A Joint Project of the Sam Rayburn House Historic Site and the Fannin County Historical Commission
Celebrating America 250 with Spotlights of Fannin County Citizens Who Participated In or Witnessed Historical Events
The Orphan Train Movement sent abandoned or homeless children from Eastern cities of the US to foster homes in rural areas. An estimated 200,000 children were involved in the program.
On November 18, 1898 a train carrying boys aged between 12 to 16 years arrived in Bonham, and a local committee chaired by Dr. R. E. Martin and Judge R. M. Lusk met the train. An article in the Bonham newspaper stated all of the boys got homes and that more could have been placed.
John E. Dibley (age 15) and his brother George Dibley (age 7) arrived on this train.
John was placed with a farm family, but he was in poor health and could not perform farm work. He was taken in by the family of Sam Hampton in Bonham and nursed back to health by Mrs. Hampton. He then began working for the Bonham News, and later became a student studying stenography and typewriting in a commercial college in Ft. Worth, Brantley Draughn. However, he became ill in Ft. Worth and returned to Bonham in 1904, where he died, at the age of 19, shortly thereafter at S. B. Allen Memorial Hospital.
An obituary stated: “Everybody who knew Johnnie Dibley esteemed him highly and learned with deep regret of his death.”
He was buried at Willow Wild Cemetery in the plot of Dr. Richard Martin and his brother George attended the burial.
His burial plot remained unmarked until 2018, when a marker was placed by descendants of his brother George. George farmed in the Dial Community and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Honey Grove.
