Marvin R. Spicer, current owner of the Spicer Farm and grandson of the original owner, George Washington Spicer, began working on the farm when he was only 4 years old.

“ My mother told the story of how one day I cried because I was being left behind while the family was going to pick cotton,” Marvin said.“ So they let me join in, and from that day forward I worked on the family farm.”

The original owner of the farm, George Washington Spicer, was born in 1875 in Logan County. His family had moved to Arkansas from Tennessee with their 14 children, sometime in the mid- to late-1800s, seeking better opportunities for their family. George married Addie Grist in 1897, and they had nine children. They settled in the Crossroads community in Scranton and bought the original farm in 1917.

“ The original farm was 80 acres,” Marvin said.“ The family grew cotton, tobacco, gourds and vegetables, as well as raised dairy cows and pigs. Products from the farm were for personal use, and extras were either sold or gifted to neighbors and friends.”

While George helped establish a church and bought land on the north side of state Highway 197, his brother Dave helped establish a church and bought land on the south side of the highway. There was no dispute, they just had slightly different

religious beliefs. Like many families living at the start of World War I in 1917 and during the Great Depression, George and Dave faced many adversities, but worked together to support their families and to try to make a living.

“ Along with their respective families,” Marvin said,“ they practiced cooperative farming with their neighbors, often traveling from one neighbor farm to the next to help process chickens, beef and hogs so that every family could prepare their own meats for freezing to feed their families throughout the year.”

Marvin still has memories of his grandfather, George, who died at the age of 91 in 1966.“ The one and only time I ever ate possum was at my grandma and grandpa’ s house,” he said. He does not have a pleasant memory of that experience.

Marvin’ s father, Hartsel Spicer( son of

George and Addie), married Mary Shelton in 1931 and had four children that survived birth. Hartsel bought the farm from his dad in 1948, while George and Addie lived on the farm for the rest of their lives.

“ The main source of income for my parents was dairy,”

Marvin said.“ The family started by milking five to six cows by hand, and when I got old enough to help with the milking, we were milking 15 to 20 by hand, selling that milk to Pet Milk in Siloam Springs.”

In 1949, they built a Grade A dairy farm when they started using electric milkers. Over time, they grew the herd to around 50 cows. They produced hay for the herd and in the’ 50s and’ 60s grew sorghum, making their own silage to feed the cows in the winter.

Like all farm families at the time, they were homesteaders, raising their own beef, pork and poultry and had a smokehouse