MARTIN HENRY FAMILY

In 1874, Martin Henry, his wife Maria, his sons Victor and Eugene, and his daughter Mary left Germany. They boarded the cattle boat “Colina” in Antwerp that was bound for New York, Chicago and DuPage County. Family legend says that the men worked with the cattle for the family’s fare. As this story has been passed down through generations, it seems plausible, as there were only 60 passengers on the boat.

Through the years, the family rented various farms in areas of Lisle, Downers Grove, DuPage Township, and Will County where they milked cows and farmed the land. In 1876, Mary married Joseph Spitz of Lisle and they farmed in Plano. In 1885 Victor married Minnie Steinhouse, daughter of August Steinhouse from Barbers Corners.

In 1890, Eugene married Lena Steinhouse. Minnie’s sister, To this union, five sons and four daughters were born: Eugene, Jr., was born on a farm near Downers Grove (12/29/1907). Martin and Maria lived with Eugene, Sr., until Martin’s death in 1902. Eugene, Sr., and his sons continued farming and milking cows until he purchased 80 acres north of Lemont in 1903.

In 1930, Eugene, Jr., married Crystal Wigmore of St. Joseph Island, Ontario, Canada. They lived with his parents while Gene worked at Teynolds Aluminum factory during the day and pumped gas at night, both in Lemont. Here he met the famous mobster, Al Capone, who was a customer. He was told by Capone’s driver, “If anybody asks, you didn’t see us.”

In 1931, he rented a farm from the Godfrey family along old Route 66 near Lemont. He spent th summer making hay and purchasing a few pieces of machinery with the money he had saved. Before purchasing his dairy cows, he and Crystal went to Canada to visit her family. On Labor Day of 1931, the barn was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. They lost everything. With the advancing Depression, Gene’s dream of farming on his own vanished for many years.

In the early 1930’s, Gene was hired by Joy Morton, son of the “Salt King,” to milk the dairy herd at Lisle Farms on Butterfield road, north of Naperville. There, his three daughters, Phylis, Joyce, and Marilyn were born. (Phylis [Art] Benson of Sandwich, Joyce of Plainfield, and Marilyn [Wayne] Edwards of Pardeeville, Wisconsin.) Gene trucked the milk to Willpow Farm Dairyy in LaGrange where he met George Polivka, who with his father and brother, was increasing the size of the dairy plant they owned.

In 1939, George convinced Gene to come to the farm he was purchasing from the William Ehrhardt family in Naperville. George wanted to start a dairy herd of his own with Gene as herdsman. They purchased some registered Guernsey cows from Chauncey McCormick’s St. James Farm in Warrenville. Eventually, George purchased five farms and the dairy herd grew to 300 cattle, plus raising hogs and turkeys. George designed the first milking parlor in the area in 1944 and Wil-O-Way Farm was established. Visitors from every states in the union plus Canada, Brazil, and Russia came to see this modern milking method. With the parlor, 112 cows could be milked in just over an hour. Milking times were 5am and 4pm. Gene was promoted to farm manager in 1947.

It took 425 tons of hay to feed the entire herd. The farmers traveled from Lisle to Lombard baling hay. All the hay had to be taken offthe hay racks, reloaded onto trucks and unloaded at the farms. The summers were the easiest times to find boys willing to work on the farm. They came from Hinsdale, LaGrange, Downers Groce and Naperville to help store the hay. The youngsters felt if they could lift the bale over their heads, they would be in good condition to play football when school started! The three girls all attended Granger School at Routes 34 and 65. At that time, roughly 30 to 40 children attended the two-room school taught by several seminary students’ wives from the Naperville school. There were no “tenure” teachers. In the spring, the students were allowed to ride bicycles to school if they wanted. One day, just before school was dismissed for the summer, the children were allowed to ride horses to school and tie them in a small shed on the grounds. All of the girls graduated from Naperville Community High School. All were 4-H members. Phyllis joined the Naperville GoGetter’s Club and Joyce and Marilyn were members of the Naperville Merry Maids.

Crystal raised chickens and each Thursday traveled to Downers Grove to deliver fresh eggs to several families to supplement the family income. She cared for a large garden and also sewed clothes for some of the girls. 

In 1949, George Polivka died at the age of 47. His widow, Dorthy, decided to continue the farming operations after Gene agreed to stay on. After the Korean War began, it was decided to downsize the herd and Gene purchased half of the remaining cattle and all the farm machinery. When reliable help became harder to find, the dairy herd was dispersed in 1963. 

With the advancing development of housing subdivisions west of Naperville, Mrs. Polivka began selling parcels of her farms. Gene continued farming the remaining land until 1969. Then he began working at the Naperville National Bank as a maintenance man for the next several years. His retirement years were spent woodworking and helping family and neighbors with various projects.

Gene died in November 1992. Crystal died in Februray 1996. Through the good times and the few bad times, living on the Wil-O-Way Farm for 30 years was truly a “wonderful life” for the Henry family.