Bl4*Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 15, 1995
G. Weir Strode surrounded by family members Robert Strode, standing at left; Kent
Strode, kneeling with son Kurtis; Dennis Strode, right.
102-Year-Old Master Farmer
Brings History To Life
GAIL STROCK
Mifflin Co. Correspondent
MECHANICSBURG (Cum
berland Co.) G. Weir Strode
remembers his parents talking
about hearing the rumble of can
nons at Gettysburg during the Civil
War.
‘They’d take the horses tempor
arily to the woods and hide them
there. And Mother had a melo
deon, a really good instrument
She hid it in the com shocks,” Weir
said.
History came alive as G. Weir
Strock, Pennsylvania’s oldest
Master Farmer, talked about his
life at a recent family gathering.
Still quick-witted at age 102,
Weir told stories from his century
long life.
Bom on February 21, 1893 in
Chutchtown, Cumberland County,
Weir has seen tremendous changes
in farming during his lifetime.
Raised in the Churchtown-
Lemoyne-Mechanicsburg area,
Weir remembers when the West
Shore of Harrisburg was mostly
farmland. His earliest memories
begin at the turn of the century at
age seven
(t
and I had quite an experience
that summer.” Weir said. “It was a
dry year. We had a dairy and fum
isned milk for a man that delivered
it. The pasture was dry. And Dad
got permission to drive the cows
across the West Branch of the Sus
quehanna and pas ture on the island
(City Island).
“I was seven years old. Roy
Ranck and 1 watched cows all sum
mer. We drove them in straight
down Market Street and got in the
river there and drove them across
the river. It was dry. You could go
across the river without gettin’
water much above your knees.
Anyplace! We watched cows till
dinnertime every day. They said
they started me out in the morning
with a broomstick in one hand and
a piece of sugarbread in the other.”
Weir remembers marketing
potatoes with a Conestoga wagon
when a severe thunderstorm hit
“I did that when I was a boy,”
Weir answered a question asked by
grandson Kent Strock about mark
eting crops through town.
“I drove a horse and a spring
wagon. We had an orchard back of
the bam at that time. I delivered
potatoes, apples, and various
things. I had a regular peddle route
through Camp Hill and Lemoyne. I
knew everybody. I kind of had a
reputation for selling good pota
toes. I sold a big wagon load.”
The potatoes sold for 78 cents a
hundred pound.
“While we’re talking about that
wagon, one time we put 80 bags of
wheat on that wagon and hitched a
pair of mules in the front and a pair
of horses behind the mules. I rode
in the saddle horse and guided the
mules with the lead reins. I had to
load it and unload it.” Weir com
ments. “On my way home, a thun
derstorm came up and scared the
team. I guess the only thing that
held the wagon bed and running
gear and the two wheels behind
was a bolt pin that went down
through the bed and through the
bolster on the axle. I must of hit a
rut The bolt pin jumped out and
left the wagon and hind wheels sit
ting in the middle of the road, and I
had a pair of mules and two horses
going lickety-cut toward home.
One saddle horse stumbled a little
going down one hill, but it didn’t
fall. Oh, I was scared!”
Weir moved from a farm in
Lemoyne to the Strock farm on
Williams Grove Road in Mecha
nicsburg in 1901. When he turned
11, Weir joined the church and has
remained a member for 91 years.
He has 36 years of perfect Sunday
School attendance.
“My granddad died the winter of
(Turn to Page B 19)
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