Abel Warren, who established a trading post in Fannin County, Texas, in 1836, was born in Northboro, Massachusetts, Sept. 18, 1814. At the age of twenty-one he set out for the southwestern part of the United States. He arrived in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Here hunters and trappers told such fabulous stories of Texas wild life that he immediately gathered about him a company of young adventurers with the aid of an Indian guide set out for Texas. They settled on Coctau Bayou on the banks of Red River within the extreme northwestern angle of what is now Fannin County. There he and his associates built a log stockade and storehouse and began to barter for hides and furs. The prairie Indians, Warren's most profitable customers, were too far to the west, and the civilized Five Tribes, who were north of Red River, too, preferred to trade through their own agencies. These two facts caused Warrne's venture to fail. Settlers started coming into the prospective trading area, so that Warren finally deserted his post and returned to Fort Smith, leaving his memory impressed on the history of our county in the name of Warren, it's first seat of justice.
He died at Lavaca, Sebastian County, Arkansas 3 APR 1882 and is buried at Oak Cemetery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Children: William S Warren 1854–1863, Ida Frances Warren 1856–1867. Sarah Greenwood Warren 1859–1867, Mary Elizabeth, Frank Herbert, Sabra C, and Emma Louise