History From the Texas Historic Site Atlas of the Texas Historical Commission:

W. A. Strain (1861-1907) was the son of M. L. Fornsworth and W. S. Strain of Washington County, Tennessee.  W. A. Strain came to Texas sometime before 1887, followed by his family.  In 1889, he purchased a building on the north side of the square in Lancaster in which he opened a drugstore.  His brother, Horace, managed this store while W. A. opened another drugstore in Waxahachie.

In 1895, after marrying Minnie White (1867-1957), Strain moved back to Lancaster, sold his two businesses and bought the 380-acre  farm from his wife's family. The young couple was able to build the large house on the hill just east of the W. L. White cotton gin due to the encouragement and financial aid of Minnie's widowed mother, Mrs. W. L. White.  Mr. and Mrs. White had planned to build a home one day on the site their daughter and son-in-law utilized in 1896.

The Strain House was built on land that had been settled by Mrs. White's parents, and McKee and Mary Wit Ellis, in 1846.  W. L. White was a cattleman, banker, investor and ginner. W. A. Strain helped the White sons run the gin after W. L. White died, and farmed his 380 acres until his death from tuberculosis in 1907. The Strain heirs have continued to live in the old family home, maintaining it with very few alterations and much of the original furnishings still intact.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER

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