Our History

The Daws family came to North Carolina from England in the early 1700s, looking for a better life. They settled in the Hertford area before migrating over to the Edgecombe County area by the early 1800s. In 1839, two sons of Ephraim and Susanna Daws, Nathan and S.O. Daws, brought the Daws family to Mississippi from North Carolina. While making their way west, one of the family wagons got stuck crossing a reed break. After freeing the wagon, everyone was worn out. S.O. was quoted as looking around and saying, “I recon this is as good a place as any.” They were in west Kemper County, Mississippi. 

In an effort to provide for his family, S.O. started farming and eventually built the Daws Store. The Daws family helped found the community of Pea Ridge (now Cleveland), which was located between modern day Philadelphia and DeKalb. The Daws store would become the hub of the little community. In addition to the store itself, the original building also contained a Post Office and a small school room. Martin Daws was the community school teacher, while S.O. ran the store, farmed, and also served as the postmaster for the Post Office.

When Mississippi succeeded in 1861, Martin enlisted in the 19th Mississippi Infantry of the Confederate Army. After serving in Bowling Green, Kentucky, Martin would die of poisoning within the first two years of the war. S.O. himself helped organize and joined a company of cavalry at the Daws Store in 1864, and served the remainder of the war. 

After the war, S.O. returned to his farm and store in Kemper County. Upon his death, another one of his sons, Issac, took over the store and the farm. "Ike's" eldest son, Clark "Bud" Daws, would serve the community as a teacher and postal worker, like his uncle and grandfather before him. It would be Clark's third son, S.B. “Babe” Daws, that would move to Wayne County and start what would become Dixie Farms, which would eventually include the reopening of the Daws Country Store by Forrest S. Daws, the 6th generation of Mississippi Dawses.  

In 1959, S.B. “Babe” Daws was looking for a way to relieve the stress created by his involvement in the fast-paced oil industry. His solution was to return to the roots of his family by starting up a family farm. He purchased a tract of land just outside the city limits of Waynesboro and began the long process of turning that land into a farm.

By the mid 1970s, the Daws farm had grown from a small project meant to be a stress-relieving hobby into a full fledge second business. Babe’s two sons, Ben and DeLynn, became the second generation to take part in the farm. Various types of cattle, including Angus and Hereford, were being bred and raised, a ten-acre pecan orchard had been planted, feeder hogs were being raised for slaughter, and multiple chicken houses were constructed. A tenant house was built and a full-time foreman was hired to live on and help work the farm.

By the late 1980s and early 1990s however, the family situation had changed. Babe’s age begin to catch up with him, Ben’s time was taken up running Southeastern Oil Company, and DeLynn began to develop the first of many health issues that forced him to abandon his role on the farm and focus solely on the oil business as well. By this time, Forrest S. Daws had become the third generation of Daws men to roam the lands of the Wayne County farm; but during this time he was still in high school and could not take an active role in running the farm. The contract for the chicken houses was allowed to expire, the cattle and hogs were sold, and the farm foreman moved on.

As the 1990s drew to a close, the lands that comprised the Daws farm were split between Ben and DeLynn. Babe passed away in early 1997. Ben elected to set the pastures on his portion out in pine trees, DeLynn’s health took a bad turn, and Forrest moved off for a while with college, the Navy, and work. During this time, the Daws farm basically ceased to exist. The only use the land saw was for hunting and recreation. Various storms took their toll as well, including the devastating Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005.

After being gone for several years, Forrest made the decision to permanently return to Waynesboro in the summer of 2011. For years he had dreamed of reestablishing the family farm. He began the huge task of reclaiming the portion of land that DeLynn had taken ownership of. New roads were built, new fences were constructed, new water lines were installed, and pastures were reclaimed. In the summer of 2015, Forrest purchased the first home to ever be constructed on Babe Dawes Drive and realized a dream he’d had for almost 20 years when he moved he and his son, Harrison, to the road named after his grandfather.

Finally, on November 17, 2016, Forrest turned the old Daws farm into an official business by forming Dixie Farms, LLC. The month of November is special to the Daws family, with Babe, DeLynn, and Forrest all having been born during that month. The date of November 17, 2016, was not only Forrest’s birthday, but his 40th birthday. Coincidentally, DeLynn, Forrest, and Harrison all wore the number 40 during portions of their years spent as basketball players. The timing just seemed right. This version of the farm is still growing and evolving, with the third and fourth generations of the original owner working the land.