1st Generation - Peter & Mathilda Reese
4th Generation - Vernon & Karen Harrington Century Farmstead
Back left to right: Audra Harrington, Bethene, Alex, and Katie Adams, and Brodie Harrington
Front : Vern and Karen (holding original photo) Harrington
Notice: German flag on railing of porch. We hosted a German foreign exchange student and he gave us that flag. Also BB guns in the picture.
1st Generation -- It all began with the Peter and Matilda Reese Family - Purchased in 1883 by Peter.
The Harrington Farm was named a Century Farm at the Iowa State Fair in 1983. This means that the farm stayed in the same family for over a century. Peter Reese, Vern’s great grandfather purchased this quarter section on December 5, 1883, for $1,120. Peter quickly engineered an extensive array of buildings on it, using well known architect/builder, John Huxtable of Le Mars. Peter Reese emigrated in 1880 from Husum, Germany, being naturalized in 1886. He married local girl, Mathilda Pecks, that same year. Peter and Mathilda reared 7 children here. In 1924, Peter sold the farm to his daughter Anna Reese Siebens and husband J. Gerd Siebens. Anna was born in the first house in 1888.
The top photo [above] was taken about 1904, judging from the age of the children. Noting that a large mortgage was taken in 1893, we speculate that the house was built using those funds. Newspaper accounts state that the cow barn was built in 1898 and the horse barn in 1901.
The gorgeous exterior of this Victorian home is exhibited in the photo, which was most likely meant to be sent back to Germany to encourage emigration of others in the family, noting the addition of belongings. The house faces an extra wide road, which had been intended to be Highway 3 that now misses Brunsville, running a mile to the south. The house is built in an Italianate style, exhibiting many of the characteristics, including one story porches, tall rectangular windows, cast iron brackets and cornices, bay window, the square “widow walk” (which often was the base of a belvedere or cupola), brackets, spindles, and scrollwork.
Notable is the decorative millwork on the south porch, using the new tool, the coping saw, to create the X’s and circles. This work was highlighted by painting the interior surface of the cut-out in a contrasting color. As you can see, it mimics the appearance of the ironwork used over the bay window and roof. Fish scale shingling is fitted into the dormer of the front porch. Short spindles placed between the horizontal railings further provide interest. The bay boasts a mansard roof and extra detail in the windows. Farrel and Tillie Harrington had the house resided in the late 1960’s. Vern and Karen have replaced most of the windows, altering the appearance. The original stone block foundation now outlines their driveway garden and the storm/fruit cellar. They have added new lattice under the rebuilt porch floor, mimicking the original, and allowing Vernon to fondly remember his favorite hiding place. One may think, at first appearance, that this is a typical hip-roofed four–square home, but the interior belies that. You will see that difference when you tour the interior.
Next page link to Harrington House Interior Tour
Became a Century Farm 1883-1983
Farrel and Tillie Harrington, Route 3, LeMars, have filed for Century Farm recognition. Their Century Farm is located in Washington township.
Peter Reese, Mrs. Harrington’s grandfather, purchased the 200-acre tract from Iowa Falls and Sioux City Railroad Company in 1883.
Reese, like many of our early county settlers, was born in Germany. The farm was then owned by Tillie’s parents, Gerd and Annie Siebens.
Part of the original home is still in use.
Century Farm owners will be recognized at a special program during the Iowa State Fair.
They will receive a Century Farm marker from the Iowa Farm Bureau and a Century Farm Certificate from the Iowa Department of Agriculture.
To qualify as a Century Farm the land of at least 40 acres must be owned within the same family for 100 years. Deadline for filing for 1983 recognition is June 1. Application blanks are available at the Plymouth County Farm Bureau office, LeMars.
~Newspaper: Farm Bureau Spokesman, dated Spring 1983
