Same Place 80 Years
Princeton - Samuel H. (Slick) Smith may be approaching 90 at a rapid pace but he is staying in the same place to do it, looking fondly at the huge tree that were just saplings when he came there and now are a thing of beauty. He has been where he is over 80 years, so there isn't much reason why it should not have grown to seem like home to him, and that it does. Born in Water [sic Warrick] Co., Ind. September 8, 1883, the son of Thomas A. and Lucinda M. Smith, he has lived in Texas for 82 years. He came first to a relative's house, a white bungalow just up the road. He has never been more than one half mile away since then. The day he was 7 years old he picked 100 lb of cotton just across the road from where he lived now. He had one sister and three brothers but only one brother in Red River County, Dexter Smith, remains.
He was married September 24, 1906 to Willie Leiderman. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: Mrs. Tom Teague of Sherman, Mrs. Ina Lou Preutt of Altoga, Mrs. Bertha Mae Thomas and Samuel Uland Smith of McKinney, Mrs. Wilma Bailey of Milligan Road, William Howard Smith, east of Lower Crossing store, and Charley Evert Smith; 16 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and two great great grandchildren. His wife died in 1962 and he has lived alone since. He only has the TV for company, as his eyesight will not permit him to read and he doesn't even have a dog or cat. A retired farmer, he is not to be out-done. He couldn't get other things to grow in his front yard so he just planted it in beans and peas, which are producing and he is harvesting them. There is something that stands out in his thought of the past and that is that his wife lost her father when she was three weeks old and her widowed mother reared her.
With a chuckle he told us that when he came to this area there were lots of big bob cats and he recalls one very interesting incident. People came from all over, bringing their dogs, and 72 hounds chased one bob cat all through a cold night down through Princeton and across the railroad track and caught him.
His health has been fine considering that he has been reported dead four times. One morning he went to town and they were making up flowers for him. He told them that he did not need the flowers but cold use the money. They had him mixed up with another man, who had died.
Then in 1954 a man ran over him in a pickup at the park in McKinney and he was out for 14 days. He doesn't drive any more as his eyesight will not permit.
Asked if he liked the Milligan community where he lives, he said he sure did -- if he didn't he wouldn't have stayed so long. He told his children he intends to stay until he goes to his final resting place in Wilson Cemetery just down the road.
The Courier-Gazette, McKinney, Texas, 3 Sep 1972, Sun, Page 23
Princeton - Samuel H. (Slick) Smith may be approaching 90 at a rapid pace but he is staying in the same place to do it, looking fondly at the huge tree that were just saplings when he came there and now are a thing of beauty. He has been where he is over 80 years, so there isn't much reason why it should not have grown to seem like home to him, and that it does. Born in Water [sic Warrick] Co., Ind. September 8, 1883, the son of Thomas A. and Lucinda M. Smith, he has lived in Texas for 82 years. He came first to a relative's house, a white bungalow just up the road. He has never been more than one half mile away since then. The day he was 7 years old he picked 100 lb of cotton just across the road from where he lived now. He had one sister and three brothers but only one brother in Red River County, Dexter Smith, remains.
He was married September 24, 1906 to Willie Leiderman. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: Mrs. Tom Teague of Sherman, Mrs. Ina Lou Preutt of Altoga, Mrs. Bertha Mae Thomas and Samuel Uland Smith of McKinney, Mrs. Wilma Bailey of Milligan Road, William Howard Smith, east of Lower Crossing store, and Charley Evert Smith; 16 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and two great great grandchildren. His wife died in 1962 and he has lived alone since. He only has the TV for company, as his eyesight will not permit him to read and he doesn't even have a dog or cat. A retired farmer, he is not to be out-done. He couldn't get other things to grow in his front yard so he just planted it in beans and peas, which are producing and he is harvesting them. There is something that stands out in his thought of the past and that is that his wife lost her father when she was three weeks old and her widowed mother reared her.
With a chuckle he told us that when he came to this area there were lots of big bob cats and he recalls one very interesting incident. People came from all over, bringing their dogs, and 72 hounds chased one bob cat all through a cold night down through Princeton and across the railroad track and caught him.
His health has been fine considering that he has been reported dead four times. One morning he went to town and they were making up flowers for him. He told them that he did not need the flowers but cold use the money. They had him mixed up with another man, who had died.
Then in 1954 a man ran over him in a pickup at the park in McKinney and he was out for 14 days. He doesn't drive any more as his eyesight will not permit.
Asked if he liked the Milligan community where he lives, he said he sure did -- if he didn't he wouldn't have stayed so long. He told his children he intends to stay until he goes to his final resting place in Wilson Cemetery just down the road.
The Courier-Gazette, McKinney, Texas, 3 Sep 1972, Sun, Page 23
Same Place 80 Years
Princeton - Samuel H. (Slick) Smith may be approaching 90 at a rapid pace but he is staying in the same place to do it, looking fondly at the huge tree that were just saplings when he came there and now are a thing of beauty. He has been where he is over 80 years, so there isn't much reason why it should not have grown to seem like home to him, and that it does. Born in Water [sic Warrick] Co., Ind. September 8, 1883, the son of Thomas A. and Lucinda M. Smith, he has lived in Texas for 82 years. He came first to a relative's house, a white bungalow just up the road. He has never been more than one half mile away since then. The day he was 7 years old he picked 100 lb of cotton just across the road from where he lived now. He had one sister and three brothers but only one brother in Red River County, Dexter Smith, remains.
He was married September 24, 1906 to Willie Leiderman. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: Mrs. Tom Teague of Sherman, Mrs. Ina Lou Preutt of Altoga, Mrs. Bertha Mae Thomas and Samuel Uland Smith of McKinney, Mrs. Wilma Bailey of Milligan Road, William Howard Smith, east of Lower Crossing store, and Charley Evert Smith; 16 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and two great great grandchildren. His wife died in 1962 and he has lived alone since. He only has the TV for company, as his eyesight will not permit him to read and he doesn't even have a dog or cat. A retired farmer, he is not to be out-done. He couldn't get other things to grow in his front yard so he just planted it in beans and peas, which are producing and he is harvesting them. There is something that stands out in his thought of the past and that is that his wife lost her father when she was three weeks old and her widowed mother reared her.
With a chuckle he told us that when he came to this area there were lots of big bob cats and he recalls one very interesting incident. People came from all over, bringing their dogs, and 72 hounds chased one bob cat all through a cold night down through Princeton and across the railroad track and caught him.
His health has been fine considering that he has been reported dead four times. One morning he went to town and they were making up flowers for him. He told them that he did not need the flowers but cold use the money. They had him mixed up with another man, who had died.
Then in 1954 a man ran over him in a pickup at the park in McKinney and he was out for 14 days. He doesn't drive any more as his eyesight will not permit.
Asked if he liked the Milligan community where he lives, he said he sure did -- if he didn't he wouldn't have stayed so long. He told his children he intends to stay until he goes to his final resting place in Wilson Cemetery just down the road.
The Courier-Gazette, McKinney, Texas, 3 Sep 1972, Sun, Page 23
Princeton - Samuel H. (Slick) Smith may be approaching 90 at a rapid pace but he is staying in the same place to do it, looking fondly at the huge tree that were just saplings when he came there and now are a thing of beauty. He has been where he is over 80 years, so there isn't much reason why it should not have grown to seem like home to him, and that it does. Born in Water [sic Warrick] Co., Ind. September 8, 1883, the son of Thomas A. and Lucinda M. Smith, he has lived in Texas for 82 years. He came first to a relative's house, a white bungalow just up the road. He has never been more than one half mile away since then. The day he was 7 years old he picked 100 lb of cotton just across the road from where he lived now. He had one sister and three brothers but only one brother in Red River County, Dexter Smith, remains.
He was married September 24, 1906 to Willie Leiderman. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: Mrs. Tom Teague of Sherman, Mrs. Ina Lou Preutt of Altoga, Mrs. Bertha Mae Thomas and Samuel Uland Smith of McKinney, Mrs. Wilma Bailey of Milligan Road, William Howard Smith, east of Lower Crossing store, and Charley Evert Smith; 16 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren and two great great grandchildren. His wife died in 1962 and he has lived alone since. He only has the TV for company, as his eyesight will not permit him to read and he doesn't even have a dog or cat. A retired farmer, he is not to be out-done. He couldn't get other things to grow in his front yard so he just planted it in beans and peas, which are producing and he is harvesting them. There is something that stands out in his thought of the past and that is that his wife lost her father when she was three weeks old and her widowed mother reared her.
With a chuckle he told us that when he came to this area there were lots of big bob cats and he recalls one very interesting incident. People came from all over, bringing their dogs, and 72 hounds chased one bob cat all through a cold night down through Princeton and across the railroad track and caught him.
His health has been fine considering that he has been reported dead four times. One morning he went to town and they were making up flowers for him. He told them that he did not need the flowers but cold use the money. They had him mixed up with another man, who had died.
Then in 1954 a man ran over him in a pickup at the park in McKinney and he was out for 14 days. He doesn't drive any more as his eyesight will not permit.
Asked if he liked the Milligan community where he lives, he said he sure did -- if he didn't he wouldn't have stayed so long. He told his children he intends to stay until he goes to his final resting place in Wilson Cemetery just down the road.
The Courier-Gazette, McKinney, Texas, 3 Sep 1972, Sun, Page 23
Gravesite Details
Same stone with Willie
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