‘By God’s grace, 100 years and counting’

It was exactly a century ago this year when an acreage of farmland in southern Hamilton County came into the Nunnenkamp family, and the current owners say they have been able to hold onto the farm and keep it productive in their time by the grace of God. 
Larry and Jane Nunnenkamp, who purchased the farm from family members in 1979, were honored with a plaque recognizing their property as a Nebraska Pioneer Farm by the Aksarben Foundation and Nebraska Farm Bureau. The award was presented during the trailer races at the Hamilton County Fair on Aug. 1. 
The award plaque, which is presented to farms owned by the same family for at least 100 years, states: “Nunnenkamp Family Farm by God’s grace, 100 years and counting.”
The inscription below reads: “For long and meritorious service to agriculture, as exemplified by continued ownership within the family of the same Nebraska farm for 100 years or more. Nebraska has been enriched by the courageous pioneer spirit and loyalty to the land exhibited by members of this family down through the years.”
According to the Nunnenkamps, who now live on adjoining property along Highway 14 just south of County Road 4, the original farmstead, purchased in 1926 by Larry’s grandparents, was located two miles west and half a mile north of their current residence. 
They say Larry’s grandfather, William Gottlieb Nunnenkamp, came to America from Germany with his family in 1888 when he was 4-years-old. He and his wife Elizabeth (Siebert) purchased the original quarter section on Feb. 5, 1926 from Delmar L. Wallace and his wife, Easter. At that time the Nunnenkamp family consisted of six sons and they were expecting their first daughter within that year. Four more children were eventually added to the family. 
“Bill was 41 when he purchased this land,” Jane wrote, noting that because it was bought prior to the stock market crash of 1929, the value of the land dropped considerably in the following years. “He struggled to make payments and then was stricken with the 1930s-era droughts. By the grace of God, the bank refused Bill’s offer to turn back his purchase and he was able ultimately to pay it off.”
William Nunnenkamp began farming the acreage as dryland. About 90 acres was used as cropland and 70 acres was building site and pasture. They raised corn, wheat, milo and alfalfa. They also had a small cow/calf operation and dairy livestock along with the “standard-for-the-time barnyard occupants – hogs, chickens and other fowl.”
“After William died in 1951, his widow, Elizabeth, became sole owner and put down the first irrigation well on the farm in about 1956,” Jane said. 
The Nunnenkamps say the original farmstead is gone, having been destroyed by a massive tornado in 1964. The twister took everything but a small hog shed and no one has lived there since.
Larry and Jane purchased the farm in January of 1979 when Larry was about 28-years-old. “He had a center-of-the-field irrigation well dug and erected a center pivot system after we had cleaned up all of the debris that was still in evidence from the 1964 tornado,” Jane said. 
All of the farm was converted to row crops and for 39 years they grew corn and beans on the property. But, like Larry’s grandparents, they also faced severe financial challenges during farm crisis of the 1980s. 
“God in His mercy saw the family through that time to the present,” Jane said, noting that the original acreage and other surrounding land purchased over the years is today farmed by a tenant farmer. Larry and Jane said they plan to pass the farm on to their three surviving children, “having been preceded on the road to heaven by three sons and an unknown baby.”
Their current farmstead, dubbed “Rollin Hills Farms” for the rolling Big Blue River breaks landscape surrounding it, was purchased in 1989.  
“We lived 25 years in the existing house on the acreage (the northernmost of the two houses) until 2014 when we moved into our present home that Larry designed and helped build,” Jane said. “Like all farmers, we’ve had our challenges but also many rewards and by God’s grace were able to pay for this farm and acquire some others, allowing us to farm until retirement.”
She said the quarter that had first belonged to Larry’s grandparents was the first land they were able to purchase, adding “With God’s agreement, it was not the last in our farming career.”