The People

Early property owners of The Farm included Sharon Atkinson, an original pioneer of the Union Colony, Mary Bracewell, Scott Getchell, and Phillip Krieger before Bode and Claude Von Trotha purchased the property in 1916. Fifty years later, after being tenant farmers for the Von Trotha Brothers, Conrad and Mabel Firestien purchased the property. Following is a bit on some of these families.

Bracewell Family

Christopher Bracewell, his wife, Mary, and their son, Christopher William (C.W.) immigrated to Colorado from the UK in 1885. They purchased 440 acres in the area now known as Bracewell.

von Trotha Family

Baron Claus Wolfgang Von Trotha and his wife, Helene, came to the US from Germany and homesteaded around 1887 on property just north of the Poudre River in the Bracewell/Farmers Spur area. They were considered pioneers of the Poudre Valley.

Firestien FAmily

The Firestien Family immigrated to the US in 1899 as part of the group known as the Germans from Russia and eventually settled on the “home place” around 1917.