Neely
Family Reared Seven Orphans
Mrs. Charles Snider of Rhea Mills spent last week at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Neely in McKinney. Mrs. Snider and Mrs. Neely are life-long friends. Mrs. Snider is 70 years old, while Mrs. Neely is about 62. Mrs. Snider was formerly Miss Mary T. Helms and Mrs. Neely was formerly Miss Margaret Josephine Newberry. Both of these good ladies are natives of Collin county and were both left orphans at the age of three or four. Both of them were taken to raise by Mr. and Mrs. Lorenzi Dow Davidson, grandparents of Mrs. Neely but not related at all to Mrs. Snider. The Davidson homestead is now owned by Dr. S. H. Abbott and is located a mile and a half north of Bloomdale. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson, who have been dead many years and are buried in the old Franklin cemetery near Ed Burge's farm, besides rearing their own family of children, also raised seven other orphan children. Five of these orphans were their own grandchildren, while two of them, now Mrs. Snider and the latter's brother, the late James M. Helms of Weston, were not related by blood to them.
Mr. and Mrs. Davidson gave a good home to these seven orphans whom they loved and cared for as they did their own children. In fact this pioneer Collin county Davidson home, located about seven miles northwest of McKinney, was a veritable orphans home of that early period before the establishment of regularly conducted orphanage by churches and lodges as we have them in these modern times. This beloved old Davidson couple left an enduring monument to their memory in the hearts of the orphans whom they reared and their many descendents and all who knew of them and of their beneficence to dependent little fatherless and motherless children that they sheltered, clothed, fed and cared for with all the tenderness and love that parents could shower upon their own dear children.
of the seven orphans reared in the Davidson home, four of them are living and three are dead. But all of them lived to be grown, married and settled in this county. The four still living are Mrs. Snider, Mrs. Neely, Mrs. Emmaline Chandler of McKinney and Jesse Leach of Gunter. The three dead are James Helms of Weston, first wife of J. R. Coggins of McKinney and Mrs. Alex Neely.
Mrs. Charles Snider of Rhea Mills spent last week at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Neely in McKinney. Mrs. Snider and Mrs. Neely are life-long friends. Mrs. Snider is 70 years old, while Mrs. Neely is about 62. Mrs. Snider was formerly Miss Mary T. Helms and Mrs. Neely was formerly Miss Margaret Josephine Newberry. Both of these good ladies are natives of Collin county and were both left orphans at the age of three or four. Both of them were taken to raise by Mr. and Mrs. Lorenzi Dow Davidson, grandparents of Mrs. Neely but not related at all to Mrs. Snider. The Davidson homestead is now owned by Dr. S. H. Abbott and is located a mile and a half north of Bloomdale. Mr. and Mrs. Davidson, who have been dead many years and are buried in the old Franklin cemetery near Ed Burge's farm, besides rearing their own family of children, also raised seven other orphan children. Five of these orphans were their own grandchildren, while two of them, now Mrs. Snider and the latter's brother, the late James M. Helms of Weston, were not related by blood to them.
Mr. and Mrs. Davidson gave a good home to these seven orphans whom they loved and cared for as they did their own children. In fact this pioneer Collin county Davidson home, located about seven miles northwest of McKinney, was a veritable orphans home of that early period before the establishment of regularly conducted orphanage by churches and lodges as we have them in these modern times. This beloved old Davidson couple left an enduring monument to their memory in the hearts of the orphans whom they reared and their many descendents and all who knew of them and of their beneficence to dependent little fatherless and motherless children that they sheltered, clothed, fed and cared for with all the tenderness and love that parents could shower upon their own dear children.
of the seven orphans reared in the Davidson home, four of them are living and three are dead. But all of them lived to be grown, married and settled in this county. The four still living are Mrs. Snider, Mrs. Neely, Mrs. Emmaline Chandler of McKinney and Jesse Leach of Gunter. The three dead are James Helms of Weston, first wife of J. R. Coggins of McKinney and Mrs. Alex Neely.
