Carla Clark | For The Republic Jerry McKinney, Janet McKinney, Austin McKinney and Chris McKinney at McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
HOPE – It’s not that Chris and Jackie McKinney aren’t proud to have a Hoosier Homestead award posted in their yard.
It’s just that they’re busy right now preparing for the next big milestone in the history of their family.
In less than a week, Chris and Jackie’s son, Austin, 31, is scheduled to marry Kelly Dressler, 26. The wedding will be on the family farm, off County Road 850N northeast of Hope, on Sept. 10.
Dressler is becoming part of a sprawling and prosperous agricultural operation between Hope and Rugby that has remained in the same family since 1883, which earned the family a centennial Hoosier Homestead Award this summer.
“Times can be tough in farming, but it can also be very rewarding,” Chris McKinney said. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
Family patriarch Jerry McKinney, 82, says it’s his goal to still be around 11 years from now when the homestead is eligible for the sesquicentennial (150 years) award.
Chris and Jackie are happy their youngest son, Dalton, 25, has a well-paying career in information technology. And thanks to Austin’s commitment, nobody is worried about the family losing the homestead.
“From the time Austin could walk, he’s been out the back door on my heels looking for any chance to be around the farm,” Chris said.
“I like my other job, but this farm will always be first in my heart,” Austin replied.
Generations
The family farm was established late in the life of its founder. It was in 1836 that Solomon Lambert (1817-1904) married Martha Gabbert (1819-1881) – almost a half-century before the homestead was created.
Family members says Solomon, who grew up in northeast Bartholomew County, was able to acquire a substantial amount of assets and property that included a sawmill in the Hartsville area. He was described as a “wealthy farmer” and a “highly respected member of his community” by the Evening Republican, predecessor to The Republic.
The couple had seven children during their 46-year marriage that ended when Martha died on April 13, 1881.
Two years after her death, it was announced that a man named Phillip Terrell had decided to move to Clinton County, so he sold his 80-acre farm to Solomon Lambert for $4,000 cash.”
Lambert was already 66 years old when the land purchase was announced on Sept. 13, 1883. Lambert would continue farming until an injury disabled him one year before his death in March, 1904 at the age of 87.
The land was first passed on to daughter Mary A. Lambert (1855-1906), who gave the homestead the current family name by her marriage to Tolbert McKinney (1847-1927). The land would eventually be sold to their son, Lotie C. McKinney (1878-1947), who married a widow named Anna Smith(1878-1953). Eventually, the farm came into the possession of Lotie and Anna’s son, Morris.
According to family members, Morris W. McKinney (1912-1992) had a work ethic that set a high standard for his descendants.
His son, Jerry, recalls when Morris was expanding the main house on the homestead. For quite some time, he would work all day in the fields, work all night on home construction and repeat the same cycle day after day.
When asked when his father slept, Jerry replied: “He didn’t. That’s the way they did it back in those days.”
Morris’ work on the farm was recognized with two prestigious awards: Goodyear Farmer of the Year in 1991, as well as the Gilman O’Neal Conservation Farmer of the Year award.
Off the farm, Morris spent seven years as a school board member in Hope, 12 years as a school bus driver and held several leadership posts, including Sunday School teacher, with the First Baptist Church of Hope.
Morris’ wife, Helen B. McKinney (1912-2006) was widely respected as a teacher at Hope Elementary School for 28 years. During her life, Helen supported several organizations like her church, the Indiana Retired Teachers Association, the Indiana Farm Bureau and the American Red Cross.
A highlight for the couple was when they were chosen parade marshals for the 1989 Hope Heritage Days parade.
But among family members, one of Morris’ most appreciated efforts was to set up the entire agricultural operation as a corporation, which makes it far more difficult for descendants to split the land into parcels and sell it off.
“I’m glad my grandfather had the foresight to recognize the heritage of the land and keep it in the family,” Chris McKinney said.
The farm today
After Jerry McKinney gained more control of the farm in the early 1960s, he continued to tear down old structures, build their replacements and obtain newer agricultural equipment. He also acquired adjacent land that would expand the original 80 acres into a 220-acres operation, Chris said.
Jerry worked several years as a school bus driver, while Chris is a private contractor for the U.S. Postal Service. Despite being 82-year-old, Jerry still helps his son and grandson during spring planting and the fall harvest.
In fact, when Jerry was seriously injured and told to stay in bed for a few weeks, he insisted on returning to work within a few days, family members said.
Chris’ wife, Jackie Woodhouse McKinney, is a nurse at Columbus Regional Hospital while Austin works full-time at the Cummins Tech Center in Columbus.
Today, the McKinney family raises corn, soybeans and wheat. They used to raise barrows and gilts, but abandoned the hog business when the bottom fell out of the market in 1993, Chris said.
The family also raised Hereford cattle until 2013, but high production costs and a lack of available time prompted the family to leave the livestock business.
“But we still have about 35 acres of pasture ground that we rented to a local livestock producer,” Austin said.
A qualified newcomer
So what will the soon-to-be bride bring to the farm?
Dressler earned her bachelors degree in agricultural education, with a minor on horticulture, from Purdue University in 2018. For three years, she was an agricultural educator at Hauser Jr.-Sr. High School.
In 2021, Dressler received a scholarship award from the National Association of Agricultural Educators. It paved the way for the soon-to-be Mrs. Austin McKinney to complete the Agricultural Mechanics Academy at Texas State University.
Dressler is now working as a learning specialist for an agribusiness firm in Indianapolis.
More about the Hoosier Homestead Awards
Administered through the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, the Hoosier Homestead Award Program recognizes families with farms that have been owned by the same family for 100 years or more.
The program was instituted in 1976 and recognizes the contributions these family farms have made to the economic, cultural and social advancements of Indiana. In the past 45 years, more than 5,800 farms have received the honor.
Indiana family farms may qualify for the following:
- Centennial Award – 100 years of ownership
- Sesquicentennial Award – 150 years of ownership
- Bicentennial Award – 200 years of ownership
Carla Clark | For The Republic McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Kelly Dressler and Chris McKinney, engaged and are part of the next generation, on the porch at McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Kelly Dressler and Chris McKinney, engaged and are part of the next generation, on the porch at McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Chris McKinney, Austin McKinney and Jerry McKinney on the porch of McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Chris McKinney, Austin McKinney and Jerry McKinney on the porch of McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Jerry McKinney, Janet McKinney, Austin McKinney and Chris McKinney at McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Sign at McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic McKinney & McKinney T-shirt detailing some of the family tree for McKinney Farms, established 1883, a Hoosier Homestead Farm, owned by the same family for over 100 years, Tuesday, August 30, 2022.
