SOUTH COLLIN FARM HOME FOUR
GENERATIONS OF THE FOREMAN FAMILY: NEAR PLANO
Democrat
April 5, 1928
Came From Kentucky and Settled
On It in 1845—Same Year That
Collin County Organized.
In company with
Billie Gee and Hon. George P. Brown, both of this city, a representative of this
paper recently visited the splendid big old Southern farm home of William
Foreman located on the pike one mile east of the town of Plano in South Collin.
This is one of
the best improved farms in our county. The land is mostly level, but the rolling
part of the place is kept terraced by Mr. Foreman and his sons. The farm is also
well supplied with different kinds of live stock.
Kentuckians.
The present owner,
William Foreman III, was born on the place November30, 1860. His grandfather,
William Foreman I, came from Bardstown, Nelson county, Kentucky, to Texas in
1846 and settled on the place during the same year in which the county was
created and organized. Therefore the farm's ownership in the Foreman family is
co-extensive with the organized duration of Collin county, each covering a
period of eighty-two years. This is a record that is equalled buy by few if any
other similar instance of continuous farm ownership in the same family to be
found anywhere in the county.
South Collin Land
Mark.
William Foreman I,
wife, four sons and one daughter, all came from Kentucky together. The four sons
were: William Foreman II, Joseph Foreman, James Foreman, and Clint Foreman. The
daughter Miss Lutitia Foreman, became the wife of George W. Barnett, another
pioneer South Collin settler. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett were the parents of Mrs. J.
H. Gulledge of Plano.
The father and sons
built a grist mill, later erecting a gin; built a still and also a country store
or commissary. They also operated a saw mill and a cooperage. These several
enterprises were built on a branch located about a quarter of a mile North of
the present home of William Foreman III and on land now owned by him.
A big dam was built
across the branch providing a large mill pond that was fed by springs and which
provided the needed water supply for the operation of the mil, gin, store,
cooperage and saw mill.
The Foreman mill and
other enterprises were patronized by the early settlers living in a wide scope
of territory surrounding them.
There enterprises
continued to flourish and afford needed accommodations for their patrons until
the coming of the H. & T. C. railroad through the county in the year of 1872
when the mill and other lines of activity were discontinued.
The town of Plano
was established hardly a mile west of their location and naturally that point
became the center for the pioneer settlers to buy their supplies in and where
they also preferred to have their ginning and milling requirements done.
The Foremans
retained and developed their land and improved their place equal to the best to
be found in North Texas. They were thrifty citizens and have continued to play
an important role in the drama of life throughout the entire existence of our
county.
The editor, in
company with William foreman III, who is now in his 68th year, visited the sites
of the old grist mill, gin, store, cooperage and saw mil. Nothing is left to
mark the three or four acres of land on which they stood except portions of the
old dam that has long since been washed out and a cavity in the side of the bank
of the creek where the old corn still was operated. Some rocks and heavy Bois
d'Arc timber for the foundations of the buildings and machinery are also
slightly exposed at the surface of the ground indicting their former location
when the businesses were discontinued by their owners fifty-six years ago and
when the present owner of the land was only a lad of eleven or twelve years of
age.
The Present Owner.
As above stated, the
present owner, William Foreman III, who was born November 30, 1860, was reared
on the place and has continued to live thereon all of his life. He was married
August 3, 1886 to Miss Mary Hefner who was born in the state of New York but was
brought to Texas when a little girl of only five. William Foreman IV is a young
man living at home with his parents and is helping to run the big farm of his
father, making the fourth generation of the same name to reside on the place.
The children of Mr.
and Mrs. William Foreman III are: Tom W. Foreman of Galveston, Cliff Foreman,
who lives on the old homestead; Fred Foreman of Throckmorton, Texas; Charlie
Foreman who lives on one of his father's places near Plano; Frank W. Foreman of
Richardson; William Foreman IV at home with his parents; Mrs. Maggie Dooley of
Plano and Mrs. Charlie Painter of Plano.
House Was Built 77
Years Ago.
Yet standing on the
farm and now used only as a tenant house, is an old five room frame residence
erected by William Foreman I and his sons in the year 1851. It was originally
about a seven room house, but the ell has long since been torn away, leaving
only five rooms intact at the present time. The lumber, which is yet in a fair
state of preservation, was hauled from Jefferson, Texas, by ox teams driven by
negro slaves belonging to the Foreman family. This lumber was sawed from choice
pine timber in the early saw mills of East Texas and was of a quality that can
hardly be equalled in the present time. Of course several new shingle roofs have
been put on the building and the weather boarding has been painted two or three
different times, so Mr. Foreman says. The sills and sleepers of this old
building consist of huge logs pinioned and held tightly together hard and fast
by Bois d'Arc pegs. All joints of the building are securely fastened together by
Bois d'Arc pegs, giving it stability and strength that is not equalled by the
average builder's art of today in the erection of new homes.
The Foreman
Cemetery.
Located on the
northwestern part of the Foreman farm is the Foreman cemetery in which the first
interment was made in 1852 or seventy-six years ago, according to the reckoning
of William Foreman III, the present owner of the farm. The first person to be
buried in it was Dr. Lillie of Kentucky, who was a first cousin of William
Foreman I. The deceased, then a young man, rode from Kentucky to visit the Texas
uncle and other relatives with a view of possibly settling here himself. On
account of hardships and exposure endured on the long horseback journey, he fell
ill of pneumonia with which malady he was suffering when he arrived and rapidly
grew worse, his death occurring within a few days thereafter.
At Dr. Lillie's
death a conference was held among the pioneers of that sparsely settled section
with reference to selecting a location for a graveyard. The owners of four
sections of land that cornered together within three or four hundred years of
the old grist mill, decided to locate the graveyard there where each of the four
could contribute an equal portion of land for the cemetery. But it seems that
for some reason the earliest graves were all dug on the Foreman land on which
all of the several hundred graves now in the cemetery are located with the
possible exception of four or five that are just outside of the cemetery fence
on the portion of land of one of the other original four proposed donors.
William Foreman III
also showed us the second grave. Its occupant was Elenora G. Hawkins aged
sixteen. She died August 10, 1852. This grave has well preserved head and foot
stones bearing legible inscriptions. No monument or other stone marks the
sleeping place of Dr. Lillie, the first to be buried there about a year before,
but his grave is clearly marked and is definitely located so it can be readily
pointed out by Mr. Foreman and other members of the family.
Many Pioneers Buried
In It.
The cemetery is a
beautiful one, comparatively level, sodded with Bermuda grass and neatly kept.
Among the more familiar names of pioneer South Carolina families that we noted
on some of the many beautiful tombstones and monuments were the Foremans,
Barnetts, Blalocks, Dyes, Andrews, Carpenters, Rice, Coffeys and others. The
grave of the late Olney Davis, Plano banker is in this cemetery. One of the most
imposing monument in the seventy-six year old cemetery marks his resting place.
Among other notable figures in the earlier days of South Collin to be buried in
the Foreman cemetery were: Col. W. M. ? L. W.Oglesby, Dr. Rig ?, prominent
physician and Mason; Dr. Coffey and others.
Twin Monuments For
Sisters.
Our attention was
particularly attracted by a double monument of attractive pattern erected more
than a half century ago that marks the resting places of two sister, both of
them wives of the same man—James C. Foreman. Their maiden names were Jennie and
Patty Daniel daughters of Rice Daniel of Sherman. Jennie was born January 3,
1840 and died May 8, 1884 shortly after the birth of her first-born child. Her
dying request to her husband and twenty-two year old sister, Patty, was that
they marry so that the sister could mother her child and rear it. Patty was born
January 20, 1842 and died August 15, 1877. The following inscription appears
across the bottom of their twin monument: "To Earth Two Jewels Lost, To Heaven
Two Angels Gained." After the death of his second wife, James C. Foreman, the
husband, moved to Coleman, Texas, where he died a number of years afterward and
where he is buried.
Some other
interesting monuments that we observed mark the sleeping places of some of
Collin's earliest pioneers who rest in this one of the very oldest Collin county
cemeteries. Among them are: Born April 3, 1792. William Foreman I, born April 3,
1792, died September 20, 1856. Ruth (Chenowith) Foreman, wife of William Foreman
I, born January 18, 1799, died October 23, 1868. William Foreman II, born
September 7, 1820, died March 25, 1886. Abbie (Thomas) Foreman, wife of William
Foreman II, born August 16, 1823,, died January 20, 1877. She was an aunt of
Mrs. W. R. Dowell of McKinney.
Ruth (Chenowith)
Foreman, wife of William Foreman I, whose tome is above referred to, was a
granddaughter of Cecil Culvert, the second Lord Baltimore, founder of the colony
of Maryland and of the city of Baltimore.
This beautifully
kept old cemetery has a large shed or tabernacle on it in which funeral and
memorial services are often conducted affording protection from the elements for
the mourners and sympathizing friends or for the population of the community
gathered there to decorate graves and for memorial occasions.
High Standard
Citizenship.
This community and
surrounding territory is admittedly one of the best sections of farming country
in the state. All timber has long since disappeared. The land is in a high state
of cultivation, the farms are improved with the best class of farm homes, with
big barns and other modern rural improvements. The citizenship is largely made
up of landholders who rank high in the scale of intelligence, thrift and
appreciation of schools, good roads and all social advantages.
Sacred Spot To
McKinney Man.
Hon. George P. Brown
and Billie Gee, the two companions of the editor on this most interesting visit
to the Foreman farm, were both reared in the Plano vicinity where their happy
boyhood days were spent and where may of their loved ones and friends repose in
either of the three cemeteries in Plano, or the Foreman cemetery, one mile east
of Plano, or the Bowman cemetery a little more distant and located northeast of
Plano. The Foreman cemetery is sacred to our fellowtownsman and friend, Billie
Gee, from the fact that his wife, his sister, mother and two brothers all sleep
there.
Plano Mutual Cemetery
Surname Index
Recommended Citation:
"The Foreman Family Near Plano,
EARLY SETTLERS OF COLLIN COUNTY." Collin County, Texas History
and Genealogy Webpage by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13, 2004 ].
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