Woman writes book on Irwinville Farms Project

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Joy Wilson McDaniel

July 18, 2012

Woman writes book on Irwinville Farms Project

Latasha Everson/The Tifton Gazette CNHI The Tifton Gazette Wed Jul 18, 2012, 10:29 PM EDT

TIFTON — Growing up in a small community surrounded by farms has inspired one woman to write a 242-page book about the unique history of the Irwinville Farms Project, which came about over 75 years ago.

The Irwinville Farms Project was created in 1935, around the time of the Great Depression, when the government purchased 10,000 acres of land in Irwinville and put approximately 103 poor farmers on the property, said Joy Wilson McDaniel, the author of the newly released book, “Irwinville Farms Project: The Making of a Community.”

McDaniel has been living in Canton for about 30 years, but was born in Irwin County and grew up in Irwinville. She was three and a half years old when she and her family moved to Irwinville Farms in January 1935. She was the second child and only girl of three children; two more siblings, a brother and sister, were born later at Irwinville Farms.

McDaniel said from 1935 to 1943, the government was in charge of the project and then they sold the farms to the farmers at a fair market price at four percent interest. However, she noted that a majority of the farmers were able to pay for their farms within 10 years.

“They (the government) had a lot of rules. The main criteria for getting one of those farms was being poor, as well as honest and hardworking,” she stated, noting that the Depression was extremely hard on young farmers.

She added that the farmers could not own any property and they had to sell livestock and farm products through the Irwinville Cooperative Association.

“You had to be an upstanding citizen is the best way to describe it,” McDaniel explained, referring to the farmers who were chosen for the project.

She noted that her father was a carpenter and was part of a government work program.

She described Irwinville Farms as a close community as she’s never experienced. She said there was a school, and the parents were very involved in everything the children did. She noted that the late W.P. Bryan of Tift County managed the Irwinville Farms.

“He was a master farmer and a very good manager,” McDaniel said.

When asked how life was growing up there, she stated, “For a child, it was great. I now know that our mothers and fathers had a lot of worries, but as a child, I didn’t know about it.”

As the years passed, numerous farmers came and went, she said.

As McDaniel grew older, she attended South Georgia College and then in 1950, at the age of 19, she felt she needed to expand. Therefore, she moved to the Atlanta area and has been living there ever since. She noted that both her mother and father lived their lives out at Irwinville Farms.

McDaniel said in 2010, she made the final decision to begin writing the book about the history of Irwinville Farms after she discovered that the government had the records of the project available at the National Archives building in Washington, D.C. Her son was allowed to photograph the documents.

McDaniel said pictures of the Irwinville Farms Project, which were taken over a period of five years, are available at the Library of Congress.

What also inspired her to write the book was the research.

“Family research has been my life for the last 30 years,” she stated. “I’ve heard people say that this story needed to be written.”

McDaniel’s research also included old newspapers with several printed articles related to the project from the cities of Fitzgerald, Ocilla and Macon.

“This was the government’s showpiece,” McDaniel said about Irwinville Farms. “It was one of their premiere projects. [Similar projects/farms] were established all over the United States with five being in Georgia.”

She stated that her book contains information about Jeff Davis Park, the school, the community and also the basketball team, which was state champion for three years (1947, 1950 and 1951).

“We were something back then,” she chuckled.

“Irwinville Farms Project: The Making of a Community” was finalized this year at the first of June; it was published by Yawn’s Publishing in Canton.

The book has a little bit of everything about growing up on the farm, as well as memories from the people living today who grew up there, McDaniel said.

“I tried to put everything I could find in the book,” she stated.

She encourages young people to read the book to get an understanding of what hard work was like back then, and says older people can read it for the memories. She said she is very proud of the book and is pleased that it is finally finished.

“I had a wonderful editor — Mona Temples,” she noted.

McDaniel said the book has had a really good response with many people wanting to purchase it; she’s been mailing out copies almost every day.

“Irwinville Farms Project: The Making of a Community” is a hardback book and is currently available for $30 plus a $5 shipping and handling fee. To make a purchase, contact McDaniel at 770-345-2562 or by e-mail at joy_mcdaniel@comcast.net.

She will also be at the Blue and Gray Museum in Fitzgerald at 6:30 tonight and will be speaking about the book.

Also, there will be a book signing from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at Morehead’s Country Store in Irwinville. She will also be having a book signing at Yawn’s bookstore in Canton at a later date.

According to Yawn’s Publishing, McDaniel has written two family history books and co-authored two more that sold to people living in faraway places.

To contact reporter Latasha Everson, call 382-4321.

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