COLLIN COUNTY PEOPLE OF NOTE & SOME WHO PASSED THROUGH

COLLIN COUNTY PEOPLE OF NOTE

• John Abston, only Revolutionary War veteran buried in north Texas.
   

• Rebekah Baines, born in McKinney, mother of Lyndon Baines Johnson.
   

• Haystack Calhoun, famous professional wrestler in the 1950s  and 1960s.
   

• John King Fisher, Texas gunslinger, Outlaw and Lawman, born around Westminster.
   

• Ralph Fults, born in Anna, part of Bonnie and Clyde’s band.
   

• Sam Harris, toured with circuses as the biggest man in the world. lawman in Farmersville.
   

• Bess Heard, started the McKinney library, the McKinney Red Cross, and the Heard Museum.
   

• Elder Robert C. Horn, Christian Church and Church of Christ minister, newspaper columnist for Collin County and Lebanon, Tennessee, debater, lecturer.
   

• W. Elbert Kirkpatrick, famed horticulturalist. Started and developed many strains of fruit, including the Elberta peach. President of Texas Nursery Company for many years.
   

• Oliver Loving, had a head right in the Plano area before moving to west Texas and starting the Goodnight Loving Cattle trail.
   

• Collin McKinney, helped write the Texas Declaration of Independence and the Texas Constitution. Served in three of the first four congresses in Texas. The county and county seat are named for him.
   

• Audie Murphy, from Farmersville, most decorated soldier of World War II .
   

• Guy Rambo, early actor and fitness expert. He started footraces from downtown McKinney to Town Lake. He had an ice skating rink on his property in McKinney. Acted in numerous local plays.
   

• Gen. W. S. Scott, Chief of Staff of Army.
   

• George Washington Smith, fought in the war for Texas independence, member of the Texas Rangers.
   

• Marion Snider, from Lucas. Pianist for the Stamps Baxter Quartet.
   

• Belle Starr, part of the Sherley family from Melissa and Anna.
   

• Charles Stibbens, only veteran of the battle of San Jacinto buried in Collin county.
   

• James Webb Throckmorton, Lawyer and doctor. Served in the state house and senate for Collin County, General during the Civil War, Governor of Texas after the war.
   

• Admiral Henry Wiley, Commander of Battleship Division of the U. S. Navy in World War II. Spanish American War Camp in McKinney named for him. Naval destroyer named for him.
   

• Gus Wilson, well known eccentric philanthropist. gave cars, farms, and tuition to people he thought were worthy. Many humorous tales of his eccentricity.

PEOPLE WHO PASSED THROUGH COLLIN COUNTY

• Joseph Baines, moved to Collin County in the early 1860s to study law under James Throckmorton. Married Ruth Huffman of Plano.  Grandfather of Lyndon Baines Johnson.

• Sam Bass, The first train robbery in Texas is said to be when Sam Bass robbed the train in Allen in 1878.
   

• Bonnie and Clyde, There are many stories of Bonnie and Clyde passing through the county on their way to and from Dallas. Some times the sheriff set up ambushes for them, but they always made it though. Other times people would report seeing them to the sheriff and he was too busy to go look for them at that time. Some of their gang members were in the Collin County jail at one time.

• Ray and Floyd Hamilton, Floyd Hamilton hid out in the fields in north Plano from the law. He was arrested in this county. Raymond Hamilton was arrested in McKinney in January of 1932, but escaped from the jail there.

  In 1935 Ray Hamilton was traveling with Ralph Fults through the county. The McKinney constable set up an ambush at a creek on the road to Weston to capture them. They made it through the ambush. When the weather got bad on the road between Weston and Celina, they stopped at the house of Bill Mayes to stay overnight. When they left in the morning they took three hostages - Roy Mayes, L. B. Harlow and J. C. Loftice. They drove as far as Fort Worth before Hamilton and Fults saw someone they knew and got a ride with them. The Mayes group returned home after borrowing money from Hamilton for gas. The McKinney constable was highly ridiculed for his handling of the ambush that failed.
   

• Jesse and Frank James, The James boys were part of Quantrell’s band. They were in Collin county often. The County Fairs always had riding and shooting events. The James boys were said to partake in, and usually win, them.

• Carrie Nation, smashed bars in Farmersville and gave lectures in McKinney in 1905.
   

• Quantrell, Quantrell’s band was from Missouri and many were related to Collin County settlers from that state. The band would spend the summer in Missouri and the winter in Collin County. Local residents considered them heroes and not renegades. They hid them from the law.