John Harmon

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of John Harmon — and friends, it is one worth pulling over for. John Harmon came into this world in 1790, born in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, where he grew up in the shadow of Poste de Attakapas — a Spanish fortification standing right where the town of St.

Martinville sits today. He was the kind of man who seemed to collect experience the way some folks collect trouble. When the War of 1812 came calling, Harmon answered it, serving in Louisiana's defensive actions.

And when the war was done, he came home and wed Elizabeth Compstock Clarks in 1813. Then, soon after their first child arrived in 1816, John and Elizabeth looked at that St. Martin Parish land they'd been holding onto — and sold it.

Just like that. Whatever was pulling them west, it was pulling hard. Now here's where the record gets a little quiet.

The better part of a decade passes and history doesn't say much about what the Harmons were up to. But by 1826, they had settled themselves along the eastern bank of the Sabine River. Five family members by then.

And John Harmon, being the sort of man he was, looked around at where they'd landed and decided — not quite yet. The next year, 1827, he set his eye on a different piece of this country. And what he did next is the part of this story that earns its place around any campfire.

Harmon built a raft. Not some lashed-together collection of drift logs — a massive raft of cypress. And onto that raft he loaded a house.

A wagon. A pair of oxen. A horse.

A cow. Farm tools and supplies. And his family of five.

The whole enterprise of a life, floating west on a cypress platform of his own making. The Harmon family arrived at the present site of Orange on January 1, 1828. New Year's Day.

They settled along the river through 1830, and then established a permanent home on Adams Bayou, two miles west of where you're probably standing right now. That arrival — that New Year's morning landing — marked the beginning of permanent settlement here. The town that would grow up around this place did so because John Harmon decided to build a raft and ride it to the first day of 1828.

When Orange developed into a town, Harmon was in the middle of it — working as a saddler, serving as a civic leader, holding land as a prominent landowner. He died in 1874, having lived the kind of life that marker writers reach for when they're trying to explain how a place got its soul. John Harmon.

A raft of cypress logs, a family of five, and a New Year's Day that stuck.

What the marker says

Born in 1790 in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana, John Harmon lived at Poste de Attakapas, a Spanish fortification at the present site of St. Martinville. A veteran of the state's defensive actions during the War of 1812, he wed Elizabeth Compstock Clarks in 1813. Soon after the birth of their first child in 1816, the Harmons sold their St. Martin Parish land and moved west. Although not much is known about their activities over the following decade, it is known they had settled along the eastern bank of the Sabine River by 1826. The next year, Harmon decided to relocate in this area. He built a massive raft of cypress logs which transported a house, a wagon, a pair of oxen, a horse, a cow, farm tools and supplies, and his family, which numbered five. The Harmon family arrived here on January 1, 1828, and settled along the river until 1830, when they established a permanent home on Adams Bayou (2 mi. W). Their arrival at the present site of Orange marked the beginning of permanent settlement. Later, when the town developed, John Harmon was a saddler, a civic leader, and a prominent landowner. He died in 1874, but his contributions and pioneer spirit remain vital to the area's heritage. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986