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Old Choc Some years ago I
was given a xerox of one of the scrapbooks
kept by Old Choc, over the years I published the transcripts of them in
the Fannin Flashback and now place them upon the
Grayson County
pages. Many of the articles are in terrible shape and the edges were
cut
off, some have words and small paragraphs missing. I have abstracted
them
as well as I can.
contributor
unknownOld Choc was John W. Connelly born in 1834 and died in 1911. He was a pioneer to this area of Texas, settling first in Kentuckytown, and was a Baptist preacher, a soldier and a school teacher. He began writing in the 1890s and kept on until about the time of his death in 1911. The articles are clipped out and not dated. He gives a facinating insight into Texas. First Sermon I heard in Texas After the service closed, I accepted an invitation to dine with Christopher Sears who lives a short distance from the school house. Thomas Doss now owns the place on which he lived. Joseph Sears, his son was the first man I got acquainted with in Texas. On the morning of my arrival in Kentuckytown, as we were coming up the divide, south of where he now lives, I was riding a short distance in front of the wagons, and come to a new log cabin which he and his brother, John, were building. Where we first met and the acquaintance there formed ripened to a warm friendship which had continued unbroken to the present time. In 1854, he and I engaged to learn the carpenter trade with Eld. W. R. Baker a Cumberland Presbyterian preacher of Bonham. In 1851 Baker was appointed missionary to the Choctaw Indains and abandoned his former calling . ?.ars went back Alabama, his native state, married his first love and returned to Texas and settled where he now lives. He has been a successful farmer, has accumulated much property, and enjoys as much happiness as usually falls to the lot of man. He is genial and affable in social life, and enjoys, the confidence and esteem of his neighbors and all who know him personally. . . his early manhood, he has been an exemplary member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and has contributed liberally to its support. Though he has passed the bound allotted to human existence, yet with a strong constitution, a firm will, temperate habit and a cheerful temperament, it bids fair to live several years of usefulness. Elder Grisby was the first pastor of the Pleasant Hill - now Kentuckytown Baptist Church, served it two years, then resigned and I don't think he undertook the pastoral of another church. He lived on his farm, preached in destitute places and gradually passed into private life. He was held in high respect by all who knew him, In his old age he was sorely afflicted but the grace that sustained him amid the trials of active life, cheered the last years of his earthly pilgrimage. He died January 14,1897. Eld. G. F. Coler succeeded Grisby as pastor of Pleasant Hill Church. He was a native of North Carolina, and came to Texas and settled one mile south of Kentuckytown in 1851. He was above six feet high, no surplus flesh, industrious, deeply pious, and a zealous minister of the gospel. He worked on his farm during the week and preached on Sundays after riding twenty miles to his appointment. He organized and built up many churches, was in the organization of the Sister Grove Baptist Association; was its first clerk, and represented his church in every session of that body, when not providentially hindered, while he lived. He retired from pastoral work in 1866, but continued to be an active member of his church. In every enterprise, calculated to glorify God and promote the happiness of man, and the good which he accomplished will not be known until the Great Day when our works will be revealed. He died June 10,1881 in the eighty fifth year of his age. On that morning he went to his field to work and ? to the house at 9'clock, took some refreshments and returned to the field. That was the last time he was seen alive. As he did not come to the house at noon, his wife became uneasy about him and went to see what was detaining him. She found him lying on his back, with his hands folded on his breast and his hat over his eyes. It is believed by many that he was murdered by a villainous wretch, who fled the country as soon as a suspicion rested upon him, and has never been heard of since. Grayson County "Firsts" Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |