John P. Simpson

John P. Simpson wrote as well as governed. The Commission lists his series Early Times in Texas, printed in the Bonham News on October 18, 1904, December 13, 1904, and January 17 and 31, 1905, among its sources for county history. W. A. Carter's county history also quotes his recollections. As sheriff in 1841 he described the court week at Warren, when summoned jurors and witnesses lodged at the tavern kept by Joseph Sowell and J. S. Scott. The Handbook of Texas adds that Simpson and Bailey Inglish each gave part of their headrights for Bonham's town lots.

What the plaque says

John P. Simpson (Oct. 17, 1806 - Jan. 13, 1884) Significant for his contributions to the formative years of Bonham and Fannin County, Tennessee native John P. Simpson arrived in Texas about 1837. In that year he signed the petition to create Fannin County and began to farm his land in this area. An early elected official, Simpson served as county sheriff and as county judge (then called the chief justice) in the 1840s and 1850s. He donated land that became Bonham's downtown commercial district and the courthouse square. Simpson also served a time as head of the Fannin Guards, which provided frontier defense for this region. Recorded - 2001

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Rayburn House State Historic Site — 1.3 mi
  The two-story farmhouse west of Bonham that the longtime Speaker of the House built in 1916 and kept as his home, left as he lived in it and open as a museum since 1975.
• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 23 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Eisenhower State Park — 28 mi
  A bluff-top park on Lake Texoma opened in 1958 on land leased from the Corps of Engineers, in the Red River country of Fort Johnson, Colbert's Ferry and the Butterfield stages.

More markers nearby

• Military Headquarters Northern Sub-District of Texas, C.S.A. — steps away
• Sam Rayburn — steps away
• Dr. Tom Douglas Spies — steps away
• Bailey Inglish — 0.4 mi