Zollinger family receives centennial farm award

Apr. 12—GOSHEN — A farm in Goshen is celebrating a state honor.

The Hoosier Homestead Award was presented by Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Indiana State Department of Agriculture Director Don Lamb on March 22.

To be a recipient, families must show ownership of the land for at least 100 consecutive years and have 20 acres or produce more than $1,000 in agricultural products per year, but the Zollingers have owned the land for at least 125 years.

Mike Zollinger and and his wife Lisa still own the family farm on C.R. 148 and lease the land to Robin and Tim Miller, who grow soy beans and corn.

"There was a neighbor of my cousin's that had done it," family genealogist Nate Zollinger explained. "I would have never done it if I hadn't heard about some neighbor that did it."

As the family genealogist, he knew if anyone could provide the information to the state, he could do it.

The farm is owned by his cousin, Mike, who he inherited it from his father when he passed away eight years ago. Mike helped his dad out on the farm.

Nate explained that their great-great-grandfather Gottlieb Würker immigrated to the United States in 1834 from modern-day Switzerland fleeing from persecution and religious reformation in Germania. He served in the Civil War and then had three children.

His son, Louis Werker, started the farm in the 1890s south of Benton. Nate said he has plat records dating to earlier, but the earliest deed to the property he could find was 1899. That means this year, according to records, the homestead farm is celebrating 125 years.

It started as around 79.5 acres, Nate said, and at one point there was as much as 350 acres.

Louis Werker's daughter Harriett Elizabeth Werker married Everett Zollinger, beginning the Zollinger legacy on the property.

Everett's family came to Clinton Township in 1837, but their roots on the continent go back to the Revolutionary War. His father George was a gun maker at Harper's Ferry in West Virginia. The Elkhart County Historical Museum boasts a long gun made by the freedom fighter.

"You think when they came here back in 1837, they had to build log houses or huts or whatever, and endure the winters, endure healthcare that we don't have today," Nate said. "It's just hard to imagine that they could do that and survive, but that's all they knew. They survived eating, and raising crops, animals and chickens. We just have it so good today, and I just imagine how the pioneers made it."

The Zollingers, Everett and Elizabeth, had three children — Marian, Arlin, and Adrian.

Arlin is Nate Zollinger's father, and Adrian is Mike Zollinger's father.

Adrian served as a buck sergeant in the Marine Corps during the Korean War and returned home honorably discharged to begin working on the family farm, where he stayed from his return in 1955 until 1988. He also became a pilot.

"I wish he would have gotten this," Lisa said. "To me, it's honoring his dad and his family to have it this long, that's something to say."

Nate recalled that his uncle had five different planes and that he'd fly them over the fields, and at one point even had a grass runway on the property.

"He would fly over the tree tops and corn tops," Nate recalled.

Adrian's wife Barbara Bowser Zollinger, was an accomplished baton twirler with Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus.

"Those years were kind of the glory days of Ringling Brothers and she got to know a lot of famous people," Nate explained.

They had two sons, Mike and Alan. Alan died in 1984.

Today, Mike lives on the farm with his wife Lisa and about 280 acres, and they have four adult children, Trevor, Kara, Kylee, and Jenna Pitts.

"It's just an honor to have a farm in four generations that long to not have a break of ownership. You just don't see that as often anymore," Nate said.

Hoosier Homestead Award ceremonies are held twice yearly, in the spring at the State Capitol and in the fall at the Indiana State Fair. This spring, 59 families were recognized with the Hoosier Homestead Award.

"They have so many that they have to spread it out," he explained. "If you think about Indiana, there's so many farms."

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.