History of our Land and Home

Over the past few weeks, I’ve done a bit of research on the Carruth family – the family that owned our property and built the house and what we call the old homestead which collapsed between 2005 and 2008.

I have discovered that

John Carruth of Scotland b 1550 - d 1618
begat William b1575-d1635 m. Janet,
begat John 1630- ? m. Susan
begat Robert b1653 in Scotland -d1728 in Ireland m. Jenat
begat James b1679 in Scotland - d1729 in Ireland m. Margaret
begat Walter b1703 in Ireland - d1769 in Iredell, NC m. Sarah
begat James b1736 in Pennsylvania-1803 in Knox, TN m. Margaret
begat Alexander...

Alexander Craighead Carruth b 1765 in Ireland - died in 1830 in Wilson County Tennessee.  Married Susannah Simms Carruth.
 
They had nine children, one of which was also Alexander Craighead Carruth. He was born in 1798 in Tennessee. He and wife Elizabeth had 11 children. They both died in Collin County. He in 1858, she, just before the turn of the century.

One of their eleven children was James Eldridge Carruth. James E Carruth oldest child born in TN July 25, 1830 died Feb 20 1910 Collin County

James E Carruth was part of Fitzhugh’s 16th Calvary, Third Regiment, Company D of the Confederacy. He was 31 when he enlisted. Collie (his son) was probably 8 years old when his father went.

In 1905, when James E was 75, the Daughters of the Confederacy hosted a dinner at the E W Kirpatrick “palatial estate” (Queen Anne Victorian built in 1902 over behind the Mckinney Highschool) for the veterans and he was in attendance.

The 1880 Collin County Census lists James’ as Dwelling 16, Family 162.
His tombstone reads “He lived as he died – a Christian” – it’s in a local (to me) cemetery.

He and his wife Elizabeth Jane George had three children, one of which was Charles Carlton Carruth (CC Carruth/Collie Carruth) born August 3rd, 1869 Collin County – died Feb 19, 1943.

Collie and his wife Minnie Ann Helms Carruth, born in 1872 and died in 1961 had 7 children. (Merrit, Jesse, Levi, Lela, Georgia, Nova, and Creed) - They built the white farmhouse with red barns that you can see across the back of the property when the leaves fall. (Just down 217 on the right.)

Collie Carruth was noted in the papers for making business calls to Mckinney (from Anna/Weston) and also for an accident where melted babbit metal was thrown into his eye. It was unknown if the damage was permanent.

Most of the Charles C Carruth family are buried at Cottage Hill Cemetary off fm 2478 – Levi and Charles have their signatures on their headstone. (I personally viewed them, including Levi’s.)

Levi is the man who built the house in which we live – or had it built. Whereas James and Collie were farmers, Levi was a carpenter. He built many homes in the area. In 1918, he, along with 163 other Mckinney/Collin County boys, shipped out from the station in Plano for the war. He was 24. In 1943 he was in attendance to his father Collie for 14 days prior to his death and then signed the death certificate.

He built our home in 1952 – I suspect it was to be near his mother. He married in 1957 – his mother passed away in 1961 – his wife died in 1966. He remarried in 1971 at the age of 75 to a lady named Amy. He died in 1991 and her family moved her away shortly thereafter – she died in 1993.

As far as I can tell, James E built the old homestead on the property which collapsed around 2008 or so... That old homestead, chicken coop, barn are all built on bo dark (bois d’arc or “horse apple”) trees stumps. Apparently in the “old days” you couldn’t borrow money to build if you did not because they were known for termite resistence. Portions of downtown Dallas streets were paved in bo dark trees at one point.

I know the family owned the property across the road as well, and I think I have spotted the remnant of the original house. The first Carruth Homestead which is where I think Elisabeth Carruth lived after Alexander died.

Several questions linger for me:

• Where did Alexander Craighead Carruth JR settle when he came to Texas or did he come here with his wife, Elisabeth Wilson Carruth after his son James E Carruth did and just die here. (Their kids were born in Tennessee, including James). The only tax roll I could locate so far for Alexander was from TN.

• Alexander Craighead Carruth (the second one) had brothers William and Walter – I am not sure if they are the same William and Walter that settled in Collin County and owned 30k acres most of which is Dallas today.

I read through many newspaper articles dating back to the 1860s that mention various members of the Carruth family. It was fascinating!

There is a book by Lela Grant Carruth Called “From Whence Ye Came” that has the history of the Carruth / Caruth / Carouth families I’d like to get my hands on. Is it horrible that I know more about this family than my own at this point?!