Previous Owners: Richard Cate 1865-1876
Hannah Cate 1876-1877
Rosina Green 1877-1880
William H. Tonkin 1880-1914
Arthur & Rhoda Tonkin 1914-1939
William A. Tonkin 1939-1983
Present Owner: Richard Wm. Tonkin
On August 14, 1865, Richard Cate purchased farm land of Parkhill loam. It had a flat topography. He grew grain crops and cut wood from his land to pay the mortgage. Richard's heirs continued to grow grain crops and, during WW II, they also raised pigs and cattle. Today, the crops include sugar beets, navy beans, soybeans, and corn.
The west wing of the existing house has stood on its present location for over a hundred years. For all that time, a certain lilac bush in the front yard has kept the house company. At one time the railroad passed very near the farm.
My grandfather, Arthur Tonkin, took possession of the farm in 1914. Arthur owned both a threshing machine and a tiling machine and so rendered these services at all the farms in the area.
I was the first Tonkin to be born in the hospital instead of on the farm. As a child, I always had a collie for a pet. My wife, Linda, and my daughters, Amy and Molly, and I still live only 1/4 mile away from the centennial farm we are proud to call our own.
Extracted from Michigan's Centennial Family Farm Heritage 1986, Mary L. Wermuth, page 297.
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