored with the Heritage Farm Award on August 17, at the Iowa State Fair, for having a farm in the same family of 150 years or more. The award was presented by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture, Patty Judge, and Iowa Farm Bureau Federation President, Craig Lang.

Robert and Joyce took over the farm in 1970 when they were married. They bought it from Robert's parents, Roy and Effie Saacke. The farm has been in the family for 154 years.

The land was originally acquired by Robert's great, great, great grandfather, William Mathews, by a patent, on July 8, 1852. Patents were given to soldiers or railroad workers by the government in lieu of money, the Saackes explained.

Joyce added that, the court house often received patents many years before they were filed because Dubuque Federal Court House was the only one around this area and people had to travel by horse.

The Saackes know that Mathews did serve in the military and they believe that the war he participated in was the Mexican-American War.

"He served under Deward Deveny of Captain Baker's Company, Ordinance Corp.," they said.

Wm. Mathews turned the farm over to his son Robert Mathews and at this time the farm was 160 acres. The farm passed through several generations of Mathews: Robert passed it to his son Edward, who in turn, willed it to his brother, James Mathews, in 1888. It was at this point that the family farm encountered a name change. In 1893 it was sold to Rachel (Mathews) Saacke and her husband Louis Saacke; Rachel was the daughter of James Mathews.

It was not until Louis Saacke, Robert's grandfather, took over the farm that more acres were acquired. Louis was a real horse trader.

"He carried a revolver as most of the sales for horses were in cash. One year he had 21 pairs of horses and when it came time for spring work, he had to borrow a team as he had sold all 21 pair, and had none to do his own field work," Robert said.