History
Local author chronicles early Parker County history By Randy Keck
F
The Community News
were early settler families in
and said that would be a big
Parker County,” she said.
job for someone,” Smith said.
The book covers the area including Veal’s Station, Slover, Sabathany,
“And so I started a quest to get the marker to the cemetery.”
Dicey, Wright, Cartersville, and
To request a historical marker,
or people interested in the
Silver Creek communities. Smith
the State of Texas requires
history of Parker County,
interviewed folks in these com-
a bare-bones, two-page
a great place to begin is
munities, hunted down historic
report with no photos.
to study where Parker County
photographs and records, and
began. Around Veal’s Station:
photographed near-forgot-
An Illustrated History of Parker
ten sites. Parker County artist
County’s Oldest Town, chronicles
Diane Brown provided the cover
the history of the community
illustration of historic Veal’s
in the northeast portion of the
Station Hall, as well as illus-
county where it all started.
trations throughout the book.
Station and the surrounding area”
For author Laurie Chance Smith,
Smith said she decided to
the book and the research behind
write the book when she and
much information there was, I
it was a labor of love that traced
her mom were visiting the
some of her family ancestors.
Veal’s Station Cemetery, paying
“I’m a lifelong Parker County resident and I’m a descendant of the Cockburn, the Tucker, the
cases filled with historical records, photographs. And everyone, the community just was so enthusiastic in sharing the history of Veal’s Smith said. “So when I saw how saw a book in it instead of just the little two-page report to the state.”
respects to members of those
Smith was successful in get-
four families buried there.
ting the marker for Veal’s
“I asked her why there was no
Gilley, and the Wright families.
historical marker for the cem-
And all four of those families
etery. And she gave me a wink
48 2022
“People were handing me suit-
Your Parker County
Station. It was unveiled on Dec. 12, 2020 (see sidebar). “The book is a gift to the www.yourparkercounty.com
