Darnell Farm

Darnell Farm
 
Gregory W. Darnell

Prior to the establishment of the state of Tennessee, Kinza Johnson settled and farmed a 640 acre tract in the Dutch Valley community in Anderson County. In addition to his farming duties, Kinza was an active public serviceman by serving as a Justice of the Peace in Knox County in 1799. A few years later, he was appointed as one of the original commissioners for Anderson County.

In 1857, Margaret Jane Johnson, the founder’s granddaughter, married Samuel Peak Moore. As a wedding present, Margaret received some of the acreage from the original farm. Under her ownership, the 323 acres produced cattle, pigs, chickens, hay, corn, and soybeans. The couple had five children. Their son, Samuel Tilden Moore, was the next owner of the land, along with his wife, Adania Dunkin Moore. The couple continued raising the same livestock and crops that were grown by the founder, with the addition of tobacco. Samuel Tilden Moore was a logger and he built his home out of timber from the property in 1896. Samuel Tilden and Adania Dunkin Moore had five children.

After Samuel Tilden and Adania died, the farm’s acreage was dispersed to their children. Although the farm was divided between the children, Samuel Houston Moore, the eldest son, continued to farm the entire acreage because the other heirs lived in other states.  Samuel Houston Moore and his wife, Laura Onetia Burress, farmed the property until their death. Their daughters, Margaret Illene Moore Darnell and Margie Lorene Moore Wright were the next owners of the farm.

 

 

In 1986, Gregory Wade Darnell, the son of Margaret Illene Moore Darnell purchased the acreage and the farm house. Gregory and his wife still live in the home that Samuel Tilden Moore constructed in 1896. The Darnells now raise horses, hay and cattle on the farm.