Bonham From the Start

Bonham From the Start. . The first influx of settlers into the area now known as Fannin County began in the early winter of 1836 when Dr. Daniel Rowlett brought ten families up Red River to a site about 16 miles northeast of present day Bonham. Because of the ease of river transportation most of these ten families chose to locate their homesteads along the river., It was not until a year later that a second wave of emigrants began to spread over the interior of the new territory now claimed as a part of the newly created Red River County of the Republic of Texas., In March of 1837, Bailey Inglish and a wagon train of some ten to fifteen families crossed Rocky Ford Crossing of Bois d'Arc Creek at Red River and followed the creek's path to a grassy verdant valley near the confluence of Bois d'Arc and Powder Creek. There a new settlement took root., After taking possession of their homesteads, the pioneers began construction of their log homes and outbuildings from the plentiful oak trees in the area. About midsummer, a young man named Alexander Russell arrived, hired some men to help him construct a spacious building, and shortly after, began to stock it with goods shipped up river from Jonesborough and Fulton., Soon after, in response to the perceived threat of attacks by bands of renegade Indians. Inglish and some of his neighbors began construction on a two story log blockhouse and surrounding stockade. Comprised of ten or more residential cabins, a general store, and the fort, the settlement became a viable village. In the earliest days, the village was called both Ft. Inglish and Inglish's Station. By 1839, the village was called Bois d'Arc after the watercourse just on the eastern limits of the settlement., In 1843, the Texas Congress decided to move the county seat of Fannin County, which had been created from Red River County in 1837, from it's location at Fort Warren on Red River to the village of Bois d'Arc., Residents of the newly named seat of justice sent a petition, by their representative Dr. Rowlett, to the Congress asking that the town be renamed Bloomington. As the bill was introduced, a member of Congress made a long impassioned speech declaring that the heroes of the Texas Revolution were being forgotten and that no better way to sustain their memory could be found than to name the towns and counties for them., With that, the bill creating the county seat of Fannin County was amended to change from Bois d'Arc to Bonham, to honor one of the defenders of the Alamo., James Butler Bonham, a native of South Carolina, came to Texas in 1835 at the urging of his boyhood friend William B. Travis. Soon after joining a company commanded by Col. James Bowie, he arrived at the Alamo. Ignoring orders from Sam Houston to abandon the San Antonio post, Bowie, Bonham and others chose to stay and defend the former mission., Twice during the nearly two week siege, Bonham slipped through the Mexican lines searching for volunteers to help the embattled defenders. Returning for the last time, he took his place on the battlements. The circumstances of his death are unrecorded, but it is believed that he died in an attempt to blow up powder magazines before the Mexican army could reach them.