Cooke County was created in March 20, 1848
(Organized in 1849)
and formed from Fannin County. Cooke County was named for William G. Cooke, Republic of Texas Quartermaster General and a participant in the Battle of San Jacinto. The County Seat is Gainesville. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.cooke.tx.us. See also Extended History for more historical details.
Settlement of the area now known as Cooke County began in late 1845. The county was created by the State Legislature in 1848. Land for a county seat was donated by Mary E. Clark, and the new town was Gainesville in honor of U.S. Army General Edmund Pendleton Gaines. There have been four courthouses located on this site. The first, a small log structure, was erected in 1850. It was replaced in 1853 by a one-story frame building which was later destroyed by fire. The third courthouse, a two-story limestone structure, was completed in 1880 and destroyed by fire in 1909. Designed by the Dallas architectural firm of Lang and Witchell, construction of this Beaux Arts style courthouse began in 1910. The Gainesville firm of Garrett and Collins served as supervising architects, and M. P. Kelly of Gainesville was the contractor. The Cooke County courthouse was built in 1911 of brick and stone. It was designed in Beaux Arts style by Lang and Witchell and built for $150,000. The impressive brick and limestone building features terra cotta ornamentation, eagle brackets, and a copper-clad dome. Clocks were added to the dome in 1920 as a World War I memorial. The courthouse is an important North Texas Landmark. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1988.
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.
Cooke County Clerk has Court Records from 1849, Land Records from 1850, Probate Records from 1849, Marriage Records from 1848 and Birth/Death Records from 1903 is located at 100 South Dixon, Gainesville, TX 76240; Phone: 940-668-5420; Fax: 940-668-5486. 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 Cooke County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Cooke 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 Cooke 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 Cooke 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 Cooke County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Cooke 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 Cooke County Maps. Email us with websites containing Cooke 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 Cooke County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Cooke 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 Cooke County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Cooke 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 Cooke County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Cooke 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 Cooke County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Cooke 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 Cooke County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Cooke 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.
Before the coming of Anglo-American settlement Cooke County stood on the borderlands between the Caddo Indians to the east and the Comanches in the west. The first Europeans to visit the county may have been Spaniards on expeditions during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, but no permanent settlements were made. The county was included in the Cameron land grant, a Mexican grant of 1828, but no settlers came.
Cooke County was established by an act of the Texas legislature on March 20, 1848, and named for William G. Cooke, a hero of the Texas Revolution. The boundaries of the original county encompassed its present area, along with territory that became Montague, Clay, Wise, and Jack counties. Cooke County assumed its present boundaries in 1857. It was crossed by several early trails, including the Mormon Trail, a branch of the Chisholm Trail, and the Butterfield Overland Mail route. Settlements in the northern extension of the Peters colony reached the southeastern edge of the county by the late 1840s. Fort Fitzhugh was established in 1847 to protect area settlements against Indian raids, the last of which occurred in the western part of the county in January 1868. Early settlers employed Daniel Montague to locate a site for a county seat fifteen miles west of the Grayson county line. They planned to name the town Liberty, but the state rejected that name because another settlement near Houston had claimed it. Col. William F. Fitzhugh, commander at the fort, proposed that the town be named for his former commander, Gen. Edmund Pendleton Gaines. Gainesville, founded in 1850, has been the county seat since the organization of the county. The southern and eastern parts of the county were settled by people primarily from Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri. The western part had only scattered settlements prior to the late nineteenth century, when German land speculators founded the towns of Muenster in 1889 and Lindsay in 1891.
The Denison and Pacific Railway reached Gainesville on November 7, 1879, from the east; it later became the Missouri, Kansas and Texas (Katy) Railroad. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe connected Gainesville and Denton on January 2, 1887, on its way to meet the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe at Purcell, Indian Territory. These links provided for the first time a north-south rail line from Chicago to Galveston. The Katy was later extended west toward Wichita Falls.
The earliest settlers brought slaves with them, but not in the numbers that accompanied migrants from the Deep South to East Texas. The slave population of Cooke County in 1860 was 369, 10.9 percent of the total. Although in 1861 the county's citizens voted more than 61 percent against secession, sentiment for the Confederate cause was so potent during the Civil War that in October 1862 an estimated forty-two men were executed because they were believed to have participated in a pro-Union conspiracy (see GREAT HANGING AT GAINESVILLE).
During most of its history Cooke County has voted for Democrats. From 1884 to 1916 the county gave more than 75 percent of its votes to Democratic presidential candidates; William Jennings Bryan received 83.2 percent over William McKinley in 1896. Democratic congressman and senator Joseph Weldon Bailey came from Cooke County. The Democratic hegemony continued through the Great Depression and the New Deal era. Harry Truman received 53.1 percent of the votes in the 1948 presidential election. From 1948 to 1992, however, Cooke County voted for Republican nominees for president, except in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson received 65.7 percent.
Education in Cooke County is conducted predominantly by nine independent school districts. Both Catholic and Protestant private education is available in the county, too. The county is also the home of Cooke County College, founded in 1924, and Gainesville State School for Girls, a reformatory.
Points of interest in the county include the Frank Buck Zoo, located in Leonard Park in Gainesville; Morton Museum in downtown Gainesville; and a center for diabetic children at Camp Sweeney east of Gainesville. Camp Howze, a military training base during World War II, had a troop capacity of 39,963. The installation was abandoned in 1946. Structural remains of support beams, storage towers, and various foundations in the camp can still be seen from Farm Road 1201 northwest of Gainesville. Cultural events in the county that attract the greatest number of visitors include the annual Germanfest in Muenster the last weekend in April. Festivities include traditional German foods, beer, booths, a bicycle rally, and the German Fun Run. Other events in the county are the Octoberfest in Lindsay and Sam Bass Days in Rosston. A popular attraction in Gainesville is the driving tour of the Victorian homes on Church, Denton, and Lindsay streets.
Throughout its history Cooke County has been heavily agricultural. In 1900 it had 3,307 farms, averaging 142.4 acres. The farms were almost equally divided between those owned by the people who worked them (44.1 percent) and those worked by sharecroppers (42.2 percent), with a handful of cash-rent farmers. Farm income in 1900 was more than $2.2 million. Cattle in 1900 numbered 48,765. Corn production was 1.68 million bushels-1.5 percent of the state's corn crop. The oats yield stood at 840,790 bushels, 218,330 more than wheat production. At the turn of the century, Cooke County ginned 11,332 bales of cotton. The years between World War I and the depression saw cotton production peak at around 20,000 bales a year. The emigration of the Dust Bowl and depression years reduced cotton production to 8,906 bales in 1936. Cotton production was only 1,540 bales in 1956, but rose to 6,200 in 1965. No cotton gins were operating in the county in 1984.
The 1920s was a bad decade for agriculture across the South, for the bottom dropped out of the cotton market. Cooke County was hit hard. The number of farmers owning the land they worked decreased from 1,299 in 1920 to 720 in 1930, a 44.6 percent decrease in one decade. Conversely, the number of sharecroppers increased from 1,390 in 1920 to 1,848 in 1925, but dropped to 1,673 in 1930 as tenant farmers went broke and moved away. The New Deal years saw the trend reverse somewhat. By 1940, 51.9 percent of the farms in the county were operated by tenants, either cash-renters or sharecroppers. The same year, the number of farms in Cooke County had dropped to 2,530, only 76.5 percent of the number at the turn of the century, partly because smaller farms were being consolidated. Only large farms-those of more than 180 acres-increased in number in the late 1930s; between 1935 and 1940 farms greater than 700 acres increased from sixty-five to eighty-two.
Dairying continued to grow as the chief agribusiness. The number of cows and heifers kept mainly for milking increased from 7,929 in 1930 to 11,565 in 1940. As cotton production decreased and the cattle industry increased, corn production rose. In 1934, 78,840 bushels of corn was harvested for grain; in 1939 the total was 465,671 bushels. Wheat production increased in the 1934-39 period by 62.75 percent. By World War II, then, Cooke County had changed from being part of the Cotton Belt to being a part of the West, that is, a cattle-producing area.
Agriculture still dominates the economy of Cooke County, for 77.9 percent of the county's total area is occupied by farms. Fifty-seven percent of the acreage is pasture or rangeland. In the 1978 agricultural census the value of all agricultural products sold was about $26,095,000, and 81.8 percent of it derived from the livestock industry. Of the income from livestock, 36.7 percent came from dairy products and 58.7 percent from the sale of cattle and calves. Cooke County is still cattle country.
The crops grown in the county also reflect the predominance of livestock. Corn culture is decreasing, though sorghum culture increased slightly during the 1970s. Wheat and oats are the primary crops: 756,571 bushels of wheat were grown in 1978, and 862,543 bushels of oats. Peanuts and hay are also important, though by 1978 cotton production had fallen to 5 percent of the peak yield of the early 1920s. By 1978, 58 percent of the farms in Cooke County were owned by the farmers, and only 11 percent were worked by tenants. Individuals or single families owned 87.4 percent of the farms. Of the 93,304 acres of harvested cropland in 1978, 73,608 were fertilized. The average market value of all machinery and equipment for each farm in 1978 was $19,037.
The county's major mineral resources are oil and gas. The first oil well started operation on November 9, 1924, two miles east of Callisburg. From 1924 to 1982 oil production was 4,288,009 barrels. The total value of oil production in 1983 was $131,899,471.
Manufacturing in the county, according to the 1977 manufacturing census, was valued at $79,500,000. The oil value in 1982 stood at $131,899,471. The wages paid in 1982 amounted to about $171 million. Property in the county in 1981 was assessed at $548,210,089. Taxable sales for 1982 amounted to $103,877,358.
Cooke County's population has remained relatively stable in the last hundred years. The 1880 census counted 20,391 inhabitants. By 1900 the figure had reached 27,494. Postwar urban migration brought the number of residents to 22,146, its lowest twentieth-century level, in 1950. The 1980 census counted 27,656. The population of the county was 93.46 percent white and 4.36 percent black in 1980. The largest town in the county is Gainesville, with a 1980 population of 14,081. It had almost doubled in size since 1900, when it registered 7,874 residents. Other incorporated areas were Muenster (1,408), Lindsay (581), Valley View (514), Callisburg (281), and Oak Ridge (200).
Cooke County is served by two federal highways, U.S. Highway 82, running east and west, and U.S. Highway 77, running north and south. In the early 1960s Interstate Highway 35 was built across the county from north to south. There is no longer any railroad service in the county. Carload lots can be delivered from one of the eighteen or so freight trains that transit the county daily on the AT&SF. Automobile registration in 1981 stood at 28,612. The county has one daily newspaper, the Gainesville Daily Register, which has been published continuously since 1890, and two weeklies. Radio station KGAF-AM broadcasts from Gainesville. The population of Cooke County was 30,777 in 1990.
Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29