The Douglas Farm:

“I cannot imagine growing up anywhere else that would have taught me as much as on this farm.”

Not many folks can trace their heritage back to their great-great-grandfather, much less boast that they are still working the farm that an ancestor purchased 170 years ago. But Dan Douglas, current owner of Douglas Farms in Bentonville can. His Century Farm predates the end of the Civil War by over a decade.

The Douglas Farm was originally purchased by Marshal Douglas in 1853.

“That was my great-great-grandfather,” Dan said. “The farm is now owned by myself and my daughter, Meredith Douglas Boze. Marshal Douglas was a lawyer and served in the Arkansas House and the Senate from 1854 to the middle of the Civil War in 1862. He would walk from here to Little Rock when the legislature was in session.”

Marshal had originally been a solicitor in Georgia. Today the state slogan of Georgia is “Wisdom, Justice, Moderation,” but when Dan’s great-great-grandfather was trying to make a clean living, that wasn’t exactly the world he experienced.

“As the story goes, Marshall came home one day and told my great-great-grand

mother, ‘You can’t be honest and practice law in Georgia,’” he said. “So they upped and moved to Arkansas sometime in the 1840s.”

Marshal Douglas eventually passed the farm on to one of his sons, Joab, Dan’s great-grandfather.

“At the turn of the century Joab had a lot of the farm in apple orchards,” Dan said. “Joab was older and turned the operation of the farm over to his son, Bart Marshal Douglas, my grandfather. Bart married my grandmother, Jennie, in 1910 and they moved into the old log cabin on the farm with Joab and his wife, Rebecca.”

In 1911, Bart had a good apple crop and built a new house beside the old log cabin. The house cost $800 to build. The head carpenter was paid 50 cents a day and his assistant got 25 cents a day.

A year later, the house was complete and everyone in the family moved in. This same house still stands today on the Douglas Farm.

When Joab passed away, the farm went to Bart, who was already living and working on the farm. Bart bought additional land adjoining the original farm.

In 1932, tragedy hit the Douglas family. “Bart was killed on the farm being trampled by horses,” Dan said. “My grandparents had three children at the time of his death – Max, Hazel and Joe. The two boys were already working on the farm.”

Max and Joe continued to operate the farm, while the ownership went to Jennie, Barts widow. After World War II, Max operated the farm adjoining the original plot of land while Joe operated the original farm.

“Apples were gone by then and both brothers milked cows, raised hogs, and then got into the chicken business,” Dan said. “For years the farm was a dairy and chicken farm, then Joe transitioned to beef cattle.”

“Joe never married, so on his passing the farm went to me,” he said. “In 1998, I had the 1912 house picked up and moved back 100 feet to get it away from the highway and did a complete renovation. As of today, there have been five generations of Douglases who have lived in Bart’s 1912 house. My daughter, Meredith, and her family have a house on the original farm also and my grandchildren are the seventh generation to live on this land. Currently my grandson, Gauge Boze, is a big help to me on the farm.”

Today, the Douglas Farm still raises beef cattle. In addition to having farming in his blood, Dan also has the civic sense of giving back in his DNA.

“I was honored to have been elected to the Arkansas House of Representatives in 2012,” he said. “I had the opportunity to meet in a special session in the Old State House – the very same building that my great-great-grandad Marshal served in. It was a surreal experience.”

Dan currently spends some time going to Little Rock to work for the Department of Agriculture as manager of the state meat inspection program while Gauge, 17, tends to the cattle and the farm.

“I cannot imagine growing up anywhere else that would have taught me as much as on this farm,” Dan said. “From experiencing the miracle of birth of livestock, the sadness of death, the values of hard work, and the pride felt in knowing you play a part in feeding people.

“When I am gone, this farm will go to my daughter,” he said. “And then, hopefully to her children. There is such a feeling of awe and peace when you see a newborn calf stand on wobbly legs, nursing for the first time, and feel that in some small way you helped the good Lord in making that miracle happen.”

Like all of the Century Farm owners, Dan is honored to have his farm recognized as a Century Farm.

“Not for myself, but for all those that have worked and toiled, sweat and bled, lived and died on this farm. It’s not my honor, but theirs,” he said.