When Grandmother Young died in 1909 at age 91, she willed the farm to Mr. Truman's mother and Uncle Harrison, cutting off other members of the family with $5 apiece.

They contested the will with legal action that was drawn out over several years. Finally Martha Truman settled with them out of court by assuming several mortgages for cash to pay them in exchange for quitclaims.

Mr. Truman approached his rural responsibilities with enthusiasm and intelligence and worked hard to improve the farm. The farm had been very fertile, but he increased its fertility by crop rotation, soil conservation and weed control. He instituted record keeping of actual costs per acre on crops, and he used labor-saving equipment instead of hiring more farmhands.

Later he recalled that he plowed, sowed, reaped, milked cows, fed hogs, doctored horses, baled hay and did everything there was to do on a 600-acre farm.