The Mayberry family purchased 80 acres of land in 1901. For almost 120 years, the family has worked that land, now known as the Bieller/Mayberry farm.
The Butler County University of Missouri Extension recently recognized the current owners as part of the Century Farm Family program, which honors families who have owned an area of farmland for at least 100 years.
“We thought it would be appropriate (to apply for the program),” James Bieller said. “We had recently looked at some of the information we had in our safety deposit boxes — deeds and titles — and thought we would qualify. My son, daughter and wife thought we should go ahead and make the application.”
Bieller said the land was originally purchased by James Monroe Mayberry, his wife Berla Diane’s great-grandfather.
It was handed down to her grandfather John Henry Mayberry, her father Berley Mayberry and is now run by herself and Bieller.
The original 80 acres have expanded over the years, he said, to 1,400 acres now.
During the Great Depression, the family sold eggs and milk along with growing corn and “whatever they might need to get through the Depression,” Bieller said.
Berley Mayberry started farming in the ‘40s before passing it along to Berla Diane in 1980, he explained.
“It’s been kind of a continuous evolving,” Bieller said. “It’s always been something we do as a family.”
Right now, the family grows soybeans, corn and wheat on the property. They’ve also grown rice, but Bieller said they haven’t for a few years.
Bieller and Mayberry’s children now live in St. Louis, he said. Their daughter is a nurse at Cardinal Glennon Hospital and their son is a lawyer.
While they aren’t physically farming, Bieller said, the two make regular trips down to the farm.
“They know what’s going on,” he said. “I don’t know (where) the future might lie. We’re certainly going to keep ownership of it, whether they physically farm it or not. That’s something up to them ... I don’t know what exactly they’ll decide.”
Bieller said they didn’t register as a Century Farm for any kind of attention, but to recognize the history of the family.
“I think it’s always important for any kind of family that has had ownership in land for over 100 years (to recognize that),” he said. “We’re not interested in the notoriety. But my children certainly thought it was important and they thought we should go ahead and do that.”