In 1844 William Warden and family left Missouri
and started for Texas in a covered wagon. After six weeks they came to a
big spring south of now Melissa, Collin County. Here they camped to hunt a
permanent location. Land was being given away, but Indians presented such a
threat that Warden loaded his family in the wagon and went back to Bonham,
where he acquired 640 acres two miles south of the place and built a log
cabin.
He found the title to be imperfect, so he came
back south and located at present Climax, Collin County, the first settler
in the locality. Soon after him came Lott Bruton and I. J. Rude, and a
little later, D. Van Winkle, Abe Recer came about this time too. Abe built a
toll bridge over Sister Grove creek, the first bridge over a stream between
McKinney and Farmersville. Recer later bought the Armp Mallow farm, two
miles northeast of McKinney.
Climax reached its greatest population along
about 1910, when A. M. Anglin and W. K. Long operated stores there. It then
contained about 100 people. It later had three stores, but no gain in
population. The old Van Winkle Cemetery lies just south of the present
store, in which lie many of the early pioneers of the section.
Mr. J. T. Spencer runs the only store there
now. He was born south of McKinney, and later ran stores at the old
Holder's Store place and at Princeton. Mr. Spencer married Miss May Gist,
and they have three boys and one girl and five grandchildren.
While at Mr. Spencer's store this writer got a
very impressive look at what erosion is doing to the land of the county.
One-half mile to the east of the store the top of Mr. W. A. Recer's house
shows just over a hill. Mr. Spencer said that when no part of the house
could be seen over the rise. Now the whole roof down to the eaves is
plainly visible. The ridge has worn down at least fifteen feet in 20 years.
Climax has two churches, the Church of Christ
and Methodist. The former has no particular pastor; the pastor of the
Methodist Church is the Rev. Bob Beasley. School children ride the buses to
Farmersville and Princeton, the old Climax school, just west of the store,
stands empty and lonely looking. Climax used to have one of the best
schools in rural Collin County. Mr. Spencer, with all his own children
married and moved away, says the place is certainly lonesome without all the
lively children it used to have.
Some of those living there, and near, follows:
Mrs. C. C. Gray, W. R. Long, J. W. McCormick, A. M. Hall, Cecil Rickman;
Rickman lived a long time on the old Heard Ranch, east of Princeton. He is
a disabled veteran of the Second World War; E. L. Wyatt, W. E. Willis, Loyd
Rickman, Jese Rickman, all these farm. J. B. Osborn, an old settler, lives
near there, as does J. H. Davis and E. L. Tarrant. Also living near are
John Phillips, who farms and preaches; Lewis Carr, a dairyman, and Sam
Shipman, another old settler. J. C. Fort, W. O. McMahan, Louie Wallace and
Feland Montgomery all farm near Climax.
Climax can be reached over an all-weather road by turning off Highway 24
through Princeton, and taking Farm Road 1377, which runs through the Climax
settlement.
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Climax.
The people in the Climax country
are very much worked up on the oil question, oil having been found on the
Watson farm near by. A meeting was held at Climax Thursday night to organize
a stock company and sink a well. Wm. Wright and tow or three other parties
in that vicinity have also discovered oil on their lands and will proceed at
once to have it thoroughly tested by experts. The oil interest in this
section is attracting considerable attention, as letters from different
parties have been received from Beaumont, Corsicana and other points.
While in the Climax
neighborhood we stopped at the pleasant home of W. W. Wright, a young and
progressive farmer who is also interested in the oil lookout. We hope that
their brightest anticipations in this direction may be fully realized and
that old mother earth may yield up her rich treasure, which has been quietly
sleeping beneath her bosom for past centuries.
At the splendid home of J. H. Waller, one of our old and appreciated
subscribers, we stopped for dinner, ate some delicious apples grown in his
orchard, bade him good bye reluctantly, for we found him a chip from the old
Tennessee block, brim full of kindness and hospitality. We were off on our
itinerancy at 2 o'clock in the interest of the Democrat-Gazette. it is
indeed a pleasure to meet there people, who are honest, true and sincere.
They have the ring of the right metal about them. Their lives and characters
are as pure as the snow flakes that fall from a December sky. Collin county
should be proud of such citizens and the State of Texas should love and
honor them.....
J. T. Richardson
Climax.
W. K. Long has been measuring domestic and
weighing sugar in this thrifty hamlet four years and by promptness and
honesty, has built up a splendid trade. people appreciate a man who gives a
square deal. Has been reading the Democrat-Gazette several years and sends
it to his son, L. C. at Whitewright for which we thank him.
J. B. Osborne was a forlorn bachelor and was on
a still hunt for a mate, when in 1901 Miss Esther Wright said the word that
caused s smile to spread over his face. Five children bother Josh -the more
the merrier-for his farm is in every way equal to the occasion and a big yam
potato will satisfy the stomach of any youngster. He recently sustained a
sprained ankle while jumping from a wagon that was being motored at high
speed by two mules on a lark. After a "spiel" he tossed $1.75 our way with
the request to send him the Democrat-Gazette and Dallas news one year.
Thanks.
J. W. McCormick, after a four week's tussle
with typhoid fever is convalescing.
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