Once Upon a Time - St. Paul
by Capt. Roy F. Hall
Some time back I
inquired if anyone knew anything of the old village of St. Paul, Collin
County. Several letters have been received, giving the writer's remembrance
of the place and I am going to reproduce parts of a few of them for the
benefit of the good many readers who have asked of the ghost town.
This is not
purported to be a history of St. Paul, just notes that seem to be
interesting. Its history will appear in the Collin County history I am
getting together. This county history, by the way, as I have told you
before, is a slow process. About when I think I have it all finished and
ready to be printed something new comes up and parts of the manuscript has
to be gone over and re-written. The same thing pertains to the historical
county map I am also drafting. I have about arrived at the conclusion that a
history is never completely and absolutely finished; something is always
arising to disprove incidents taken to the proven facts.
Stambaugh, in
his brief history of Collin County, does not mention St. Paul. No historian,
so far as I know, has mentioned the settlement. Shortly before and after the
civil War of 1861 - 65 St. Paul was an important village, having a post
office, gins, churches and other public establishments. It was an over-night
stopping point for freighters on the old road that ran from Millwood to
McKinney, and was one of the few voting boxes in the county at the time of
the war. Now, let's see what some of those who lived there or had relatives
who lived there says about old St. Paul.
We'll take a
letter from Mrs. J. B. Gray (Billie Anderson) who now lives 211 West College
Street in Canton, Texas, to start with. Mrs. Gray says: "In your column
printed in the Examiner on 'Old Grist Mills' you asked about old St. Paul, a
Catholic community. I grew up a few miles southwest of St. Paul I remember
the old church which was near the Catholic cemetery, which was called the
St. Paul Catholic Cemetery, some five or six miles north of Wylie. I
remember hearing the church bell ringing on Sunday mornings. I think there
was an old school house near the church. About a mile or more west of the
Catholic Church another school house has been erected, and later replaced by
a new building. This was a three-teacher school. This was Morris
Schoolhouse, or Dump, as it was called, and I don't know how it got that
name. There was a gin and a store close by, operated by Gene Merchant, and
later, by Joe Spurgin. There was a Methodist Church about 100 yards west of
the store.
"After services
were discontinued at the Catholic Church its membership went to church at
Wylie, and the old church building was sold to Walter Bellmyre and wife, she
being the former Laura Biggs. They used the lumber to build their home,
which still stands south of Lucas. The Bellmyres, Dempseys, Spurgins,
Galleghars and others were old (Catholic) settlers of the community.
"The Dump or
Morris school consolidated some thirty years ago with the Wylie school. The
old schoolhouse was sold and built into a dwelling. The Methodist Church was
moved to Wylie and placed on the lot with the Wylie Methodist Church and is
now used as an educational building. The gin burned several years before
this and the store was later discontinued.
"Mr. And Mrs.
Jack Morris of Wylie, and Mrs. Maud Smith, mother of Truett Smith, the Wylie
Banker and civic leader were long time residents of the community and
attended services at the Methodist Church in St. Paul. Mrs. A. J. smith of
McKinney also lived a number of years at St. Paul. I attended church there
at the Methodist Church. Catholics and Protestants all sent their children
to the old Dump, or Morris school.
Mr. And Mrs.
Metz Williams of Allen, Collin county, writes, "I am writing this on behalf
of my husband, Metz Williams, after reading your article on the old grist
mill at St. Paul. Metz lived there around 1915 and he says there was a
general store, gin, schoolhouse and a Catholic Church. The church stood
southwest of the present cemetery, just across the road. Mr. Gene Merchant
owned the store and ran the gin, hauling the cotton to Wylie. The gin stood
north of the store and the schoolhouse was northwest of the store. Gene
Merchant left there about 1910 and I think he went to Electra.
"The J. Westley
Smith family, father-in-law of Bessie Crouch Smith, lived just west of the
store. Mr. Husband, Metz Williams, father was George W. Williams, and his
mother was Sarah Armstrong. My father was Joe Leach, who passed away in my
infancy. Mr mother was Mary Whisenant, daughter of R. B. Whisenant."
Mrs. Williams is
one whom I regard as very fortunate, for she goes on to say, "We are living,
and have lived for 51 years on the farm where I was born, about two miles
northeast of the old Cottonwood schoolhouse." Anyone who remains on the old
home place are fortunate. A sentiment is attached to the place of a person's
birth that can never exist elsewhere. There should be a law; and iron-clad
law, to the effect that ancestral homes cannot be disposed of outside of the
original owners' families.
Mrs. Gray
mentions R. B. Whisenant as being among the settlers at old St. Paul. As the
Whisenant family is rather prominent, and many of them still live in the
county, perhaps it is best that a short sketch be written them. This will be
done in a future article. In the meantime I can say that R. B. was the sone
of R. C. Whisenant who came to near Allen in 1846. R. C. had three sons;
John W., R. b., and Mark. John W. Whisenant, enlisted for the Civil War in
Captain Dixon's Company "I", 9th Texas Infantry at McKinney and served in
the Confederate Army through the war.
I have a fair
history of St. Paul, but if anyone can write something on the old settlement
it will be greatly appreciated. I have, too, other letters on St. Pal which
will be published in this column in the future. But personel experiences
like those of Mrs. Gay and Mrs. Williams are the kind that lend real
interest to a history.
Attached is a
sketch of old St. Paul, showing the location of the buildings there, 35 to
40 years ago. As you will note, they are not named. Can anyone fill out the
names of the different housed and stores and church and mail it to me? This
will enable us to compile a true history of St. Paul.
St. Paul Catholic Cemetery
St. Paul Catholic Church
Communities Index
- Recommended
citation:
-
"St. Paul
- 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 ].
