Growing Gratitude Business Analysis Record

GROWING GRATITUDE BUSINESS ANALYSIS RECORD For Year 1830 _________ -2020

Adapted for the use of but not limited to LONG VUE FARMS AND ALL THE MEMBERSHIP Allensville, Kentucky Made by Lorilee Thompson Rager

April 2020

MAUDE GILL’S FARM HISTORY TIMELINE 1830s - Rob Young settled in Logan County, in Keysburg, Ky. 1836 - Rob & Ann Hill Young have a son Thaddeus (Thad) Young.

1863 - Thad & Martha Muir Young have a son Rob H. Young.

1885 - Rob H. married Willie Herndon. Father Thad Young builds them a single story Eastlake-style Victorian cottage as a wedding gift.

1902 - Rob H. & Willie add 2nd story to the home after having 2 sons, Herndon & Ross, and daughter Maude. Changing the exterior to Queen Anne style with wrapped front porch.

1939 - Maude & husband Milton Gill move back into the home after her father Rob H. & brother Herndon pass away to help care for her mother and brother Ross.

NOTE: The above information was collected in an interview of Linda Thompson who currently lives in the estate. Her information was originally from community members and mostly from Miss Virgina Cheatham.

ON THE RECORD INTERVIEWS

NAME:

Linda Thompson

DATE:

10/31/19

TOPIC:

History of your house

In the mid-1830s, Rob Young from Virginia, settled in Logan County, Ky., near Keysburg. In 1836, Rob and his wife, Ann Hill, had a son, Charles Thaddeus (Thad). Thad Young and his wife, Martha Muir, had two sons, Rob H. in 1863 and William Thad in 1864. Rob H. married Willie Herndon in 1885. Rob’s father, Thad, built the original single-story version of this house, an Eastlake-style Victorian cottage, and gave it to the couple as a wedding gift.

Rob H. Young and his wife, Willie, had two sons, Herndon and Ross, and one daughter, Maude. With the growth of their family, Rob and Willie added the second story to the house in the summer of 1902. At that time they changed the exterior of the house to the Queen Anne style and wrapped the porch from front to back similar to the way that you see it today.

Later, Maude married Milton Gill, and moved a short distance away with him. Her father and older brother, Herndon, had died by 1939. So Maude and Milton moved back in the home to care for her mother and younger brother, Ross until those two passed. Maude died in 1974 with no children.

The house sat vacant until 1976 when we bought the farm. We added a modern kitchen & bathrooms that year, as the home had none. We did a more extensive remodel in 2005-2006 which brought the home to its current state. The front two-story portion of the home and front walkway are the originals with only minor changes, such as modern plumbing and bathrooms. The front part of the house, porch, sidewalk, well house & gazebo in the front yard are still original today.

The cabin across the driveway was here when the Young family first lived here. It is known as “Taylor’s Cabin,” named for the black gentleman, Taylor Mitchell, who lived there. Taylor was the helper around the house. He milked the cow, hooked the horse to the buggy, gathered the eggs, etc. Our family call it the ‘playhouse' and our three little girls have had countless hours of imaginative memories playing there.

The building next to the cabin is the carriage house or 'buggy shed.' In its original state, it had three stable stalls, one each for the milk cow, buggy horse, and saddle horse for Mr. Young. It had a bay for the buggy, a hayloft, and gear room. We regret changing the buggy sheds original appearance and inside features but we converted it for modern use where our children parked their cars.

We did build a new garage on the property with the original carriage house architecture to match the house details in 2010, which we use for our modern-day horseless carriages known as cars.

We were fortunate when we moved here in 1976, there were many local residents that were kin to the Young and Gill families. Some grew up and lived and worked here as sharecroppers going back to the late 1880s. They shared history and great stories about our home, the farm, and the Rob Young family members that lived here prior to us. Mrs. Virginia Cheatham worked for us for many years and told us her family lived on this farm back in those days. The history that we know has been shared with us by her and her husband Jab, and our close friends in the community.

APRIL 2020

MAUDE GILL’S FARM LANDMARKS MAPS & DIAGRAMS

KEY a. Farmhouse, formally Maude Gill’s; a-2. Front view of house b. Playhouse, formally Taylor’s Cabin c. 2 Car Garage, formally Carriage House d. Grain Bin Silos first built 1976 e. Dump Shed first built 1979 f. Solar Panels installed 2012 g. Barns, original h. Bush Hogs i. Farm Shop first built 1976

l. k. h.

i.

k. Quilt Barn built 2008

a.

g.

c.

l. 3 Car Garage built 2004

b.

e. d.

f.

a-2.

NOTE: The above information was created by Lorilee Rager for a visual reference.

APRIL 2020

MAUDE GILL’S ESTATE INFORMATION STRUCTURES & MATERIALS

KEY

1.

2.

1. Original brick sidewalk October 2019 2. Farmhouse 2 story Queen Anne Style with wrapped porch, October 2019 3. Landscape of farmhouse, out buildings and grain bins 2015 a. Playhouse

b. Gazebo

c. Wellhouse

4. Original farmhouse 1 story Eastlake Victorian Cottage style1885 3-a.

3-b.

3-c.

3.

4.

a.

b.

c.

APRIL 2020

MANDY BRYANT INTERVIEW: 2019 LONG VUE FARMS TOTAL ACRES OPERATED

ACRES

HOW MANY ACRES DOES LONG VUE FARM TOTAL

ACRES

The homeplace, Maude Gill's original home, is 800 acres.

800

Long Vue Farms is a total of 1400 acres tillable farmland.

1,400

Other aquired farms over the years spread over 2 counties.

600

Share crops acres in 4 counties & 2 states.

3,300

Long Vue Farms is a total of 1400 acres tillable farmland.

1,400 total

Long Vue Farms operate a total of 5700 acres currently.

5,700 total

BUSHELS PRODUCED BY CROP

WHEAT VENDOR LIST

CORN VENDOR LIST

DDGs* VENDOR LIST

SOYBEANS VENDOR LIST

Wheat

18,500

McDonalds

Biscuits

Russell Stover

Dry Ice

Tyson

Livestock feed

Mexico

oil

Corn

534,000

Cracker Barrel

Pancakes

Beverage Bottlers

Soda CO2

Perdue

Livestock feed

China*

oil

Soybeans

110,000

Ghirardelli

Mixes

Hospital

CO2

Zaxby’s

Livestock feed

Asia

oil

Totals

662,500

Red Lobster

Cheddar Biscuits

Jack Daniels

Bourbon

Butterball

Livestock feed

Georgia

oil

Craft Distilleries

Beer

Diamond & Hills

Dog Food

*DDGs = Corn’s Dried Distillers Grain, a co-product of ethanol production used for high protein livestock feed.

NOTE: From the Clarksville, TN river terminal soybeans are unloaded directly from truck to barge and head out of the U.S. 99% are exported around the world.*When not in a trade war.

NOTE: The above information was collected in an interview of Mandy Bryant who currently owns in the farm from January 2020 data.

ON THE RECORD INTERVIEWS

NAME:

Mandy Thompson Bryant

DATE:

11/9/19

TOPIC:

Long Vue Farms Data

How many acres is the farm?

Our family farm, Long Vue Farms is a total of 1400 acres tillable farmland. The homeplace, Maude Gill's original home, is 800 acres. Other aquired farms over the years spread over 2 counties making Long Vue Farms operate a total of 5700 acres currently. The farm share crops 3300 of these total acres in 4 counties and 2 states along the Southern Kentucky and Middle Tennessee boarders. Long Vue Farms double crops half of that. Double cropping means you raise 2 crops in one year on the same land.

What is the total number of bushels of each crop produced?

In 2019 the total number bushels produced were: 18,500 Bushels of Wheat 534,000 Bushels of Corn 110,000 Bushels of Soybeans Where does Long Vue Farms grain go?

Wheat: Our wheat buyers sell to McDonald's biscuits, Cracker Barrel pancakes, Ghirardelli mixes, and Red Lobster cheddar biscuits. We also raise a small amount for craft distilleries.

Corn: We sell most of our corn to Hopkinsville Elevator Cooperative, which owns an Ethanol Plant. CO2 (carbon dioxide) is a co-product of ethanol and is sold to make dry ice for Russel Stover candy shipping, also if you drink soda in the southeast the CO2 used likely came from "our" grain. It's sold to beverage bottlers, and for hospital CO2. Our corn is also in Jack Daniels, and dog food brands Diamond and Hills brands. DDGs (dried distillers grain) are a co-product of ethanol production, used for high protein livestock feed. Ours goes to Tyson and Perdue to feed chickens and dairy cattle. Also Cook Foods which raises Zaxby's chickens and Butterball Turkeys.

Soybeans: We haul all beans to a local Cumberland River terminal where they are directly put straight onto barges and mostly sent overseas. 99% of our soybeans are exported around the world.

They go directly onto a barge and head out of the country to Mexico, China (when not in a trade war) and Asia. Some go to a crushing facility in Georgia to make soy oil.

What equipment is used for an average Harvest?

2 combines, 1 tractor w/ cart, 6 semi trucks & 2500 Feet of irrigation.

APRIL 2020

FARM INFORMATION & EQUIPMENT DESCRIPTIONS STRUCTURES & MATERIALS

KEY

1.

2.

1. Farm Fuel Tanks - Labeled for safety and to help illiterate employees. Off road diesel is for tractor use only by law. It is cheaper per gallon & dyed red to tell the difference from on road to trace illegal use if in your truck.

2. Dump shed desk - Where all grain is trucked into, unloaded into pits, moisture testing, sampling, documentation and electric switch control panels to operate flow of the entire grain system.

3. Home farm back field from top of grain bins during corn harvest 2019. a. Combine unloading to grain cart while still operating. b. Looking south into Tennessee. The treeline is the Kentucky/Tennessee state line and where the home farm stops. c. Irrigation system when there is a drought. d. Solar panels that run electricity to the entire farm.

4. Bush hog and new tractor with cab. Operator is Durell Smith, Jr, my uncle a one of my mother’s brothers in 2018. We practice no-till farming to help with land conservation. Meaning we do not till up the land, rather bush hog down the corn stalks after harvest to give the dirt a better chance of holding in nutrients.

4.

3.

b. a.

c.

d.

APRIL 2020

BETTY SMITH’S INTERVIEW & MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION TIMELINE 1931 - Born in Montgomery County, TN by Dr. Fry but he put it the Kentucky register 1938 - Moved to Guthrie, Ky 1941 - Joined United Methodist Church as 10 year little girl Betty Estell Bellar when Buena Smith invited her family at the grocery.

1947 - Married Durell Smith, Buena’s brother. They met through church because they gave her rides home each Sunday because it was such a far walk.

1949 - Betty & Durell had their first child, a daughter Linda Sue Smith, my mother.

1990 - Betty & Durell Smith retired as dairy farmers.

NOTE: The above information was collected in interviews of Betty Smith by her granddaughter, Lorilee Thompson Rager.

ON THE RECORD INTERVIEWS

NAME:

Be y Estell Bellar Smith

DATE:

11/12/19

TOPIC:

First memories farming

We lived down on a farm in Montgomery County. On the Winn farm was where the fair was. That’s when daddy loaded us all up on a wagon to go to the fair. We got all the way home and we didn’t have Elvis. We had to turn around and go back and get him. My daddy, Tom Bellar was a general farmer. If you had a plow or a rake he was called a farmer cause there wasn’t no big equipment to by. Rented a farm and raised tobacco and corn, had a strawberry patch, and always had a great big garden. There was 9 of us kids and it took a lot to feed us. In October daddy made molasses. That molasses coming off that was so good as that horse was squeezing it and going round and round. At that time Guthrie was a railroad town. All of other troop trains came right through Guthrie. We crossed two train tracks to get to school each day. Those soldiers would hang out the windows. My two brothers and cousins got the idea of making sandwiches and selling them to those soldiers hanging out those windows.

Do you have a picture of the Tom Bellar family you can put in this? (I said yes & showed her the photo I have) She said, Bub & James are the nephews in the picture. Ruby May already had two kids by now. I was 10 in that photo. You can use that photo. Now, your farm, Maude Gill’s was real growed up. We had to clear it all out and clean it up. Daddy did lots of dozer work. It was all wide open like it is now. She said there was over 100 milk cans in the barn and daddy just buried it. Peacocks lived in the house. When they had the auction for Maude Gill it took a whole day to sell just her crystal ware she had stored. She had money. She had all that money and didn’t even have a built in bathroom in 1974, but anyway. Your mom and dad added a den, lined with barn wood, and that nice fireplace. The dining room was the girls bedrooms. My and Lucy came and took care of Mandy when she was sick in there and we built a tent over her bed with the humidifier.

The boys at that time had to go around picking up roots, and cleaning it up.

See I had done married. I married in 1947. I didn’t know much about that part of the country where your farm was. Elvis came in a lot from the war. Felix didn’t because he was out a lot on them big ships. Now back to the troop trains. I’d help Ivy and Elvis make sandwiches for them to go sell to them boys. It was about a mile and a half walk to the train. When the boys left for war, Lucy went to Nashville to college, so momma put me in the kitchen. I been in there ever since. Kelly has the dining room table my momma owned. It came from an old hotel in Cumberland City. Momma brought it here. I done told Kelly she can have it when I’m gone.

Where’s was you momma grandma Bellar from? Carlisle, Stewart County, TN. I loved going there every summer because of the nice creek. Aunt Hallie could fry potatoes better than any I ever ate.

They were so good. They kept their milk in the spring, it was the best coldest milk I ever had drank. We didn’t have refrigerators back then. I loved going to Aunt Hailee's. Momma’s brother Uncle Henry’s wife. Oh my that’s a days gone by now. Oh an Uncle Liam the bootlegger lived there too. He was the biggest bootlegger in Stewart County. He looked it. He was really tall, skinny, black hair, gold teeth. He was a character. (Full Hour and 25 minute interview available upon request.)

APRIL 2020

BETTY SMITH’S FAMILY INFORMATION FAMILY 1.

KEY 2.

3.

1. Durell Smith at his kitchen table 1999 taken by Lorilee for a college class.

2. Smith Dairy Farm, no longer operational. 2019.

3. Bellar Family Reunion 1985 Back row L to R: Jessica, her mother Cindy, & her father Little Bub. Front row L to R: Aunt Ruby Mae & Great-Grandma Ethel Bellar.

4.

4. Bellar Family 1941 - Parents Ethel & Thomas Bellar Back row L to R: Johnny, Ruby Mae, Little Bub, Lucille, Felix, Ivy, Thomas.

Front row L to R: Betty Estell, Thomas, Little Jimmy, Ethel, Louise, Elvis.

5. Bellar Family - date unknown - Parents Nancy & John Bellar Front row L to R: Mary, John, Nancy, & Will Bellar Back row L to R: Macky, Lizzie, Ally, Morse, Tomas, Daisy, & Lassie Bellar a. Thomas Bellar, Grandma Betty Smith’s father as a young man.

5.

a.

APRIL 2020

GROWING GRATITUDE ESSAY LANDMARKS MAPS

KEY

p.

a. Long Vue Farms b. Guthrie Elementary School c. Guthrie United Methodist Church d. Nannie Gregory’s Farm e. Charles Nabb Place f. The Old Austin Place g. Grandmas Smith’s House & Cherry Trees h. Mr. Tom Cain’s Farm i. Ms. Alzada Gill’s Estate & Lemonade & Cookies j. Winston Gill’s Farm k. Allensville Church of Christ l. Woody & Jean Snell m. Grandaddy Thompson’s House n. Johnny Johnson’s Store & handmade slingshots o. Ms. Jab & Virginia’s House p. Parts & Ice Cream at the Bethel Dipper

i.

j.

k. h.

e.

g.

f.

d.

l.

b. c.

o.

m.

n.

a.

NOTE: The above information was created by Lorilee Rager for a visual reference.

APRIL 2020