For a brief historical sketch of each farm, click on the farm name.
The following map is for a general geographical understanding. It does not provide the specific locations of the farms because of privacy issues.
Johnnie Mae Branum
Waldrop
Leon Branum
The twentieth century history of the Branum Farm has
focused as much on the family’s general store, and the many different types of
community activities that have taken place there, as on the daily patterns of
agricultural operations. Dating to 1876, the Branum Farm originally had 75
acres, acquired by John W. and Louisa Warwick Branum. Their labor yielded
diversified crops, fruits and livestock. John died in 1881 and left the farm to
Louisa and their four small boys. Louisa managed the property for the remainder
of the century until her son Elvin began purchasing tracts of family land in
1900. Within eleven years, Elvin and his wife Gertrude Coppock Branum owned the
entire 75 acres and in time they controlled as much as 475 acres of land.
According to the family, Elvin “established a rather self-sufficient farm, a
saw mill and a grocery store and provided jobs for most of the men in the
community.” The store was a favorite community gathering place and served as an
election precinct. Elvin, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, enjoyed political
prominence as a member of the county quarterly court and school board.
In 1961, Elvin Branum died and left the farm to his eight
surviving children. Today, Leon Branum and his family live in the recently
renovated farm dwelling and Boyd Waldrop helps
Katie Cox
Kimball S. Cox
James M. Cox
Even though the Civil War continued, Abraham Davis Cox purchased a
small farm of 50 acres in November of 1864.
Cox was a private in B Company of the 1st Tennessee Infantry
and, as a solider, learned the blacksmithing trade. After the war he became the community’s
blacksmith. Married to Mary Heath Hurst Cox, they were the parents of Malinda,
Ellen, Maggie, Daniel Boone and James.
The family raised corn, cattle, hogs, horses, chickens and garden
vegetables. In 1888, Abraham established the Cox Family cemetery.
The second generation to own the
farm was Daniel Boone Cox. Daniel served
in the Spanish American war for four years and worked for the government for
twelve years. He was stationed in places
around the world including
In 1954, Daniel’s son, Clawd C. Cox
acquired the farm. Along with his wife, Tishey, they mainly grew hay.
Eventually, Clawd’s brother Benjamin became the fourth owner. Benjamin and his wife, Sallie had twelve
children-- Joe, James, Linda, Bill, Della, Lillian, J. Will, Jess, Jack,
Maggie, Robert, and Ronnie.
In 1972, Katie Cox, the widow of
Robert, obtained the property. The farm
is home to four generation including Katie, son Kimball and his wife Robin,
grandson Jimmy and his wife Melissa and their children, Jaiden and Jennah.
Photo: A view of the smokehouse and barn on the Cox Farm.
Dwight Coram
The Mynatt Farm is one of those rare Century Farms that
is over 200 years old. Located eighteen miles east of
The founders left the farm to their sons upon their
death. It seems that the Mynatt brothers worked the land in partnership for
some time, but by the mid-1800s, A. Kilon Mynatt, the founders’ grandson,
acquired control of the property. Throughout the first half of the nineteenth
century, the farm served as a meeting place for religious revivals. Family
members also helped in the construction of the
In 1902, William L. Mynatt acquired seventeen acres of
the original family land. The great grandson of the founders, William raised
cattle and turkeys for market. He also planted cotton and worked a fruit
orchard. His son Byron B. Mynatt inherited the family farm in 1936. Byron and
his wife Lillian Truan Mynatt raised four children. Together the family worked
the land, which yielded cattle, hay and fruit.
As of 1976, Mrs. Byron Mynatt managed a farm of 65 acres.
Her grandsons, Joe Vest and Dwight Coram, worked the land and produced garden
vegetables, hay, tobacco and cattle.
Mary Devault Rosenbalm
Odell Devault Rosenbalm
Located southeast of Luttrell lies the Perkey Farm that
was established in 1882 by James M. Perkey. On the farm he and his wife Maggie
Reed Perkey raised lumber and timber products such as crossties, tanning bark
and acid wood. In addition, they raised cattle, hogs, poultry and other livestock.
During the 1880s, the railroad was developed near the town of
In 1924, James Perkey died and the farm was divided into
nine tracts by his children. Three of his sons, Earnest, Elbert and Tim Perkey
bought out some of the other siblings and owned the farm with their sister
Maude Perkey. Maude married Bert Devault, however, the three brothers never
married. Under their ownership, the farm produced burley tobacco, corn, hay,
lumber and timber products, cattle, hogs and poultry. During the 1930s, the
Works Progress Administration (WPA) opened up the northeastern end of a road
nearby the farm. According to the family, the road created a “shortcut from the
homeplace to Luttrell.”
Maude and Bert Devault had one daughter, Mary Devault Rosenbalm, and she became the next owner of the farm. Along with her husband Odell, they worked the farm full-time and introduced the first tractor to the farm in the 1960s. The couple continued to work until Odell became disabled in the 1980s. Today, their son Bert Rosenbalm works the land and produces beef cattle, burley tobacco, corn and hay.
Betty Hamilton Bullen
Many Century Farms, over sixty percent were either founded by a
woman or have been owned by a woman in their history. Emily Tolliver founded a
farm of 60 acres near Maynardsville in 1908.
Prior to Tolliver’s ownership,
the farm was originally part of a 1,629 acre land grant that was obtained by
William Hamilton, one of the first settlers in
Emily Tolliver was a school teacher
and never married. During her ownership,
her younger brother George helped to operate the farm and they produced cotton,
wheat, vegetables, cattle, geese, turkeys and chickens. After eleven years, Emily sold the farm to
George. Prior to his ownership, George
also ran a “rolling grocery store and hauling service” because he had one of
the few motorized vehicles in the community. Later on, George opened the first
grocery store in the community which was located on the farm and operated until
the later 1950s. An enterprising man,
George ran a tomato cannery and sold tomatoes under the “Norris Dam Brand.”
While managing the tomato cannery, George also provided employment for many
young men in the surrounding community to work on his farm clearing the land,
growing wheat, cotton vegetables and tending livestock. George married Martha
Peralitine “Pearl” Regan and they had three children, George Harrison, Irene,
and Walter Regan.
After her father passed away, Irene
Tolliver Hamilton inherited one half of the acreage. She and her husband, Sam Hamilton, a
descendant of William Hamilton, continued running the grocery for many
years. In addition, they farmed and
operated a dairy business. Some of the products that the farm produced during
this time included milk, cream, tobacco, vegetables and beef cattle.
In 1987, Betty Hamilton Bullen, the
daughter of Sam and Irene, who is also the great niece of the founder, Emily
Tolliver, and great-grand daughter of William Hamilton, became another
generation of the family’s women to own the farm. Today, Betty and her husband Stanley W.
Bullen live on the farm as does her mother and Mr. and Mrs. Robert
In February 1903, John Wolfenbarger purchased 35 acres on
In 1943, Horace Vineyard
Wolfenbarger acquired the property on which he was reared. A veteran of World
War I, he served in
The couple’s son, Varnell
Wolfenbarger, purchased the property in 1991.
Varnell was born on the farm in a log cabin that he has recently
restored. He and wife Eileen primarily grow
hay to support the beef-cattle herd they have on the farm. Wolfenbarger also operates a sawmill on the
property, where current generations of the Wolfenbarger family continue to
enjoy the farm and are proud of their history.
Photo: A log
cabin on the Wolfenbarger Farm.