G. F. "Dee" McCracken    

G. F. McCRACKEN. G.F. McCracken, commonly known as Dee, belongs to that class of sterling men who left the old States and came into Texas with nothing to call their own but a willingness to work and to save, and a strong physical body to put their yearnings into action. Dee McCracken settled on Walnut Creek, Wise County, in 1883, with 25 cents in his pocket. His necessities forced him to till other people’s land, and he became a renter on E. Curtner’s place in the Anneville community. Today he is a foremost farmer and live-stock breeder, not alone of Wise County, but of Texas. His pre-eminence as a breeder of thorough-bred Poland-China hogs being demonstrated at the Dallas fair, where on more than one occasion he won some of the most valuable prizes offered. His, fame as a raiser of game chickens is co-extensive with the nation, having shipped, as he has, fighting cocks into every state of the Union. Mr. McCracken’s accomplishments along these lines speak favorably for his possession of force and intellectuality, qualities which are essential to the breeding of high class animals which he produces. His sales also indicate that he is a man of business shrewdness and sagacity. He lives at present in a large new home a few miles north of Decatur, where he has every convenience for the raising of thoroughbred stock. Mr. McCracken is 42 years old, having been born in Newburn, Dyer County, Tennessee, December 15, 1865. He celebrated the ending of the famous 1886-87 drouth in Wise County by marrying Miss Brittie Faith, daughter of B. W. Faith, a foremost citizen. To this union have been born seven children, the eldest child being 18, the youngest about two.

Pioneer history of Wise County : from red men to railroads, twenty years of intrepid history, Decatur, Tex, 1907, pages 378-379. View the image of this page on line.   Search Hundreds of 1880s-1920s Texas History Books for biographies and historical information on your ancestors.  View the book page images on line and print them out for your genealogy file!  Try the family history collection for free for 14 days!