INDIANAPOLIS – Members of the Runyan family and their ancestors have called Montgomery County, Ind., home for two centuries. Over that time, family members helped to start a church in the area, and today, the seventh and eighth generations farm the land their ancestor purchased in 1825.

William Rusk, a great uncle of the Runyan family, was from Ohio and purchased the original 80 acres of the farm from the General Land Office of the United States on April 25, 1825, Carrie Runyan said.

“William’s brothers, John and David, followed suit and purchased land nearby,” she explained. “William sold his original parcel to David – great grandfather of the Runyan family – in 1830. It’s assumed this particular parcel was purchased because of the access to water. Coal Creek runs through the original 80 acres.”

The Runyans were one of 95 families to receive a Hoosier Homestead Award from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture in August at the Indiana State Fair. The family received a Bicentennial (200 years) Award for the 1825 property, along with Sesquicentennial (150 years) and Centennial (100 years) awards for continuous ownership of the same parcel. In addition, they were given Centennial and Sesquicentennial awards for other land they own in the county.

“I think our ancestors would be proud that we have not only been able to keep the majority of the original parcel in our family’s hands, but we have also farmed the ground ourselves,” Runyan noted. “While William Rusk moved to Illinois after selling his farm to David, David spent the rest of his days as a pioneer of Waynetown, being buried in the Old Pioneer Cemetery just outside of town. Members of our family still make Waynetown our home; our family has been residents for over 200 years.”

Approximately 20 acres of the original property had been sold by the late 1800s to make way for town expansion. Businesses including a grain mill, lumber mill and eventually a railroad were nestled along the creek, she said. 

After the family cleared the property, the crops have been soybeans, corn and small grains. The land the Runyans own is in an LLC called Runyan Family Land Company; Carrie’s husband Craig is a member. Carrie and Craig, along with the part time help of their two sons and nephew, run the actual farm operation, Runyan Farms LLC.

The family has always been interested in family history and knew the farm had been in the family for more than 100 years, Carrie said.

“But when there had been public interest in potentially developing our farm, we began to look further into just how long the farm had been family owned.

“Our family has absolutely no interest in developing our farmland,” she added. “Our goal is to continue our family’s heritage of farming for generations to come.”

The search for documentation for the awards uncovered something Runyan called thrilling – a copy of the certificate from the General Land Grant Office, with the name of President John Quincy Adams listed on it, when the land was originally deeded to William Rusk.

“Because county records have not been fully digitized, I had to look through record books and plat maps to trace the transfer of land from family member to family member,” she said. “I went through beautiful cursive hand-written records back to the first record book of our county.

The original name of Waynetown was Middletown, but because there were two towns named Middletown in Indiana, the name was changed to Waynetown about 1846, Runyan said.

Some family members were involved in the 1840 founding of Middletown Baptist Church, the “pioneer church of Montgomery County,” she noted. In 1874, the church was renamed the First Baptist Church of Waynetown.

The Runyans have a commercial cow/calf operation and Carrie raises registered Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats. She and Craig work full time on the farm.