by Allan Hogue

When the last farmhouse disappears from the landscape, what stories vanish with it?

The Hogue family’s American odyssey spans centuries and continents –
from Scottish poverty to Virginia tobacco fields, from the moral awakening that led them to abandon slavery and seek new ground in Ohio, to six generations of Iowa farmers who broke the prairie, lost everything in the Great Depression, endured the Dust Bowl, and weathered the 1980s farm crisis.

They were unexceptional Americans, ordinary families across the Midwest who worked the land, raised their children, built communities, and formed the backbone of our nation. Farming on the Oxbow rescues these vanishing stories, preserving a legacy of faith, resilience, and moral courage before it disappears from memory along with the farmhouses.

Dr. Allan Hogue will sketch a portrait of Henry Clay “Dirty Shirt” Dean in 1850s Keosauqua, then share stories of early Iowa communities and explore what lessons, if any, these tight-knit towns might offer our polarized society today.

Join the discussion at the EV History Center on Sunday, July 19 at 2:00 p.m.

Dr. Hogue’s Iowa roots run six generations deep, tracing back to 1844 when his ancestor James Hogue settled in Van Buren County with fellow Methodist immigrants. Allan’s grandparents, George and Virginia Hogue, farmed through the Dust Bowl and Great Depression until their deaths in 1963.

Born in Keosauqua, Iowa, Allan earned his veterinary degree from Iowa State University and practiced large animal medicine during the devastating 1980s farm crisis. Dr. Hogue brings both deep family roots and professional agricultural experience to this multigenerational portrait of Iowa farming life – a memoir that serves as both personal recollection and preservation of vanishing rural heritage.

All are invited to attend this event at no charge. Donations are accepted.