Cleburne County family honored as Century Farm
WOODROW — Tom E. Hearst homesteaded 160 acres on Bear Mountain in Cleburne County on May 27, 1920. This land has remained in the family for 100 years and was recently recognized as a 2020 Arkansas Century Farm.
Paying tribute to both the Brownfield and Hearst families, the land is known today as the Brownfield Farm. Tom E. Hearst is a great-uncle to Pauline Hearst Brownfield, who, along with her husband, William Chester Brownfield, owned the land from 1976 until 2020.
The land is now owned by the Brownfields’ daughters, Gloria “Sue” Brownfield Glover and her husband, Jim Glover, of Heber Springs and Glenda Kay Brownfield Carter and her husband, Rickey Carter, of Sulphur Rock; the girls’ brother, Melvin Boyd Brownfield, died in 2017. Sue Glover, 72, and Glenda Carter, 69, accepted the award for their family Dec. 11 when Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward honored 30 families at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Little Rock. The Arkansas Century Farm Program, administered by the Arkansas Department of Agriculture, honors farms with more than 10 acres owned by the same family for at least 100 years.
“The recognition of the Hearst/ Brownfield Farm as a Century Farm is an honor for our entire family,” Sue Glover said. “Recognizing the Century Farms shows the importance that agriculture has in our state, even by the little farmer. Recognition by Gov. Hutchinson, Secretary Ward and their entire staffs shows their commitment to agriculture and our heritage. We thank them all for their work in this program.”
Glenda Carter added: “It is unfortunate that William Chester Brownfield died on Feb. 19, 2020, at the age of 96, and that Pauline Hearst Brownfield died on Aug. 11, 2020, at the age of 92 and were unable to receive the Century Farm recognition themselves. They both put in many days working on the farm. They were both aware of the farm being selected for recognition and looked forward to the ceremonial presentation.”
Glenda Carter said Tom E. Hearst and his wife, Iva, sold the 160 acres to their nephew, John P. Hearst, on May 28, 1938, for $50 and retained the right to cut pine timber off the land for a five-year period.
John P. Hearst and his wife, Ruth, raised their four children on the farm. They were Elmer Hearst, Gilbert “Bud” Hearst, Louise Hearst Cothren and Pauline Hearst Brownfield.
Glenda said her mother and her siblings “walked 4 or 5 miles to Woodrow to go to school.”
John and Ruth Hearst sold the 160 acres to W.H. Brownfield and his wife, Laura, on Feb. 28, 1948, for $300 and retained the right to cut pine timber larger than 6 inches in diameter for a period of five years for their son, Elmer.
W.H. Brownfield was the
father-in-law of Pauline Hearst Brownfield. Pauline married W.H. Brownfield’s son, William Chester Brownfield, on Nov. 17, 1946, at the Woodrow store.
W.H. Brownfield died Oct. 27, 1976, and William Chester inherited the 160 acres at that time.
William Chester raised cattle and cut timber off the land from the time he inherited it until he was in his mid-80s. A natural-gas well was developed on one section of the land about 2009. The property is still being used to grow timber and cattle.
With the death of William Chester and his wife, Pauline, the 160 acres were inherited by their daughters, Sue and Glenda. They each received 80 acres, along with a portion of the homeplace their parents purchased in 1948 in the Brownsville community, just a few miles from the Bear Mountain farm.
“The pasture land [on Bear Mountain] is rented to a nearby neighbor, Jamie Hipp, who runs cattle on it,” said Rickey Carter, the husband of Glenda Brownfield Carter. “There is no actual house on the Bear Mountain farm. The old house that Pauline’s family lived in was converted into a barn many years ago and is still used for that purpose.
“No one has lived on that tract since about 1948,” he said. “There is no electricity, and they had to carry water from a spring for household use.
“The timberland is managed by all of us,” Rickey Carter said. “We are exploring building fire lanes and doing timber-stand improvements by selective harvesting and new plantings.”
Although Sue and Glenda never lived on the Bear Mountain farm, they do have memories of it.
“Our earliest memories of the farm include seeing hills and ravines that may or may not look good to other people, but that we find as a source of inspiration to remember our heritage of people who worked hard, used what they had to survive and loved the land and nature,” Sue said. “This farm has been important to our family from the time it was the only source of survival for our mother’s family when she was growing up … through the purchase by our grandfather Brownfield, who raised cows there for many years to supplement his income … and finally, as this farm became the main source of income as our daddy logged and raised cows there. He cut logs until he was in his mid-80s.”
Glenda said the family is “now in a new era with the farm. Whether it is growing trees and cattle as in the past or some other farm endeavor, we hope the children and grandchildren of William Chester and Pauline Hearst Brownfield do not forget they are the descendants of people who worked hard to make a living, who loved the land, nature and their Lord, and who, even under dire circumstances, found a way to survive.”
Sue and Jim Glover have two daughters: Daughter Sandie and her husband, Sampson Wildmon, have three children — son Freelin Wildmon, 21; daughter Faith Wildmon, 18; and daughter Felicia Wildmon, 17, who has a 6-month-old son, Ryatt Stubblefield. Daughter Amanda Callens has one daughter, Kiera Jennings, 16.
Glenda and Rickey Carter have two sons: Son Bradley lives in Springdale with his wife, Belinda, and children — daughter Bailey, 11, and son Bryce, 7. Son Brent lives in The Woodlands, Texas, with his wife, Amanda, and daughter, Addison, 1.
“Hopefully, our children and grandchildren will be able to maintain this farm in the family and as an agriculture enterprise for years to come,” Glenda said.
The children and grandchildren of Rickey and Glenda Carter are now part of the history of two Arkansas Century Farms — the Hearst/ Brownfield Century Farm in Cleburne County on their mother’s side of the family and the Harvison/Carter Century Farm in Independence County on their dad’s side of the family, which was recognized in 2012. Rickey Carter said this farm has been in the Harvison/ Carter bloodline since 1852.
For more information about the Arkansas Century Farm Program, visit agriculture arkansas.gov.