History

History is not contained in thick books but lives in our very blood. -Carl G. Jung

Our Roots

What is now known as McCraw Gantt began in 1988 as the Law Offices of John L. McCraw, Jr. after Judge McCraw completed his term with the State of Texas Court of Appeals - Fifth District. Mark McCraw joined his father in the practice after his graduation from law school in 1994, and the firm was known as McCraw & McCraw. Judge McCraw retired from the practice and began sitting as a visiting judge and performing only mediations and arbitrations at the firm in 1996. In 2002, Bryan Gantt joined his cousin and uncle at McCraw & McCraw, and in 2005, they changed the group's structure to McCraw Gantt. In 2007, Karen Gantt joined her husband Bryan and his family at McCraw Gantt.

The attorneys of McCraw Gantt have a rich history in Collin County, Texas. Their ancestors came to Collin County in the 1840s, and they have had family roots in the area ever since. An article by McKinney historian Roy F. Hall in the original Handbook of Texas discusses John Yeary, Judge McCraw's great-great-great grandfather:

In 1844 Yeary was one of five commissioners who selected the right-of-way for the Central National Road of the Republic of Texas. Impressed with the area covered on his survey for the road, he moved to Collin County, about a half mile from the present Farmersville, in 1845.

Yeary was awarded 640 acres in Hunt County for overseeing the large surveying job of blazing a road from the Red River near Ft. Towson, Oklahoma to what is now the center of Dallas, Texas. He was a militia Capitan, participant in several frontier Indian fights and was one of the founders of Farmersville, Texas.

Judge McCraw's grandfather, Marcus D. McCraw, opened a candy manufacturing company in Farmersville in 1908. That same year, Judge McCraw's grandmother, Josephine Cook McCraw, made the world's first peanut pattie, which would later become well known in Texas and the South as a popular McCraw Candies product. The McCraw family no longer owns any interest in the business, but the company continues its operation in Farmersville and retains the same name. Judge McCraw's father (grandfather to Mark and Bryan) owned and operated Sugar Hill Foods, another candy company, for many years. The McCraw family also co-owned for several decades Cello-Wrap Printing Company, Inc. which produced wrappers for McCraw Candies.

John grew up in Collin County, and he and his wife, Charlotte also raised their four children, including Mark, in McKinney. Mark graduated from McKinney High School and returned to McKinney soon after completing law school.

In addition to Bryan Gantt's connection to Collin County noted above, his paternal grandparents were educators in the County. His grandfather Elburn Gantt was the superintendent of Princeton ISD and also served as a McKinney elementary school principal for many years, and his grandmother Cleo Gantt was the McKinney High School librarian. Bryan's parents both grew up in Collin County, and while Bryan grew up in Dallas, he returned to his family's roots in Collin County to practice law.