[141] Marshall County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

For Release: Oct. 20, 2011
Contact: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947


MARSHALL COUNTY FARM JOINS RANKS OF STATE’S CENTURY FARMS PROGRAM

Big Orange Country Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

MURFREESBORO— The Big Orange Country Farm, located in Marshall 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 at MTSU.
The Century Farms Program recognizes the contributions of Tennessee residents who have owned and kept family land in continuous agricultural production for at least 100 years.
The Sheffield family’s farm has direct ties to the Revolutionary War. Founder Arthur Shuffield (as the name was spelled then), was a veteran of that conflict and he and his father and his two brothers fought against the British for America’s independence. Born in North Carolina in 1750, Arthur married Lucretia Hogan in 1773, and they had12 children. James, a son of Arthur and Lucretia’s, came to Wilson County around 1804 to look over the Middle Tennessee landscape and its farming possibilities before other members of the family came across the mountains to settle and begin farming. In August 1813, Arthur Shuffield purchased 150 acres on Spring Creek of the Duck River in what was then Bedford County and would become Marshall County in 1836. When Arthur died in 1824, a family cemetery was established that is still maintained by his descendants.
Lucretia inherited the farm and, with the help of several sons who owned adjoining farms, managed to keep it in operation. The family raised cotton, livestock and row crops. The Fishing Ford Road, an early route linking Nashville and Huntsville, ran beside or near these farms.
After Lucretia’s death in 1837, her children inherited the farm. The children agreed to sell the farm in 1838 to their brother, John “Jack” Shuffield, but less than five years later, Jack sold the farm to another brother, Jason Bryant Shuffield, who was a member of the first Marshall County Court that met Oct. 3, 1836. During Jason’s ownership, the farm grew to approximately 1,000 acres. Jason married twice and fathered 16 children. Several of his sons and a son-in-law fought in the Civil War. Columbus Jackson Shuffield enlisted in 1861 and he served as an officer in the 4th Tennessee Calvary, Company A until he surrendered on May 9, 1865.
When Jason died in 1874, his widow, Martha Falwell Shuffield, inherited the farm, where she lived until her death in 1883. After a court battle among the heirs, Jason and Martha’s son Columbus became the next owner, farming the property until his death in 1892. His widow, Laura Adelaide Dobson Shuffield, inherited the property, and she and her son Ephraim, worked the land and added acreage to the farm.
The family had changed their surname’s spelling by the time Ephraim and Henry Sheffield inherited the farm in 1935. Henry then sold his portion to Ephraim. Ephraim and his wife, Alice Letitia Morris, were the parents of Elisha Jackson Jack Sheffield, who inherited the farm in 1959.
Jack Sheffield and his wife, Alice Wheeler Sheffield, were the parents of three children who all were active participants in 4-H programs. To increase their income, Jack also drove a school bus and worked as a night watchman at Durango Boot Company. Alice Sheffield inherited the farm after Jack’s death.
After Alice’s death in 1997, their twin daughters, Mary Sheffield and Martha Sheffield Cook inherited the farm when Martha died. The farm passed to Mary when Martha died, and Shannon Sheffield Cook, Martha’s son and Mary’s nephew works the land today. He and his wife, Amanda, live on the farm with their son Hayden, and daughter, Harlee. Shannon and his sister, Angela Cook Baxter, who also lives on the farm with her husband, Billy Baxter, and sons Pryor and Jackson, will inherit the farm one day. The family raises cotton, tobacco, hay, dairy cows and Black Angus cattle. The remnants of a slave cabin on the farm recall the slaves who worked the Sheffield property before emancipation. Records also indicate that freed blacks continued to work on the property after the Civil War. Other farm buildings remain from the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Few farms remain in the same family and carry the same surname for nearly 200 years, but that is the case with the Tennessee farm now owned by Mary Sheffield. Big Orange Country Farm is the 14th certified Century Farm in Marshall County.
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 Farms Program.

For more information about the Century Farms Program, please visit www.tncenturyfarms.org. The Center for Historic Preservation also may be contacted at Box 80, MTSU, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 37132 or 615-898-2947.

• ATTENTION, MEDIA: To interview the farm’s owner or request jpegs of the farm for editorial use, please contact the CHP at 615-898-2947.


Celebrating its 100th anniversary and faithful to its roots as a teachers' college, MTSU continues as a top producer of teachers in Tennessee. Pride, Tradition and Excellence are the cornerstones of "Tennessee’s Best"!