52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 8
Prompt – Power
Horse Power.
In the early 20th century, farming was accomplished using horses.
Jake Peters (1917 - 1983)
Theses two photos were taken (circa 1930s) of my father on their family farm. He would have been in his teen years. This is a side of my father that I can not imagine. My meek mannered and quiet father on top of a hay stack controlling the two horses pulling them. Look at his size compared to the two horses. I believe they were Clydesdale and I understand that they are the work horses on a farm. Personally horses of any kind scare the be-jeepers out of me.
Below is Arthur Johann Jahnke (1894 - 1979). Bill's Grandfather on a horse drawn binder in 1922.
What the heck is a binder? Wikipedia defined it as this:
“Early binders were horse-drawn, their cutting and tying-mechanisms powered by a bull-wheel, that through the traction of being pulled forward creates rotational forces to operate the mechanical components of the machine. Later models were tractor-drawn and some were tractor-powered. “
The earliest binders used wire to tie up the bundles. Later on the farmers used twine. Arthur Jahnke had several of their notebooks. They were given out as an advertisement for their special binder twine.
There is a family story that my maternal grandmother spent sometime in the mid to late 1920's in the Calgary region working with horses. My dear sweet 5 foot 2 inch grandmother apparently once brought a run away wagon attached to either 4 or 6 horses under control. I am in awe of her if it is true otherwise it is one of those family tall tales that are lovingly passed on from generation to generation.
The power of the farm work horse can not be underestimated in its role that it played in the breaking of our ancestors homesteads. They allowed our ancestors to realize their dream of owning and living off the land.
Wendy
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