People and communities
Tabernacle’s eggs: family work and a route to market
Documented history · Sources compared
Poultry farming joined household labor to regional markets. A family recollection identifies the work hidden behind the simple phrase “egg farm.”
The work before the sale
Rick Franzen’s survey describes egg production as supplemental income for many Tabernacle households. One resident remembered candling eggs as a child at the Eschenberg farm in the 1950s. Most production went through Lumberton’s auction, while some was sold directly at the Trenton Farmers Market. THS poultry-farm research and Zimmermann recollection.
Four brothers, different jobs
Diane Zimmerman’s contributed family account separates Martin’s collecting, washing, candling, grading and packing from Emil’s delivery route, which reached New York City. Other family members helped, including children. She remembered the business becoming Silver Top Farm and believed egg sales ended in 1978. That last date remains a recollection. THS poultry-farm research and Zimmermann recollection.
A household economy
The account makes the farm visible as a sequence of skilled tasks and journeys. A census occupation alone cannot show who washed eggs or drove deliveries. Franzen’s wider survey is incomplete, and its family relationships and uncertain property identifications should not be treated as fully verified genealogy. THS poultry-farm research and Zimmermann recollection.
Sources and research limits
The dedicated survey and attributed family contribution were read. Original auction books, business accounts and census images were not inspected. No present condition of private farm buildings is asserted.