Born 1843 - Died 1929
John F. Farmer (1843-1929) was born in Caroline County, Virginia. He married Mary E. Deshazo (1850-1939) and lived in the White Oak area of Stafford County, Virginia. He called his farm Potomac View. In 1910, a friendly rivalry between local farmers produced the following notice in the Free Lance newspaper of Oct. 8, 1910, “To the Free Lance. I am invited by Mr. R[obert] V[inton] Suttle, of King George county, to go back home and get another stalk of corn. When Mr. Suttle can produce a stalk that measures 10 feet 8 inches from the ground to the end of the ear, I will talk to him. My stalk was grown without fertilizer. I challenge all this part of North America. There is no ear mentioned on Mr. Suttle’s stalk. I hold the belt without a rival. John F. Farmer.” Farmer died in 1929.