Evening star., 1937-03-07

that has been In possession OF one
family since about 1874. In short. if
you should take the village of Del
Rio. Tenn, as a center and draw a
circle with a diameter of about three
miles, most of the lands within that
circle have remained in the possession
of scions of the same families more
than 100 years.
In another letter Mr. Burnett told of
several reasons, in addition to pride Of
long family ownership. why the region
about Del Rio, Tenn. is especially
favorable to long family ownership of
the land
An uncle Of mine used to say to
me: I have kept faithfully the first
commandment in the Bible When at
first 1 failed to grasp his meaning, he
explained that the first command
ment in the Bible was: Multiply and
replenish the earth He had II
children. In fact. all the families
have mentioned had with few ex-
ceptions, been faithful in their obedi-
ence to the same commandment. My
father was, for instance, the youngest
Of 13 children, every one OF whom has
left descendants. and nearly all OF
them rather numerous brood.
1T would almost certainly follow
therefore, that there would always
be at least one member of a family
who would elect to stick to the land
In fact, I am convinced that the de-
sire to hang on 10 the old home place
has generally been pretty strong in
each generation, but of necessity some
of them have gone forth into other
parts of the world Once, so my
mother has told me, my father con-
tracted the Oregon fever but
straightway his brothers descended
upon him and, whether they cured
him or not he did not go.
Possibly one other factor has made
its contribution to the genera! result
All the families of whom 1 have
spoken were of rather sturdy stock
and there has oeen very little degen-
Grafton in all these years Beyond the
average. I am inclined to believe, they
have been prone to gang their ain
gait do their own thinking, live lives
of their own choosing. become serv-
ants of no man, lick no boots, no mat
ter whose feet :. :"
Space limitations make it impos-
sible in this article to mention more
than a few of the hereditary family
farms which exist in considerable
numbers in the South, in Eastern
Pennsylvania. Northern New York
part of New England and other places
scattered about the country.
One community of this kind, To-
Gated near the Virginia West Vir.
ginia border. was described in letter
from the publisher of the Princeton
w. Va, Observer:
AT Dublin, Va. Gordon Bell
Samuel Bell and Frank Bell are liv-
ing on a large farm which the FAM
| lily has held since 1867. In Green
vile, Monroe County. w. Va, Ed
olson Ellison is living on the farm
his ancestors settled about 1774. Al
the same place, Peter Iarew is liv-
ing on the farm his great grandfather
settled in 1898. At Southside, w. Va.
George William Long lives on an orig.
inal land grant to his predecessor given
about 1890 All these people are
substantial and most of them are col
lege graduates.
Near Abbeville, S.. c., on tract
that is part of a formerly much larger
farm, lives Mrs Eva B. Du Pre-. She
writes me:
This farm was purchased by my
great grandfather, Alpheus Baker
about 1901. He came from New Eng.
land and was a graduate of Dartmouth
College, in the same class with DAME
Webster, Webster being the first honol
student and my great grandfather the
second. Little has been written about
this section and it is not as vel
known to the rest of the country as il
ought to be- It was the birthplace o.
John c. Calhoun and the first meeting
place of the War of Secession, as vel
as the last meeting place of Jefferson
Davis cabinet"
These owners of old family farm!
compose, think, an American aris'
tocracy in the best sense. Local news
papers and local historical societie.
ought to seek them out and make theil
example an incentive to others.
tCopyrisht. 1879