A window into the roles and construction of Michigan family farms

This is one of the finest statewide sourcebooks ever published, a remarkable compilation of sources and resources that are available to help researchers find their Michigan ancestors. It identifies records on the state and regional level and then the county level, providing details of vital records, court and land records, military records, newspapers, and census records, as well as the holdings of the various societies and institutions whose resources and facilities support the special needs of the genealogist. County-by-county, it lists the names, addresses, websites, e-mail addresses, and hours of business of libraries, archives, genealogical and historical societies, courthouses, and other record repositories; describes their manuscripts and record collections; highlights their special holdings; and provides details regarding queries, searches, and restrictions on the use of their records.

Anna Long Hoard stood at Eberhard Cemetery, watching her husband's casket lowered into his grave. Kellis Hoard died by mistaking sulphuric acid for cider, a mystery never solved. Kellis was Anna's rock and the man who farmed Anna's legacy farm. She had no sons. Could she keep the farm? Generations before her lived the every-man story of American settlers. Like thousands of pioneers who left the East Coast after the Revolutionary War in search of a better life, the Longs fought weather and wild country to move to a state in the Old Northwest Territory. Reuben Long, the patriarch, and his children and grandchildren fought to keep the Indiana farm in the family. If Mother Nature did her part, permanent land ownership meant economic security, a ready supply of food, and one of the few wealth-building opportunities in the country. Keeping the family farm meant survival and security. And their journey was anything but easy.

Nearly 700 illustrations advertise items for garden, farm, lawn, stable, household, and more, including butter printers, cast-iron field rollers, broadcast seeders, corn harvesters and huskers, root cutters, cider mills, veterinary remedies, and more.

Successful farmers are concerned with two critical questions: how do I hand my agribusiness to my heirs in a fair and equitable manner and how do I pass it as a viable business opportunity? Succession planning combines elements of business design, ownership/management succession, wealth accumulation, retirement design, and estate planning.

Winner of the Stubbendieck Great Plains Distinguished Book Prize 2019 selection for the One Book One Nebraska and All Iowa state reading programs "Genoways gives the reader a kitchen-table view of the vagaries, complexities, and frustrations of modern farming…Insightful and empathetic." —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, and yet its future is in peril. Rick Hammond grew up on a farm, and for forty years he has raised cattle and crops on his wife’s fifth-generation homestead in Nebraska, in hopes of passing it on to their four children. But as the handoff nears, their family farm—and their entire way of life—are under siege on many fronts, from shifting trade policies, to encroaching pipelines, to climate change. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, Ted Genoways explores the rapidly changing world of small, traditional farming operations. He creates a vivid, nuanced portrait of a radical new landscape and one family’s fight to preserve their legacy and the life they love.