VERONA
(southwest of Blue Ridge)
ON THE WING
Weekly Democrat Gazette, February 18, 1901
Verona, Tex., Feb. 18.
Editors Democrat:
Jupiter Pluvius
does nothing by halves and who can say that we need any more rain?
Wheat looks
better, is growing nicely and oats will be sown just as soon as the
industrious farmer can prepare the soil.
About ten days
ago I called on Prof. Charles Samuels the hustling teacher of the Milligan
school. The patrons are well pleased, the children in love with him and when
these conditions prevail, good results will follow. Up to that time nearly
65 had been enrolled with an attendance of about 56.
After spending a
night with my friend, G. C. Hill near Water Ridge last week, I took
advantage of an opportunity to visit the school of Prof. T. L. Huggins. This
is a small school quantitatively but great qualitatively. Luther is in the
right place and giving, I am proud to say, good satisfaction. As the rains
ha caused a suspension of all work, I "winged" into my home school -Verona.
It didn't require but a few minutes to convince me that I was in the busiest
school in Collin county. 81 enrolled with an average attendance of 65 and
only one teacher! Verona always gets the best, hence Miss Cassie Clark is
our worthy teacher and is rounding out the first half of her second term. As
an educator, Miss Clark stands in the front rank, possessing the
qualifications of a first-class teacher and endowed with all the graces that
adorn womanhood.
Miss Effie St.
Clair is giving lessons on the organ to a number of pupils near Fayburg.
Jas. Scott, of
Bee, I. T., and Miss Ida Anderson of this place were married at the home of
the bride's mother yesterday evening, by Rev. A. J. Standifer of Arnold.
After diagnosing
my case Dr. Slick pronounced the malady that has affected me so long heart
disease. While this is a sad disclosure, I find a ray of hope in his further
statement that it is not necessarily fatal. Fortunately, my insurance policy
antedates this eminent specialist's examination.
In making my
rounds I had occasion to pass through Calamity City, and halted to have a
talk with Hazel Eyes. During the course of our conversation I hinted several
times that now would be a good time to write up a wedding as material was at
hand, but for some reason best known to herself, she didn't "catch on."
ON
THE WING
Weekly Democrat-Gazette, August 21,
1913
Closing a ten days
singing school at Lavon last Thursday, 14th, we returned to McKinney that
evening accompanied by our niece, Miss bonnie Leigh, of Sulphur Springs, who had
joined us two days before. On Friday evening we arrived in Verona, where on the
following day, we were present on the occasion of the third quarterly conference
held in the new church on the blue Ridge circuit by the presiding elder of the
Spragins. A large attendance of the official board was present on this occasion
than had met him before on this circuit. The reports of the stewards showing
good collections, all enterprises and institutions of the church in a
flourishing condition and the outlook decidedly favorable. The good women had
prepare for the "inner man" and dinner was served on the ground, spread on
improvised tables under the pavilion adjacent to the church. The feast proved to
be a real feature of the occasion and no one present appropriated more chicken
to his own private use than our "beloved." Sunday was set apart months ago for
the dedication of the new church recently built and finished in lieu of the one
destroyed by a cyclone just one year ago, and Verona Methodism was up with the
lark to make ready for the occasion and the event that would give them a place
of honor at the next annual conference. Our beloved presiding elder of the
McKinney District, Rev. Spragins, had been selected by the trustees on the
church to preach the sermon and Matt. 16:18, was the text chosen as the
foundation for his discourse. The crowd was large, attentive and expectant, the
minister, who had evidently tarried at Jerusalem, preached as one having
authority. The message fresh from God's throne warmed each Christian heart,
supplying every hungry soul with the bread of life. The house is modern in
design, beautifully finished, and would be a credit to a town of some
pretensions, but Verona, an unpretentious village strives only for the best, and
the spire of this house dedicated to Almighty God, as it points toward heaven is
a reminder to those who see it from a distance, of the many personal sacrifices,
earnest prayers and loyal devotion of the faithful few who planned while others
slept, worked while some criticized and accomplished what some said could not be
done.
J. L. McCrummen, one
of Lavon's best citizens, renews for the Democrat-Gazette.
J. W. McCormick, a
prosperous farmer of Climax, subscribes for the best of all county weekly
newspapers, the Democrat-Gazette.
We are under
obligations to Postmaster N. A. Burton for the courtesies extended ourself and
niece while being shown through the post office last Friday morning. A Federal
building is a credit to any town and the people ought to demand more of them.
They are constructed not alone for the convenience and dispatch of our mails,
but Uncle Sam believes in the adage, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness." A
janitor and janitress are always on duty, every floor, every vault and every
closet must be kept scrupulously clean, so that perfect sanitation enables toe
employees to discharge their duties without endangering their lives. Our "Uncle"
is very exacting, but he's the very best of employers.
D. W. Leigh
A. R.
WOMBLE WAS VERONA'S FIRST POSTMASTER
Examiner, June 5, 1952
Verona, Collin
County, started in the fall of 1882, when A. R. Womble built a store near his
gin and grist mil
l just south of the
present Methodist Church. The next year he became postmaster when the post
office was established in his store. A school had been started there in 1880,
called the Mississippi School on account of the number of settlers in the
vicinity from Mississippi. This was changed to Womble later, though it had gone
by that name from the first. The post office authorities re-named the locality
Verona, but Womble still retained its name for the school.
The old Womble grist
mill was about a mile south of the present store in Verona. Womble later built a
sawmill there, and used four of the biggest oxen in Collin County to snake logs
to the mill. These steers were also used to haul tremendous loads of cottonseed
to Farmersville, trip lasting all day, and sometimes two. There is no school in
the vicinity now, the children all going by bus to Princeton and Blue Ridge.
Verona lies five
miles northeast of Princeton, and some three due south of Altoga. It can be
reached over Farm Road 1377 from Princeton; leaving that road at Climax and
continuing on north over a good dirt road; or by way of Altoga and to the east.
This is a nice drive, lasting about two hours, but the road around from Climax
to Altoga might be slippery in wet weather.
Mr. C. A. Brockman
run the only store now in Verona, situated north of the original blacksmith shop
and store on the crest of the hill. Mr. Brockman, who was born a mile and a half
north of Verona, has operated the present store - a new building - for two
years. It is a general store, filling station and a farm road feed store. Mr.
and Mrs. Brockman, the former Miss Nettie Chumbly, have two children, a boy and
a girl. The daughter, Miss Barbara, is employed in the Collin County National
Bank in McKinney.
Verona reached its
height in the 1890s, when it had a population of about 70 people. The one store,
the Methodist Church and the Baptist Church are the only public buildings there
now. The Baptist Church is situated a half mile south of the store, and has for
its pastor the Reverend E. C. Coleman. At present the Methodist Church has no
pastor, but functions under the guidance of Miss Nettie Stroup, who lives a
short distance to the southeast.
Miss Nettie Stroup
is one of the great missionaries of Texas. She has traveled all over the worked,
but her missionary work has been confined to the United States in which she has
worked steadily for 35 years. This missionary work in the Methodist Church has
taken her to Saint Louis, Kansas City, New Orleans, Okla. City, Nashville,
Knoxville, South Carolina and other places. Miss Nettie is retired now, and
lives with her sister, Mrs. E. P. Gifford of Verona. She has retired from her
missionary work, but enters actively into all the social and church activities
of her community.
Some of those living
in and in the immediate vicinity of Verona are Nick Alder, W. L. Rowan, H. C.
Alder, Edwin Stroup, Ed's father, A. C. Stroup, Will King and J. T. Grifhan. Mr.
Grifhan is one of the few old timers left at Verona. Most of the fine old men
are gone. There was for instance, Uncle Jot Woodall who lived just south of the
old town. Uncle Jot was noted as one of the staunchest Democrats in all Collin
County. And Uncle Louis Scott who, when a neighbor wanted to borrow a hundred
dollars, told him he was too busy hoeing cotton, and for the neighbor to go to
the house and look behind a sack of sugar and get what he needed.
Like all our rural
settlements, Verona has gone down hill. Good roads and the automobile have about
finished them. Some have clung on, the one or two stores filling a need for the
community that the bigger towns cannot furnish. This writer believes this is for
the best; the people of the county now work together more as a unit than they
did fifty years ago when each community was self sustaining.
On August 8, 1912, a
terrific northwest wind swept the eastern half of Collin County, leveling
houses, public buildings and uprooting trees at Blue Ridge, Sedalia, Pilot
Grove, Donna, Westminster and Verona. This was a straight hard wind, reaching a
height of 150 miles an hour. Several were injured but the only loss of life was
that suffered at Westminster when a lightning bolt struck a home and killed the
entire family.
The Reverend Joseph
Jamison had, only a few years before, organized Methodist Churches at Verona,
Blue Ridge and Pleasant Grove. At those places good church buildings had been
erected - big, for those days, and modern. The storm wrecked them all. The one
on top of the hill at Verona was completely destroyed, the only building in the
little town severely damaged. Another building was erected here, larger and more
substantial, on the original site, and the Verona Methodist Church still carries
on.
Verona Baptist
Church
Verona Cemetery
Verona Methodist Church
Communities Index
- Recommended
citation:
-
"Verona
- 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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