Seated lft: Ella Beale Smith Hawkins; seated rt: Ella's father, Robert Terrill Beale; standing: Everal Smith Hawkins; baby is Everal's son, Will Carpenter Hawkins, b. 1897 and RTB died 1899. Everal m. a nephew of Ella's husband, Robert Hawkins.

Robert Terrill Beale & Nancy Edna McKinsey Beale arrived in the Little Elm Community area about 1857 as newly marrieds. Their children born were: Lucy “Ella’ in 1861, James (Jimmie) R. in 1866, and William Jefferson.

Ella married in 1877 to George Andrew Smith, son of Hannah King Smith & Chancy Smith. Hannah is the daughter of Delilah Cox King and John King who arrived in the Little Elm area in 1845. John died the next year. Chancy & Hannah/Hanna Smith and Andrew & Justin Smith (Chancy & Andrew were brothers and Hannah and Justin were sisters). Hannah and Justin were the daughters of John and Delilah King. They had stayed in Missouri with their husbands when John and Delilah came to Texas. Chancy, Hannah, Justin, and Andrew arrived about 1857/8. They probably were leaving Missouri because of the unrest in the area before the Civil War. George Andrew Smith was the son of Hannah and Chancy. My grandmother, George Ella Smith was the daughter of George and Ella. Other children of George & Ella were Granville who lived only a few days, Everal, and Lillian (who died at about age four). Her sister was Robert (Robbie) Hawkins Mitchell. Robbie was the daughter of Ella and her second husband, Robert Hawkins.

The George Hammond Shrader family arrived in Collin County in 1872. For the first four (estimated) year they lived in two different locations on the south side of the county. They moved up to Rock Hill where they remained. In 1874, their last child, Daniel Booker Shrader was born. They arrived in Collin County with eleven children. Booker, as he was called most of his live was the last and number twelve. The Shrader sons were active in the politics of the county.

Fountain Pitt Shrader (#11 child), was the mayor of Frisco for four terms, according to the Frisco 10th Anniversary book. Daniel Booker was the Postmaster in Frisco for many years. At his death in 1937, Fount, as he was called volunterred and was appointed to take his brother’s place. They are buried in Bethel Cemetery. Houston Petway Shrader became a Methodist minister and was a circuit rider and eventually settled in Corsicana. He and his wife are buried in Restland Memorial Cemetery in Dallas.

Photos and graphics under construction—-coming soon

It states in the “History of Frisco 1902-1976” page 119 that “Linda Walton Hazelwood was the daughter of Joe Marion and Mollie McNally who lived east of Knoxville, Tennessee. Linda was born in the family home September 26, 1889.”

Knoxville of Knox County is located in East Tennessee, one of the state’s three” Grand Divisions”.  It was created 1792 from Greene and Hawkins counties.    

In viewing the census records for Hawkins County, Tennessee in 1900, there is a Joseph Marian, born about 1864. He is a farmer listed and married to a Mollie born about 1863, both are born in Tennessee.

Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Civil District 12, Hawkins, Tennessee; Roll: T623 1577; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 88.

 In 1880 it shows a Joseph Marion, age 16, born about 1864.  from Tennessee

Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: District 12, Hawkins, Tennessee; Roll: T9_1261; Family History Film: 1255261; Page: 352.2000; Enumeration District: 86; 

 Of note: In the 1900 census for several of the listing nearby there were names listed as McAnally

 Speculation:   In 1870 there is a Sarah McAnally with a daughter Mary born in 1862, in Hawkins County, Tennessee.

 127     MCANALLY,SARAH  38      F       W       TN

        ELIZABETH       11      F       W       TN

        FANNY D.        9       F       W       TN

     *   MARY J.         7       F       W       TN

        JOHNSON, ISAAC  76      M       W       NC

Hamblen County was formed in 1870 from parts of Jefferson, Grainger and Hawkins Counties.

Hamblen County Courthouse, erected 1874.

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Civil District 1, Hamblen, Tennessee; Roll: T624_1501; Page: 3B; Enumeration District: 52; Image: 978.

Of note: In 1910 a P. Hazlewood age 21 lived with his cousin, Catherine Spoon 49-49  age 60 a widow and her 3 children—-6 listings from the Joe Marion 55-55

It states in the “History of Frisco 1902-1976” page 119 that “Here she (Linda Marion) lived until her mother died when Linda was about 19 years of age.”

It states in the “History of Frisco 1902-1976” page 119-120 that “Linda Walton Hazelwood married J. P. Hazelwood, June 10, 1909 and they came to Texas in that same year.

James Peter Hazelwood was of medium height, blue eyes and brown hair and medium build as of June 5, 1917 and he was farming in Boyce, Ellis County, Texas with his wife and three children. J. P was born March 22, 1887, in Rutledge, Grainger County, Tennessee.

Source Citation: Registration Location: Ellis County, Texas; Roll: 1953277; Draft Board: 2.

BOYCE, TEXAS .is located, on Farm Road 879 four miles east of Waxahachie in central Ellis County,

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Waxahachie, Ellis, Texas; Roll: T625_1800; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 112; Image: 3.

Linda Marion Hazelwood and her four children came to stay in Little Elm, Denton County Texas sometime between 1921 ad 1930 and stayed with Linda’s father and her brother, Guy, and sister, Lena.  Guy was farming with his Dad at about that time.

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 6, Denton, Texas; Roll: 2323; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 1128.0.

Of note: In 1930 it states Virginia as birthplace for Joe Marion, however, it states ‘Tennessee’ in all decades previous.

 Of note:  About 3 listings down from Joe Marion on  this 1930 census listing  is, Eugene Smith, the brother of Dora Smith and Dora Smith is the wife of E. C. Chappell …E.C. Chappell’s home in 1930 was two houses from the home that the Hazelwood family would live in on Oak Street in Frisco.

It states in the “History of Frisco 1902-1976” page 119-120 that “After Mr. Marion’s death Mrs. Linda Hazelwood bought a home on East Oak Street from the late Arthur Brewer.  This was in 1942.”

There were four Hazelwood children: (Source: History of Frisco 1902-1976 pages 119-120)

Note: Three of the 5 cemetery inscriptions spell Hazelwood as Hazlewood.

  Mary Sue Hazelwood, born May 6, 1912 married John C. (J.C. ) Grant who was born May 18, 1909. They were married August 18, 1928.
John C. Grant (aka J C Grant) born May 18, 1909 in Little Elm, Denton County, Texas.  (Son of Luther and Myrtle Frances Gibson D. Grant)Died September 17, 1987 in Frisco, Collin County, Texas and was buried September 20, 1987 in Little Elm Cemetery, Little Elm, Denton County, Texas.

Mary Sue Hazelwood Grant died September 17, 1987. She is buried at Little Elm Cemetery, Denton County, Texas.

 Gladys Juanita Hazelwood, born April 26, 1914. She married Cecil Clifton Stark born May 25, 1913 (son of Robert and Sallie Stark) and died March 3, 1995.. Buried at Little Elm Cemetery, Denton County, Texas. They had five children. (Spelled as Hazlewood on gravestone)

 James Hubert/Jack Hazelwood, was born May 21, 1917 and married Joyce Inez Stine (Daughter of Maime Standerfer and Frank Stine). The Texas State Death Index states that James Hazelwood died July 21, 1981 in Collin County, Texas. Buried at Little Elm Cemetery, Denton County, Texas.

 Ruth Hazelwood born April 5, 1920 and died July 4, 1990 and married Travis Phillips (Son of Thomas and Effie Phillips) on January 25, 1936. Buried at Little Elm Cemetery, Denton County, Texas.  (Spelled Hazlewood on gravestone)

 Their mother, Linda W. Marion Hazelwood born  September 26, 1889 in Tennessee and died August 5, 1978 and is buried at Little Elm Cemetery, Denton County, Texas. (Spelled Hazlewood on gravestone)

Study of the Joe Marion and Mollie Marion family (parents of Linda Marion Hazelwood)

Joseph “Joe” Marion was born in Tennessee and spent most of his life farming. Joseph married Mollie (McNally/McAnally) and they had their first child in 1899 in Tennessee. Their first daughter was Linda Marion. Mollie and Joseph continued to live in Tennessee and they had 6 more children. Sadly, Mollie died about 1909 when Linda was but 19 years of age. Not long after that, Linda married James Peter Hazelwood and they began their trek to Texas.  J. P. had decided to farm in an area know as Boyce, near Waxahachie in Ellis County, Texas.  The Hazelwood family was blessed with their first daughter, Mary Sue in 1914.

 The MARION family continued to live in the Little Elm area of Denton County in the 1920’s and 1930’s.  On March 14, 1938, Joe Marion died in Denton County, Texas.

Source Citation: Texas Death Index: Collin County, Texas. Certificate # 12336

 Guy Ray Marion was born in Tennessee on March 9, 1899 and on September 12,1918 he lived farming in Little Elm, Denton County, Texas.  Guy Ray Marion was medium height and slender build with brown eyes and possibly light brown hair. Guy continued to live at home in 1930. Guy Marion died June 11, 1969 in Collin County, Texas

Source Citation: WWI Draft Card Registration: Location: Denton County, Texas; Roll: 1953187; Draft Board: 0.

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 6, Denton, Texas; Roll: 2323; Page: 2B; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 1128.0.

Source Citation: Texas Death Index: Collin County, Texas.

 Howard Wright Marion was born in Mooresburg, Tennessee on September 13, 1896. And at the time of his World War I Draft Card Registration he was 21 and farming for his father Joe Marion in Little Elm, Denton County, Texas. Howard Wright Marion died October 15, 1954 and is buried at Little Elm Cemetery, Denton County, Texas.

Source Citation: WWI Draft Card Registration: Location: Denton County, Texas; Roll: 1953187; Draft Board: 0.

GRANT Family information

(Source: History of Frisco 1902-1976 page 112)

Luther Grant was from Caledonia (Monroe County) Mississippi and was married to Myrtle Gibson Derryberry a widow with two small sons Hetzel and Leroy. To this union was born J C Grant. (Married July 4, 1908, Denton County, Texas)

They lived 5 miles west of Frisco then Myrtle moved to Frisco when Luther died in 1945.  Hetzel Derryberry married Iva Mae Banks and Leroy Derryberry was married to Gladys Mullins. Leroy died in 1924 in an automobile accident at the age of 20.

JC went to school in Robertson, Little Elm, and Frisco schools. He married Mary Sue Hazelwood in 1928 and they moved to Frisco in 1935 where he had a garage and service station.

   Hetzel went into business with JC in 1936.  In 1937, JC bought out his brother’s interest and the store was known as the JC Grant Grocery and Market. In 1950, JC bought the John C. Carter Grocery known as Cashway food.  In 1954, he sold the JC Grant Grocery and Market to Charlie Cobb and in 1957 he sold the Cashway store to Price Stark.

   JC Grant was in the Volunteer Fire Dept when the first ‘pumper’ truck was purchased in 1940. He served on the school board in 1941 and 1942. He was elected City mayor in 1960 and served three terms to 1966.

1910 Texas – U S Federal Census

Denton County

Luther Grant 39

Myrtle Grant 35

John C Grant 10/12

Hetzel Derryberry 7

Leroy Derryberry 5

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Justice Precinct 6, Denton, Texas; Roll: T624_1546; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 93; Image: 691

L. L. Grant and Myrtle lived with JC Grant, Hetzel and Leroy Derryberry, Denton County in 1920

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Justice Precinct 6, Denton, Texas; Roll: T625_1795; Page: 15B; Enumeration District: 65; Image: 1139.

Luther and Myrtle lived in Denton County in 1930.

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 6, Denton, Texas; Roll: 2323; Page: 7A; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 1137.0.

• Myrtle Frances Gibson was born October 13, 1884 and died Myrtle Frances Gibson Derryberry Grant on November 22, 1962.
• Luther Lafayette Grant was born 1875 and died June 24, 1945 in Denton County, Texas. (cert# 75013)

Derryberry Family Information

Thomas Jefferson Derryberry was born February 17, 1850 and he died December 7, 1914. He married Josephine Salmon. Josephine Salmon (Derryberry) was born May 23, 1856.

Henry Walter Derryberry was born October 9, 1880 in Little Elm, Denton County, Texas to Thomas Jefferson and Josephine Salmon Derryberry. Henry died August 8, 1905 and was buried  August 10, 1905 at Little Elm Cemetery, Denton County, Texas. He married Myrtle Frances Gibson and they had two children.

• Morgan Hetzel Derryberry was born September 24, 1902 and died October 11, 1971 and is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, in Forth Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. His parents were Henry Walter and Myrtle Frances Gibson Derryberry. Hetzel Derryberry married Iva Mae Banks, November 28, 1924.
• Leroy Thomas Derryberry was born May 4, 1904 in Little Elm, Denton County, Texas. He married Gladys Mullins. He died June 10, 1924 in Dallas,Texas in a trucking accident. He is buried in Little Elm Cemetery, Denton County, Texas. 

The Cecil Clifton Stark Family Information

Cecil Clifton Stark was the son of Robert and Sallie Stark. Social Security Death Index states Cecil C. Stark born May 25, 1913 and died Mar 2, 1995

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 6, Denton, Texas; Roll: 2323; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 1135.0.

Further family information is recorded in detail in the History of Frisco 1902-1976  pages 187,188,189, and 190. Frisco the First 100 years, pages 388,389, and 390.

The Travis Phillips Family Information

Thomas and Effie Phillips married and had their first child about 1894.

Source Citation: Year: 1910; Census Place: Justice Precinct 6, Denton, Texas; Roll: T624_1546; Page: 11A; Enumeration District: 93; Image: 696.

In 1920, Travis is about 3 years old and is living on the farm with his two sisters, Stella, 18, and Estella 13 and his parents. His father owned his land at that time at that time and they lived in Precinct 6 of Denton County, Texas.

Source Citation: Year: 1920;Census Place: Justice Precinct 6, Denton, Texas; Roll: T625_1795; Page: 9A; Enumeration District: 65; Image: 1126.

In 1930 Travis Phillips lived at home in Frisco at the age of 13 with his father, Travis N. Phillips aged 60 and Mother, Effie J. Phillips age 52. They owned their home and lived in what was then called the Howard Addition. By 1930, Evertt Phillips their eldest son was married and living in Hale County, Texas. Evertt was born October 2, 1893 according to his WWI draft card registration.

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Frisco, Collin, Texas; Roll: 2310; Page: 6A; Enumeration District: 30; Image: 612.0.

Source Citation: Year: 1930; Census Place: Precinct 3, Hale, Texas; Roll: 2339; Page: 2A; Enumeration District: 11; Image: 959.0.

Social Security Death Index and the Texas death index
Travis Phillips born 7 January 1917 and died in Collin County, Texas on October 29, 1986.

Research and compilation of information by Claudia Fields Kraemer (2006)

For additions and corrections please contact: Research

2007 All Right Reserved. Claudia Fields Kraemer, makes no claims as to the validity of the information contained in this site and visitors are advised that each new piece of information should be researched and proved or disproved by weight of documented evidence. It is always best to consult the original material for verification. The information posted to this site is the sole work and property of the submitter and/or the transcriber and has not been altered nor verified by the webmaster of this site. An effort has been made to give credit to all submitters and all documents that have been transcribed by the webmaster, other volunteers, or other individuals that submit information for posting to the site. 

by Frances Miers Muller

On one of my visits to Bethel Cemetery in the early 1990s, I walked around to other parts of the cemetery. To my surprise, I found the graves of Mack and Minnie Fisher. I guess I thought they would live forever. They are not my ancestors, but they were good friends of my grandmother, George Ella Tarpley (Mrs. Sterling F.) Mack and his sons, Donald and Jasper, took care of my grandmother’s farm in Denton County. My first remembrances of them was while my grandmother was still living with my family in Dallas in the mid 1940s. A couple of times, they would come to our house in the summer and bring a couple of baby turkeys to raise before Thanksgiving. Several other times, they would bring baby chickens.

About 1948, my grandmother moved back to Frisco. She had been born and raised in the neighboring Little Elm community. When she married, in 1901, they lived in a house near the Collin County/Denton County border. My mother, Everal, was born in 1902 in that house. In 1903, there was a huge crop failure and that drove my grandfather Tarpley away from farming, almost. He moved his small family into the new town of Frisco and became a salesman for J. I. Case Implement Company. In 1905, my uncle Beale was born and in 1908, my uncle Frank was born. After this, they moved several times, to Texarkana, Denton, and lastly, to Waco, where they stayed. My mother married in 1935, in Waco, to Wesley S. Miers, a lineman for Texas Power and Light who was always proud of having “pulled” the first electrical wires, bringing electricity into many of the East Texas and Central Texas towns. My grandfather Tarpley died a few months later. In the summer of 1937, my parents moved to Dallas and my dad began his career as an electrical draftsman. In 1940, my grandmother closed her home and life in Waco and moved to Dallas with my parents and I.

After my grandmother moved to her house in Frisco, during the summers, I would go there several times and spend a week with her. I loved these times. During each of these visits, Mack and Minnie would invite my grandmother and I to supper. This was a dream come true for a city girl, now in upper grade school. During our visits with the Fishers, Minnie would take me out to the chicken house to collect eggs. She would stick her hand under those chickens that would skwalk and flutter and settle back down. Then Minnie would encourage me to get the eggs. Those hens scared me and I would back away, but Minnie kept encouraging me to get the eggs. I always settled for taking eggs from nests where no hens were sitting. Yet, I looked forward to trying this every visit. Minnie gave me my only exposure to farm life and I wanted to be a farmer’s wife, like her.

One time when my grandmother still lived with us in Dallas, Mack Fisher called. All the farmers had wheat ready for harvesting and there was a storm coming. The co-op had brought in three huge combines to help harvest all the wheat in the area. They were much faster than the smaller combines that the local farmers had. Mack and my grandmother were very excited about the larger combines because without them, the wheat would rot in the fields. He wanted us to come up and see them. Up we went.

When we arrived, we pulled off the road to watch. One of the Fisher’s sons came to the car to ask if I would like to ride on the large combine. I was a shy, meek, little kid and refused, although I really wanted to take that ride. Every one in the car tried to talk me into it, but I was too shy continued to refuse. I have never forgotten that day and have regretted it all my life. That was the only time I ever had an opportunity to ride on a combine … and I missed it.

 History of Frisco Tells of Growth from Rich Soil and Good Farm Land

By Bob Warren, Former Mayor of Frisco

In February 1902, a town we now know as Frisco, was formed from the fertile black soil of west Collin County’s beautiful rolling prairie land. However, to get a true picture of the history of our City, we need to look much further back in time, perhaps to the early 1800s.

At least three vital ingredients were present in the birth of Frisco. An abundance of rich soil made excellent farmland, but two other things were needed, transportation and water. Let’s see how these three ingredients worked together to grow the Frisco we know today.

Transportation

As with any successful city, transportation has been key to the development of Frisco. Settlers first came to this area while traveling the Shawnee Trail.

In 1838 the Congress of the Republic of Texas appropriated money for the construction of a north – south road, there by opening northern Texas to trade. The Shawnee Trail from Austin to the Red River was followed for this route. This road, for which our Shawnee Trail Sports complex is named, ran through the heart of what later became the City of Frisco.

A military post near the Red River was named for Captain William C. Preston, a veteran of the Texas Revolution. The Shawnee Trail, which would ultimately become Preston Trail, then Preston Road, was used by wagon trains moving south bringing immigrants to Texas and by cattle drives going north from Austin. The town, Lebanon, then a thriving a cattle town and now a part of Frisco served as an assembly point for the cattle drives. South of this area in 1841, John Neely Bryan began the settlement of Dallas.

Next came another mode of transportation, the railroad, which gave birth to Frisco. The origin of railroads in this area began in 1849 in the state of Missouri. The Pacific Railroad Company was granted a charter to build a line from St. Louis to this western boundary of Missouri. Fifty- three years later the line had become a part of the St. Louis, San Francisco Railroad. Men at depot stations along the line soon shortened the name of the line to “Frisco.”

Water

By 1869 the laying of track, which would become part of the Frisco line, was being completed in Texas. In 1902 one such line was completed from Denison to Carrollton through the center of what is now Frisco. The thirst of the steam locomotive brought the need of watering holes about every twenty to thirty miles. Since water was not as available on the higher ground along Preston Ridge, the Frisco Railroad looked four miles west to lower ground. There they dug a lake called Frisco Lake, on Stewart Creek to provide water, (the second ingredient in our growth story) for the engines.

Soil or Land

In 1902, what would eventually become Frisco was a piece of land owned by the Blackland Town Site Company, a subsidiary of the Frisco Railroad. The property was subdivided into lots and sold to potential settlers. The auction, which was held on February 13 and 14, 1902, was advertised up and down the rail lines as far away as Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City. The sale also attracted residents and merchants from surrounding communities that had no rail access. Businesses and residents began moving here from Little Elm to the west and from Lebanon, which was seeing fewer and fewer cattle drives.

With the decline of Lebanon, some of the houses were physically moved from Preston Road to what is now downtown Frisco. One was the T.J. Campbell home which was rolled on logs and pulled into Frisco where it now stands, a historical monument, at the corner of Main and Fifth Streets. It has become the home of Randy’s Steak House.

The settlement was first called Emerson, named for Francis Emerson, owner of the farm where the town site was located. However, when application was made for a post office under the name “Emerson” the application was refused. There was a town called Emberson in Lamar County, and authorities ruled that the names were too similar.

An existing post office called Eurida was transferred to the new town site from a community only two miles to the northwest. The postmaster, Tom Duncan, came along in the move. For some time the office continued to operate under the name Eurida.

Later, in 1904, the people selected the name “Frisco City” for their town in honor of the railroad that founded the young city. It was soon shortened to Frisco, and the Post Office Department approved the new name.

Frisco became a thriving town, serving as a trade center for the surrounding farming community. It was not until 1908, however, that the residents elected to make their community an incorporated City. On March 27, 1908 the citizens elected their first municipal government which included four alderman, an alderman at large, a town marshal and Dr. I.S. Rogers, the town’s first physician and mayor. Dr. Rogers, for which Rogers Elementary is named, served as mayor the first three years of the City’s incorporated life.

The census of 1910, Frisco’s first, showed a population of 332 pioneers. By the next census in 1920, the count was 733, and the town’s population remained near that level through the 1950 census (736).

Quadruple digits were recorded in 1960 when the count showed 1184. Slow but steady growth continued, bringing the total to 3,499 in 1980 and 6,141 on 1990. The nineties ushered in a “population explosion” bringing an estimated 21,400 people as of January 1, 1997.

Today our three ingredients are still working to build Frisco. With 69 square miles of land (soil) within its boundaries the City is seeing a diversified crop produced. Where wheat, cotton, corn and feed once grew, we see people, houses, businesses, churches, schools, offices and parks.

The once small village of Frisco has reached perhaps adolescence. Its mother, the railroad, hardly recognizes her child. But, what of the future? The City’s Master Plan says when the City develops fully into its 69 square miles, it may house as many as 350,000 people.

We will be challenged to keep our ingredients in order!

Article from Frisco Style Magazine 2006

Henry Cook was born on May 28, 1775, in Fincastle, Castle County, in the province of Virginia which later became West Virginia. His parents brought the family to Green County, Illinois, where they lived in Kaskaski, a French settlement near an Indian Village. He served in the War of 1812 as a lieutenant and was a French and Indian interpreter.

In 1845, his son, David, came to Trinity Mills with Pleasant, Preston, and Hamp Witt; Elic and Weston Perry; Henry Miller and his wife, Mary Ann Cook. Both David and Mary Ann Cook were Henry’s children by a previous wife.

On September 1, 1846, Henry Cook left Illinois for Texas with a caravan of seven wagons. The Cook family had three wagons for Henry’s wife, Sarah, and her six children, and there was one each for the following families: John Nix, John McCann, Josh McCann (a married son of John McCann), and Bill Miller, whose wife was a twin sister of Josh McCann. Two pigs and a few chickens were brought from Illinois. Henry took the caravan to St. Louis, Missouri, to secure a way bill to Texas since there were no roads and the Mississippi River could only be crossed in certain places with wagon and oxen. In St. Louis a cook stove was purchased and some tools including a frow for making shingles and a broadax to smooth logs.

The caravan reached Trinity Mills near Carrollton on October 15, 1846, but Henry thought this area too low and wet to be healthy so after a couple of weeks he moved back to Old Indian Springs (later the property of Tandy Haggard) where the group camped in a tent for the winter. On this white rock ridge the travelers had camped on the journey down.

In the spring they moved near the present Baccus Cemetery. Henry patented land as a Peters Colonist selecting property in two separate tracts, one with a spring and one with adequate wood supply, both being vital necessities. First two log cabins were built. Later one large room was constructed with a white rock chimney, known as a dirt and stick chimney. Just before the Civil War Henry built two large rooms with an open hallway between and used the old cabin for a kitchen at the back. The logs for this house were prepared at Lanson Clark’s mill on Little Elm, where there was a circular saw.

Mr. Cook had sold his Illinois farm to a man named Rodes, who paid just part of the cash. So a year later John Nix, a young red headed fellow, and Witt rode horseback to Illinois for the remainder due on the farm. The money was paid in gold and was kept in a chest in the log cabin home. The second year a neighbor, Good Clark, brought a flour sack of silver to exchange for gold to go east to buy cattle at $3.50 a head.

A one-legged Methodist preacher named Easterwood taught school near McCann Springs. Pupils were a McCann girl; Sarah Cook; Mat, Dick, Tobe, Matilda, and Elizabeth Clark, children of Lanson Clark. The girls took their knitting and spelled aloud.

Sarah Cook rode to McKinney on horseback to be married in 1861. She also rode on horseback to Denison in a day. Houston, Shreveport, and Jefferson were the trading posts for these early settlers.

Henry Cook seems to have had quite a number of wives. His previous wife, Alcy Nix. had six children. All of Alcy’s children came to Texas in the 1840s. Her eldest child, John Cook, married Rebecca Finley and after her death, he married Mrs. Alice P. Wims. John came to Texas in 1849 and is listed in the Collin County census. He was one of the charter members of Liberty Baptist Church. Jake married Christina Armitage; Mary Ann married Henry Miller; and David married Eliza Frances Boggess. Henry died in Mexico never having married. With the exception of John and Mary Ann Miller, who lived in Collin County, all of Henry Cook’s children by Alcy settled in Denton County not distant from Henry Cook’s home.

Henry Cook, the original settler, had six children by his last wife, Sally. They were Martha, who married John B. Martin; Elizabeth, who married Henry Heustis; Rachel, who first married William Bridges, and after his death, she married Joseph Baccus; Daniel, who died at seventeen and is buried in Baccus Cemetery in what is thought to be the first marked grave in the county; Lewis, who married Ellen Maria McIntyre and moved to Idaho; and Sarah Jane, who married Nicholas Dudley.

Henry was evidently a man of forceful and magnetic personality to the end of his days. He led a caravan from Illinois to Texas at the age of 75, a task seldom undertaken by any but a younger man. He arrived on the frontier so early that Texas was just entering statehood. He evidently was the focal point for two different sets of children almost all of whom lived within riding distance. He died in 1862 and is buried in Baccus Cemetery.

Henry’s daughter, Rachel Baccus, gave the land for Baccus Christian Church which for a number of years was adjacent to Baccus Cemetery.

The Baccus farm was recognized by the Texas Department of Agriculture for inclusion in the Family Land Heritage Registry as one of the farms which had been operated by the same family for over 100 years.

BACCUS CEMETERY: Baccus was originally known as the Cook Cemetery. It was started by Henry Cook, who buried his 17 year old son, Daniel, not far from the newly built Cook cabin with its animal skin for the front door. The date was January 13, 1847. The second burial was that of George W. Martin, son of J.B. and Martha Cook Martin. George was born on April 1, 1849, and died August 17, 1850. George’s mother was Martha Cook, eldest child of Henry Cook and his last wife, Sarah Kincaid Cook. Martha’s little son lies next to his Uncle Daniel.

In time, Henry Cook’s daughter, Rachel Baccus, acquired the land, and in 1878, she deeded it to the heirs of Henry Cook for church and cemetery purposes. In about 1915 the cemetery association changed the name to Baccus Cemetery in recognition of Rachel’s gift of the burial ground and the tract for the neighboring Baccus Christian Church, organized in 1908.

Families buried at Baccus Cemetery which are descended from Henry Cook are the Cook, Heustis, Martin, Dudley, Baccus, Miller, Bishop, and Pearson families. There are many neighboring families as well. One of the last burials is that of Libby Louise Pearson, a sixth generation descendant of Henry Cook. There are about 285 marked graves. A cemetery board is responsible for the cemetery and an endowment fund provides income for maintenance. The cemetery is located 5 miles south of Frisco, 1 mile south of State Highway 121; and 1.3 miles west of State Highway 289. A Texas State Historical Marker stands at the gate.

Contributed and compiled by Richard Beaver -2007

Elijah Thomas Roach was born in Prince Edwards County, Virginia, February 22, 1848. Cora Isabella Brightwell was born February 14, 1848, near Farmesville, Charlotte County, Virginia. At the age of 15 years, young Elijah Thomas enlisted with the Southern Forces and was a soldier in the 38th Infantry CSA. After the Civil War terminated, Elijah Thomas worked in one of the lumberyards in Lynchburg, met and married Cora Brightwell. Seven children were born to them: Myrtie, Hettie Kay, Hallie, Emmett, Earlie Cleveland and Nollie Fulton. Lillian Claire was born in Lebanon, Texas, November 5, 1890. Emmett was born November 14, 1874 in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Travelers from the Southwest, and from Texas particularly, brought glowing tales back to Virginia of a little town on the Trinity called Dallas, and of the black land, then mostly prairie, which extended northward into the county called Collin. And, as Lynchburg was becoming a little too densely populated to please Elijah Thomas and his cousin John White Roach, and, as competition was growing in the lumber and drayage business, the two cousins decided to heed the call of this new, almost unsettled land. They sold their household furnishings, gathered their families together, and traveled by train to arrive at the village of Plano in the fall of 1887. John White went immediately to Dallas, but Elijah Thomas liked what he saw around Lebanon, bought a wagon and team of horses, and engaged in the same type of work he pursued in Virginia, lumber and drayage.

Emmett assisted his Father while Nollie and Earlie attended the Lebanon grade school. Emmetts education was restricted to six years grade school work in Virginia. It was at the church parties that Hettie met Dougan Work, the village druggist. She later married him. Hallie met and married Bud Newman and lived in Dallas. Myrtie drank contaminated well water while on a young peoples social, took typhoid, and died within a short time.

Elijah Thomas realized that the new railroad, running several miles west of Lebanon, meant that Lebanon was being by-passed and that a new town would soon spring up somewhere along the rail line. So, Elijah Thomas moved his family a few miles northwest to the area, which later became known as Frisco. (It was J.T. Williams, a friend of Emmetts, who gave Frisco its name).

Elijah Thomas Roach built the first house in Frisco, at the northwest corner of Sixth and Pecan Streets. The house still stands but has been remodeled and altered several times since the original construction. Elijah Thomas son-in-law, Dougan Work, opened the first dry goods store in Frisco.

The Elijah Thomas Roaches and the Tom Kerleys were friends from the time the Roaches came from Virginia and frequently went to the same church services in Lebanon. Mrs. Tom Kerley, Mary Sue, was a charter member of the Methodist Church in Lebanon. Elijah Thomas and Cora were charter members of the First Baptist Church in Frisco as was Hettie L. Work and husband, D. Work.

Elijah Thomas died January 9, 1903. Emmett, who had enlisted in the Philippine Insurrection and served in the Philippines for 18 months, was unable to receive his discharge until October 1903. Elijah Thomass illness and death left Cora and the three small children in financial troubles. Cora rented out the house that Elijah Thomas built and kept house for Booker Shrader until her sons discharge was finalized. Emmett moved his mother, two brothers, and sister back to the home place, and immediately requested the proud and strong-willed Myrtle Kerley to marry him and live on paper – his discharge papers. Thus, after seven hectic years of courtship, and four broken engagements, Emmett married Myrtle September 29, 1904, and moved her into the house with his mother and three children. It was in this house that Emmett and Myrtles first two children were born, Thomas and Mary.

Emmett still liked the good black land around Frisco. His blood called for the farm, cattle, and the grain and cotton business. Then the Silver Crisis occurred and it was necessary for Emmett and his mother to sell the house that Elijah Thomas built and move to the Rector place southeast of town. Nollie went to work in West Texas and Earlie stayed in town working when he could. Lillian remained with the family and continued her education in Frisco and then went to North Texas Normal (University of North Texas) where she received her teaching certificate. Lillian taught in the Frisco School before moving on to Marshall.

Submitted by: Mary Roach in 1975

John Crozier (the elder) who left Bardstown, Kentucky in 1860 with 7 of their ten children came to Texas, (the father of John Rufus Crozier) is said to have turned down land in the Turtle Creek area of Dallas to buy Collin County land because there was more wood and water available.

The first Crozier home had been built of wood brought from Jefferson and the chimney was of white stone from a quarry near Lebanon. John Rufus Crozier had been a soldier in the Confederate army when he was barely 16. After the war John Rufus Crozier stayed in Collin County while much of the family moved on to North Texas communities. John Rufus married Nannie Chambers of another pioneer family who lived south of Lebanon—John died at 39 leaving his widow and three daughters. Mrs. Nannie Crozier remained in Lebanon and when the Frisco railroad missed Lebanon many of the families moved their homes to Frisco, she remained.

John Rufus Crozier died in 1893 leaving Nannie Crozier to raise three daughters; Emma (who married Rev. James McCabe Hunt; Mary Ann/Mamie (who married Charles A. Covington) and Lula the youngest of the three daughters who died during her college years of typhoid fever in 1900. Mrs. Crozier remained in Lebanon until her death in 1938.

Mamie Crozier Covington continued to live at the Crozier home with Charles Covington her husband for most of their years. She died having spent the last few years of her life in Garland with her sister Emma Hunt and husband, Rev. James McCabe Hunt. James McCabe Hunt had been the pastor of the Lebanon Baptist church.

Charles Covington was, according to the 1920 census, working at a State Bank as a teller and then for years as a teacher at the Lebanon School just across Preston Road for the Crozier Covington home. It is noted that he was active in the district school administration. Charles Covington died in 1955.

Contributed and compiled by Richard Weaver-2008

Upon arriving in Dallas, Tom found that Joe had sold his land in what is now the Oak Cliff section of Dallas and had acquired a tavern in Plano.

But Tom wanted no part of a Tavern, he wanted to farm and raise livestock like his father. In the spring of 1875, a few miles southeast of Lebanon, Texas, he found his land. The price of the land was $6.50 per acre, and he persuaded his brother Joe to buy the adjoining tract. He later bought this tract from Joe when Joe decided to move his family to Hardeman County.

Tom Kerley had little money at the time. The first winter, he took refuge from the cold in a nearby haystack. Later he broke land for other land owners and earned enough to build a two room house.

In the summer of 1876, a covered wagon accompanied by a man on horseback arrived at the home of Charlie Brown, Tom Kerley’s neighbor to the north. Charlie Brown’s three unmarried sisters were in the wagon and the rider was his father, William Hyatt Brown.

Tom Kerley began to find excuses for riding over to his neighbor’s home. It was Sally Brown whom Tom first took riding, but it was Susan with whom he fell in love.

Before the planned wedding, Tom Kerley’s house burned down. However, it was decided that the wedding would go on as planned and that they would live with the Brown’s until a new house could be built.

With the help of his father-in-law and brother-in-law, Tom built another two room house. The house was situated a short distance from the spring which for a time would serve as their source of water and for a long time as their only source of refrigeration.

In 1881, a man living with the Kerley family and assisting with the farm work, became ill with the measles. The man was Bill Fox. Sue Brown nursed him back to health but her small daughters contracted the illness. Myrtle survived (and it’s a good thing since she is your ancester), but little Maude died. She is buried in Rowlett Cemetery along with most of the family.

In the summer of 1890, several members of the family took typhoid fever, a common problem with shallow water wells and springs. Baby Chester already weakened by dysentery, died from the fever, and was buried beside little Maude.

A page torn from a doctor’s ledger (evidently as a paid receipt) shows the following charges to T. N. Kerley: Jan. 12, 1883, “medicating baby”, $2.50; Aug 7, 1883, “OB services”, $10.00; Aug 8, 1883, “medicating lady”, $2.50; Sept. 10, 1883, “medicating lady”, $2.50.

The original T. N. Kerley track of land is now owned by Diamond R Ranch. The spring still flows just as it did over one hundred years ago. 

This research compiled by Richard Beaver-2008

Source: Sue Alice Gilliam and Linda Beth Hawley (2006)

From the Frisco Enterprise Thursday,January 27, 1977

In a time of indifference to stray dogs and cats,  many people are attracted to a few old pets.  During the past twelve years, one orange-red chow named “Lucky” came to be known by many citizens of Frisco.  The Cates’ old pet (he would have been 84 dog years old) followed Mike and Scott to most activities and could be rememberd as the one with the innocent big brown eyes who whined all the time at such things as baseball games or youth center activities.

“Lucky”, who had become deaf in his old age, was killed on Main street near Moseley’s Grocery sometime early Friday morning.  Although he was a nuisance to some , we, as friends know he will be missed by many.

(Contributed by Lois Marion Cates-2009)  Thanks Lois!