Clay County was created on December 24, 1857
(Organized in 1861; Disorganized
in 1862; Reorganized in 1873) and formed from Cooke County. Clay County was named for Henry Clay, the Kentucky statesman, presidential candidate, and ninth secretary of state of the United States. The County Seat is Henrietta. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.clay.tx.us. The Clay County courthouse was built in 1884 in Italianate design. It was built by Strain, Risley & Swinburn of red brick and sandstone for $30,000.00 and designed by Wilson & Tozer. The dome on top was built in the early part of this century but the tall spire with a clock was removed for fear of its weight ruining the foundation.
National Register Text: The plan of the Clay County Courthouse is in the form of a Greek cross with narrow arms projecting to the north and south and wide arms projecting to the east and west. Corridors extending through both arms of the cross provided access from all four sides of the building which was positioned in center of the public square. On the ground level, the wide arms of the cross contained offices and the narrow arms contained the stairways providing access to the courtroom which originally occupied most of the second floor.
The form and details of the courthouse are Classical. The most noteworthy features of the exterior are the sandstone columns on tall pedestals projecting from each of the eight corners, expressing the second floor as a piano mobile. The walls of locally-manufactured red brick are accented by sandstone stringcourses. During construction an iron cornice was substituted for the stone cornice that was originally specified. Originally the roof was hipped on a low pitch, creating a stronger horizontally than the new with four clock faces surmounted by metal details was replaced early in of frame construction. Late in the were installed--these of gable roof provides. A tall tower a cupola and finished with sheet the twentieth century by a low dome century, an iron fence and concrete course, have been removed and replaced. In 1891 a fireproof record room was added and in 1893 twenty four incandescent lights were installed (an early use in West Texas of artificial lighting).
On the interior the offices remain essentially in their original configuration. However wall surfaces have been refinished with pecan paneling and lower ceilings have been installed. In recent years, along with interior alterations, many window openings have been partially or wholly filled.
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.
Clay County Clerk has Court Records from 1874, Land Records from 1873, Probate Records from 1873 , Marriage Records from 1874 and Birth/Death Records from 1903 is located at P.O.
Box 548,
Henrietta, TX 76365-0548
; Telephone:
(940) 538-4631 . 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 Clay County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Clay 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.
Click Here to Search Texas Birth, Marriage & Death Records! - Birth, marriage, and death records are connected with central life events. They are prime sources for genealogical information. Look also for baptism, christening, and burial records in this collection.
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.
Search the Social Security Death Index for FREE - Search over 82 million death records and get genealogical information crucial to your family research. New content added weekly! Most comprehensive SSDI site online!
Research Death records In The World's Largest Newspaper Archive at NewpaperArchive.com! - Find thousands of historical Texas newspaper articles about deaths. Search for local articles about an old family friend that died many years ago or a celebrity that committed suicide. Historical newspapers contain a wealth of information about the deceased.
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.
Texas Death Certificates, 1890-1976 - These records are searchable by first and last name of the deceased, year, county, and city. A certificate may include the decedent's date, place, and cause of death; age; date of birth; last residence; and marital status. If known, it will also include occupation, birth place, parents' names, and place of burial. Browse by county, then year, then surname, beginning with the first letters of the last name of the person you seek. If unsure of the year or location, use the search box under the browse menu.
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 Clay 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 Clay 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
Below is a list of online resources for Clay County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Clay County Census Records by clicking the link below:
Genealogy Atlas has images of old American atlases during the years 1795, 1814, 1822, 1823, 1836, 1838, 1845, 1856, 1866, 1879 and 1897 for Arkansas and other states.
You can view rotating animated maps for Texas showing all the county boundaries for each census 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 at Census Maps
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.
Below is a list of online resources for Clay County Maps. Email us with websites containing Clay County Maps by clicking the link below:
Click Here to Search Texas Military Records! - Military and civil service records provide unique facts and insights into the lives of men and women who have served their country at home and abroad.
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 Clay County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Clay 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.
Below is a list of online resources for Clay County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Clay County Tax Records by clicking the link below:
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 Clay County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Clay County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
Clay County Historical Society,
100 N Bridge St.,
Henrietta 76365
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 Clay County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Clay 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 Clay County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Clay 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.
Clay County has many streams. The northern edge of the county is formed by the Red River; the Wichita River flows through the center of the county before dividing into two forks and emptying into the Red River. Other major streams include Turkey, Dry Fork, Hay, and East Post Oak creeks. Lake Arrowhead, in the western section of the county, is nine miles long and two miles wide and is used both as a source of water and for recreation. The fauna of Clay County is typical of North Texas, where deer, bobwhite quail, and migratory game birds provide excellent hunting. Mineral deposits in the county include building stone and clays for brick, tile, and ceramics. Oil was discovered near the site of present-day Petrolia in 1901 and has been an important asset to the county's economy, although production declined toward the end of twentieth century.
The Clay County area has long been the site of human habitation. Its earliest inhabitants were probably Archaic Age hunter-gatherers. Wichita and Taovaya Indians migrated into the area from what is now Kansas and Nebraska beginning in the middle of the eighteenth century. Despite their use of horses, which were introduced into the region by Spanish explorers, and their consequent facility as buffalo hunters, these peoples were heavily dependent on agriculture. The location of their lands placed them in conflict with the Lipan Apaches and Comanches, both of whom claimed the area and continued to visit it after they were removed to Oklahoma. The Indians often came into conflict with white settlers in the region after 1850, when federal troops forced them to move to reservations north of the Red River.
The earliest Europeans to visit the future county were Spanish explorers. Several early expeditions crossed Clay County, probably skirting the Cross Timbers. In 1759 Diego Ortiz Parrilla traveled through on his way to attack the Taovayas at the site of present Spanish Fort in Montague County, and in 1786 and 1787 Pedro Vial and José Maresq traversed the area while exploring possible routes from San Antonio to Santa Fe. In July 1841 the Texan Santa Fe expedition crossed the future county heading west. The Snively expedition of 1843 cut across the northeast corner, and the California Trail cut across the southern section after 1849. In 1858, on an expedition to Oklahoma to punish the Comanches, Earl Van Dorn followed an arc-shaped route through western Clay County as he traveled from Cottonwood Spring in Young County to what became known as the Van Dorn Crossing on the Little Wichita River; the expedition detoured eastward to join the California Trail at Brushy Mound.
The first settlers in the area were probably W. T. and Wess Waybourne, who came in the 1850s and built their homes on the south fork of the Wichita River two miles from the site of present-day Henrietta. Clay County was marked off from Cooke County on December 24, 1857, and named for Kentucky statesman Henry Clay; the population of the new county was only 109 in 1860. On the eve of the Civil War, Henrietta, the largest community, had ten homes and a general store. Indians, however, remained a constant threat at this time, and the army conducted regular patrols of the area. The county was organized in 1861, but it was largely abandoned the following year because of the removal of federal troops during the war. The 1870 census gave no population figures for Clay County, although a few ranchers and farmers remained near the Red River after most of the settlers had moved eastward to more populated regions.
With the establishment of Fort Sill in Indian Territory after the Civil War, settlers began to return to Clay County. Among the first permanent residents after the war was Henry A. Whaley, who raised grain and vegetables on his farm near the mouth of the Wichita River to sell to the army at Fort Sill. The county was reorganized on May 27, 1873, with Cambridge as the county seat, and during the 1870s a small but growing stream of new settlers moved in, attracted by good range and farm land. Most of the early settlers raised cattle, along with small crops of corn and cotton. In 1882 the Fort Worth and Denver Railway was built across the county through Henrietta. The town, which had been largely abandoned since the outbreak of the Civil War, bustled with new activity; after most of the residents of Cambridge moved there because of the railroad, Henrietta was incorporated and made the new county seat.
The railroad ushered in a boom. The population grew from a few hundred in 1870 to 5,045 by 1880. Buffalo hunters returning from the West shipped their hides from Henrietta, and the city became the principal trading center with nearby Fort Sill. In 1880 the county's 635 farms produced 1,155 bales of cotton and 92,766 bushels of corn; cattle numbered 58,763. Over the next twenty years cotton production grew to 3,774 bales, corn yields increased to 721,020 bushels, and the number of cattle rose to 91,212. Between 1890 and 1910 the population grew from 7,503 to 17,043. This surge was aided by the construction of two new railroads: the Gainesville, Henrietta and Western, a branch line of the Missouri, Kansas and Texas, which reached Henrietta in 1887; and the Wichita Valley Railway, which was constructed to Byers in 1904.
With the growth in population also came a marked increase in the county's farming economy. The number of farms grew from 766 in 1890 to 2,306 in 1910, and the number of acres under cultivation nearly tripled. At the turn of the century Clay County was primarily composed of ranches and farms, with the majority of its population living in rural areas. Before 1900 the leading crop was corn, but increasingly during the early years of the new century cotton took center stage. In 1890, 6,135 acres had been planted in cotton; by 1910 that figure had grown to 71,086; and by 1930 nearly one of every two improved acres-more than 80,000 in all-was given over to cotton production.
Cotton culture brought prosperity, but it had disastrous effects during the Great Depression. Many farmers borrowed heavily against future crops, encouraged by the unprecedented income earned by cotton in the 1920s. Moreover, about half of the farmers in Clay County in 1930 were tenant-sharecroppers who worked someone else's land for a share of the harvest. With the drop in cotton prices during the depression and the ensuing credit crunch, many farmers found it impossible to get by and were forced to give up farming permanently. Between 1930 and 1940 the number of farms in the county fell from 2,106 to 1,710, and over the next ten years the number dropped again by nearly a half. Hardest hit were the sharecroppers, who had little in the way of cash or assets to help them over tough times. Between 1930 and 1940 almost half of them were forced off the land, and within two decades virtually none of the tenants remained. The depression years permanently changed the face of the county's farming economy in other ways as well. After World War II cotton farming gradually gave way to cattle ranching, and by the late 1960s fully three-fifths of farm income came from livestock, principally beef cattle.
Between the 1920s and the 1980s the county population declined slowly, from 16,864 in 1920 to 14,545 in 1930, 12,524 in 1940, 9,866 in 1950, 8,351 in 1960, and 8,079 in 1970. During the late twentieth century the population grew slightly, increasing to 9,582 in 1980 and 10,024 in 1990, largely as the result of increasing emphasis on manufacturing. Unemployment was only 1.1 percent in 1986, and, although the jobless rate climbed in subsequent years, it remained well below the statewide average; in 2000 only 2.1 percent of the workforce was unemployed. In 1986 more than 82 percent of Clay County residents owned their homes. The average family weekly income of $335.45, however, remained lower than that of many other areas of the state. Many new jobs came from light manufacturing, introduced into the area in the 1970s and 1980s. As late as 1965, 181 people were employed in oil and gas operations and 241 worked in retail business, but in the early 1990s only a handful of oil workers remained. Mobile-home and wood-products plants, established during the 1970s and 1980s, added 189 jobs to the county's rolls and helped to offset losses in other areas.
Like most Texas counties, Clay County made significant improvements in education in the late twentieth century. In 1950 only 23.5 percent of adults twenty-five and older had a high school education, and only 4 percent had a college degree. In 1980, 50 percent of adults twenty-five and over had high school diplomas, and 7 percent had college degrees. In 1990 Clay County was divided into five school districts. White students constituted 97 percent of the student body, 2 percent were Hispanic, and black students .5 percent.
Politically, Clay County has been staunchly Democratic throughout most of its history. A majority of the county's voters voted for Democratic presidential candidates in virtually every election from 1876 through 1968; the only exception was 1928, when Republican Herbert Hoover beat Democrat Al Smith. The county's voters gradually began to trend somewhat more Republican after 1972, when Republican Richard Nixon took the county, though the Democrats remained strong there until very late in the twentieth century. Democratic candidates carried the county in 1976, 1980, and 1988, and Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton carried the county by a plurality in 1992 (partly because third-party candidate Ross Perot got about 28 percent of the county's votes that year). Republican candidate Bob Dole won a plurality there in 1996, however, when Perot got only about 11 percent, and Republican George W. Bush won majorities in the county during the 2000 and 2004 elections.
In 2000 the census counted 11,006 people living in Clay County. About 95 percent were Anglo, 4 percent were Hispanic, and less than 1 percent were black. By 2000 more than 80 percent of residents age twenty-five and older had graduated from high school, and almost 14 percent had college degrees. In the early twenty-first century the county's economy continued to center on ranching, farming, oil, and manufacturing. In 2002 the county had 892 farms and ranches covering 654,342 acres, 68 percent of which were devoted to pasture and 28 percent to crops. In that year farmers and ranchers in the area earned $39,164,000; livestock sales accounted for $35,239,000 of the total. Beef and dairy cattle, horses, wheat, cotton, pecans, and peaches were the chief agricultural products. More than 742,000 barrels of oil and 258,589 cubic feet of gas-well gas were produced in the county in 2004; by the end of that year 204,088,003 barrels of oil had been taken from county lands since 1917.
Henrietta (2000 population, 3,264) is the county's largest community and its seat of government. Other towns include Petrolia (728), Byers (517), Bellevue (386), Dean (341), and Jolly (188). Local attractions include hunting and fishing, Lake Arrowhead State Recreation Area, and the Pioneer Reunion Festival and Junior Stock Show, both held annually in Henrietta.
Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29