BISHOP SCHOOLHOUSE JOTTINGS
Daily Courier - Gazette, February 23, 1938
by Mrs. O. S. Scott
This scribe had the pleasure recently of visiting in the home of Mr.
and Mrs. H. M. Davidson, a worthy young couple, living about two miles
east of the Bishop schoolhouse. They occupy and till their own little farm
of forty acres, all of which is fenced hog-proof. Each fence post is set
securely in concrete holding it rigid and capable of supporting the tight
wire fence from sagging and giving away thus securing the place against
damage by marauding livestock. Another reason for building this kind of
a fence, Mr. Davidson says, is to protect it from damage by overflow when
East Fork Creek goes on a rampage as it has already done two or three times
thus far this winter. Mr. Davidson is a rather extensive truck farmer,
every year raising thousands of cantaloupes and roasting ears and other
products of the garden and truck patch that he mainly trucks to Dallas
market for disposition during the late spring, summer and early fall months
of the year. In this manner, Mr. and Mrs. Davidson do not have to depend
so much upon the usual staple money crops like cotton, corn and wheat for
an income. In our travels over the county in the interest of the Daily
Courier-Gazette and Weekly Democrat-Gazette we are impressed every day
with the fact that more and more our Collin County farmers and their good
wives are turning to the raising of their family living as much as possible
in their own gardens, truck patches, little family orchards and fields.
A farm that produces the main part of the family living on its own premises
is usually owned and operated by a farmer less oppressed by debt and privation
than any of his neighbors who depend exclusively on cotton or any other
single crop product to bring in money to feed his family and livestock
and also buy the year’s supplies and with which to pay debts.
We had the pleasure of making some new acquaintances in this community
in the persons of Mr. and Mrs. M. G. Leverett, who reside on what is better
known as the "Grandma" Klepper home place. This worthy couple moved here
from Denison last year. Mr. Leverett is a retired railroad man. Since he
and his wife are alone, they concluded to try country life and seem to
like it immensely. They are the proud owners of a large flock of chickens
of the White Leghorn and White Rock breeds. They specialize in infertile
eggs for which they find a better market in McKinney than they get for
ordinary or fertile kind of eggs that are offered for sale. They have recently
added to their poultry equipment by building four chicken houses, arranged
so that nests, roosts, feeding pens, also a storage room for feed are under
one and the same roof. Mr. Levarett states that he now has everything in
the way of poultry equipment except a rest room for his fowls. Mr. and
Mrs. Leverett also sell milk and cream from several cows that they keep
on the place and give careful attention to.
This sturdy citizen and wife have reared a fine family of children all
now married and in established homes of their own. Their children and addresses
are: Mrs. R. W. Hefton, Yellville, Arkansas; Mrs. H. B. McKee, O’Donnell,
Texas; O. S. Leverett, Saratoga, Wyoming; Malvern Leverett, Amarillo, Texas;
Mrs. T. O. Cashion, O’Donnell, Texas; Homer T. Leverett, Santa Marie, California;
D. A. Leverett, San Jose, California; and Mrs. P. W. Davis, Gunter, Texas.
J. L. Bass of this community is perhaps the most extensive truck farmer
in Collin County, He and his son-in-law, O. E. Morrison, plant between
sixty and seventy-five acres in roasting ears, also a large acreage in
tomatoes and cabbage that they chiefly sell on the Dallas and Fort Worth
markets. They grow many cantaloupes and vegetables of a varied nature and
some fruits and usually many potatoes, both sweet and Irish. They market
their stuff in their own trucks, almost daily in some seasons of the year.
Our visit to the Bass home was an interesting one, but we regretted to
find Mrs. Bass ill and a sufferer who has spent some time in recent months
in hospitals both in Dallas and McKinney. However, she is slowly but steadily
improving all the time. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Bass are Levi Bass,
County, Commissioner, Precinct No. 3, McKinney, Texas; Frank Bass, a McKinney
business man and extensive truck operator and Mrs. O. E. Morrison, who
with her husband and three children live on their farm near that of her
parents.
O. E. Morrison is a brand new reader and subscriber of the Weekly Democrat-Gazette
- Collin County’s oldest newspaper now in iits fifty-fifth year. He and
his good wife are the parents of three fine young children - two sons,
James Erwin and Paul - and a year-old baby daughter. Mr. Morrison is Chairman
of the School Board at Bishop and takes an active interest in community
affairs in general.
Rev. I. D. Wallace and wife live on the new road that is being graded
and rocked under the direction of County Commissioner Levi Bass. The widening
of the right-of-way made it necessary for them to move back some fences
and shrubbery to give needed space for the highway to be put up in first
class condition. Rev. Mr. Wallace and wife own a small farm of about fifty
acres that he works as a sideline to his ministerial duties. At the present
time he is pastor of the Baptist Churches at Branch and Culleoka. Rev.
Mr. Wallace and wife are the parents of six children, all of them at home,
and all pupils of the Bishop School. However the two youngest, Gerlerie
and Mannon, were at home when this scribe visited it both suffering from
a throat infection and bad cold.
While in this community we made a stop at the home of Mr. and Mrs. John
Renfro where we regretted to find Mrs. Renfro under the care of a physician
suffering with a cold or throat infection. However, she is improving and
still able to do most of her housework. Her husband is a veteran house
mover. One of his most notable jobs in this line of work was moving the
old Collin McKinney home from north of Anna to McKinney in 1936 and then
in 1937, moving it on a little further to the Finch Park, where this old
residence of a pioneer day, one hundred years ago, is being maintained
and preserved by the City of McKinney as a patriotic shrine and memorial
to a Texas patriot and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
In his honor both Collin County and its county seat town are both named.
The task of moving this old pioneer residence and delivering it in good
shape to its present location was pronounced the work of an expert in the
housemoving line. Mr. Renfro received many words of commendation for his
accomplishment.
G. H. Kindle and wife have recently located in the Bishop community
living on the farm just east of the Bishop Schoolhouse. Mr. Kindle has
been engaged for several years in operating the Lowery Crossing store until
he sold the same to Mr. Lowery and move on this farm. This worthy couple
are the parents of three sons and three daughters. The youngest child was
only a few days old at the time of our visit. Mrs. Kindle is the faithful
correspondent of the Weekly Democrat-Gazette and the Daily Courier-Gazette
from the Lowery Crossing community. At the time we called, Mr. and Mrs.
Doyle Poston of Princeton were visiting in the Kindle home, the two ladies
being sisters. We were much pleased to meet and come to know these good
ladies.
The Bishop School District is now the proud possessor of a modern two-room
new school building, located about one-half mile east of where the old
schoolhouse stood for so many years. The new building also has a library
and each of the schoolrooms has ample cloakrooms for the hats, coats, and
other apparel that the children may wish to place in them while they are
at their studies. Prof. Frank McMillan is Principal, and his assistant
is Miss Ruby Copus. Each of these faithful teachers is serving his and
her fourth consecutive year, teaching at Bishop. The enrollment is sixty-five
pupils. Miss Copus also teaches a class in Spanish. It is her usual custom
each year to take the members of her class to Dallas to enjoy at least
one luncheon of Spanish food a year. Usually while in Dallas they visit
points of interest over the city, all of which is interesting and entertaining
as well as educational to the ambitious youngsters. Members of the class
this year, who made this pilgrimage to Dallas were Hulan and Eulan Rutledge,
Nannie Margaret Lenderman, George and Emma Jane Kennedy and Josie Ritter.
These two resourceful teachers at Bishop understand the art of keeping
their pupils interested t the utmost degree in their studies and fundamental
schoolwork. To accomplish this, contests are promoted with worthwhile prizes
for those who win. Prof. McMillan devotes the last period of Fridays to
extemporaneous speaking and occasionally a mimic court trial carried out
under his direction by the pupils. Each morning Miss Copus has a health
parade, calculated to improve her pupils in personal neatness and cleanliness.
A good Citizenship Club that meets Friday afternoon with pupils in charge
are also worthwhile undertakings. At these club meetings stories are dramatized
and children are drilled and trained in making public appearances in a
creditable way to themselves and to the school. The three school trustees
of the Bishop District are: V. C. Box, O. E. Morrison and Rev. I. D. Wallace,
all public spirited citizens who have a pride in their school and in the
best possible school advantages for their home community.
Miss Rose Peters is the faithful reporter of the Bishop School community
for the Weekly Democrat-Gazette and Daily Courier-Gazette. During the last
Christmas week Miss Peters has the misfortune and great sorrow of losing
her aged mother by death. Since that sad event she has been staying with
her brother, James Peters, and family on the homeplace. This good old mother
was a native of London, England, who sailed for America when she was a
young woman. She came to Texas and married and reared her family of four
children, three girls and a boy on this farm.
Mr. and Mrs. P. B. Evans are a thrifty couple, who have a pretty home
which is well cared for as well as its surrounding premises. We found them
to be a very hospitable couple. They are really an example of what industry,
thrift, and determination can do. Only two years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Evans
bought their forty-acre farm, which then had only poor improvements. Since
buying the farm, they have erected a modern six-room residence with bath,
built-in kitchen cabinets and closets for the bedroom. The yard has been
nicely landscaped and beautified with surrounding shrubbery and flowers.
Mr. and Mrs. Evans engage largely in truck farming. They average two trips
per week during the marketing season in selling their products in Dallas,
such as chickens, eggs, cream, milk, vegetables, etc. to regular customers
in that metropolis, who depend on them for their farm products and supplies.
Mrs. Evans has an Electrolux in which to keep her milk products and butter
cool, sweet and fresh. She has a Duroc-Jersey sow from which the proud
owner has sold $300 worth of hogs. This income from her swine has gone
into the furnishing of her home. This big red sow has farrowed litters
of eleven pigs three times in succession. These pigs have been large raised
on separated milk and other feeds grown and produced on the farm. Mr. and
Mrs. Evans have reared six children, all of whom are married. They are:
Oscar Evans of near Farmersville, Earl Evans of near Allen, Mrs. W. H.
Foster of Dallas; Mrs Earl Corzine, Dallas, Mrs. Claude Tyler, Bonham;
Roy Evans of the Bishop community and W. B. Evans, who also lives near
Allen. This worthy couple also reared a nephew from three years of age
to fourteen, when he accidentally fatally shot himself with a gun thought
to be unloaded.
One of the most interesting places in this section of our county is
the farm and farm home of Mr. and Mr. J. Ed McGee. It is located on the
site of the site of the old Fitzhugh Mills property. This was a notable
place during the years that this old custom community mill operated. The
millstone is still intact. The flowing spring, known as the Fitzhugh Mill
Spring, is a noted landmark of Collin County. When this newspaper scribe
stopped in at the McGee home we found the good lady, who has been in feeble
health for sometime to be feeling better and improving. Mr. and Mrs. McGee
went back to her former home at Greenville, South Carolina, and spent the
Christmas holidays with her mother, Mrs. J. P. Pool, and Mrs. McGee’s two
sisters, Miss Lottie Pool and Mrs. P. H. James. This was the first reunion
of the mother and three daughters altogether at one time for several years.
It was therefore, a joyful occasion for all concerned. However on January
2, the dear old mother passed to her reward beyond. She had been confined
to her wheel chair since partially recovering from a broke hip sustained
in a fall several years ago. Mrs. McGee has the sympathy of countless friends
over Collin County in the passing of her dear old mother, who had several
times visited her daughter here in Texas and Collin County. Our readers
will recall that for twelve to thirteen years, Mrs. J. E. McGee served
as the capable Home Demonstration Agent of this county twelve years or
longer. Her energy and success in that position firmly established the
work in Collin County. She organized a number of community clubs among
both the farm women and farm girls giving them their initial training in
this A. & M. College Extension activity that means so much to the prosperity
and well being of hundreds of farm homes throughout Collin County. Mrs.
McGee is held in genuine affection in the hearts of these farm women and
girls with whom she labored so faithfully and cheerfully during the years
that she occupied the position which she voluntarily resigned from to retire
to the farm and help her husband develop it and lead a less strenuous life.
School Index
- Recommended citation:
- "Bishop School
- Collin County Schools," 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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