Sunny Dell Community mirrors early Tyler County 19th century settlements
Tyler County Booster - August 2007
by David R. Mann

  Sunny Dell is located approximately four miles northwest of Colmesneil off FM 1745 in northwest Tyler County.  Early anglo settlers arrived in this area in the 1830’s, but it wasn’t until the construction of a school in April of 1882 that the name of Sunny Dell was first used.  The school was built on two acres of land donated by Mr. James Sturrock, a prominent early settler in the area who was born in Scotland and came to Texas in the 1830’s.  The school was named by Mrs. Nettie Davis Neel, the first teacher at Sunny Dell.  School enrollment grew and historical records indicate that by the 1896-97 school year, there were schools at Sunny Dell for both black and white children, each having 12 and 27 students respectively.  At that time, teachers earned approximately $35.00 per month and $4.40 per child was allocated to each school by the county for operation costs. 
  Both the log schoolhouse and the church at Sunny Dell provided a central identity and gathering place for the families who lived and farmed in the surrounding areas.  Families gathered there to enjoy box suppers together, hear concerts, listen to political speakers and hold community meetings.  The Sunny Dell church originally shared space with the school when it was organized on April 22, 1882.  The first pastor of the church was Reverend Arnold Rhodes and there were fourteen charter members from area families.  Regular church meetings were held on the fourth Saturday and Sunday of every month.  Baptisms were held in Big Dry Creek north of the church and later in Billum’s Creek. 
  The church observed strict rules of conduct for its members.  Members who violated church rules, by drinking, swearing, dancing, playing cards or participating in more serious offenses, were often dismissed from church membership and could not return until they had taken the “Gospel Steps,” acknowledging their wrongdoings in front of the membership and asking for readmittance.  Pastors were not paid a salary for their service, but they did receive money from collections as well as non-monetary items for their service. 
  For example, Pastor T.J. Campbell’s diary recounts that on November 29, 1916, he received in offering from the membership one pig, twenty-four gallons of syrup and fourteen bushels of potatoes.  Of the thirteen different men who served as pastors of Sunny Dell church, Samuel E. Mann (who served between 1883 and 1921), John A. Martin (1896-1929), James A. Crews (1919-1939) and J.G. Ratcliff (1933-1955) served the longest tenures and all became well-known in the area as faithful servants of the church.   
  Sunny Dell church was part of the New Bethel Association, an organization of Baptist churches located in Tyler, Hardin and Polk counties.  Church membership grew steadily in the early years, topping fifty persons in September of 1883, reaching 175 members in 1892 and 194 members in 1894.  During the period from 1890 into the 1920’s, Sunny Dell was the largest church in the New Bethel Association.  The original building where meetings were held was enlarged in 1890 and a new wood frame, one-room building was constructed by the church in 1913 to accommodate growth. 
  Former Tyler County Judge Allen Sturrock was born in the Sunny Dell community and lived there until 1929.  He recalls how during meetings, the men sat to the right of the pulpit and the women to the left (while a few men stayed outside at the windows). Women with children sat in the back along with the small children, who rested on quilts.  On Sundays, up to three pastors delivered messages and meetings would often go until 2:00 PM before members ate a potluck meal together outside on the church grounds.  Wagons for home would often not leave the church grounds until 4:00 PM or later.   
  Church membership and, indeed, the area’s population, began to decline during the 1920’s.  According to Judge Sturrock, five major factors affected the decline of the community.  Those factors included a boll weevil outbreak which decimated the cotton crop, cane worms, which damaged the sugar cane crop, a large flood in 1929, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and population mobility due to World War II.  Judge Sturrock recently recalled how during the years before and during World War II, young men could make more in a week working in Beaumont or other cities, than they could make all year working the family farm.  Sunny Dell Baptist Church’s last regular meeting was led by Pastor J.G. Ratcliff in September 1955, ending a seventy-three year period of monthly worship.
  You can still visit the 1913 church which was so important in the lives of so many early Tyler County settlers.  Many of the people who worshiped there are laid to rest in the nearby Mann and Hickory Grove cemeteries and descendents of these early settlers still own land and live in the area.  A dedicated group meets annually at the church to maintain the church, reminisce, and sing, as they remember those early family members who worked so hard to carve out a happy and prosperous life in this beautiful area of Tyler County. 
  This very short glimpse of life in the Sunny Dell community mirrors the rise and decline of other Tyler County communities.  Mount Hope, Town Bluff, Steel’s Grove, Enon, Hyatt, Mt. Carmel and Peach Tree Village are names of but a few of the early settlements in Tyler County that show faint trace today of their earlier prosperity. 
  These places hold the histories of families and individuals which connect this early time with the present day.  I would encourage those with an interest in the history of Tyler County and its connections with your ancestors to begin your own research.  The Whitmeyer Genealogical Library at the Heritage Village Museum in Woodville has many valuable resources and is a great place to start.  The library is always looking for family histories to enrich its collection as well as volunteers to help preserve and share the rich history of Tyler County for the next generation.

David R. Mann lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, and is a direct descendent of the William L. Mann family which settled in the Billum’s Creek area in 1839.  His photographs of the Sunny Dell Church appear on notecards available in the Heritage Village Museum gift shop.