433 WILSON COUNTY FARM JOIN RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

203-Year-Old Dobson Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions;Wilson County Leads the State with 63 Certified Century Farms, Reports Hankins

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 15, 2006
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, 615-898-2947


(MURFREESBORO)—The Dobson Farm in Wilson County recently was designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms program at the Center for Historic Preservation (CHP), which is located on the campus of MTSU.
In 1803, Benjamin Dobson established the Dobson Farm in the Gladeville community. Benjamin and wife Elizabeth traveled on horseback from North Carolina to Tennessee, initially settling in Smith County before purchasing 200 acres fed by a branch of Sugg’s Creek. The Dobson family—including children Elizabeth, William R., Jane, Margaret and Benjamin—raised corn, sorghum, cattle, hogs, mules and broomcorn.
In 1828, William R. Dobson became the next owner of the land. Under his ownership, cotton, oats, sheep and geese were added to the farm’s products. Married twice, William fathered 10 children.
Benjamin B. Dobson was the third generation to own the farm. Along with his wife, Sarah J. Partlow, they had three children. In 1879, Benjamin and his family traveled to Whitewrite, Texas. While there, Benjamin died and Sarah brought her three children, who were then ages 3, 5 and 7, back on a buckboard wagon to Wilson County.
Benjamin and Sarah’s son, Thomas M. Dobson Sr., acquired the property in 1890. Thomas and his wife, Evie G. Smith, were the parents of 11 children. Thomas also served as a rural mail courier for the community, traveling by horse and buggy. In 1907, Thomas built a farmhouse with the lumber from Liberty Hill Church. In 1920, when their youngest child was 3, Thomas died, leaving Evie to rear the children alone and work the farm with their help.
In 1946, Thomas M. Dobson Jr., the great-great-grandson of the founder, acquired the land. He and wife Marie have made the farm their home. Their children, Thomas Mitchell Dobson, Jeanette Dobson Vance and Donna Dobson Goff, are also owners of the farm, while grandsons Thomas and Michael Dobson and Thomas Adam and David Austin Goff assist with the farm work.
Today, the 66 acres produces hay, oats, corn, cattle, hogs and soybeans. The farmhouse that was built in 1907, and where Thomas M. Dobson Jr. was born, became the first house the Tennessee Valley Authority provided electricity to west of 231 in Wilson County. The original light pole is still a part of the landscape. Other buildings include a horse barn constructed in 1936 and a
well house and smokehouse from the 1940s.


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Hankins said the Dobson family joins a select group of Tennessee farmers who have owned and operated their farm for more than 200 years. Additionally, she added, Wilson County currently leads the state with 63 certified Century Farms.

About the Tennessee Century Farm Program

The Tennessee Century Farm Program, now 30 years old, recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the Center for Historic Preservation at MTSU has been a leader in the important work of documenting Tennessee’s agricultural heritage and history through the Tennessee Century Farm Program, and continues to administer this program.
The Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) began the Tennessee Century Farm Program in 1976 as part of the nation’s bicentennial. Today, the TDA provides a metal outdoor sign, noting either 100, 150 or 200 years of “continuous agricultural production” to Century Farm families.
To be considered for eligibility, a farm must be owned by the same family for at least 100 years; must produce $1,000 revenue annually; must have at least 10 acres of the original farm; and one owner must be a resident of Tennessee. There are more than 1,000 Century Farms across the state and all 95 counties are represented.
“The Century Farmers represent all the farm families of Tennessee,” Hankins said, “and their contributions to the economy, and to the social, cultural, and agrarian vitality of the state, both past and present, is immeasurable. Each farm is a Tennessee treasure.”
For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit its Web site at http://histpres.mtsu.edu/histpres. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted via mail at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132, or by telephone at 615-898-2947.



• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To request a jpeg of this farm or an interview with the farm’s current owners, please contact the Center for Historic Preservation at 615-898-2947.