Return to the Land

Mother and Dad did not come to the farm until the early 1930’s. D ad actually owned the farm then but according to the original Deed of 1905 my Grandmother Miller would have been in control until her death in 1951. In 1905, Dad was only nine years old and certainly not of age to control such an asset. If one reads carefully the deed it stipulates that John Harvey and Minnie Catherine were to support and maintain her father, David O. Wright, and to pay his outstanding debts as part of the land transfer agreement in lieu of a cash settlement. This seemed reasonable at the time but in the subsequent months and years it became apparent that this was becoming a financial burden. Great-grandfather David Oliver, seeing that his daughter and son-in-law were unable to fulfill their agreement, decided to relieve them of their obligations by writing a new contract. The new document was drafted on April 12, 1909 one year before David Oliver’s death.

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