EGYPT.
Egypt
was located near the junction of Farm roads 1488 and 2978 about nine miles
southwest of Conroe in southwestern Montgomery County. From the 1840’s it
was a farming area. The community was settled by George Bell Madeley who
had come to the area from England. He owned a grist mill, vineyard,
orchard, wine press, cotton gin, and herds of cattle. The services for
his grist mill were paid for with corn instead of money. During a
considerable time period of drought, the people in the community had no
corn due to crop failures.
The
community farmers went to purchased corn from Madeley. They named the
area “Egypt”. The name referred to the Bible story in which Jacob’s
family went to Egypt to buy corn from their brother in a time of famine.
(Genesis 41: 56-57). Madeley gave his community cornmeal during the
time of drought. The area declined through the rest of the twentieth
century, and though Egypt was still shown on highway maps by 1990 there
was virtually no sign of the community. In 2006, a byway called
Honea-Egypt Road reminded travelers of the former area.
Taken from Dan H. Madeley’s Writings (1981). |