HOMESTEAD OF FATHER SETTLED
72 YEARS AGO
[Billie Orenduff]
Democrat
January 30, 1927
Concerning a
recent article appearing in this paper relative to the razing of a very old
residence on one of Judge H. L. Davis' farms four miles north of McKinney,
Mrs. Leona Orenduff Harris of Melissa, submits the following additional
information. Mrs. Harris is the daughter of Jesse W. Orenduff, one of our
county's oldest surviving early settlers and a granddaughter of Uncle Billie
Orenduff who came from Kentucky with his family to Texas in 1855, and
settled the land on which his son Jesse W. Orenduff, still resides. In
company with those Orenduff emigrants coming here from Kentucky 72 years
ago, was a young man named R. M. Board, who is yet living in our city and is
lovingly known as Capt. Milt Board.
From Mrs. Leona
O. Harris.
In Friday's
Daily Courier-Gazette there appeared an account of an old landmark the old
Uncle Billie Orenduff homestead in the Trinity community, which was being
torn down to give place to a modern bungalow by Don O. Davis on the farm
which is now owned by the latter's father, Judge H. L. Davis.
My father, Jesse
W. Orenduff, begs to state that he now owns and lives in the old original
Orenduff house built by his father, William Orenduff, when the family first
came here from Kentucky in 1855.
The place
referred to in Friday's issue was originally the old Michael Mallow place —
truly an old landmark. But it is also true that this Mallow property was
later acquired by Uncle Billie Orenduff who became owner of some 600 acres
of land in this same community.
When the wagon
train arrived from Kentucky, Uncle Billie Orenduff, my grandfather, first
built log cabins for his family and negro slaves, which they occupied until
lumber could be hauled from Jefferson to build a better home. My father,
Jesse W. Orenduff, then a boy of 12 , assisted in hauling this lumber for
the new house, which, when completed, consisted of two rooms, 18x18 and an
open hall 18x16. Porches were built on the east and west sides running their
full length—52 feet, supported by huge pillars. Grandmother Orenduff
(Elizabeth Hayes of Virginia) never lived to see the completion of the new
house, memorial services being held in it later for her.
In after years,
the hall was closed and made into rooms. This was indeed a typical old
ante-bellum Southern home.
It was from this
old plantation homestead that my father later rode away to enter the great
Civil war as a gallant Confederate soldier with the 6th Texas cavalry under
command of Gen. Sul Ross, afterward Gov. Ross.
At the close of
the war, it was to this same farm home that Jesse W. Orenduff returned and
brought his bride, Sue Hampton, where they lived most happily together for
more than 58 years as husband and wife until her passing on three years ago.
The old Orenduff
farm, where Uncle Billie Orenduff first located and which has been "home" to
my father continuously all these 72 years, since, is now cultivated by his
youngest son, Ross Orenduff, well-known musician who was named for father's
old commander, Gen. Sul Ross. Mrs. Leona O. Harris
Surname Index
Recommended Citation:
"Homestead of Billie Orenduff,
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 ].
