Download [Page] [Document]
mcc-bc1-085

---

The People Who Lived on the Land that is Now Redstone Arsenal, page 71

---

The John Hertzler who owned the farm in the photograph was identified as being from Ohio. An 1875 county map shows John Hertzler owning land in Sections 25, 26, 35, and 36. This is in the area of Indian Creek (Test Area 3). The 1880 Madison County census shows John Hertzler, head of household, being 52 years old and a farmer. His wife, Annie, was 48. They were born in Pennsylvania; however, their six children all were shown as born in Ohio. The children were Franklin (age 22), Annie R. (age 19), John R. (age 17), Fannie E. (age 13), and Daniel (age 11). Twenty years later, in 1900, the family patriarch, John Hertzler, was 72 years of age and his wife Annie was 68. Their son Franklin (Frank) had married, and he and his wife Marietta and their son and daughter (John R. and Frankie) lived in a separate household. However, John Hertzler, Jr. (age 37), David (age 31), and Fannie (age 33) continued to live at the farm with their parents. Also living in the household were two servants, William Toney (age 40) and Aubry Toney (age 12). By this time, it is highly probable that John Hertzler's son John was running the farm. Based on the above, it is asserted that the John Hertzler Farm House and Barn shown in the 1908 photographs were on the Hertzler property on the arsenal. The names of John Hertzler's children are the Hertzler landowners shown on the 1909 map. Modern Barn on the John Hertzler Farm. Source: The Business Men's League of Huntsville, 1908. 71 - (4104)    

---