The John Sierks Family, Brownville, received the Nebraska Pioneer Farm Family Award Monday, July 26, at the Nemaha County Fair.

The farm is one and one-half miles north of Highway 136 off of 647 Avenue and one mile west of where Highway 67 goes south to Nemaha.
Following are notes about the honorees read by Maxine Schatz of the Nemaha County Agricultural Society. Schatz presented the award.
John C. Sierks’ grandfather, J.C. Johansen, who came to the United States from Denmark in about 1890, purchased 40 acres of land north of Brownville March 2, 1910.
Johansen’s daughter, Mary and her husband, Jesse Sierks moved to the home place in the early 1930s. In 1949, J.C. Johansen died and he left the land to his daughter, Mary Sierks.
In 1956, after the death of Jesse Sierks, Jesse and Mary Sierks’ son, John and his wife, Dorothy, purchased the 40 acres of land from his mother.
John Sierks said that he has lived on the place almost 70 years of the 100 years that it has been in the family.
The Sierks family is among 133 families from across Nebraska being honored this year.
2010 is the 54th year of the Nebraska Pioneer Farm Family Awards. The awards are presented by the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben and supported by the Nebraska Association of Fair Managers. The Nebraska Farm Bureau Federation sponsors the awards.
The award honors farm families in Nebraska whose land has been owned by members of the same family for at least 100 years. More than 8,000 families in all 93 Nebraska counties have been honored at various county fairs. Each honoree receives an engraved plaque and gatepost marker as permanent recognition of this milestone. Plaques and gatepost markers are presented at the annual county fair where the land is located.