About This Farm

In 1830, our fourth great-grandfather Valentine Darnall came to Illinois from Kentucky. He bought 160 acres from the government for $1.25 an acre. By the late 1800’s, his grandson Malachi Martin Spence was in charge of the farm business and the land comprised nearly 1,000 acres. There were 36 buildings on the property including barns, sheds, milk houses, chicken houses, and tenant houses. Horses were sold to England and cattle shipped to Chicago and the east coast. At one time in the farm’s hist