Making Sorghum in White Bluff, Tennessee

Hi, 

We are the Deal Family.  This is a short  history of the Sorghum making in our family.

William Washington Deal started a sorghum mill at least as early as 1884 in Cheatham County.   It was made intermittently at first.  James Henry Deal, the Son of William, had his own mill for a while and also he worked for other people who made sorghum.  In 1921 He started his own business.  It was passed down to his son Howard Henry Deal who had a successful business.  Howard passed away in 1980.  It was then passed down to his son, (me) Jerry Eric Deal.

The mill was powered by mules until about 1971 or 72 , then my dad, Howard, switched to a tractor engine.

When my dad passed, I was terrified at the thought of cooking by myself.  With my mothers encouragement and support we fired up the mill in 1981 and again in 1982.We were the last generation to run the mill.  1983, we gave up the mill and decided to call it quits.  Donna and I began to raise our family.  James Henry Deal (Jamie) our first son was only 2 years old the last year we made, therefore, not remembering anything about it.  Jeremy Howard Deal came along in 1984.  They grew up hearing us talk about sorghum and how to make it, but never got to actually do the hands on chore of making.  Jamie is now 27 years old and has a one year old daughter.  Jeremy is 24 now.  Recently they started asking lots of questions about the sorghum family history.  The more we talked, the more excited Jamie seemed to get.  So with a little persauding he has convinced me and Donna, that is time to relight the furnace and get back to making sorghum like my father and grandfather.  Hopefully our first batch will come off this fall 2008.  We will make it for family and friends at first and see how that goes.  If it goes well and the boys decide they want to stick with it, who knows, we may just be back in business! 

Allison Elizabeth Deal, Our granddaughter, is about the same age Jamie was the first time he slept in a cardboard box beside the furnace.  We hope she will take an interest in it and we can continue the family tradition through the years to come. I only hope that Jamie and Jeremy are prepared for the dedication and the hard work that 's needing for running a successful sorghum mill.   Wish us luck!