Early Fannin County

Fannin County TXGenWeb
Early Days in Fannin County
written by Rev.John W. Connelly
written abt 1896

sent in by Thresa Stewman

TRENTON TRIBUNE Friday, February 26, 1926
EARLY DAYS IN FANNIN COUNTY.....The following article was written by Rev. John W. Connelly 30 years ago and tells of the first
school, first church service and first marriage in the county. It was clipped from the Honey Grove Signal.
The Indians were not the only enemies the pioneers had to contend with. Wild animals were numerous. The woods abounded with
bears, wild cats and coons, which would prowl around homes in search of food. Coons would visit hen roosts and bears would make
raids on young calves and pigs. On one occasion a Mr. Dugan killed two cub bears and wounded the mother. He took the two cub
bears home and that night, the mother, guided by the sense of smell, went to his house and for several nights she would snuff and
grunt around hunting for her cubs, but would go away before the boys could get a shot at her. She finally became so bold in her
determined search that she entered the yard in broad daylight. Mrs. Dugan and her three daughters, who were alone in the house at
the time, rushed out into the yard and attacked her with shovels and sticks, the dogs joined in the fray, and with their barking and
snapping at her heels, and the yelling and screaming of the women, the bear was too badly frightened to show a disposition to fight.
She jumped over the fence, ran across the orchard and climbed a tree, where they kept her until Mr. Dugan came from the field and
shot her dead. The unsettled state of affairs made it necessary for many of the settlers to remain at Fort Warren all the summer and
there they and the resident part of the town established the first log school house in Fannin county. A log cabin that had been used
as a stable was cleaned out and furnished for the school house; the benches were made of split logs, hewn on one side, and a chair
with a rawhide bottom was furnished by one of the patrons for the teacher. The books used were a spelling book, Murray's grammar,
Pike's arithmetic, Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress, Fox's Book of Martyrs and the New Testament. The first sermon preached in the town
of Old Warren was by Rev. John B. Denton, a Methodist preacher who had come from Arkansas and settled in Clarksville. The little
log school house, where the service was held, was filled with an attentive audience, who listened closely at the words spoken, and
awoke the echoes of the silent forest with their songs of Zion. Mr. Denton was an eloquent orator. He was killed in a campaign
against the Indians on Denton creek, in Denton county in 1841. The creek, county site and county were named for him. The first
circuit rider that preached in Fannin County was Rev. Mr. Brown. He made appointment to preach alternately at Old Warren and the
home of Mr. Dugan, and had traveled about 300 miles before making the rounds of his circuit. He and his colaborers braved storms
and flood, heat and cold, hunger and thirst, wild beasts and still wilder Indians, often having to sleep on the ground, with their
saddles for pillows and blue heaven for covering, to carry the gospel to the wilds of Texas. The first wedding in Fannin county was at
the Dugan residence in 1841. The contracting parties were Colonel Daniel Montague, a widower with 6 children, and Miss Mary
Dugan. They lived several years in Old Warren, then moved to the West and settled in what is now Montague county. This county
was organized in 1847 and named in honor of Colonel Montague.

Fannin Home page