Brabender Farm
We’ve had some smiles when people hear our family name, “Brabender.” It’s not what you think! A Brabender (or Brabander, as some spell it) is simply someone from Brabant, a province of the Netherlands and Belgium. So, our very early ancestors were probably Dutch. Eventually they found their way to the Cologne area of Germany, and farmed around the twin small villages of Butzheim and Nettesheim.
It was from Butzheim that Christian Brabender, my great grandfather, emigrated in 1857. In 1858 he married Cecelia Klein who had emigrated from Hürth, Germany, with her family in 1855. Together they bought 40 acres, their first piece of the farm, in 1858. Six years later their farm had grown to 120 acres.
Christian and Cecelia didn’t have much when they started. They lived in a log house for the first few years. In 1865 they built a house of limestone, with walls 20-inches thick. They added a barn and a granary, and dug a well by hand.
Their family grew, too. Christian and Cecelia had seven children. One of their five sons, Hubert, my grandfather, married Ursula Statz. They had 13 children, including my dad, also named Hubert. He married Rosalia Friedl and together they had six kids, including my younger sister and I, the current owners of The Old Brabender Place.
Since 2012, we’ve been remodeling its buildings. The limestone house has been restored, though we did “modernize” it with insulation (it had a little in the attic) and air conditioning (it had none). Our dairy barn, which was on the verge of collapse, now stands tall and majestic with its new roof and coat of paint. Our 1880s granary, where our family stored tons of barley, wheat, and oats over the decades, has been turned into our farm museum. And the landscaping has improved markedly, too, though we have more to do. We’re taking our time and creating a plan as we study native and German vintage landscaping and gardening. We’d like to stay as true to our German roots as possible.
There are tons of stories, past and present, to be told about an old place like The Old Brabender Place. Read all about it in my Memoir, a blog that will take you back to the old country and bring you up to date on what’s happening in the new.
It was from Butzheim that Christian Brabender, my great grandfather, emigrated in 1857. In 1858 he married Cecelia Klein who had emigrated from Hürth, Germany, with her family in 1855. Together they bought 40 acres, their first piece of the farm, in 1858. Six years later their farm had grown to 120 acres.
Christian and Cecelia didn’t have much when they started. They lived in a log house for the first few years. In 1865 they built a house of limestone, with walls 20-inches thick. They added a barn and a granary, and dug a well by hand.
Their family grew, too. Christian and Cecelia had seven children. One of their five sons, Hubert, my grandfather, married Ursula Statz. They had 13 children, including my dad, also named Hubert. He married Rosalia Friedl and together they had six kids, including my younger sister and I, the current owners of The Old Brabender Place.
Since 2012, we’ve been remodeling its buildings. The limestone house has been restored, though we did “modernize” it with insulation (it had a little in the attic) and air conditioning (it had none). Our dairy barn, which was on the verge of collapse, now stands tall and majestic with its new roof and coat of paint. Our 1880s granary, where our family stored tons of barley, wheat, and oats over the decades, has been turned into our farm museum. And the landscaping has improved markedly, too, though we have more to do. We’re taking our time and creating a plan as we study native and German vintage landscaping and gardening. We’d like to stay as true to our German roots as possible.
There are tons of stories, past and present, to be told about an old place like The Old Brabender Place. Read all about it in my Memoir, a blog that will take you back to the old country and bring you up to date on what’s happening in the new.