Jabez and Harriet Haning

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. Somewhere in Grayson County, about nine miles south of Sherman, there's a little town called Howe. And the ground it stands on has a story.

Jabez Haning came to Grayson County with his family back in 1846. The county was young, the land was wide open, and Jabez Haning was the kind of man who knew what to do with wide open. Come the 1850s, he obtained a grant of 320 acres from the Peters colony.

Three hundred and twenty acres, sitting right there about nine miles south of Sherman. In 1854, Jabez married Harriet Campbell, and together they established a farm on that land. Now, for years, that was the shape of things.

A farm, a family, the seasons turning. Then 1873 comes along, and with it the Houston and Texas Central Railway, laying a line south of Sherman. Straight through, as railroads tend to do.

Straight through the Haning property. Now here's the part that says something about Jabez and Harriet. When the railroad came knocking, they didn't dig in their heels.

In 1876, they donated land for a town site. Just gave it. The town that grew up on that donated ground was named Howe, probably in honor of a railroad official.

Probably. History's a little coy on that point, and the marker's honest enough to say so. Harriet Haning died in 1880, Jabez in 1883.

But nine miles south of Sherman, a town still carries the weight of what that family put down.

What the marker says

Jabez Haning (1827-1883) came to Grayson County with his family in 1846. In the 1850s Jabez Haning obtained a grant of 320 acres of land from the Peters colony. His land was located about nine miles south of the town of Sherman. Harriet Campbell (1834-1880) and Jabez Haning were married in 1854 and established a farm. In 1873 the Houston & Texas Central Railway established a line south of Sherman. The route went through the Haning property, and they donated land for a town site in 1876. The town was named Howe, probably in honor of a railroad official.