MILLIGAN
(east of McKinney, north of Lowry
Crossing)
ON THE WING.
Weekly Democrat Gazette April 11,
1912
Personal Mention of People You Know
by Our Field Man.
Returning to Milligan early last Tuesday morning we
finished our work there as the week before was too short, in fact we were kept
so awfully busy writing receipts for subscriptions to the Weekly
Democrat-Gazette that we made slow progress. Strange that the field man has no
time for rest and recreation like other folks.
We hadn't more than gotten into the community before J.
R. Hicks, W. L. Richardson and J. R. Richardson became very anxious for a good,
county newspaper and lowed as we were sauntering around that we might favor them
where to find such a publication. As we are not out for our health we charged
each one of the gentlemen named a fee of one dollar, and left it to the
publishes of the Weekly Democrat-Gazette to do the rest.
Calling at the homes of W. J. McMenamy, A. L. Ragsdale,
T. E. Myrick, A. C. Brock, Jim Dugger, J. N. Lockridge and many other old
subscribers too numerous to mention, we returned to McKinney for refreshments
and sweet dreams.
contd
MILLIGAN SCHOOL JOTTINGS
Daily Courier Gazette
by Mrs. O. S. Scott
En route to this community, this
newspaper scribe availed herself of the opportunity of visiting the store and
filling station owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. M. P. Holder, who have during
the six years they have been in business, steadily built by a nice trade. By
their honest, courteous treatment of the trading public they have ingratiated
themselves into the confidence and good will of a constantly enlarging circle of
patrons and friends. Mr. Holder is the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. A.
(Billie) Holder, an early day couple, who settled in this community. The county
never had a more upright, worthy and universally esteemed citizen than was the
late Billie Holder, father of the present day merchant here. M. E. Holder's
mother was a daughter of the late Capt. John Johnson and wife of McKinney. Capt.
Johnson was one of the largest property holders in the county when he died at
his house in McKinney, about forty years ago. During his lifetime, he took an
active part in politics and was frequently honored by the voters. He represented
Collin County in the State Constitutional convention of 1876 that framed our
present Constitution and fundamental law. He was later State Senator. Mr. and
Mrs. Holder are the parents of one child, Robert Holder, who is now in business
for himself in McKinney-- a worthy young man of a fine ancestry.
Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Crawley and
family recently moved into the Higgins community. This good couple have a fine
family of children. Their eldest daughter is now Mrs. Elvie Vest, who with her
husband, resides in McKinney. The other children are Odelle, Leslie, Wilma,
Franklin, Gene, Joyce and Barbara Sue. These are all at home. Mr. Crawley is
exceedingly anxious for some sunshine and fair working weather so he can "pitch"
his crop for this year and catch up with his early spring farming operations.
***
When the Daily Courier-Gazette and Weekly Democrat-Gazette representative called
at the home of Mr. and Mrs. G. C. Wilson, who live near neighbors to the
Crawleys, as regretted to find that their little three-year-old son Davis Wayne
was a very sick child. We also found their little five-year-old daughter, Melba
Ruth, only child of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Burge of McKinney, was intensely suffering
with an ulcerated eye. It is hoped that the sight of this little sufferer may be
saved. Fred Burge is the son of Wes Burge, a well-known stock dealer of
McKinney.
***
Milligan is a two-teacher school, located on a graveled highway and is rated as
an excellent rural school. It is being taught this year, by Prof. R. E. Kirby,
and sister Mrs. Pauline Petway. Both are college-trained teachers. Under their
instruction pupils are doing their best work and parents are well pleased. Prof.
Kirby and Mrs. Petway live in Princeton while teaching in this community. Good
roads and auto travel enable them to make the trips to and from their school
with ease in all kinds of weather. The Milligan School Boars is composed of A.
M. Byler, Marshall Brock and Sam Braith.
***
The oldest resident in this community is Mrs. M. M. Lowery, who is nearing her
eighty-eighth birthday. She was born, July 5, 1845, near Nashville, Tennessee
and came to Texas with her parents, John F. Rees and wife when she was only
seventeen years old. She married the late Eld. James C. Lowery and moved to her
present home when a bride seventy-five years ago. She is still residing in the
old home where she has lived through all these years and reared a large family
of children, all living except one daughter, Mrs. J. S. Bass, who died at her
home at Sulphur Springs; and also a son, William Lowery, who met a tragic end at
the age of nineteen, burning to death in the fire that destroyed a portion of
the Johnson Block in McKinney, in 1905. The surviving children are: Mrs. J. L.
Bass, Route 5, McKinney, Mrs. S. D. Bass of Tuleta, Texas; Mrs. J. M. McCollulm,
who lived in the home with her mother; Mrs. W. T. Odle, Mrs. Jim Odle, Mrs. John
Odle, Mrs. Charley Bridgefarmer, the latter of Dallas, and Ross Lowery, who has
never married and still lived in the home with his dear old mother to help take
care of her. Mrs. Lowery's husband Eld. Jim Lowery, was one of East Collin's
best known Christian ministers. He also took an active interest in political
affairs during the days of the Farmers Alliance. His voice was often heard on
the hustings in campaigns, when he was speaking in the interest of farmers and
the development of agriculture in our state, as well as preaching in the pulpit
at many churches and schoolhouses in the rural districts of our county.
***
Our papers are represented at Milligan by Mrs. A. M. Byler as local
correspondent. We appreciate her loyal friendship and cooperation. She is a
native of the community, being a granddaughter of Mrs. M. M. Lowery, beloved
pioneer settler of this section.
JOTTINGS ALONG THE WAY
Daily Courier Gazette, November 1,
1938
By Mrs. O. S. Scott
On a recent visit to the home
of Mr. and Mrs. T. E. Myrick of Milligan community, that vicinity, couple
renewed their allegiance for the Weekly Democrat Gazette for another year. Mr.
Myrick gave us $1.50- the combination price for the Democrat Gazette and the
Semi-Weekly Farm News for one of each. The Myrick family began reading our
paper, many years ago, and various members of the family are now taking it.
Their loyal friendship for the newspapers and their editor personally are long,
true and tried. Such friends are the joy of editors.
T. E. Myrick is a son of the
late w. T. Myrick and wife, who immigrated to Texas from Tennessee when their
son was only a small child. They located in Denton County, then moving to Collin
County where T. E. Myrick grew to manhood, spending most of his life in the
Lowery Crossing community.
He has the following brothers
and sisters: T. T. Myrick, Petersburg, Texas; Henry C. Myrick, O. E. (Ollie)
Myrick and Mrs. Wade Biggers all of McKinney and Mrs. Clara Hackler of Dallas. A
brother, Lee Myrick, passed away at parker several years ago. Mrs. Will Crice, a
sister, died October 14, 1906, in Oklahoma. Another brother, William Myrick,
died at the age of fourteen years, while a sister, Gertrude, died in infancy.
T. E. Myrick and Miss Margaret Reneau were united in marriage, December 20,
1907. To this union were born four sons. They are Howard Myrick, 1719 Cadiz
Street, Dallas; Aaron Lee, at home; Malcolm Myrick, who has a position with his
uncle, Henry C. Myrick, merchant of McKinney, and Troy Myrick, who is associated
with the Western Auto Associate Store at McKinney owned by Dr. J. Bridgefarmer.
We were informed that each of these fine young men began their business career
early in life, as carrier boys for the Daily Courier-Gazette.
Mr. and Mrs. Myrick are
successful farmers. He raises diversified crops, hogs and cattle. They milk four
Jersey cows and sell the cream to the local milk plant. Mrs. Myrick has had
splendid luck raising chickens. They have a new strain that is proving a good
investment, because the hens are persistent layers and grow to weight several
pounds each.
Mrs. Myrick is an artist with
a needle. We saw a number of her beautiful quilts. She especially prizes one - a
"Friendship" quilt made with blocks sent her from several states of the Union.
For the first time Mr. Myrick
is raising artichokes as an experiment. We are told that they are not only
edible but make fine feed for livestock as well.
Mrs. T. E. Myrick was a
daughter of the late A. L. Reneau and wife, pioneer settlers of the New Hope
community, three miles east of McKinney. Mrs. Reneau died July 20, 1926 at the
age of 62 years. A. L. Reneau passed away November 20, 1927 at the ripe old age
of 72 years. Her parents were the parents of six girls and two boys as follows:
Miss Farma Reneau, Mrs. L. A. Sears, Mrs. A. L. Ragsdale and Rob Reneau all of
McKinney; George Reneau, Shamrock, Texas; Mrs. W. F. Huddlesten passed away at
Princeton, January 18, 1930. Another sister, Mrs. F. A. Johnson died at Bowie,
Texas. February 4, 1930. Mrs. Ragsdale is also now deceased having died in
McKinney a few years ago.
OVER
COLLIN CO.
On the
Wing
by Capt.
Roy F. Hall
The Milligan Church, school
house and Holder's Store stands astride new Highway 24, four miles east of
McKinney. This is a very old community, one of its first settlers being Wiley
Dugger, whose old home stand now one-half mile southeast of Holder's store.
Dugger came to Collin County in 1851 on the invitation of his old friend, Henry
Wetsel. One of the first jobs done by his old pioneer was splitting boards to
cover the shacks in the little settlement of McKinney. He has many descendants
living in the county.
The school house at the place
is not now in use; the children of the neighborhood going by bus to McKinney and
Princeton. The church was, up to comparatively recent date, known as Mount Zion.
It is now used as an inter-denomination Sunday school and church; the Reverend
Hawkins holding a Bible school there, and services twice each Sunday.
Morris Holder runs the
grocery store and service station at Milligan, and has been at his present
location ten years. His fine little store was built in 1950 on the site of the
old structure, which was been moved back to make room for it. Holder married
Miss Minnie Treece, and he and his wife have one child, Robert (Bob), of 917
South Tennessee Street in McKinney. Morris and Mrs. Holder live in the
excellently constructed home near the store.
The view from Holder's store
is a pleasing, and a rather strange one in Collin County. No crop land is in
sight; the country rolling away in green pastures in all directions. Many people
live in the vicinity. In fact, a sort of a settlement has sprung up in recent
years on the ground once occupied by the thriving community of old Milligan.
None of the real old timers are with us, of course, they lie mainly in the two
cemeteries that lie a mile north and a mile south of Holder's store.
To the north is the old
Johnson graveyard, on a plot of land donated by the old pioneer, John Johnson,
was laid there in its first occupant, his own son, Benjamin W. in 1873. Near by
lie the remains of Mr. Johnson himself, under the largest tombstone in Collin
County. He was in the year 1819 and died in 1899, aged 80. Mr. Johnson has quite
a history all his own, out of place here, perhaps, but more will be said about
this fine old man at a later date. Here too, lie Elisha Bomar, born in 1823;
Alfred Wallis, born in 1815; Mrs. H. I. Holder, born in 1823, Merrill Younger in
1848, and Mrs. Martha McMenamy in 1823.
Down in the Milligan cemetery
is the last resting place of W. S. Anderson, Mrs. Morris Holder's grandfather,
who gave the land for the cemetery to the settlement, and who was born in 1832.
Under the huge long cedar tree too, lies Susan M. E. Higgins, born in 1854;
Eaphram Kindle, born during the Civil War in 1862, and W. W. Worthy in 1853.
Sumac, Spanish oak and native grasses have grown up, since the graveyard has
fallen into disuse, and the white tombstones showing through the brush gives the
old burial ground an aspect of utter loneliness.
Those now living in the
vicinity of Holder's store are Carl Pratt, who purchased the Circle-S ranch not
long ago; Joe Spaugh, Gano Howard, R. B. Koonce, Charley Roberts, Bobby Baxter,
who lived on the old Dugger place, which Marion Church bought awhile back; Waldo
Chaney, just east of the store. Chaney married Maud Kindle, who was reared in
the old Woodlawn community. Maud's brother, Jape, was the best squaredance
caller that ever lived in Collin county. Just east of the store too, lives Miss
Louise Muller, and father eastward is the fine country home of C. L. Connor.
Near by lives Mrs. W. T.
Turner, Dick Walden, Don Davis, R. D. Hayes, Harold Carman, Wes Flatt, George
Brock, Alton Corry, and L. M. McGuffey who runs the store over the hill to the
west, the "Jot em down Store." Mr. Wallace Gilbert lives in the old Aaron Coffey
home-now the Church property-and Mrs. Mae Dunn lived in the old Rutledge
homestead. Across the field from her home stand the old John Johnson homestead,
now owned by Lonnie Sears of McKinney. Mrs. Burl Massie owns the old Massie
homestead.
Holder's store was started by
Duncan Holder over on the old road, now old Highway 24, in 1916. But, as stated,
Morris Holder bought the store of Pink Milligan across the new highway ten years
ago and moved it to the site of his present store. Mr. and Mrs. Holder were born
and reared in the locality, and were related to many of the old pioneers of the
settlement. They now have the pleasure of seeing a suburban community growing up
around them; a community which promises to become a settlement of commuters, as
most of the people work in and around McKinney. it should grow; it's in a pretty
place.
Johnson Cemetery
Milligan Cemetery
Communities Index
- Recommended
citation:
"Milligan - 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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