[218] Greene County Farm Joins Ranks of State's Century Farms Program

For Release: Jan. 9, 2012
Contact: Caneta Hankins, Center for Historic Preservation, 615-898-2947


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

Bolton Farm Recognized for Agricultural Contributions

(MURFREESBORO)— The Bolton Farm, located in Greene 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.
When preparing their Century Farm applications some families take the opportunity to compile their family histories and produce publications for their relatives and close friends. These compilations also are valuable to local and state history collections. James Chandley produced “The Boltons of East Tennessee” as he was preparing the Bolton Farm application.
Thomas Jefferson Bolton, a Civil War Union veteran, inherited 110 acres in 1888 after his mother passed away the previous year. The deed was signed by 15 members of his family. The farm is on the Greene and Washington County line, about one mile northeast of Limestone.
Thomas met his wife, Sallie Ann Bolton, while on a horse-buying trip to Virginia. Family tradition relates that when Thomas returned with his bride, his brother, David Franklin, asked him, “if there were any more like that in his wife’s family?” David soon traveled to Virginia and married Sally Ann’s sister, Jenny. The brothers’ families maintained a close relationship as the Bolton Farm and their dairy production grew and prospered.
Thomas Jefferson and Sally Ann were the parents of three children: Uel Garfield, Minnie Deborah (called “Donnie”) and Annie Lee. A six-room, two-story home was built in 1893. The family managed an extensive jersey cattle operation and grew corn, wheat and tobacco and raised chickens.
In 1917, 91 of the 110 acres were transferred to Uel Bolton. He and his wife, Bonnie Cox Bolton, continued to farm, but he added hogs to his livestock. Following the progressive farming methods of the early 20th century, the Bolton family installed automated gas-powered milking systems. The concrete floor laid in the dairy barn was one of the first in the area.
Uel sold eggs, milk and butter as far away as Knoxville, distributing them via the local train network, and also to the Sugar Creek Creamery and local customers. His mother, Sally Ann, churned enough of the Boltons’ butter to warrant a stamp that read “Fresh Dairy Butter made by Mrs. T. J. Bolton.”
While serving as Washington County judge, today’s equivalent to county mayor, Uel died in 1938. Mary Ruth, the couple’s daughter, her husband, Rex William Brockwell, and Bonnie continued to work the farm with the help of tenant farmers.
In 1958, Rex and Mary Ruth Bolton Brockwell acquired Bolton Farm. No longer operating the dairy, they began to concentrate on growing corn, wheat, tobacco, hogs and chickens with much of the work done by tenant farmers and sharecroppers. Mary Ruth was born in 1912 in the house her grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Bolton, built, and lived there her entire life. With her passing in
2007, her daughter, Mary Lynn, and Mary Lyons husband, James D. Chandley, came to own 85 of the original acres. With the help of their son, Charles Randall, the Chandleys raised tobacco until 2004 and now concentrate on corn, tobacco and 80 to 100 head of beef cattle. Mr. Chandley’s history of the family and the farm contains a superb collection of family and farm photographs and information that will be appreciated by the family and the community of Limestone for generations.
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.


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