Jake Barbour was born and spent most of his younger years on farms around Lafayette, Indiana. This part of the country is known for growing corn & soybeans, also raising hogs and cattle. Jake had regular farm chores caring for the animals, planting crops, and driving tractors. Following in the footsteps of his two older brothers, he enlisted in the Army on his 17th birthday, serving 16 months in Korea.

 Jake has been a resident of Taylorsville since 1977. He worked in the auto-body trade for 38 years, retiring from Larry H. Miller.  Jake has restored many old cars and trucks over the years and had always had the desire to restore a tractor. He found a much neglected rusted Farmall tractor sitting in a field in the Riverton/Herriman area. Farmall was a model name for tractors manufactured by the American company, International Harvester. The Farmall line of all-purpose tractors was a leading brand.  Its bright red color was a distinctive badge.  He bought it, brought it home, tore it apart completely, and worked for an entire year replacing and restoring it to its original beauty. After he completed this restoration, he was not sure what he should do with it. He decided to donate it to the Taylorsville Bennion Heritage Center Museum.  Over 1500 Granite School District elementary students visit the museum annually on field trips and get to see this beautiful Farmall C1950 restored tractor. In addition, it is used annually in the Taylorsville Dayzz parade.  We are so fortunate and honored to have someone with such a great skill to restore such a beautiful piece of equipment and then generously donate it so it can be enjoyed by so many. 

Jake loves the mountains and has always played as hard as he works.  He enjoys horseback riding, bear and cougar hunting with his redbone hounds, camping, four wheeling, snowmobiling in the winter, boating in the summer, and especially loves Flaming Gorge and Lake Powell.

Jake and his wife Dama have been married for 58 years, have six children (one deceased), 17 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren. 

If you would like to nominate someone for Citizen Spotlight, please contact Tiffany Janzen at 801-835-3330 or email at [email protected]