While hunting on her family’s property in North Brookfield last month, Nicole Head took in the beauty around her.
She had grown up there, as did her father, his father, and three generations before. In contemplating that her son would not be the seventh generation of the Head family to walk in those woods or farm the fields, Nicole said she cried as she looked around.
Because it’s 2020, her first action involved social media. Taking out her cellphone, she made an emotional video on the videosharing social network TikTok, showing the scenery around her and talking about how upset she was it would soon be out of her family’s ownership.
“I wanted to document that beauty and how I felt,’’ she said, “knowing it would be lost.’’
In 1904 Dewitt C. Head purchased 60 acres on the corner of Swamp and Mason roads.
He, his son Lynn, grandson Clyde and great-grandson Dewitt added to the land and farming setup over the years. “My great-grandfather traded heifers for land,’’ Dewitt said.
Dewitt bought the farm, which includes land once owned by the Loomis family, from his dad in 1974. When he sold the farm to his son Tim and his wife in 2000, the family’s land had grown to 550 acres and was a working dairy farm.
But almost four years ago, Tim’s wife left, wanting a divorce. Up until last week, the two parties had been unable to reach a settlement for Tim to pay her portion of their property.
The family sold machinery and equipment, and their cows to raise money for the settlement. “That was hard,’’...
Komentarai