Return to the Land

ditches constructed which in turn produced a grazing field and the site for the hay barn constructed in 1992. The farm now totaled 218 acres.

Three years later another larger tract of land south of the farm, and joining the land Dad had purchased in 1933 (the Dalton Place), was acquired. This tract of land was known as the Wright Place. Back in 1942, Dad had an opportunity to buy this land from Henry Sarver. The land was not cleared and much work would be needed to make improvements. This was during World War II and the Depression had just come to a close. My parents were concerned about the economy and incurring a debt in still uncertain times. I remember Dad meeting with Henry one evening at South Gap (near Rocky Gap) and discussing a price for the land. Henry was asking $8,000.00 for the tract. I was only five years old but I remember distinctly discussing this with Mother and Dad. They were both reluctant to go in debt this much and I recall saying, “Daddy, lets take care of what we have.” So the deal was nev er struck. Dad later regretted not purchasing this land; the sale of the timber would have paid for the land. Henry was in the timber and saw mill business and he harvested the timber and cleared some of the old existing fields for pasture for his cattle. It was another 44 years before the Wright Place came to be incorporated with our farm. Henry had deeded the land to his son Douglas Sarver who held it in his possession for about 10 years before deciding to sell. Through the help and negotiations of my friend and distant relative, Rex Morehead, I purchased 243 acres for $69,000.00 in 1986. In the span of only four decades the price had increased eight fold. What a bargain Dad would have gotten if it had not been for the debilitating effects that the Depression left on him. The farm now consisted of 461 acres. The name Wright Place continued to intrigue me. Why was it called this? Could it have been originally my paternal grandmother’s relatives’ land? Henry Sarver had purchased it from the Wright heirs but I did not know the connection. As a youngster I often chased some of our cows, which occasionally escaped through the old line fence, on the Wright Place. It never occurred to me then or when I acquired this land that it could have belonged to my ancestors. Only recently did I discover that the Wright Place had been part of Johnny Wright ’s original land grant. Johnny W.A. Wright was my great-great- grandfather on my paternal grandmother’s side of the family. Some of the descendants of Johnny Wright who lived in Giles County had inherited it and not David Oliver Wright his son. Isn’t it fortuitous that I, Johnny Wright’s great - great-grandson, now own the land that once was granted to Johnny by the government? In part of what is now a 16-acre alfalfa field were remnants of a rock chimney and foundation to a dwelling. Stones had been pushed together by a bulldozer when Sarver cleared the fields. I don’t know who lived there but surely it must have been one of my ancestors. Each time I harvest the alfalfa I always stop for a moment and wish I could travel back in time 150 years to this spot and talk with its inhabitants. I imagine sitting with them on their front porch in the cool of the evening sipping spring water from a cup made from a gourd. They would probably tell me of their ancestors in Ireland. Near this house in the field were found a few Indian arrowheads (projectile points) so this was also a hunting ground for the Native Americans, of whom I am not related. With a Case 450 bulldozer, that I had purchased, I cleared the land in this area that was tillable or could be made into pasture for cattle. This portion of the

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