100 YEARS IN THE MAKING

The Lukassens were reconized at the Kimball-Banner County Fair as a 100-year farm family.

This is their story.

Theodore Lukassen was born in Holland in April 1864. At the age of 18 he came to the United States from Amsterdam on the ship Scholden. His sister, Wilhelmina, or known as Minnie, accompanied him. They came to Nebraska and settled in Butler County in 1887.

As a newcomer to Nebraska, he worked for several local farmers, and for the North Western Railroad, from Fremont to Hastings. In 1917 he built a new house in Butler County.

He married Anna Kosch and they had four children – Maria, Heinrich, Joseph and Emma. Three of these children died in infancy from tuberculosis. Emma died at the age of 12. Anna, his wife, died and he later remarried her niece, who was Augusta. She arrived in the United States in 1872 at the age of 3.

Augusta became Theodore's new wife in June of 1897. They had 11 children, three of whom preceded their parents in death. In 1914, those 3 children (John, Leonard, and Rosie) died from diptheria. The children who survived were, Henry, Fred, Leo, Leona, Minnie, Francis and Mary (Sally).

Not until Theodore was 64 years of age did he become a U.S. citizen, along with Augusta (in 1940). He died at the age of 79, in 1943, at his home in David City, Nebraska. He had anemia, which became aggravated after he was burned quite badly from burning weeds near his farm. She died in March of 1950, from complications caused from being diabetic.

In March of 1919, Theodore purchased land in Kimball County from Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Larson. The amount of $19,840 was bargained for Section 7.

He continued to farm in Butler County, and made the long trips to Kimball with advanced planning as it took several days for the trip. In 1918 his second born son Fred, (born in 1900) came out to Kimball to live. He worked for various farmers until section 7 was purchased.

That summer of 1920, Fred started to work this new farm land,on section 7. He returned to Butler County to marry his sweetheart, Martha (Vandenberg) and they were married on January 25, 1921. In 1940, Theodore transferred the land in Section 7 over to Fred.

The newlyweds lived in Kimball in an apartment while the new home was being built out at the farm. Once Martha found bed bugs in the apartment, she refused to live there any longer and they moved out to the farm. They lived in the tiny living quarters which was a portion of the first building built, a three-stalled building. She could watch from there, as her new home was being built across the yard. As time went on a large two-story barn was built for milking, calving and storing hay, in the second story loft. This barn was the main barn used at calving time, until a 2nd barn was built at the south end of the home place. All of these buildings are still standing today.

As time went on Fred and Martha's family started to grow. Marjorie, the first born died at age 12 of dust pneumonia. Over time they had 5 children, Dale, Howard (Jim), Wayne, Glenda and Karen. Fred also purchased more neighboring land, the Northwest quarter of Section 8, also in Kimball County.

All of Fred's sons were raised to know farming. There was always chores, and animals to take care of They used a team of 5 black horses, for thrashing, as well as working the fields. Eventually with innovation, combines were used for harvesting by 1949. At this point the only crop raised was wheat.

As his sons grew and married, Dale married and moved across the road from the home place, Howard (Jim) married Frances-Mary (Kresha) in 1951, and they lived in the house on the home place. Wayne joined the Army, and after his stint, returned back to the Kimball area and married as well. He farmed and lived in the place where Dale and family lived. Dale and his family had moved to a farm just east of Dix, Ne.

Jim was now farming along with Fred, there on Section 7, more land was purchased as time went on. Fred and Martha, moved back into Kimball in a brand new brick home in 1951 Lukassen Farms was then formed in 1964, as a corporation, with Fred and Howard's family.

Fred continued to Farm with Jim into his '80s. It is impossible to take farming out of a man, so Fred did little of the actual farming in the fields, once in his 80's. He passed away in 1984, at the age of 84 and Martha was 98 when she died in 1999.

Howard and Mary eventually had 6 children: Wanda, Nadine, David, Patsy, Chris and Marty. The children were raised with farming in their blood as the 3rd generation to work this land. Wheat continued to be the main crop in the farming operation, and irrigated alfalfa as well as corn was eventually added in the 1970's.

Tragedy struck when Howard died in 1974. At this time Dave left the University of Nebraska, and returned to Kimball, to pick up the responsibility of running the farm at age 21. Marty the youngest, was 8 years old at that time, and the girls as they graduated from high school all went on to further their education, and eventually married life off of the farm.

Dave married Trish (Hisey) in 1992 and moved into the farmhouse on the home place. Mary Lukassen, had moved into the brick home(1989) that Fred and Martha lived in Kimball. Marty was married in 1992 to Barbara (Quiring) and lived off the farm pursuing a different career. In 2008 farming called Marty and his family back to Kimball to farm with Dave. Marty and his family currently live in the original house that Fred and Martha had built, on the home place. Several additions have been added over the years, and it has seen 3 generations of Lukassen families live there.

Wheat continues to be the main crop grown. Sunflowers, peas, Proso millet and corn have all been grown at one time in this family operation. Dave and Marty are currently the duo team that run the operation of the Howard Lukassen Children. There is not only farming, but also they run a cow/calf operation, and custom farming in the county. Proudly they carry on the Lukassen name in farming and caring for this land in Kimball County.