Lavaca County, Texas
History, Records, Facts and Genealogy

Lavaca County Facts

Lavaca County was created in 1842 the Republic of Texas Congress established a judicial county from portions of Colorado, Gonzales, Jackson and Victoria Counties and named it La Baca County. In 1846 the area was renamed Lavaca County, and it became a regularly constituted county with 140 taxpayers. Lavaca County was named for the Lavaca River; la vaca is Spanish for the cow. The County Seat is Hallettsville. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.lavaca.tx.us. See also Extended History for more historical details.

Areas adjacent to LLavaca County are Fayette County (north), Colorado County (northeast), Jackson County (southeast), Victoria County (south), DeWitt County (southwest), Gonzales County (northwest)

A Richardsonian courthouse strongly influenced by the Allegheny County Courthouse in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. The raised three-story building is of limestone, cruciform in plan, with a hip roof and heavy towers with pyramidal roofs and dormers flanking the side arms. The front arm of the cross is longer than the others and has an attached one- story porch with Romanesque arches. The windows are tall and narrow of the one-over-one double-hung sash type. Those on the first and second story have stone lintels. The windows on the third story are arched. A two-story arch frames the paired windows of the second and third stories. A segmental arch varies this pattern above the main opening. The three minor entrances are inset in Romanesque arches. A tall central tower has two-story slit-like windows like those in the Richardson building in Pittsburg, with clock faces above, all contained in a tall arch. The top story of the tower has a trabiated open bleeder and is crowned with a four-part pyramidal roof.

From 1846 to 1852, the county seat changed locations several times. The two contenders for the honor were Petersburg and Hallettsville, but Hallettsville became the seat only after two elections and a violent archive war. Petersburg was five miles west of Halletsville and grew rapidly when Lavaca County was organized. Without waiting for an election, the town built an $800 courthouse. County Commissioners called an election and Hallettsville won. When Petersburg citizens ,burned the returns, the commisioners called another election. Again, Hallettsville won, and again Petersburg refused to give up the county records. Under the direction of Mrs. John Hallett, Hallettsville citizens went to Petersburg and took the records.

Until the county built a new courthouse, the commissioners convened in Mrs. Hallet's home, now the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Finkelstein. About 1852, the Hallets donated a townsite and additional lots to the Commissioner's Court. The lots were offered for sale to the public and the proceeds were used to erect the permanent buildings of the county.

By 1865, the Hallettsville courthouse was in such poor condition and the space it offered so limited, that the court called for the submission of bids for a new building. When the court accepted plans in 1873 the contract went to J. E. Dietz and Co. for a bid of $16,500.00. First materials for the structure arrived January, 1874, and Dietz completed the building in November, 1875. The old courthouse was sold at public auction to Jonathan Speary for $330.

The courthouse was repaired in 1894, and a belfry was built on the roof, but March 8, 1897, the County Commissioners, Judge, and Clerk voted to have a new courthouse built. Eugene T. Heiner of Houston as employed as architect, and A. T. Lucas was awarded the contract for the lowest bid of $62,500. W. W. Otten of Houston provided sewers and plumbing for $2,775, and Diebold Safe and Lock Company installed the vaulting for $6,150. Seth Thomas Clock Company was given a contract on November 19, 1898, to build a clock tower for $1,350, and Commissioners Emily Gieptner and Vogt were assigned to arrange the yard and fence for the new courthouse. Finally, the Commissioners Court issued eighty bonds at S1,000 each at an interest rate of 5% to be paid in forty years.

Until the commissioners accepted the courthouse May 12, 1899, they rented the opera house from Kahn and Stanzel for $65 and two rooms from D.E. Raab for $8 a month. May, 1936, the County Commissioners employed John C. Moore to make general repairs to the courthouse. They gave J.R. Goode the plumbing contract. Total cost of the repairs was $13,533 and included a remodeling of the basement, and the addition of offices for the county auditor, agriculture agent, and home demonstration agent.

Lavaca County, Texas History Books at Amazon.com
Family History Library - The largest collection of free family history, family tree and genealogy records in the world.
Search Historical Newspapers from Texas (1802 - 1993) - Quickly find names and keywords in over 450 million articles, obituaries, marriage notices, birth announcements and other items published in over 2,800 historical U.S. newspapers. New content added monthly!
Stories, Memories & Histories - Stories and histories compiled by others researching a person or area can be an amazing source of information about your ancestors. Not only do they generally contain dates and places of vital events like birth, marriage, and death, but they often relate stories and memories that help you really get to know the character of your ancestors.
Search Texas Historical Records - Databases include Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records; Birth, Marriage & Death Records; Voter Lists & Census Records; Immigration & Emigration Records; Obituary Records; Military Records; Family Tree Records; Pictures; Stories, Memories & Histories; Directories & Member Lists and much more....

Lavaca County Court Records

Lavaca County Vital Records

Lavaca County Census Records

Lavaca County Maps & Atlases

Lavaca County Military Records

Lavaca County Tax Records

Lavaca County Genealogical Addresses

Lavaca County Church & Cemeteries

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Lavaca County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Lavaca County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

Search for Local Texas Researchers or Earn Money by becoming a Local Texas Researcher!
Search 60 Years Of Everton Data: For the first time ever you can get access to more than 150,000 pedigree files and family group sheets from Evertons. Learn More
Search the Family Tree DNA Project- Use DNA testing to break through your genealogical barriers!
Sites on USGenweb: [ Lavaca County ] [ Texas ] [ Main Page ]
[GenForum Message Boards] [Rootsweb Message Boards]
Genealogy Encyclopedia: General Abbreviations, Early Illnesses, Nickname Meanings, Worldwide Epidemics, Early Occupations, Common Terms, Censuses Explained, Free Genealogical Forms
Nichols and Related Families of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virgina.
The Texas Family Group Sheet Project
Family Trees - Ancestry has thousands of family trees shared by other members. They can help you identify how ancestors are related and give you clues about birth, marriage, and death information. Family trees are an excellent resource for filling in gaps in your research or even to simply know where to begin.
Pictures - One of the more exciting discoveries in doing family history research is finding a photograph of your ancestors or their residence. Finding historic postcard photos and drawings of towns and important events throughout history can also give you a visual look into your ancestors lives.
Reference Materials & Finding Aids - Reference materials, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other how-to books, can be tremendously helpful in finding and interpreting historical documents. Many of these books can help you learn where to look for more information and how to use what you've already found to uncover more clues.
Lavaca County, Texas Family Books at Amazon.com

Extended History

The area of Lavaca County has long been the site of human habitation. Numerous artifacts from the Paleo-Indian (10,000-6,000 B.C.) and Archaic (6,000-200 B.C.) periods have been found in the area, which has been more or less continuously occupied for more than 10,000 years. During historic times the region was inhabited by various Coahuiltecan tribes, and Karankawas and Tonkawas were frequent visitors. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the Lipan Apaches and Comanches occasionally made forays into the region. Most of these peoples eventually succumbed to European diseases, were killed by other Indian tribes, intermarried, or migrated elsewhere; by 1850 virtually no trace of them remained.

Some sources suggest that the earliest Europeans to set foot in the future Lavaca County may have been survivors of Pánfilo Narváez's expedition of 1528, most notably Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca. The earliest documented exploration of the region, however, was led by the Frenchman René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, who in 1685 landed on the coast and reportedly named the Lavaca River Les Veches ("the cattle") because of the number of buffalo he saw grazing on its banks. The name was retained by the Spanish, who translated it La Baca. Later Spanish explorers may have crossed the county, but there is no record of other Europeans in the area until 1820.

Lands in the future county were included in the empresario grants of both Stephen F. Austin and Green DeWitt, with the Lavaca River marking the boundary of both. The first settlers were probably refugees from an Indian attack on the Mexican settlement of La Bahía in 1826. Their settlement, located somewhere along the Lavaca River, was soon abandoned, but by 1831 DeWitt had assigned homesteads to twenty-one and Austin to twelve American families who came to establish small farms and stock ranches. Settlements sprang up at Zumwalts Mill, Rocky Creek, Hallettsville, Petersburg, Turner's Crossing, and William Millican's gin, which became a center of revolutionary activity in 1835. Following the defeat of the garrison at the Alamo in 1836, both the Texas army under the command of Sam Houston and the Mexican army passed through the county from west to east.

Indian raids, particularly by the Comanches and Tonkawas, were common in the late 1830s, but several defeats forced the Indians to withdraw to the west, and after 1841 the attacks ceased. In 1842 the Republic of Texas Congress established a judicial county from portions of Fayette, Colorado, Jackson, Victoria, and Gonzales counties and named it La Baca County. In 1846 the area was renamed Lavaca County, and it became a regularly constituted county with 140 taxpayers. Petersburg and Hallettsville vied to be county seat, and after two hotly contested elections Hallettsville won the contest in 1852; only by force of arms, however, were the men of Hallettsville able to liberate the county records from Petersburg.

The population grew rapidly during the late 1840s; by 1850 the number of inhabitants reached 1,571. The majority of the new settlers were from the Old South, and many brought slaves with them. Already in 1850 there were 379 bondsmen in the county, and the number grew steadily over the next decade. Despite the presence of a growing labor force, ranching remained the dominant occupation during the antebellum period. In 1846 tax rolls listed 3,581 cattle in the county; two stockmen had more than 200, seven had herds ranging from 100 to 150, and fifteen had 50 to 100. By 1851 the total number of cattle had risen to 13,505, and seventeen ranchers were listed with more than 200 head. Despite the emphasis on cattle ranching, however, by the late 1850s a small plantation economy, based primarily on cotton, also began to develop. The number of acres under cultivation increased markedly between 1855 and 1860, and by 1860 the cotton harvest neared 6,000 bales annually. Because of the lack of navigable streams, most of the county's large cotton crop had to be hauled overland to Port Lavaca and from there to markets and mills elsewhere.

The population increased rapidly during the 1850s as large numbers of settlers, lured by the abundant land, moved in. By 1860 the county had 5,945 residents, a nearly fourfold increase over 1850. The number of slaves increased to 1,606 (or more than a quarter of the entire population) by the eve of the Civil War. As many as half of the white families owned one or more slaves, and one of the state's largest slaveholders, W. G. L. Foley, who owned 124 bondsmen, lived in Lavaca County.

On the eve of the war Lavaca County was in most ways typical of the counties of the region, decidedly Southern in character and outlook, with a rapidly developing plantation economy. Not surprisingly, given its large number of slaveholders, the citizenry overwhelmingly supported the Southern cause. Nearly 95 percent (592 of 628) of those who went to the polls voted for secession. Lavaca County men volunteered for the Confederate Army in large numbers, many of them serving in Whitfield's Legion, the Eighth Texas Cavalry (Terry's Texas Rangers), and other volunteer units. Some of the early volunteers saw considerable action during the conflict, and a sizable number of them were killed or injured. Although no fighting took place in Lavaca County, for those who remained at home there were other problems: lack of markets for goods, shortages, and unstable Confederate currency. Nevertheless, the county remained fairly prosperous during the war years. Large cotton crops were raised and harvested by ever-growing numbers of slaves, brought to the county by masters fleeing the fighting farther east. At the height of this influx in 1864, the tax rolls recorded 2,713 slaves in the county, a nearly twofold increase over 1860. During the later war years, the La Bahía Road, which crossed the county, became one of the main supply routes, feeding into what became known as the "Cotton Road" because of the continuous stream of wagons loaded with cotton moving south to bypass the Union blockade of the Texas coast.

The end of the war brought great changes. For many Lavaca County whites, the abolition of slavery meant economic disaster. Before the war slaves had constituted nearly half of all taxable property in the county, and their loss, coupled with a precipitous lapse in property values, caused a profound disruption for most planters. The black population of Lavaca County did even worse. Most African Americans left the farms owned by their former masters to seek better lives, but they generally found little improvement. Most ended up working as agricultural laborers or as sharecroppers, receiving one-third or one-half of the crop for their labors.

Lavaca County escaped much of the strife that many other Texas counties experienced during Reconstruction. Although a detachment of federal troops and a Freedmen's Bureau agent were stationed in Hallettsville, relations between local whites and the soldiers and governmental officials were generally peaceful, and most of the county's citizens occupied themselves with rebuilding their lives. Isolated acts of violence and intimidation directed at blacks did occur, however, and when the white elite regained control of the county's affairs in the 1870s they worked quickly to disfranchise the black population. In the years immediately after the Civil War cotton production declined and cattle ranching again took center stage. The county's large expanses of open range and inexpensive land attracted cattlemen from more populated areas of the state; by 1870 the county was maintaining 56,309 cattle. Large trail drives to the railroads in Kansas began just after the war and continued until the mid-1880s, making some ranchers considerable fortunes. By 1870 sheep ranching had also become an important industry, and during the 1880s the number of sheep exceeded 25,000.

Despite the increased attention given to stock-raising, the decade from 1870 to 1880 also saw a resurgence of cotton culture. The introduction of barbed wire, which enabled farmers to fence their fields inexpensively and protect them from free-ranging herds of cattle and sheep, was one reason for the growth of cotton production. But even more important was the changing demographic face of the county. After 1870 increasing numbers of Central European immigrants began to settle in the county, displacing many of the original American planters. Over the course of the next two decades many of the county's large land grants were divided into smaller, self-sustaining units; between 1870 and 1880 the number of farms grew from 905 to 1,925, and by 1890 the figure had risen to 3,062. The new immigrants worked without hired labor, relying on the aid of their families, which made production of cotton-and farming in general-much more profitable than it had been previously. As a result, cotton production increased steadily, from 3,528 bales in 1870 to 9,976 bales in 1880; by 1890 the number had risen to 26,842 bales, and in 1900, 38,349 bales came from the gins. During these years production of many other crops increased similarly, including corn, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, honey, sugarcane, and molasses.

Fueled by the influx of new immigrants, the population also rose markedly during the second half of the nineteenth century. It was 9,158 in 1870, 13,641 in 1880, 21,887 in 1890, and 28,121 in 1900. The majority of the new settlers were Germans and Czechs (in this case, Czech-speaking Bohemians). The 1890 census listed 4,402 foreign-born residents, with the largest contingents from Germany (1,884) and Austria (1,748). The German, Moravian, and Czech immigrants founded numerous new ethnic farm communities, including Glecker, Breslau, Witting, Moravia, and Vienna. As a result the once decidedly Anglo-American county took on something of a Central European character. By the turn of the century a wide range of German and Czech newspapers were being published, among them Obzor, Treue Zeuge, Novy Domov, Prozor, Vestnik, and Buditel, and many of the county's towns had Czech social organizations, such the National Sokol Society and the Slavonic Benevolent Order.

The arrival of the first railroad, a branch of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass that passed through Hallettsville in 1887, helped to accelerate the growth of the county by providing better access to outside markets and giving rise to a number of new towns, including Shiner and Yoakum. The steady growth in new residents continued until around 1900. For the next three decades, however, the population stagnated; it was 26,418 in 1910, 28,964 in 1920, and 27,550 in 1930. The period after 1900 saw a marked increase in the dairy industry and swine raising; after 1910 poultry production also became a leading industry, and by the early 1930s Lavaca County ranked among the top Texas counties in poultry and egg production. After 1900 attempts were made to introduce tobacco farming. A stock company was organized in Hallettsville in 1904 that maintained a thirty-four-acre farm. But the quality of the tobacco raised was poor, and the project was abandoned after a few years. More successful was the introduction of truck farming, which proved to be well-suited to the area's sandy soil. After 1910 cucumbers, Irish potatoes, onions, garlic, beans, and sweet potatoes were grown in commercial quantities. But the most successful crop turned out to be tomatoes, which thrived in the warm, humid climate. In 1932, 431 railroad carloads, averaging 18,000 pounds each, went to markets in the North. Cotton continued to occupy a central place in the economy. As late as 1930 more than half of county's cropland (97,022 of 178,742 acres) was devoted to cotton. But as a result of the combined effects of the boll weevil and soil depletion, production of cotton declined, from 40,171 bales in 1906 to 34,186 in 1916 and 27,789 in 1926.

The falling cotton harvests brought hardship for many farmers in Lavaca County, particularly the growing legion of tenant farmers and sharecroppers. By 1920 nearly half of the farmers in the county (1,958 of 4,149) were working someone else's land. During the Great Depression of the 1930s many of these tenants were hit hard. But in contrast to the tenant farmers of many other counties in the state, the majority of them were able to stay afloat by switching to truck farming or livestock raising. Between 1930 and 1940 the number of tenant farmers in the county actually increased (from 2,075 to 2,179), even while the population as a whole was declining. The trend toward diversification continued after World War II, enabling many smaller farmers to survive. Although some farms were consolidated in the 1950s, as late as 1964 the county still had 2,685 farms and therefore ranked third among Texas counties in this category. During the 1970s and 1980s, however, the pace of consolidation quickened as greater emphasis was placed on livestock raising; by the 1980s truck farming had been largely abandoned and little cotton was being grown. Nevertheless, in the early 1990s Lavaca County remained among the leading Texas counties in beef cattle, poultry, and hog production. Leading crops included hay, milo, and corn. Nonfarm revenues toward the end of the twentieth century came largely from light manufacturing, leather goods, and the Spoeztl Brewery in Shiner. Oil and gas, discovered in 1941, also contributed to the economy. In 1990 oil production was 736,258 barrels; total production from 1941 to 1990 exceeded 21,000,000 barrels.

Lavaca County, Texas
History, Records, Facts and Genealogy

Lavaca County Court Records

See Also Texas Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

Lavaca County Vital Records

See Also Vital Records in Texas

Lavaca County Census Records

See Also Research In Census Records & Statewide Records that exist for Texas

Lavaca County Maps & Atlases

See Also Research In State Map Collections

Lavaca County Military Records

See Also Military Records in Texas

Lavaca County Tax Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

Lavaca County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Texas Genealogical Addresses

Lavaca County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in Texas

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Extended History

Lavaca County, Texas History, Records, Facts and Genealogy

Lavaca County Court Records

See Also Texas Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

Lavaca County Vital Records

See Also Vital Records in Texas

Lavaca County Census Records

See Also Research In Census Records & Statewide Records that exist for Texas

Lavaca County Maps & Atlases

See Also Research In State Map Collections

Lavaca County Military Records

See Also Military Records in Texas

Lavaca County Tax Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

Lavaca County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Texas Genealogical Addresses

Lavaca County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in Texas

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Extended History

Lavaca County, Texas
History, Records, Facts and Genealogy