Wayland WELD

WELD, ALDRICH, WESENBERG

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 6/20/2013 at 16:43:56

First Generation Wright County Farmer: Wayland Weld

Enos Weld was born in England and immigrated to Maine in the 1800’s. From there he moved his belongings by oxcart to Illinois where he married his fiancé, Polly. One of the things they brought with them was a rough hewn hope chest that Enos had built for Polly. Their son Wayland was born in Illinois. In 1899, Wayland and his wife Statira immigrated from Tonica, Illinois, to Wright County, Iowa. Everything was moved by three rail cars – one car for livestock; one for household goods and machinery; and one for horses. Their first farm was seven miles south and ½ mile west of Clarion. A family quote is “we could get two acres of Iowa land for the price of one acre of Illinois ground.” The area was wet, however, and sometimes four horses were needed to get into town due to lots of sloughs and wet ground. A stick might be needed to punch mud out of the wheels – to keep the wheels from sliding as they drove.

Most of the land in Woolstock Township was tiled by hand and shovel. This was necessary to dry out the land so it could be farmed. Wayland’s son Tim spent several years tiling. Eventually the first farm was sold and the Welds bought a 200-acre farm near Galt. This farm was really wet, and didn’t raise any crops, due to wet weather, for several years. The Welds bought and traded several other farms, but during the next 3-4 years, early frosts kept Wayland from harvesting a crop. Because of all these years of bad luck – interest finally ate Wayland and Statira up and the family lost their farm ground. The Weld family helped plant the seeds of agriculture in Wright County.

--As told by Wayland’s son Tim Weld--
(Wayland & Statira Weld are the great-grandparents of long-time Wright County residents - Wilma Aldrich of Rowan; Tom Wesenberg of Dows; and Jim Weld of Clarion.

Stories such as this can be found in the Wright County Historical Library, housed within Heartland Museum in Clarion. The handmade hope chest mentioned in the first paragraph is now in the possession of Jim and Karen Weld of rural Clarion.

http://www.wrightcounty.org/visitors/docs/WC_Visitors_Guide_2013.pdf