|
Our
family traveled to America from England in the early 1600s
settling in the area of Lynn and Reading, Massachusetts.
A century later, Jeremisquam Island (now Westport) in
Maine became home. The family migration continued when our
ancestor
Jason Dunton moved his family westward to the farmlands of Iowa
and Kansas. In the late 1800s, his son,
Lewis Carlysle
Dunton, moved his own family to the young state of Oregon.
Lewis' son, Victor Hugo Dunton is the ancestor who established
our farm near Molalla, Oregon. The following is a timeline of
our farm's history in reverse chronological order.
|
Present
 |
As
we continue to evolve as an organization, our goals and objectives are refined,
seed varieties are donated and added to the seed bank and work developing a network
of like-minded seed producers to aide in seed multiplication is
implemented. Long-term planning is also underway to create a
non-profit organization whose charter will be to educate gardeners about
horticultural history,
sustainable practices
including organic gardening methods and seed-saving. This
organization will incorporate our seed bank and variety preservation
efforts. |
|
2008
|
2008 was a milestone year for our little company. We published our tenth seed annual! It has been a awesome trip. We have made many, many friends, saved rare family heirlooms from disappearing, reintroduced old commercial varieties that disappeared over the years, and from word-of-mouth recommendations, grown.
The measure of growth for us is not based on financial gain but on varieties saved and the number of gardens our seeds are planted in. Using this measure, we feel successful. |
|
2002
to 2006
Nov. 2002
|
With the help of a lot of folks who saw value in our work, the organization
continues to grow. People rely on not only our unique selection, but
in the quality of our seeds as well. During this time period, we
installed new order entry and inventory software to streamline workflow to
accommodate increased sales. Mike's mother starts helping out on a
daily basis doing order entry. One daughter marries and comes back in 2006
to join the Victory Seed team. Another daughter graduates and begins
work as an RN but comes home regularly to help. Mike's Dad takes over ground
keeping duties, hard goods purchasing, and other support tasks. In
2006, John starts as the primary trials and production grower. |
|
2000
- 2001
|
Y2K
came and went without
the world ending. The renewed interest in gardening continued
to grow. Unapproved genetically modified material was found in
processed food products in the U.S., Japan, and European
nations. USDA passed national
organic standards in December which included a no GMO policy. The
Victory
Seed Company continues to offer premier products and support
services and our base of loyal gardening friends (customers :) continued
to grow. Our Web site grew to include a secure shopping
cart system for online order taking. |
|
1999 |
With
the impending predictions of "Y2K" related catastrophes, as well as with
proliferation of genetically modified organisms into the food supply in
the United States, awareness of heirloom and open-pollinated seed
varieties was raised. The
Victory
Seed Company
benefited from this exposure and is recognized by the media and
individuals for our efforts. Mike leaves his old technology career to
dedicate his efforts to working from the farm fulltime. |
|
Fall
1999 |
Credit card payment capabilities are added in the
Fall. For philosophical reasons pertaining to the subject of debt, this issue was
hotly debated. It was determined, however, that we would not be able to
compete for business, either mail-order or Web-based, without the
ability to accept payment using cards. We trust that people are not
entering into the burden of debt by purchasing our seeds. |
|
1999
|
With the
groundwork complete, Mike and two daughters began creating the Web site, as
well as our 1999 catalog, on a February weekend trip to the Oregon coast.
Two
portable computers and a slow dialup connection were used. Word of
mouth was the main form of advertising and business builds.
The online
catalog was static and orders had to be placed using checks or money
orders and the postal system. |
|
1998 |
Passionate about history,
genealogy, heirloom plants, and the issues of safe and pure food, a plan
was developed for
creating an organization that worked to prevent the erosion of the
diversity of cultivated plants (biodiversity), along with maintaining seeds that were not
genetically altered through laboratory methods (non-GMO).
Our name, the
Victory
Seed Company, originates from a couple of reference points.
With the
end of World War II and the
Victory
Garden campaigns terminated, farming began
to quickly evolve into the industrialized business that it is today. Victory
Gardening was perhaps the final period in over 10,000 years of the
agricultural history of mankind, where vast numbers of people were part
of their own food production cycle. Although the trend for the demise
of the family farm began earlier in the 20th century, this Victory Garden era
clearly ended
of our agrarian society.
The name is also in homage to Mike's
great-grandparents, Victor Hugo Dunton, (whose mother was well read and
fancied the work of the author, Victor Hugo) and his wife, Eda Vick
Dunton. They are who built the house and started this multi-generational family farm.
|
|
1997 |
Personal
planning led to the active decision to differentiate between wants and
needs, simplifying all aspects of life, and the elimination of all
debt. It was determined that work needed to be integrated into life
-- family, farm, fun, hobbies, passions, etc. Developing a plan to
support a large family with conventional farming on 30 acres was quickly
ruled out. |
|
1996 |
Dunton
Farms built a Web page on the family history organization Web site and
offered holiday packages of walnuts and filberts as well as a marketing tool
for promoting local sales including fresh eggs, cattle, hay and seasonal
produce. You can see it at
archive.org by clicking here. |
|
1988 |
Sale
items were limited to small scale quantities of grass hay, Hereford cattle, eggs, walnuts,
filberts (hazelnuts), and some fresh fruits and garden
produce. Gardening and seed saving efforts carried on, the old
plants on the farm carefully preserved. Income remains restricted to local sales and is supplemental
to Mike's off-farm career in information systems management. |
|
1988 |
Mike and Denise
Dunton purchased and took over operation of the farm. Relocation from
Petaluma, California included artichoke plants, medicinal herb plants, and numerous seeds.
Many survive to this day. Mike worked off the farm as an IT Manager. |
|
1982 |
John
Lewis Dunton, Sr. passes away. |
|
1978
|
Registered
Hereford cattle, grass hay and nuts were the main cash crops.
Mike,
in spite of having lived
most of his life in the "suburbs," made it
known that he wanted to live on "the" farm someday.
|
|
1972
|
After
42 years as a rural mail carrier, John Dunton retires. He
started as a substitute mail carrier in 1930, accepted a full-time
position as a clerk in 1950, and in 1967 became the rural carrier for
route 2. He carried mail along this route until his retirement.
In his spare time he farmed, camped, and loved to fish. |
1966
|
The
John Dunton Family. Notice that this is taken in front of the same cherry tree
as in the 2002 picture above. |
|
1961
|
Mike
was brought home to the farm from the hospital (along with mom) to recover
from the birth. The farm was imprinted as home!
Opportunities
gardening with his mother, both sets of grandparents, and his
great-grandfather fueled an interest in raising produce as well as medicinal and culinary
herbs.
|
|
1943-1946
|
World War II
put pressure
on the resources of the nation.
Victory
Gardening was a philosophical campaign that was widely
promoted by the government and industry as a means of conserving these
resources for the war effort by promoting the concept of individual responsibility
for producing at least a portion of their own food. Unfortunately,
as soon as the war was over, many people quickly quit gardening.
John Lewis
Dunton, Sr. took over ownership of the farm after his mother (Eda) passed away
in 1944. The young family moved into the V. H. Dunton house. He
continued working with the postal service, farming the home place and also
doing custom farming work (combining,
haying, etc.).
|
|
1940
|
John
and Marjorie marry in 1939. They purchase the property at what is
now the intersection of Molalla Avenue and State Highway 213.
The
house that they lived in until 1944 is not standing but two old Bartlett
Pear trees mark the spot and many spring daffodils.
|
|
V. H. Dunton Home
Liberal, Oregon
Circa 1935
|
Farm life included milk cows, chickens (for meat and eggs), fruit trees and gardens for sustenance along
with grain, hay, flax, livestock, and nuts as cash crops. |
|
1934
|
Victor
and Eda (Vick) Dunton, Easter Sunday, April 1, 1934.
Tragically, a
few weeks later, Victor was killed while performing duties as a Special
Deputy Game Warden at the Willamette Falls in Oregon City on May 6, 1934.
Foul play at the hands of two poachers was suspected and rumors circulated
but it was officially ruled accidental. Although his wallet was
chained and his gun carried in a holster, neither was ever recovered.
|
|
1929 |
Victor
Hugo Dunton moved the house, using oak log rollers, pivot poles and
horses, about 5 miles to the acreage he had purchased across the street
from the church
in Liberal, Oregon.
It took several days and they lived and cooked in the house as it was
moved.
John
graduated from Molalla High in 1930 and started working as a substitute mail carrier. |
|
Circa
1918
|
The
Victor
Hugo Dunton family about 1918. My Great Aunt Willma (standing in back),
recalled that Grandma was really ill that day. Since the sitting fee
had been paid and the appointment made, they traveled to Calvert's Studio
in Oregon City for
the portrait. |
|
1916
|
Farming
has always been a family experience. This photo was taken in 1916.
It is of
Victor with his children John and Mildred seated with him. A cousin, Alfred Butterfield
manning the implement in
tow. |
|
1909
Liberal, Oregon Baseball
circa 1910
|
Victor
Hugo Dunton, son of Lewis, marries Eda Caroline Vick and establishes
our
farm.
At least
two years prior, Victor began building our house on the 15 acres his father sectioned
off for him when he "came of age."
While
replacing layers of old wallpaper in the living room in 1990, a postcard with a
1907 cancellation was found under the first layer.
|
|
1907-1908
|
Prior
to marriage, Victor taught at the Liberal School. His sister
Gladys was the instructor for the 1912-1913 school year.
This is the same school John Dunton attended. Mike's father attended
the Liberal School until it was closed in the middle of his 5th grade year and
students were transferred to the Molalla Primary School. The
building was sold and served
as a private residence for many years until it was torn down in about 2000.
|
|
1900 |
The
Church at Liberal
is moved from the corner of Vick Road to its new home in Liberal. Eda
Vick Dunton's uncle Jakob Elmer is the pastor. |
|
1899
|
Lewis Carlysle Dunton was born in Maine and raised in Iowa. He moved
his family to a farm near Molalla, Oregon, on what is now Molalla Avenue, just a few miles from
southeast of our
farm. |
|