Daniel Corn to Whiskey
Mike & Jill Daniel
Carroll County, Iowa
Frank and Anna (Puttman) Renze purchased the land that we call home in Roselle Township in 1904. Frank and Anna were Mike’s great great grandparents. Their son John, and his wife Mary (Hoffman) Renze rented and then purchased the land in 1950. John and Mary raised 6 girls on this land, which is just east of Roselle, in Carroll County, Iowa. Their youngest, Alice (age 93) was born on this farm, and we know her as Mike’s grandmother. We are blessed that Alice has been able to share many stories of her childhood and growing up on this land.
Alice married Leo Staiert on September 12th, 1951. They moved across the road and raised their own 4 children. Their oldest, Pam, is Mike’s mother. John and Mary lived well into their retirement years on this land. After they passed Alice and Leo purchased the Renze home place (1982), which they farmed and cared for. The home was rented out and ended up sitting empty for several years. Mike and Jill (Steinkamp) married in 1998 and purchased the acreage from Alice and Leo in 1999. While the home was not able to be saved, the original basement bricks were saved to construct the fireplace and some of the original light fixtures were used when our home was built in 2006. As Leo retired, Pam and her husband, Leonard, took over the farming in addition to their own farming operation. When Leonard retired from farming Mike and his brothers, Lenny and Nicholas, began farming the land. The only original building on the farm is the machine shed, built in 1920. Jill and Mike, along with their kids – Adam and Kara as well as their good friend and neighbor, Tom, fixed up the machine shed. It means a lot to us that we get to raise our family and walk on the same land as our ancestors did. As Mike and Jill have purchased more acres, great consideration is given when adding buildings and in constructing our pond in 2020. We are blessed to be on this land and take great pride in it.
Mike also has an excavation company, Daniel’s Dozers. Mike began doing dozer work for his dad and neighbors while still in high school, after his dad purchased a D4 Caterpillar. Following college and working in town a few years he was able to take his business full time. Much like farming, the Dozer Business is often a family affair. Jill helps Mike shuffle equipment around, Adam has become a good operator while working many summers and with the addition of GPS technology to the equipment, Kara assists her dad in building the files.
We look forward to our future generations walking the land as their ancestors did and putting some of their own roots down in this beautiful, rich, and memory filled land that we call home.
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