Much of the land that
we are familiar with in and around Higley was claimed and farmed by pioneers
who took advantage of the federal government’s homesteading program during the
1800-1900s. One such pioneering family was the Germanns.
On January 2, 1913
Anna Mathilde H. Germann applied to the U.S. Department of the Interior for a 311-acre
tract of desert land in Higley. Her intentions were to convert this harsh and
untamed land into a working farm. That she did, and soon after, her husband ,
John, and sons Paul, Edmund and Walter would follow her example and increase the Germann farmland holdings
to over 1,700 acres.
I invite you to my
website, www.germannhomesteaders.org to learn more about the homesteading
process, the original Germann homestead and what was to follow.
