Freestone County, Texas
Towns


Old Ghost Towns - with former Post office:


A nearby earlier village in the area was Avant.

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Sunshine

In 1870 the settlement's name was changed to Sunshine after the Sunshine 
Methodist Church moved there from Harrison Chapel. 

Known people in Sunshine were: 
Eubanks, Bennie

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Dew

Dew is at the junction of State Highway 75 and Farm Road 489, nine miles south
of Fairfield in southern Freestone County. Browns Creek drains the lands around 
Dew on the eastern side, while Caroline Creek drains the western side.

The town was renamed Dew in 1885, when a post office was established at Dew 
when the post office at Avant was closed. Locals requested the name Drew to 
honor a resident, but postal authorities misread the application. Two years 
later on May 5, 1887, powerful winds destroyed the dry goods and drug store in 
Dew. *1*

By 1891 Dew had three cotton gins, three general stores, a blacksmith, several 
churches, and a population of 150. The 1895 Rand McNally atlas shows Dew with a 
post office, but no express office or railroad.  Its post office was replaced 
with rural delivery in 1909. Around 1912 a cemetery association was organized, 
and descendants and area residents still gather annually at the Dew cemetery. 
In 1947 the community had five stores, a school, and 195 inhabitants. A 
historical marker was placed at Dew cemetery in 1977. By 1992 Dew had a reported 
population of seventy-one. 

Social Organizations:
County Alliance

Businesses:
W. G. Ham store
Colonel Philpott's gin
E. C. Gosset's bricks

Churches:
Corinth Baptist Church
Dew Methodist
Grace Tabernacle

Churches in Area:
Avant Church (to the northwest)
Salem Church (to the west)
Jerusalem Church (to the north)


Known people in Dew were: 
Acuff, R. D.
Barnett, Dr. J. A. (moved to Mills)
Brewster, Willie
Chandler, R. F.
Clark, J. B.
Collins, J. C.
Cotton, William B.
Folk, J. B. A. (postmaster)
Folk, Rosa V.
Gosset, E. C. (brickmaker)
Ham, W. G. (store owner)
Haynie, Captain
Johnson, H. M.
Lancaster, Evie Yerby
Lancaster, Mark
Littlepage, Rev.
Musgrove, Felix
Oglesby, J. P.
Parish, L. B.
Peyton, Dr. F. P. 
Peyton, W. W.
Philpott, Colonel (gin owner)
Smith, R. L.
Tatum, W. J.

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Sources:
  *1* = Dallas Morning News - May 6, 1887 edition
  
  "FAIRFIELD, Tex., May 5 -...
  The rain here was accompanied with some hail and considerable wind from the
southwest.  It did no damage here but nearly demolished the village of Dew, ten
miles sout of this place, blowing down and destroying the dry goods store of
W. G. Ham, and demolishing the drug store of W. W. Peyton.  The stocks in both
houses are almost a total loss from breakage and damage by rain.  Felix 
Musgrove, clerk for Mr. Ham, was slower than several others in getting out of 
the building, and was caught in the falling timbers and painfully though not 
fatally injured.  Much damage to fencing was also done the Dew neighborhood, a 
thickly settled section of the county."