In the 1920's the farm was owned and operated by Frank and his wife Grace Kurtz Drake. Grace was the daughter of Daniel Kurtz and Nellie Lapp Kurtz. They settled in Genesee County in 1872. Nellie Kurtz was the ninth generation great-granddaughter of Stephen Hopkins who came over on the Mayflower.

Frank and Grace had seven children who were born on the farm. Frank and Grace were both deaf and all of their children were hearing. The children communicated with them through sign language. The couple met at Michigan School for the Deaf, in Flint, one of the most renowned educational facilities in the mid-West. (Learn More about MSD at www.msdb.k12.mi.us

The Kurtz/Drake family lived on the farm until about 1931 when, due to Grace and Frank's ill health, the family moved into the City of Flint. Grace died in 1932 and Frank died just one year later. The Drake children were adopted out to members of the Kurtz family.

The photo shows, from left to right, Henry, Helen Drake Williams (with a bow in her hair) her sister Doris is standing in front of her. To Helen's left is her father Frank Drake, her brother Horace, her Mother, Grace Kurtz Drake and her brother Louis. Also pictured just below Horace is the late Clayton Kurtz, one of Genesee Counties prominent businessmen who founded Kurtz Gravel. Kurtz Gravel company played an important role in the development of buildings, expressways and homes throughout the Saginaw Valley region where Mott Hashbarger Children's Farm is located. Clayton was Grace Drake's brother. The Kurtz family came to the Flint, Michigan area following the Civil War, having originally lived in the area of Genesee New York. It was not uncommon for those early pioneers to bring the names of their towns, villages and counties with them to the new lands they settled. You might wish to learn about the New York names that Genesee County, Michigan's pioneers brought with them, including Mt. Morris, Flushing and Montrose.

If you would like to learn more about life on the farm in the 1920's we offer two accounts given to us by the late Helen Drake Williams and her sister Doris Drake Ofrias...

Helen Drake Williams - "Our farm had 103 acres. We raised wheat, oats, corn and potatoes. We had early potatoes that dad sold. The pat potatoes were kept for ourselves. In the winter my dad was down in the basement cutting potatoes in pieces for spring planting.

We had a potato planter. I had the job of sitting behind this planter to make sure each space had a potato in it.

"My Dad put in gas lights through the house. I never understood just how they worked. I remember dad would clean out the slag & slush and dump it down the hill. It was gray looking stuff...mushy."

"We had 2 horses, cows. Sometime my dad would use the separator and sell the cream and other times sell the milk".

"We had several kinds of apples, snow apples, sweet apples, spies and strawberry apples. We had a plum tree. We had different kinds of nuts too, hickory, hazel and butternut."

"I remember we had spring fed water. It ran continuously and was ice cold. We had a cistern attached to the house near the kitchen that had rainwater. We used this for washing, bathing and dishes."

" In the Fall we would have threshers come, maybe for two days, and they would thresh the wheat and oats. My aunt and uncle from Flint would come out to help. My aunt would help my mother in the Kitchen and my uncle would help my dad in the fields."

"We raised chickens, they had a ritual that continued as long as I lived on the farm. We had a granary that had wheat and oats. While dad was getting the feed, the chickens would circle around the granary until my dad got the feed ready."

"My brother Louis was a trapper. In fact he sold the pelts and got enough money to buy our mother a washing machine. I remember one morning my brother trapped a skunk and it sprayed him. He came in the kitchen and I thought that I would throw up! There is nothing worse than skunk smell. You can't get rid of it on your clothes except to bury them. My brother went to school like that and the teacher sent him home in a hurry."

"We had baby calves to feed. In order for them to get use to the pail we would put our hand into the milk with one finger sticking up for the calf to suck your fingers and get the milk at the same time. That's the way we trained them to the pail."

"In the winter time we ice skated on the Ox Bow (we named it!). Summertime we went to the Flint river (we called this Daisy Beach) and go swimming."

"We had what we called "The Ice House." In the winter time my dad would go down to the river, cut the ice and then mixed it with sawdust and the ice would keep all summer. We enjoyed home made ice cream every Sunday."

"When it was time for my brother to go to school he wouldn't go unless I went with him. I had to go when I was five years old. We had a mile and one half to walk to school. There were some men hauling gravel and they would tease us saying that they were going to pick us up. So when we would see them coming we would run out into the field and hide behind a tree or else we would hide in a farmers barn. Then we refused to go to school. So dad had to go down to grandpa Kurtz, who lived a mile away, to tell him to tell the gravel men to stop teasing us. They did quit. When I think of this I'll bet those men really got a kick out of it."

Doris Drake Ofrias - "The picture of the farm was taken in 1921 or 1922 when I was about 4 or five years old. My sister Helen has a better recollection of the times on the farm because she was much older."

"Helen and I have done much in trying to recall certain events. Such as boiling up Maple syrup to make it into candy. When it got to be a certain consistency we would pour it onto the snow, in designs, to harden."

"I remember Henry telling of a time, a beautiful day in Spring, walking to school barefoot and coming home in snow!"

(If you have information concerning other families that have made Mott Farm their home, please contact the Webmaster (you can make the link) with details. The complete history of Mott Farm is being compiled and we would love to include your information)