WILDER - If Babe Crowell walks out the back door of the house he shares with wife Kathy, he can see the house where he was born. He is the third generation to live and work on the land located just a little north of Wilder in Jackson County.
“My grandpa bought the place in 1914,” related Babe, adding that he likely lived in a tent on the property until a house could be built. “He paid $75 an acre for 160 acres.”
Babe’s grandfather, Earl T. Crowell, came to southern Minnesota from Nora Springs, Iowa, in 1885. Earl bought the land where Babe now lives, while his brother purchased a farm 2½ miles away. Their father, James “Tuck” Crowell, fought in the Civil War, noted Babe, and some earlier ancestors - three brothers - immigrated from England in 1715. There is speculation that the surname might have been changed from Cromwell - a name famous in British history.
Before it came into the Crowell family, the Delafield Township property had been homesteaded earlier, probably right after the Civil War, and Earl bought it from a man named John Benson.
Earl Crowell owned the property for 36 years, finally selling it to son Herald T. Crowell, Babe’s father.
“He bought it in 1950 for $125 an acre,” said Babe. “Then when I bought it in 1975, I gave $250.”
Babe was one of six children born to Herald and Edna Crowell.
“I was the youngest, so I got spoiled a little bit,” he admitted.
Babe’s given name is Gerald, but even his Social Security card reads Babe Crowell.
“My dad’s name was Herald, and my mother wanted to name me Herald, but he said no, so she took the H off and put a G on instead,” Babe explained. “He called me Babe. … Nobody knows me by my right name.”
Babe’s memories of growing up on the farm include spending a lot of time at his grandparents’ place.
“We didn’t get REA (electricity) until 1950,” Babe recalled. “We had a DELCO light plant in the basement so we had lights in the house, lights in the barn. When I was younger, we had an icebox and had to go to Windom to get ice.”
At that time, the Crowells raised wheat, barley, oats and corn; the switch to soybeans came years later. There were also pigs and cows, Babe remembered.
“We had chickens - probably 500 chickens,” he added. “That was my mother’s grocery money. She would sell dressed chickens in town. A lot of times we’d kill a dozen chickens before breakfast.”
Babe opted to become a farmer at a young age, leaving school to do so.
“When I was 15, my dad said, ‘You want to farm?’ I said, ‘Yep,’ and he said, ‘There’s an 80 down there you can farm, but if you’re going to farm, you probably can’t go to school, too.’ So I quit school and started farming.
“Five years later - July 17, 1957 - I got completely hailed out and had no hail insurance,” he continued. “So I figured the good Lord thought I needed to change.”
A neighbor drove school bus, so Babe applied to do that and began driving for the nearby Wilder School. When the Wilder school ceased to exist, he got hired as a substitute custodian for the Windom school district, working up the ranks to become the maintenance man and eventually superintendent of buildings and grounds for the entire Windom district for 35 years. He also joined the National Guard, putting in 30 years of service.
When he bought out his father in 1975, Babe did so with the understanding that he would build his own house so his parents could have life estate in the original home. He erected a brick structure just a short distance away and worked with the carpenter on much of the finishing work.
He and second wife Kathy (married in 1991) continue to live there. Of his five children, Don lives in the house that was formerly his parents’; Michael recently moved back to Windom from Maryland; Dean lives in Michigan; DeeAnn is in Sioux City, Iowa, and Dave lives in Idaho.
