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.