MURFREESBORO—
The Vise Farm I and Vise
Farm II, in Decatur County and I have
been designated as Tennessee Century Farms, 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.
Two Century Farms originated with George Malachi “Mal” and his wife,
Sarah Tennessee “Tennie” Smith Vise, when they established a 220-acre farm southeast
of Decaturville in 1909. The couple who had
seven children, raised mules, horses, and hogs while growing corn, sorghum and
vegetables. The family also ran a store, Mal Vise and Sons. Mal died in 1926
and left the farm to his son John Wesley Vise.
The same year John inherited the family farm, his first wife died, leaving
him with eight young children. Tennie, his mother, stayed with him and helped
raise the children. Like his father, John operated the store while adding
cotton, peanuts, hay, sheep, and cattle to the crops and livestock raised on
the farm. Two of John’s sons, Earnest “Roach” and James Landon “Pig” Vise, remained
on the farm and worked it with their father. They also purchased land of their
own that surrounded the existing farm acreage.
In 1977, Roach acquired 108 acres and Pig acquired 112 acres of the
family farm. Both grew corn, soybeans, hay, wheat, milo and cotton and raised
pigs, cattle, sheep, and timber. Roach married Billie Burton McCurry and had
one daughter, Sarah Ann. Pig married Emily Ann Jennings and they had three
children; James Douglas, Ronnie Frank and Joy Elizabeth Vise. The Vise brothers
and their families, though owning separate land parcels, worked together and
were very involved in their community’s agricultural programs like Future
Farmers of America, 4-H, the Farm Bureau and livestock organizations.
The next generation to assume management and ownership of their
parents’ farms were Sarah Ann Vise and her cousin James Douglas Vise. James
married Hilda Jane White and had three children – Tracy, Beronica, and Stacy. Sarah
Ann, who has retired after 40 years of teaching, rents the Vise Farm I land to Stacy,
her second cousin, who also co-owns the Vise Farm II with his father. Though he
grows many of the same crops as previous generations, Stacy uses modern
technology to plant 30,000 seeds per acre.
“We now use self-propelled sprayers with GPS systems, grid soil sampling,
special spreading trucks, and self-propelled combines,” he said. Stacy, who
holds a degree in animal science from MTSU, is an award-winning farmer. He and
his wife, Tara Lenay Turnbo, have two children who participate in 4-H. The Vise family combines 20th-century history
and buildings, including the 1910 farmhouse, with 21st century farming methods.
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.
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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