Auction of farm, collectibles set
By AMBER KROSEL - akrosel@nwherald.com
MARENGO – A rare-finds auction representing McHenry County farm life from a century past is set for Sunday.
The estate sale of Winfred Krause, who died at age 91, will be at 10:30 a.m. at 22620 Grange Road in Marengo.
Unusual collectibles and other items will be sold, with a 224-acre farm to be auctioned in parcels at 1 p.m.
The “other” category includes a flock of more than 60 spring lambs and mixed ewes, several historical furnishings and antiques, and old papers dating to the late 1800s and early 1900s.
“This farm is very, very old, and it goes back for several generations,” auctioneer Gordon Stade said. “There’s some things in this auction that you never see.”
With the farm also comes its own interesting history, Stade said. It is rumored that a bootlegger once operated on the property, making whiskey there during Prohibition.
The farm will be sold in three parcels or a combination thereof Sunday.
The largest and first parcel is 186 acres of mostly open cropland with some pasture and woods. The second parcel is 15 acres with a full set of buildings, including a two-story frame house, a former dairy barn, and a machine shed.
Twenty-three acres will be sold as the third parcel, a mostly wooded area.
The paperwork for sale includes an 1896 property tax bill for the 224-acre farm of $41.78; a 1902 telephone bill of $1; milk check receipts from 1883; an 1895 J.H. Patterson catalog; and a 1900 Rand McNally census.
Also being auctioned are World War II rationing stamps and Confederate money.
Krause had no immediate heirs. The proceeds from the auction will go to distant family members and neighbors.
