MESQUITE
MESQUITE IS AN IMPORTANT EAST
COLLIN COMMUNITY CENTER AND FERTILE FARMING AREA
Daily Courier Gazette, May 14, 1938
Store Owned and Operated by Mr. and Mrs. I. R
Taylor - W. L. Fletcher and wife Substantial Old Pioneer Couple Who Have
Been Married Fifty-Seven Years - They Helped to Clear Up Land Settle That
Fertile Farming Section.
By Mrs. O. S. Scott
We recently had the pleasure
for the first time of visiting in the Mesquite community, located about six
miles southwest of the little East Collin city of Farmersville. We stopped at
the general mercantile establishment of Linniel M. Taylor, a young business man
of pleasing personality. The store is located on an ideal spot on an elevation
that presents an entrancing panoramic view of the surrounding countryside. By
way of amusement, several residents of the section gathered at the Taylor store,
were intently engaged in a "42" game. All concerned seemed deeply interested on
the outcome and seemed to be having a social good time with each other.
The store proprietor is a son
of Mr. and Mrs. I. R. Taylor. He married Miss Margaret Boykin of Kaufman. They
are the parents of two sweet little children, Linniel H, Jr. and Margaret. Mr.
and Mrs. Taylor have been is business at Mesquite, for the past four years. They
are accommodating people, who are enjoying a well deserved patronage.
One of the earliest settlers
in the Mesquite section of our county is W. L. Fletcher, a native of Mizetown,
East Tennessee, born there in 1847. He still resides within a stone's throw of
where he spent the first night in Collin County. He was married to Miss Florence
Young, fifty-seven years ago. They are both enjoying good health and seem to be
happy and at peace with all the world. We had an interesting conversation with
him. Their first home was a crude one— a two- room box house, built in the
timber. In that early day, especially in the timber country, a variety of wild
game was plentiful. Venison and wild turkey were then considered ordinary
articles of food on the table of the Fletchers and other early settlers.
Reminiscing, Mr. Fletcher recalled that in those early days, no roads had been
blazed out in that part of our county. There were no churches, so preaching,
when it was done, was heard only in private homes of the hardy pioneers. In warm
weather, preaching and protracted meetings were held under brush arbors and
people rode for several miles to attend these occasions. This noble old couple
reared a family of eight children, six of whom are still living, as follows:
Sisco Fletcher, 2309 Warren Avenue, Dallas; Mrs. Ella Spudlock, Swearingen,
Texas; Mrs. Mary Pullen and Mrs. Beryl McLeay of Route 3, Farmersville, on which
their other surviving son, W. C. Fletcher is also living. They have twenty-three
grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher now reside in
a big, modern home with eleven rooms and bath. The home has electricity, which
is a long ways to come from the days of the little, dim, smoky, brass kerosene
lamps they used in their earlier wedded lives. When their first child was old
enough for school, his uncle accompanied him through the woods as a protection
from possible danger or getting lost. Now, this country has all been settled up
and is either being cultivated or is turned into pasture land. With the naked
eye, one can see quite a distance from his home and by the aid of a telescope
the horizon in every direction is pushed farther back by many miles away.
Success has attended the efforts of this estimable old pioneer couple, as
success goes on the farm. They are ideal neighbors and respected citizens among
their made number of acquaintances. Mr. Fletcher says that when he first settled
on his farm he used a "new ground," or a "grub" plow, and a double shovel in
cultivating his land. After his farm was cleared of stumps and roots and was in
a better state of cultivation, he used the ordinary turning plow in cultivating
his crops. At the present time, he has an Avery forty-horsepower tractor, which
is a far cry from the first new ground plow that he used on his farm. For
nearly thirty years, Mr. Fletcher operated threshing machines, running both an
independent outfit and part of the time on the other plan that was in vogue in
the earlier days in the settlement of our country when neighbors gathered in to
help each other thresh, furnishing both manpower and horsepower. Mr. Fletcher is
a very interesting conversationalist. Among the things we learned from him was
that he is located on the longest straight road in the county—extending from
Ticky Creek to Millwood, and his own home is the dividing line between McKinney
and Greenville, each county seat being just exactly sixteen miles distant. Mr.
Fletcher is an ardent admirer of Mayor Tom W. Perkins of the firm of Perkins &
Wilson, publishers of the Daily Courier-Gazette and Weekly Democrat-Gazette.
While in the Fletcher home,
we were shown a three-piece bed room suite of solid walnut timber, beautifully
and substantially made. The dresser and washstand had marble tops, and both
have beveled edge mirrors that are absolutely flawless after all these many
years. Mrs. Fletcher's hobby is raising canary birds from which she obtains
real pleasure and enjoyment. We also noticed in the Fletcher home an old time,
eight-day Seth Thomas clock, that has been registering correct time for
forty-six years. Another object of interest to us was a big brass dinner bell
erected on a Bois d'Arc post that has been calling the field hands to come to
their meals when dinner or supper was ready for period of nearly a half-century.
On July 2, 1937, a group of
101 relatives, neighbors and friends gathered at the Fletcher home in a surprise
birthday party, honoring Mr. Fletcher's seventy-ninth birthday. This was a
gesture of appreciation for the long, unselfish neighborly life of this good man
to his friends and this community and county. He was overwhelmed with joy at
having them present. A tempting dinner was spread on long tables on the spacious
porch around which the more than 100 guests assembled for the tempting birthday
dinner. Guests were present from Dallas, Fort Worth, McKinney, Sherman,
Greenville, Farmersville and Anna. it will be an event long treasured in the
hearts of Mr. and Mrs. Fletcher, their children and grandchildren.
Mesquite has a good
three-teacher school of which Prof. Clarence Horton is principal and coach for
both the boys and girls baseball teams and other athletics. Mrs. Alfred Parks is
Intermediate teacher and coach of the girls' basketball team, while Miss Jimmie
Evans is Primary Teacher.
Rev. Erwin Coleman is pastor
of the Mesquite Baptist Church J. C. Rall is Superintendent of the Sunday
School, while the Secretary is Miss LaRue Rowan.. The average attendance per
Sunday is from sixty-five to seventy-five worshippers. J. R. Loveless is
President of the Senior Baptist Training Union. Miss LaRue Rowan is
Secretary-Treasurer. The organization's group Captains are: No. 1, Alton Jones
and No. 2, Mrs.. Christine McClure.
The Young People's Baptist
Training Union group officers are Miss Linnette Hunt, president; W. L. Pullen,
Vice-President, and Miss LaRue Rowan, Secretary-Treasurer. Its Captain of Group
No. 1 is Miss Myrtle Lee Loveless. Captain of Group No. 2 is Miss Marie Brawley.
Both of the B. T. U. groups meet each Sunday evening, at the church and are
doing a commendable service for their Master and in developing their own
spiritual and social lives.
We were pleased to enlist the
services of Miss Mildred Pullen, granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. L. Fletcher,
as Correspondent at Mesquite for the Weekly Democrat-Gazette and the Daily
Courier-Gazette. This bright young girl is well qualified to serve her community
in this respect, and we trust that her young friends and older ones, too, will
help her gather all the news worthy of publication from the Mesquite community
in the future.
Communities Index
- Recommended
citation:
"Mesquite - Collin County
Communities," 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 ].
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