Calhoun County was created on April 4, 1846
and formed from Jackson and Victoria Counties. Calhoun County was named for John Caldwell Calhoun, the seventh vice president of the United States. The County Seat is Port
Lavaca. The Official County website is located at http://www.tisd.net/~calhoun/. See also Extended History for more historical details.
The Calhoun County courthouse was build of concrete, glass and steel in 1959. The architectural firm of Rust & Martin designed this Contemporary style courthouse and it was built at a cost of one million dollars.
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.
Calhoun County Clerk has Court Records from 1847, Land Records from 1846, Probate Records from 1846 , Marriage Records from 1846 and Birth/Death Records from 1903 is located at 211
South Ann,
Port Lavaca, TX 77979-4249;
(512) 552-2954. 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 Calhoun County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Calhoun 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 Calhoun 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 Calhoun 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 Calhoun County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Calhoun 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 Calhoun County Maps. Email us with websites containing Calhoun 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 Calhoun County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Calhoun 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 Calhoun County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Calhoun 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 Calhoun County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Calhoun County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:
Calhoun County Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 1150, Port Lavaca 77979
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 Calhoun County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Calhoun 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 Calhoun County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Calhoun 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.
In 1519 Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, exploring the Gulf Coast for the governor of Jamaica, drafted a map that included Espíritu Santo Bay and named the mainland "Amichal," but it is not clear whether he set foot in the future Calhoun County. René Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle, is believed to have landed in 1685 near Powderhorn Lake after one of his four ships was wrecked while crossing the bar at Cavallo Pass. A monument placed by the Texas Centennial Commission in 1936 marks his landing site. The future county was explored by Spaniards, including Alonso De León, who found the ruins of the French fort in 1689, but no permanent settlement was made until Anglo-American colonization. As early as 1825, empresario Martín De León of Mexico brought forty-one families to the area and established a ranch near the former site of La Salle's fort. The first Anglo settlement site now in the county was at Linnville, where in 1831 John J. Linn established a warehouse and wharf three miles north of the future site of Lavaca (later Port Lavaca). Comanche Indians collecting horses sacked and burned the settlement during the Linnville Raid of 1840 before being pursued and defeated. The inhabitants escaped by boat to a bluff about three miles away, where a few men who operated a warehouse welcomed them; this was the beginning of the present town of Port Lavaca. Caught between settlers and the Comanches, the Tonkawas, who numbered 800 in 1836, became loyal to the Texans.
As early as 1836 Mary Austin Holley reported a population of 200 at Cox's Point. In 1844 Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels landed at Indian Point in Calhoun County with a hundred German families. Although few of them remained on the Gulf, their tent village, called Karlshafen, became Indianola, the town that served as Calhoun county seat for many years. In the 1840s other Germans established a community at Seadrift, and Poles arrived at Indianola between 1854 and 1856. Many native Tejanos were granted land in Calhoun County, where they developed more of the Spanish ranching culture on the flat, grassy prairie, which was well-suited for rangeland. Plácido Benavides, one of the Tejanos who fought with the Texans during the Texas Revolution, owned land in Calhoun County, as did many other prominent Mexican families. The majority of settlers in Calhoun County came from Southern states, including Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Alabama.
In antebellum Texas, Calhoun County residents were active in the trade and commerce stimulated by the Federalist wars of Texas and northern Mexico and the French blockade of Mexican ports in 1838 and 1839. Goods and ammunition for South Texas and Northern Mexico went through Lavaca, Cox's Point, Linnville, and Texana for overland distribution by wagon train. Men from Calhoun County participated in the Mier expedition in 1842. United States Army quartermaster depots were located at Lavaca until 1854, and later Indianola supplied military forts and garrisons.
Newcomers began rounding up cattle during the 1840s and making ranching, traditionally a Hispanic concern, an American occupation. Lavaca, established in 1842 as a port, shipped hides and tallow and transported goods from New Orleans to San Antonio and points west. Its present name, Spanish for "cow port," reflected the importance of cattle to the local economy.
On April 4, 1846, Calhoun County was formed from parts of Victoria, Jackson, and Matagorda counties and named for John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, who had advocated Texas statehood. Lavaca was the first county seat. But, as a result of the development of the Indianola Railroad, the formation of other transportation lines, and a shift of population, Indianola became more important and was made county seat in 1852. The county's earliest newspaper, the Lavaca Journal, began publication in 1848; the first county school opened at Lavaca in 1849; and a county courthouse was completed at Indianola in 1857. Both Lavaca and Indianola remained important trade centers until 1861. Exports from Lavaca included cotton, pecans, and lead and copper from Mexico; Indianola exported silver bullion and cattle. The Morgan Lines moved their headquarters from Lavaca to Indianola in 1849, and in 1852 operated regular service to New York. The San Antonio and Mexican Gulf Railway completed a line from Lavaca to Victoria by 1861, and the Indianola Railroad was completed in the 1870s. Both roads eventually became parts of the Southern Pacific system. Trade development ceased, however, with the beginning of the Civil War.
Despite cholera epidemics in 1849, 1852, and 1853, the county's population increased between 1850 and 1860 from 867 white and 234 black residents to a total of 2,642, of which 414 were slaves. Plantations operated at Green Lake and Cox's Point, but most blacks were urban dwellers who worked as servants or at seaport trades (see SLAVERY, URBAN). Only one free black resided in the county in 1840 and nine in 1850; slave trading peaked at Indianola in 1852. In 1860 Calhoun County, not part of the plantation-based culture that dominated many Texas counties, produced only five bales of cotton, but residents nevertheless voted 276 to 16 the next year for secession. Calhoun County volunteers, organized in 1859 for the frontier, became part of the Third Texas Infantry of the Confederate Army. Others from the area joined the Indianola Guards or the Lavaca Guards, which became part of Company A of the Sixth Texas Infantry.
Because of the impact on its port facilities, Calhoun County felt the brunt of the war more than many Texas counties. During the war, women and slaves raised cotton, planted vegetables, and subsisted on cattle driven in to feed the families of soldiers. The 1860 census reported among county industries a manufacturer of turtle soup. Fort Esperanza, on Matagorda Island, constructed by Confederate forces using slave labor, covered the approaches to Cavallo Pass, but in 1863 the fort was captured after the battle of Matagorda Bay. Wharves, warehouses, railroads, and bridges were destroyed or damaged, and Indianola and Lavaca were taken by federal troops, many of whom were quartered in the county by the end of the war. The only Civil War land battle in Calhoun County was fought on Christmas Eve, 1863, at Norris's Bridge, but Union and Confederate graves remain at the site of Fort Esperanza.
The county recovered during Reconstruction. The population rose from 2,642 in 1860 to 3,443 by 1870, of which 907 were black; most county residents lived at Lavaca or Indianola, which for a time in the 1870s surpassed Galveston as the leading Texas seaport. Factories increased from fourteen to thirty-three, and sharecropping, which developed in many Texas counties, was not as widespread, probably because the soil facilitated ranching more than farming. In 1870 the wealthiest man in the county, Fletcher S. Stockdale, a lawyer from Kentucky, had real property valued at $100,000 and personal property at $20,000.
Although Union troops were stationed in Calhoun County, the chief problems of the post-Civil War years were not political. A fire in 1867 destroyed buildings at Indianola, and a yellow fever epidemic reduced the population. In 1875 a Gulf storm brought heavy damage to Indianola, which recovered only briefly before a tidal wave virtually destroyed the community in 1886. By 1880 the county's population had dropped to 1,739. Lavaca, renamed Port Lavaca, became the county seat again in 1887, the post office and courthouse were moved there, and Indianola was never rebuilt. In 1878 the Southern Pacific Railroad bought out the property of the Morgan Lines, which had headquartered at Indianola since the 1850s, and in 1887 reopened the war-damaged railroad. This development, along with the growth of other railroads across the state, reduced Port Lavaca from a major seaport to a fishing center. Manufacturing establishments dropped to four by 1880 and disappeared altogether by 1890. The cattle industry peaked in 1890, when 32,629 head were reported, but by then the county population numbered only 815. Among those who registered brands in the county were several African Americans, including Ann Harred, a "free woman of color" who used the JD brand on her Matagorda Island ranch. Other blacks, who had been cowboys as slaves, continued driving cattle to Texas ports. Of eighty-two farms in operation in 1900, fifty-six were operated by their owners and twenty-six by tenants.
The value of taxable property in Calhoun County grew between 1870 and 1912 from $1.5 million to almost $4 million. At the turn of the century, land companies offering mortgage loans at ordinary interest brought an influx of small farmers, most of whom raised cotton. Oyster shipping began at Port Lavaca, and developers established a new community at Port O'Connor. Swedes established a Lutheran colony at Olivia in 1892, and by 1900 European immigrants included Irish, Scots,q Germans, and Bohemians (see CZECHS). The population increased gradually, reaching pre-1875 figures again only in 1910, when a total of 3,635 was estimated, and 4,325 by 1920, of which 584 were black. By 1930 roughly one-fourth of the population was described as "Mexican." Hurricanes in 1914 and 1919 wrought further damage, and to defend itself Port Lavaca built a seawall in 1920.
Transportation improved in 1909 with construction of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway in the southern part of the county, with its terminus at Port O'Connor. United States participation in World War I brought significant improvements in the county's economy, but slow growth during the Great Depression hurt county cattlemen, whose herds were reduced to a total of only 4,007 head by 1930. Livestock was raised on only half the county's acreage in the 1930s, as many farmers raised figs, citrus fruits, and other products. Tenant farming increased in the 1920s and reached a high during the depression. By 1930, of 574 county farms, 372 were operated by tenants. The total number of farms began to decline from 574 in 1930 to 331 in 1950, by which time the average farm size was 731 acres, agribusiness had developed, and more than 200 farms were commercial. Improvements came with the construction in 1931 of a causeway over Lavaca Bay that linked the area to the South Texas highway system, discoveries of natural gas near Port Lavaca in 1934, and oil in 1935. Black schools operated in the Port Lavaca and Long Mott districts. A colony of Christian Scientists was established at Magnolia Beach, which became a major resort. In World War II an army training camp was built on Matagorda Island, along with a Strategic Air Command base that remained in service until 1975.
The county suffered a tropical storm in 1945 and extensive damage from Hurricane Carla in 1961. From 1940 to 1950 the population increased from 5,911 to 8,971. An Alcoa plant that employed 2,600 workers opened at Point Comfort in 1947, and a Union Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company plant near Seadrift opened in 1952; in 1980 it provided jobs for 1,400 employees. Other major industry included the Hartzog Shipyards, the U.S. Cold Storage Company, and the fishing and shrimping industry. By 1958 the county had a total of eleven manufacturers and seventy-seven mineral-related enterprises. In agriculture, a maximum county production of 10,570 bales of cotton and 133,996 pounds of corn were harvested in 1940, when 95,000 acres of land was planted with cotton, corn, sorghum, flax, and rice.
The number of cattle increased steadily after 1940, and by 1969 reached 20,404. National Starch, a manufacturer of vinyl acetate, began operation in 1962, Witco manufactured pitch oil at Point Comfort, and Vistron Corporation was in operation by the 1970s. Other industries produced oilfield products and metal cleaner; there was some marine construction. The population grew steadily after the 1950s, to 17,831 by 1970, of which 957 were black. Of a total of 21,300 in 1982, 34 percent were Hispanic, 18 percent German, and 18 percent of English descent.
In the 1980s Calhoun County farmers raised cattle, sorghum, rice, corn, pecans, and soybeans. Seventy percent of the land was in farms and ranches, but farmers faced problems of inefficient irrigation, soil compaction, poor drainage, and shoreline erosion. Businesses in 1981 totaled 380. Major industries included oil and gas extraction, fish packaging, heavy construction, and industrial chemical production. In 1982 oil and gas production totaled 849,240 barrels of crude oil, 2,439,971,000 cubic feet of casinghead gas, 43,787,907,000 cubic feet of gas-well gas, and 313,318 barrels of condensate. In 1990 crude production was 1,179,390 barrels. Matagorda Ship Channel traffic in 1981 totaled 4,148,664 short tons, including 3,347,547 tons of imports, 153,501 tons of exports, and 647,616 tons of domestic shipments. Important exports included oil, cotton, seafood, and cattle. In the 1980s Calhoun County's principal natural resources, after discoveries around 1935, remained industrial sand, oil, and gas. Port Lavaca, Port O'Connor, and Magnolia Beach attracted tourists, and hunting, fishing, boating, and bathing offered recreation. In 1988 the Formosa Plastics Corporation of Taiwan, encouraged to locate in Calhoun County to improve employment, established a petrochemical factory at Point Comfort; controversy subsequently developed over the company's environmental practices. Calhoun County school districts consolidated after 1955 and, by the 1980s, a single school district was operating eight elementary schools, three middle schools, and one high school. Many local churches operated schools. Thirty-three percent of high school graduates planned to attend college. In 1990 the county's population was 19,053.
The voters of Calhoun County favored the Democratic candidate in virtually every presidential election from 1848 through 1968; the only exceptions occurred in 1872, when Republican Ulysses S. Grant took the county, and in 1952 and 1956, when Republican Dwight Eisenhower carried the area. Beginning in 1972, when Richard Nixon won a majority of the county's voters, the area began to trend more Republican. Though the Democrats won majorities in 1976 and 1988, the Republicans took the county in 1980 and 1984, and in every election from 1992 through 2004.
In 2000 the census counted 20,647 people living in Calhoun County. About 52 percent were Anglo, 41 percent were Hispanic, and 3 percent were African American; other minority groups comprised about 4 percent of the population. Seventy-nine percent of residents age twenty-five and older had four years of high school, and more than 12 percent had college degrees. In the early twenty-first century aluminum manufacturing, plastics, and some other manufacturing concerns were key elements of the area's economy. In 2002 the county had 328 farms and ranches covering 247,827 acres, 59 percent of which were devoted to pasture and 38 percent to crops. In that year local farmers and ranchers earned $18,893,000, with livestock sales accounting for $9,710,000 of that total. Cotton, cattle, corn, and grain sorghum were the chief agricultural products. Almost 594,000 barrels of oil and 9,446,198 cubic feet of gas-well gas were produced in the county in 2004; by the end of that year 103,913,124 barrels of oil had been taken from county lands since 1935. Port Lavaca (2000 population, 12,035) is the seat of government and the county's largest town; other communities include Seadrift (1,352), Port O'Connor (1,184), Point Comfort (781), and Long Mott (76). In 1985 a Texas historical marker was placed at Half Moon Reef Lighthouse. Matagorda Island State Park and Wildlife Management Area, Calhoun County's principal state park, covered 7,325 acres. Annual special events in the county include the Sea Fest in May, Texas Water Safari in June, Shrimp-Fest in July, Fishing Derby and Youth Rodeo in August, Christmas Parade in December, and Calhoun County Fair in October at Port Lavaca.
Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29