WILMETH - MCKINNEY HOMESTEAD &
FAMILY
[J. B. Wilmeth]
This tract of land
of the J. B. Wilmeth survey north of McKinney contained the family home, the
first plowed ground in Collin County, the site of the organization and first
meetings of McKinney's First Christian Church, and the first free school taught
in Collin County.
Elder Joseph Brice
Wilmeth and his wife, Nancy Ferguson Wilmeth, both born in 1804, he in North
Carolina and she in Tennessee, were married in Tennessee in 1826.
In the fall of 1831,
the Wilmeth family migrated to Lawrence County, Arkansas. Over a course of
fourteen years, no one was more involved in the activities of the area than J.
B. Two of J. B.'s brothers, Frank Crawford Wilmeth and James Washington Wilmeth,
were Christian ministers. It was while here in Arkansas that J. B. also became a
minister of the Christian faith, along with serving in various other
occupations--county clerk, farmer, carpenter, blacksmith, and teacher. He
compiled an arithmetic book, from which he taught daily from January 8, 1842 to
August, 1842. This arithmetic book, written by a quill pen, is still treasured
by one of his descendants.
In 1845, J. B., his
family, and the families of his brother, Frank Crawford Wilmeth, and of J. O.
Straughan headed a movement to Texas. They established their first headright in
western Dallas County. Hardly had their cabins been completed and their first
crops harvested when the fear of threatening Indians drove them back to this
area of Collin County.
In June, 1846, J. B.
purchased the 320 acre claim of Moses Wilson just north of McKinney. Not long
had J. B.'s wagons been unloaded until his blacksmith shop and Nancy's loom were
set up. His plow and teams of oxen turned the first prairie sod of Collin
County.
Not long afterward,
construction was started on their new home. Lumber was hauled overland by oxen
teams from Jefferson, Texas. J. B.'s family built this home, using brick which
they had made for the chimney and fireplace. The beams, hewed from logs, were
thirty-six feet long. The rafters were coupled to them with bois d'arc pins. The
studs were hewed, as were the sleepers, from bois d'arc.
The house was
originally built two-story with a one-story addition in back, but when the
Christian Church was organized by Elder Wilmeth, he added a second story to the
back part of the house in order to allow room for church services and for the
establishment of the first school to be organized in Collin County. Elder
Wilmeth's evangelistic efforts, preaching and founding churches, extended to
Dallas, Denton, Grayson, and Fannin counties. The first church in Collin County
was organized by Joseph Brice Wilmeth and Collin McKinney in the home of Carroll
McKinney, which was near the Collin-Grayson County line, in November 1846.
Charter members included sixteen members of the J. B. Wilmeth and Collin
McKinney families and five slaves. Soon after, the congregation moved to a
community house a mile south and named it Liberty, to be known later as
"Mantua." In 1848, J. B. Wilmeth organized a group at his home two miles north
of McKinney, from which emerged the First Christian Church of McKinney. Charter
members included J. B. Wilmeth, Frank C. Wilmeth, Henry Webb, John Larimore, and
James Masters. First meetings were held in the Wilmeth blacksmith shop, which
had been seated with split log benches. Later, meetings were held in an upper
room of the Wilmeth home. With an outside stairway, this new addition was built
specifically for the purpose of worship and teaching. J. B. Wilmeth and his
children also taught a free school, most of the time in their home, from 1848 to
1887. Two of J. B.'s sons, James R. and Collin McKinney Wilmeth, were also
Christian ministers and teachers. Both taught in Thorp Spring at Add-Ran College
(now Texas Christian University).
In 1847 Elder
Wilmeth was one of five appointed to the commission to secure a site and lay out
a town for a county seat. He also served as District Clerk and was later elected
County Judge.
Having acquired
large tracts of land, J. B. Wilmeth, in the early fifties, began to buy slaves
and devote his attention more to farming and raising livestock. He had 200 acres
in cultivation. With a harvester and thresher of his own, his wheat and barley
output was a large amount.
When the Civil War
occurred, he contributed liberally to the outfitting of the Confederate Army by
furnishing forage, mules, horses, and men (seven of his sons were enrolled in
the ranks and two were killed in the cause). He assisted in organizing and
drilling regiments of men in Collin County and served as Lieutenant Colonel in
the State Militia.
J. B. and Nancy
Wilmeth were the parents of thirteen children: Mary Jane, Mancell W., Martha
Marilea, Keturah Mirando, James Ransom, Joseph Bryson, Jr., William Crawford,
Hiram Ferguson, Nancy Ann, John Ficklin, Andrew Jackson, Collin McKinney, and
Sarah Elizabeth.
Nancy Wilmeth died
January 14, 1892; J. B. died the next day, January 15. They were laid to rest
side by side in the same tomb at McLarry Cemetery, located in the Wilmeth
Community, north of McKinney.
Following their
deaths in 1892, their daughter, Martha Marilea (b. 1831) and her husband Daniel
Leak McKinney (b. 1827), grandson of pioneer Collin McKinney (for whom both the
city of McKinney and the county of Collin were named) moved from their home east
of Van Alstyne to the homestead. They were the parents of nine children: Joseph
Ashley, Sara Elizabeth, James Milam, William Thomas, Jackson Handley, Nancy L.,
Daniel Edward, Margret Annie, and John Brice.
After Daniel Leak's
death in 1906, Martha M. sold the property she owned, including the homestead,
to her youngest son, John Brice McKinney. Martha M. was approaching her one
hundredth birthday when she died while living with her son, Jack McKinney, in
Van Alstyne, on October 2, 1930. She is buried beside her husband and parents in
the McLarry Cemetery.
John Brice McKinney
(b.1877), farmer and apiarist, and Annie Magers (b. 1879) were married in 1900
in the little Wilmeth Chapel on Wilmeth Road (built by Elder J. B. Wilmeth prior
to his death in 1892). They lived their entire married life at this homestead,
both dying in 1968. All of their children were born on this homestead: Drury
Metz, Joe Magers, Collin, Clara B., J. B., Armyn O., and Ridgell M.
After extensive
remodeling during the passing years, an end came to the old home in 1941, when
it was razed and a more modern home built by the John B. McKinney family. Much
of the lumber, windows, doors, and fixtures of the old home were incorporated
into the present structure.
In 1982, John Brice
and Annie's granddaughter, Shirley Reddell Cooper (who was also born in the old
home) and her husband, C. Don Cooper, purchased this last tract of land in the
Wilmeth survey from the remaining heirs, giving her mother, Clara McKinney
Reddell, a life estate, as she had had from her parents, in the acreage
containing the dwelling and out buildings.
The homestead is
listed in the Texas Land Heritage Registry, First Edition, published in 1974 by
the Texas Department of Agriculture.
This homestead site
also qualified for an official Texas Historical Marker in August, 1993.
By Clara McKinney
Reddell
Historical marker, 1994
SITE
OF
WILMETH - McKINNEY HOMESTEAD
JOSEPH BRICE
(J. B.) WILMETH (b. 1807) AND NANCY FERGUSON
(b. 1807) WERE
MARRIED IN TENNESSEE IN 1826. THEY SETTLED
HERE ON 320
ACRES OF VIRGIN PRAIRIE IN 1846. THEY BEGAN
TO FARM THEIR
LAND AND SOON BUILT A GRANT TWO-STORY
FAMILY HOME AT
THIS SITE.
ELDER J. B.
WILMETH, ALONG WITH PIONEER SETTLER COLLIN
McKINNEY,
ESTABLISHED COLLIN COUNTY'S FIRST CHRISTIAN
CHURCH AT
LIBERTY IN 1846. J. B. ORGANIZED McKINNEY'S
FIRST
CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN 1848, AND EARLY WORSHIP SER-
VICES WERE
HELD IN HIS HOME. BETWEEN 1848 AND 1887
THE WILMETH
HOME ALSO WAS THE SITE OF A FREE SCHOOL
TAUGHT BY J.
B. AND HIS CHILDREN. J. B. SERVED ON THE COM-
MISSION THAT
SELECTED THE COLLIN COUNTY SEAT AND
LATER SERVED
AS DISTRICT CLERK AND COUNTY JUDGE.
IN 1850 THE
WILMETHS' DAUGHTER, MARTHA, MARRIED DANIEL
L. McKINNEY,
GRANDSON OF COLLIN McKINNEY. FOLLOWING THE
DEATHS OF J.
B. AND NANCY IN 1892, MARTHA AND DANIEL
LIVED IN THE
WILMETH HOME UNTIL DANIEL'S DEATH IN
1906. THE HOME
WAS NEXT OCCUPIED BY MARTHA AND
DANIEL'S SON,
JOHN BRICE, AND HIS WIFE, ANNIE (MAGGERS),
UNTIL THEIR
DEATHS IN 1968. MATERIALS FROM THE ORIGINAL
WILMETH HOME
WERE USED TO BUILD A NEW HOUSE HERE IN
1941. THE
PROPERTY CONTINUES TO BE RECOGNIZED AS AN
IMPORTANT SITE
IN EARLY COLLIN COUNTY HISTORY.
Surname Index
Recommended Citation:
"Wilmeth - McKinney Homestead and Family,
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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