Braeutigam Orchards has been in the family since 1831, but it wasn’t until 1935 that Rollin Braeutigam started raising fruit. Rollie enjoyed selling fruit to his friends so much that he raised more then could sell! He then took his beautiful ripe peaches to the St. Louis Market to sell. Lester, his son, and Marie, his daughter-in-law, helped him load those peaches in a truck and drive to St. Louis. Unfortunately, the market wanted greener fruit so they did not receive a good price. However, Rollin and Lester believed tree-ripened peaches had the best and most appeal. Marie said, “Don’t worry, we will just sell the peaches right on the farm!” Rollin did not believe that people would drive a mile off the main road down a dirt driveway to purchase fruit, but he was wrong. He was soon meet with an abundance of people willing to go anywhere for great tasting tree-ripened fruit. Lester continued in the family business of growing and selling fruit with help from his wife, Marie for many years. Lester was a very well-liked man and Marie made the best fruit pies using her favorite apples: Golden Delicious.

In 1950, Pat Braeutigam was born to Lester and Marie as the sixth generation. Tom Range started working for Lester in 1963 and immediately fell in love with everything about farm life and the orchard, including Pat. Tom and Pat married in 1970 and in 1980, they officially took ownership of the farm following Lester and Marie’s retirement. Tom and Pat went on to have three children of their own: Julie, Sheila, and Kurt. Their oldest daughter, Julie, lives on the farm with her two children, Cullen and Quinn, in the house that her Grandpa Lester grew up in as a boy. Their second child, Sheila, married Doug Lueking. They live on the Lueking Dairy Farm in Hoffman with their two children, Shana and Drew. Their youngest child, Kurt, lives on the farm with his three children, Griffin, Ellie and Gavin, in the home that Tom and Pat built. Kurt is actively involved with the Orchard Operations.

For the first three generations, Braeutigam Orchards was primarily a general farm with grain, fruits, vegetables, and livestock. Since the fourth generation, we have specialized in fruit crops. In the sixth generation, we began to add vegetables, particularly pumpkins, as a specialty crop in addition to grain and livestock.

Today, Braeutigam Orchards remains a family owned and operated farm by the sixth and seventh generations. The eighth generation has already begun its training to become the future farmers of Braeutigam Orchards and continue the family farming tradition for many years to come! We hope that you will join in our tradition!

Past and Present Generations of Braeutigam Orchards

1st Generation: Fred and Susan Merrill (Approximately 1831-1854)

2nd Generation: Jordan and Martha (daughter) Sandidge (1854-1886)

3rd Generation: Oscar and Aurora (daughter) Braeutigam (1886-1914)

4th Generation: Rollin (son) and Mamie Braeutigam (1914-1939)

5th Generation: Lester (son) and Marie Braeutigam (1939-1980)

6th Generation: Tom and Pat (daughter) Range (1980-present)

7th Generation: Kurt Range (son), Julie Covlin (daughter), & Sheila (daughter)

8th Generation: In training