Article Image Alt Text

Leon and Victoria Kumor were recognized Saturday, Aug. 8 for 100 years of family farm ownership. They gathered what family they could and met at their farm’s new sign.

Kumors accept Aksarben award

100 years of family farm ownership recognized

Victoria and Leon Kumor received their Aksarben Farm Family award for 100 years of consecutive farm ownership on Saturday, Aug. 8.

The award ceremony was held at the Joseph and Anna Kumor Family Farm’s new sign, which was installed just a few weeks earlier, and the Kumors were surrounded by family members.

Typically, recipients of the Aksarben Farm Family award would be recognized at the county fair, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic the award presentation was made private.

A rough start

Joseph and Anna Kumor, Victoria and Leon’s parents, purchased the property in 1920. In 1922, they moved with their four children at the time, Frank, Mary, Daniel and Rose, from the Krakow, Neb. area to a spot at the very end of the road about 10 miles west of Grant.

They shipped all of their belongings in a railroad car, while the family traveled in a Ford pickup across the prairie.

Anna selected 95 of her best laying hens to move out of the 200 or more she had raised. They brought a couple of sows, milking cows, a table and chairs and whatever other basic necessities they needed to live.

There was a weathered house with a leaky roof on the property where they lived at first. Work included long days in the field with both manual and horse labor, struggling against the elements of weather. Here they added three more children to the family: Victoria, Leon and Josephine.

While Joseph managed the hogs, wheat and other crops to both feed the family and sell for operating revenue, Anna managed the household. She grew her supply of 95 hens to 1,000 hens each summer.

During the Great Depression, the Kumors were selling bushels of wheat for 25 cents a piece, and bushels of corn for 10 cents a piece.

“That was what the price was during the Depression,” Victoria said.

To make extra money, Joseph decided to sell some hogs. He took a load of cows to Omaha on the railroad, but he did not get enough money to pay the freight.

At one point during the Great Depression, Joseph heard the people of Grant were in need of some potatoes, and he had extra he didn’t know what to do with. He loaded them all up in a horse-drawn wagon and brought them to town.

Leon said people would bring a bucket and help themselves to the potatoes. Otherwise, he said, Joseph would have just fed them to the hogs.

The city manager at the time told Joseph the people of Grant needed that at the time.

Not only did the Kumors have to run a farm during the Great Depression, they also had to survive the dustbowl.

“I remember writing my name on the window at the old schoolhouse,” Victoria said, referring to the country school near the farm which is still standing but no longer used.

Unique structures

Kumor Family Farm has a number of unique structures, all built by family members, and many still remain standing on the property after decades of use.

One of the first of these structures to be created was a large concrete supply tank.

During a particularly wet summer when harvesters did not have much to do, Joseph built a 10,000 gallon solid concrete supply tank. The structure still stands, but no longer is used as a supply tank. Now, the waterline to the house runs underneath the tank.

Later, around 1936 when Kingsley Dam was first being constructed, the Union Pacific had to move their railroad to avoid flooding. They had a lot of railroad ties, so they began selling them.

The Kumors brought their wagon and horses and purchased 525 ties for 25 cents a piece. Using the railroad ties, they built a large potato cellar, which is still intact today.

 

 

To view the entire story, purchase a Grant Tribune-Sentinel or go to our e-subscription page to purchase a single e-copy or subscribe to the print and/or e-edition.

 

The Grant Tribune-Sentinel

308-352-4311 (Phone)

PO Box 67
327 Central Ave in Grant
Grant NE 69140