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The Homestead

           In the year 1915, our Great Grandparents; Carrie and Delilah Hageman purchased the 50 acre
farm located at 7117 Fishburg Road in Wayne Township, which is now Huber Heights, Ohio.
Our great grandfather was a sawmill operator, carpenter and farmer. Our great grandmother tended
to the household, family and garden along with the hogs which were kept in a hog lot in the back of
the house and the chickens which were housed in the top of the existing work shop. They had 3
children, 2 sons and 1 daughter.

      Our great grandfather "Carrie" and his 2 sons, (our grandpa "Russell" and our grandpas brother;
"Cyrus") cut logs, sawed lumber and built the Grubb house on Bellefontaine Road and it is still there.
During the WWI era local citizens formed a civil defense group and erected the shooting range still
located in the north-west field with mounds of dirt and wood and trained to defend the country . The
South side of the property facing Fishburg Road was a fruit orchard at that time.

     As our great grandparents aged and passed the property came up for sale at public auction. In
1950 our Grandparents; Russell and Marjorie Hageman were able to purchase the property at the
auction and moved back to the farm with their 7 children, an 8th child was born a year later. Grandpa
was also a sawmill operator, carpenter, machinist and farmer. Grandpa's management of the
property included an agreement with the Mad River Gun Club which allowed members to use the old
shooting range for target practice.

      Throughout the years Grandpa continued to improve upon the house re plastering walls,
updating the kitchen and many more improvements to the home and property. Grandpa also built
homes and out buildings in Wayne Township and surrounding areas. Grandma was an
accomplished pianist and became the choir and music director for several local churches. She
involved her kids in church, work around the farm and community events. She also worked outside
the home at times at Winters Bank, but her passion was playing and teaching the piano.
Around 1967 or so Grandpa built a piano studio on the North side of the house which allowed
Grandma to teach piano lessons. My cousins and I were really young at the time but, I remember
thinking the huge hole in the ground for the foundation must have been for a swimming pool for us.
The piano studio turned out to be the one area of the house where some of our best childhood
memories were realized. Our grandparents hosted huge family gatherings with oodles of food and
lots of board games to play. At Christmas time Grandma would play the organ as we all gathered
around to sing Christmas carols. There are so many, many memories, but one of the best is
Grandpa and Grandma's huge Christmas tree decorated with family made ornaments which stood in
the main living room. Being a kid at Grandma and Grandpa's was the best. My cousins and I would
run down to the creek and go on a half day journey splashing up and down collecting what we
thought were treasures and at easter we all knew there was a plastic easter egg with a special prize
in it waiting for us.

     Around 1997 our Father "Dan Smith Sr." retired and returned home to the farm to care for our
Grandparents and manage the property. The piano studio quickly transformed into an apartment for
Dad. This allowed our grandparents to retain their independence but also have someone here to
watch out for them and help them with the heavy work. Dad began buying chickens, raising black
Angus cows, pygmy goats, and sheep. Dad prepared the land and harvested hay and alfalfa making
the soil rich in nutrients. Having our Dad living at the farm with grandpa and grandma allowed our
children and their cousins to spend lots of time on the farm and enjoy all the things we did as kids.
They gained so many life lessons with respect to working the land and driving all the farm equipment.
I think every one of them learned how to drive on the farm in Dad's jeep, truck or tractor . The biggest
blessing of all was it allowed them to be involved with their great grandparents and simply hang out
with their Grandpa. Our Grandma Hageman passed away in 2002 at the age of 87 and Grandpa
Hageman followed her in 2006 at the age of 93. Both lifetime residents of Huber Heights. All of their 8
children graduated from Wayne High School and most of them still live in Ohio.

     Our father, Dan Smith Sr., continues to live at the farm and in the summer of 2007 he turned 70. It
was a privilege for my husband and me along with my 2 sons to move to the farm and continue caring
for and sharing in the management of the property. All of the farm animals slowly dwindled away but
there is always lots of work to be done. We began a Christmas tree farm by planting our first 2400
seedlings in April of 2008 and will be setting another 500 for 2009.

     We have wonderful memories along with great pride and concern with regard to the integrity of the
property and our rich heritage. Grandmas' piano studio is still the family gathering place and we still
have the organ she used to play for us. We have different furniture, but the space still remains the
same. Somehow this will always be our Grandparents house, just different family members residing
in it throughout the years.

     We look forward to creating and sharing many, many more memories with our family and the
community. As for the name "Double H Family Tree Farm", it just seemed appropriate with our
grandparents name being Hageman and ours being Harshman.