DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and I'm just the one putting it into words — this is the story of the Bain-Honaker House. Now, picture Farmersville, Texas, 1865. The war has barely cooled.
And on six and three-quarter acres of land, just east of the town square, a widow named Anna Melissa Hicks Bain is picking up a hammer — figuratively speaking — and building a house. Anna was born in 1834. Her husband, John Alexander Bain, was gone.
And she had five daughters to raise: Mary Clorinda, Martha, Catherine, Christina, and Margaret. Five girls. One woman.
One house going up on 6.75 acres. You do not want to bet against Anna Bain. Because here's the thing about Anna — she wasn't just keeping a household together.
She was running a business empire, in the quiet, methodical way that tends to outlast the loud kind. She divided her property into lots. She built commercial buildings.
She sold parcels to the Red River Railroad Company. She opened her home to teachers and students from the nearby private schools, providing room and board. And somewhere in all of that, the Farmersville Culture Club was founded right there on her property.
The woman was, as the marker puts it plain and simple, an astute businesswoman. I'd say that's an understatement, but I wasn't there. The house itself had a story of its own.
In 1902, three peaked gables and a narrow porch gave way to a new look — an asymmetrical facade, a new porch, and extended northeast bedrooms. The place was growing, changing, keeping up with the family inside it. And what a family it was.
Anna's daughters Mary and Catherine — Catherine went by Cassie — married brothers. Mary married Henry Honaker, and Cassie married Andrew Honaker. That's how two families became one name.
Martha, meanwhile, married William S. Aston. Now Cassie's story carries some weight.
Her husband Andrew went off to medical school — and he died there. Cassie Bain Honaker came back to that house on the east side of the Farmersville square, the one her mother built in 1865, and she stayed. She later married James E.
Jones and lived in that house until her own death in 1928. Anna Bain was born in 1834 and died in 1906. But the house she raised from the ground kept raising families long after her.
Five generations of the Bain-Honaker family lived within those walls. In 1989, descendants of the Honaker family donated the house to the Farmersville Historical Society. A widow builds a house.
Builds a business. Raises five daughters. And more than a century later, her family makes sure the house belongs to the town she helped shape.
That's not just a structure east of the square — that's a legacy with a front porch.
What the marker says
Anna Melissa Hicks Bain (1834-1906), widow of John Alexander Bain, built this house in 1865 on 6.75 acres of land east of the town square of Farmersville. She reared five daughters here: Mary Clorinda, Martha, Catherine, Christina and Margaret. An astute businesswoman, Anna Bain divided her property into lots, built commercial buildings and sold some property to the Red River Railroad Company. She also provided rooom and board for teachers and students from nearby private schools. The Farmersville Culture Club was founded here.In 1902, three peaked gables and a narrow porch were replaced by an asymmetrical facade and new porch, and the northeast bedrooms were extended.Anna Bain's daughters Mary and Catherine (Cassie) married brothers, Henry Honaker and Andrew Honaker. Martha married William S. Aston. Cassie Bain Honaker lived here while her husband was in medical school, where he died. She later married James E. Jones and lived here until her death in 1928. Five generations of the Bain-Honaker family lived in this house.Honaker family descendants donated the house to the Farmersville Historical Society in 1989.Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1996