EIF-B_Where We Come From

WHERE WE COME FROM
‘Passing it on to the next generation
is one of the greatest things’
When German settlers
came to Eastern Iowa in
the 1800s, they started
building farms and
establishing a legacy
for future generations
BY NANCY MAYFIELD
EASTERN IOWA FARMER
Jessica Stecher-Marolf was intent on
finishing up harvest on her family’s
Muscatine County farm four
years ago, despite being 37 weeks
pregnant.
She’d dropped her daughter off at a
birthday party and hopped into her combine
to finish harvesting corn. She could
tell something was off, but she kept going.
She called her husband, Dustin Marolf,
and told him she was pretty sure she was
in labor.
“He told me to get out of the combine
and get to the hospital,” she said. She told
him she only had a few rounds left.
She took his advice, though, drove
herself in her pickup to the hospital, where
Dustin met her, and delivered a healthy
baby boy.
You might say farming is in the blood of
both their children – Harper, 8, and Dylan,
4 – who love being around the farm and
helping their parents.
Dustin, 42, and Jessica, 38, both come
from a long line of farmers in Eastern
Iowa. They each can trace their local
roots – German on her side and German
and Swiss on his side – back at least five
generations.
“My dad’s side came from Berne,
Switzerland,” Dustin said. “My Wiese side
came from Germany.”
In fact, Wiese Slough in Muscatine
County is named after the family, which
still farms ground near there.
From their Cedar County home that sits
EASTERN IOWA FARMER PHOTO / TREVIS MAYFIELD
Jessica Marolf saved her daughter’s proclamations from the first day of preschool. Harper
Marolf, now 8, knew then that she wants to be an art teacher and a farmer when she grows up.
She and her brother Dylan, 4, love to help their parents out in the shop and ride in the tractor.
right on the Muscatine County line, the
couple talked about their shared love of
farming, which they learned from their
parents – Dean and Pam Stecher and Jerry
and Dawn Marolf (their son Kyle Marolf
also helps on the farm). They are both
proud to carry on the traditions started by
their ancestors.
While people came to Eastern Iowa from
many countries in the 1800s, the majority
made their way from Germany, said Rita
Farro, the executive director of the Buffalo
Bill Museum in LeClaire.
“Farming was in their roots for many of
them,” she said. And they worked hard to
establish farms that their descendants, such
as the Marolfs, still work.
eifarmer.com SPRING 2024 | EASTERN IOWA FARMER 63