Thanks for the Orangeville information Susan. It has filled some gaps for me. I'm always interested in that kind of information. My father's family originated there. My mother's mother was born in Illinois, a little place called Pilot Knob. A trip there and I discovered it too is just a place, not a real town. David ----- Original Message ----- From: Hawkins Sent: Friday, July 05, 2002 11:42 AM To: TXFANNIN-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [TXFANNIN-L] Orangeville ( and a loading note)

Those are my favorite places. They are full of history and wonderful stories. But I think they are like a biography of a person. There is a starting and then an ending in a sort of way. The places end up living on in oral traditions and in peoples hearts. Some almost go completely away. I have a real time trying to find anyone with info on Neut history ( not Monkstown, but the actual place of Neut) Other places Bliss gone almost completely and Medlintown , few memories left of that except the school name. But I was lucky enough to know someone who lived there and talked about the area. So many neat stories but the dividing lines often overlap as in the case of Medlintown overlapping Orangeville history. The only sad part of the stories to me is when the railroad sapped the life right out of these places and formed the towns , Savoy, Ector, Windom, Dodd City, Trenton, Whitewright, Leonard, they all killed out the communities along with the road building. The River towns died out with the railroad due to the shipping points changing. The towns have their own history but it overlays on top of the community history and moves the people into them. Their children change the focus and the town history kicks in. Soon there will only be written history of these communities. Its important to collect all we can find. Only the very very old can tell me personal history of places like Medlintown. Most can speak of it only in second and third generations removed. At least Fannin County hasnt' been totally overrun. Down in areas like southern part of Collin County , the growth has overrun the area so you can't even find anything. It's hard to believe it was once beautiful and still country side, just 15 yrs ago! It will take miracles just to keep a small cemetery from disappearing into a parking lot. The Orangeville area is quickly changing. New houses are creeping in everywhere . Trenton , Whitewright and Leonard are happy with their growth, so agricultural land being broken up by people who don't even give it an extra thought. And any thought or control of such damage is being ignored in the eyes of all the tax money the school districts and the towns are wanting. I don't think people put any thought that when they build a home in the country if it is in a field or pasture, they have permanently removed something they can't replace ( I haven't figured out why people do that and then buy SUV's and commute into dallas and then promote conservation and earth saving, green anything in the schools and in their voting and not see what hypocrites they are being) It won't be long until anyone knowing the area 50 yrs ago would be able to find something they recognize. Everyone try hard to collect the look and feel of Fannin county , it may not be anything you can capture 20 years from now. I need pictures taken around the calendar of these areas of the countryside. Once you get a line of houses in front of the beautiful vales and fields, such as those around hwy 11 ( past porters chapel area) you can't recaputure that. I'ts just gone. Huge eyesore houses are being built out that way. That area of the county has a special mixture of moisture and valleys that forms a mist, it looks like the effects you see if you see a range of mountains getting bluer and bluer in the mornings. Some areas have already lost this because people have put in rock gravel driveways , cement pads for houses and barns and other structure. They changed the temperature ranges and the moisture changes. That has made the lovely mist in the sunrises dissappear in many of the vales. I dont' think they put a thought to any of it but the fact that it WAS beautiful. These roads ruined the special effects around Medlintown that can't be recaptured. You can't have a gravel road much less a paved one without changing the feel and look . Medlintown used to have 'Jack O Lanterns' these lights were like the famous Marfa lights. These have been ruined because of the roads and gravel drives along with the brick houses built there. it doesnt take much to remove something that was valuable and special. Susan in Texas "David L. Cates" wrote: > > Thanks for the Orangeville information Susan. It has filled some gaps for me. I'm always interested in that kind of information. My father's family originated there. My mother's mother was born in Illinois, a little place called Pilot Knob. A trip there and I discovered it too is just a place, not a real town. > > David > >