Fannin County Folks & Facts Page: 105

                                
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land between present-day Trenton and Pilot Grove, which in
earlier days had been known as Lick Skillet.
They arrived too late in 1870 to plant a crop. Their first
crop in Texas was made in 1871. In 1872 the two youngest
sons George and 20-year-old Absolum Reims returned to
Tennessee. Ab had promised his sweetheart, Sarah Brown
Hipp, he would return for her if he could make a living in
Texas. Arriving near the old home, Ab became very ill. He
was taken to the home of Dr. Spring and Sarah came there
to nurse him. At their marriage Ab was not able to be up yet,
so the ceremony was read with Ab in bed, Sarah sitting on
the bed beside him and the wedding guests crowded
around. As soon as he had recovered enough to travel, Ab
brought Sarah to Texas that fall of 1872. Her uncle Emory
Rains had previously come to Texas and the town of Emory
and the county of Rains were named for him.
From the state of Texas Ab bought land three miles south
of present-day Trenton. At that time there were three houses
between his house and Pilot Grove. It took him ten years to
pay for the land in yearly installments, but in 1884 his land
was free of debt and he got his deed from the state.
First he had built a one-room cabin on the west end of the
land. This cabin had a stick and daub chimney and the bed
was built into the corner of the room with rope springs. Next
he built the first room on his "home place" in the center of
his land. This room was 16 x 16 feet square and built of pine
"without a single knot hole". For a year or two they lived in
this one room, then from time to time building additional
rooms. This house was destroyed by the 1919 tornado and a
small house rebuilt on the spot. Ab said when he was clear-
ing his land, hawks flew around in large flocks like black-
birds and owls were everywhere.
Ab and Sarah's children were: Chloe died in infancy, Ira
Franklin, Mallery Houston, Eula Leona (Mrs. Will Summers),
Flora Harris (Mrs. Jim Wilson), Dan died at 14, James Abso-
lum "Doc" and Eli Brown "Cap".
In those early years people from all around went to Ab for
him to write their documents, papers and even letters. The
granddaughters remember that Sarah always wore a sack of
gold coins tied to the end of the draw-string of her petticoat.
It was so heavy it hung straight down and never showed
through her long, full, black skirts.
Always there were brilliant peafowls strutting around their
yard and under the chinaberry trees.
The Barretts lived their lives in and around Trenton, see-
ing it grow from open land into a town. The old home place
is still owned by Doc's family and one of his daughters still
has a huge log chain used on wagon-to oxen on that move to
Texas 107 years ago. BY ALETHA BARRETT MAY
MARCUS LAFAYETTE BARRETT
Marcus Lafayette Barrett (1855-1943) and Amelia Burns
Barrett (1856-1917) with their eight children arrived in Bon-
ham on Jan. 1, 1892. They had come by train from Milan,
Gibson County, Tennessee where M. L. Barrett had owned a
good farm and where he was an ordained minister of the
Primitive Baptist Church. Zeal for his church brought him to
Texas to become pastor of the Philadelphia Primitive Baptist
Church ten miles southeast of Bonham. (This church still
stands and is maintained in excellent condition as is the ad-
joining graveyard by a permanent association.) Here the
Barretts bought another farm where they raised cotton and
visited Primitive Baptists and their families. The older sons
did the farm work and built themselves a one-room bachelor
quarters not far from the house. To make money they went
horseback across the countryside successfully selling wire
clothes pins and other housekeeping aids. One son A. P. at
age 19 taught the one-room school Prairie View and is lov-
ingly remembered by one of his pupils, Mrs. Una Elliot
Moody of Sherman, who was eight years old.
In 1898 the family moved to Bonham so that the younger
children could attend the high school. The house where the
Barretts lived from 1904 to 1913 stood on the corner of
10th and Willow Streets until it burned in 1958. In 1913 with

Barrett home - 1909
THOMAS C. BEAN
Col. Bean came to Bonham in 1841. He was a surveyor
and engaged in surveying lands and locating land certifi-
cates. He acquired a great deal of the finest land in the
county which was 300 miles east and west and 60 miles
north and south. He was never married, but was engaged to
Pollyann Rowlett who died before they were married. He was
a man of fine intellect, read a great deal and kept well posted
as to the current events of the day.
Nobody knew where he came from. When asked, he would
reply that he "sprung up in a bean patch". He was very
quiet and dressed neatly in this grey trousers and frock tail-
coat and high silk hat. He carried a gold cane. He lived in a
small house on the west side of Main Street across from the
present Chamber of Commerce. He had a negro woman who
105

their children grown the Barretts moved to San Antonio
where two sons and a daughter were living.
The Barrett's sons and daughters reveal both the ability
and longevity of this family. Now living together in Austin are
Miss Lula Barrett born in 1884 retired as assistant director
after a long career in the Extension Loan Library, University
of Texas; Mrs. Minnie Lee Barrett Shepard born in 1886 is
author and poet who retired from the Department of Clas-
sics, University of Texas where she was assistant professor;
Mrs. Daisy Barrett Tanner born in 1893 is an author and art
historian and was formerly on the staff of the Boston Mu-
seum of Fine Arts. Grady Barrett born in 1895 is also an au-
thor retired after a distinguished career as an attorney in
San Antonio. Fluent in Spanish, he chaired the Committee
on Latin American Law of the Texas Bar Association. All four
are graduates of Bonham High School and have attended
Bonhi reunions. Mrs. Shepard taught Latin and German in
Bonhi early in her teaching career.
Other children of M. L. and Amelia Barrett who lived long
and successful lives are: Andrew (1874-1961); William La-
fayette (1876-1964); A. P. (1878-1953); Sue Barrett Clutter
(1882-1969); and Thurman (1889-1967). Both Mrs. Andrew
Barrett (Olga Biggerstaff) and Joe Clutter, Sue's husband,
were natives of Fannin County. A. P. Barrett, bachelor of law
degree, University of Texas in 1905, was the youngest mem-
ber of the Texas House of Representatives in 1902-1904
and served two terms in the Senate (1904-1908). His later
career included law, politics and business with interests in
oil and natural gas, transportation with Continental Bus
Lines and Texas Air Transport and communications with
Southwest Broadcasting Company, a radio network.
In 1973 a grandson of M. L. Barrett, William L. Barrett, Jr.
and his wife Ruth Leslie came to Fannin County to live on
their ranch north of Windom. Their son David Leslie Barrett,
J. D., University of Texas 1973, is an attorney in Bonham.
BY MRS. W. L. BARRETT, JR.
~ ~.
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