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LaRue
Enterprises
since 1995
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A Brief History:
By William A. LaRue
In 1774 Joseph Rue decided to settle down on a land plot of somewhere between
5,000 to 7,000 acres. The current 200 acres that the farm is on, was the main
settlement of the farm. Joseph built a log cabin, about 200 feet south of our
current house, where his wife Ann Disbrow and their 10 children, 5 sons and 5
daughters aging from 2 to 22 years old, came to live in 1776.
The farm grew from the original one room log cabin to include a sawmill built
in the late 1770's, a tavern built just after the sawmill, a blacksmith shop,
several large charcoal pits, a tannery and the typical large farm barn housing
cows and horses, built in 1793, unfortunately burnt down after a lightning strike
on September 13, 1915. All of these building that made up the original farm were
built just off the main road from Charlton to Burnt Hills, which just happened
to run through the middle of the farm.
The one room log cabin was obviously much too small for the family of 12, therefore
after the sawmill and tavern were built a framed house was constructed in1783.
This house stood just in front of the current farm house and faced east and west
unlike the current house that faces north and south. The exact dimensions and
style of this house are unknown, but we know that it was at least two full stories
and had a large enough fire palace that the Yule log was brought into the house
buy a small colt and then rolled into the fireplace in one piece.
Joseph Rue was a land surveyor by trade and eventually became the first judge
of Saratoga County where he acquired the prefix of "Le" in front of
Rue for legal; he later legally changed the family name of Rue to LaRue. Joseph
died at the age of 79 on July 10, 1810 while on official business in Cherry Valley,
NY.
Joseph and Ann's sixth child Matthew assumed the entire operations after his father's
death. Matthew married Amy McKnight, 24 years his youth. Matthew and Amy had 3
daughters and one son, Joseph Nelson. Matthew died at the age of 72 on October
8, 1837. J. Nelson and his mother assumed the operations for 10 years before J.
Nelson married Nancy Smith on September 22, 1847. As a wedding gift to his bride,
J. Nelson had the current farm house built using the doors and windows and some
of the lumber from the original large farm house, the house was finished in 1849.
J. Nelson also had the sawmill and tavern moved from the woods to the back yard
to be used as sheds. The tavern and wood shed of the older farm house are still
used on the current farm, part of the sawmill have been used to build other sheds
around the farm.
J. Nelson and Nancy had 2 daughters and 2 sons. The youngest son William B. stayed
on the farm and married Jennie Rosendale, a girl 21 years his youth, on October
27, 1907. William B. and Jennie assumed the operation after J. Nelson died on
April 23, 1898 at the age of 76. William B. and Jennie went on to have 2 daughters
and 3 sons. Richard Nelson was the only one that wanted to remain on the farm.
R. Nelson married Edna Gray and they had one son, Albert W., the current owner.
R. Nelson assumed the operation on November 25, 1950 after William B. passed away
at the age of 82. Albert W. married Linda Wolfe on July 17, 1966 and went on the
have 3 daughters and one son, William A. LaRue. Albert W. assumed the operation
on March 9, 1993 when R. Nelson passed away at the age of 77.
Albert W., the current owner, is the 6th generation on the family farm. He graduated
from the BH-BL school system and has taken courses at Cornell University. He is
active in Farm Bureau and FSA. He has served on the Charlton Volunteer Fire Department
since 1962 and has been a competing member on the New York State Pulling Association
since 1977. Albert has taught tractor and farm safety since 1963.
Linda Wolfe, Albert's wife, is a graduate of Schuylerville High and has been the
house-wife, book-keeper, gardener and part time help since 1966. She has also
been the Tax Collector for the town of Charlton since 1989 and is has also been
a part-time employed at the Charlton General Store since it opened.
Kathi, Albert and Linda's oldest, is a graduate of BH-BL and ACC. She lives in
Great Falls, Montana with her two daughters, Jessie and Rose.
Judy, the second oldest, is a graduate from BH-BL and SUNY Albany. She and her
husband Tom Harris live in Burnt Hills, NY with their two children Katelyn and
Andrew.
William A., the only son, is a graduate of BH-BL and SUNY Cobleskill with a degree
in Agricultural Engineering. He is involved in teaching tractor and farm safety.
William owns LaRue Enterprises and the hay business of the family farm. He lives
in the farm house with his two children, Matthew W. and Crystal.
Becky, the youngest, is a graduate of BH-BL and Mildred Elly Business School.
She lives in Halfmoon, NY with her two daughters, Micaela and Casey and son Jonathan.
Present Day on LaRue Farms
LaRue Farms is a small family owned and operated farm without any hired help,
just Albert W., his wife Linda L .and their son William A.
The current dairy barn was built in 1916, after the original burnt. Due to the
poor economic in American Agriculture I ended up selling the dairy portion of
the farm in 2006, since then we have transformed the dairy barn into a free
stall for the 30-40 heifers that we now board for another farmer. The crop portion
of the farm consists of 70 acres of hay, barley and soybeans and 140 acres of
corn. Albert W. also has multiple side business, including custom field work,
a repair and fabrication shop, firewood sales, custom lumber sawing, Mobile
oil dealer, Power-Up lubricates dealer, Gates Hydraulic Hose dealer, grave digging,
corn and pellet stoves and furnace sales and trucking. William A. LaRue owns
LaRue Enterprises which is comprised of a custom woodworking business, LaRue
Woodworking, Trail Plane snow groomers, RPM Custom built race engines, Cold
Fire Extinguisher sales and "A Royal Pain" Super Modified TWD Pulling
Truck which is part of the LaRue Pulling Team.