McWhirter
Collin County Pioneer Dies near Celina
McKinney Examiner, March 12, 1936
Death removed another pioneer from the Celina community at 12:30 Friday afternoon, When Mrs. J. H. (John Houston) McWhirter was called to her reward. Thought 85 years old, Mrs. (Margaret Amanda Wilson) McWhirter had been in fairly good health until she suffered a heart attack two weeks prior to her death at her home five miles northeast of Celina. She was lovingly called by her wide circle of friends, “Grandma” McWhirter.
Funeral services were conducted at the First Methodist Church at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon by Rev. O. M. Turner, W. J. Epting of Celina and Rev. G. E. Camster, the latter of Van Alstyne. The body was conveyed to Cottage Hill cemetery and lowered to rest beside the body of her husband who died April 1921.
A rich offering of flowers told in a most impressive way of the love and esteem in which this dear old pioneer mother was held.
Serving as pall-bearers were three grandsons: Aaron, Cecil and J. A. McWhirter and Jim Thompson, Ben Phillips and Murph Balch.
Mrs. McWhirter, before her marriage Nov. 22, 1866, was Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of Leonidas and Ann Matilda Naugle Wilson, a pioneer miller and wife of the Weston community.
In Mrs. McWhirter’s childhood this was a wild and sparsely settled section with none of the conveniences we have now. In that day neighbors had to start fires from flint rocks or borrow coals from a neighbor, travel by the slow means of the ox wagon, and read by a tallow candle or tallow dip. It is difficult for the younger generation to conceive that all these changes have taken place within the brief span of 85 years.
Mrs. McWhirter’s father ran a mill and farmed in Tennessee and had to hide out when yankee soldiers came into the community. He also had to take precautions against the horse or two he owned being confiscated by the northern soldiers and frequently hid them out into the brush until the yankees were gone.
Mrs. McWhirter, in her youth, had the experience of an Indian scare and on more than one occasion saw the redskins in the community. Wild game, such as prairie chicken and wild turkeys were here in abundance, and members of her family often dined on venison shot on or near their farm.
Food, other than wild game, during the war was scarce. The supply of salt ran so short that the dirt of the smokehouse floor was dug up and processed for the salt it contained.
Mrs. McWhirter had lived on the farm where she died for about 60 years and her entire life was spent in the immediate neighborhood.
Thirteen children were born to Mrs. McWhirter and husband, all of whom are living. They are Mrs. Nova Callahan of Canyon, Mrs. B. F. Douglas of Erick, Okla.; Mrs. Cora Greathouse of Winter Haven, Fla., L. W. McWhirter, Mrs. Maggie Wester; F. E. McWhirter, all of Celina; Mrs. J. A. Jester of Erick, Okla.; O. D. McWhirter of Wichita Falls; Mrs. E. W. Harris of Howe; J. T. McWhirter, of Claude; Alpha McWhirter of Green Bay, Wis.; Ray McWhirter of Bagwill and Mrs. Alta Pruitt of Panhandle. She had 66 grandchildren, 95 great grandchildren and four great great grandchildren.
Four of the children were unable to be present with their mother in her last illness or to attend her funeral. There were Mrs. Cora Greathouse, Winter Haven, Fla.; Mrs. Nova Callahan, Canyon; J. T. McWhirter, Claude; and Alpha McWhirter, Green Bay, Wis.
McKinney Examiner, March 12, 1936
Death removed another pioneer from the Celina community at 12:30 Friday afternoon, When Mrs. J. H. (John Houston) McWhirter was called to her reward. Thought 85 years old, Mrs. (Margaret Amanda Wilson) McWhirter had been in fairly good health until she suffered a heart attack two weeks prior to her death at her home five miles northeast of Celina. She was lovingly called by her wide circle of friends, “Grandma” McWhirter.
Funeral services were conducted at the First Methodist Church at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon by Rev. O. M. Turner, W. J. Epting of Celina and Rev. G. E. Camster, the latter of Van Alstyne. The body was conveyed to Cottage Hill cemetery and lowered to rest beside the body of her husband who died April 1921.
A rich offering of flowers told in a most impressive way of the love and esteem in which this dear old pioneer mother was held.
Serving as pall-bearers were three grandsons: Aaron, Cecil and J. A. McWhirter and Jim Thompson, Ben Phillips and Murph Balch.
Mrs. McWhirter, before her marriage Nov. 22, 1866, was Miss Margaret Wilson, daughter of Leonidas and Ann Matilda Naugle Wilson, a pioneer miller and wife of the Weston community.
In Mrs. McWhirter’s childhood this was a wild and sparsely settled section with none of the conveniences we have now. In that day neighbors had to start fires from flint rocks or borrow coals from a neighbor, travel by the slow means of the ox wagon, and read by a tallow candle or tallow dip. It is difficult for the younger generation to conceive that all these changes have taken place within the brief span of 85 years.
Mrs. McWhirter’s father ran a mill and farmed in Tennessee and had to hide out when yankee soldiers came into the community. He also had to take precautions against the horse or two he owned being confiscated by the northern soldiers and frequently hid them out into the brush until the yankees were gone.
Mrs. McWhirter, in her youth, had the experience of an Indian scare and on more than one occasion saw the redskins in the community. Wild game, such as prairie chicken and wild turkeys were here in abundance, and members of her family often dined on venison shot on or near their farm.
Food, other than wild game, during the war was scarce. The supply of salt ran so short that the dirt of the smokehouse floor was dug up and processed for the salt it contained.
Mrs. McWhirter had lived on the farm where she died for about 60 years and her entire life was spent in the immediate neighborhood.
Thirteen children were born to Mrs. McWhirter and husband, all of whom are living. They are Mrs. Nova Callahan of Canyon, Mrs. B. F. Douglas of Erick, Okla.; Mrs. Cora Greathouse of Winter Haven, Fla., L. W. McWhirter, Mrs. Maggie Wester; F. E. McWhirter, all of Celina; Mrs. J. A. Jester of Erick, Okla.; O. D. McWhirter of Wichita Falls; Mrs. E. W. Harris of Howe; J. T. McWhirter, of Claude; Alpha McWhirter of Green Bay, Wis.; Ray McWhirter of Bagwill and Mrs. Alta Pruitt of Panhandle. She had 66 grandchildren, 95 great grandchildren and four great great grandchildren.
Four of the children were unable to be present with their mother in her last illness or to attend her funeral. There were Mrs. Cora Greathouse, Winter Haven, Fla.; Mrs. Nova Callahan, Canyon; J. T. McWhirter, Claude; and Alpha McWhirter, Green Bay, Wis.
