Vandemark's Folly

In this off‑beat memoir a grizzled Iowa pioneer is pressed into chronicling the rise of his own Vandemark Township, the very place he helped settle. As he pens the early chapters, the farmer’s simple, honest life collides with a smooth‑talking salesman from a Chicago history company who promises fame and a costly portrait in exchange for money. Already wary of traveling hucksters, he confronts the scam while his sharp‑witted granddaughter Gertrude watches, offering both counsel and a touch of humor.

The narrative weaves together vivid recollections of prairie life, the stubbornness of early settlers, and the absurdities of self‑promotion in a restless new America. Through lively anecdotes—from a flat Dutch turnip’s unlikely start to the farmer’s own brush with legal and financial tricks—listeners gain a portrait of a community on the edge of modernity. With a warm, self‑deprecating voice, the storyteller invites listeners to share in the quirks and resilience that defined a generation of ordinary folk turned reluctant historians.