Buy Locally, 1930

“If I were the Czar of North Carolina instead of the Governor, I would issue an edict declaring that from and after five years from date any man who imported into North Carolina any corn or meal, wheat or flour, beef or bacon, should be forthwith hanged and without benefit of clergy. Of course, in the beginning I should be denounced as an infamous tyrant, but after the law had been in effect for 10 years the richest state in the Union would build a monument to me as the financial redeemer of my people. “

--Governor T.W. Bickett

Printed in the December 1930 issue of Farmers Federation News. Thomas W. Bickett was governor from 1917 to 1921.

History of The Lamm Farm, Wilson County

In 1988, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture published a commemorative book, North Carolina Century Farms: 100 Years of Continuous Agricultural Heritage. This book provided a history of century farms in North Carolina.

Since around 1741, when one of the Abraham Lamm ancestors received a land grant from King George along what is now Black Creek (formerly Wayne County) at what is now Lucama, one or more Lamms have continuously farmed part or all of this original grant.

Tobacco, cotton, corn and livestock farming was practiced almost exclusively by the succeeding generations with time out for some of the men who served in the intervening wars. About 1875, Elias Lamm, my great grandfather, started a sawmill about two miles north of Lucama on this land to produce lumber for general purposes and to rebuild some of the damage left by the Civil War. He continued this business along with farming enterprises until his retirement about 1900. Future generations continued active farming including my father Ivey A. Lamm and his wife, Louisa L. Lamm, who expanded the farm size to include land formerly owned by all the descendants of my grandfather. They were also very active in home demonstration club work and curb market produce sales. They managed to find time and resources to send all their six children to college and to watch them graduate and go on to rewarding careers. They retired in 1960.

In 1956, Ivey A. Lamm Jr. returned home from N.C. State University. Except for service in the Army and a brief time teaching mathematics in North Carolina high schools, he has been farming full time. He was married in 1961, to Vivian Rose Johnson of the Smithfield area of Johnston County, and they built a home on this same land and raised two daughters, Elizabeth and Mary Katherine. In 1970, Ivey incorporated his farming operation and began a wood pallet manufacturing business under the name Lamco Inds., Inc. This includes sawmill operations and pallet assembly.

The Lamm family plans to continue these enterprises on this land, which includes 150 acres, part of which Ivey inherited and part he bought from other Lamm heirs, and part he bought in Johnston and Carteret Counties.

….

--Submitted by Ivey A. Lamm Jr.

Stories about other Wilson County century farms in the book include:

The Aycock Farm, submitted by Sally F. and Clarence D. Cook

The Boykin Farm, submitted by J.R. Boykin III

The Braswell Farm, submitted by Douglas W. and Dorothy L. Braswell

The Etheridge Farm, submitted by Carlton Ray Etheridge

The Kirby Farm, submitted by Roxanne Kirby Exum

The Lane-Thompson Farm, submitted by Mrs. Henry Travis Thompson

The Liles Farm, submitted by Jack Liles

The Morris Farm, submitted by Joseph Adkins

The Peelle-Scott Farm, submitted by Elgia Scott Farrior

The Price Farm, submitted by Beulah P. Price

The Robbins Farm, submitted by Marvin L. Robbins

The Thomas Farm, submitted by Hugh B. Johnston Jr.

The Thomas Farm, submitted by Eric Thomas

The Thorne Farm, submitted by Miss Minnie E. Thorne

The Whitley Farm, submitted by Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Whitley Sr.

The Wiggins Farm, submitted by Elsie B. Williford

The Wilson-Phillips Farm, submitted by Charles H. Phillips

The Yelverton Farm, submitted by Mrs. Wyatt C. Yelverton

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Sciences has identified nearly 1,600 Century Farm Families in North Carolina. To see a list of Century Farm Families by county, go to http://www.ncagr.gov/paffairs/century/location.htm. 

By and For Teenagers, 1947

Published in the WPTF Signal, June 1947; “680 on your dial”

Station WPTF has inaugurated a new public series, present by teenagers- and for teen-agers, entitled “Youth Takes a Stand.”

The series is designed to attack the problems of youth in appositive manner. During the first group of broadcasts, subtitled “Youth Looks at Itself,” local boys and girls from high schools, churches, Boy Scouts, 4-H Clubs, and other groups discuss in forum fashion Youth’s position in the home, church, school, community, and in business. The Rev. Ray Holder, rector of Raleigh’s Christ Episcopal Church, acts at moderator of the discussions.

So far in the series, the teen-agers have conducted lively and instructive discussions, taking both pro’s and con’s of each issue. The Reverend Holder and WPTF will welcome listeners’ criticisms, suggestions, and interests in this youth program.

The new series has been endorsed by J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI, by Judge Justin Miller, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, and Dr. Clyde A. Erwin, State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

‘Let the American Fix It’

Written by Francis Pressly, Iredell 4-H Club member, and printed in the August 1952 issue of Extension Farm-News. Pressly was 1951 International Farm Youth Exchange delegate to Italy.

It was a hot day on the big farm in northern Italy’s Po Valley; perfect for bailing hay, until the hay baler broke down. Then one of the Italian workers said, “Let the American fix it.”

That American happened to be me, an International Farm Youth Exchange (IFYE) delegate from a dairy farm in Piedmont Carolina. Doing as I had been told (“act just as you would at home”), I dug the instruction book out of the tool box and proceeded to locate the trouble.

Soon we had the machine going down the field punching out bales of alfalfa hay. Without firing a shot, a battle against Communism was won, as all the workers around me were Communist.

Not just in Italy, but in 43 different countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Brazil, New Zealand, and just about all of Europe, 58 farm boys and girls spent six months last year living in the homes of farmers there, working beside them in the fields, singing, laughing, sharing the black bread and borscht and wine, stopping for lunch in the fields, trying to outdo each other wish scythe and flail, chickling together over strange unpronounceable words.

Farm youth from overseas were in the United States, too, and another group has just returned from Latin America, the South Pacific, and India. All of these were participating in the remarkable program conducted by the National 4-H Club Foundation.

The IFYE program is four years old, is paid for without a cent of tax money, mostly by the folks back home. And this is where hundreds of thousands of 4-H’ers who can’t go to foreign countries participate in the program. In some states, they donate a penny for each year of their age to “Pennies for Peace.”

Each state that sends a delegate raises up to $700 of the costs of a two-way exchange—that is, sending a boy or girl overseas and getting a foreign delegate in return. Most of this money is raised through Extension’s 4-H, Young Men and Women’s Clubs, and other rural organizations.

IFYE’s must be 20 to 28 years old, be from farm homes, and “have a missionary zeal for understanding others.” Most delegates are in college, but, after returning from foreign farms, all will take several months off to deliver lectures before returning to school.

One IFYE had 125 talks scheduled for her when she stepped off the boat. The first 90 IFYE’s have given more than 7,000 talks to 700,000 persons, made 823 radio broadcasts, and were featured in 1,6390 newspaper and magazine articles.

This, you see, is a two-way deal. Not only do folks in other countries learn about us, but, just as important, we learn about them.

The IFYE’s unofficial status in foreign countries gave us special opportunities. When I was living with my first farmer host in the Po Valley, I arranged with ECA in Rome to show some American farm movies at my new home. “That night about 400 persons packed into the rice-warehouse along with officials from ECA, American Embassy friends, and the owner of the farm. It provided a wonderful opportunity for people of widely different backgrounds to become acquainted.

We IFYE’s went over to make friends, first of all, not to teach farming methods. There was no coaching of what we should say. Our instructions were “Just tell the truth.”

If only there were enough IFYE’s to reach everyone, I’m sure we could help put the world straight again. Because, after all, it is with the common people that understanding and peace must begin. The words, 4-H, open so many local doors; I hope that someday IFYE will be well enough known to open international doors.

Pasquotank Honors Marcia Albertson, First Home Demonstration Agent, 1952

Published in the August 1952 issue of Extension Farm-News, a monthly newsletter for Extension Service employees

Marcia Albertson, 95-year-old former home demonstration agent, was honored Sunday, July 27, when members of the Marcia Albertson Home Demonstration Club dedicated a new club house bearing her name.

Dr. Frank H. Jeter, Extension editor, was principal speaker at the dedication of the Weeksville club women’s building in Pasquotank County.

The building dedicated was started two years ago, when the club purchased an unused one-room Negro school house. The structure was enlarged, renovated and decorated for use by the club and community.

Mrs. P.P. Gregory, immediate past president of the State Federation of Home Demonstration Clubs, was among those speaking on the program.

Miss Albertson was the first demonstration agent in Pasquotank County.

Burke County Farmers Praised in Magazine, 1945

On April 10, 1945, the Morganton Herald, reprinted the following information from F.H. Jeter’s Carolina Farm Notes in Southern Planter magazine.

There was plenty of meat and bread in North Carolina this past winter because the folks who till the land worked hard, under difficulties, to produce needed feed, food, fiber and tobacco. There’s a little county of Burke, lying alongside the western mountains in the foothill country, where the farmers say they had a labor shortage, not enough machinery, a destructive hailstorm, a severe drought during the growing season, and some other farming troubles; yet, by working longer hours and harder than ever before, they produced one of the best crops in the history of that county.

For instance, they harvested 287,500 bushels of corn from 12,500 acres; 6,000 tons of hay from 6,500 acres; 75,000 bushels of wheat from 6,000 acres; 1,000 bales of cotton from 1,400 acres; 160,000 bushels of sweet and Irish potatoes from 1,500 acres; $300,000 worth of vegetables and truck crops from 3,000 acres; filled one million jars of canned food from these same acres; brooded 200,000 chicks from which 60,000 good pullets were selected; sold 1,500,000 gallons of milk from 4,000 cows; cured 1,500,000 pounds of pork from 6,000 hogs; and received $700,000 in new money from timber, pulpwood and the line harvested from Burke farms.

Home Demonstration Staff Changes, Davidson County, 1945

Published in the Lexington Dispatch, Jan. 4, 1945

Miss Mary Sue Moser today officially became the home demonstration agent of Davidson County, succeeding Mrs. Evangeline T. Thompson, agent for more than four years, whose resignation became effective with the close of the office day at noon Saturday. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson will continue to reside here temporarily until ready to move to a new home in the eastern part of the state, where he is district manager for the John Deere Company.

Miss Bessie May Cox, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Cox of Route 6, in Silver Hill township, was announced as the secretary for the home agent’s office. She succeeds Mrs. Marie Briggs Loop, wife of John Loop, progressive young farmer of the Holly Grove section, who recently resigned effective with the end of the year. Miss Cox, a high school graduate, has just completed a course in secretarial work at the Ashmore Business College at Thomasville.

Miss Moser, who is a native of Union County and a graduate of Woman’s College, has been assistant home agent under Mrs. Elizabeth Tuttle in Forsyth County. She spent the latter part of last week here getting acclimated to the new post and during the time met a number of leaders from home demonstration clubs, whose membership now covers all sections of the county.

The first official meeting for the new agent will be the district conference of Extension workers of the northwestern district, which will be held at Winston-Salem on Thursday of this week. W.H. Wooten, farm agent, and Paul S. Keyes, assistant agent, will also attend this meeting, which will be presided over by Miss Anamerle Arant, district home agent, and O.F. McCrary, district farm agent. Several specialists from the Extension Division of State College will discuss phases of the food production goals for 1945 and review the prospects and needs for this division.

Today is a legal holiday and most of the county offices are observing this, with the county boards having deferred their monthly meetings until tomorrow, so Miss Moser really begins her official activities tomorrow.

Mrs. Thompson, whose work has been most highly praised by county and Extension officials and by spokesmen for the club women of the county, was extended many courtesies by the several clubs during the pre-Christmas period. During the closing days of her term she has been engaged in completing her final annual narrative report here.