Doug & Konni VanLangen- 3435 Tollman Ave., Ellsworth, IA
This barn quilt was made in recognition of the farm being owned and operated by the same family for 150 years. Shea and Ceara VanLangen designed and constructed the quilt for a 4-H project for the 2009 Hamilton County Fair, and it also went to the Iowa State Fair that year. The pattern leans away from the typical patchwork pattern and more towards a personal and farmstead theme.

John H. Cooper travelled with his wife and four children heading west from Vermont in 1845. In 1858 he helped his son John A. Cooper homestead 80 acres along the Skunk River in Hamilton County, Iowa. The ground passed down through the generations, and today Doug and Konni live and work on the farm with their daughters. Doug is the sixth generation to farm the property. Doug’s daughters Ceara and Shea and his nephew Nick VanLangen who helps on the farm are possible seventh generation farmers.

The barn was built in 1939 for milking cows. In the 1970s it was remodeled for finishing hogs, and is now used for a cow/calf operation.