Fairview Farm

A farm is not complete without a good dog, and we've had a lot of great ones over the years!
Been wanting to share some pictures of Fairview Farm dogs for a while, figured today was as good as any to do so.

Jesse

100 years ago today, my Grandmother Lois Daniels was born. I'm sure any patrons of the Farm Market up til about 2010 will remember her working in the store. She passed away in 2019, less than a month away from her 95th birthday. She really had a fascinating life. I've tried to condense it, but it still runs long, yet is far from complete. Here's what I've gotten so far:

Lois A. Buckman was born in a hospital in Trenton, New Jersey on August 8th, 1924. I guess it was the closest hospital to her family's farm in Dolington, Upper Makefield Township, Pennsylvania. Kinda surprising she was born in a hospital as my Grandfather Ed Daniels was born, here in the farmhouse. Her parents were Frank and Ethel (Leedom) Buckman. Their family farm was located just above the little town of Dolington within the "V" created by Old Dolington Road and Washington Crossing Road, nearly all the way up to Wrightstown Road. This tract of land encompassed 96 acres in all.
In December of 1926, Frank died of a heart attack while attempting to crankstart the engine to their truck.
Though they still had some farmhands, as well as relatives to help keep the farm going, Ethel ultimately decided to sell the animals and sell the farm and move herself, Lois and her 3 older siblings (Grace Elva, Wesley and Irv) to a small, two-story home in Buckingham Valley of neighboring Buckingham Township.
Ethel never did drive (relatives moved the family to Buckingham Valley), but in their new home and neighborhood, she didn't have to. There was a general store across the street from the house and a train station next door (tracks ran behind their house). Also had kindly neighbors who would take her and/or the kids anywhere they needed to go that was too long a walk. But, they did a LOT of walking. The kids walked about 2 miles every day to the school in Buckingham and a good mile into Forest Grove every Sunday for Church. This is where Lois would grow up and experience all of her childhood memories, or as she often called them "remember whens". In her private memoirs she felt it was the perfect place for her mom to raise a family as they had everything they needed right there.
For income, Ethel took what was left from the sale of the family farm and animals after buying the house and bought and held mortgages for local home owners. While she always had a good net worth in doing so, the monthly income was low, especially in trying to raise 4 children. She scrimped and saved by feeding the family with primitive meals such as cornmeal mush and homemade strawberry shortcake (something we think of as a dessert would be their dinner!) She would clothe them with hand-me-downs from relatives and neighbors and patch up any worn clothing that still fit by hand. The house itself was relatively small for a two-story house. It had a living room and kitchen, a bedroom for the two boys, a small bedroom for Grace Elva and a "master bedroom" for Ethel and two-year-old Lois. However, that ended up never changing and Lois shared her mother's bedroom into her teens and didn't get a room of her own until the boys grew up and moved out. The house came without electric nor a bathroom. Ethel had electric installed before they moved in but didn't get an indoor bathroom until (in my Grandmother's words) "MUCH later".
Lois continued going to the Buckingham school through graduation. When she entered 6th grade, the Pineville school had closed and all the students were sent to Buckingham school. I suppose because the Pineville school kids were mostly farm kids and considered inferior to the towns' kids of Buckingham, the Pineville students were held back a grade. So the Pineville class that had graduated 6th grade in the Pineville school would have to repeat the 6th grade in the "more sophisticated" Buckingham school. Among those Pineville 6th graders who were made to repeat the grade was one Edwin L. Daniels II, my Grandfather.
My grandparents knew each other from 6th grade on, but never developed a relationship while in school. There was only one "class" for their graduating class, so they obvious got to be friends and were even in the school's drama club together. It was after graduating in 1942 that they began actually dating. Probably in the Fall/Winter of 1942-43. On September 22nd, 1945, my Grandparents were married.
For about 3 years, they lived in a tenant house on a farm on Ridge Road. My grandfather still worked on this farm, but my grandmother worked as a bookkeeper somewhere else (not sure exactly where or for who). In 1949, their house was built across the driveway of the main stone farmhouse and they lived the rest of their lives there on the farm. In the late 1960's, after doing more than her fair share of the farm work over the years, she was made full partner in the Fairview Farm business.
Though our customers likely fondly remember her working in the store in later years, she actually worked alongside my Grandfather and everyone else feeding chickens in the range huts, gathering eggs both free range and when everything was automated, planting tomatoes, cantaloups, etc, picking peas, stringbeans, apples, peaches, etc. She sold our fruits and vegetables at tailgate markets in Philadelphia, a roadside stand in Warrington and apples at Peddler's Village's Apple Festival in addition to in our store.
I have many more specific memories of my grandmother Lois (Buckman) Daniels, but they are already part of the Fairview story and will be told as I get to those "chapters". She was the storyteller of the family and much of the Fairview history from before my time, came through her. She loved a good "gotcha" joke in which she would with a straight face get you to believe something ridiculous only to pull the rug out from under you and tell you that she was joking. She loved her poems, cooking and baking, making Christmas cookies, canning/freezing fruits and vegatables. She loved her Church, the same one in Forest Grove that her, her mother and older siblings walked to for years. She became a member of Forest Grove Presbyterian Church in the mid-1930's and brought the whole Daniels family to the church with her when she and Edwin married. When she died in 2019, she was the longest active member of the church.

So much more I could say, but I'll leave it at "Happy heavenly birthday!"