Aunt Willie's Wildflowers

In 1860, Stephen Adams and Barbara Galloway Adams willed the original 65 acres of the now Cherry Hill Farm to Emmaline Adams, who soon married J.W.P. Doan. In the 1860s, JWP, his dad and brothers (all woodworkers) built the log barn and white frame farmhouse (the Homeplace) which both still stand on the property. While their house was being built, JWP and Emmaline lived in a log house behind the barn. This log house was later moved beside the well and used as a woodworking shop where JWP made most of the furniture for the house. JWP and Emmaline had only one child, Ed, who married Clara Foust, and they raised their four children, Willie, Sue, Horace, and D. Bruce, at the homeplace. The farm was divided among these children and then passed on to their heirs (the current generation; current owner, Roy, is Bruce’s son).

In the 1920s, Ed and Clara Foust Doan bought 68 adjoining acres known as “the Akard farm.” This acreage included a barn built around 1800, a double crib log structure. Through the years the barn has been used for livestock, hay, and storing small grain crops. To help pay for the new property, the Doans grew strawberries on the new land, loaded the berries onto a wagon and drove them to Bristol for sale. On this additional property, Willie Doan Deakins and John C. Deakins built their home in 1939/40. The barn and “Akard farm” was willed to Willie and John C. in 1961.

Roy and Linda Doan chose the colorful Bear Claw pattern when Roy’s Aunt Willie’s (Willie Doan Deakins) quilts were divided among family. Several old family quilts had been stored in a trunk, and this one was chosen because of its bright, friendly colors.