Last Saturday my family’s farm celebrated our 365th anniversary. It was a hot one, but we all had a great time. I’m pretty sure it was the best day of Joshua’s life; all those tractors made it a little boy’s dream come true.
History Lesson
A few years ago, I picked up a copy of my family’s genealogy book Descendents of Robert Rose of Wethersfield and Branford, Connecticut, Who Came on the Ship “Francis” from Ipswich, England in 1634 by Christine Rose (scroll down on the first link to find the book title). We knew that the Rose family had been on our farm since the 1600’s, but we didn’t know exactly what year they first got there. According to the book, records indicate that Robert Rose came from England in 1634, settled in Wethersfield, CT and then moved to our part of the state around 1644, which was then called Branford, Eastern New Haven, Totoket, or North Farms, depending on which records you’re looking at. The first record of him owning land in Branford was in 1646. We chose to use the date 1646 as the anniversary of our farm, but the Rose family could have been here as early as 1644. But 1646 is from official town records, so we went with that. Since then, Roses have moved all over the country, but my branch of the family stayed on this farm. Check out this recent article by Susan Misur in the New Haven Register or the History of North Branford by Janet Gregan for more history of our farm.
(As a side note, it’s a ton of fun for me to read these family histories. I looked through the first book quite a bit when trying to think of a name for Joshua, as I just love old-fashioned names. There was a Joshua Rose who owned a saw mill near where our home is!)
365th Anniversary Celebration
On Saturday, July 23, we had our celebration. The main even was an antique tractor pull, run by CT Bragging Rights, a pulling group that my brother has participated in for the past couple of years. The boys in my family set up for the pull by putting in a “pulling pit” and setting up bleachers and a tent for shade. Pullers, family members and members of our town’s Agricultural Commission helped out at the pull throughout the day.
There were also free hayrides around the scenic 60 acres of the farm. Country 92.5 and DJ “Cadillac” John Saville were there playing country music, and they played just about every song with the word “tractor” in it! There was food, ice cream, and plenty of drinks, in addition to our animals to visit and play bull-roping. The whole family, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and lots of friends were there to help out and celebrate, and it was a great day! Check out a video of the day’s events by Noah Golden at North Branford Patch.
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