[348] Warren County Farm Joins State's Century Farms Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 9, 2010
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947

WARREN COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM
196-Year-Old Stubblefield Farms Becomes County’s Fifth Century Farm

(MURFREESBORO)—Stubblefield Farms in Warren County has been designated as a Tennessee Century Farm, reports Caneta S. Hankins, director of the Century Farms program at the Center for Historic Preservation, which is located on the MTSU campus.
Among the oldest and best-documented family farms in Warren County, Stubblefield Farms originated with William Stubblefield, who purchased 275 acres of land north of Viola in 1814 from Elijah Chisholm, a Revolutionary War Veteran who was granted lands in Warren and White Counties in 1809.
On his farm, Stubblefield grew variety of crops and raised livestock, including horses. Family history records that William’s father, Robert Loxley Stubblefield of Hawkins County, gave him “a valuable stud horse which he chose instead of land,” presumably choosing to move west rather than remain in upper-east Tennessee. Subsequently, William, whose wife was Wilmuth Bond, bequeathed a horse to each of their 11 children.
Between 1848 and 1850, William and Wilmuth’s son, Robert Locksley “Lock” Stubblefield, traveled to Nashville to hire a schoolteacher for the community. Mary Jane Catherine Stout, who graduated from the Nashville Female Academy in 1847, returned to take the post, and married Lock in 1851.
In 1853, Lock opened a general merchandise store and served as postmaster for the post office located in his store. Local history records indicated that it was during this period that the community was officially named Viola for the Shakespearean character in “Twelfth Night.”
In 1890, as Lock’s health deteriorated, his son, James Robert “J. R.” Stubblefield, left his position as a schoolteacher to manage the family farm. He and his father agreed that J. R. was to get 44 acres on which to build a house for himself and his wife, Sallie Campbell, as well as half the proceeds of the farm and possession of the entire farm upon Lock’s death, which occurred in 1909.
After she was widowed, Mary moved in with J. R. and Sallie, living with them until age 96. Her burial in 1926 was the last one in the cemetery on the farm, where William, Wilmuth, Lock and other family members and slaves are buried.
In the late 1920s, J. R., who was also a preacher, helped his brother George borrow money to buy cattle for his farm. Once the Depression hit, George lost his farm and J. R. was close to losing his as well, but his two oldest sons, Royce and Herman, paid the mortgage to keep the farm in the family. Royce bought 127 acres of the farm and, along with his second wife, Ruth Givens, continued to work the farm and host family gatherings at Christmas and the Fourth of July.
An efficient farmer, Royce raised wheat, corn, hay, cattle, hogs and chickens. He plowed with a team of mules that, according to family members’ recollections, also gave rides to the children. He and Ruth worked together on chores and had an enviable vegetable garden each year, as well as a large vineyard, orchards and nut trees.
Royce died in 1983, leaving the farm to Ruth, who retained ownership until 1991 when Royce’s nephew, Charles Stubblefield purchased the land. Charles was the great-great-grandson of William and Wilmuth Stubblefield.

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After Charles’ death in 2009, his wife Carolyn retained the 127-acres farm that currently yields soybeans and corn. Carolyn has compiled an impressive family history, with many stories and recollections of each generation and prepared the Century Farm application.
Herman, who also helped to pay the farm’s mortgage, continued to farm his 109 acres. He attended Todd Academy in Viola and was a mechanic who studied at the Automobile Training School in Kansas City, Mo. In 1919, Herman married Mamie Hall. The couple and their six children worked hard on and off the farm, with each child attending college.
When Herman could no longer work the farm, his grandson, Stephen Stubblefield, moved to the farm with his wife, Jill, to manage the farm. After Herman’s death, the land went to his six children, all of whom later sold their shares to Steve.
Today, Steve is the Warren County executive director for Farm Services Agency and Jill is a kindergarten teacher.
“Stubblefield Farms is the fifth property to be certified as a Century Farm in Warren County,” Hankins noted.


About the Century Farms Program

The Century Farm Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have continuously owned, and kept in production, family land for at least 100 years. Since 1984, the CHP 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 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.
“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.


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• ATTENTION, MEDIA: Please not that according to the family, the variation on the spelling of Loxley/Locksley as indicated in the above release is correct; namely, in the names Robert Loxley Stubblefield and his son, Robert Locksley “Lock” Stubblefield.
To interview the farm’s owners or request jpegs of the farm, please contact the CHP directly at 615-898-2947.



With three Nobel Prize winners among its alumni and former faculty, Middle Tennessee State University confers master’s degrees in 10 areas, the Specialist in Education degree, the Doctor of Arts degree and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. MTSU is ranked among the top 100 public universities in the nation in the Forbes “America’s Best Colleges” 2009 survey.