In 1919 Alfred Friend bought a farm in Dade County, Missouri, bordering Stockton Lake, from the Sloan family. It was just under a section of land, at 640 acres. At Alfred’s side during the purchase was his son, J.A. Friend. Together the two began to farm the bottom land. They raised cattle, hogs and row crops of corn, wheat and beans. Alfred lived in one house on the farm and J.A. in another house down the hill.
In 1929 Paul was born to J.A. Five years later Alfred passed away and J.A. bought the entire farm. “My dad continued farming all of the land and had cattle, hogs and he fed out steers,” reflected Paul.
“All the while, my mom, Dove, was a homemaker. She cooked three meals a day, seven days a week. And she had to, to keep up with her four sons.”
Paul was the youngest of the four boys. “I remember when granddad passed away; I was only five years old. We moved from our house to granddad’s house. My mom put her dishes in a basket for me and I carried them up the hill to our new house.” At age 11, Paul’s family got electricity.
Every day the boys worked the farm. “If we weren’t planting and plowing, we were picking corn or something else. We worked before school and then ran down the hill to catch the bus to school, then worked after school and all summer long,” Paul added, who used team horses and shucking gloves to bring in the harvest.
In 1947 Paul graduated from Dadeville High School and married Barbara (a ‘local girl’ as Paul calls her). On the day of his graduation, his dad, J.A. handed him the keys to the farm. “Two of my older brothers had gone off to WWI and the other was working out of state, so I had been running the farm while they were gone,” Paul added.
Together, he and Barbara had four children, David, Brenda, Paul Jeff and Valerie. “During this time the government had started taking away a lot of our land bordering the lake, so we needed more land. We bought a 120-acre farm across the lake and later a 500-acre farm in Everton, Mo., which we moved to, and had a dairy operation, alfalfa hay and corn.”
After about ten years in Everton, Mo., Paul bought a lime and fertilizer truck and spread for farmers all over southwest Missouri. During this time Paul was running 100 to 200 head of stock cattle and raising horses.
“We quit the fertilizer business in the early 80’s and continued with stock cattle,” said Paul. During his time in the Everton area, he served on several community boards including the Township Road Board, School Board of Everton, County Board of Education, Extension Council and the Nursing Home Board. Then, in 1994, Paul and Barbara moved back to the farm where Paul was born; they built a home one-quarter of a mile from the house Paul was born in.
The Friends now run a 94-acre farm with about 32 head of cows and a big enough garden to feed the entire family. “We have seven grandkids and six great-grandkids. They come and catch catfish in my pond,” Paul smiled, adding, “I thank God I was able to raise my kids in the country. I love the farming life.”
