Sketches of Early Times In Our Home Town and County

By Ashley Evans

From the Bonham Herald, 1945

Chapter I

     The tearing down of one of Bonham’s oldest landmarks—the dormitory of old Carlton College, erected in 1867-68, has led the Herald to ask me to write a series of articles relating to the history of the town and county from the time of the first colonies, until the present time. It will be remembered by most of the Herald’s readers that the first permanent settlement made in the county was led by Dr. Danial Rowlett, which arrived in a boat that brought the colonist up Red River to the mouth of Bois d'Arc Creek, at which point it arrived in either March or April, 1836. The second colony to arrive was one led by Bailey Inglish and composed principally of residents of Arkansas.  Inglish had made a scouting trip into what is now Fannin County in 1835, and was so pleased with the land that he returned home and persuaded a number of his neighbors and relatives to come with him to make a new home in a rich section. It was in the spring of 1836 that the colony arrived and selected home sites in Bois d'Arc Creek in the east part of what is now Bonham. There were only two families living in the county at the time and the county extended from Bois d'Arc on the east to Dallas County on the south, and to Wichita County on the west. It was some county but had a very, very few citizens who were not Indians.
     These articles will constitute only a small part of the history of Fannin County, and will be partly historical, partly biographical, partly stories of incidents that I may consider of interest to today’s young people.
     No authentic history of Fannin County has been written, I am sorry to say. Much of value and of interest was left us in the letters of John P. Simpson, who, with Bailey Inglish, gave the land on which Bonham was built. His letters, many of which were published in the Bonham News in the seventies or early eighties, were concerning Indian raids and depredations and of the customs and privations and dangers of the men and women of that period  [portion not available]

and published “A History of Constantine Lodge, No. 13, A. F. and A. M.,” in which he gives sketches of early days, and biographies of the splendid citizens, members of the Masonic Lodge, who virtually controlled, by reason of their ability and courage, the county government in its early stages. A few years Tex Strickland, at much labor and considerable expense, wrote an accurate and comprehensive history of Fannin County from 1836 to end of 1843, but has not, so far as I know, every completed the work.  That would require more work and expense than any one man can undertake.
     There have been efforts made by several amateurs to write a history of the county, but their productions have -been so inaccurate that it were better they had not been written.
     Years ago a newspaper editor named Carter issued ‘‘Carter's History of Fannin County." It is out of print now, but individuals have saved a few copies. If you have one you want to sell, you can find a buyer at a fair price. One thing peculiar about “Carter's History of Fannin County" is Mr. Carter did not write a line of his history. My father wrote the introductory section, and the remainder of the matter was made up entirely of the letters of Judge J. F. Simpson and published in a rival paper, “The Bonham News!"

     “Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.”
At no time in the world's history has the biblical quotation given above been so naturally true as it has been in the past fifty years, and it is today. There has been change from the first hour of creation until this moment, but there have been more, and greater, changes in man's affairs on this globe in the past half century than in twenty times that period in any past centuries. Things that were considered revolutionary even to the grandfathers of today's men are now considered, normal; and other things they considered miraculous are but common place, accepted facts.

Man has been slow to believe truths long hidden when, to men of rare genius, have been revealed things that God had in store for man's good as soon as men were ready to receive them. Men have ever been slow to accept new truths. The world laughed in derision when Newton announced his discovery of the law of gravitation; it made sport of the belief that a hidden power lay in steam; it thought the man crazy who believed he could use electricity to send messages across continents; how we of this age chortled at the thought of the man who said men would talk long distances over a wire; and how hillarious we became over the announcement that a man could talk to another across the globe without having a wire to talk over! Such things were held impossible, but men discovered how to do all these things, and more.
Patient searchers discovered (though few of us understand how) that there is in matter a thing no eye can see, so small it is; they called it the atom; they discovered that in that atom is locked up an inestimable amount of power if it could be released. Vain were the efforts to release that power, until great need of that power came to man. A great sum of money was given learned men to erect machinery that enabled them to “crack the atom" and .harness its released power and make it do man's bidding—for man's good or for his evil.
Hundreds of other things have I been discovered that brought marvelous change in men's surroundings, in his way of living, and acting and thinking. Some of these changes have convinced many skeptics that there is a Supreme Being who created a universe, as He created man, and that He is so pleased with man's creation that He is constantly but slowly revealing to men good things He has in store for His creatures, and that they are revealed through man just as men•will accept them, and has need of them. There have been so . . . {portion not available]
generation that have before hidden from man that one can no longer prophecy what is yet to be made known in the days to come.
Change is everywhere, in everything—except Truth. That changes not.
But it is well to remember that because ‘'old things are passed away” it does not mean that old things have not played their part in making ready for the newer things that were so soon to come. They did not, and do not, pass away until their mission of helping carry out the great plans of man's Creator for the advancement and perfection of the human race have been fulfilled. Old things are worthy of respect, and veneration, when they have served the purpose for\which they were created. Earth's richest mines are hidden in the records of the world's old things, and her most precious lessons are gleaned from the experiences of the past.

This may seem a long introduction to the story of some modern changes that we have seen develop in the last seventy-five years, which covers the period of the writer's recollection, or of changes that others, just before his day, told him of. Perhaps some of these at least will interest present day readers. In the next issue of the Herald we will record the passing of one of the last three old landmarks of Bonham. So far as I know only two older landmarks remain to tie the Bonham of today to the Bonham of 1860. Men are now tearing down the girl's dormitory at what once was Carlton College. There are only two older landmarks in Bonham's structures that I know of that were built prior to the erection of the Old Carlton home in 1867. One is the old Tom Coward home place in the northeast part of town which was built in 1839 or 1840. It was remodeled years ago. but some of the original walls still stand. The other old landmark is the home erected in the forties by Col. Samuel Roberts. It stands on the present high school grounds and is used as a home by the caretaker of the school building grounds. In the next letter I will write of the old school building erected by Chas. Carlton, and of the part it has played in the history of Bonham and of the influence it has exerted on all North Texas and Oklahoma. The changes have been many that have come in the part three-quarters of a century. Some of them will be mentioned in future letters.

Chapter 2
     Last week we told briefly the work of tearing down the old Chas. Carlton home and  girls' dormitory of old Carlton College on East Tenth and Chestnut Street. The west section of the building was erected by Mr. Carlton in 1867-8. It was a two-story frame structure, with large rooms and high ceilings. It was modem in its day, but aside from the fact that it was well ventilated and comfortable it had little to meet the demands of the modem family.  It was built of fine lumber hauled from the mills of East Texas. After some thirty-five years had passed the whole building was remodeled, and enlarged by the erection of an east wing, and modem conveniences installed. 
     Could that old building talk it would unfold many a tale of sweet romance, some stories that all but ended in tragedy, it could reveal many a heart made glad by success, and many others made sad by failure; it could tell of the high hopes of hundreds of young girls who spent years of study and work within its portals, and of happy, useful, noble lives after school days ended; or of ignoble; selfish, sorrowful lives that  followed their departure from the old school. Fortunately there were many of the former but few of the latter. Life in that old dormitory was but an earnest of the life that was to be the future. But Carlton College was not a school for girls only during the first fifteen years of its existence. The man who established the school believed in co-education, and.he gave the boys and young men of that day an opportunity to acquire an education. .Many of those who came were young men fresh from the battle fields of the civil war; They were hungry for knowledge; and here they found where they could obtain what they sought. Some of these young soldiers made a record in later life that showed more courage, more devotion to the welfare of their countrymen than all their acts on battlefields show. They helped powerfully in making the people of Texas and other states a healthier, saner, stronger people physically, morally and mentally. They had a great part in making the state what it is today. Brave and true were most of those boys from the prairies and the forest, from the ranches and from the mills, from the country and the towns. And matching those boys in brain power, equaling them in fidelity, and excelling them in grace and beauty were the girls and young women who came here to better fit them for the great tasks that were to be theirs.
     On one day in the week the young ladies were permitted to receive the company of the young men in the parlors of the girl's dormitory. Many a love story that ended happily began at those meetings, and ended only—at death. Success, happiness, ambition, effort, triumph, all came out of those old parlor meetings. What stories will be whispered by the dream ghosts that, for all we may .know, may come back to gather at the place where the living boys and'' girls of past years were gathered! Who can tell? But if we can't tell what the “ghosts of other days do”, we can tell a lot of things that the boys and girls who attended Carlton College have done for Texas.
     Always when'there is successful plantations, a prosperous manufacturer, a great school, or vibrant growing church, there will be found some dynamic big-brained-hard-working man or woman acting as a main spring to keep the works growing. The speed at which they move depends on the strength of the .main spring. In the case of Carlton College the moving power that kept the work growing was Charles Carlton, an Englishman by birth, an American by adoption. A strong, vigorous man he was, physically, mentally and spiritually. For sixty years he was a teacher in the school room and an active preacher of the gospel on Sundays and a zealous evangelist during the months when he was not busy at school work. For his sixty or more years of service in the pulpit he received little cash remuneration. He taught school for a living and preached for love of God and his fellow-man.

Charles Carlton, son of Charles and Mary Carlton, was born in England, County of Kent, August 25, 1821. As a boy he was given an opportunity to attend good schools, but like many other boys, he did not take much advantage of his opportunities. He did, however, love reading. Before he was fifteen years of age he knew almost by heart the story of Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim's Progress and the Bible. His parents were regular attendants of the Baptist church and Sunday School and required their son to attend all services. This training shaped the course of his after life. But Charles loved adventure more than he loved the school room; and when only fifteen years of age he ran away and went to sea as a cabin boy. In the first ten months or so at sea he received rough treatment from the captain and the crew, so he concluded he had enough such adventures and left his ship when it landed at a home port. It was not long, however, until his love for the sea led him to take a place on a ship running between Hamburg and the northern coast of Scotland. There he worked for about two years, when he shipped on a brig coming to North America for a cargo of lumber. The treatment he received from the officers of the ship was too rough for him, so he left the vessel and went to Nova’Scotia, where he went to work in a ship yard.
     After three years he decided to go to Canada. He came by way of Boston, arrived there on July 4, 1844. He witnessed for the first time a celebration of Independence Day, and so fired with admiration that he decided to become an American citizen which he promptly did.  He turned aside and went to Fredonia, N. Y. to work on a farm. His employer “took him on trial" at three dollars a week and board and lodging.  He did his work so well, and gave such evidence of his desire for more knowledge that his employer encouraged him to attend school. He was a member of the Baptist Church and desired to preach. Friends aided him to attend school and prepare for the ministry. He attended school at Clear Creek Academy for two years. He was employed to. preach for a church at St. Clairville. A friend named G. W. Lewis, at Fredonia, had discovered the young man's earnestness and his abilities, persuaded him to go to Bethany College in West. Virginia to complete his education: Bethany College had been established by Alexander Campbell, who was still its president. It had won a high rating among schools of that day. But lack of means prevented young Carlton from attending, until his friend gave him a hundred dollars to help defray expenses. With that and with work of any kind he could get to do, he managed to complete his college course in two years and to graduate with the degree of B. A. on July 4,1849. On his graduation he went back to Fredonia and married a Miss Harriet Taylor, who was born in England but had come to America when as child. To them were born one son, Chas T. Carlton; and three daughters, Ella, Grace and Sallie Jo, who later in life gave their time and talent to teaching. Only one, Ella, gave up teaching the children of others to bear and teach children of her own. The others taught until Carleton College finally closed its doors in 1919 for want of financial support. For fifty-two years its work prospered. It had had as pupils in that time from six thousand to seven thousand boys and girls

     These articles are not offered as a history of Bonham, but as sketches of men and events, without orderly arrangement. The parts covering the fact stated are correct, but where statements are from memory alone there may be grounds for dispute. A memory that reaches back for seventy-five years is liable to have blank spaces in it into which errors creep.  Don't rely too far on what old men tell you. A memory that firmly retains some things gets tangled upon others.

     I shall have more to say of Chas. Carlton and of Carlton college because of the work they did and the influence they have had, and yet exert, in Texas.  I can tell that in part only.

Chapter 3 Mr. Carlton Comes To Texas

     While Mr. Carlton was attending college at Bethany, West Virginia, he became, greatly impressed by the teachings of Alexander Campbell, so much so that he decided to join the movement then under way to bring about the union of all of Christ's followers. That led him to unite with the body known as The Disciples of Christ. On his graduation from school he received an invitation to preach for the church at Georgetown, Ky. From there he went to Van Buren, Ark. where he taught school in a house built from timbers felled by his own hands. His school was soon noted for the thoroughness of its work and its high standard. While in Van Buren on one occasion the wife of Governor Pendleton, of Missouri visited the school and also heard Mr. Carlton preach. She was so impressed with his ability and the great energy he displayed that she invited him to come to Springfield, Mo., offering as an inducement funds necessary for the erection of a school building. He accepted the offer, but only in part. He would accept aid only after he had exerted himself and with the labor of a few friends who volunteered. With his own hands he cut and hauled the stone for a commodious school building. That was in 1852. Mr. Carlton taught there with success until unsettled conditions following the declaration of war between the states made it imperative to close the school. He decided to come to Texas. He arrived in Collin county in the fall of 1861, where his wife had relatives. After one year in Collin county he moved to Dallas to establish a school. There was no vacant building in town, but there was a large vacant hall over a blacksmith shop. In that room he not only taught school, but he taught a Sunday school, and on Sundays he preached there. There he organized the first congregation of Disciples in Dallas.
     Out of that small beginning has grown a number of large congregations.

     After the war ended in 1865 Mr. Carlton decided to go back to Springfield to reopen his school. He loaded his family and household goods into wagons and had traveled on the way as far as a village (Kentuckytown) in Grayson county. There he met a party of refugees from Springfield who convinced him that it would be folly to go back there at that time. He secured a building in the village and opened a school in September 1865. He soon had all the students he could accommodate. He taught there two years and his strength as a teacher was noised abroad.

The Bonham Female Institute
     Three years after Bailey Inglish had settled at Bois d'Arc this first school was opened at Warren, in the northwestern part of the county. Seeing the need of a school for the pioneers who had followed Inglish and Dr. Rowlett, a man by the name of Trimble opened a school to teach primary essentials. He could find no building to house his pupils but a stable built of logs. He cleaned that out, cut windows for light and seated it by putting legs on logs split and smoothed on one side with a broad axe. Soon after that a school was opened in a little building on east Eighth street in Bonham on the lot now occupied as a home by Eugene Risser. There only reading, writing and mathematics were taught, but these gave a number of boys and girls the foundation for an education. Some of the pupils built well on that foundation while others stopped with only the foundation.
     In 1855 the population of the town and county had grown until there were a number of prosperous families with growing daughters who desired and needed schooling of a high grade.
    In 1855 a number of our leading citizens met and decided to erect in Bonham a suitable building and secure from the older states a suitable school executive and competent instructors. S. E Brownell of Maine was chosen head of the head of the faculty of competent teachers.  Soon after the school was opened the building burned and the school was moved to the Baptist church. Through the efforts of citizens from town and county, assisted by the Masonic Lodge No. 13, A. P. and A. M., the erection of a new brick school building on a plot of four acres of ground donated by Bailey Inglish as a site for the erection of a building for the education of “females”. In June 1855 the cornerstone of the new building was laid by the Masonic lodge with appropriate ceremonies. It was a two story brick. The lower story was divided into two rooms of equal size; the upper story had only one big room. Years later a wooden addition of a bell tower was added to the front of the building was thus a little enlarged. The building stood there and was used for sixty years.
     Brownell resigned as superintendent after three years, and Mr. and Mrs. Curais, New York teachers, with a faculty of teachers took charge of the school for a year. They were followed by Soloman Sias as head of the faculty, his wife and the other teachers, two from New York and one from Maine, constituted the faculty. They were well educated, cultured men and women. The school flourished until the war broke out in 1861. Then all the teachers, save Mr. and Mrs. Sias, resigned and went back to their homes. Mr. and Mrs. Sias stayed until the war closed in 1865, but only comparatively few pupils remained to be taught. They were followed by a Mr. Cole one year and by Mr. Keeler one year. The Bonham Seminary was without either head or faculty in 1867.

Chas. Carlton Comes to Bonham

     It was a time when teachers of ability were difficult to secure. The whole union was in a state bordering on chaos. .Teachers from the North and East were no longer wanted. Sectional feeling was bitter. The people of Bonham wanted a good school directed by some one in sympathy with the South.  The report of the ability and learning of Chas. Carlton at Kentucky town had reached Bonham months before. It was deci ded at a meeting of the citizens in the summer of 1867 that a committee should be sent to Kentuckytown to ascertain if Mr. Carlton would come to Bonham to take charge of the school here. A committee consisting of Col. Jack Russell, Thos. H. Williams and William Hendricks was sent to consult with Mr. Carlton. He agreed to come to Bonham if he could have a suitable home for his family and a suitable dormitory for pupils who might come from a distance. The agreement was later ratified by the citizens, and the home dormitory built.
     During the conference between Mr. Carlton and the committee, one of the committee, wanting to be sure that neither Mr. Carlton nor the citizens of Bonham should have grounds for complaint, asked Mr. Carlton if he were not a “Campbellite” minister. If so, he told Mr. Carlton there were few, if any of that denomination in Bonham. To make clear his position, Mr. Carlton replied that he was a minister, as well as a teacher and a citizen; but he said, “As a citizen I ask only the rights every citizen enjoys; as a teacher I teach only science and literature to the best of my ability, while in the pulpit I preach what I believe to be truth as revealed in the Bible, and teach it without fear or favor.”
      That met approval of the committee, and Mr. Carlton was employed. He arrived in Bonham in a short time, and in September school opened with a goodly number of pupils, boys and girls.

Chapter 4 School Property Purchased
.     When Mr. Carlton came to take charge of the school, the agreement was that he should pay a nominal rent of two hundred dollars a year for the use of the building; the money to be .spent for the education of children of Masons. Mr. Carlton was then to have full charge and be accountable for all expenses. It depended on him to make the school pay - its way and support the family.
      The school prospered the first year and the trustees were so well pleased that they proposed to sell the property to Mr. Carlton for fifteen hundred dollars, hoping thus to retain his services permanently. Later on complaint was made that the trustees had no right to sell the property, nor to permit the teaching of any but “Female”' pupils. After ten years litigation in the courts the Supreme Court ruled that the property must be returned to the proper trustees.
      The school was removed in 1880-81 to the building of the First Christian Church on North Center while the erection of a new school building on the corner of East Ninth and Center was going on. The teaching of both boys and girls continued until 1886, when a charter was obtained and the name of the school changed to Carlton College, and girls only were taught.
     In 1895 a new three-story building with auditorium, class rooms and some rooms to be used as a dormitory, was erected on East Tenth St. just south of the old Carlton home and dormitory.  This building was destroyed - by fire started by a disgruntled girl student. r
    In March 1902, Chas. Carlton died. That was really a death blow to Carlton College. His son, Chas. T. Carlton, and his two sisters, Misses Grace and Sallie Joe, assumed the burden of carrying on the work. For a number of years they were comparatively successful, but the competition of state supported, or endowed church schools, could no longer be met. In 1916 the school closed finally, though Miss Sallie Joe continued to teach piano and voice until her death in July, 1943.

     As a teacher of music this able woman was for years one of leaders in a cultural way in this section of the state. She did more to raise the standard, and to make good music popular among the people of Bonham than any other one person has done. In the field of painting, her sister, Miss Grace did in part what Sallie Joe did for music. These two departments attracted many pupils to Carlton College for years. They contributed a great deal to the cultural growth of the community. To them belongs the credit of bringing much to the success of Carlton College for Women.

A Vanishing Type
     Carlton College was a type of schools that served well their purpose and their day. The world missed something very fine and valuable when changing customs and changed conditions made mass education imperative. In a modern high school with a thousand, or thousands of pupils, it is impossible for a superintendent, or principal, or a teacher, to come in personal contact with even half the pupils. The influence of a great teacher on the lives of pupils is greater as he comes in direct contact with those taught. That was possible in a college of a few hundred. Charles Carlton knew practically every pupil in his school. He knew their capabilities, their strength and their weakness, their problems and their needs. He led the way in arousing their ambition to learn and furnished the incentive for the greater attainments. He led a blameless life before them. Stressed the value of a good character above even learning. No one seeking earnestly for knowledge was ever turned away from his door.
     He would find a way for the seekers to receive an opportunity to learn. Out of his own insufficient funds he paid the expenses of many students. He believed that the moral and spiritual life were as much in the need of cultivation as is the mental life. Every morning he held a brief service in the school auditorium. He read from the Bible, and commented briefly, and opened with prayer. Those who heard were always impressed by the intense earnestness.  Such a teacher could but impress his pupils, and lead them to a well rounded education. His own life was the secret of his success as a teacher and leader.
Outside Labors
     Charles Carlton was a preacher as well as a secular teacher. When he arrived in Bonham there was no congregation of the Christian Church here; there were scarcely a dozen members. He began to preach each Sunday in the auditorium of the school, without any remuneration. In a year there were enough to organize a congregation. In a few years they built a commodious church building. The work grew and the congregation increased. Charles Carlton preached to that congregation for thirty-five years, until his death in 1902. Only near the end of his ministry did he receive any salary.
     It was not exceptional learning, nor exceptional ability to teach, nor his splendid executive ability that made Charles Carlton a great man in Bonham, but it was these, combined with his life, that made him revered by many and respected by all.
    A volume of good size could be written on Charles Carlton and Carlton College, and on his main helper for many years—his wife, whom everybody called Aunt Sallie, as everybody called her husband, Uncle Charlie. The influence her work has had in Texas is much to her credit.
Some Results
     The only way to estimate the value of any man’s labors is to measure the results. The material benefits to Bonham of Carlton College was its attraction to scores of families who moved here to educate their children. Some of these families remained a few years; while others remained permanently and helped build the good little city of today.. It also brought many students here to be hosed and fed.  But these benefits were small compared to the characters of the thousands of men and women who went from its doors to do honorable and conspicuous work in life. Some of Texas’ ablest lawyers, doctors, surgeons, bankers, teachers and preachers went out from old Carlton College. Some of its ablest statesmen and public officials were students of Carlton College. A number of earlier schools were established and taught by men who received their training at Carlton College. To cite one particular case as an example was the school established in the late seventies at Thorpe’s Spring by Addison and Randolph Clark. Both studied, and afterwards taught in Carlton College. Both brothers were noted preachers as well as teachers. Out of the school they established at Thorp’s Springs ADD-RAN College grew the present Texas Christian University at Fort Worth, Texas. There thousands of men and women are now being educated for citizenship for greater usefulness. Of a truth it can be said of Chas, Carlton and Carlton College, that “the worker is dead, but the work goes on.”
   There is very much more that could be told of this old school, but this is enough to give present-day Bonham citizens some idea of the part played in Texas history. To give them this brief information is the purpose of devoting as much space as I have used in these reminiscences. There are scores among the older residents who may say— truthfully—that an adequate history has not been given. Carlton College and Uncle Charles Carlton are still dear to their hearts. The late Dean T. U. Taylor, for fifty years head of the engineering department of Texas State University, and as an old student of Carlton College once wrote me: “All that I am as a student, an instructor and a citizen of character, I owe to Uncle Charlie's influence and guidance."

    There are scores of men and hundreds of women yet living in Bonham, or in other towns and cities in Texas, Oklahoma and other states who gladly acknowledge the debt they owe to this pioneer teacher and preacher, and to his school.

Chapter 5 Fannin County's First Colonies
      In former letters concerning earliy times in Fannin County I devoted attention especially to Carlton College, first because the removal of the last vestige of the old school makes it a matter of local interest; and second, it has been the most beneficial enterprise Bonham has had. Now I am, going back to the beginning of the county’s history.
The First Permanent Settlement

      To prevent confusion in the minds of the readers of this article, it is necessary to remember that in 1836 there was no region known as Fannin county, but that the region new marked as Fannin county was part of Red River county and remained such until after the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836. Therefore, in speaking of Fannin county we mean that section named by Congress as Fannin county.
     Just when the first men came into this part of Texas is not known but it is of record that some hunters and trappers passed through and some resided in this section as early as 1815. A. W. Nevill in the Paris News tells us that John Emberson, a Tennessean, with several companions spent the winter of 1815 and the spring of 1816 hunting and trapping on Emberson lake, which is located east of the mouth of Bois d'Arc creek in what is now Lamar county. Emberson then returned to his home in Arkansas, where he married and lived for several years. In 1823 or 1824 he returned to Texas and settled near where he had camped on his first trip to the state. Carter P. Cliftt lived near Emberson, though it is not known when he first came. Cliftt had married Abigail Garland, widow of James Garland, who died in 1835. They moved to a place at Rocky Ford on Bois d'Arc creek, and they were living there when the first colonists under the leadership of Dr. Daniel Rowlett arrived in April, 1836. There were four other families living in the county at that time. They were the families of Jefferson and George Ivy, Stephen Westbrook, and Charles Quillan. Jefferson Ivy who received first class Land Certificate No. 75, assigned as his date of entry into Texas, February, 1836, and Charles Quillan received Certificate No. 30, giving the date of his entry into Texas as December, 1834.
      Dr. Rowlett knew that Cliftt and wife lived at a place called the Rocky Ford on Bois d’arc, for he and his fellow colonists headed for that point after leaving the vessel on which they ascended Red River from Jonesboro, Texas.
      In the latter part of 1835 five families gathered at Memphis, Tenn., and engaged Benjamin Crook, captain of the steamboat Rover, to bring them to Jonesboro, in the Mexican province of Texas. Those five were the families of Dr. Daniel Rowlett, of Wadesbore, Ky., who led the colonists, John and Edward Stephens of Lamar county, Alabama, Daniel Slack of Mississippi, and Richard H. Locke of Sommerville, Tenn. These were all men of character and courage. Led by a desire to better their financial condition and lured by the promise of more freedom, they set out on a long and perilous pilgrimage. In addition to these things, the love of adventure animated every one of them. Their wives may not have been as anxious to leave the many comforts and conveniences they enjoyed in their old homes, but it is not on record that any of them ever complained or proved less enduring their husbands. Where delays, for it was not until March, 1836, that the boat landed at Jonesboro, which was located on the Texas side of Red River, north of the present town of Clarksville. Jonesboro had the distinction of having been the first town in Texas as established by American citizens. The first settler there was Claiborne Wright, a Tennessean, who arrived there in September, 1816. By 1836 it had grown to be a considerable town.
     While coming up Red River on the way to the mouth of Bois d'Arc, the boat on which the colonists were riding sank, and four of the party were drowned, and the remainder forced to swim or wade ashore. I have not been able to find any record stating just where the sinking occurred, but it must have been between Jonesboro . and the mouth of Bois d'Arc.
      At Jonesboro, Dr. Rowlett and his fellow colonists were joined by Jabez Fitzgerald and Mark H. Roberts of Tennessee who had traveled overland with their families through Arkansas and the Cherokee country to the Fort Towson Landing, where they crossed the river into Texas. The united party remained at Jonesboro for several days, making preparations for their march westward. Late in March they resumed their journey and arrived at the residence of Carter Cliftt about the first of April. Here the men rested a few days, and then went west to seek new locations for homes. The women and children were left for the protection Cliftt's house and slaves offered.  Mrs. Cliftt had received considerable property, including a number of slaves, from her first husband and proved to be a woman of ability and thrift, as well as courage. All the settlers chose to go west of Bois d'Arc Creek and farther up the river save Daniel Slack, who chose his location on the east side of the creek. Dr. Rowlett selected his location on lands in the Tulip Bend, where he built a number of cabins for his family and his slaves. The houses were built on the banks of the river a few hundred yards west of the mouth of Pepper Camp creek.
     Near him Locke, Roberts and Fitzgerald selected their homes, and the settlement was called Lexington. This name was probably given it by Locke in honor of his birthplace at Lexington, Ky. All these men were to play a prominent part in the life of the county for years to come. The descendants of some of them are still playing their parts in Fannin and other counties in Texas and Oklahoma.
     During April other families from different parts of the county joined the colonists, and lent their aid in opening the land to civilization. Among these were Nathaniel T. Journey, Charles Smith, John Russel and Daniel Dugan. Among these four men Dugan was to play a leading part in both drama and tragedy.

Chapter 6 Daniel Dugan
Daniel Dugan, of whom we spoke in a former letter, was born in Maryland in 1784, but was taken as child to Ohio when his parents moved to that state. When seventeen years of age he went to Kentucky. There he married Catherine Vaden, daughter of a pioneer settler of that section. Being of a venturesome nature he moved to Indiana, Missouri and Arkansas, before he was finally induced by his son, George, to come to Texas. George Dugan made his first trip to Texas in 1835 to look over the land. At the same time another Arkansas man decided to visit Texas, and as they came at or about the same time, it is possible that George Dugah and Bailey Inglish made the trip together, though there is no positive evidence that they did. Of both these men we shall give account farther along in this chronical. At any rate, both men made a prospecting trip to Texas in 1835 before finally moving here to live. I say that on the authority of my father who knew Inglish well and who told him of his visit to Texas in 1835. Dugan returned to Texas in February, 1838, and settled on Bois d'Arc creek near the site of the present village of Orangeville. A few months later his father, Daniel Dugan and other members of the family arrived to make their homes at the place the son had selected. Early settlers claimed that the Dugan wagons made first wagon tracks on the sites of both Honey Grove and Bonham. The Dugans built cabins in what was known as the Middle Bois d’Arc settlement and lived there a few months, when danger from the Indian raids compelled them to move to the settlements around Rocky Ford, on the Low-Bois d’Arc settlements.
First Militia Organized So alarming had been the actions of the various Indian tribes in the vicinity, the men of the families living on the river and near Rocky Ford organized themselves into a military company on May 10th and elected Dr. Rowlett to command. He and five others at once departed on a scouting tour, going west on the banks of Red River. On the second day out they discovered an Indian trail going north. Following the trail north to the river bank they found a party of friendly Kickapoo Indians who informed them of the fall of Santa Anna at San Jacinto, which overjoyed them as they expected to be on their way to join Houston's army. The scouts then went on to Shawnee—town north of the present Denison. Before they reached the Indian village they met a party of thirty Shawnees, among whom Dr. Rowlett found an old friend, Jim Logan, who had been educated in Kentucky. This boy’s father had lived with Judge Logan, and had been killed while fighting with the army of Americans in the war of 1812. Dr. Rowlett was glad to see his old friend again, and thankful that he had influence with the Shawnee warriors.
After this pleasant meeting, the scouts turned south toward the headquarters of the Trinity. When near the site of the present city of Sherman they met a party of Caddo Indians traveling northward. The Caddos were friendly at this meeting, but Rowlett requested them not to visit the settlements at and near Lexington without getting permission from the white friends. This the Indians readily agreed to do, although subsequent events proved that not all Caddos kept that promise.
Rowlett then turned toward the headquarters of Bois d’Arc and rode down that stream until they came to the Dugan settlement and found it deserted. They saw that the Dugan party had driven away and trailed its wagons until they ended at Rocky Ford. The scouts had been gone seven days and found on their return that a company of fifty-seven men had been organized for the protection of the settlers, and also to go to the aid of Houston’s army at San Jacinto. Indeed, a start had been made by Rowlett and a number of others, including Richard Locke, Daniel Slack and John Seymore, but learned that the battle of San Jacinto had settled the question of the independence of Texas. That the young republic appreciated the patriotism of its citizens is evidenced the fact that Jabez Fitzgerald was granted an additional Land Certificate because he had loaned Seymore the horse on which he started to ride to Houston’s relief.
During the two years from March 1836 to 1838, quite a number of settlers moved into the area around Lexington and Bonham as the records in this county show that eighty-eight first class land grants were made to citizens who came here prior to 1838.

     Fourteen of these persons died before Feb. 26, 1838. Of these only two are definitely known to have lived in what is now Fannin county, namely Chas. Smith and Carter P. Cliftt. Three others are known to have never lived west of Bois d'Arc creek, namely,'Patrick Fitzgerald, who died at Jonesboro, March 5, 1836, James Garland who died in Red River county in 1835, and William Womack, who was drowned in the Sabine river as he was returning from service in Houston’s army.
     Among the eighty-eight who received land grants was Holland Coffee, who was living at the mouth of Cache creek on March 2, 1836, and who was of the most remarkable of the early pioneers of this section. In 1833 he lived in Fort Smith, Ark., and was a member of Coffee, Colville and Company, traders. Prior to 1835 he led a party of about forty trappers and scouts up Red River to trap and trade with the Indians. He established three trading posts, the first one in Indian Territory in the southwest part of what is now Tillman county, Oklahoma. Later he built a second one on Walnut Bayou, which empties into Red River, and the third one at Cache creek, which also empties into Red River. In 1836 he was living at this place when Texas won her independence. The year following he moved to Preston Bend, in what is now Grayson county, where he built a handsome home for his family. This home was noted for its hospitality, and entertained many of the leading men and women of this state and other states. He was the most widely known of the earliest pioneers of this section, and was a man of education and talent.
     Another of the men to arrive in 1836 was Abel Warren. He was born in Northboro, Mass., Sept. 15, 1814. He received a good education for the period, but was of too adventurous temperament to long remain in the state where he was born. Trappers and hunters he met told him of rich land and many opportunities far away which fired his imagination and led him to go see for himself.  At the age of twenty  [rest of chapter not yet found]

{Chapter 7 not yet found]

Chapter 8
Other settlers along Red River in 1836 included John and Thomas Jouett, B. Bush, Joseph Murphy, Joseph Swaggerty, Richard R. Beal, Jacob Black, Hilary, G. Bush, Joseph Sowell, John R. Gamett, Jas. S. and William R. Baker and Joseph P. Spence.
John G. Jouett and his. younger brother, Thomas, were born in Raleigh, N. C., but moved with their patents to Tennessee, where they lived until they reached manhood. Then the brothers moved to Sparta Bluff, Ark. There John married Narcissa Pace, daughter Twitty Pace. With his wife and younger brother, Thomas Jouett, he arrived in Fannin county in November, 1838. They settled on Red river at Blue Bluff, on the west edge of Blue Prairie. John G. Jouett served as chief justice of the first commissioners court held at the cabin of Jacob Black at Tulip. Thomas Jouett married a daughter of Mark R. Roberts after coming to this county. Both were prominent in all the affairs of the county for a number of years. The place where they settled was called Raleigh, where a post office was established at a later time.
Joseph Sowell selected a tract of land at Sowell's Bluff for his home. He gave his name to the bluff. He met a tragic death a few years later, the story of which will be told later. The Bakers chose their homes near the present site of Elwood. They later operated a store at Warren. Jas. Baker was a Presbyterian preacher and was the first man to preach in this county.
Among the settlers in the Middle Bois d'Arc settlement who came with the Dugans were Samuel S. Washburn, who was killed soon aftterwards byIndians, Israel .Gabriel, and Jonathan Anthony who soon after coming here married Washburn's daughter. To them on Feb. 1, 1839 was born a daughter, Mary Anthony, who afterward married a man named Butler. She lived to be an old woman.
Building Fort Inglish
The first settlements in the county were made along Red river and Bois d'Arc creek. This may be accounted for by the fact both wood and water were essential, and the creeks and rivers furnished the water while the bottom lands along them furnished the wood. The matter of these two essentials explained why many of the first settlements were made on the poorest agricultural lands. But when Bailey Inglish and his colony moved here in the late spring of 1836, they chose locations near Bois d'Arc creek on the east edge of present Bonham. So far as I know and can ascertain from record has been kept of the names or numbers of those who were in Inglish's colony. The first duty of these colonists was to build houses for their families, and to sow crops for food and feed. As the Indians were constantly passing through the county and often were hostile, it was necessary for the new settlers to take every precaution against attack. Therefore they went armed at all times. When they planted their crops each man took his guns to the field. Scouts were placed where they could observe any one approaching from any direction, and guns were placed by the workers where they could reach them in the shortest time. Inglish saw the necessity of building a fort to which the settlers could resort for mutual protection in case Indians were discovered nearby, but the necessity of erecting houses and stables and planting crops prevented the completion of the fort needed until the beginning of 1839 following his arrival. Ft. Inglish consisted of a block house sixteen feet square with a story above twenty four feet square, the upper story projecting four feet on each side. In the floor of the upper room port holes were cut so that defenders could shoot anyone attempting to enter the lower room. Port holes were also cut on each side of both rooms so that defenders could shoot anyone at a distance as they approached.

Around this block house a stockade ten or twelve feet high was erected, and the top ends of the pickets being sharpened. In these pieket walls port holes were also cut to make defense easier and keep assailants as far away as possible. Later this fort sheltered ,manyr families in times of danger. One attack on the fort is of record, but if there were other attacks no record was kept of the event, though it is proble that more than one was made in the four or five years of its existence.
A replica of this block house was rlected several years ago by the Federal government on land adjoining the site of the original fort. The land was donated to the city by R. T. Lipscomb, whose father, the late Smith Lipscomb bought the old Inglish homestead many years ago and erected a commodious house almost on the spot where Bailey Inglish’s house was built in 1836. His daughters now occupy the home, which is located on the eastern edge of the city. The replica of Ft Inglish was built from plans drawn by Charles R. Inglish, grandson of Bailey Inglish. It was due largely to his efforts that the present building was erected. We regret that the government did not provide a permanent fund for its maintenance, and make access to the premises and building easy at all times for the general public. Perhaps some day the citizens of Bonham will appreciate the importance of doing this and a provide such fund. The further we get away from the establishment of that fort the more we shall appreciate the importance of preserving this relica.
John P. Simpson, Andrew Thomas, William McCarthy, John H. Hart and Daniel Montague arrived in 1837. Simpson settled on lands near the present town of Ector. Mabel Gilbert, who came a few months prior to the arrivals of Simpson, selected a home two miles south of west from Bonham, on Gilbert creek. There he built a home and engaged in farming, as was done in that day.
Thomas and Daughterty settled of Whitewright and Kentuckytown, Hart; and Montague settled near Warren’s deserted fort, and both became prominent in local affairs. Hart was a noted trapper and Indian fighter. Montague was well educated, and became the first surveyor and civil engineer in this section. He was a native of South Hadley, Mass., born Aug, 22, 1789. In 1820 he moved to Louisiana and lived there until he came to Texas in 1836 to assist Houston in freeing Texas of Mexican rule. He arrived a few weeks too late to fight in the battle of San Jacinto. But he was so impressed with Texas that he went back to Louisiana, sold all his possessions there and moved to Fannin. For his services as a surveyor of public lands he received land and thus acquired much land.
In 1846 he fought in the war between Mexico and the United States. When the war between the States came on he served in the army of the Confederacy, and at its close sought a new home in Tuxpan, Mexico, where he resided eleven years. He then returned to Texas to visit old friends. He was taken sick while in Cooke county and died there Dec. 20,1876.
John Hart, referred to above, was jborn in Ohio, but came to Ft. Smith in the Territory of Arkansas about 1822. In that year he organized a party to trap on the Washita river and tributaries in the Indian Territory. While trapping a party of Indians surprised them, killing all of them save Hart and a Creek Indian guide. Later on this guide was killed, but Hart continued to trap until he had obtained enough pelts to load a canoe that he built. This canoe he paddled down the Washita and Red rivers to Jonesboro and later to Newi Orleans, where he sold his pelts. He then returned to Fannin county, and settled at Warren where he was killed in a dispute about land titles.

Chapter 9 Indians Attack Dugan and Hunter
Judge Simpson tells in his letters of Indian. attacks on early settlers: In the winter and spring of 1839 and '40 the citizens at Forts Inglish, Warren and Preston, moved home to the Fort with the determination to mend themselves and property against the forays of the Indians, the effort of the government having proved abortive to give protection to these settlers, on account of its lack of men and resources adequate for the purpose. The president was opposed to a war policy, and favoring pacific and treaty measures, instructed the officers and requested the citizens to use their influence and energy in collecting detached and broken tribes of Indians then scattered over the Republic, in order that they might be treated with, and reservations of land be granted them for settlement. Dr. Rowlett,, congressman from this district, had collected a small part of a tribe of Cooshattees at his place on Red River, and had the oversight of them until they could be provided for by the government.
Daniel Dugan, who, lived Some miles southwest of Warren, was often annoyed by the Indians. His son, Daniel, was killed by them while at work a short distance from the house. His house was attacked at night, one man killed and another wounded. The circumstances and incidents of the killing I will more minutely detail. Three young men—Green, Hoover, and Gordon—were occupying one room of the house, the old man Dugan and family the other room, and G. C. Dugan (who died recently in California) and his brother, William, occupied the stable loft to guard their horses. The young men had retired to bed (the family had not retired ) when the Indians suddenly forced open the door of the room in which the young men were sleeping, and discharged a number of shots into the bed, killing Green, wounding Hoover, and then rushed into the house. Gordon seized the door-shutter and with force closed the door, throwing the Indians to the outside, where the dogs attacked them, and they commenced shooting the dogs, and the old man Dugan shooting at them as fast as he could, and they at him in the house with his family. During this dangerous, exciting, conflict, George and William were not idle spectators of the surroundings: The moon was shining very brightly and they had discovered an Indian who had set his gun at the stable door, and during the fight at the house had been working at the lock trying to get the horses out. He was in such a position, however, that those in the loft could not shoot him. After the fight was over at the house two Indians came up to the stable with lariats on their necks, when the Dugans let them have the contents of their guns. One of the Indians fell dead and the other ran a short distance and fell, uttering savage groans in his dying agonies. The Indian at the stable door then ran off, leaving his gun. The Indians then -began to blow on their whistles and hoot like owls, as a signal to rally and get together.
Next morning the dead Indian was found to have on a calico hunting shirt which Dr. Rowlett had given him, and the gun at the door proved to belong to the Cooshattee chief who had lived at Dr. Rowlett’s. Catherine, the youngest daughter of Daniel Dugan, had solemnly vowed when her brother, Daniel, was killed, scalped, and tomahawked, that she would cut off the head of the first Indian she got a chance at. She accordingly shouldered an axe and marching to the stable as bold as an experienced and adroit surgeon going to dissect a subject, with a few direct blows severed the head from the body and carried it to the house as a trophy of revenge for the murder of her brother. The headless body was left as food for beast of prey. I saw the skull about the house years after.
The old lady Dugan was a very smart, industrious economical, domestically inclined woman, much more so than the women of today. She spun her thread, wove her cloth and made her own wearing apparel. She found use for the Indian skull as one of the fixtures to her loom as a quill gourd and had it attached accordingly. Catherine married a Methodist preacher, B. W. Taylor, and moved to California.

Fate of a Pioneer Family

     The following incidents occurred during 1840, but the exact dates have not been preserved;
     Dr. Hunter and family—consisting of his wife, nearly grown son, and three daughters (aged respectively, about ten, twelve and eightteen years), and a negro woman, located in the Red River valley at a point about eight miles below Old Warren and several miles from any neighbor. Subsequently his eldest daughter married William Lankford of Warren and settled at another place. Sometime thereafter Dr. Hunter and his son left home. During their absence his ten and twelve year old daughters were attacked at a spring, about a hundred yards from the house, and one of them killed and scalded, and the other taken a prisoner by eleven Indians. The Indians crept to the house and rushed into it and killed Mrs. Hunter and the negro woman, and scalped the former, but not the latter. They then looted the premises, and were just disappearing from view, when young Hunter returned. He called to his mother but received no reply, and running through the open doorway, stumbled over her lifeless and mangled body. The little girl was compelled by the Indians to dress her own mother’s scalp. Six months, or a year, later she was sold to the friendly Choctaws and her brother learning of the fact; went to the Nation and ransomed her. 
     McIntyre and his family located near Shawneetown in what is now Graysou county; but being annoyed by the Indians, moved to what is known as McIntyre’s crossing on the Choctaw, in the same county. Moody, who resided in the same region, started to Warren on business and at dusk, when opposite McIntyre’s house, was shot and killed by Indians, who scalped him, built a bonfire and laid his body on it, and danced and yelled around the fire all night. McIntyre and his two sons, the latter aged respectively twelve and fourteen years, plainly heard the noise - - -their cabin, expecting to be attacked. Some months later his sons were killed and scalped while hunting.
     Two brothers, named Sowell, living at Old Warren, heard a noise in their horse lot at night and one of them went out to investigate. When near the lot, a voice called to him saying; “Lay the gap lower.” Believing that white thieves were trying to steal the stock, he exclaimed: “I’ve caught you!”
     A moment later he was struck in the breast by an arrow. He ran to the house, exclaiming as he passed his brother; “I am shot”, and staggering on a few feet further, fell dead. The Indian who killed him pursued him closely; but being confronted by the other Sowell, halted and was in the act of discharging an arrow when he was fired on and killed by the surviving brother.
     Moody, the McIntyre boys and Sowell were believed to have been killed by the Shawnees, but the white people were not able to confirm the suspicion by proof. For their part, the Shawnees disclaimed haying committed the murders, and charged them to “wild Indians."

Chapter 11 Mabel Gilbert Foils Indians
      Among many other interesting incidents recorded by Judge Simpson is the following:
     Mabel Gilbert settled in the early part of the year 1837, two miles south of Fort Inglish. When the Indians became hostile toward the whites in that year, he was greatly exposed to the dangers incident to to frontier life.
     Having brought with him some fine stock horses, he.had an industry and economy in raising them until the year 1840, at which time they had increased to a large herd, which was a great temptation to the Indians—The Squire being a man of energy and determination was resolved to hold his own if possible, and for this purpose built a strong enclosure to keep his horses in at night.
     The article continues to relate Mr.Gilbert’s plan to surprise the Indians by concealing himself in a guard post, from which he planned to deal out death and destruction in wholesale lots.
     They came, sure enough, but by some means had found out his strategy, and did not venture near enough for him to let off his battery. To retaliate they went to his cow lot and caught three calves. With knives, when the calves were yet alive, they split them on the back from shoulder to the hip, taking sinew to tie on the spikes to their arrows—the calves were bawling and struggling for life, and the cows were lowing and running to their rescue.

     In spite of the Indian's antics in his cow lot and a later raid on his watermelon patch, the old man refused to move from his post. After remaining some time the Indian's left, but were determined to continue at their practice of stealing.
     Late one evening Gilbert discovered the Indians west of his farm on the high prairie. The Indians were driving the horses from their enclosures in a different direction. Squire Gilbert and sons hastened towards the Indians and horses— night came on and they could see neither Indians nor horses. They fired a gun and away went the horses from the Indians, scattering and running north towards where I live, until they ran in a neck of prairie near to where the Sherman road runs.
     The Indians were successful in lariating the horses, but in the confusion lost their haversacks filled with buffalo meat, butcher knives, and later the horses. Thomas Corzine, who was living with Judge Simpson, found the haversacks and knives. The Judge remarked that the group did not feast very eagerly on the buffalo, because the tribe was accustomed to filling their sacks with dried quarters of Comanche Indian, mixed with buffalo meat.
Death Of Jos. Sowell

In 1841 Joseph Sowell, who came in 1836, and J. S. Scott were running a tavern at Warren. District court was to convene on the following Monday and a number of people had arrived to attend court. Everybody rode horseback, and when they arrived in Warren, Sowell had a strong enclosure to protect his guest’s horses. She had in a stable in the enclosure a very fine stallion of his ownn, which he prized. On one night he heard a disturbance among the horses, and he and Scott ran out to see what caused the trouble. They saw an Indian astride Mr. Sowell’s stallion riding toward a gap in the fence the Indians had laid down. Sowell was armed with a pistol. Scott with a shotgun. Sowell fired at the Indian but missed. As he fired Indian let go a shower of arrows which penetrated Sowell’s body and stomach. He fell dead. But he called to Scott to shoot the Indian, which he promptly did. His shot was fatal and the Indian died as Sowell was breathing his last.
Sowell’s body was taken to his home on Sowell’s Bluff and buried on land he received as a grant. In 1837 or 1840 the Indians captured Sowell’s son, John, and kept him in captivity about a year and a half, when he was recaptured by Sam Houston and returned to his father.
Another incident occuring at Warren has its humorous side as told by Judge Simpson. While the people were in fort at Warren in 1839 on account of the presence of Indians in the neighborhood, Daniel Dugan and Henry Green, too old for active service in battle, volunteered to guard the horses at night as the youngsters had become worn out by their constant vigils. The horses were kept in an enclosure in the center of which a strong stable had been erected. It acted as a guard house, and was surrounded by trees. The loft of the stable was partly laid with rails which projected over the center joist. This loft was for the guards use while on duty. One night the old men took their places on the rails in the loft to watch vigilantly for any foe. Soon Indians came into the horse lot, riding behind trees. As the moon was shining the old men could see the Indians moving from tree to tree as they advanced, but so swift were they in their movements that the old men could not get a reasonable chance to shoot to kill. Being extremely anxious to sun the Indians moccasins and eager to get a better position in the loft, they reached beyond the balance of the joist when their footholds gave way, the rails tuning end upon end, and down went rails, old men, guns and all, making a great noise. That was too much for the Indians, who not being used to such attacks ran away as fast as they could and made their way into the brush. The old men were somewhat bruised by the fall, but had the honor of inaugurating a new way of scaring off Indians.

Masonic Lodge Organized

Among the many interesting and important things that occurred at Warren during the time it was the county site is recorded by Judge R. M. Husk in his history of Constantine Lodge No. 13 A.F. and A.M.
The first Masonic Lodge in Fannin county was organized at Warren on Nov. 3, 1840 by virtue of a warrant from the Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas. It was named Constantine Lodge No. 13 A.F. & A.M. It was the thirteenth lodge organized in the Republic, and is the third oldest lodge in the state as only two lodges organized before it was
are in existence.
     The lodge was organized with the election of Daniel Rowlett, W. M.; Jas. S Baker, S. W.; Wm M. Williams J. W.; Seth Parker, Tyler, Besides these, the following were present; John B. Craig, John Denton,  [remainder not yet found.]

 Chapter 11  [Note:  there are two articles labeled Chapter 11]
     To Judge Simpson we owe more than to any other man for the preservation of the historical facts and stories of the early days of this county. But for him there would be very little known of Fannin county from its first settlement and for eight or ten years afterward.
     The two years following the building of Ft. Inglish new settlers came in and settled in various parts of the county. They were too widely settied to afford protection from thew Indian raids. To meet emergencies two additional forts were built, one at Old Warren, in the extreme northwest part of the county, where Warren had erected a block house for the protection of his trading post. Around this block house a ten-foot stockade was built to afford protection for a larger number of people. Among them were the families of the Shannon brothers, Macajah Davis, Henry Green and Daniel Dugan. During this time; the family milch cows were guarded as they grazed, parties went together to get wood and water, the women spun cloth and made clothing, the men worked the land under arms.
     The second fort was known as Lyday’s fort, and was located in Lamar county, ten miles east of Ladonia. Capt. Issac Lyday was in command of the fort, where thirty or more families sought safety in times of danger. Every time the moon gave light the settlers expected raids—and often their expectations were realized. On these excursions the Indians stole horses and cattle and murdered those citizens unprotected in the outlying districts.
     In the early part of February, 1838, Bushnell Gamer and Isaac Camp started .from Warren to Coffee Station in Preston Bend. When they reached a point just west of Denison they were fired upon by Indians hidden in the brush and both were killed. They were scalped and their skulls crushed. On the same day Jas. J. Keithly was killed, probably by the same band of Indians.

    Judge Simpson tells of an amusing incident that occurred in 1838 that illustrates the cunningness of the Indians. Wm. Rice, an old bachelor, then lived at Orangeville. He owned a very fine horse which he prized greatly. He thought he could outwit the savage searcher after horses, so he continued to live in his isolated home. The plan he made to keep his horse from being stolen was this; he arranged the horse’s feed box on the floor of the porch to his cabin, and would lead his horse to the box late in the evening, feed him and leave him to eat while he sat in the house for safety. He tied a rope around the horse’s neck, pulled it through the doorway and tied the other end of the rope to his leg, so that no one could get the animal without making known his presence. After the horse had eaten he would lead him to his log smoke house and lock the door with a heavy lock and chain. This worked well for a time, but failed at last. One night after he had fed his horse he was weary and lay down on the bed to rest until the horse had finished eating, feeling secure himself, and that his horse was safe. But he underestimated the cunningness of the Indian, for suddenly he heard the munching of corn by hi 'horse cease. Instantly suspecting that something was not right, he drew in his lariat. Alas! The Indian marauder had quietly cut the rope from the neck of the horse and rode off.

Daniel Davis, as noted previously, moved from Red river county to North Sulphur in 1837. His house was on the outer edge of the settlements. Realizing their danger, Davis was in the habit of taking his wife and two children to a dense thicket near the house and hiding them in the brush. There no one not knowing the location would be able to find them by the most diligent search. He would then return to guard his home and stock with the aid of his slaves. But the Indians came so often that he decided his plan was not safe, so he moved his family to Fort Lvday. They arrived at the fort in December 1839. Believing it safe, he and his family returned to their abandoned home. Twelve days later he was killed. It was his habit to arise early, waken the cook and the Negro men who fed the stock, and then lie down again until breakfast was ready. On his last morning he followed his custom, but the Negro jwoman who did the cooking told Mrs. Davis that she knew Indians were around, for she heard owls hooting at the barn. She knew that was a signal by Indians. Mrs. Davis told her husband of the cook’s fears, but he laughed and told the woman that what she heard was an owl indeed, and to go on cooking her meal. After breakfast, just as dawn came, Davis and a man named Glothlin whom Davis had employed, walked to the front gate and talked of the plans for the day. As they stood there they were fired upon by Indians at the barn sixty yards away. Davis was killed but Glothlin escaped.
A fortunate incident saved the remainder of the Davis’family. A scouting party from Lyday’s fort had been out looking for Indians that night, and a heavy rain came just after daylight. The Scouts took refuge in Davis’ house, not knowing of the tragedy at the time.
Almost as soon as they entered the house a force of Indians attacked. They swarmed over the fences into the yard and opened the door of the cabin before their presence was discovered. But when they opened the door and saw the unexpected rangers inside they beat a hasty retreat. So unexpected was the attack and so quickly was it all over that the rangers did not get their arms ready to shoot until the Indians had disappeared.
Coffee Makes Treaties with Indians
The defeat of the Cherokees and associated tribes at the .Delaware village in Young county, as recorded in Brown's history of Texas, was largely responsible for the practical security of the settlers in the latter part of 1839. Added to this was the organization of the ranger forces under the captaincy of Mark R. Roberts, Daniel R. Jackson and Joseph Sowell. Of material aid in restoring peace were the efforts of Holland Coffee to secure peace treaties with the Indians. Coffee had returned from Austin where he served in the third congress. Having secured their friendship and confidence, he was able to make treaties that put an end for a time to most of the Indian depredations. That some of those treaties were to be broken after a few months was not the fault of Col. Coffee. Even the short peace gave the settlers a much needed rest from the constant vigil.

The Hunter Massacre In 1840.
     Unfortunately the Dugan murder and the attack on the Dugan home were not the only outrages committed by the Indians of  different tribes. When the first settlers arrived the Indians were friendly enough, and some of them remained so. Possibly many more of them would have done so had the white men always been considerate and just in their treatment of them. It must be said that the whites were the first aggressors. Their anger was aroused when thieving Indians stole their horses. To the pioneer, his horse was his best ally. He could not do much without horses.

     The Indian also soon showed resentment toward them over occupation of his hunting ground and killing of the game which constituted most of his food. The first thing that started the Indians to retaliate by murdering whites was an attack made by Daniel Montague and seventeen companions on a camp of Shawnees, kickapoos, and Delawares near Ft. Warren on May 16, 1836. Several Indians were killed and their bodies burned. After that attack a truce between the whites and Indians was arranged, but the Indians were not altogether appeased. The Shawnees especially were active in stealing horses and commiting depredations. In these they were assisted by their kinsmen living along the Trinity in Dallas and Travis counties.

Chapter 12  The Masonic Lodge 
     In a chapter preceding this reference is made to the organization of a Masonic Lodge at Warren, then the county seat of Fannin county. The organization of this lodge is notable in that it was the only organized body of citizens in the county that has lived and thrived to this day, one hundred years after its organization. It antedated by six years the organization of the first church. It did much in the early days to preserve the moral lfe of the communities. It is, let it be remembered, the oldest organization of any kind, business, social or religious, in the county. It occupies a place in the history of the county that deserves special recognition. A copy of the minutes of the first meeting of the lodge read as follows: "Be it remembered that in accordance with a warrant from Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas conferring upon Worshipful Past Master and Master D. Rowlett of Mt. Moriah Lodge No.39, Dover, Tennessee, and Brother Jas. S. Baker, Senior Warden of Constantine Lodge No. 64, Lexington, Henderson county, Tennessee; Wm. M. Williams, Junior Warden of DeKalb Lodge No. 9, Red River county, Texas; the Lodge being duly led by our worthy Brother Master Seth Parker, late of St. John’s Lodge of Auburn, New York, the Worshipful Constantine Lodge was duly constituted and the officers there duly installed according to ancient usage. Bro. Master Mason John B. -Craig of DeKalb Lodge, Red River County, Texas, John B. Denton of do, W. C. Young of do, John H. Hansford, late of Allen Lodge No. 24 of Glasgow, Ky., on the third day of November, A. D. 1840 A. L. 5840, The Worshipful Master appointed Brother William C. Young, secretary pro tem., Bro. John M. Hansford, Junior Deacon, pro tem, Bro. Seth Parker, Tyler.  Whereupon the Worshipful Constantine Lodge was opened in due form, this 3rd day of November, 1840, A. L. 5840.

     It is worthy of note that most of these men lived to become important personages in the development and government of the state and county.
     In January, 1843, the Congress of the Republic of Texas, approved the selection by a committee of three members elected to locate a permanent county site for Fannin County. The committee reported that it had selected Bois D’Arc, at Fort Inglish as the place. The county and district courts, with their records were ordered removed along with the postoffice, which (had been at Ft. Inglish. In December of the same year, congress, at the request of Fannin’s representatives, changed the name of the town from Bois D'Arc to Bonham in honor of this hero who perished in the Alamo. With the moving of the records and the courts from Warren to Bonham, the Masonic Lodge moved its records also. For a time it held its meetings in the upper story of a building that stood on the lot on North Main St. now occupied by the First Christian Church. Later it purchased the upper story of a store house on the west side of the square, fifty by a hundred feet erected by Thos. R. Williams for a business house. That burned in 1877, and the lodge purchased the upper rooms of the old Fannin County Bank building, on the S. east corner of the square, where its meetings are still held.

Many Changes Have Come. 

     The reader of these sketches is again reminded that they are not intended to be considered a history of Fannin county, chronologically arranged, but are just a few of many such sketches could be written to make up a comprehensive history of the county in the early days of its existence. Many, many things of interest thus have never been written, and since the men and women who played their parts in life’s dramas or tragedies are long since dead (and most of them forgotten) there is no one left to tell these stories. These sketches are written in the belief that most men and women find interest, more or less, in the experiences, the loves, the hates, the manner of living, the trials and triumphs, the joys and sorrows, the trials and triumphs, the successes and failures of their forebears. From these stories we learn that there were brave men and heroic women then, just as there are brave men and heroic women today. There were statesmen then as now, just as there were demagogues then as now; there were benevolent, virtuous mothers as now; there were men and women of wisdom and foresight. There have been many wonderful changes in material things—but little change in human nature. Many things our forefathers did according to their surroundings we do likewise in our way much of their wisdom we profit by today, just as those next generations that follow this will profit by the wisdom, or suffer because of the folly, of today's men and women.  To think of this leads us to wonder if we shall leave the future as rich a heritage as the one our own early pioneers bequeathed us. They same in search of a wider freedom and new homes, and they suffered privation and fought bloody savages that they might obtain what so much desired—freedom and homes. How much of our freedom we have voluntarily surrendered in the hope of ease and leisure and wealth! How many today prefer a log cabin for a home of their own to a rented apartment with modern equipment!
     Greater are the physical changes that have come in the past seventy pears than are the social, moral and spiritual changes.
     Unless one uses his imagination a little description of the prairies, with their wealth of countless wild flowers, their tall grasses waving like billows on the ocean; with hundreds of horses and cattle feeding; the wooded hills and creek valleys covered with great trees or almost impenetrable thickets where wild animals feed and lived all these will claim little attention, but to those who compare such a scene with the homes, the pastures and the tilled lands of today comes a realization of the wonderful changes time has wrought. There are those who are old enough to remember past days who will claim that these changes, whatever their advantages, have not added to the natural beauties of the landscape.

     For the interest, I hope, of the boys and girls, the young men and young women of today, in my next letter, I am going to try-(and I say try advisedly) to give a description of the physical aspects of the county as I recall it seventy years ago as I rode over it from time to time.  For the benefit of the Boy Scouts in particular and for those in general who love hunting and fishing, and camp life, I will tell of some personal experiences in hunting in this county, in the old Indian Territory and, possibly, in other sections of Texas. I may get so far away from the subject of Fannin county history that I will never get back to it—but still it will be a very small fraction of the history of pioneer days. An antlered deer or a glossy-breasted wild turkey gobbler in their native heath have always interested me more than history.

Chapter 13 A Village On The Prairie,
     On March 10, 1857 my father, with my mother and two sons arrived in Bonham to make it their home. They came from Kentucky. My father was born and educated in Tennessee, where he attended the old law school at Lebanon. He moved to Kentucky to practice law. There he met and married Susan A. Hampton, daughter of a Green river planter. A serious illness threatened his life and left him with a lung trouble. His doctor advised him to move to a different climate. As my mother had an uncle, Chas. Hampton, living four miles south of Bonham, she wrote to him asking what advantages the county offered in the way of health.  Her uncle strongly advised the selection of Bonham as her future home. Several weeks were required to come from Kentucky by boat to Jefferson, and several more days were required to drive in wagons from Jefferson to Bonham.
     When they got to Bonham they found a struggling village of a few hundred people. It must have been a day of housing shortage, for not a house of any kind could they find for shelter. The best they could do was move to a house on the farm of mother’s uncle and wait until they could build a home. They selected two acres of ground on Pig branch. It was located on the main road from the north into the town, and was the last house on the street going north, save the residence of Thos. Cowart, one of the earliest settlers. From there north to Red River the country was almost all unoccupied prairie land, with timber only along the creeks. It was not only until the river valley was reached that there was any plantation of any size. Most of the few houses seen while traveling anywhere in the north part of the county were built of hewn or unhewn logs.

     When I was eight years old (that was the earliest age at which children were usually started to school) I did not know the alphabet, but I knew how to handle a gun and to ride a horse, the two things I then considered the most practical,the  greatest accomplishments in the world, with skill in angling a close third. For a boy of eight I was quite proficient in each. I enjoyed those sports above all others, and they often proved their practical value, for often in later years my rifle and fish pole furnished many a toothsome meal for the family.
     There was much wild game then right at our door. It may seem to boys of today that I am “stretching the blanket” when I' tell that I have shot squirrels in the little park on north Main (though there was no street there then). I have killed many quail and prairie chickens, and plover just north of the High School ball park. A few times I shot prairie chicken that lit on my father's garden just across the street south of the Bailey Inglish school. The first deer I ever killed was shot just a little south of the old Woodman park in South Bonham. I have shot wild turkeys within a mile of the public square. In the winter and spring countless thousands of all kinds of ducks fed on the acorns and Bois D’Arc apple seeds that covered the ground for miles up and down the creek valley.  I am not exaggerating when I say this, late of evening or early morning it was not much trouble, nor did it require much time, to ride to Bois D’Arc creek and bag half a dozen or even four times that many Mallards. I have done that on many days without failing to be on time at school.
     As late as the seventies and eighties of the last century one of the famous resorts for deer was the thicket-covered hills around the present State park. The deer fed for the most part at night and sought refuge in the thickets by day. There were several young men here who kept packs of deer hounds for hunting. Often have I heard their horns in the early morning calling their dogs for a chase. There were three especially good places east and northeast of town where a hunter could take a stand to wait for the dogs to “bring a deer through” so they could shoot it. One of the hunters would take the dogs to the hills around the park, while others would go to the stands. The deer from these hills usually ran north down to the creek bottom toward the river. Many were killed.

 I recall distinctly one August morning, after a slight rain at night, that Henry Taylor, Sam Doss and two other men whose names I have forgotten, with their dogs “jumped” a big antlered deer southwest of town. The deer did not follow the usual course but bolted north through the streets of Bonham. It ran north down Center street to Ninth, jumped the garden fence at my father’s home, and ran east toward Bois D’Arc creek, where one of the hunters killed it. That latter part was what interested me most. This is the truth, but if anyone questions it I doibt that I could find one living witness to corroborate my story.
     Perhaps the experiences of my boyhood and my young manhood explain why it is that as age four score years I care little about popular sports of the day but am still passionate fond of hunting and fishing, and enjoy more a bed in a tent, with a good camp fire in front of it, than a room in the best hotel in Texas.
     And no chef can prepare a meal more toothsome than one composed of hot biscuits baked in a dutch oven, a fat turkey roast in a pit and properly seasoned, boiled coffee, stewed beans with honey or syrup added for those who like sweets. A walk of five to ten miles will give a man an appetite that will insure his enjoyment to the fullest of such a meal. Many times have I taken such a walk, and many times have I come from hunting to sit down to such a meal but it was not always turkey that was our meal. Coming after it was venison, duck, quail, squirrel or a fish. One who finds pleasure in the woods and lakes and streams and who does not shirk some work and hardships, never forgets the hours he sits before a camp fire~ especially if the camp is pitched in a location free from man's dwellings. When I was tern years of age my oldest brother gave me a shot gun for my own use, and soon after that my father gave me a good Texas pony, bridle and saddle. Sam Houston was never a greater man in his own estimation, nor was Rockefeller ever so happy in his possessions, as was I in my possession of a gun and a horse. With the acquisition of a gun and a horse my vision broadened, my anticipations of a greater future grew with a horse to ride, there was no occasion for me to be content to wish with hunting grounds within a mile or two from home. I saw the days just ahead when I'd ride out and camp at the big spring on Collin's ranch (most of which was unfenced prairie land) make camp and hunt as long as I chose. Then I would venture further and go down on Coffee Mill creek eighteen miles from home. Well, these dreams became realities. I went to Collin's ranch; I went to Sycamore; I went to the mouth of Bois D'Arc creek, and then across the river into the Indian country, now called Oklahoma. But there was one other dream—a very dear dream to me—that never came true. The Indians on the Texas-Mexico border, and the Indians in the north west were still fighting U S. Soldiers and killing pioneer settlers. My imagination was fired by the news of the massacre of Gen. Custer's whole army by the Sioux. I wanted to join the cavalry and go fight Indians. It all but broke my heart to learn that Uncle Sam didn't think I was a match for any Indian alive. That dream having vanished, I was content to hunt harmless game in Texas until such as I was of proper age to fight the wild Red men of Montana and Utah and the Dakotas.

     Next week I will describe more fully the appearance of the county and the town of Bonham as I remember, or more nearly accurately speaking, as I remember part of them.

Chapter 14 When Fannin County Was Paradise
     In my last letter before this I said I would tell something of the town of Bonham and of the .prairies and forests and plantations of Fannin county as I first remember them.
     At the outset I am confronted by difficulties—I cannot determine with much accuracy how far back I can remember some things, and, to be frank, I am not sure that I always remember certain things, as they were, or whether I heard them so often that I actually believed I do remember them, even if they occurred about the time I was born. This confession won’t increase the faith of my readers in the accuracy of all my statements, but it ought to lead them to conclude that I am not telling deliberate “fish stories”.  I very distinctly remember one incident that occurred when I was three years old, but which my older sister says for me not to tell, for it didn’t take place until I was four years old. So I conclude that I had better not claim to remember very many things that occurred before 1870, when I was six years old. You see I was no child prodigy.
     I do remember that in the spring of 1870, my older brother, Jim, took me along with a party on a fishnig and hunting trip to Dr. Louis Smith’s plantation on Red river. That was the first time I remember to have seen the river— and to my childish eyes it was a “whopper” of .a river. I remember well that we camped on a high bluff on the Texas side of the river. I also resented the order of my brother that I was not to climb down the bluff to the river unless I got some one help me.
I thought I was quite big enough to take care of myself. At that time the river had changed its course, cutting back into Indian territory, creating an island . . .of heavily wooded land, known for years as Smith's cut off.  That island was the home of many hundreds of wild turkeys.
     The first night we camped on the bluff, Dew and Louis Smith came to our tent and invited my brother and Ed L. Agnew, another member of our party, to go turkey hunting across the river, in the cut off. The Smith brothers spent the night in our camp so as to get a start to the turkey roosts before daylight.  I remember that I felt slighted in not being asked to go on the hunt. Besides the disappointment of not getting to go hunting, I was told I would stay to keep animals out of camp while the others were gone. There were plenty of wolves in those days, and quite a number of panther, and I had the idea that they were very dangerous beasts.  It wasn’t very pleasing to be left alone in the dark to keep any kind of varmints out of camp. When the boys left to cross the river, they left a fire of big logs burning, telling me wild animals would not come near a fire. That was some assurance, and besides, the fire felt pleasant to a scared boy.

     Just at day break I heard turkeys gobbling in every direction. From where I stood I am sure I heard as many as fifteen gobblers on different roosts. I thought that turkeys must be in every tree in the woods. Then I heard shooting and expected to see the boys soon coming in loaded down with big turkeys. I soon found out that finding turkeys in the woods and bringing dead turkeys in to camp were two different things. The four hunters came back to camp after sunup with just one gobbler.  I secretly felt that it happened that way as a punishment for the way they had treated me by refusing to let me go with them.

Just at day break I heard turkeys gobbling in every direction. From where I stood I am sure I heard as many as fifteen gobblers on different roosts. I thought that turkeys must be in every tree in the woods. Then I heard shooting and expected to see the boys soon coming in loaded down with big turkeys. I soon found out that finding turkeys in the woods and bringing dead turkeys in to camp were two different things. The four hunters came back to camp after sunup with just one gobbler.  I secretly felt that it happened that way as a punishment for the way they had treated me by refusing to let me go with them.
     It was not my intention when I began, to tell a story about hunting, but to give a brief picture of the county between the village of Bonham and the banks of Red river. The party made the trip in a wagon, loaded with camp equipment, food for ourselves and horses. W’e followed what was called a “road” leading to Sowell's bluff. When we got to the old Locke home located in what is now Russell Heights, we came to the open prairie that stretched all the way to the river. The native grass was growing as far as the eye could see. It was from six inches to three feet high, and waved like a great wheat field. There were hundreds of cattle and horses grazing on the open range. Save a fringe of timber along the banks of a few little creeks, nothing obstructed the view. As we drove along we saw many plover, geese and duck and prairie chickens by the hundreds. I am safe in saying there were thousands of all these game birds within the radius of a few miles. As we were driving along a ridge near the old Collin's ranch, a fine buck deer with big antlers, and accompanied by a doe and her fawn, ran leisurely along a couple of hundred yards away.
     It was a lovely April day, and the warm sun shining, the tempered breeze blowing, the sight of myriads of wild flowers combined to make the land an earthly paradise to those in love with nature’s beautiful things. I did not then know that the prairies over which we were traveling reached many mlies westward, and that hundreds of thousands of wild horses and wild, cattle fattened on its grasses. It was not long afterward I learned that Gainesville was the end of fixed abode of Texans, and that the section around the fall of the Wichita river was the home of the buffalo herds and bands of marauding Indians.
     I recall that a party of our men in 1873 or 74 went to Wichita falls to hunt buffalo. They went in wagon and took along extra horses for pack animals. One night when they were camped near the falls they met disaster.  It was a beautiful night, with a full moon shining and everything seemed so peaceful that they did not think it necessary to post guard for the night. They spread their blankets.  Just before day light next morning the tramp of horses and the shouting of men awoke them just in time to see all their horses and a number of men disappear driving them. Somebody stole all their horses and got away with them, leaving the hunters in the middle of a bad fix, for being without horses they were helpless. After talking the matter over it was decided that two of them would follow their own wagon tracks back about thirty miles to where they could get help. Stocked with a canteen of water and two days eatings they set out. On the second day they reached a ranch house and got the help so much needed. 
     The hunters got back home, but the high spirits in which they had left, and their great expectations had not been realized. They brought back a big thrilling story of how they were attacked by Indians, and of a battle they fought, but did not drive off the enemy until the enemy succeeded in driving off' their horses. It was told graphically and convincingly, and for a time everybody except the boys themselves believed it. But the truth, like murder will out and finally one of the boys told the story in a different way. The story about the moonlight, and about sleeping.on their blankets in the open, the running of horses feet and the shouting of men was correct, but not a gun was drawn, not a gun was fired, though one of the party had exhibited  thumb with a wound on the knuckle that he said he got when he firing his pistol at a thief. It was proven that the only word sad during the raid was spoken by Tom Pace, a member of the party, after the thieves were out of ear shot. Theni Tom raised up on his blanket and yelled: “Bring them horses back here, you blankety blank scoundrels.” Any way the boys had a good 'time and told a good story.
     Not all of early Fannin county was covered with prairie grass. There were thousands of acres of land wooded with oak, elm, hickory, walnut and bois d'arc in Red river  bottom, and on Coffee Mill and Bois D’Arc creeks. At present prices, the bois d’arc timber alone that has been cut in those bottoms would be worth hundreds of thousants of dollars . . .

    In the south and . . .