The Southern Democrat, 15 Dec 1898 It is very seldom that you find a man who has lived on the farm half a century in this section of country without raising cotton. We know of one man of this kind in this county. Mr. Solomon Murphree, of Dailey's Beat, who is 52 years old, was in town last Thursday with his first bale of cotton. Mr. Murphree is a man who has made what he possesses by hard work. He says that he was never in debt over $100 in his life and is now in debt about $25 with over $200 owing to him. He owns a 400 acre farm with a good orchard on it, 80 head of sheep, 60 goats, 10 head of cattle, 5 horses and 50 chickens, and it is from these that he makes a living and support his family. This shows that a farmer can live without raising cotton.