McNairy County

            McNairy County was established in 1823 and named in honor of John McNairy, whom President George Washington had appointed as one of the three judges of the Southwest Territory. The county seat is Selmer near the railroad line of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. McNairy County has one Century Farm, the Canaday Brothers Farm that was established in 1848. For more information regarding McNairy County, please go to the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture website.

For a brief historical sketch of each farm, click on the farm name.

Canaday Brothers Farm

The following map is for a general geographical understanding. It does not provide the specific locations of the farms because of privacy reasons.

Map courtesy of Carole Swann, Tennessee Department of Agriculture

Canaday Brothers Farm

            Located one and a half miles south of Enville, the Canaday Brothers Farm originally consisted of 200 acres purchased by Johnnie and Mary Plunk Canaday in 1848. The founders raised the region’s typical mid-nineteenth century crops-cotton, corn and hay-and were the parents of nine children. Their son Jarmon inherited 100 acres in 1897. Jarmon and his wife Eugenie Massengill planted and harvested the same crops as the founders.

            In 1904, William Victor Canaday and his wife Lucy Lee obtained 100 acres of his grandparents’ land. Like his father, William made no changes in the farm’s basic pattern of operations. Between 1952 and 1965, Travis and Lee Canaday acquired the farm’s original 200 acres and as of 1976, they owned an additional 529 acres of land. The brothers jointly worked the property, growing corn, cotton and soybeans and raising swine.