Members of the McClintock-McClintick family at the Indiana Statehouse in late March where they received a Hoosier Homestead Centennial Award from Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) Director Don Lamb in recognition of their commitment to Indiana agriculture.
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Hoosier Homestead Centennial Award recognizing the McClintock-McClintick farm in Stony Creek Township.
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Diana Males and brother Jerry McClintock pose for a photo at the Indiana Statehouse with a metal sign that accompanied their family’s Hoosier Homestead Centennial Award.
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The McClintock homestead on County Road 10 North east of County Road 800 West.
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The McClintock homestead with the Hoosier Homestead Centennial Award on display.
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Family receives Hoosier Homestead award, honoring heritage and a promise made
INDIANAPOLIS — It was an effort about 15 years in the works.
It involves a story that reaches back to the 19th century, survives the Great Depression, and continues to the present day.
And for the local family involved, it marks the fulfillment of a promise and — for posterity — the place in which an important part of their history has taken place.
“Our ancestors have owned the farm for 126 years,” Diana (McClintock) Males said, describing the 40 acres in Stony Creek Township that has been in her family since the late 1800s.
Indiana Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) Director Don Lamb recently presented the
McClintock-McClintick family — and 58 other farming families — with a Hoosier Homestead Award in recognition of their commitment to Indiana agriculture.
The ceremony took place at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.
“We had 25 of our family members go,” Diana said. “My children; my brother’s children; our other brother, who’s passed away, his children went; my dad’s brother is still living and his children went, because their property butts up to our property.
“It’s been quite an exciting thing for us to know that our ancestors have had it for that long.”
To be named a Hoosier Homestead, farms must be owned by the same family for more than 100 consecutive years and consist of more than 20 acres. If less than 20 acres, the farm must produce more than $1,000 of agricultural products per year.
Indiana farms may qualify for three honors: Centennial Award — which the McClintock-McClintick family received — for 100 years of ownership, Sesquicentennial Award for 150 years of ownership and the Bicentennial Award for 200 years of ownership. Since the program’s inception in 1976, more than 6,100 families have received awards.
Diana, 71, and her brother Jerry McClintock, 69, own the family homestead, and it is still farmed by a family member.
Jerry still lives on the farm, and Diana lives nearby outside of the homestead.
According to the siblings, their great-grandfather, Augusta Elsworth McClintick, bought 120 acres in 1898 and built a house on the property.
The acreage was reduced during the Great Depression, Jerry said: “They lost the 80 (acres), and we only have 40 left.”
But the remaining homestead — located on County Road 10 North east of 800 West — and the original house have been in the family since the beginning, for four generations.
“My great-grandfather bought it, my grandfather farmed it, my dad farmed it, my brother farmed it, and we still have it,” Diana said.
“My niece, who is a
McClintock, she married a Bracken, who is a farmer, and he’s the one who still farms it. So, really it’s still in the family.”
Diana and Jerry’s father, Wayne Elsworth McClintock — who changed his last name from McClintick to McClintock in high school on a whim, Diana said — died in an accident on the farm in 1986. He was 59.
The effort to get the Hoosier Homestead Award started about 15 years ago with Diana and Jerry’s mother, Katherine, Diana said.
Katherine had started doing the work for the application, including researching deeds, but became ill. She died in 2013 at age 87.
“My mother wanted the plaque to put in the yard to show that the McClintocks have been there for over a hundred years, and she passed away,” Diana said. “My brother Jerry and I worked on it together these last few years to get it accomplished.”
Jerry said receiving the award is important to him because of the family lineage.
“I used to farm all this ground when I was in my 30s — me and my dad farmed 1,200 acres around here, all my life,” he said.
He hasn’t farmed that much for some time now, he said, but does work about 8 acres at Diana’s home.
“My great-grandfather built this house that I live in, and he’s the one that started all this property, and then my grandfather lived here, my dad lived here and now I live here,” Jerry said.
“It’s a four-generation thing. Blood is thicker than water.”
During the award ceremony in Indianapolis, they received a paper award certificate and accompanying metal sign.
They have framed the certificate, which is hanging on the wall in the house.
And the metal sign is on display in front of the farmhouse, as their mother wanted — and as Diana said she’d promised her.
As for Diana’s wishes, it’s just that some members of the family — which includes her two children and six nieces and nephews — also have an interest in preserving the family heritage.
“We hope the family keeps it together; we’ll just have to see. We’re hoping it continues to be passed through the generations.”
The farm becomes eligible for the sesquicentennial award in about 24 years.