Brown County Farm Has Been in the Family For

26 Mid -S epteMber 2010 Ohio’s Country Journal liveStoCK Brown County farm has been in the family for 212 years By Kyle Sharp “The Johnstons went to Guilford, Mary (Martin) Bick remembers an wrapped him in blankets and brought him unexpected heavy snowstorm that hit back to their home, called ‘The Barrens,’ to her family’s Brown County farm when mend,” Mary said. she was young. Her family and none of The wound resulted in the loss of Alex’s the neighboring farm families had made right leg, but that didn’t stop him from liv - it to town for food and supplies ahead of ing a full life. He married Jane Black and the storm. they moved to their own farm in Bourbon So, her uncle Elmer hitched his tractor, County, Ky., about 1790. There, they started one of the first in the area, to a wagon and a family and already had five children invited all the neighbors to hop on for a when Alex purchased 400 acres in Ohio trip to town. about 1798 and moved the family. The “The whole wagon was full of neigh - original deed to the property was signed bors because we were so excited to get by John Adams. At the time, the land was out,” Mary said. “But not far up the road, part of Hamilton County. It would transi - the wagon came unhitched, and Elmer tion to Clermont County before finally didn’t realize it. He just kept going up being part of Brown County. around the bend. He couldn’t hear us all “I was told they lived in an old hollow Mary (Martin) Bick and her husband, Joe, currently yelling, because the tractor was so loud. I tree when they first moved here,” said reside on the Brown County farm that was acquired by laughed so much at all the comments the Mary, who grew up on the farm and her great, great, great grandfather Alexander Martin in guys on the wagon were making.” returned to the home place 35 years ago 1798. The Bicks are pictured here with their son-in- law, Ray Campbell, who currently leases the farm. The That story is just a small sample of the with her husband, Joe Bick. farm is registered as an “Ohio Century Farm” through family history that has taken place on the Alex and Jane Martin built a log cabin the Ohio Department of Agriculture, having been in the farm, about 3 miles north of Ripley. It has on the property and engaged in general same family continuously for more than 100 years. been in Mary’s family for 212 years. farming. Alex also was active in his church Alexander Martin was born in Virginia and the community, serving as a justice of 1850s. In addition to farming, Henry in 1758. An orphaned child from what was the peace and carrying out an unsuccessful served as an associate judge, a justice of The stone house, “Stonehurst,” on the farm is listed on likely an illegitimate pregnancy, he was bid for Congress in 1806. The Martins the peace and as a school director for the National Register of Historic Places. It was com - bound to the family of William Johnston eventually had a total of 14 children. Brown County. pleted by Alexander Martin in 1816 and has housed The farm next passed to Henry’s son numerous family members in the nearly 200 years it and raised by William’s son, Zachariah Legend has it that some of those children has stood on the farm. Johnston, in Augusta County, Va. When were responsible for the demise of the fam - Samuel in 1857. Samuel and his wife, war broke out between the American ily’s original log home. Catherine, farmed the land for many moved back into Mary’s childhood home colonies and Great Britain, he joined the “They say the kids were playing with a years and raised four children. In 1920, in 1976 and still live there today. newly created Virginia Militia and was cat, tied a rag on its tail and set the rag on the farm passed to two of Samuel and Mary fondly tells stories of riding on severely wounded at the battle of Guilford fire,” Mary said. “Then the cat ran into the Catherine’s children, Henry and Eliza the crossbar of a horse-drawn plow with Courthouse, N.C., in March 1781. house and it burned down.” Martin. Henry turned the property over her father and grandfather, playing in the In 1812, Alex decided to build a large to Eliza when he left a promising career barn with cousins, riding a “go-cart” stone house on the property, similar to the in medicine and moved his family to repeatedly down a hill for fun — the cart Johnston home where he had grown up. Colorado to become a homesteader. was actually an old car frame — and rush - Stone was quarried from nearby land, and Eliza and her brother, Kyes Martin, then ing outside with her parents when they with the help of his sons, the home was operated the farm. Electricity was added to heard an airplane fly overhead. completed in 1816. Called “Stonehurst” the farm in 1935, and indoor bathrooms About 1978, without warning, a cousin with walls that are 3 feet wide at the base about 1940. In 1939, Kyes’ son Robert and sold the rest of the original farm, including and narrow up to 2 feet wide at the peak, it his wife, Clara, bought the farm for $5,000. the 1840 brick home. The Bicks’ son-in-law, still stands on the property today and is Robert and Clara are the parents of Mary Ray Campbell, now leases the remaining listed on the National Register of Historic Bick. They lived with Mary, their only 100 acres. He pastures 17 black cow-calf Places. Unfortunately, Alex didn’t get to child, in Stonehurst from 1928 until 1934, pairs on the property, makes hay and rais - enjoy it long. He passed away the same when Robert started an appliance store in es 43 acres of soybeans. Ray is married to year it was completed. Ripley and moved the family there. He the Bicks’ daughter, Barbara, who is an Alex and Jane, along with one of their sold gas stoves and contracted to sell administrator at Maysville Community sons, Alexander Jr., are buried in a family propane gas tanks to operate them. The College in Maysville, Ky. They live on their cemetery on the farm. business was going well until all was lost own farm about 4 miles away. The Bicks’ “They say Alex’s son James, who was in the Ohio River flood of 1937, which son, Roger, has had a full career in the mili - the administer of his estate, is buried here bankrupted the family. tary and currently works at the Pentagon in the yard, but we don’t know where,” Robert then started his own bottled in Washington, D.C. Mary said. propane company and ran it, the Ripley The future of the family farm is uncer - The farm was passed to Alex’s oldest Gas Co., for 25 years. About 1940, Robert tain, but Mary prays it will stay in the son, Henry, who along with his wife, moved his family back to Stonehurst. Mary family and not be sold to development. Phoebe, had nine children. In 1840, Henry eventually married Joe in 1952 and they She’s proud of her family’s long heritage built a brick home on the farm. The bricks lived in the Cincinnati suburbs. on the land. were made with clay dug and kiln dried In 1973, Mary and Joe Bick acquired “I’m sure they all felt a sense of ‘this is on the property. Many family members Stonehurst and 100 acres of the farm after our roots,’ and they were determined to When Mary Bick was growing up, “we had some rip-roar - have lived in the stone and brick houses her parents passed away. They remodeled stay,” Mary said. “It just shows the stamina ing fires” in this fireplace, she said. Her dad, Robert the stone home, tearing off an old wooden of the people involved. They stuck to it in Martin, loved to keep a fire going. The painting of cows over the years. Henry and Phoebe saw burley tobacco addition and replacing it with a stone addi - the good and the bad times. It was a hanging over the fireplace was painted by her aunt, Eliza tion that matches the original home. They Martin, who owned the farm from 1920 to 1939. become the farm’s main cash crop in the refuge. They loved the land.”.

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