little family farm history and WW2

My parents were married in 1937, and both were working for a state TB sanitarium at the time. In 1941 they moved to a farm outside of Long Island KS. In 1943 they moved 13 miles to a farm NW of Almena,KS where they stayed until 1979. They bought it in the fall of 1945. During the war after moving to the new farm he was able to get a new Allis-chalmers tractor. A small one but with it and his team of horses made things a lot easier. Somewhere along the line he traded the Allis for a new Farmall H.

An uncle, by marrying my mother's sister, and Dad were not only related, they were great friends. The uncle had a farm north west of Norton. Don't know what he had for tractors during the war but several pictures survive of Dad and Uncle working on and driving a Fordson on steel. I would guess Uncle had a team also as most folks around there did have. After the war ended farm equipment and other things were still hard to buy however the farm got REA electricity in 1946. (instantly turning the Maytag gas engine into a curious piece of scrap) Scrap I still have!

OK, back to the hard to get stuff. Well my Uncle got wind of a place in California that had Farmall M tractors for sale. Now, Dad and Uncle didn't have a lot of money but did that stop them,,,NO!! Dad stayed at home to keep tabs on life and Uncle took an older truck and trailer and hit the road to California. this was like 1500 miles before interstates. He bought 3 Farmall M's, with a check, just a personal check that wasn't good at the time. He started back to home in Kansas selling one of the Farmalls on the way, and beat the bad check home and he and Dad made it good. Time were different then.

Having a "M" was like heaven to them. In 1952 Dad put a super kit in his and put it on Propane. I still have the tank. Then in 1965 he traded the M for a Massey 180, Of course, the 180 was never the great tractor his "M" was!

In March of 1950 my Uncle had a acetylene generator blow up and he had enough gas in his lungs that they were severely damaged and he died a few days later. Dad really missed his buddy and over the years told me how crazy it was to take off for California for tractors but he seemed pretty proud of being crazy to.

Good story. Times were different then for sure. Bob

Interesting!! Kind of incredible for this day and age, but a truly great story!

Speaking of checks. I have one of my grandmothers checks.1929. From a bank in Brady Texas. She moved her account to a bank in Junction Texas. Still had checks from the other bank. So she scratched out the other banks name and account number. Filled in the name and account number of the new bank. In pencil. The checks were cashed. Try doing that today.

(quoted from post at 12:51:37 04/08/16) Speaking of checks. I have one of my grandmothers checks.1929. From a bank in Brady Texas. She moved her account to a bank in Junction Texas. Still had checks from the other bank. So she scratched out the other banks name and account number. Filled in the name and account number of the new bank. In pencil. The checks were cashed. Try doing that today.

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When my dad retired from the Army in 1971 and we moved to rural MN they still had counter checks in all the local stores. Just pick the ones from your bank and fill it out. A few guys with money would just grab one, if needed scratch out the bank's name on the check, write in the bank they used and write the check. The guy who became my sister's father in law did that all the time. He never had a problem with a store refusing to accept it nor did the bank fail to honor it.

Different times.

Rick

There were two banks in town 'way back when they still had counter checks. Someone inadvertently wrote a check on the wrong bank and the bank honored it anyway.

I think those days are long gone.

Ran into a teller at my bank at the local fair one time, she said one of my checks was going to bounce, so she had covered it out of her purse, and could I come by and make it good? I did her one better and made it good on the spot. Seven dollars and some odd cents, IIRC.

Not highly unusual in 1963, except that I was 14 and had a checking account for my cattle business, and she was 16 and had a summer job at the bank. Those were good days, before the guvment started protecting us from ourselves.

I also have a check my Dad wrote kinda like that. There was a First National Bank in the next county seat and the one in the home county seat. He was in the other town and wrote a check using the wrong Bank. Yes it went through.

Remember back then there were Bank Couriers that hauled checks from and to various financial institutions and the checks were all handled manually. Oh for the good times

I have a similar story but forget many of the details. Combines were also scarce after WWII. My Grandfather (with others?) were able to purchase three almost new combines from someone in Kansas??? They were basically new but used for the Kansas harvest that just finished. They were shipped up to South Dakota by flatbed rail car and unloaded right in our little town. They did all their own harvest, did some custom work, then sold one to a neighbor and a second to a farmer in North Dakota and kept the third machine entirely paid for with the sale of the other two and the custom work done with all three. Try that today.

My Dad used to change the name of the bank on
those counter checks. The name of the bank he
changed it to was in another town also.