At the time of the 1859 map of Floyd County, the property at what is now 201 Hausfeldt Lane (Hossfeld) was owned by Peter Smeaton and his wife. As of 7-06-05, I have not been able to trace the ownership further back.
On September 24, 1860, the property (66 acres) was sold to Barbara and John G. Beck.
On May 21, 1866, the property was sold to Francis and Louis Fraaz.
On February 27, 1869, Francis H. Fraaz transferred half of the 66 acres to Jacob Vetterlin.
On December 6, 1870, Louis Fraaz and Anastatia, (his wife) and Jacob Vetterlin sold all 66 acres to William Geltmacher.
On November 28, 1872, William Geltmacher and Catherine (his wife) sold the property to Ignatius Ohlmann.
On December 18, 1878, Ignatius Ohlmann (marital status not shown) sold the property to Ernst Hossfeld, my great-grandfather, and the one for whom the road was named.
The farm came down through 4 generations of my family, with parts of the property being sold off at times until there was just under 5 acres remaining, this part containing the barn. This remaining property was sold to the present owner, Janet Burkhart, in September of 2004.
From what I was always told, 3/4 of the barn was existing when my ancestors bought the property in 1875. At that time, the "dog trot" or drive though was down the center of the barn and the barn had a gable roof. According to family lore, my great grandparents enlarged the barn by adding a series of bays to the west side, making the "dog trot" off center, and by splicing 2 sets of upright posts and raising the roof, they made the roof into the gambrel shape as is exists today.
In some publications, I've read, the barn was dated as going back to the 1860's and early 1870's. As there were a number of owners during that time period, it could have been erected by any of a number of persons.
My father ran the farm until the 1960s. After that the farm was sharecropped and the barn no longer used. A lot of the ground was sold in 1980 and the farm ceased operations; thus, the barn was not used except for storage since that time.
If anyone should stumble across any additional information about the barn, please contact us.
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