Ancestry Saturday: Let Them Eat Turkey

The Bernard Family Reunion saw it's 84th edition early last month, and it's still on my mind.

 

Fairview Farms

The farm that my great grandmother Sallie Bernard Naylor grew up on was built on land that was part of a Virginia Military District land grant where my ancestors moved in 1807.  She was born there. 

Her Uncle ended up with the farm and passed it on to his son, Donald.  It stayed in the Bernard family in Ohio for 200 years.



The Bernard's Turkey Farms booth at the Ohio State Fair

It''s also where the turkey business started that is so associated with the Bernard name in Southwest Ohio.  My grandpa's cousins got into the turkey business in a big way.  Most people who lived in Clinton County, Ohio in the 1960's and 1970's will remember the Bernard's for turkeys.

I remember visiting the turkey pens in the early 1970's.  They sold turkeys year round and made a good living.

They were entrepreneurs.  I remember hearing about turkey hot dogs too during those 1970's visits.  Bernard's Turkey Farms were making hot dogs out of turkey before anyone else was. 

They grew their business outside of Clinton County too with an annual trip to the Ohio State Fair.