Across Generations: Hoosier Homestead Program Honors the Arnold Family

In partnership with: Indiana State Department of Agriculture

At age 93, Eleanor Arnold has seen a lot of changes in farming. She can recall when electricity first came to her family’s farm and when her father swapped his team of horses for a tractor.

Even with the vast changes she’s seen in her life, they don’t compare to the history that’s taken place on the historic Arnold Farmstead, recently recognized by the Hoosier Homestead program with the Bicentennial Award for 200 years of ownership.

New Land Beckons

Eleanor met Clarence (Jake) Arnold when they were students at Indiana University. They were both farm kids, she says. After they married and she graduated, they moved to Rush County in 1950 and began farming with his brother on Jake’s family land. They primarily grew corn and soybeans, raising hogs and cattle as well. And they raised three children, John, Barbara and Mary, on the farmstead.

As a young bride, Eleanor was enthralled to learn more about Jake’s family. Born in the 18th century, John Arnold, Jake’s father, grew up in a well-to-do family on the Isle of Wight, England.

“But he and his brother were inspired by the New World and felt they had a better chance in America,” Eleanor says.

So, the brothers and a hired hand traveled to the United States and down the Ohio River, intending to settle in Illinois.

“At Cincinnati, they got off for supplies and began talking to a physician who told them this part of Indiana was just opening up, and there was awfully good land there,” says Eleanor, relating family lore.

The men found a spot east of present-day Rushville with good rolling land, a never-failing spring and Delaware tribe members for neighbors. The Arnolds were among the first families in Rush County to obtain a land grant.

In 1853, Jake’s great-grandfather built a home on the original 160 acres. Eleanor and Jake moved into the house in 1976.

Tragically, their son John was killed in a farm accident when he was 36. Jake came out of retirement to help John’s widow, Leslie, continue farming, while neighbors took care of John’s hogs for months and plowed all the fields that spring.

“That kind of neighborliness and kindness is something that’s hard for people to understand who haven’t been around farm life,” Eleanor says.

Taking a Page From History

Jake passed away in 2008. These days Eleanor rents most of her tillable acreage to tenants, although the Arnold family continues to farm on the original homestead. Eleanor’s granddaughter, Emma Hawk, and her husband, Oak, grow popcorn, fruits and vegetables using organic practices and sell at farmers markets. Emma and Oak operate their business as Arnold Farms and strive to honor the Arnold family heritage while developing a farm business that can continue that legacy for the sustainable future.

Emma, who is Mary’s daughter, was selected as a Hoosier Beginning Farmer Fellow in 2020, while Oak has a master’s degree in sustainable agriculture.

“I find it very interesting they are doing a kind of modernized version of the kind of farming I remember,” Eleanor says. “Things like using cover crops and manure for fertilizer, working without chemicals, along with other things.”

On harvest days and market days, farming remains a family affair. Barbara, a retired judge, often helps sell at the market, and Mary takes care of her two grandchildren. Emma’s brother, Sam, helps at harvest or whenever they need him.

“We all just pitch in when needed,” Eleanor says. “I drove many a tractor when we were first married, making a hand in spring and fall to help out. Although I’m not doing much now but egging them on.”

To learn more about the Hoosier Homestead program and other farms that have been recognized, visit in.gov/isda/programs-and-initiatives/hoosier-homestead.

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