The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1902-08-02
THREE PEOPLE SPEND THEIR LIVES RAIs.
ING Hay AND GRAIN WHICH THEY
NEVER USED Or SOLD.

The recent death of Isaac Sweig-
ert, an aged resident of Reinho1d's,
this county, brings to light one of the
most remarkable cases on record.
Isaac Sweigert was farmer, and
with his sisters had for half century
or more been engaged in raising large
and profitable crops from the fertile
90 acres which they jointly possessed.
But strange to say, few of the
farms products were never sold. 1t
cost the family but little to live, and
after disposing of as much of sea-
sons crop as would bring them in
the necessary money to buy provi-
sions and clothing, the balance would
be laid aside.
The family, which, until the late
demise Of Isaac ,SweiGert, consisted
OF a brother and two sisters, is de-
scended from thrifty stock. The in
dustry and savings of the parents was
apparently transmitted to the son and
daughters, who toiled for years, ear
ly and late, in the sowing, cultivation
and reaping of their crops.
No outside help was ever hired at
the farm, the arduous work of sowing
and reaping being performed by the
trio-for the two sisters joined with
their brother and turned to every
form of labor in the fields.
They rarely visited any of their
neighbors and were seldom seen at
public gatherings. The only change
of the even tenor of their lives was
when the brother brought a wife to
the old homestead and the prattle of
child later lent a new and strange
atmosphere to their home.
AS years passed the brother and
sisters were reputed to have accumu-
lated considerable wealth, but con-
tinued their economical methods of
living. Instead of disposing of their
crops as formerly, they began stack
ing their grain at different points on
their farm, where it was allowed to
rot by years of exposure to the ele-
ments. Visitors to the premises will
find about seventy-five of these stacks
scattered all over the farm, between
fifteen and twenty being located near
the house. The loss from this source
aggregates thousands or dollars. Of
late years the brother and sisters were
content with threshing and cleaning
only enough of their crops for their
own immediate wants, storing their
surplus of grain remaining over each
year in different rooms of their house.
The house contains immense quanti-
ties of grain, especially the lower
story. The building, once a SUBJ
stantially built two-story frame struc-
ture, is rapidly going to decay.
The floor space of the kitchen or
general living room is partly covered
with grain, which extends through a
doorway from great pile in an ad-
joining room.
The barns, where between thirty
and forty head of cattle are housed,
are built principally of rails. They
are one-story structures, of primitive
appearance, and were built by the trio
many years ago.
The brothers wife died about eight
months ago, leaving one daughter,
now the wife of a nearby resident.
At the wife's death he found a more
comfortable home with his daughter,
with whom he resided until his death
a few weeks ago. He was stricken
with paralysis while feeding the stock
on the farm in which he retained his
third interest and where he made
daily visits to assist the aged sisters
in their work.
Since the death of their brother the
sisters have been carrying on the
usual farm work and reaping the
usual crops. They have one horse,
with which they do the bulk Of their
work.
An examination Of the numerous
stacks of grain showed that the once
valuable product is worthless, either
as food or bedding for the stock.
The loss represented in these rotted
stacks including the immense quanti-
ties of grain stored in the house and
which is stated to have also become
unfit for use, would, it is said, be suf-
fcient for the purchase of one of the
largest farms Of Lancaster county,
Lancaster (Pa.) Examiner.