 NEW SHERMAN The
county seat was moved to the present site of Sherman in April 1848.
The next term of the Court was held under a large pecan tree on
the southeast corner of the public square; a small log cabin housed the
county records. The old pecan tree on the public square became
the cventer of the community. Julia Shannon, a daughter of T.J. Shannon, at the age of 12 entertained people at the court sessions in the Shannon home, which was the nearest building to the court site. The town was laid out and Julia Shannon named the streets for Texas heroes ~ Travis, Crockett, Jones, Rusk, Houston, Lamar ~ and native trees of the county ~ Pecan, Walnut, Mulberry and Elm. Preaching was held on Sundays around the pecan tree with guns stacked nearby in case of Indian attacks. On week days the pecan tree was the post office and the bank. An old coat was hung on the tree. People put letters in the pockets of the old coat for drivers of ox teams to take to south Texas; the mail would then go by stage to Galveston or Indianola on the Gulf of Texas. At that point, the mail was put on steamers to continue its journey to those destined to receive it. By 1850 the villages of Preston, Pilor Grove (Lick Skillet), Shawneetown, Old Warren and Sherman were thriving. Kentuckytown was laid out in 1842 by Dr. Josiah L. Huston and named for his daughter Ann Eliza. A wagon train consisting of twenty families from Kentucky settled in the business section of the town. The business section was the town square with thirteen business establishments, of which three were saloons. The first business house was owned by John Dyer in 1848. The general store was owned by Alfred Drye. In 1852 Sherman consisted of a row of clapboard business houses along the east side of the square; a long house on the northeast corner of the square was the town saloon; a double log house on the north side of the square was the Sherman Hotel, which was operated by John R. Bean. A small log building on the south side of the square was the District Clerk's office and the Sherman post office; a log courthouse was situated on the southeast corner of the square with no floor, but it did have a chimney, and cracks between the logs. Two blocks south of the square on Travis there was a two-room frame white house that belonged to Dr. R.L. Bullock. The one acre cemetery was established on the southwest edge of town on South Austin St. Those buried there were: W.W. & W.J. Bomer, 1854 Mrs. Emily T. Anderson, 1853 M.M. Richards, 1852 B.A. Richards, 1856 Sarah L. Randolph, 1858 L. Richards, 1858 The first school in the county seat was located on North Crockett street in the 100 block, on the west side in 1849. The school was a log room with a dirt floor and a hole in the center of the dirt floor to build a fire for warmth; a hole was also made in the roof of the log room to let the smoke from the fire escape. This school was taught by Benjamin Willie Bradley. Mrs. B.P. Smith also taught school in a log school house in northeast Sherman. Mrs. Mary Stamps taught school in 1852; one of her pupils, William Bullock, was the first boy born in Sherman. Ann Spearman Webb taught school near where the town of Howe is now located. SOURCE : Morris L. Britton. "Organization of Grayson County, The Site of the First ourt Sessions and The Location of the Original County Seat", cJuly 1978 Susan Hawkins © 2024 Grayson County TXGenWeb |