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When Grandmother Young died in 1909 at age 91, she willed the farm to Mr.
Truman's mother and Uncle Harrison, cutting off other members of the family
with $5 apiece.
They contested the will with legal
action that was drawn
out over several years. Finally Martha Truman settled with them out of
court by assuming several mortgages for cash to pay them in exchange for
quitclaims.
Mr. Truman approached his
rural responsibilities with enthusiasm and
intelligence and worked hard to improve the farm. The farm had been very
fertile, but he increased its fertility by crop rotation, soil conservation
and weed control. He instituted record keeping of actual costs per acre on crops, and he used
labor-saving equipment instead of hiring more farmhands.
Later he recalled that he plowed, sowed, reaped, milked cows, fed hogs,
doctored horses, baled hay and did everything there was to do on a 600-acre
farm.
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