Full History

Back in the mid 1800’s, the legacy began when Handy Kennedy purchased 175 acres in Cobbtown, Georgia from the town’s namesake, Mr. Lewis Cobb. By the time he passed in 1922, he was able to leave 190 acres to his children.

Handy’s son Marshton became the administrator of the estate, survived the Great Depression, and lived a long and prosperous life as a farmer. Marshton’s small farm became his dream, as he was recognized as a man of his word locally and eventually throughout the Southeast. He and his wife, Mamie, raised thirteen children on the farm as it grew from 190 acres to 1900. He sealed many deals with a simple handshake. His perseverance, self-reliance, and entrepreneurial spirit gained his family their own private Mobile gas station, a fleet of John Deere farming equipment, and even a school bus to transport his grandchildren to school.

Marshton’s son, Handy Kennedy Sr. volunteered during World War II, and after his service returned to Georgia to continue farming with his father and in 1946 married a very independent woman, Milton Jane, known by friends and family as M.J. They decided together to try the “city” life in Brunswick, Georgia, and Handy Sr. worked as a laborer at Hercules Pulpwood Company, and by 1959, they had seven children. However, their dedication to family life led them to move back to Cobbtown and purchase a small farm adjacent to the family farm. Marshton, unfortunately, faced cancer and debt, and worked to sell his farm to Handy Sr. and keep it in the family, but in the 1960’s the cold truth was that it was extremely difficult to borrow money from a bank. However, the family’s fine reputation and work ethic earned them the assistance of Clifford Coleman, a friend, and Handy Sr. was able to secure a loan from New York Life Insurance Co. to purchase 900 acres from his father.

By 1973, Handy Sr. and M.J. had twelve children and owned 1,060 acres, quite an accomplishment after the struggles of the third generation of the family to farm the land. At his death in 2004, the farm was debt-free, and Handy Sr. left the legacy of farming to his many children.

Five generations after Handy Kennedy first purchased land from Mr. Cobb back in the mid 1800’s, Handy’s twelve great, great grandchildren wanted to make sure the farm was preserved as one entity and agreed to incorporate the farm into an LLC, hence forming HK Farm, LLC. Today, those twelve children and their families collectively own and manage over 1000 acres in Cobbtown.