The history and geography of Texas as told in county names, Part 19

Author: Fulmore, Zachary Taylor, 1846- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: [Austin, Press of E. L. Steck
Number of Pages: 336


USA > Texas > The history and geography of Texas as told in county names > Part 19


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21


They began to settle in the region north of the old San An- tonio road, between the Sabine and Trinity Rivers, as early as 1819, and continued for five years to arrive from the re- gion they occupied in Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and the Carolinas. They sought to obtain a grant from Mexico to this region in 1822, but failed to obtain anything beyond its permis- sive use, until the subject of colonization of Texas was definitely fixed and regulated by laws providing for the settlement of the country which were enacted several years later. No provision was made for granting titles to land, except in severalty or to the individual, and not to a community or tribe in solido. This, of course, the Cherokees did not desire, and matters remained in this way, they continuing in possession until the revolution of Texas against Mexico, when, by some understanding, their permissive use and occupancy was continued. Their persist- ent claim of title to the country and the friction that increased as the neighboring country was settled, together with undoubted evidence of disloyalty to the Republic of Texas, culminated in what was known as the Cherokee War in 1838, which resulted in their expulsion from Texas in 1839.


265


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


COMANCHE.


The connection of this tribe with the history of Texas dates back to about 1750, when they came down from the north and vanquished that other warlike tribe, the Apaches (see Ban- dera). They were more than a match for the Spanish set- tlers and troops, and were the virtual masters of Texas until the Anglo-Americans came. They stubbornly resisted every advance of the new settlers, stealing and murdering, and they did not finally leave the borders of the State until railroads and barbed wire fences obstructed their way, and there were no longer buffaloes and other available wild game for them to subsist upon. In 1882 they gave up the contest and retired to Indian Territory.


NACOGDOCHES.


This was the name of one of the Texas tribes in the Hasinai Confederacy for which a mission was established in 1716. If the term "prehistoric" means the period embraced before Co- lumbus discovered America we may call it a prehistoric name, as a tribe of Indians of this name was encountered by the rem- nant of De Soto's followers under Moscoso in 1542, and they were referred to by that name in the narrative of that expe- dition. The mission established there in 1716 was abandoned in 1719, when the French invaded that country. But the In- dians, such as were left there and were willing to go, were transferred to the Mission Espada about 1731, and they seem to have lost their identity afterwards. In the meantime some Spaniard settlers had settled on the Trinity and about 1775 re-established this old mission, and in 1785 there were two Spanish friars and a few settlers around there. The old Span- ish fort recently demolished was the last relic of the old mis- sion. After this American traders began to visit the place and to settle in the vicinity. When Edwards obtained his con- tract in 1825 to introduce 800 families into this region it was found to embrace many of these old Spanish claims, and the


266


THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS


friction that arose resulted in the Fredonian War. It was made a municipality by Coahuila and Texas and became one of the first counties of the Republic of Texas.


PECOS.


This county took its name from the Pecos River. Bander- ier's report on the Pueblo of Pecos (in the papers of the Arch- aeological Institute of America). American Sur., Vol. 1, Page 114, note, says: "The name Pecos itself belongs to the Qq'ueres language of New Mexico, and is pronounced Pae-qp. It is ap- plied to the inhabitants of the Pueblo, the place itself being called Pae-qog-one. The first mention of it under the name of Pecos is found in the documents of the year 1598, after the general meeting of Juan de Onate with the Pueblo Indians in the Estufa of Santo Domingo (a Qq'ueres village)." This vil- lage, or pueblo, was on the headwaters of the stream which now bears this name. As far back as Coronado's expedition (1542) this tribe, if one may call it such, had a tradition of its own, for their boast then was that it had never been con- quered and could conquer any of its neighbors. The name, therefore, is, as is Nacogdoches, of prehistoric origin.


WICHITA.


This was a common name for a number of tribes of Indians who occupied the headwaters of Red River and its tributaries. They came down into Texas from the north after the Span- iards first came to the country and lived in villages of the upper Brazos and Red Rivers. Like the Cherokees, they were peaceably inclined as a rule, practiced agriculture and remained in Texas long after the Anglo-American settlers came, but dis- appeared on the reservation after the Civil War.


267


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


CHAPTER XVII.


PHYSIOGRAPHIC NAMES.


THE PHYSIOGRAPHIC NAMES OF COUNTIES.


1. Atascosa 11. Falls 20. Matagorda


2. Blanco 12. Fort Bend 21. Midland


3. Bosque 13. Freestone 22. Nueces


4. Brazoria 14. Frio 23. Orange


5. Brazos 15. Lampasas 24. Palo Pinto


6. Colorado 16. Lavaca 25. Panola


7. Concho 17. Limestone 26. Red River


8. Comal 18. Live Oak 27. Rockwall


9. Delta


19. Llano 28. Sabine


10. El Paso


knott


269


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


ATASCOSA.


This word means "boggy." We have no historical account of its application to this region, but there would seem to be no doubt as to why it was called Atascosa before the Anglo- Americans began to traverse it. Brown's History of Texas (Vol. II, p. 235) says: "On a pleasant November day, 22nd, 1842, all the camps (of the Somervell Expedition) around the Mission Concepcion * * took up the line of march on the road from San Antonio to El Presidio Rio Grande. They encamped two nights and a day on the Rio Medina, then crossed that stream and after following the road several miles, to the astonishment and mortification of everyone, turned to the left southerly * * and a few miles brought them to a sandy postoak country where horses and mules sank to their bodies in quicksand. That locality became known as the "bogs," or "The Devil's Eight Leagues."


Green, in his "Mier Expedition," gives a somewhat more minute and picturesque description. He says: "This kind of land, with much appearance of firmness to the eye, and suffi- ciently firm to bear a man's weight, will let horses' feet through, and after once through the grass sod the soft quicksand be- neath will carry the animal down. * Two days were employed in five miles of this kind of land. The whole seven hundred and sixty men, horses and packs were scattered over the country as far as the eye could reach, some floundering and plunging forth; some with their bodies down upon the ground, their legs entirely out of sight and their noses upon the ground, in perfect quietude, as well as to say to their owners, 'You put me in here, now get me out,' while the owner would be standing by giving utterance to all manner of curi- ous oaths; some would be lying on their side, afraid to trust their legs under them, while the poor pack mules, with their little feet, stood the worst kind of a chance. The coffee pots and frying pans would go one way and the aparajos and other camp appurtenances another. Here one would strike


270


THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS


a fire and go to cooking, as he would say, while the animal could blow, etc."


The name, first applied to a circumscribed area, was soon given to the stream, and in 1856 the Legislature created a county with more than one thousand square miles of area and applied "Atascosa" or "boggy" to it.


BLANCO.


The Aguayo expedition of 1721 was composed of a larger body of men and better equipments and traveled a greater dis- tance than any other of the Spanish expeditions to Texas. It traveled entirely across the country from the Rio Grande to and beyond the Sabine. From San Antonio it went by what is now New Braunfels, San Marcos, and Austin until it reached George- town, Belton, and Waco, where it crossed the Brazos, then in a southeasterly direction until it reached the old San Antonio road; thence in a northeasterly direction to the Texas villages (see Angelina), and from there across the Sabine to Nachi- toches, La. After leaving San Antonio he gave names to many streams and other natural objects, some of which names have long since disappeared, and only a few have survived to become county names


Blanco means "White." It was given to that stream, which flows almost its entire length through a white, chalky lime- stone region.


BOSQUE.


The whole course of the Aguayo expedition from Monclova to the Brazos was through a sparsely wooded region, and when they reached the Brazos; at the junction of the Bosque, they encountered a dense growth of larger trees than they had ever seen, and called that stream the "Bosque" or "Woody" River, the word meaning "woody."


BRAZORIA.


Is Simply a derivative of Brazos.


271


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


BRAZOS.


This word means "arms." Brazos de Dios-Arms of God. Applied to streams it means forks.


The river was probably named in 1690 or 1691. As to the circumstances of the application of the name, there are various accounts, but as far as the author was able to learn, none of them have any historical foundation.


The county was named for the river January, 1842.


COLORADO.


This word means "Red Water." When it was first applied to the present stream is not definitely known. It was applied to several streams by different expeditions.


COMAL.


This word means basin. It was probably applied to this stream during the Aguayo expedition. It had its source in nu- merous springs a short distance above the town of New Braun- fels, which formed the Comal River, one of the most rapid and steady streams in the State. The river is only about three miles long and furnishes the best natural water power in the State.


CONCHO.


This word means "Shell," from the Spanish "Concha." The River Concho, from which the county took its name, has a his- tory extending back to 1650, when an expedition went there from New Mexico and found pearls in the streams, which they sent to the Viceroy. (Bancroft's History of the Mexican States, Vol. 1, p. 384.) A want of knowledge of the geography of Texas on the part of Mr. Bancroft deprives his history of what would be one of its greatest values. Appreciating the importance of this, Dr. Bolton, in his researches in Mexico, found a diary of another expedition, undertaken in 1683, and was able to make out in


272


THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS


detail the route of this last expedition, and with accuracy to trace it to the site of the modern city of San Angelo. The In- dians in that region induced the authorities at El Paso to un- dertake the establishment of a mission there and a large ex- pedition was fitted out and marched there. They encamped on the banks of the stream and awaited the gathering of the Indians. They waited in vain for many months, and while wait- ing engaged in fishing in the river for pearls, with some suc- cess. A half century ago there were some traces of large beds of shells (mussels) near the banks of the stream. The finding of so many shells in the river at different times caused the Spaniards to identify it as the Concho (Shell) River. The shells or mussels are still abundant in this and other streams of the upper Colorado, and valuable pearls are taken from them, the value of some reaching as high as two hundred and fifty dollars.


DELTA.


So named because of the county's boundaries being in the shape of the Greek letter Delta. It is situated between the north and south branches of the Sulphur Fork of Red River, the two joining on the extreme eastern end.


EL PASO.


"The Pass"-one of the first, if not the first, geographical names applied by the Spaniards to any part of Texas. It is a natural gateway through the chain of mountains, and from its peculiar situation all routes of that region converge there, and in modern times all railways in that region converge there.


FALLS.


About thirty miles southeast of Waco the water of the Brazos River has a fall of about twenty feet over the rocks and shoals, hence the name of the County through which the river flows.


273


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


FORT BEND.


This county was named for an old fort in the bend of the Brazos River at the present county site of this county. The fort was built about 1818, when Lafitte had his headquarters on Galveston Island and when the interior was infested by wild Indians. In that year William Andrews established a trading station there and to protect it built a fort. It was well known as old Fort Bend several years before Austin's first colonists began to arrive.


FREESTONE.


Was created out of the territory of Limestone County in 1850, Limestone having been created in 1846. The totally dif- ferent soil formation and character of water prompted the au- thors of the bill to make the boundary between the new and the old county represent in a general way the line between the freestone and the limestone regions. This line, in a general way, is a part of the western line of the great lignite belt of Texas.


FRIO.


"Cold," applied, according to Bancroft, to the River Frio in 1689, during De Leon's expedition, as a testimonial to the low temperature of the water.


LAMPASAS.


The origin of this name is not definitely known. The river, after which the county took its name, was named Lampasas more than a century before the county was created, and was supposed by some to be of Indian origin, having particular ref- erence to the Sulphur Springs which supplied most of its water.


The most plausible theory is that it was borrowed from the name of the Mexican town, Lampazos, and the stream first be- came known to the Spaniards in 1721, when the Aguayo expe- dition crossed it going to Eastern Texas. This expedition


18


274


THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS


crossed it where three streams come together and formed what was known at different times Primeria Brazos, San Andress, and now known as Little River. Spanish names were given to these three rivers, namely : Salado, Lampasas and Leon. About twenty years later three missions were established on the San Gabriel River near its mouth. These missions were maintained about twelve years and the geography of the region doubtless became familiar, as there are evidences of attempts to find sev- eral silver and gold mines in various places near what is now known as the town of Salado. Evidences of old shafts sunk near the Williamson and Bell County lines are still in existence.


Mr. Gannett says the word means "Water Lily," but the standard Spaniard dictionaries do not so define it. The word Lampazos is defined as "Burdock,", "common burdock" or "cockleburr," "pimples on the face," "swab or mop used to clean off the decks of ships." The Spanish word for water lily is Nunfia, Ninufa. This name was given to the stream prob- ably in 1721.


LAVACA.


This word is composed of the two Spanish words La, "the," and Vaca, "Cow." It is named for the river, near whose mouth La Salle built Fort St. Louis, and was first named by the French because of the large herds of buffalo seen in the vicinity. When the Spaniards took possession of the country they transformed the French name given to the river La Vaca, and the pract- ical Anglo-American took the two words and ran them together in the one word "Lavaca."


LIMESTONE.


See Freestone.


LIVE OAK.


This county takes its name from the trees. It marks the end of the great postoak belt and the beginning of the scat- tered live oaks, extending up through the lower coastal plain.


275


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


LLANO.


"Plain." This is a very common geographical term wherever the Spaniards settled. The river, from which the county took its name, has its source among the plains in Schleicher and Sut- ton counties, and flowing through a region of broken country empties into the Colorado River. There is another theory as to an Indian origin, but only a theory.


MATAGORDA.


There is some controversy as to the origin of this name. It is made up of two Spanish words, "Mata," which is defined as "small brush, shrubs, sprigs, blades, etc.," and "Gorda," which is defined as "fat, coarse, thick, dense, etc.," as Cerrogorda, Al- amogorda, etc. In Matagorda the meaning is "dense cane- brake." The most conspicuous geographical feature of this county is the dense cane-brake through which flows "Old Caney Creek," an ancient bed of the Colorado River. Having its source within less than a mile of the Colorado River, the creek flows about seventy miles through the only considerable cane-brake in the State, with a width of bottom lands ranging from three to ten miles wide, in many places through an almost impene- trable growth of cane. Its general course is parallel with the general trend of the present channel of the Colorado River, and the adjacent lands are the most fertile in the State.


The theory advanced by some is that the word is composed of the obsolete Spanish word Mata ("slaughter") and Gorda ("fat"). The name first applied to the bay was San Bernardo. It was afterward changed by the Spaniards to Matagorda, and the ancient bed of the Colorado from Matagorda was changed to "Old Caney" by the Anglo-Americans.


MIDLAND.


This county is so-called because it marks the midland or half- way ground between Fort Worth and El Paso on the Texas & Pacific Railway.


:276


THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS


NUECES.


"Pecans," so-called during De Leon's expedition in 1689, in the diary of which it is said, in writing of the Nueces River, "We call it Nueces because of the many pecan trees on its banks."


ORANGE.


All the original thirteen States have the geographical name "Orange," except Rhode Island, in honor of the House of Orange. The Gulf States and California have the name four- teen times, given for the fruit of that name. Since the earliest settlements near the mouth of the Sabine River, oranges have been grown for domestic purposes.


PANOLA.


This word means "cotton," from the Indian word "Ponolo." No more appropriate name could have been selected by Hon. Isaac Van Zandt, the author of the act creating the county, January, 1841. Of this plant Henry W. Grady said, "The world waits in attendance on its growth; the shower that.falls on its leaves is heard around the world; the sun that shines on it is tempered by the prayers of all the people; the frost that chills it, and the dew that descends from the stars, is noted ; and the trespass of a little worm upon the green leaf is more to England than the advance of the Russian army upon her outposts. It is gold from the instant it puts forth its tiny shoot ; its fiber is currency in every bank, and when loosing its fleece to the sun, it floats in a snowy banner that glorifies the field of the humblest farmer." No other agricultural product has .so great a commercial value.


277


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


RED RIVER.


The country through which this river, from which the county took its name, flows, goes through several hundred miles of red soil, which imparts its color to the water. To distinguish it from the Colorado the Spaniards called it Rio Rojo or Roxo, or Red River, of Nachitoches.


ROCKWALL.


An underground rock wall, apparently built by a prehistoric race, gives the name to this county.


SABINE.


"Cypress"-The large cypress forests through which the river flows gave the name, Sabine, or Cypress, to the stream and the county.


278


THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS


APPENDIX.


Prior to the revolution of Texas against Mexico there was no such political subdivision as the county. The State's area was subdivided into departments and municipalities. When the revolution began there were three departments: Bexar, Brazos and Nacogdoches; and eighteen municipalities, viz: Austin, Bexar, Brazoria (formerly called Columbia), Goliad, Gonzales, Harrisburg, Jasper (formerly called Bevil), Liberty, Matagorda, Milam (formerly called Viesca), Mina (afterward called Bastrop), Nacogdoches, Refugio, San Augustine, San Pa- tricio, Shelby (or Teneha), Victoria and Washington. Five additional ones were created by the provisional council in 1835, viz: Colorado, Jackson, Jefferson, Red River and Sabine. The department was ignored as a political unit in the several con- ventions held, being wholly unsuited to a representative form of government. The representatives came from the various municipalities and those were the nucleus of the counties created by the first Congress of the Republic of Texas, and the follow- ing diagram shows the development of the county from them :


279


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


Municipality


Derivatives


Created Organiza areal


County Seat


austin


17 Mari 36


37


712


Bellville


Justin


Ft Bend


39 Dec. 37


Jan 38


897


Richmond


Waller


28" apr. 73


"6"aug. 73


510


Hempstead


Bastrop


17" Max 36


8 abs. 37


881


Bastrop


Traves


25" Jan. 40


8 aber: 43


1036


austin


Burnet


Blanco


12" Feb'58


12 ans: 58


* 762


Johnson City


Brown


mille


15" Mari87


12- 8.1:87


604


Goldthwaite


Callahan


11º Feb: 58


3" July 17


882


Baird


Coleman( "Fel. 58


24 mari46


13" July 46


569


New Braunfels


Blanco


Eastland " Feb. 58


2" Dec. 73


947


Eastland


Gillespie


23" Feb. 48


3º June 48


/140


Fredericksburg


Gillespie


Blanco


1" Mar: 48


7" aug 45


* 647


San Marcos


Hays


Blanco


Lampasas: " Feb. 56


10 " Mar . 56


* 755


Sambasas


mille


Hamiltony 22" Jan. 58


2. aug.58


* 658


Hamilton


mille


Tunnels" Feb. 58


16" Feb '80


1073


Ballinger


Taylor


1" Feb. '58


3" July 75


900


abilene


tarjetter


14" Deci37


Jan. 38


992


La Grange


Fazjette


Lavaca


6" apr. 46


13 July 16


gigs


Hellattsville


Bexar 7" May 36


37


1268


San antonio


andrews


21 aug 76


1910


1591


andrews


armstrong 21" aug. 76


8" Mavi 90


870


Claude


atascosa 25° Jan: 56


1. Feb. 58


20" Juli IL


1064


Pearsall


atascosa


mcmullen," Felis8.


'77


1180


Tilden


Banderas


Bandiera 25° Jan: 56


10 Mari 56


822


Bandera


Real 3º a per. 1913.


1913


701


Leaky


* Records destroyed before 1898.


Pastrop


Travis


14 apr. 74


2º June 14


666


Luddings


Burnet


5" Feb, 52


7. aug. 54


1010


Burnet


Brown


27 aug 56


2" Mais7


* 911


Brownwood


6 Oct. 64


1302


Coleman


Comal


Comal


Hays


Lamparas


Hamiltonf


Benar


4" aug. 56


1182


Pourdanton


280


THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OF TEXAS


Municipality


Derivatives


Created


Organized area


County Seat.


Bailey


21" ang: 76


1000


Borden


21" aug. 76


17" Marial


892


Lail


Buscar 21" ang: 16


11" Jan. 92


8:50


Silverton


Callahan


Carson


21" aug 76


26" June 8


860


Panhandle


Castro


21" aug 76


1891


$70


Dimmitt


Cochran 21° aug. 16


750


Collinsworth 21 ana " Il


30" Sept. go


867


Wellington


Camal


Cancho


1. Feb 08


11" Maring


941


Paint Rock


Crockett


22 "Jani.75


14 Julyas


300H


Ozanal


Schleicher


" aprist


1891


1355


El Dorado


Sutton


1" apr. 87


H" navigo


1517


Sonora


Val Verde 24" Mari 85


2" May 85


3034


Del Rio


Crosby


21" aug. 76


Il" Left. 86


9.64


Emmal


Dallam


21" aug. 76


8 Sept 91


1463


Dalhart


Dawson


21" aug. 76


1905


900


Lamesa


Dealsmith


21" aug 76


1" Decigo


1477


Hereford


Dickens 21 aug: 76


14" Marial


918


Dickens


Dimmit


1" Feb. 58


2" Nov 80


1164


Carrizo Springs


Dopler


21" aug, 76 22" Mar. 82


878


Clarendon


Edwards " Feb. 58


10" aksi 83


1937


Rock Springs


El Paso


3"Jani 50


7. Mai 11.


55 12*


El Paso


Culberson


10" Mar 1911


1912


3780


Van Horn


Fisher


21" Ung 76 27' apr. 86


836


Robus


Aloud


21° Qua 76 28 Mariad.


1036


Floridadas


trio


Jaunes


21" auq'71.


24" Oct,05


1590


Seminoles


Garzas


21" Qua 76


15" June 07


821


Post


Gillespie


21" augi 71


860


Lelars


Guadalupe 30" War 46


13ª Coli 46


717


Seguir


Hale


21" aug'76


13" aug. 88


1036


Plainview


Hall


21" aug. 76


23° June'90


898


memphis


Hansford 2" aug 76


11 Mar. 89


860


Hansford


Bexar


Edwardin


Real


El Paso


Crockett


281


AS TOLD IN COUNTY NAMES


Municipality


Derivatives


Created


Organized


ana


Country Seat


Hartley


21° aug. '76


9. Febigi


1460


Hartley


Hempfull


21. aug. 76


5 July 87


860


Canadian


Hockley


21" aug. 76


977


Howard


21° angi76


15 Juni 82


888


BigSprings


Hutchinun


121" aug .76


1901


850


Plemons


Jones


1. Feb : 58


13 June'81


900


andard


Kent


21° aug. '76


8 Nov. 92


777


Clairemont


Karnesp


James


4" Fele 54


27 Feb. '54


*


740


Nasnes Citre


Kilian


13" Feb '60


6. aug.60


78H


Floresville


Real


Kendall


10° Jani 62


18" Feb, 62


613


Boerne


Kimble


22º Qaa 58


3" Javi 76


*1302


function


Vianeu


28 Jan'50


2" Feb 56


13" Sula'71


1332


Eagle Lass


Zavala


1. Fels '58


25. Feb, '8H


1328


Batesville


Val Verde


Lamb


2º ana 76


1908


10치


Olten


LaSalle


1. Feb. 58


2" now'80


1707


Cotulla


Lipscomb 21" ana 76


6 June 87


850


Likacomb


Llano


1º Fel. 56


4ª aug. 56


* 993


Plano


Lubbock


(21 aug. 76


10"Max. 91


982


Lubbock


Lynn


21" aug. 76


1903


821


Takoka


martin


21" Gua 76


4º Nov 84


900


Stanton


Mason


22" Jan'58


2" aua '58


* 968


Mason


McCulloch 27 aug'56


'76


1110


Brady


me mullica


Medina


12-Feb. 48


7" aug. 48


1284


Hondo


Menard


22" Jan. 58


8" May'71


888


menardville


mitchell


21 aug. 76


10" lan '81


807


Colorado


moore


21" aug. 76


6º July 92


885


Dumas


matter


25 aug: 76


25" Feb 91


984


Matador


nalad


21 aug: 76


10" Sure 81


828


Sweetwater


Ochultra


21. aug. 76


21º Feli'89


$14


Ochiltre


Oldham 25 aug. 76


12" Jung: 81.


1470


Tascosa


* Accords Destroyed Before 1898


Bexar


Kinney Maneuch


Dimmit


25° Jani 56




Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.