Paul and Judy Warmka were surrounded by family members last July shortly after being recognized for owning a Century Farm. The Warmkas and others were honored during the Faribault County Fair. Paul’s grandfather Ben purchased the Warmka farm on Feb. 16, 1920 and retained ownership for 23 years until Paul’s father, Art, purchased the property in 1943. Paul and Judy still live on the acreage which they purchased in 1981. The farm is located in Walnut Lake Township.

Paul and Judy Warmka were honored at last year’s Faribault County Fair for having a Century Farm.

But, visiting with the married couple of almost 57 years around their dining room table, it becomes apparent it is not the years their family has owned the farm that are most important to them.

It is the family they have raised and the friends and neighbors they have come to know while residing on their 120-acre plot of land in Walnut Lake Township that means the most to them.

“We raised five children,” Paul says. “Now, we have 27 grandchildren and our fifth great-grandchild will be born next month.”

It was Paul’s grandfather Ben who originally purchased the farm in 1920.

“We have seen his name as Benard on some documents and as Bernard on others,” Judy offers. “But, he was always known as Ben.”

Paul states he knew his grandfather but did not really interact with him on the farm.

“He was old and lived in Wells when I was a kid,” Paul recalls. “He liked to play cards in a bar where the Wildcat restaurant was. The cigar smoke was so bad I really did not like to go in there.”

The known history of the Warmka (originally Warmke) family actually goes back one more generation to when Ben’s parents, Andreas and Rosa, traveled from Kammin, a town in Prussia, in 1868 to Hamburg, Germany. It was a 250-mile trip.

Andreas, age 24, and Rosa, age 23, had been married only two years at the time and had a 19-month-old daughter and were still grieving the loss of another daughter born earlier in 1868. Rosa was one month pregnant with the couple’s third child as they completed the first leg of their journey to the new world.

The Warmka family history tells this story: The couple boarded a ship in the port of Hamburg, for what would be a long and treacherous sail through the North Sea enroute to New York.

Relegated to the “steerage” deck, (an improvised level constructed between the cargo hold and the main deck), because they could not afford a cabin on the main deck, the couple encountered countless hardships.

More than 140 passengers were crammed into the musty quarters sharing a space with ceilings no higher than five and a half feet and equipped with little more than bunk beds.

Provided the seas were calm, the couple was allowed to use the bathroom and cook their food on the main deck. When the seas were rough however, they were required to stay below with the hatches sealed to limit seawater from entering the hull.

Even with these measures in place, water often seeped below, drenching their clothes and bedding.

It was not unusual for the passengers to remain below deck for several days at a time, living in an area filled with stench from passengers being sea sick and from rotting cargo.

And yet, on Oct. 2, 1968, after 45 days at sea, the family arrived in New York City.

The family once again boarded a ship to begin their journey to Wisconsin. Their trip took them up the Hudson River to Albany, New York, and through the Erie Canal to Buffalo, New York.

They reached their final destination at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, via the Great Lakes, and were greeted by hundreds, if not thousands, of German speaking immigrants.

“My grandfather Ben came to Minnesota along with two of his brothers,” Paul shares. “I was in ninth grade when Grandpa Ben died.”

Grandpa Ben owned the farm for 23 years until he sold it to his son Arthur in 1943.

“Paul’s dad was known as Art,” Judy clarifies. “His mother’s name was Eunice but she was always known as Peg.”

The building site changed a great deal from the time Paul’s grandfather bought the land until today.

“The garage east of the house is the only original building remaining on the site,” Judy says. “This house was built in the early 1960s.”

Paul recalls helping his father milk cows.

“He also grew oats and succotash, which was a mixture of oats and wheat together,” Paul comments. “I learned to plow when I was six years old and started doing all of the combining at age 10.”

He recalls a couple of fun and interesting driving experiences.

“My dad had purchased a new Oliver tractor, a cultivator and plow down in Lake Mills, Iowa,” Paul says.

Paul was not even 10-years old, and yet his father told him to drive the tractor home.

“‘How do I get there?’ I asked my dad,” Paul recalls. “He told me, ‘Just keep going north and west and you will get there.'”

Another driving outing occurred when Paul and his cousin, who were both too young and too short to be able to steer and reach the floor pedals, combined efforts to drive a vehicle into town.

“I was on the floor running the pedals and he was on the seat driving,” Paul chuckles.

In addition to farming, Paul has talent as a mechanic and also the gift to be able to design equipment.

“I started fixing and overhauling cars in 1960 in a building on the farm,” he states. “In 1973, I built a new shop across the road to the west.”

He named his business A & P Service. The A is for his father Art and the P stands for Paul.

“In 1979 we began selling Deutz tractors,” Paul mentions. “We used to sell as many as 50 new tractors every spring. I was also a jockey so I would find tractors to buy and then resell them.”

At one time he also sold Oliver and Minneapolis Moline combines before switching to sell Gleaner combines.

A & P Service is still in business today and is operated by Paul and Judy’s son Dean and Dean’s sons, Alex and Caleb.

There is actually a long list of skills Paul has employed over the years.

“I drove a milk truck, shelled corn, did over-the-road trucking, built grain bins, and helped neighbors with chores,” Paul says. “And I have designed a lot of equipment.”

Paul and Judy met at the Golden Bubble. They both love to dance and still go dancing every chance they get.

“There are not as many places to go to any more,” Paul shares. “We actually go to Glencoe for a lot of the dances.”

Paul purchased the farm from his father in 1981. Despite battling some arthritis, he still stays active with the farming operation.

“I still do all of the combining,” he says. “I get up in the cab and don’t leave until I have to.”

While Paul and Judy love the life farming has given them, they share a sadness at how the small towns and rural areas have suffered with the shrinking population.

“Everything has suffered, from our churches and the lack of businesses in many of the towns,” Paul comments.

But he also smiles as he lists some of the wonderful people he has had the opportunity to know while living and working on the acreage originally purchased by his grandfather.

And to think, the path to owning a Century Farm all started when a young family boarded a boat 154 years ago heading to a new land across the Atlantic Ocean.

It really is an amazing story.