DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — my job is just to pass it along right. Picture 1836. Anglo-American settlers loading themselves onto steamboats and pushing up the Red River, looking for land at the edge of the known world.
They found it. And what they planted there would eventually become Fannin County. Now, Fannin County was created in 1837, organized in 1838, and it carries the name of James W.
Fannin — born in 1805, gone by 1836. Fannin and his soldiers surrendered to the Mexican army, and on March 27, 1836, they were massacred at Goliad. That's the name on this county.
Not a conqueror's name. A martyr's name. The marker doesn't let you forget that.
The county officials first gathered at Jacob Black's cabin on the Red River. No courthouse, no grand hall — just a cabin, on a river, at the edge of something new. From there, the county seat moved to Warren in 1840, then again in 1843 to a place called Bois d'Arc.
And then, in 1844, Bois d'Arc was renamed. This time, in honor of James Butler Bonham — born 1807, died 1836 — a hero of the siege of the Alamo. Two men.
Both gone in 1836. A county and a town seat carrying their names forward through time, long after the steamboats stopped running and the cabin on the Red River faded into the grass. That's Fannin County.
The land remembers.
What the marker says
This area was first settled by Anglo- Americans who traveled up the Red River by steamboat in 1836. Fannin County was created in 1837, organized 1838, and named for James W. Fannin (1805-36), who was massacred with his soldiers at Goliad (March 27, 1836) after surrendering to the Mexican army. County officials first met at Jacob Black's cabin on the Red River. The county seat was moved in 1840 to Warren and in 1843 to Bois d' Arc, which was renamed in 1844 in honor of James Butler Bonham (1807-36), a hero of the siege of the Alamo.