Pen Porter

 Occasionally, just before and just after I moved to Texas from California last year, people told me “That’s going to be a big change of pace.” It was. But not in the way any of them are thinking. I actually live in a far more urban area now than I did before. I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area. It had a population of more than 7.6 million at the 2020 census. No doubt it has grown somewhat in the two years since then, as my husband Don and I are two of the new ones. Making it seem even more urban for us, we are only two miles away from the largest city in this metropolitan area. That’s Dallas, with a 2022 population of 1.3 million. Our city, Richardson, brings in just over 125,000 more. The entire area spans 11 counties, two other cities (Fort Worth and Arlington) with populations over 400,000 and quite a few others with populations over 200,000. By contrast, I previously lived for 32 years in the Inland Empire metropolitan area, which is just two geographically large...

  The historic 1897 Denton County Courthouse and the square of late 19th/early 20th century buildings surrounding it are iconic of this county northwest of Dallas. But the county offers old, new, suburban and very rural areas to enjoy.  Previously, I discussed places I enjoy visiting in the southeast portion of Denton County. This area is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Today, we will look at some of my favorite places I have visited or want to visit in the rest of Denton County, an area that either still maintains its rural character or has developed a nouveau rural character. The southwest portion of Denton County is the latter, nouveau rural. Because of my husband's employment in the estate sale business, I have visited two of these suburbs, Argyle and Double Oak. Both of these small towns are primarily large homes, none of them very old, on half-acre lots with no farms in the area. Argyle is immediately south of Denton, while Double Oak is eight miles southeast ...

  Enjoying a slice of pie in The Colony. It's one of the best pie shops in all of DFW.  Mary “Polly” Dodson Graham, my fourth great-grandmother, moved to Texas with her husband, children and two children in-laws in 1856. Although they initially lived not too far from the Oklahoma border, she and my fourth great-grandfather James Graham moved to Denton County (Pilot Point) before his death in 1867. My fourth great-grandmother lived in Pilot Point, along with at least one of her children (not my third great-grandfather) until she died in 1889. The town grew some, because in her 22 years as a widow train stops, schools and industries came into being. Now, I live so close to Denton County I often visit. It’s a very different place than what my ancestors knew. For one, the city of Dallas, which was a long way away when my ancestors lived there, now extends into the south part of Denton County. In my fourth great-grandparents day, Denton County was dotted with small villages. ...

 In my last blog post, I told you about my personal connection to Texas history through a set of fourth great-grandparents and third great-grandparents who are buried in areas of northeast Texas. (A way from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.) The towns of Gainesville and Bonham, where my third great-grandparents are buried, are so far from DFW they still seem remote to me. Gainesville, where Great-Great-Great-Grandpa Graham rests, is a town of less than 20,000 people about 80 miles north of downtown Dallas and 12 miles from the Oklahoma border. Bonham, where my Great-Great-Great Grandma is buried, is a city of just over 10,000. It’s also about 80 miles from downtown Dallas, but 65 miles east of Gainesville. My fourth great-grandparents are buried in Pilot Point, a city a mere 55 miles from downtown Dallas. It’s even closer to my home in Richardson, Texas. Pilot Point is still too far north to be considered part of the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. It’s also still a very small town, w...

  My fourth great-grandparents, James and Mary Graham, are buried in the Skinner Cemetery. My great-great-great-great-grandfather is the elder of the two James Grahams mentioned on this plaque. My great-great-great-grandparents on this side are buried elsewhere in Texas,  but my great-great-grandparents on this side (as well as two other great-great-grandfathers), my great-grandparents (all eight of them) and grandparents (all four of them) are buried in California. My parents and brother live and were born in California. I also lived in California for 57 of my 60 years.  History fascinates us. I speak for myself and my husband Don. I know many others don’t have the same fascination we do with discovering how people lived in the past. For almost seven years, I’ve been especially fascinated with American history from the mid-19 th century to the early 20 th century. Until recently, my primary focus had been Central California. That is the northern portion of the San Jo...

Texas governor Jim Hogg, c. 1890, with children Ima, William, Thomas, Mike and wife Sarah.   When I was writing about our trip to Houston, I did some research into one of our stops, the Bayou Bend House. I found it has a fascinating history, so I wanted to research more and write about that. This is what I have learned about Ima Hogg, the woman who originally owned the house. The house has the appearance of a southern Civil War-era plantation. Perhaps there were some of those in Houston in the 1860s, but the Bayou Bend House wasn’t one of them. It wasn’t built until 1928. Even the original owner, Miss Hogg, wasn’t born until 1882. Her family had been part of the southern aristocracy in the Civil War era. Her great-grandfather, Thomas Hogg, had served in the state legislatures of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi after his service in the Revolutionary War. Her paternal grandparents, Joseph and Lucanda Hogg, moved from Alabama to Texas in 1836 as a young couple. There Josep...

 Most of the time, you can find me working on a blog post or one of my books at a Starbucks somewhere in the greater Dallas Fort Worth area. In fact, today I am working on this blog at a Starbucks in Fort Worth.  But sometimes, I am out and about finding new things here in Texas where I have lived since May of 2021. And now that I have resurrected this blog, it seems my discoveries are a good thing to share with anyone reading. So, today I am going to tell you about a fairly recent trip my husband and I made to Houston in December 2021.  We have been to Houston three times since moving to Texas. All three trips down there were so Don could participate in vinyl record shows. He makes enough to cover all our travel expenses and several hundred dollars over that. So, they're worthwhile trips.  Unfortuately, two of the three - especially our most recent earlier this month - left us with no time to enjoy Houston. But I'm going to go ahead and embarrass Don by telling you ...

 Walking and running have been a passion of mine for a long time. I ran track and field in high school. I helped start the women's team at my college alma mater, Fresno State University. A few years after college, once I had moved to the windy and often cold High Desert portion of southern California I quit pursuing running. But then I got back into it about 10 years ago. And while I have somewhat pursued running since then, I find myself more often pursuing walking. I usually just walk around my own neigbhorhood here in Richardson, Texas. My apartment here was built in 1968, and I believe most of the homes in the neighborhood are even a bit older. They're all made of brick and have held their age well. It's a joy to walk around this neighborhood.  But since I go with my husband to work - which can be just about anywhere within 30 to 40 miles of here  (occasionally farther) - I also walk in the neighborhood of whatever estate sale he happens to be setting up or working th...

Stamps I purchased at the Stamp Scrap Art Tour in Mesquite on January 22  I want to make two posts today. Because whether I keep pursuing this blog on future trips to Starbucks (i.e tomorrow, Friday, next week) or not, I am trying to find out what my best "niche" is before going into either free-lance writing or blogging as a money-making venture. I probably won't even share my blog posts on social media until if and when I decide this is going to be a regular thing for me. So, unless you're not me and happen to be reading this, it's more online brainstorming of what I should focus on. It's hard for this journalist turned marketing copywriter who has always made an effort to learn as much as I could about many different things and is passionate about more than a few. So, here's my brainstorming list of passions. My faith - I'm a Christian, first and foremost. I enjoy praying, singing and reading my Bible. So sometimes, I'm going to tell you about t...