Tag Archives: agriculture

History of Christmas Tree Sales – George Biniker

Farming Ancestors, , , ,

One of my lectures in the upcoming GRIP course, “Not Just Farmers,” is on historical “side-hustles.” Basically, farming families did not make enough money with farming alone to pay the bills. They added to their incomes with other jobs, sometimes off the farm. This lecture will explore that topic. One “rabbit hole” I went down while working on this topic is that of Christmas tree farms.

In my family tree is a man named George Biniker, who, according to his obituary, was “one of the largest Christmas tree dealers in the area.” I had always liked that little tidbit about him but never took the opportunity to research it until this course came along.

Daily Sentinel Tribune, Bowling Green, Ohio, 23 February 1993, p. 2. col. 5.

Christmas trees were originally introduced to Americans by German settlers in the early 1800s. In 1851, Christmas trees began to be sold commercially in the United States, cut down randomly from forests. The first known Christmas tree farm was a 25,000-acre Spruce farm set up in 1901 near Trenton, New Jersey by W. V. McGalliard.1 Initially, Christmas tree farms were  seen as a way to utilize poor farmland. The first national survey of the Christmas tree industry was taken in 1948. At that time, about 85% of the 21 million Christmas trees were grown in the wild. By 1971, half of Christmas trees were grown on farms as a cash crop.2

The business of a Christmas tree farm is not a lucrative business. It is a lot of work, with narrow margins, and a long lead time. Christmas trees do not grow quickly. One you might buy at a store or market is anywhere from five to 14 years old. There is a delicate balance between not selling enough and selling too many trees on any one year. As one farmer in the business states “A lot of these could be cut, but next year they will be a foot taller and 20 bucks or more.”3

George Biniker indeed was a Christmas tree dealer. He also was a dealer in hay, straw, and coal, and later was a seed agent for Pfister Hybrid seeds for the Arthur Walter Seed Company. He, like most farmers, found financial supplementation in endless ways.

1. “The History of Christmas Trees,” National Christmas Tree Association (https://realchristmastrees.org/education/history-of-christmas-trees/ : viewed May 2024).↩

2. Maria Hasenstab, “A Quick History of the Christmas Tree Industry,” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis (https://www.stlouisfed.org/open-vault/2017/december/history-christmas-tree-industry : viewed May 2024).↩

3. Chris Chafin, “The Barely Profitable World of the Christmas Tree Grower,” Ambrook Research, Farm Finance (https://ambrook.com/research/farm-finance/christmas-tree-grower-profits : viewed May 2024).↩

Another rabbit hole…Barbed Wire…collectors?

Farming Ancestors, ,

I was doing some research for the “Not Just Farmers” course at GRIP, on barbed wire and how it changed the country. It basically spelled the end of the large cattle drives because as settlers moved in and homesteaded, they also put up fencing to marking off and protecting their land for their own use. But that’s a whole ‘nother topic that is not the rabbit hole for today.

I was using the phrase “barbed wire” as a search term on ArchiveGrid to demonstrate finding records for farming inventions. And I came across a collection that is located at History Colorado titled “Evelyn Barrick Barbed Wire Collection.” The ArchiveGrid description says that the collection contains Evelyn’s barbed wire collection and correspondence with those she traded barbed wire with.

The entry from ArchiveGrid.

Ok, I have heard of some whacky hobbies and collections, but this one was new for me. I clicked on the item which took me to the finding aid at the History Colorado website. Turns out, there are all kinds of barbed wire collectors in the world. Evelyn and her husband belonged to the Colorado Wire Collector’s Association. I swear, there’s a club or association for everything!

Link to the finding aid.

So, it’s now on my list to someday head down to Denver to the History Colorado archive to take a look at Evelyn Barrick’s barbed wire collection. See, the things you didn’t know you needed to know.

You know you’re deep in a rabbit hole when…

Farming Ancestors,

This might become a regular topic on my blog. So many times I find myself down deep in rabbit holes when researching. You’ve never done that, I’m sure. As I’m preparing for the “Not Just Farmers” course for GRIP, I am finding myself on many a winding research paths and then I wonder how I got there!

This week’s rabbit hole brought to you by “History of Plant Hardiness Zone Maps” found on the Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. website. You know, those maps you find on the backs of seed packets or in gardening books. Like this one from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“2023 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map,” USDA (https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/). 

The history of these maps is fascinating. I won’t restate everything. You can click on the link to the article above and read for yourself. But what I found most interesting is that the first such map was published by the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University in 1927 and compiled by Dr. Alfred Rehder from data collected from a survey about plants and their survivability in different regions. In 1938, the Arboretum published another map based on 40 years of data from the U. S. Weather Bureau.

It wasn’t until 1960 that the USDA published its first map…based on different data…resulting in conflicting information. The Arnold Arboretum maps remained the standard until 1990, “when the US Department of Agriculture, in cooperation with the U.S. National Arboretum, updated the USDA hardiness map, using data from between 4,800 to 14,500 weather stations.”

Following rabbit holes can really dig up a lot of information that may or may not be included in the course, or that course could last 2 full weeks or more! But this information can be useful in understanding our farming ancestors a little more deeply, perhaps. And may be useful come pub trivia night!

Searching for the “Chicken of Tomorrow”

Farming Ancestors, ,

As part of my presentation for the course “Not Just Farmers” at GRIP, I’ll be talking about inventions and ingenuity in agriculture over the years. Inventions and enhancements made the life of the farmer easier, improving labor conditions as well as yields of crops and animal products.

Prior to World War II, chickens were mostly bred for large eggs and large numbers of eggs. This was helpful during the Great Depression because farmers could get a protein source without sacrificing the hen. However, after WWII, chickens began being bred more for meat production, larger breasts, and better tasting meat. Howard C. Pierce worked as the “Poultry Research Director” for A&P Food Stores started the “Chicken of Tomorrow” contest, organized by the USDA and backed by A&P, aimed at breeding a better chicken.1

Indeed, there were advertisements and articles about the contest.2 The contest was seeking a “bird with a broader body and meatier drumsticks” with the ideal chicken having been determined by “months of research by leading poultry scientists and geneticists.” The prize would be a $5,000 cash award to the “poultryman who succeeds in producing the nearest equivalent to the ‘Chicken of Tomorrow'” specifications, within three years.

The Van Tress Hatchery of Maryville, California, was named the winner of the contest in June 1948. They developed a Cornish-New Hampshire crossbreed.3

The selective breeding boosted poultry yields that benefited the farmer’s sales and the food supply. Innovations and improvements have been a key part of agricultural life that we will discuss in the course.

1. Maryn McKenna, Big Chicken (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Partners, 2017), 150-151.↩

2. Here is one example of an article seeing the “Chicken of Tomorrow” (https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-alexander-city-outlook-poultry-leade/145311611/)↩

3. Here is one of many articles that announced the winner (https://www.newspapers.com/article/fort-worth-star-telegram-chicken-of-tom/145312527/)↩

One Tough Lady – Carry Nation

Farming Ancestors, , , ,

As I was reading about Prohibition and the Temperance Movement and it’s impact on agriculture, I came across a tough-looking woman, Carry Nation. She was a fighter for the cause, gaining a reputation for entering saloons and bars and breaking the liquor bottles with a stick or an axe. The axe then became her signature weapon and she posed in photos with the axe although it is claimed she more often used a lead pipe.

Carry Nation, photo from the Library of Congress.

Carry Nation grew up with an alcoholic father and a mother who suffered from mental illness. She felt that alcohol and drunkenness were a scourge and she wanted to save people from its effects.

You can read more details about her life all over the internet, but the account from History.com is one I recommend. Interestingly, a YouTube channel I follow for quilting this week added a tutorial on how to make a “Carrie Nation Quilt.” You can watch that video here if you are a quilter.

This will be part of a lecture I’m giving during our “Not Just Farmers” course through GRIP in June 2024. I hear that the course is sold out! (Thanks to those who have signed up!)

Black Cowboys

Farming Ancestors, , , ,

We will be discussing Black Cowboys in the ranching lecture of the farming course I am coordinating for GRIP called Not Just Farmers: Records, Relationships, and the Reality of Their Lives.

Historians estimate that one in four cowboys was Black. During their enslavement, many learned the skills needed to handle cattle herds (riding, roping, blacksmithing, leather-working, etc.) After emancipation, these skills were needed, especially in Texas where the longhorn herds were largely out of control after the Civil War. Cowboys were needed to drive the cattle north to markets where the prices were higher.

Of course, Black cowboys faced discrimination such as being banned from restaurants and hotels. Reportedly, most found respect among their white counterparts working the cattle drives together, respect that most Blacks found elusive. They sought the “largely unhindered outdoor life, fair treatment, and decent pay” that the life of the cattle drover offered; they sought a life where skill and hard work would matter more than skin color.1

Ned Huddleston, aka “Isom Dart,” Brown’s Hole, Wyoming, 1890.

As most cattle drives ended by the early 1900s with the growth of railroads for moving cattle, the invention and use of barbed wire to parcel up the previously open range, the need for cowboys dwindled, and so did the opportunities for Black cowboys. However, the lore of the Black cowboy lived on in popular culture. From rodeos to western movies and books such as Lonesome Dove which featured Black cowboy Bose Ikard, the cowboy lifestyle lived on, as did the Black cowboy. Black cowboys had a heavy influence on cowboy ballads and music; the song Home on the Range was first recorded by a Black saloon keeper and cowboy.2

Here’s a list of movies featuring Black cowboys if you’re interested:

  • Buck and the Preacher (1972) starring Sidney Poitier
  • The Harder They Fall (2021) starring Idris Elba and Regina King and a mostly Black cast
  • Django Unchained (2012) starring Jamie Foxx and directed by Quentin Tarantino
  • Joshua (1976) starring Fred Williamson
  • Surrounded (2023) starring Letitia Wright

Watch these movies at your own risk. For example, Django Unchained is a Quentin Tarantino movie… if you’re familiar with his work, I need not say more. Enjoy!

1. William Loren Katz, The Black West, (Golden, Colorado, Fulcrum Publishing: 2019), p. 149.↩
2. Dom Flemons, “Black Cowboy Songs,” American Folklife Center, Library of Congress, 16 September 2020, video available online at https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1819161024888703. ]↩

Blogging has Taken a Backseat to Farming

Farming Ancestors, , , , , ,

Hello friends. You may have noticed (or maybe not) that my blog went a bit silent there for a bit. That’s because I’ve been in writing overdrive preparing for my newest course “Not Just Farmers: Records, Relationships, and the Reality of Their Lives” that will occur at the NGS GRIP Genealogy Institute (formerly the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh), virtually, June 23-28., 2024. Registration is now open. Of course, I’m not the only instructor. I am being joined by Cyndi Ingle and Paula Stuart-Warren as well.

I get tired of hearing genealogists of all kinds say “oh my ancestors weren’t that _____ (interesting, important, etc.) because they were ‘just farmers.'” There is a commonly held belief that they did not lead interesting or important lives, and that they just didn’t leave many records. So, this course is designed to defy all of those misconceptions. There is nothing more important than providing food and other necessary supplies to your family and community.

The focus of our course is on North American farming and agricultural ancestors and their families. The course will dispel the myth that our ancestors are “just farmers” without a rich and documented life. Farmers have often been dismissed by the assumption that there is not much to find or to learn about their lives and the issues they faced. The variety of records–often underused or undiscovered–give depth and breadth to the lives of our ancestors. Understanding the history of farming and learning about the unique records of the people, products, and land, will give a deeper picture of what hearty families we descend from. Students will build an “agricultural profile” for their farming ancestors by the end of the week. This profile can help to craft a robust background of their “just farmer” ancestors.

My Grandpa Karl Miller on His Tractor

The full breakdown of the courses and who will be teaching those can be seen on the GRIP website. My topics include:

  • Inventions and Ingenuity: Advancement in Farming Over Time
  • Get Along, Little Doggy! The Agricultural Contributions of Ranches
  • Historical Side-Hustles: Other Income Streams of Our Farming Ancestors
  • Farming Outside the Law: Squatters, Tax-Evaders, and Bootleggers
  • Female Farmers: Women’s Issues in Agricultural Families
  • Taking Care of the Farmers: Social Programs Benefitting Our Farming Ancestors
  • A Case Study – Building Your Ancestor’s Agricultural Profile

I am going to share tidbits that I’ve been writing and collecting for this course on my blog over the next several months. So, break out your bibbed-overalls and work boots, and hang on to the tractor’s steering wheel and let’s go for a hay ride through farming lives and their records. (Did I get enough farming metaphors in there?)