Concho County was created in 1858
(Organized in 1879)
and formed from Bexar Territory. Concho County was named for the Concho River. The County Seat is Paint
Rock. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.concho.tx.us. The Concho County courthouse was built in Second Empire style of stone in 1886. F.E. Ruffini designed the courthouse but died shortly after he drew up the plans. His brother, Oscar Ruffini, completed the courthouse with contractors Kane & Cormack constructing it.
National Register Text: The Concho County courthouse designed by architect, F.E. Ruffini and built in 1886 under the supervision of his brother Oscar, is a two-story structure of native stone. Built in the Second Empire style much favored for public buildings of the period, its dominant visual feature is its characteristic Mansard roof, treated with much greater elaboration than some of its contemporaries such as F.E. Ruffini's Blanco County Courthouse. The roof rises in three sections featuring elegantly enframed circular dormers, contrasting cornice and trim, all of galvanized iron, and wrought iron cresting over the entry pavilion.
At each elevation the entrances are emphasized by a triangular pediment from which a Mansard-roofed pavilion rises. Projecting bays flank the north and south entries with cornices slightly higher than the adjacent wall surfaces. The walls are laid up in cream-colored ashlar masonry with substantial cut stone quoins and a string course between floors. A wide cornice is carried on ornamental brackets. Tall, narrow windows are capped with stilted arches of cut stone and a cut stone string course runs from the base of the arch and the band across the facade.
The courthouse is laid out on the traditional cross axial plan with wide corridors that divide the ground floor into four equal quadrants. The disposition of the interior spaces follows the massing of the outside walls. Offices and storage were allocated in the original plan to the county and district clerks, sheriff, county treasurer, tax assessor, surveyor, county judge and chambers for the commissioners' court. Stairways at either side of the east west hall rise simply to a graceful curve at the top. The second floor is occupied by an imposingly scaled courtroom and several jury rooms. Much historic detail is preserved in the interior finish particularly in the pressed metal ceilings and handsome wooden staircase.
In 1842 Henry Francis Fisher and Burchard Miller received a contract for colonization of the Concho area, but it was still under the domination of the Apache and no important settlement was made until the 1870's. Concho County was attached to McCulloch County for judicial purposes until its incorporation on March 11, 1879. Paint Rock became the county seat although in 1880 it only had a population of 100 persons.
On October 5, 1885 the commissioners' court received bids for the construction of the first permanent courthouse in Concho County. Plans and specifications for a two-story building of native stone in the Second Empire style were prepared by architect F.E. Ruffini of Austin and accepted by the county. J.B. Kane and John Cormack under the firm name of Kane and Cormack Contractors and Builders posted a bond for $20,000 and entered into a contract with Concho County to furnish materials and labor in the construction of a new courthouse. Bonds for $28,000 at 8% interest were issued to fund the project. In the meantime, F.E. Ruffini had died and on October 29, 1885 his brother, architect Oscar Ruffini of San Angelo, was named by the commissioners' court as supervising architect.
The brothers Ruffini were both prominent in Texas architecture during the later part of the nineteenth century. Born in Cleveland, Ohio, of immigrant parents, they received their architectural training in firms in Ohio and Indiana. In 1876, F.E. Ruffini opened an office in Austin, where two years later he was joined by his brother. Before becoming established in Austin, Oscar worked for a time in the firm of E.E. Myers of Detroit, Michigan, the architect of the Texas state capitol. In 1884, Oscar moved to San Angelo.
Apart from such work as F.E. Ruffini's design for the old main building for the University of Texas, the brothers were known chiefly as designers of courthouses. By the mid- 1880's they had developed a full-blown architectural vocabulary for this building type. Oscar Ruffini's Sutton County Courthouse (1891), and F.E. Ruffini's Blanco County Courthouse (1885), exemplified the style which appeared in a somewhat more decoratively evolved form in the Concho County Courthouse. While a high central tower was usual on many nineteenth century courthouses, the Ruffini's developed the Mansard roof of the Second Empire style as a dominant visual element in a composition lacking a tower. Also in contrast to the complicated massing of recessed bays and projecting pavilions usually encountered, the Ruffini's substituted a simpler geometry of superimposed elements in the facades.
By March 17, 1886 construction on the Concho County Courthouse was almost completed, and at that time the commissioners' court contracted the firm of Thomas Kane and Company of Chicago to furnish the courthouse for a sum of $1,212.00.
On June 21, 1886, Oscar Ruffini made his final report to the county commissioners stating that the wrought iron cresting above the entrance pavilion was yet to receive one coat of black paint.
Despite its small population, Paint Rock continues to serve as the county seat of Concho county and the courthouse remains in use with relatively few modifications of the courthouse remains in use with relatively few modifications of the architectural fabric.
PLEASE READ!! Please call the clerk's department to confirm hours, mailing address, fees and other specifics before visiting or requesting information because of sometimes changing contact information.
Concho County Clerk has Court Records from 1880, Land Records from 1879, Probate Records from 1879 , Marriage Records from 1879 and Birth/Death Records from 1903 is located at P.O.
Box 98,
Paint Rock, TX 76866-0098
; Telephone:
(325) 732-4322. The County Clerk's Office is the record keeper of the county. The county records include birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, brand registrations, DD214s (military discharges), land / real estate / property records, probate and civil filings.
Below is a list of online resources for Concho County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Concho County Court Records by clicking the link below:
Texas Immigration & Emigration Records - Immigration records help the family historian to understand the movements of their ancestry as they relocated to different parts of the world.
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Vital Records,1100 West 49th Street,
Austin, TX 78756, Please allow up to approximately 6-8 weeks for processing of all type of certificates when ordered through the mail. They have the following records:
Birth Certificates: Birth records maintained by Bureau of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Health since 1903 through the present. For births that occurred within the past 75 years, copies can be requested only by the immediate family of the person whose name is on the birth certificate.
Cost: The cost of a birth record is $22.00. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep $22.00 for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
Processing Time: 6-8 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
Death Certificates: Death records maintained by Bureau of Vital Statistics, Dept. of Health since 1903 through the present.
For deaths that occurred in the past 25 years, copies can be requested only by immediate family members of the deceased.
Cost: The cost of a certified death certificate is $20.00 for the first copy and $3.00 for each additional copy issued at the same time for the same certificate. If no record is found or no copy is made, state law requires that we keep $20.00 for a searching fee. Please do not send cash in the mail.
Processing Time: 6-8 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
Marriage & Divorce Certificates: Marriage Verifications from Jan 1966 and Divorce Verifications from Jan 1968. Certified copies of marriage licenses or divorce decrees are only available from the county clerk (marriage) or district clerk (divorce) in the county or district in which the event occurred. Marriage verification or divorce verification letters can now be ordered ELECTRONICALLY
Cost: $20 - Fee is for verification only.
Processing Time: 6-8 weeks when ordered by MAIL or 2-5 Days when you order ELECTRONICALLY
Order Online: You can also order Order Electronically and get the certificates within 2-5 days by ordering below
Order In Person: The certificates may be ordered by coming into this office. If you want the copy the same day, our hours for same day service are 8:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. Monday – Friday. The Texas Vital Statistics Office in Austin is located at 1100 W. 49th Street,
Austin, TX 78756.
Order By Mail: Mail a check or money order (no cash) payable to the "Texas Vital Records " along with the necessary information to the following address: Texas Vital Records, Department of State Health Services, PO Box 12040,
Austin TX 78711-2040. Please include return address on envelope and application form.
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Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29 - Browse by county, then year, then surname, beginning with the first letters of the last name of the person you seek. If you're unsure of the year or location, use the search box under the browse menu. These records can be searched by father's first and last names, mother's first and maiden names, year, county, and city. The certificates include the child and parents' full names, residence, occupations, age, time and date of the birth, and the name of the physician attending the birth.
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Click Here to Search Texas Voter Lists & Census Records! - Few, if any, records reveal as many details about individuals and families as do government census records. Substitute records can be used when the official census is unavailable.
Countywide Records: Federal Population Schedules that exist for Concho County, Texas are 1860, 1870, 1880, 1890 (fragment, see below), 1900, 1910, 1920 and 1930. The Texas State Library holds microfilm editions for all of Texas' federal censuses. Although the 1850, 1860, and part of the 1870 mortality schedules have been published, all the original mortality schedules are at the Texas State Library and on microfilm The 1830 territorial census of Miller County, Arkansas, enumerates an area that is in today's Texas boundaries. The remaining 1890 population schedules which exist for Texas include: Ellis County (Justice Precinct 6, Mountain Peak, and Ovilla Precinct); Hood County (Precinct 5); Rusk County (No. 6 and Justice Precinct No. 7); Trinity County (town of Trinity and Justice Precinct 2); and Kaufman County (Kaufman). Although Greer County in present-day Oklahoma functioned as part of Texas between 1886 and 1896, the 1890 census for this county was enumerated under Oklahoma Territory.
Other Federal Schedules to look at when researching your family tree in Concho County, Texas are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1860, 1870 and 1880. Slave Schedules exist for 1860. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1860, 1870 and 1880. There are free downloadable and printable Census forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms and U.K. Census Extraction Forms
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You can view rotating animated maps for Texas showing all the county boundary changes for each year overlayed with past and present maps so you can see the changes in county boundaries. You can view a list of maps for other states and State Department of Transportation Maps at County Maps.
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The uses and value of military records in genealogical research for ancestors who were veterans are obvious, but military records can also be important to re-searchers whose direct ancestors were not soldiers in any war. The fathers, grandfathers, brothers, and other close relatives of an ancestor may have served in a war, and their service or pension records could contain information that will assist in further identifying the family of primary interest. Due to the amount of genealogical information contained in some military pension files, they should never be overlooked during the research process. Those records not containing specific genealogical information are of historic value and should be included in any overall research design.
Below is a list of online resources for Concho County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Concho County Military Records by clicking the link below:
Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents in NARA publication M246 include muster rolls, payrolls, strength returns, and other miscellaneous personnel, pay, and supply records of American Army units, 1775-83.
Southern Claims Commission from the State of Texas (The National Archives): View, Print Copy & Save Original Documents In the 1870s, southerners claimed compensation from the U.S. government for items used by the Union Army, ranging from corn and horses, to trees and church buildings.
Texas tax records constitute one of the most complete sets of available records generated at the county level (by the Commissioners Court) because these documents are maintained by the state. These lists may only include approximately sixty percent of eligible males over the age of twenty-one. Persons exempted from taxes included native Americans, "idiots," "incompetents," and those exempted because of age. This final category of exemptions varied over time. Years without an older age exemption were 1840 and 1862-70. Between 1841-44 exemptions began at forty-five years; in 1845 and from 1850-61 the upward age was set at fifty years. In 1837, 1848, and 1849 the limit was established as fifty-five, and in 1846-7, and 1871 the upward limit was set at sixty years.
Texas Ad Valorem (poll, personal, and real property) tax records for 1836 through 1976 are available in microfilm at the Texas State Library from the date of respective county organization; these are arranged by county and date and are somewhat alphabetized within each division. Microfilm copies are housed in the Genealogy Section. Tax lists for the various counties from creation to 1901 may be borrowed through interlibrary loan. Tax records through 1901-1947 are readily accessible, but not on interlibrary loan. Those for 1948 through 1976 can be obtained upon request.
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The Repositories
in this section are Archives, Libraries, Museums, Genealogical
and Historical Societies. Many County Historical and Genealogical
Societies publish magazines and/or news letters on a monthly,
quarterly, bi-annual or annual basis. Contacting the local societies
should not be over looked. State Archives and Societies are
usually much larger and better organized with much larger archived
materials than their smaller county cousins but they can be
more generalized and over look the smaller details that local
societies tend to have. Libraries can also be a good place to
look for local information. Some libraries have a genealogy
section and may have some resources that are not located at
archives or societies. Also, take a special look at any museums
in the area. They sometimes have photos and items from years
gone by as well as information of a genealogical interest. All
these places are vitally important to the family genealogist
and must not be passed over.
Below is a list of online resources for Concho County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Concho County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
Texas State Library and Archives Commission, P.O. Box 12927, Austin, TX 78711-2927 Holdings under the auspices of the Texas State Library are divided. Most important for genealogical research are the Texas State Archives with its Local Records Department, the Records Management Division, and the Information Services Division, which includes a Genealogy Section and a Reference Department.
The Genealogy Section maintains vertical ties that contain notes, clippings, pamphlets, and correspondence on Texas families. These files may be accessed in person, by phone (512-463-5463, forty-five minute limit), or through correspondence.
Texas Historical Commision The Texas Historical Commission (THC) is the state agency for historic preservation. THC staff consults with citizens and organizations to preserve Texas' architectural, archeological and cultural landmarks. The agency is recognized nationally for its preservation programs.
Texas Newspapers & Periodicals Records - Newspapers and periodicals are the diaries of local communities. They are excellent sources of family history details - often recorded nowhere else. Look for obituaries, marriages, legal notices, and more found in our Historical Newspaper Archives.
Click Here to Search Texas Obituary Records! - This database is a compilation of obituaries published in U.S. newspapers, collected from various online sources. Obituaries can vary in the amount of information they contain, but many of them are genealogical goldmines, including information such as names, dates, places of birth and death, marriage information, and family relationships.
During Texas's colonization period Roman Catholics were the most numerous, but early citizens included those representing other religious faiths such as Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Christian or Disciples of Christ.
Many cemetery records have been collected and transcribed, including the largest of which is multi-volumes compilation by the DAR and two volumes for Peters Colonists and descendants. The DAR collection, also microfilmed, is available at the Texas State Library and through the FHL.
Some Texas county historical and genealogical societies have published local cemetery and/funeral home records. These are normally available for purchase through the respective society. Two references can help determine which cemeteries have been recorded: Kim Parsons', A Reference to Texas Cemetery Records (Humble, Tex.: by author, 1988), arranged by county; and Sharry Crofford-Gould's, Texas Cemetery Inscriptions: A Source Index (San Antonio, Tex.: Limited Editions, 1977).
Below is a list of online resources for Concho County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Concho County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:
Find Obituaries in The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of Texas obituaries to help you research your family history. Search for a Texas newspaper obituary about your ancestor or a celebrity. Begin your search today and find death notices and funeral announcements printed in newspapers from Texas.
Click Here to Search Texas Family Tree Records! - 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 Concho County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Concho County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
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.
Texas Family & Local History Records - The Family & Local Histories Collection lets you read journals, memoirs, and other first-hand historical narratives right on your computer. Gathered from some of the world's finest libraries, these materials may provide hard-to-find town, county, and state information; tax records and wills; military, church, and court records; as well as photographs, stories, and maps.
Around 1500 Athabascan-speaking Indians associated with the prehorse Plains culture lived in this part of Texas. In the 1600s the Jumanos established themselves along the Concho and traded with the Spaniards. Seeking protection against the Lipan Apaches, in 1683 the Jumanos requested that the Spaniards establish a mission in their territory. In response to this request Juan Domínguez de Mendoza led an expedition in 1684 that built a temporary mission, San Clemente, at a location that has been fixed variously west of Ballinger, near the confluence of the Concho and Colorado, on the South Llano, and on the San Saba a little west of Menard. After several months, however, attacks by the Apaches forced the Spaniards to withdraw. By 1771 the Jumanos had apparently been absorbed by the Lipans. A map of Texas in 1776 places the area of Concho County within the domain of the Lipans, which extended southward from the Colorado River. The territory above the Colorado belonged to the Comanches, and that east of the Colorado to the Tonkawas. By about 1840 the Comanches had overrun the area of Concho County and pushed as far south as the vicinity of modern Austin. By the late 1850s the Lipan Apaches had reestablished control over the Concho valley, though Comanches continued to raid along the river in the 1860s and 1870s. The last significant conflict in the area between Indians and whites ended with the 1874 campaign of Ranald S. Mackenzie, which drove the remaining Indians out of the region and forced them onto reservations.
The area of present-day Concho County was included in the Fisher-Miller Land Grant of 1842. By 1845 the Adelsverein (the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas) had secured complete rights to the Fisher-Miller contract. In 1847 John O. Meusebach, after concluding a peace treaty with the Comanches, sent surveyors into the tract on behalf of the society. The area surveyed included much of the land along the banks of the Concho River now in Concho County. Although the colonization contract stipulated that the lots surveyed should be as nearly square as possible, the survey marked off long lots along the Concho. This may have been done to increase access to a water supply, since rain in the region is sparse. The Concho country did not yet attract immigration, however, as it lay beyond the farming frontier where Indian attacks were frequent.
The next notable settlement in the area took place in 1849, when Robert S. Neighbors led a small expedition in search of a wagon route to El Paso. American interest in establishing routes to the West had been intensified in 1848 by the acquisition of the Mexican Cession and by the discovery of gold in California. Neighbors's group, which included John S. Ford, crossed the southern part of the future Concho County, following the course of Brady Creek. The route that Neighbors subsequently recommended, known as the Upper Route, passed just south of the county; it was used extensively by emigrants and the military.
The legislature formed Concho County out of Bexar County in 1858, but it was not organized until 1879. In the meantime, in the early to middle 1860s, cattlemen began to move into the open range in Concho and adjacent counties. John S. Chisum, the first large-scale cattleman in the county, established a string of cow camps on the Concho River in the northeastern part of the county in 1862 or 1863. He moved his headquarters to New Mexico in 1873, though he still had a camp on the Concho near the site of present-day Paint Rock in the fall of that year. There is no record of his activity in the area after 1875. Other large early operations included the U-Bar and OH Ranch, or Concho Cattle Company, which first ran cattle about 1878, and the Davies and Holland Ranch. Both of these operated in the 1880s and 1890s. For the most part, however, ranching in Concho County was relatively small-scale.
As the Texas farming frontier advanced, cattle drives shifted from the more easterly Chisholm and Shawnee trailsq to the Western Trail. The Western Trail began in South Texas and pushed northward through the center of Concho County, crossing the Colorado River at the Concho-Coleman county line. Near the site of present-day Eden the Goodnight-Loving Trail branched off from the Western Trail and led toward New Mexico. By the mid-1880s, however, most of the grazing land in Concho County had been enclosed. In 1888 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway completed a line from Ballinger, in Runnels County, to San Angelo, in Tom Green County, giving Concho County ranchers their closest rail access to markets. It was another two decades, however, before railroads built into Concho County itself.
Concho County was organized in 1879, after the required petition was signed by at least seventy-five voters. There being no established community in the county, the vote to select officers and a site for the county seat was held near Mullins Crossing on the Concho. The location chosen for the county seat was at a ford on the Concho about a mile below the mouth of Kickapoo Creek, twelve miles west of the confluence of the Concho and Colorado rivers, and five miles south of the Concho-Runnels county line. The county seat was named Paint Rock, after the nearby pictographs. The town developed steadily. By 1884 it had an estimated population of 100 and had become a shipping center for pecans, wool, hides, and mutton (the cattle were routed elsewhere). In 1886 a permanent courthouse was constructed.
Eden, on Hardin Branch in the south central region of the county, was established in 1882. By 1931, when Paint Rock had reached its peak population of 1,000, Eden had surpassed it with 1,194. Thereafter the population of Paint Rock declined and that of Eden remained relatively constant. The southwestern part of the county saw the development of several early communities, but none of them attained any size, and the names of all but one have disappeared from the map. These included Kickapoo Springs, Erskine, and Vigo, which succeeded one another on virtually the same location on Kickapoo Creek. Ruth and Live Oak (the latter still marked on the 1963 county map) were situated approximately ten miles and eight miles southwest of Eden, respectively. In the west central part of the county grew up the small communities of Vick and Henderson Chapel and, around the turn of the century, the more substantial community of Eola. In 1988 Eola was the third largest town in the county. Lowake, on the Concho, San Saba and Llano Valley Railroad in the far northwestern corner of Concho County, was established in 1909. Concho, a small community on the Concho River about seven miles northeast of Paint Rock, maintained itself through the 1960s. Millersview, in the east central region, acquired a post office in 1903 and in 1988 was the fourth largest community in the county. In the southeast, the communities of Pasche, Welview, and Lightner grew up along the railroads that entered the county around 1910, but none of these has survived.
At the time of the first census, most settlers had come from Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Kentucky, in that order. A map of nineteenth-century cultural distributions in the county shows the eastern half dominated by the "Appalachian hill folk" culture, a way of life imported chiefly from the Appalachians and Ozarks and oriented to a subsistence economy. The western half of the county had a blend of the Appalachian culture and that of the middle-class upper South, which embraced grain and cotton farming and was oriented to a market economy.
Between 1910 and 1912 three railroad lines were completed into or through Concho County. The Concho, San Saba and Llano Valley was completed from Miles, in southwestern Runnels County, to Paint Rock in 1910. In 1911 the Fort Worth and Rio Grande Railway completed a line across the southeastern corner of the county, and in 1912 the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe finished a line from Lometa, in Lampasas County, to Eden. All of these lines have been abandoned, that to Paint Rock in the mid-1930s and those to Eden and through the southeastern corner in 1972.
The population grew steadily from 800 in 1880, the date of the county's first census, to 1,427 in 1900. Over the next ten years the figure jumped to 6,654, the greatest increase in the county's history. Part of this growth may have been stimulated by the work of the Pecan, Colorado, Concho Immigration Association, which operated during the 1890s on behalf of Concho and ten other counties. The influx was also doubtless encouraged by a number of wet years between 1895 and 1910, which, together with the introduction of improved dry-land-farming techniques, made agriculture appear more viable. In addition, an act of the state legislature in 1895 made the purchase of public land easier by reducing the price and allowing forty years for payment at 3 percent interest. After peaking at 7,645 in 1930, the population of Concho County began a steady decline that was intensified by the drought of 1950-56. In 1980 the population stood at 2,915.
The population of Concho County has remained overwhelmingly white. Fewer than twenty black residents have been enumerated in every census year except 1920, when 198 were reported, and 1930, when 82 were counted. It is difficult to trace the presence of Hispanics in the county because they were apparently not recorded separately from Anglos until recently. In 1980, the first year in which they were specifically enumerated, Hispanics in Concho County numbered 806, or 28 percent of the total population.
In the mid-twentieth century, concentrations of ethnic groups in the county included pockets of Germans in the northwest corner and a cluster of Swedes on the Concho-McCulloch county line. In 1970 over 100 Czechs resided in the vicinity of Eola, in the far west central part of the county. A 1971 map of religious affiliation showed, in the extreme northwest corner, a Catholic simple majority with substantial Lutheran and Reformed representation. In the extreme southeast, Baptists were a simple majority and Methodists had a significant presence. Elsewhere in the county Baptists were an absolute majority and Methodists a minority.
The local economy, based originally on cattle, soon embraced sheep ranching and farming. In 1988, when Concho County was the leading sheep-producing county in Texas, 60 percent of its $15 million in farm income came from sheep, cattle, and goats, and the leading crops were grains and cotton. In 1982 farms and ranches occupied 95 percent of the county. Sheep were first introduced into the county in the 1870s and by 1890, the year of the first enumeration, numbered 41,724. After a coyote-eradication campaign between 1917 and 1922 the number of sheep soared, increasing from 41,802 in 1920 to 220,533 in 1930. Most shepherds employed in the care of these flocks were Mexican-American pastores. Angora goats also became an important resource. Their numbers increased from 197 in 1900 to 4,248 in 1920 and 18,483 in 1930. The largest increase in cattle came between 1880 and 1900, when the number reached 56,182. This figure was reduced by almost half over the next decade, when farming became widespread, and fell to a low of 11,903 in 1940. After that date the number of cattle rose again, reaching a total of 26,364 in 1969.
Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29