Camp County was created in 1874
and formed from Upshur County. Camp County was named for John Lafayette Camp, a Texas state politician. The County Seat is Pittsburg. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.camp.tx.us/. See also Extended History for more historical details.
The Camp County courthouse was built in 1928 in Texas Renaissance Style. Smith & Praeger designed this brick structure, and it was built at a cost of $79,623.40.
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.
Camp County Clerk has Court Records from 1874, Land Records from 1874, Probate Records from 1874 , Marriage Records from 1874 and Birth/Death Records from 1903 is located at 126
Church St., Room 102,
Pittsburg, TX 75686; Telephone:
(903) 856-2731. 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 Camp County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Camp 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 Camp County, Texas are 1850, 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 Camp County, Texas are Industry and Agriculture Schedules availible for the years 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880. Slave Schedules exist for 1850 & 1860. The Mortality Schedules for the years 1850, 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 Camp County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Camp 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 Camp County Maps. Email us with websites containing Camp 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 Camp County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Camp 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 Camp County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Camp 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 Camp County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Camp 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 Camp County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Camp 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 Camp County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Camp 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.
The time of earliest European exploration of the area can not be conclusively determined. If one of the northernmost of the numerous conflicting route interpretations of the Moscoso expedition in 1542 is correct, then that group may have passed through the county. In 1719 the French founded Le Poste des Cadodaquious in what is now Bowie County. Although the French occupied the post for more than fifty years, little is known about their activities. They may have explored as far to the southwest as Camp County.
Anglo settlement began in the late 1830s, with most of the early settlers coming from the southern states of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. The earliest communities in the area were Pittsburg, near the center, and Lilly and Pine, in the southwestern and south central part. There were probably some early settlers along Big Cypress Creek in the northern portion also, but no information is available about their activities. The first post office, established in 1848, was located in the community known now as Pine, and was called Pine Tree. In 1855 a post office was also established at Pittsburg, and by 1860 this town had become the most important supply center for northern Upshur County farmers.
These early, predominantly southern settlers brought with them their southern heritage and institutions. Most of the early settlers were Protestants, especially Baptists and Methodists. A number of the settlers were also slaveholders, who used the fertile soils of the county to grow the two most important southern crops, cotton and corn. Although precise figures are not available, the proportion of the population who were blacks held as slaves probably exceeded the 1860 statewide average of about 30 percent.
Camp County was separated from Upshur County in 1874 and named for John Lafayette Camp, who was serving as state senator from Upshur County and presented the petitions that led to the action of the legislature. A county seat election was held, and Pittsburg won with 500 votes. Leesburg, to the west, received 228, and Center Point, in the southeastern part, received sixty-nine. Following the election, a courthouse was constructed of locally manufactured brick on a lot donated by William Pitts. Since the 1874 election the choice of county seat has never been contested.
The 1880 census provided the first population figures for Camp County. In 1880 the county had a population of 5,931, with 3,085 whites and 2,845 blacks. For the next ten years the black population of the county grew at a faster rate than the white, and in 1890 there were 3,328 whites and 3,296 blacks. From that point the white population grew at a faster rate than the black until 1920, when the 4,577 African Americans present constituted about 41 percent of the total population of 11,103. Between 1920 until 1960, with the exception of a modest gain between 1930 and 1940, the population of the county declined, with black population declining at a faster rate than the white. By 1960 blacks constituted about 38 percent of a total population of 7,849. From 1960 through 1980 the total population of the county began to rise, but the black population of the county continued to decline. In 1980 the 2,369 blacks constituted approximately 25 percent of the total population of 9,275, and in 1990, 24 percent of the county's 9,904 inhabitants were black.
When voters went to the polls to select the county seat in 1874, they also elected the first county officials. Most of those elected were Republicans. As in most Texas counties controlled by the Republican party during this Reconstruction period, the votes for Republican candidates came almost exclusively from black voters, while the candidates themselves were generally white. By 1876 Democrats had regained control of the county. On the local level they were generally successful in maintaining control; in fact, by the 1890s the Republicans no longer fielded a county ticket. But in state and national elections, Republicans waged vigorous campaigns. The vote was generally close through the nineteenth and into the first years of the twentieth century, particularly when third-party efforts divided traditionally Democratic voters. In the 1888 national election, for example, the Democrats won by just thirty-eight votes out of 1,232 votes cast. In 1892, 1896, and 1900, the Republicans carried the county in most state and all national races, as the People's party waged a generally unsuccessful campaign against the Democratic party for control of the county.
Beginning with the imposition of the poll tax in 1902, the state government implemented a series of procedures that effectively limited black political participation. In Camp County these measures meant that the Democratic hold on the county was strengthened. The measures, coupled with the apparent certainty of a Democratic victory, also acted to keep many whites, particularly poorer ones, away from the polls. In the 1900 general election, 1,596 votes were recorded, while in 1904, although the county population was increasing, only 895 county residents voted.
In the late 1940s the impediments to participation by blacks and poor whites were gradually lifted, beginning with the end of the white primary. Although the population of the county was declining, voter turnout jumped from 1,488 in 1948 to 2,487 in 1952. The voters of Camp County favored the Democratic candidate in every presidential election until 1972, when Republican Richard Nixon carried the county over Democrat George McGovern. Though Democrats carried the county in 1976, 1980, and 1988, the area's voters had begun to trend Republican. Democrat Bill Clinton was able to win a plurality of the county's votes in 1992 and won the county outright in 1996, but this was partly because third-party candidate Ross Perot ran strongly in Camp County during those elections. In the 2000 and 2004 elections, however, Republican George W. Bush won majorities in the county.
Although Pittsburg had become an important supply center for area farmers by the 1870s, at its beginning, Camp County was largely rural and agricultural. At the time of the 1880 census, most residents lived and worked on the county's 607 farms. For the next sixty years the economic base of the county was agriculture. During that period cotton was the principal cash crop, and for most of this period corn was the principal food crop. From 1880 until 1940 census returns indicated that at least two-thirds of the harvested cropland of the county were planted in these two crops. Although cotton provided the county's major source of income, it did not bring prosperity for most of the farmers. From 1880 until 1930 each census recorded a higher percentage of farmers who did not own the land they farmed. In 1880, 37 percent were tenants. By 1930, 60 percent of farmers fell into that category.
Camp County was hit hard by the Great Depression, which actually began for most southern farmers in the 1920s. Between 1920 and 1930, although the average size of the county's farms had increased from sixty-one to eighty-six acres, the average value had fallen from $3,253 to $1,722. The programs of the New Deal provided relief that ameliorated the worst effects of the depression for many of the county's residents. In 1933, for example, cotton-reduction payments to county farmers from the Agricultural Adjustment Administration totaled a little over $56,000. In January 1934, 832 Camp County families were receiving commodities from the local welfare office.
The depression signaled the beginning of the end of a number of long-term Camp County economic and social trends. One of these was population growth. Every census had recorded a larger population from 1880 through 1920. During the decade of the 1920s, though, the population declined for the first time, and, although it rose slightly during the 1930s (from 10,063 to 10,285), it subsequently fell steadily until 1960. The long-term trend in tenant farming was also reversed, beginning in the 1930s. The 1940 census was the first to record a decline in the percentage of farmers in the county who did not own the land they farmed, as the percentage of tenant farmers dropped to just under 50 percent. The initial stages of this process were hard on tenants, as they were forced off the land by governmental policies that paid farmers to remove cotton lands from cultivation. During the 1940s, however, tenants generally continued to desert the land because of other opportunities, offered by the World War II production boom and afterward by urban jobs produced as the state's industrial base expanded. By 1959 only 15 percent of the county's farmers were tenants.
The agricultural depression and the programs of the New Deal designed to deal with it also signaled the beginning of the end of cotton culture in Camp County. Between 1930 and 1940 the number of acres farmers planted in cotton declined from a little over 28,600 to a just over 12,700 acres. The decline continued, and by 1969 there were no cotton fields in the county. Cotton was replaced by livestock rather than by other crops. By 1982, 97 percent of the county's income from agriculture was generated by livestock and livestock products. Most of it came from hens, pullets, eggs, and commercial broiler production. Mechanization and the increasing emphasis on livestock also resulted in fewer and larger farms in the county. In 1920 the county had 1,709 farms. By 1959 the number had dropped to 537. In 1982 the 413 farms averaged 169 acres each.
The decline in the number of farmers led to a decline in county population. By 1960 it had fallen from the 1920 high of 11,103 to 7,849. A more dramatic decline was probably prevented by events in Pittsburg, the county seat. As the state began to industrialize, Pittsburg participated in the trend. In 1930, 197 county residents had been employed in manufacturing, and most of the industry was in Pittsburg. By 1947 the number employed in manufacturing had jumped to 507. Many of these jobs may have been in industries related to the war effort that had just ended, however, for by 1958 the number had dropped to 272. Still, the town had established an industrial base that continued to grow. By 1972, 700 county residents were employed in manufacturing. Although the number has continued to grow, census figures have been withheld since 1972 to protect the privacy of Camp County manufacturers. The largest industry in the county in the 1970s and early 1980s was Pilgrim Industries, a poultry-processing company that employed more than 500 people in 1976. Pine and hardwood production in 1981 totaled 2,168,053 cubic feet. Oil was discovered in Camp County in 1940, and in subsequent years the production of petroleum and natural gas contributed to the local economy. In 1982 more than 435,000 barrels of oil and almost 4,323,000 cubic feet of gas-well gas were extracted from Camp County lands. In 2000 more than 511,600 barrels of oil and 55,696 cubic feet of gas-well gas were produced in the county; by the end of that year 27,592,815 barrels of oil had been taken from county lands since 1940.
As Pittsburg's manufacturing base expanded, so did its population. In 1890 it was 1,203, or about 18 percent of the county's total population. By 1920 the number had increased to 2,540, a little less than 23 percent of the county's total population. In 1980 the population of the town had grown to 4,245. That figure represented nearly 46 percent of the county's total population. Although Pittsburg continued to serve as a supply and shipping point for area agriculturists, the economy of the town no longer revolved around those functions.
The changing nature of employment opportunities has led to an increasing emphasis on the importance of formal education. In 1897 most of the county's school-aged children attended one-room, ungraded schools. Children generally walked to school, so districts were small. Small districts, and the traditional policy of rigidly segregated schools, meant that the county's limited resources were divided and strained. None of the county's thirty-four common school districts in 1897 contained school libraries, and only one had a graded school. School terms varied from a low of forty-nine days to a high of 140. Most children in the county quit without ever attending high school. By 1937 improvements in transportation had led to consolidation, and the number of school districts in the county had dropped to seventeen. All of the schools were graded, and school terms varied from a low of 110 days to a high of 179 days. More than 600 pupils were attending high school that year. Still, resources were inadequate, and fewer than one-third of the county's teachers had received a bachelor's or higher degree. By 1955 all of the school districts in the county had been consolidated into the Pittsburg Independent School District. In 1980 less than twenty percent of all children between the ages of sixteen and nineteen had dropped out of school before graduating from high school, and for the first time in its history, more than 50 percent of the county's residents over the age of twenty-five had graduated from high school.
In 2000 the census counted 11,549 people living in Camp County. About 65 percent were Anglo, 19 percent were black, and 15 percent were Hispanic. Almost 70 percent of residents over twenty-five had graduated from high school and more than 12 percent had college degrees. In the early twenty-first century agribusiness, chicken processing, light manufacturing, and the timber industry were the key elements of Camp County's economy. In 2002 the area had 399 farms and ranches covering 69,343 acres, 50 percent of which were devoted to crops, 32 percent to pasture, and 14 percent to woodlands. In that year farmers and ranchers in the county earned $81,672,000 (down 46 percent from 1997); livestock sales accounted for $80,751,000 of the total. Poultry and poultry products, beef, dairy cattle, horses, peaches, hay, blueberries, and vegetables were the chief agricultural products. Pittsburgh (2000 population, 4,347) is the county seat and the largest town in the county; other communities include Leesburg (115) and Rocky Mound (93).
Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29