Sugar Hill - Farmersville
The Sugar Hill community was located about 2 miles northeast of present-day Farmersville and was the original location of the town. Sugar Hill had a store and saloon. There area several stories about where the name came from. All of the stories involve the general store. One story says someone added sugar to a vat of bad whiskey to improve the taste. Another story says that the store had run out of supplies, except for sugar.
On December 24, 1854, there was a brawl at the saloon in Sugar Hill, about 2 miles north of present-day Farmersville. The men wanted to be served. The owner, Dr. John Yeary, did not want to serve them because he considered it a religious holiday. In the ensuing fight, Dr. Yeary was killed. He is buried in the Jones/Yeary Cemetery north of Farmersville. John H. Glass and Samuel Glass were also killed. They were buried in the Chapman Cemetery in a joint grave in the old rock quarry style grave.
After the brawl, the local residents decided they did not want to be part of such a rowdy community as Sugar Hill. They started a new community a couple of miles south and named it Farmersville.
After the brawl, the local residents decided they did not want to be part of such a rowdy community as Sugar Hill. They started a new community a couple of miles south and named it Farmersville.
RECOLLECTIONS OF AN OLD TIMER.
McKinney Weekly Democrat, May 16, 1901
The first election that was ever held in east Collin, was held on the old Patton Honaker place and the name of the place was Sugar Hill. A man by the name of Bailey ran a sort of a store there. He married Miss Cassie Year, a relative of the Yeary's whose offsprings are living at Farmersville today. The voting precinct included the entire territory from Millwood to the Fannin county line and from pilot creek to the east. The line between Collin and Hunt counties had not been established and the law as to where a citizen should vote was not as painfully strictly enforced as it is today. At that election just 17 votes were cast, and the 17 tickets were all alike that is every man voted just as the balance did. Jim Throckmorton, who became later governor, run that time for the legislature and was elected. He got 17 votes at Sugar Hill. Those days Throckmorton was not dreaming of governorship but he was practicing medicine about three miles from McKinney. There were then two stores at McKinney one of them run by Newsome. There was two stores at Greenville and none at Farmersville. Of of 17 men who voted at the first election on Sugar Hill, two are alive yet. One of them is Josh Gotcher, living about three miles west of Farmersville now, and the other is Hugh Woody living about four miles north from Farmersville, close to the old Franklin place. All others have passed over the great divide. Old man Woody lived then in a cabin of Henry Rollin's on Cedar. His nearest neighbor to the north was Bill Boren who lived close to the Manning prairie near Pike. To the south a man had settled on Cedar, the old Coffey trail ran by his cabin and there was not another cabin between his own and the Boyart place north of McKinney. He dragged the high grass down between Cedar and Sugar Hill and established a route. Old man Woody is hale and hearty: only yesterday he was hard at work fixing his fence. He has in his possession yet a pair of scissors, that were bought from Bailey on Sugar Hill. We tried to get some big Indian stories out of him, but he wont yarn. No Indian, he said, but plenty grass, lots of game, any amount of elbow room and not so blamed much style as we have now days.
McKinney Weekly Democrat, May 16, 1901
The first election that was ever held in east Collin, was held on the old Patton Honaker place and the name of the place was Sugar Hill. A man by the name of Bailey ran a sort of a store there. He married Miss Cassie Year, a relative of the Yeary's whose offsprings are living at Farmersville today. The voting precinct included the entire territory from Millwood to the Fannin county line and from pilot creek to the east. The line between Collin and Hunt counties had not been established and the law as to where a citizen should vote was not as painfully strictly enforced as it is today. At that election just 17 votes were cast, and the 17 tickets were all alike that is every man voted just as the balance did. Jim Throckmorton, who became later governor, run that time for the legislature and was elected. He got 17 votes at Sugar Hill. Those days Throckmorton was not dreaming of governorship but he was practicing medicine about three miles from McKinney. There were then two stores at McKinney one of them run by Newsome. There was two stores at Greenville and none at Farmersville. Of of 17 men who voted at the first election on Sugar Hill, two are alive yet. One of them is Josh Gotcher, living about three miles west of Farmersville now, and the other is Hugh Woody living about four miles north from Farmersville, close to the old Franklin place. All others have passed over the great divide. Old man Woody lived then in a cabin of Henry Rollin's on Cedar. His nearest neighbor to the north was Bill Boren who lived close to the Manning prairie near Pike. To the south a man had settled on Cedar, the old Coffey trail ran by his cabin and there was not another cabin between his own and the Boyart place north of McKinney. He dragged the high grass down between Cedar and Sugar Hill and established a route. Old man Woody is hale and hearty: only yesterday he was hard at work fixing his fence. He has in his possession yet a pair of scissors, that were bought from Bailey on Sugar Hill. We tried to get some big Indian stories out of him, but he wont yarn. No Indian, he said, but plenty grass, lots of game, any amount of elbow room and not so blamed much style as we have now days.
