For a long time, nobody raised hogs like the McKenzies of Marcellus. They were agrarians from the start. John McKenzie, a displaced Orangeman from Scotland, originally settled the land and later fought in the Civil War. Edward McKenzie built the Wakelee United Methodist Church on Dutch Settlement Road, south of town. Generations of McKenzies have worshiped in the brick and stone church.
Headstones bear their names.
What Buchner didn't realize was that he would find himself going through a baptism of fire with his first true agricultural crisis. It wasn't long before Buchner would find himself being asked to play the role of intermediary between a farmer and God. Interceding on behalf of a church member with the Almighty has its limits, but Buchner did put out the word he would help out with more earthly tasks, like getting groceries or baby-sitting. Anything short of jumping into the driver's seat of a tractor. And many were hurting.