My Grandmother “Augusta Huff” was raised by her Aunt and Uncle Blanchard after her mother passed away when she was just a young child. Grandmother was one of six children and her father couldn’t care for them himself so he “farmed” them out to relatives. The Blanchard’s didn’t have any children, so they took my grandmother and raised her. They were her aunt and uncle, but we always referred to them as Grandma and Grandpa Blanchard. My Grandfather George Parke owned the farm next to the Blanchard’s on Union Road in Pittsford Township and later married my Grandmother Augusta.

After Grandpa Blanchard passed, Grandma and Grandpa Parke moved in with Grandma Blanchard to help care for her and to run both his and the Blanchard farm. My Mother, Etola and my Uncle, Harold (Hubert) were born in the house in 1911 and 1912. When my Uncle Hubert was just thirteen, he had to drop out of school to run the farm when Grandpa Parke became very ill. After Grandpa Parke recovered they increased the dairy herd and added a large number of sheep. They raised and sold registered Shorthorn cattle for milk and Hampshire sheep for wool. For many years Grandpa Parke and Uncle Hubert showed their livestock at the Hillsdale Fair and took home several ribbons.   

Together, the two farms totaled one hundred and twenty acres. This in a time when farming was done completely by horses. They also raised chickens for meat and eggs as well as hogs and beef cattle. Corn, wheat, oats and hay made up the bulk of the crops to sell, much of which were ground into feed for the livestock. The orchards also added income as they sold apples, peaches and pears, in season, after the basement shelves were filled with jars of the canned fruits. It was a very busy operation, but they lived well.

As a child I spent a lot of time helping on their farms, as our farm was just “down the road”, from theirs and loved every minute of it. They were great people.       

Mike Monroe