[470] Hamblen County Farm Joins State's Century Farms Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 17, 2010
CONTACT: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947

HAMBLEN COUNTY FARM JOINS STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM
Big Sand Spring Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)—The Big Sand Spring Farm in Hamblen 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.
This farm shares its early history with the White Farm and Whitetown Acres Farms, both of which have been previously designated as Century Farms. Each farm stems from a land grant for 640 acres awarded to Joseph White in what was then Hawkins County.
He and his wife, Elizabeth Nixon, had nine children. Joseph was 52 and married to Elizabeth Nixon when he joined his brothers who had moved to Tennessee in the latter part of the 1700s. The family believes the Whites, who eventually had nine children, were delayed in moving because of family business that included settling the estate of Elizabeth Nixon’s father.
According to the farm’s records, two sons, Jonas and George, made the move with their parents to assist in building the homestead. They would have been around 24 and 18 years old. George was the second-generation owner. Married twice, he was the father of seven children; his son, Jemeson, acquired the farm in 1892.
Jemeson gave his daughter, Julia, and her husband, George Williams, 118 acres. Both Union and Confederate soldiers raided the farm but the family managed to hide food in the saddleroom and cellar beneath the parlor. The couple had nine children who survived to adulthood. One of their daughters, Gem, married Oscar Thompson but died after giving birth to their son, William Dallas. Dallas was reared on the farm by Gem’s family although Oscar continued to “support, visit and love his son.” In the 1940s, Dallas was given several shares of land by his uncles and aunts and bought the remaining portions of the farm for $1,800.
Today, William “Dallas” Thompson raises beef cattle, pastureland and hay on 118 acres of the original farmland of his ancestors, Joseph and Elizabeth. Also, a barn built in 1917 continues to be used. Big Sand Spring, used as an address for the family in the 1930s and 40s, takes its name from the “spot below the spring where sand actually oozes,” the family reported in the farm’s Century Farm application.
In addition to Dallas, family members include Alice Thompson Brooks, daughter of Dallas, as well as her daughter, Samantha, and granddaughter Gema.
“Along with the two other farms that come from the original acreage of Joseph White, Big Sand Spring is well-documented and is one of the most historic farms in Hamblen County,” observed Hankins, who added the farm is the 21st Century Farm to be certified in Hamblen County.

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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: To interview the farm’s owners or secure jpegs of the farm for editorial use, 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.