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In 1972 the legislature established a uniform statewide system for preservation of records in regional historical resources depositories. Under this act, the Local Records Division of the Texas State Library collects and maintains city, county, and local government records; these are available to the public. Michael Heskett, Texas County Records: A Guide to the Holdings of the Local Records Division of the Texas State Library of County Records on Microfilm (1978; 2d ed., Austin, Tex.: Texas State Library, 1990), is a valuable guide.
County records, such as land and property records, probate records and wills, marriage records, naturalization papers, and district court minutes, are micro filmed and kept in a depository designated for the county's respective area. Thus there is no one state depository with a complete set of records.
Each of the twenty-six depositories has some original records and manuscripts concerning that particular region. In some instances micro filming of county records has not been done. Inventories of the records available in nearly eighty of the 254 county courthouses have been made. For further information see:
- Holley, Edward G., and Donald D. Hendricks. Resources of Texas Libraries. Austin, Tex.: Texas State Library, 1968.
Texas State Library. Inventory of County Records. Austin, Tex.: Texas State Library, 1973.
Many Texas counties have suffered a loss of records due to courthouse fires, floods, and theft. This is reflected in the earliest dates for record availability.
The first date in the county record dates that follows is the creation date. It is sometimes followed by a second date indicating the date of organization, the date from which a researcher can expect to find vital, land, probate, and court records for each county. Some counties were organized twice. Although twenty-seven additional counties were created by the legislature, none were organized. Of these only Buchel, Encinal, and Foley counties had records. Buchel and Foley were incorporated into Brewster County, while Encinal was included in Webb County. Deeds are located through the county clerk, probates at the county clerk's or the probate clerk's office in larger counties, and court records through the county or district court clerk. Letters should be addressed to the appropriate clerk. Choose from the counties below to view the county information.
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