A Visit With the Downens of 

 Gallatin County 



How They Put Their Farm Bureau Membership to Work For Them 



SQUIRE 



■We q4 



IT SKK.MS ;iIiiH>st uii|M>.->nilf ihal 

 tluTt' shoulii I"' any jn'opli' letl in 

 I'ost'v county. Ituiiaiiu. alter visitiiiy 

 (Jallalin i-uunty. lUiimi.-i. In our vaiii>u> 

 visits with folks ilown llu'ti-, it sciMiiiii 

 that I'Vi'iybocly's ani-tstors lanu- I'lDiii 

 th»' Indiana county. Koi- iiistan.i-. ial\r 

 Hcrniun I.. Uownen. \vl;ii lives in .As- 

 l)Uiv townshij) not si. far from Kiiln- 

 uay. lie was horn in I'osex rounty, In- 

 diana, in IHhT. and eanie to (iallalin 

 with his pait'Mts when he was a year 

 old. Here Herinun y-rew ii|>. aliendiii 

 the eoiintry sehools in .Aslmiy lt.wnslii|i 

 and look to ealliriK on .\Iariha Keeves 

 who lived two miles from the old Kowii- 

 eii farm. Now Martha's f.ith i was Ik. in 

 in I'osoy eoiinty too. liul her yreai 

 (fiandfathor ^ot thi- laml where the 

 llownen farm I* now as a land L'laiit 

 from tin- government. 



>ellon Wheeled ltliui:.\ 



While lookiii;/ for a new >|uilt she 

 had just tinishe<l. .Mis. .Martlia < Keeves i 

 howiien t<dd us all ahout things haek in 

 l'.tl2 when she inarrieil. ■■Ilerinaii and 

 I Ijved just two miles apaii when we 

 were younjr. .AlioiH the time I was J.i 

 years old, he used li> eoiiie uvei in his 

 horse and liUK>ry to see me. The lioi ><■ 

 \\a~ a hay and the huir«y had yellou 

 w hells. Then we'ii ride around the eoun- 

 Iry. trii to parlies or li. eliureli. One 

 I'^astei we droM' over to Kiduway. io 

 miles. fo| serviee>. It took Us all day. 

 I was i;;; when we were married. That 

 was .Vujfust ■'>. I'.'12. We useil ti. Iiave 

 parties at people's homes. The preaeh 

 • IS dnh.'t like parties, though. It \\a- 

 all rijrht when we sanir hul imi whet 

 someone played a violin." 



.\ow It's ditTorent, she says. .Mrs. 

 hownen likes thi' movies. Ilei f.ivoiili' 

 radio programs are ''The Life of .Mary 

 Sothern" and "Boh and Bel y." Herman 

 likes his music snappy, he says. He al 

 wavs tunes in on llie ■'Ham Dame" and 



says. "We ilon'i s.iiu Io h:i\.- any oilier 

 station on the railio." 



Till- I'ownen farm loiaU Joo acres. 

 While il i- the land oil uhl;ii .Martha 

 Hownen Vas horn. Ilermaii says he 

 I. as s| 1 lit eiuniyh time on it to almost 

 feel thai he was hnin lliere too. This 

 \e..r. lliere will he '-'li acres of wlieai. 

 7."i of corn. W of oats and clo.er. J.'> of 

 soy heaiis. ami the res! is in pasture, 

 v.ood lots and ham lots. I{it;lii now. Hii - 

 man has only seven heail uf (lueliisey 

 latlle. He ii-eil to run ahout S' head 

 all lln' nmi . Km.l up to that from his 

 I'.rsl (lia'ins'.y in I'.'L.'."). But with tin 

 rliildnii 1 itlui awa\ or al schoid lie 

 I, lids lis t..o nuu-li work fur iMiiself aim 

 Ihi- one man he hires. 



I se- l-'arni Bureau 



S..III1' of lie ilullisev- uele suld ill 

 Keiiluck\. People sa\ that Herinun 

 kiiow^ how to raise yood cattle and 

 llle> don't hesitate to l>u\ from him 

 win II the\ i;el the chaii.e. 'i'here ar<- 

 lour horses, one of uhich is a saddie 

 I'oisi' which Herman rides ahout the 

 larm. .Most i.f the larin ni;. h..we\tr. 

 Is done u.lh a new I'arinall iiactor. 

 .Mrs. hipuiieii lakes caie of the chickens. 

 Tliiy ale In r special pr de. White I.eK 

 liorii- lhe\ are. 2ii:i i;roun and 40(i 

 chicks. .'<he sells and Irid.'- I'u- e;ji;s in 

 town and ;.l-ii has hiiilt up a u C- hiisi- 

 ii-ss ^tliiii;- live chickens to people in 

 low II. Till re are usually >l< to '.' • cros^ 

 l.red Hiiro,- iind .Sp,,lted I'olaiid hoys 

 fatteinii;; up al Howiuns. They're vac- 

 cinateil with Farm Bureau s.-runi and 

 -hipped to I he I'rodu.-ers throujrh u local 

 man. (iall.-itin county is on.' of the oul- 

 -iMid In; counlies in markeliny liveslo.k 

 I eoperatively. 



Til. re are four Hownen children. 

 lloiolliy .lune. ay.il :;i. teaches school 

 in I'a'rfield. Wayne county. Doris Mae. 

 ■J'-!, is yoiny to school in Carhondale. 

 l.a-^l \ear she lauiihl in l-'illiii«:ham. 



Ki.lywaj township. .Ma.x Heeves. 211. is 

 also in ill.- Teachers Co-h'ye al Carhoii 

 liale. .Mary Lucille. IT. is a Senior in 

 lds;h sL-hool in liidiiway. Herman says 

 ii's kind of lonisome around the place 

 with three of the children away, lies 

 pretty proud of them, though. They're 

 ^ettiliK trood educations and they're ani- 

 l.itious. Mrs. Hownen likes holidays hesl 

 of all hecause then the children usual!.\ 

 come home. 



The Di.w liens really put their Kami 

 I.tiriaLi memheiship to work. Both Her- 

 man. .Mrs. DowTien and the two oldest 

 rhi:ilreii have policies in Country Life. 

 Ilemiae s:.;, s his f.ither was never very 

 much sold on insurance hut he is. Tin- 

 car is iiisuiid in tile I. \. ,\. comiiany. 

 'I'he huildiiiKs are also insur.d. On the 

 house is .Siiyiiil paint, put on three years 

 a«o. The house hadn't heeii paint. -d for 

 1'; years, and while the paint looks line. 

 Herman thinks he'll put on another coal 

 ihis fall. The Farmall trad r runs on 

 Si-rvice company producls. His hosfs, 

 as we said hef.ire. ^-o to the I'rodui'ers. 

 His cream is picked up twite a week by 

 the truck from the I'roducrs Creamery 

 • f Oliuy. He thinks llu- new ckk mar- 

 ketiiit; plan ouyht lu h- a v'ood thinj- 

 and he'll o-operate. 



Ba'sed ( ream I'rice- 



lie ays Ihis ahout sellinji cream co- 

 ■ ipi ralive!y. "We used to have a small 

 i-o-op; ralive heie. It raised criaiii price- 

 four ciiils. When it shut down some 

 line ayo prices dropped. Then when ihe 

 Producers plant at Olney was ory:aiii/.ed. 

 cieain prices shot up ajrain. Old liin- 

 compiniis hoosted tlieir price awhile 

 hack, hill uvi r-hiddiny has tinally caused 

 ill -m to conn- (low 11 to Oiney's pri.-e 

 level where it is siahil /ed. If il wasn't 

 for Olnev. our iream prices would he 

 way ilown." 



"I-'arni Bureau services." hv says. 

 ' Ir.ive done me a lot of "nud. L eumvs. 



DOWNEN S CHICK HOUSE 

 Mrs. almost hand raises em. 



MISS LULU BELLE' 

 Curiosity Is her undoing. 



tilings 



JESS Ti?OU5DALE -HELPER 

 ' Penn Bond s Okeh!" 



