The Hartin family has been in Marshall County for the past six generations. Nick Hartin, Marshall County Commissioner for district #2, was born and raised in Marshall County and said he has no plans for going anywhere else.
Hartin started his career in the oil business before working for the county in 2020. Hartin along with his wife, Betsy, who have been married since 2010 are raising their two daughters, Haylen and Hatlie here with the hope of carrying on with a long line of family traditions.
The Hartin girls are involved in heifer livestock showing just as their dad did before them. From FFA, to ranching, to serving the community, the Hartin’s love their small-town life. Hartin said he looks forward to the next generation of Hartins following the family's way of life.
Q: You are from Marshall County, is your family originally from here?
A: “Lifelong resident of Marshall County, born and raised here. I’m raising the 6th generation, my children in Marshall County. I know it goes back to my dad’s great grandpa. All Hartin’s, my great grandpa was one of the pioneer’s that first established Marshall County. Mom’s family is from Milburn, Tishomingo area. My wife is Betsy and her family has been around these parts for most of their lives. She was originally Betsy Pickens they’re originally from now aroundtheCumberlandarea, they are probably fourth or fifth generation here. She works for Marshall County Rural Water, been there since 2006.”
Q: How did you and Betsy meet?
A: “ Me and her brother were best friends, we grew up in high school. She was four or five years younger than me. We just got to hanging out and were really best friends. I’d say it was more than just a husband and wife relationship. It was right out of high school. She was 18, I was 24 and we started going on fishing trips together. Feeding cows together and establishing a great bond.”
Q: How important is it to you that you are raising your daughters here and that you have them involved in livestock showing?
A: “I think it is real important. The first thing that I would say is it raises work ethic, and it builds work ethics in them. I would say the Hartin name was built on honesty, integrity, and hard work ethics. I instill that in my children. We feed the animals before we eat, morning or night. We think of them aheadofthemselves.Wehave cows, bulls, and calves; and my girls show heifers.”
Q: Having kids involved in FFA, 4-H and other groups helps to build character and establish community roots?
A: “It does build character and it really helps you grow up real fast. When you live on a farm or a ranch, you see life. You see the baby calf being born and its first steps. You see death sometimes, too. My girls learned that at a young age. We try to save everything, we treat them better than we would ourselves. They see death. I got my girls involved with cattle at a young age. Got them to nurse calves where they would go feed the bottles morning and night. Futures shed on them because we sell cattle, we are attached to them, some of them are like our family. But it is business and they learn to sell cattle and they receive their checks. They have started their own herd. They put the money back in a bonded herd, save money and maybe buy them a car when they are 16 years old. You can’t keep them all. My daughter wants to show steers next year - my youngest one, because they are big and fluffy. I said [to her] at the end of the steer’s show career, he is steak, he is hamburger. She said, ‘oh no I want to keep him’. I said ‘he don’t make no money, we are not going to keep a 1,500lb pet out in the field.’” Q: Are you hoping that your daughter will stay here in the future as well and carry on the family tradition of ranching?
A: “I hope so. I really hope they stay in Marshall County, hope they marry fine husbands that want to carry on the ranching tradition. Shoot, I go back to the fifth generation of cattlemen. My grandfather started as a sharecropper in the 1940’s, ventured into partnership with the Drummons’ and made a good name for himself with his work ethics and ended up buying property and had a heck of a cow herd when he passed away. I hope that they will carry on with it. I know they would, they love it. Right now, the weather is pretty outside, they come home and feed their animals and work their animals in the evening. They want to hop on the 4-wheelers and ride on the land. I think they enjoy that; they probably don’t know how good they got it. Because they can hop on the 4-wheeler and ride for hours and never open a gate or get on a county road. I think they understandhowgoodtheygot it. That’s what I like about farmland, that’s what I like about ranch land. You can do that. Just the freedom in the way my two girls are growing up. I’ll say it again, they don't know how good they got it. There are several out there that don’t have it that good. I wouldn’t trade Marshall County for nothing.”
Q: With your family having generational roots in Marshall County how do you feel about the growth and development around the county?
A: “With the growth, with the subdivisions and the housing additions going in you are losing peanuts farms, ranch lands. Good or bad, I can’t tell you that. It does affect my family. People move in and they got to live somewhere. I’m not bashing it all. Maybe that is why they are all moving in, seeing how good we got it here and they are wanting a part of it.”