Honey Grove, Texas

Churches and Schools

Published in the Honey Grove Signal-Citizen about 1938
Written by H. P. Allen, assisted by W. J. Erwin

In our preceding letters we have had much to say about the splendid qualities of the early settlers of Honey Grove and the surrounding country. As a rule they came from the older states and were possessed of fairly good English educations; not all of the, but a majority of them were Christian men and women, and Christian character is a power not easily confined, and we sincerely believe that the good deeds and find examples of those men and women have had much to do with making Honey Grove a good place in which to live.

Somebody has said that character is the poor man's capital, and when wealth is lost nothing is lost; when health is lost something is lost, but when character is lost, all is lost.

After the union church was built it was rather surprising to see the number of men and women who came in with their church letters from the older states and joined, and after awhile they were enjoying a fine fellowship. We have often thought that a delightful fellowship of the kind that enriches hearts and lives of men cannot exist where there is lack of confidence. That word confidence, when analyzed, has a tremendous meaning. Each of the four denominations which built the old church house had one Sunday every month, and there were some good Bible preachers employed. Our recollection of them is that one of the early men whom the Baptists employed was a man who lived at Clarksville. His name was Pickett. He would ride horseback and our father lived on the Paris road about a mile from town and Mr. Pickett was a Kentuckian, as my father and mother were, and my mother had been a member of his church. He and his horse were tired after riding 51 miles, so he would stop by and spend the night with us. Mr. Buckner, who established the orphanage home out east of Dallas, was also at a later period pastor for the Baptist church in Honey Grove.

The Methodist folks would have some one to fill their Sunday some times, though not often, Mr. Graham of Paris. The Presbyterians had three or four supply preachers, but quite often have Uncle Bob Jones, who lived near Whitewright. I do not remember who preached for the Christian congregation.

This is perhaps the last of these rambling sketches we will be able to write on account of failing eyesight. We can only write a few minutes at a time and must discontinue.

We had a large list of families we hoped to give attention, and among them are some of the very best friends we ever had, both in Honey Grove and the surrounding country. These sketches have not been written in the spirit of a Who's Who inquiry, but character has been almost everything, and good characters have been no trouble to find, in either town or country. We will tell of the largest and best school Honey Grove ever had up to that time. There were no free school systems at the time. There was a local teacher, Prof. Baird, and a college teacher from Missouri opened school in the Masonic Hall, which stood a little east of the present auditorium. We do not remember the date of the opening, but it was about September, 1863. The female department was taught upstairs by Miss Prudence Baird. Prof. Wigfield would call for the first recitation. Butler's grammar class, which was composed of 16 young ladies and nine boys. When the nine months term ended the faculty announced that they would open school again September 1st. This was during the dark days of the Civil War. Very soon after the close of school it was discovered that the conscript law only exempted teachers from army service while actually engaged in teaching. So after conferring with the patrons, the faculty opened the school for another nine months term after a two weeks' vacation. The school was not reorganized and the same classes were called for recital as usual. Prof. Wigfield called his Butler's grammar class and almost every member answered present the first day. That class continued through another nine months' term, making 18 months with only two weeks vacation, and now, after practically 74 years, there are just three of us living - Mrs. J. E. Breckeen, who was Miss Mary Erwin; Mrs. Lucy Compton, who was Miss Lucy Lovell, and the writer. We could today write out a correct list of the 23 of the 26 who have passed on.

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