t. ■ 
American Agriculturist 
THE FARM PAPER THAT PRINTS THE FARM NEWS 
“Agriculture is the Most Healthful, Most Useful and Most Noble Employment of Man”—IFoshfngton 
Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. 
Established 1842 
Volume 111 
For the Week Ending June 2, 1923 
Number 22 
Nine Hundred Years on the Same Farm 
An Endurance Record Made by Twenty-four Generations of One Family 
Y esterday, Monsieur Lacassies 
Poublan, of Lucgarrier, France, was 
absolutely unknown in Paris. No¬ 
body knew him. What is more, no¬ 
body cared to know him. To-day (as I write) 
his name is upon every lip. The story of his 
life is printed in all the French newspapers. 
He has been decorated by the minister of 
agriculture of the French repub¬ 
lic. He is now a chevalier of the - 
Order of Agricultural Merit. 
And why? 
Because he and his ancestors 
are the possessors of what might 
be called the world’s agricultural 
endurance record. To them be¬ 
longs the distinction of having 
lived in the same house, and of 
having tilled the same soil, for a 
period of 899 years. That looks 
like a mis-print, but it isn’t, for 
the family has documents, of un- 
By BERNHARD RAGNER 
and ancestors had bequeathed 
the thrift 
them. 
If Mademoiselle Poublan studies English 
in her high school course, she will become 
acquainted with Alfred Tennyson’s “The 
Brooke.” Should she be inclined to parody 
Don’t Miss This Story 
It is the most 
T his fine story was sent to us clear from France. 
wonderful record of human service by one family that we have 
ever read. A few of our farm families pride themselves on living on 
the farm that has been in the same family since Colonial days. But 
the Poublan family was faithfully cultivating their farm four hundred 
years before the first white men set foot in the American wilderness. 
—The Editors. 
doubted authenticity, to prove that back in 
1023, a Poublan owned and cultivated the 
nucleus of the present homestead. 
Since then, dynasties have fallen, king¬ 
doms have been overturned, continents have 
been discovered, empires and ^ republics 
have had their entrances and exits on the 
stage of history, but the Poublan family has 
remained loyal and true to its original 
hearthstone. 
Undisturbed by the nervous movements of 
wars, crusades, reformations and revolu¬ 
tions— 
his much-quoted lines, it would likely be as 
follows: 
it reminds one of the genealogical lists 
printed in the Bible. 
“I pray those who succeed me to continue 
my work.” So wrote the first Poublan, and 
until the present day, his numerous posterity 
has kept the faith. His children and his 
children’s children have continued his labor. 
Poublan I (he was a veritable monarch of the 
soil; why not give him his title ?) 
'■'—I little realized that Poublan XXIV 
would be decorated in 1928 with 
the Croix du Merite Agricole 
(Cross of Agricultural Merit) be¬ 
cause of this “most marvellous 
example of fidelity to the land 
that a strong and serene peas¬ 
antry can give to a country of 
which agriculture, as Sully said, 
is the nourishing breast.” 
As the centuries passed, his¬ 
tory was made at Hastings, Agin- 
court, Waterloo, Gettysburg and 
Thierry, but the Poublan family 
Monarchs come and empires go, 
But the Poublans go on forever. 
Along the cool, sequestered vale of life 
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. 
Joan of Arc chased the British invader 
from the soil of France, but the Poublans 
plowed their fields. John. Calvin wrote his 
institutes and stimulated the reformation 
started by Luther and Zwingli, but the 
Poublans sowed their wheat. Christopher 
Columbus discovered America, but the Poub¬ 
lans harvested their grain. Jean Jacques Rous¬ 
seau preached his revolutionary doctrines; 
the French Revolution came, Ndpojeon 
Bonaparte, like a gigantic comet of unex- 
amTiled brilliance, flashed across the Euro¬ 
pean sky, but the Poublans, serenely, loyally, 
wholeheartedly, cultivated the acres which 
And with commendable industry and per¬ 
sistency, they have been “going on” since the 
year 1023, at least. The family records do 
not go back any farther than that. Ever 
since that year, however, long before William 
the Conqueror ever thought of invading Eng¬ 
land, the Poublan family has been cultivat¬ 
ing the same corner of God’s green earth. 
How the first Poublan (of record) came into 
possession of his homestead is not known; 
possibly by inheritance. But he must have 
been a man of uncommon sense, for he be¬ 
gan the family register with these words: 
“Within these pages, I shall register the 
names of the household chiefs of our family, 
their wives, the dates of their birth, of their 
marriage, and of their decease. 
“And I pray those who succeed me to con¬ 
tinue my work.” 
Then follows a curious list of names and 
dates, written on paper that is yellow with 
age, with ink that grows dimmer with each 
passing year. Part of the record is barely 
decipherable. Because of its archaic lan¬ 
guage, its length, and other characteristics. 
Chateau _ 
(except for their soldier sons) remained at 
Lucgarrier, on their farm in the department 
of the Basses Pyrenees near the Spanish 
border. They devotedly worked the acres 
which their forefathers had left them. In 
fact, their industry was such that the family 
homestead increased, until now it includes 
80 hectares (approximately 200 acres). And 
all the while, they kept the family records 
straight. 
Each generation contributed its portion of 
labor. Each generation expended its portion 
of sweat, and transmitted the heritage—en¬ 
larged and improved—to the next in line. 
Only once did a Poublan desert the ancestral 
domain, and that was only temporarily—^to 
make his fortune in America! But he re¬ 
turned later, and continued his father’s work. 
The present Poublan is the twenty-fourth 
in the ancestral line. He is a fine example 
of the French farmer—strong, self-con¬ 
trolled, a capable artisan of the soil, and pas¬ 
sionately devoted to his home and his coun¬ 
try. He is the mayor of his township; and 
his son, now rendering his eighteen months 
of military service to France, hopes some day 
to assume his father’s ancestral and civic 
functions. 
{Continued on page 472) 
The reformation came and passed, but the Poublans sowed their wheat 
Columbus discovered America, but the Poublans harvested their grain 
.^1 
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