ROWLETT CREEK BAPTIST CHURCH
AND CEMETERY
LANDMARKS IN COLLIN
The Daily Courier-Gazette, June 22, 1938
Located Eleven Miles Southwest
Of McKinney-Splendid Farming Section Was First Settled During Latter Days Of
Republic Of Texas -Among Pioneers Were The Yantises, Witts, Bushes, Harringtons,
Youngs, Christies, Goughs, Baccuses, Rasors And Many Other Familiar Names.
by Mrs. O. S. Scott
It was our recent
privilege to visit in our capacity as Daily Courier-Gazette and Weekly
Democrat-Gazette representative, the Rowlett Creek Church and Cemetery
community, located eleven miles southwest of McKinney and six miles east of
Frisco. The little city of Allen is located five miles east of this location.
Here, some of the earliest settlers to come to this section of the state
established their homes and broke out the native prairie grass with ox teams
with patient and laborious toil. In fact there were settlers here, during the
days of the Texas Republic, which merged into statehood in the year 1846. The
old church and cemetery were established more than three-quarters of a century
ago. Rowlett is regarded as the mother of Baptist Churches, at McKinney and to
some extent of Sherman and other points where its members later settled. It was
one among the first church societies of any denomination in North Texas to be
established.
It was a pleasure to
briefly visit in the home of Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Chandler, who are tenants on one
of Dr. H. F. Wolford's farms. They only moved in this place on the first of the
present year, coming here from north of Frisco, where they formerly resided.
Mrs. Chandler was the former Miss Willie Mae Allen, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.
P. Allen. Her mother was before her marriage, Margaret Griffin, daughter of the
late Mr. and Mrs. James P. Griffin, who settled on their farm in the Foote
community in an early day and later moved to McKinney where her parents passed
away. T. S. Chandler is a son of Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Chandler Sr. He was reared
seven and a half miles west of McKinney on the farm of his parents. His mother,
Miss Minerva Fox, was a sister of the late County Commissioner Sam H. Fox of
McKinney. She was born on the same farm where she married about eight miles west
of McKinney, and where she reared her family. When her children were all married
and she was left alone, she moved to Celina where she passed away, a few years
ago. Mr. and Mrs. T. S. Chandler, Jr., are the parents of eight children -four
boys and four girls. These children are: Evelyn, who lives in McKinney; Louise
of El Centro, California; Kathleen of Dallas. Mrs. Maudine McCormick of Irving,
Texas; Thos. Chandler III, Billy, Dan and Charles, all at home on the farm with
their parents. Thos. Billy and Dan are pupils of the Frisco School, going to and
fro on the school bus, while Charles, the youngest keeps his mother plenty of
company during the day when the rest of the children are off at school.
B.S. Knight has a
well improved, comfortable home. He is a son of Mrs. T. G. Knight, who makes her
home with her son, M. L. Knight, and family, at Royse City, where M. L. is in
the undertaking business. At the time we called at the B. C. Knight home, Mrs.
T. G. Knight, his mother, was visiting in Ozark, Alabama. She is now in her
eighty-fourth year. Her maiden name was Lou Dillard. She was married to T. K.
Knight, who died in 1931, at the age of seventy-nine.
B. C. Knight married
Grace, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. U. J. Smith, of near Wylie. Two sons and a
daughter came to bless their union. They are: Leslie Knight, Harold Knight and
Miss Ellen Louise Knight. Leslie is married. he and his family are living on the
farm of his parents. They have two sweet little children. Ben and "Tad". Harold
Knight is still single and keeps bachelor's hall on the farm. The daughter, Miss
Ellen Louise, is house-keeper for her father, since the death of her mother,
which sad event occurred about one year ago. Mr. Knight is a firm believer in
diversification of crops and also a variety of livestock -having hogs, sheep,
goats, cattle and horses on the place. He has a thrifty orchard. In it we
noticed a number of beehives or bee ?. His place seems to be well supplied with
modern farm implements and machinery, including a threshing machine and tractor.
The Knight home is located two miles south of the McKinney-Frisco highway, not
far from Rowlett Creek church. The modern farm home is wired for electric lights
and is ready to receive the current as soon as the Rural Electrification line
comes along across from Denton County. Construction is already underway.
Accompanied by Miss
Gladys Young, our sociable correspondent for the past few years, we visited the
farm of Mr. and Mrs. John Rasor. It is one of the best improved places in the
county. John Rasor's parents, the late John Rasor and wife, came to this section
in 1881 from the state of Kentucky. Their son, John, Jr. was only one-year-old
when the family settled a short distance southeast of the town of Frisco. The
father acquired a large body of farmland and during the remainder of his life
was one of the most extensive and successful farmers of Collin County. The
children of John Rasor Sr., and wife are: J. Willis Rasor of near Frisco, E. M.
Rasor, Allen, Route One; C. D. (Dow) Rasor, of Denton; J. B. Rasor, deceased; R.
E. (Boss) Rasor and Carl (Hoss) Rasor and Misses Lucy and Debbie Rasor, all four
are still residents on the old homestead of their deceased parents. Miss Lucy
Rasor has for some years been teaching music in McKinney and other nearby towns.
John Rasor Jr.,
married Miss Mittie Bush, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. L. Bush. She was also
reared in the Rowlett community near the Bush Schoolhouse. They are the parents
of four children, two sons and two daughters. These children are: John H., who
helps manage his father's farm; Robert Gough Rasor is married and lives on a
nearby farm; Miss Glen Rasor is a graduate nurse in Dallas, while Miss Sue
Catherine Rasor is also living in Dallas. The mother, Mrs. Rasor, has a pretty
big flock of Rhode Island Red chicks, but her husband's poultry fancy turns to
pit game chickens. He has a pen of these fighting variety of chickens and takes
great pride in them. Their son, John H. has some geese and at the time of our
visit had forty-two eggs setting. Mrs. Rasor's yard is beautified with flowers
and shrubbery. She proudly showed us a rose bush brought from Kentucky, nearly a
century ago, by her grandfather, Oliver Bush. The roses are of rich, creamy
color and very fragrant. Hundreds of cuttings from this rose have been given
away to friends and neighbors, who have propagated them. Mrs. Rasor's
grandfather, Oliver Bush, was a noted early settler of Southwest Collin, who
came there about ninety years ago.
We accepted the
invitation to take our noonday meal at the hospitable home of Mrs. J. T. Young
and cultured daughter, Miss Gladys, who, as stated above, writes from her
community for our two newspapers. The mother and daughter reside alone in their
pretty two-story home. This home is beautified by flowers, shrubbery and shade
trees, in which the birds flit and sing throughout the day and frolicsome
squirrels jump and dart about on the limbs and among the foliage of the trees,
unmolested and unafraid of hunters, who are not permitted on the place. Before
her marriage Mrs. Young was Miss Eliza Wilkerson, daughter of Meredith and
Mildred (Harlow) Wilkerson. She is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana, where her
father was a skilled carpenter, who built passenger coaches for early-day
railroads. His work took him and his family to various larger cities and
railroad centers. While they were living in Richmond, Virginia, Eliza Wilkerson
came to Texas to visit her brother, George Wilkerson, at Justin, Denton County.
while there, she was met and wooed and married J. T. Young in 1896. Their union
was blessed by five children, two of whom died in infancy. A daughter passed
away at the age of twenty-two, leaving a son, Walter Young, who continues to
reside on the farm and manages it for his mother and sister and Miss Gladys
Young, who as stated, is still in the home with her loving mother. J. T. Young
had been previously married. By his first union, two children were born. They
were Wesley Young, seven, and Bess Young, four, when he married the second time.
The step-mother gave them all the love, care and devotion that their mother
could have given them. Wesley Young married Miss Allie Crozier and owned several
drug stores, in Dallas, when he passed away a few years ago. The stepdaughter,
Bess, is now Mrs. Press Parr of Justin, Texas.
Sammy Young, father
of J. T. Young and grandfather of Gladys and Walter Young, came from Virginia to
Texas, crossing Red River, in 1844, with his wife and two children. He and the
Baccus family, early settlers of this community, came to Texas together and
headrighted land in the Rowlett Creek community. Sam Young erected a clapboard
house for a home for himself and family. Having plenty of free, open range of
native prairie grass, he raised a great deal of cattle and other livestock.
Walter Young still treasures the old branding iron that his grandfather used,
more than three-quarters of a century ago. In the natural forest grove, just
north of Mrs. J. T. Young's home, stands the spreading, friendly Elm trees under
whose sheltering boughs religious services were held and "camp" meetings
conducted. A spring of clear, pure water flows from the ground that afforded
excellent drinking water for the hardy Texans. Signs of the old stock corral,
used by the original Young, and his hired men, may yet be seen. An old-fashioned
brass dinner bell still hangs on the Bois d-Arc post, a relic of by-gone days
when it rang out for mealtime, summoning the farm owner and his hired hands to
come in to dinner. A clock, one hundred years old, is also ticking the hours
away in the Young home as faithfully as it did a century ago. When the
grandfather settled in this section, Indians frequently roamed through this part
of the state. However, they did not molest him or his family, but had a weakness
for tobacco, which they would steal from his coat pocket if they found it
hanging on a bush, while he was busy with his farm and ranch work or chopping
wood. It was in the fall of 1844 that the Muncey family were massacred on
Rowlett Creek, only a few miles east of the Young home. Mr. Young helped to bury
the parents and children who were victims of the cruel massacre.
In 1844, Sam Young
planted a Walnut tree, in his back yard. Later, the tree was cut down and a
blacksmith shop built over the stump where the anvil still rests. Mrs. Young,
although more than three score and ten, took up the axe and cut this newspaper
scribe a chip from the old walnut stump of the tree that was planted ninety-four
years ago.
One of the oldest
graveyards of our county is located on the Young farm. It was the custom in
those early days to have private family burying plots on the home farm. The
first one to be buried in this private Young family graveyard was Patricia Ann
Young, born February 17, 1814; died, February 17, 1847. She was the first wife
of Sammy Young and, as stated, was the first to be buried here. We noticed other
names on some tombstones were: Baccuses, McCalls, Teels and other familiar names
on the roster of Collin County pioneers.
We enjoyed a brief
visit also with Mrs. Lane of this community, who is of English descent. Her
mother was a niece of Gen. Robert Toombs. She was reared in Virginia, married
Bob Lane, June 3, 1874. Eight children were born to her by this union were are:
Mrs. Lillie Marshall, 1210 South Tyler Street, Dallas, Mrs. Mattie Clark of Joy,
Clay County, Texas; J. E. Lane, Hebron, Texas; Tom Lane, a prominent merchant of
McKinney; Roy Lane, who still lives with his mother, and three children who died
in infancy. Roy seems to be a progressive farmer. He owns a tractor and seems to
have plenty of tools and implements to work with. Their home is well located and
is supplied with a telephone and is wired for electricity on the line passing
through Frisco.
Another interesting
visit was made by us to the home of Mrs. T. W. Gibbons, who is living alone on
her place. However, her grandson, Dell Gibbons, and wife live nearby on the
farm. Her husband passed away, six years ago. He was a Kentuckian by birth. They
lived on a farm belonging to the late Clint Haggard before buying their own
place on which she is now living. Their six children are J. Henry Gibbons of
McKinney, Robert L. Gibbons, 1211 Morrell Street, Dallas; Mrs. Max Shaw, Club
Lake, Route 5, McKinney and Mrs. Jewell Reneau, Route 5, McKinney. Mrs. Gibbons
was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Williams, a Tennessee couple, who came
to Texas, many years ago. She was one of a large family of twelve children. Only
three of them are now living. They are Mrs. Rackley, Ellis County, Texas, and a
brother, Lawson Williams, Lexington, Alabama. Mrs. Gibbons has in her possession
a handwoven coverlet that came from Tennessee. It was woven by her Grandmother
Newton. Mrs. Gibbons take a great pride in her pretty rose garden. She very
liberally shared some of her roses with our friend, Miss Gladys Young, and
myself, as we were departing.
The home of Mr. and
Mrs. Walter Young is one of the most attractive in this community. When we
called, he was absent, at Lake Dallas, enjoying the sport of fishing. He is well
equipped for cultivating and running his mother's farm. He is also a pretty good
carpenter. We noticed a number of pretty little birdhouses that he has made and
placed around the trees, surrounding their home. One of these birdhouses is
occupied, every night, so they told me, by a screech owl. Mrs. Walter young was
formerly Miss Nettie Mullikin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Mullikin, who live
on Jefferson Street, in McKinney.
The Bush Schoolhouse
is a brick structure located on the land of the late Oliver Bush, hence, its
name. However, since the coming of good roads and school buses, the District has
been consolidated with the Allen and Frisco Schools where the children are taken
back and forth every school day in motor buses and given better school
advantages than could be afforded them in the home district with its more
limited tax resources.
Among the
grandchildren of the pioneer Oliver Bush and wife are: Mrs. John Rasor, Glen
Bush, Ritz Hotel, Bellingham, state of Washington and Mrs. L. E. Faulkner of
Bowie, Texas.
Warren Christie and
wife have a lovely country home, beautified with shrubs, flowers and grassy
lawns. They also have an excellent orchard that is well fruited this year. Mr.
Christie is a real farmer. He is a son of the late Sampson Christie and wife.
His mother was before her marriage, Miss Ida Zeliffe. They were from East Texas.
The parents first settled near Lovejoy Stop, south of McKinney. The Zeliffe
family later settled near Lebanon. There were four of the Christie children,
three boys and one girl, as follows: Warren Christie, Route One, Allen; Sam
Christie and Dave Christie, both farmers of near Frisco, and Mrs. Bessie McDavid,
who resides in the old Christie homeplace.
Mrs. Warren Christie
is the former Miss Lula E. Dye, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Dye of Plano. She
was a niece of Dr. Dye, a noted physician of Plano, who practiced in all this
country for many years, sometimes, riding horseback or even on a mule in order
to reach his rural patients in early days before the coming of good roads. Mr.
and Mrs Warren Christie are the parents of eight children, four sons and four
daughters as follows: Sam Christie, James Christie, and J. W. Christie, all of
216 North Carroll Street, Dallas; Mrs. J. B. Powell of McKinney, Mrs. G.
Bristol, whose husband is manager of the Safeway Store, at Sherman; Mrs. Edith
Maddox and Robert Christie, who live at home with their parents; Miss Lula
Christie is teaching at Ross Point, near Forestburg, Texas.
With the aid of one
of their sons, Warren Christie, operates his 175-acre farm, running the land in
a variety of crops. We regret to state that Mrs. Christie has been in poor
health for the last three years. however, in recent days she has been improving
some and this scribe hopes that she will soon be entirely well again.
Rowlett Creek
Cemetery is one of the oldest in Collin County. The land was donated for the
purpose by George White, an early settler and land surveyor of near McKinney,
who was the father of Mrs. Dr. W. T. Hoard of McKinney. A tall, marble monument
was erected to his memory in this cemetery with the inscription engraved on it,
"In Memory of George White, born December 10, 1820, in Heath, Massachusetts;
came to Texas in 1847; located this cemetery in 1860; donated the land to this
community, which organized the Rowlett Creek Cemetery Association, December 20,
1885. The noble spirit of George White passed the Great beyond, July 9, 1888,
May his name be ever honored and not forgotten. Signed Rowlett Creek Cemetery
Association, 1917." However the remains of George White are buried in McKinney.
This old Cemetery is enclosed with an ornamental steel fence with large archway
over the entrance gates. A number of beautiful cedar trees are growing over the
cemetery. A legend of the community is to the effect that a young lady school
teacher died and by her request before passing away, she was buried between the
two largest of those cedar trees in the entire of the cemetery. These stately
evergreen cedars take the place of tombstones over her sleeping dust. Ornamental
seats are scatted beneath some of the shade trees where loved ones can rest and
sit in meditation near the graves of their precious dead. The earliest
inscription that we noticed on any grave was that of Charles H. Gough, 1862.
Members of the
Rowlett Creek Baptist Church have scattered broadcast over North Texas ans
joined numerous other churches. No regular services are now held in the old
church. However, occasionally some minister preaches in it during the summertime
and a series of meetings are sometimes held in it. Many funeral services are
conducted in the church. The church is located on the cemetery ground and is
kept in fairly good repair. The seats are made of lumber hauled from Shreveport,
Louisiana. Seats are partitioned according to the custom of the old days when
the men sat together on one side of the church and the women on the other. The
Cemetery Association owns some farm land, the rent of which is applied to the
care of the old cemetery.
Among the familiar
names in the pioneer history of Collin County, who settled in this community
were the Witts, Quisenberrys, Youngs, Baccuses, Rasors, Bushes, Harringtons, and
Goughs. E. O. Harrington, funeral director at Plano, was reared in this
community. Another well known member of the Harrington family is former County
Judge J. Frank Harrington of McKinney.
Rowlett
Churches Index
- Recommended citation:
- "Rowlett Creek Baptist Church,
Collin County Churches," Collin County, Texas History and Genealogy Webpage
by Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries, Inc., <http://www.geocities/genfriendsghl>
[Accessed Fri February 13 13:37:28 US/Central 2004 ].
|
