Trousdale County

Located southeast of Hartsville, the farm was founded in 1899 by William Carman and wife Jennie. Their original 55 acres yielded Burley tobacco, corn, sorghum, dairy cattle, swine and sheep. In 1911, Carman purchased an adjoining 60 acres to make a 115-acre farm. The farm was the scene of army maneuvers in 1943. Equipment used by the soldiers was hidden in the barn on several occasions.

The couple had three children, Clarence, Geneva and Clara, the latter of whom became the next owner of the farm in 1948. With her husband, Miller C. Robertson, and their three children, Billy, Sue and Anne, the family raised Burley tobacco, corn, sorghum, a vegetable garden, dairy cattle, swine and sheep.

According to the CHP’s research, although mules were still used for the tobacco crop, the first tractor was purchased in 1951 for $625. A year later, the family sold three acres to the Army Corps of Engineers for Old Hickory Lake for $625.

The grandson of the founders, Billy Rhea Robertson, purchased the farm from other heirs and farmed the property for many years. He was active in agricultural organizations, beginning when he was in Future Farmers of America and participated in state livestock shows. Robertson also was one of the founders of the Trousdale County Youth Fair and was the field crops adviser for this fair, which is the longest-running event of its kind in the state. Robertson served on the Macon-Trousdale County Farmers Co-op’s board of directors and on the Trousdale County Farm Bureau’s directorial board, beginning in 1966. Mr. Robertson died in September of 2011.

Gilbert Booher, the son of Sue Robertson Booher, is now the owner of the land his uncle farmed for at least 50 years. As the fourth generation owner, he advises that cattle and hay are the main products.

During the 1820s, Benjamin and Judith Chastain Talley of Virginia established the Fergusson Farm, which is six miles northwest of Hartsville. Charter members of the local Baptist church, they planted corn, wheat and hay on over 300 acres. The family managed herds of cattle, horses and swine as well.

At Benjamin’s death in 1872, the farm passed to Eliza Jane Talley Hawkins and her husband Joseph C. Hawkins. Eliza was the founder’s daughter and the mother of two children. In the nineteenth century, the farm crops were corn, small grains and livestock.

In 1961, Pat Fergusson inherited 90 acres of the family land. The founders’ great great grandson, Pat, like so many Middle Tennessee farmers, specializes in tobacco and cattle production.

In the twentieth century, the progressive cultivation of fruit trees, hybrid corn, lespedeza and burley tobacco has become a popular agricultural alternative for those farmers who wish to increase their profits. This activity highlights the story of the High View Farm, which is one of the best documented Century Farms in Middle Tennessee. James Paschal Garrett, the founder, moved to Tennessee from Virginia with his family in 1835. By the 1870s, he had acquired 200 acres of land, located about one mile west of Dixon Springs, to which he later added approximately 500 acres. Also at this time he constructed a two-story brick house with the “traditional room over room with a central hall. Originally the upstairs was separated by a solid brick wall-one side for girls and one for boys.” Later, in the 1880s, James “added a one-story wing to his two-story brick house to include a large dining room, kitchen, two pantries and a side porch. This helped his wife as it was considerable trouble to bring food to the house from the separate kitchen.” This building remains the farm dwelling. Together with his wife Susan Emily Porter and their children, James produced grains and vegetables and managed herds of sheep, swine and dairy cattle.

The founders’ son, Edward Porter Garrett, worked the farm with his father for almost 25 years before becoming its second owner. On 219 acres Edward grew the same crops as his father, but added lespedeza and burley tobacco to his commodities. In 1939, Dr. Rhea Edward inherited the farm and began to breed Hereford cattle. He also “planted test fields of types of pollinated corn plus sixteen varieties of hybrid corn.”

The current owner is Dr. Sam Young Garrett of Nashville. Dr. Garrett received title to about 325 acres of the original farm in 1959. To that property, he has added 1,900 acres. The great grandson of James Paschal Garrett, Sam manages a very progressive farm. Tenant labor cultivates the annual tobacco crop. The farm also produces registered Polled Herefords, hay and grain. In addition, Sam has planted 150 Persian Walnut trees and 100 Eastern Black Walnut trees. Married to June Harrison, Sam is a practicing physician in Nashville.

James Burnley of Louisa County, Virginia, began paying taxes on 880 acres in 1794 in what would become Trousdale County. James and his wife Elizabeth Ann Burnley operated one of the area’s most important agricultural operations during the antebellum era. The Brumleys managed large tobacco, corn and wheat fields, acquired the farm’s first heads of swine, and cultivated small grains. At some time in the nineteenth century, the Burnleys owned and operated a tobacco factory. During the Civil War, Moses, the son of the founders and the second generation owner, and his wife Molly hosted General John Hunt Morgan and his officers at their home.

In 1953, Ray F. Foley acquired 231 acres of the original farm. Ray, the great-great-great-grandson of James and Elizabeth Ann Burnley, worked the land for the next 27 years, producing tobacco, milo, hay and cattle. Upon his death in 1980, his widow inherited the farm and continued to supervise its daily operations. Mrs. Foley writes that a few of the farm’s nineteenth century buildings remain at Hill Crest though a log smokehouse does date to the antebellum era. A slave cemetery is also located on the farm.

On the Macon-Trousdale County line is the Holder Farm. In 1906, Lucy Anne (Mrs. John) Akers, a widow with four children moved from Kentucky to a farm of 112 acres north of Hartsville to be close to her brothers who already lived in the Goose Creek area. Lucy and her children, Dewitt, Fell, John Jr. and Edna, raised sheep, hogs, cattle and tobacco.

Edna Akers Holder and her husband George acquired the farm in 1910. Their children were George A., Ras H. and Sam. The family reports that during this time the home and farm was the site of community picnics as well as family reunions for the Celsor and Holder families. In addition, the farm was the site of agricultural and equipment manufactures field days. The land supported cattle, tobacco and hay primarily. In 1973, George G. Holder passed away and bequeathed the land to his three sons who subsequently divided the farm. Ras H. Holder obtained 300 acres including the 112 acre original tract.

Today, the farm is owned by Charla N. Holder, the widow of Ras, and their son, Stanley Holder, raises hay, cattle and tobacco. A farm house, a log wash house, a large feed barn, and an outhouse constructed by the Works Progress Administration in 1939 illustrate the development of this farm throughout the twentieth century.

Gid Kyle, a Spanish-American War veteran returned to the Shady Grove community, near Hartsville, and became the owner of a farm in 1908. The farm was one that was founded by the Malone family around 1840. The Malone farm, established in 1840 was at one time around 1000 acres. Row crops, tobacco, and livestock were raised on the farm that also is noted for the Carolina Spring that drains the property into Shady Grove Goose Creek, then into the Corley Branch and onto the Cumberland River.

There was apparently a strong tie between the Malones and Gid Kyle, who lived with and attended school with the Malone family, but the family relationship is unclear in records at this time. The Kyle Century Farm dates, then, from 1908 when Gid Kyle acquired 254 acres of the Malone Farm. Married to Mattie Ursula Turner, the couple had four children. Their names were William Turner Kyle, Nancy Malone Kyle, Gid Kyle, Jr. and May Kyle Scott. According to the family, the Kyle Farm produced the “finest wood, sheep, wool, milk, corn, hay and tobacco for the community” for over fifty years. In 1965, Gid’s son, William Kyle purchased his father’s estate. Today, family owners include Robert W. Kyle, Sam Kyle, Jr, Glenn Allen Kyle and Christine Kyle.

In 1852, William Iley Massey established a farm of 220 acres located in the north east section of the county. Married to Susan Haliburton Massey, the couple had five children named John William Massey, William Pierce Massey, Clemency Victory Massey, James Henry Massey and George Monroe Massey. The Massey family owned no slaves and family history records that William did not serve as a soldier during the Civil War. The farm was bordered by both Union and Confederate sympathizers and a history of the family mentions that a “Confederate bushwacking camp was near the Massey domicile.”

In 1890, George Monroe Massey, acquired the property. Under his ownership, the farm produced wheat, corn, sorghum, hogs, milk cattle and chickens. The Masseys ran a community sorghum mill and here neighbors produced molasses for a number of years. George was married to Ann Towns Massey and they had six children. Their daughter, Sallie Massey Campbell, became the next owner of the land in 1930.

Sallie and her husband Shela Campbell had two children, Robbie and Grace. The family cultivated corn, tobacco and wheat and raised cows, hay and sheep. In 1969, Robbie obtained the farm and since then she and her husband, Jack Evitts and their her sons Edward and Rickie Evitts have worked the land. Progressive farmers, the Evitts were the first farmers in Trousdale County to bale burley tobacco. They have worked with the University of Tennessee to test new varieties of tobacco and growing practices for over 25 years. The family recalls their first diesel tractor was a used 1962 model and fuel was 6 cents a gallon. Currently, the farm produces cattle, tobacco, hay and vegetables. Two tobacco barns, a feed barn and a smokehouse are in use today.

Terry Farm

Connie R. Massey and Joe Massey

Located three miles from Hartsville, the Terry Farm that was established by George T. Terry, Sr. in January of 1868. On 255 acres, the Terry family, including his wife Elizabeth and five children, raised hay, tobacco, corn, cattle, hogs and mules. The old Providence School and Presbyterian church were located on this farm.

In 1901, George’s son, Goodall Terry acquired the farm. During his ownership, he gave Trousdale County a plot of land for the new Providence school. Goodall married Sidney Terry and they had one child named George D. Terry.

Eventually, the land was passed to George and his wife Edna Mae Terry. While managing the farm, George served as a County Road Superintendent and he built a shop on the land for storing county road equipment. The land was inherited by Edna’s nephew, Quindy Robertson and her niece, Connie Robertson Massey.

In 2001, Connie and her husband, Joe Massey became the owners of the farm. Today, Joe works the land that mainly produces hay and cattle. A farm house and a round top barn with a basement, built in 1948 and the county road equipment shop built by George Terry in 1949 remain on the property.

Born in Sumner County in 1811, Stephen Stone’s family moved to this area from Virginia. Married to Mary Ann Denney in 1835, the couple moved to what is now Trousdale County and established a farm of 250 acres in 1855. The couple had 13 children and raised burley tobacco, corn, hay and beef cattle. The founders are both buried in the Stone Cemetery on the land they worked.

One of their sons, William Nicholas Stone, joined the Confederate army in 1861 and was in several major battles including Perryville, Chickamauga, Stones River and Franklin. He was paroled in 1865 and lived with wife Ellen Johnson Calhoun on a neighboring farm, one also founded by Stephen Stone.
Another son, Stephen Henry Stone, married to Eliza Patterson, inherited 108 acres at the death of his mother.

Upon the death of Stephen in 1916, James H. Stone, grandson of the founders, purchased the land and managed the farm for many years. Married to Mary Sue Dies, the Stones had four children, all of whom received a portion of the land. Mary Eleanor Stone Robertson, mother of the current owner, inherited 30 acres of the original farm. Quindy D. Robertson owns that portion and other acreage today and produces beef cattle and hay. All of the founders’ six great-great-grandchildren were heavily involved in 4-H. Two of their great-grandsons, including the current owner, received the FFA American Farmer degree.

The Stone family’s history and their contributions to the Providence community are well documented. The anniversary of the family farm falls on July 3, just before the nation always celebrates its Independence. The founder of the Triple Stone Farm would understand that symbolic date as his grandfather fought in the Virginia Militia during the Revolutionary War, Hankins said.

Established by John and Roxy Carnegia Ward in 1807, the Ward Century Farm lies on the south side of the Cumberland River, six miles south of Hartsville. The farm’s original 1,300 acres produced large herds of horses, sheep and cattle for market. John and Roxy Ward also raised seventeen children. In 1818, Bryant Ward inherited the family farm. Other than his marriage to Mary Murphy, however, little is known about this period of the farm’s history.

Frances Ward Waller, the great-great granddaughter of the founders, acquired 130 acres of the original farm in 1953. She and her husband Edgar have managed the land for the last 33 years. Today, Edgar and his son Bryant raise tobacco, hay and cattle.

The Ward Pioneer Farm, located six miles south of Hartsville, is the second Century Farm in Trousdale County to evolve from the original plantation of John and Roxy Ward. It shares a common history with the Ward Frontier Land Farm until 1959. At that time, 105 acres of the farm passed into the hands of the founders’ great great grandson, Hubert N. Ward. Hubert and his wife Grace Haley continue to supervise operations at Ward Pioneer Land. In 1976, Hubert and his sons, Hubert, III, Bobby and and Jerry, worked 215 acres which produced tobacco, hay and cattle. Today, James D. Hey owns the farm.

Photo: One of the Wards' fine mules stands in front of an old slave cabin on this nineteenth century farm.