VALDASTA
(north of Princeton)
ON THE WING
July 25, 1912
Valdasta.
A. D. Patterson
the clever and skillful blacksmith doctored our buggy made sick by coming in
close contact with one of Uncle Sam's motorcycles. Can doctor buggies, talk
politics and boost the Democrat-Gazette. Moral: The stork and
Democrat-Gazette are as inseparable as Damon and Pythias, the former
invariably follows the latter.
Altoga.
A. H. Braswell
who has more pretty girls than one can shake a stick at, says his crops are
too good to be true; the Democrat-Gazette the very best of county papers,
and that boys will meet with a cold reception (on his part) who persist in
hanging around his premises.
Ardath.
Mrs. T. A. Williams said their crops were
all good and the Democrat-Gazette better than ever.
NORTHEAST COLLIN VILLAGE OF
VALDASTA IMPORTANT SCHOOL AND CHURCH CENTER
Daily Courier Gazette, May 6, 1938
Postoffice Established In 1886
- Lewis Combest, Postmaster, Has Been Membeer County School Board For Eight Years
- Rambling Representative Daily Courier-Gazzette And Weekly Democrat-Gazette
Gathers Interesting Facts About People And Enterprises.
By Mrs. O. S. Scott.
As most of our
readers know, Valdasta is located about twelve miles northeast of McKinney, our
county seat town, on the Melissa and Blue Ridge pike road. It nestles seven
miles northeast of Melissa and about four miles southwest of Blue Ridge. It is a
modest little rural village that has a population of around 150 souls. It is one
of the old established farming centers of the east half of Collin county.
Valdasta has an
excellent moral and religious atmosphere in which to live and read children. It
has three churches - Baptist, Nazarene and the Church of Christ, also a large
shed or arbor used by all of the churches, more or less, for their summer
meetings. The people of the different faiths are fraternal with each other in
spirit, which bespeaks a tolerance becoming to professed Christians.
In a business way
Valdasta has a couple of grocery stores, filling stations, a blacksmith shop and
a Post Office. The latter was established fifty-two years ago. Its first
Postmaster was Tandy W. Smith. The second was William G. Airhart; the third L.
H. Fagala; the fourth the late Dr. A. H. Bridgefarmer and the fifth the present
Postmaster to represent Uncle Sam here, is Lewis Combest. His daughter, Miss
Beatrice Combest, is his assistant. She was in charge on the day of our recent
visit, while her father was absent in McKinney, attending a meeting of the
County School Board. He has served in this latter Board member capacity for the
past eight years, which bespeaks his interest in public school matters and also
indicates that his services are most acceptable to the people of our entire
county.
Valdasta has an
excellent four-room brick schoolhouse, located on the highway at a high and
commanding prominence. It has one of the best and most spacious concrete
underground storm-houses that we know of in the county.
Lewis Combest is one
of the most widely known citizens of Valdasta. He was born in the State of
Kentucky, but came to Texas with his parents when quite young and settled in
this vicinity. He was married to Miss Mollie Edlen. To his happy union were born
nine children, as follows: John W. Combest, now with Company E, First United
States Infantry, Fort Francis E. Warren, Cheyenne, Wyoming; Mrs. Thelma Osburn
of Valdasta; Mrs. Bessie Strickland, Route One, Blue Ridge; Mrs. Bobby Cantrell,
Mrs. Essie Myrick, both of Valdasta, these two latter sisters being twins; Paul
Combest of Valdasta; Miss Novia Combest of Melissa; Miss Beatrice Combest and
Shettleworth Combest both at home. The husband and father is the owner of 387
acres of choice blackland, on which are located several tenants. In addition to
good work teams, Mr. Combest's tenants use an Allis-Chalmers tractor to help
cultivate their land. Mr. Combest is a useful high-type citizen, who is worthy
of the confidence of his neighbors and fellow citizens of the entire county.
The Combest gin was
owned and operated by J. W. Combest and son, Brown Combest, for about forty
years. However, it is now being dismantled and torn down.
Valdasta is served
by a Star Route, operating between Melissa and Blue Ridge. For the past three
years, R. R. Tilton has been carrying Uncle Sam's Mail with dependable
regularity in and out of Valdasta.
The Valdasta School,
mentioned above, is located in the center of the village on the spacious campus.
It has an enrollment of fifty-four pupils with Prof. Mally Alexander as
Principal, and Mrs. Nell Karnaghan as Assistant Teacher. The public-spirited
School Board is composed of Charley Cantrell, George McGuffey and Bailey
Hendricks.
The pastor of the
Baptist Church at the present time is Rev. Mr. Kelton of McKinney. The Sunday
School Superintendent of this church is A. D. Patterson, a veteran blacksmith
and worthy citizen. A fairly good average attendance of Sunday School scholars
is present, every Lord's Day to study the International Lesson and learn more
about the previous Book of all books.
Eld. Houston Rush of
McKinney is pastor of the Church of Christ. His preaching appointments are each
second Sunday, in every month. The Bible School of this church is in charge of
Deacons Ralph Gray and Leslie Ramsey. This Sunday School has an average
attendance every Lord's Day, of around thirty-five. They are doing a good work
in the study of the Scriptures.
The Nazarene Church
pastor at this place is Rev. David A. Farnsworth, who preaches on the Fourth
Sundays of each month. L. W. Wilder is the Sunday School Superintendent. Miss
Gladys Wilder is pianist. Misses Susie May and Sarah Fay, twin daughters of Mr.
and Mrs. Brown Combest, act as Secretaries of this Sunday School. This field
representative of the Daily Courier-Gazette and Weekly Democrat-Gazette has been
acquainted with Rev. Mr. Farnsworth for several years. His is the eldest son of
Mrs. Lenora Farnsworth, who still lives on her farm, a short distance west of
Chambersville, where he was born and reared. His youngest sister, Dr. Jewell
Farnsworth, is a Chiropractor, having graduated from the Oklahoma City School of
that profession about three years ago.
We had the pleasure
while in Valdasta Post Office, of meeting up with Mr. Levi Stroup, a well-known
farmer of that section of the county. He was bereft of his dear wife, who died
some years ago. His two children, Miss Jemima and Jerome, reside in the home
with their father. Mr. Stroup informed us that his aged mother, Mrs. Mary Stroup
of the New Life community has been confined to her bed ever since the
twenty-eighth of last December. The dear old mother was seventy-seven years old
on March 19 this year. Her daughter, Mrs. Hattie Dorn of Emory, Rains County,
Texas, is staying in the old family homestead, tenderly nursing their mother in
her old age and feebleness.
J. M. Moore is the
owner of a grocery store here, and A. D. Patterson has had a blacksmith shop, at
this point, for a half-century. Mrs. Patterson's maiden name was Minnie Frizzle
of Princeton. Her father, J. A. Frizzell, is now in his eighty-eighth year and
quite well and hearty for a man of his advanced age. He resides in the home with
Mr. and Mrs. Patterson.
Manford Cate and
wife recently moved into the Valdasta community from Altoga where he was born
and reared. They are living in a well improved home, which has a good-sized home
orchard on the premises. Mr. Cate is the youngest son of the late Mr. and Mrs.
G. O. Cate of Altoga. His wife is the former Miss Lillie Conger, daughter of Mr.
And Mrs. W. H. Conger, formerly of the Viney Grove community, but in recent
years, living at Lorenzo, West Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Manford Cate have a large
family of children, all still at home. Their names are Hulen, Edna Earle, Helen
Marie, Warren (Sonny Man), E. M. Jr., Billy Jo, Wayne Douglas, James Floyd,
Georgia and Don Eugene. Mr. Cate is a brother of Mrs. Dr. John T. Mantooth of
Melissa and also of Mrs. John H. Ferguson and Mrs. John M. Thompson, both of
McKinney.
Upon our visit to
the store of George McGuffey, we found in his absence, his good mother, Mrs.
Hettie McGuffey, in charge of the business. Mr. McGuffey sells oil and gasoline,
also has a barbershop in connection with these and his grocery store. This store
is a great convenience to the people of the community as are the other business
establishments of Valdasta. Mr. McGuffey's mother lives on her farm in the Dixon
Schoolhouse community, but at the time, was visiting her son and family at
Valdasta. She gladly took the opportunity of enrolling as a regular subscriber
and reader of the Democrat-Gazette in the future. However, she had read our
paper in former years and praised its excellence as a county-wide newspaper.
It was our pleasure
to briefly visit in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Emerson. The good lady of
the house was busily engaged in looking after a big bunch of baby chicks, which
she is starting off in a fine way and from which she expects to make a neat
profit. Mr. and Mrs. Emerson are the parents of two manly little sons - J. D.
and R. J. This good wife and mother was formerly Miss Dovie Airhart, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Tom Airhart. Her father is an extensive, successful farmer, and one
of the most widely known citizens of our entire county.
We made a brief call
at the D. L. Ramsey home, but found both Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey absent in McKinney,
shopping and trading. Their young daughter, Miss Jean Ramsey, and their brother
, James Dennis, were both at home, however, from school and proved to be genial
host and hostess to ye newspaper scribe. Miss Yvonne Ramsey is our efficient
correspondent, but is in Dallas attending the Metropolitan Business College. Her
sister, Miss Jean, is substituting for her during her absence at business
college. The other Ramsey children are; W. O. Ramsey of McKinney, Route 3 and
Mrs. H. W. Farley, who also receives her mail on Route 3, McKinney.
Mr. and Mrs. John
Airhart are a worthy Valdasta couple, who have been married for fifty-one years.
They live alone in their comfortable home and rent out their farm. Mrs. Airhart
was a daughter of the late Asa and Katie Beldon. She was born in Casey County,
Kentucky, and came to Texas when only six years old. She will be seventy-one, if
she lives to July 27th next. She is of a very jovial, friendly disposition and
spreads sunshine among all who come within her presence. Mrs. Airhart is a
sister of J. O. Beldren, veteran McKinney citizen and also of Mrs. Willie
Montgomery of Blue Ridge. Mr. Airhart is a native of Tennessee but when a young
man came to Texas. They have been residents on their farm for thirty-two years.
While their home has not been blessed by children of their own, their kindly,
sweet dispositions have surrounded them with the friendship of everybody, both
young and old, in their home community. This was manifested recently when Mrs.
Airhart was surprised with a "what not" shower by her friends and neighbors.
We were interested
to learn that Valdasta was originally called Vandersville. However, there was
another Post Office of that same name in Texas and so it was given the French
name of Valdasta. This re-naming took place fifty-two years ago.
VALDASTA WAS NAMED BY POST
OFFICE DEPARTMENT
Daily Courier Gazette, June 10, 1954
In case you're one
of those who believes that it's only a recent thing that the government began
telling everyone how to run their own private business it may be a shock to
learn that this sort of thing has been going on for a long, long time. Because,
way back in the neighborhood of 1886 Uncle Sam told the people of Valdasta what
to call their newly established town.
If the settlement
had a name before the post office was first established no one seems to remember
what it was. But, when the government decided to put a post office there the
people got together and settled on several names they thought they'd like to and
sent them to Washington. Among the names suggested was Valdosta (spelled with an
"o".) but, since there was another Valdosta someplace or other, the official
simply changed the o to a and that's been the name every since.
It's been a good
while now since Valdasta had a post office. The last one was in the store
operated by Oscar Stapp. Mr. Stapp took over the business from George McGuffey
about four years ago and the office was there when he got it. Mr. McGuffey built
a nice home on the west side of the Sister Grove Creek Valley, right up on the
side of the hill, and is engaged in farming.
The other store in
Valdasta is owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. K. Combest, a name long familiar
to folks in that area. It was Mr. Combest's grandfather, J. W.Combest, who
bought out a business from Tandy Smith in 1891 and there has been a Combest in
business in Valdasta ever since. Tandy Smith and Beecher Airhart were the first
merchants in the community so far as can be learned.
The elder Combest,
at the same time, purchased a gin, a grist mill and about 199 acres of land in
the vicinity.
Until a few years
ago, K. Combest owned a real antique automobile-a 1903 Mason-which created quite
a stir whenever he drove it out. For years he paraded it on the opening day of
the ex-Confederate reunion in McKinney and drove it to the State Fair in Dallas
only a few years ago. He sold it not long ago to a man in Dallas.
Mr. and Mrs. Combest
are natives of the community but lived for a while in Grand Prairie. They came
home about nine years ago and opened their present store where they have
installed a television set for the entertainment of customers who make their
place their headquarters.
Like other small
communities in the county, Valdasta has no school now. Their children go to Blue
Ridge each day in buses to receive their education.
There are two
churches in Valdasta, the Baptist and the Church of Christ.
Cotton and corn are
the principal crops in the area. Many farmers are going in for Grade A Dairying
in the section.
Among those who have
lived in the section for some years are:
Aunt Maggie Bloomer,
DeWitt Emerson, Mrs. Mack Alexander, Rosen Greer, Mrs. L. D. Fleming, Mrs. Lou
Combest, Mrs. and Mrs. Elmer Hartley and others.
Prominent among
citizens living in and around Valdasta now are Charlie Cantrell, Princeton
banker; Mr,. And Mrs. E. L. Sellers, Mr. and Mrs. jack Alexander, Mr. and Mrs.
Ronald Humphries, Mr. and Mrs. Don Cantrell, Mr. and Mrs. Lester Greer, Mr. and
Mrs. J. E. Gower, Mr. and Mrs. Tolbert Combest, Tom Airhart and others.
Communities Index
- Recommended
citation:
-
"Valdasta
- 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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