John P. Simpson

Tennessee native John P. Simpson, significant in the formative years of Bonham and Fannin County, arrived in Texas about 1837. That year he signed the petition to create Fannin County and began farming his land in this area. As an early elected official, he 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 courthouse square, and he also served for a time as head of the Fannin Guards, which provided frontier defense for this region.

Bonham, Texas · United States