A Farm Walk through history
I never met Ophelia Niemann, but I wish I had. We have something in common, we both believe in agricultural preservation. Ophelia believed in it so strongly, that she put her family farm in a trust, willing it to become a museum. Items from the farm will be available to see in a museum. Her story will live on shared Brent Adkins, who is in charge of the Ophelia L. Niemann National Historic Manske-Niemann Farm Living Trust.
Located just south of Litchfield, Illinois on Route 66, he was kind enough to let my husband Keith and I, along with our friend Mark Dozier walk through the Niemann history. We got a chance to see the farm, while still intact, and imagine. Personal Property will be sold at Aumann Auctions online. The preview is 10/22/25, the sale ends on 10/29/25, and items will be removed on 11/01/25. There is also a 2nd auction of her glassware and local memorabilia that ends on November 30th. “All money generated from these auctions will be going into a foundation in her name to help support agriculture activities in Montgomery County,” Brent shared.
The farmstead and house will be auctioned at a later date.
Ophelia’s Story
Many of us think of writing down our story. In fact, I even mention this in presentations, I share the importance of writing down, of telling stories and sharing history. But, for most of us, it is just talk. Ophelia, who passed in August of 2023, however, did. “Ophelia wrote everything that happened here,” Brent said on the day we met him on the farm located near south of Litchfield along the old Route 66.
Kurt Aumann took excerpts from Ophelia’s story. He made it into an easy-to-read. “The Manske-Niemann farm has been operating since the 1850s. Michael Manske came to this area from Prussia and established this current farm during that time.”
He paid $1615 to buy the farm. Abraham Lincoln was in the White House. Ophelia continues, “Michael and his wife had many children, one of which was a son named William. He and his wife had two daughters, Louisa (born 1869 ) and Emma Marie (born 1871). Louisa married H. C. Niemann and they had a son they named Clarence H. F. Niemann. 6 weeks after Clarence was born, Louisa passed away. Louisa’s sister, Emma, moved in to tend to the farm and raise Clarence. Emma Manske worked the farm, shocked wheat, picked corn, raised Red Poll Cattle, and maintained the household. There was a live-in hired hand, Harm Schmidt, who helped run the farm.”
In the room where Harm lived Brent said, “All the paperwork from 1840 until present was here.”
Post WWI
Ophelia’s father Clarence was a veteran of WWI. After the war, he married Emma Brandt, they had two daughters, Helen Lucille and Ophelia Louise. Ophelia is the Ophelia of our story. She ran the farm for 30 some years. After a car accident, in 1976, many of the farm items were auctioned during her recovery. Big tractors like Rumleys, Altman Taylor etc. were sold and never recovered.
Working hard, Ophelia still managed to reclaim most items. During her lifetime, she did her best to preserve the farm and their way of life.
After she passed, Brent said, “Everything is as if it was parked yesterday.”
The farm
During the war, Ophelia’s father became ill and suffered most of his life with lung issues. Ophelia wrote and on Aumann’s website they continue, “Upon his return home, her father settled into life on the farm. He was always working with machinery and invented the power-take-off for the corn picker, but a person that viewed his idea and was connected to an established company copied the invention and Clarence never received anything for his patent.”
Brent shared that Kurt has the patent paperwork. The farm was placed on the National Register of Historic places in 2003. It was placed on the Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois list in 2010. At that time, the farm had 21-buildings. Ophelia stated, “The buildings are all the same as they were when they were first established.”
On our walk through the buildings, we saw much of what she meant. The buildings date between 1860 and 1935. We walked through barns for horses and cattle. There were chicken houses, a smokehouse, corn cribs, an innovative granary and more. The farm is one of the most intact examples of a 19th or 20th century farm.
The House and innovation
Built in the 1800’s, the white two-story home is Italianate in design. Although it has been taken down, it was surrounded by an iron fence that we saw sections of during our visit.
It was easy to see on our walk through what an amazing place this home had once been.
On the farm there was an apiary, an orchard, a huge windmill, they were pretty much self-sufficient. “They raised a lot of chickens here,” Brent said.
Wishing he could keep everything together Brent Adkins said, “It kills me to auction anything that has been on the farm.”
The unusual equipment!
Loving conversion tractors, Keith and Mark were amazed by the Model T equipment. There is a Model T corn picker made by Clarence Neimann. He was a true genius That was pretty clear when seeing his shop that was created from a converted house.
About the equipment, Auman Auctions share, “It is fabricated from a Ford Model T, and an International Harvester corn picker.”
The Model T Grain binder was a self-propelled grain binder also made by Clarence. Aumann’s share, “It is fabricated from a Ford Model T and International Harvester grain binder.”
It was Clarence that made the binder a self-propelled unit by connecting the Model T to the binder. The Model T Cultivator same story! What amazing innovation.
Literature will be sold during Aumann’s Pre-30’s sale.
Thank you
I am so grateful to Brent Adkins that we had the chance to see this farm before items are auctioned. Ophelia Niemann was a woman ahead of her time with a vision that will live on in the museum that will be established down the road.
