Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First
Family Honored At Kimball-Banner County Fair; This Is Their Story
The Hagstrom family received the Aksarben Nebraska Pionoeer Farm 100 Year Award prior to the Gymkana at the Kimball-Banner County Fair on Thursday evening. Pictured in back, from left, are Scott Hawthorne, David Hagstrom and Reid Hangstrom. In front are Andrew Hawthorne, Rhonda Hawthorne, Katie Hawthorne, Wanda Hagstrom and Timothy Hawthorne. Rhonda and Reid are the children of David and Wanda. Reid is a grain merchandiser for the ethanol plant in Ord.
The David Hagstrom family was awarded the Nebraska Pioneer Farm Award by AKSARBEN Foundation and Nebraska Farm Bureau at the Kimball/Banner Fair BBQ. The award is given to honor families for 100 years of farm ownership.
Erick A. Hagstrom came to America from his hometown of Gastrikland, Sweden at the age of 18. He spent 2 years living in Sioux City, Iowa with his older sister and her husband.
In 1900, Erick moved to Kimball County Nebraska and laid claim to a homestead within Section 30-14-55. Shortly thereafter, he met Emma O. Forsling, whose family had emigrated from Vostergotland, Sweden. The Forsling family had proved up on a homestead within Section 12-14-56, two miles directly north of Erick's homestead.
Soon after, Erick and Emma were married and lived on Erick's homestead in the house where they raised their daughters Augusta, Lois, and Josephine and their son Paul. On December 3, 1916, Erick and Emma purchased 480 acres of pasture and cropland in Section 26-14-56 one mile west of Erick's homestead.
There they built a new home, where Erick and Emma spent the rest of their lives. Paul moved to California from 1939 until 1943 doing defense work in the shipyards and at Lockheed Aircraft.
Paul married Lucille Sell in Burbank, California on April 4, 1941. They returned to Kimball in 1943 at Emma's passing. Paul worked at the Ford garage and helped his widowed father farm after hours while Lucille worked as a legal secretary. Paul and Lucille moved to the farm in the spring of 1946 where they raised their three children Louise, David, and Donald.
Paul and Lucille's son David met and married Wanda Thomson of Lincoln, Nebraska while going to trade school at Milford.
After their marriage on November 15, 1969, the couple returned to the farm so David could farm with his dad. David and Wanda raised their son Reid and daughter Rhonda in the same house where Paul and David had been raised. David and Wanda continue the legacy of the Hagstrom family farm to this day.
David and Wanda are presently transitioning the farming to Rhonda and her husband Scott Hawthorne, who was raised on a farm outside Chadron, Nebraska.
This continues the legacy through the 4th generation. Perhaps someday one or more of the three Hawthorne children, Andrew, Katie and Timothy, might become the 5th generation to operate the Hagstrom family farm.
