Webb County, Texas Genealogical Records Information

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Webb County History and Information

Webb County Facts

Webb County was created in 1848 and formed from Bexar and Nueces Counties. Webb County was named for James Webb, who served as secretary of the Treasury, secretary of State, and Attorney General of the Republic of Texas, and later United States District Judge in the State of Texas. The County Seat is Laredo. The Official County website is located at http://www.webbcountytx.gov/. See also Extended History for more historical details.

Areas adjacent to Webb County are Dimmit County (north), La Salle County (north), Duval County (east), Jim Hogg County (southeast), Zapata County (south), Maverick County (northwest), and the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas lie to the west.

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There are free downloadable and printable forms to help with your research. These include U.S. Census Extraction Forms, U.K. Census Extraction Forms, Research Calendar, Ancestral Chart, Research Extract, Correspondence Record , Family Group Sheet , Source Summary Form.

Webb County Court Records

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.

Webb County Clerk has Court Records from 1851, Land Records from 1848 , Probate Records from 1851, Marriage Records from 1852 and Birth/Death Records from 1903 is located at 204 McPherson Drive, or P.O. Box 29, Laredo, TX 78040-8023; Telephone: (956) 727-7272.
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.

There are a few online databases for Court, Land and Probate Records which include: Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997, Texas Deaths, 1964-98, Texas Marriage Collection, 1814-1909 & 1966-2002, and Texas Divorce Index, 1968-2002. You may also search the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) which does cover Texas. Many pioneers and settelers bought land from the government instead of individuals.

Click Here to Search Texas Court, Land, Wills & Financial Records! - Researchers often overlook the importance of court records, probate records, and land records as a source of family history information.

Below is a list of online resources for Webb County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Webb County Court Records by clicking the link below:

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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.

Webb County Vital Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

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 Webb County Tax Records. Email us with websites containing Webb County Tax Records by clicking the link below:

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Webb County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Texas Genealogical Addresses

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 Webb County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Webb County Genealogical Addresses by clicking the link below:

Webb County Heritage Foundation, P.O. Drawer 29, Laredo, TX 78042
Local Texas Researchers, Find a local researcher or become a local researcher.
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 Genealogical Society, 2505 Beluche Drive, Galveston 77551
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.
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Webb County Church & Cemeteries

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.

There are many churches and cemeteries in Webb County. Some transcriptions are online. A great site is the Webb County Tombstone Transcription Project.

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 Webb County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Webb County Cemetery & Church Records by clicking the link below:

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

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 Webb County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Webb County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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County History

Early Spanish explorers traveled through the area on their journeys north of the Rio Grande. Alonso De León passed across what is now the northwestern corner of Webb County during the 1680s, and in 1747 Miguel de la Garza Falcón journeyed through the area as he explored the north bank of the Rio Grande. By the mid-eighteenth century a trail through the area was used by Spaniards traveling from Monterrey to San Antonio; in 1749 Jacinto De León, a Spanish army officer, established a ford, later known as the Paso de Jacinto, a mile north of the site of present-day Laredo. In 1755, under the direction and guidance of José de Escandón, a settlement was established near the Jacinto ford by Tomás Sánchez de la Barrera y Garza. The settlement, named Laredo, was actually little more than a ranch in its first years of existence, but it flourished under the leadership of Sánchez. In 1755 only three families moved to the area, but by 1757 Laredo had grown to eleven families and eighty-five people. By 1767, when a royal commission visited Laredo, 185 people lived there. The commission arranged for the survey of a formal townsite, inaugurated a government, and assigned land grants to families who had settled in the area. Sánchez and his relatives were awarded porciones encompassing 100,000 acres on both sides of the Rio Grande. The commission also extended the jurisdiction of the town north to the Nueces River so that it eventually included all of the area of present Webb County as well as parts of modern La Salle, Dimmit, and Zapata counties. The community continued to grow, and in 1789, 708 people, including 110 Carrizo Indians, lived in Laredo. By 1819 the population of Laredo was 1,418, and by 1828 it had reached 2,052.

The area's ranching potential was its primary attraction for the early Spanish settlers, and ranching operations dominated the economy from the first years of settlement. Food and other necessities imported from the south were bought with profits derived from cattle, sheep, and other livestock. By the early 1800s at least forty ranches had been established around Laredo, and by about 1815 livestock was also being raised near the Palafox Villa, a new settlement established halfway between Laredo and San Juan Bautista. During the 1820s sheep ranching became more important, and as wool became the area's principal source of wealth and its premier export product, the region experienced a period of expansion and relative prosperity. Between 1828 and 1831 one hacienda and twenty-three ranchos were established near Laredo, and 100 parcels of common pastureland (sitios de ganado) were assigned to various individuals. By the early 1830s a number of ranching operations had been set up as far as thirty miles outside the town. Though much of the rural land was owned by residents of Laredo, the rapid expansion of ranching activity encouraged newcomers to move into the area. Settlement in the outlying areas was hindered, however, by the continual threat of Indian raids. Comanches and Lipan Apaches moving in from the north drove many ranchers off their lands and dissuaded others from attempting to establish operations in the countryside. In 1772 the Spanish authorities had placed a permanent military garrison at Laredo, but neither these troops nor their successors sent by the Mexican republic after 1824 could ensure permanent protection for settlers. Indian attacks became a particular problem during and after the Mexican War of Independence; writing for help in 1837, a Laredo official estimated that since 1813 the area had known "only three years of peace." As early as 1819 thirty-seven of the forty-four ranches in the vicinity of Laredo had been abandoned for fear of Indian attack; and in 1828, in the midst of the sheep-ranching expansion, many ranch workers refused to leave Laredo to work on the ranches farthest from town. Indian raids also forced the abandonment of the Palafox settlement in the late 1820s. The area suffered most from Indian attacks during the 1830s, especially after 1835 when the Texas Revolution diverted the attention and resources of the Mexican government away from the growing Indian menace. Receiving no help from the Tamaulipas state government, the alcalde of Laredo petitioned Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna for help and suggested that, in the face of continuing Comanche attacks, the town might have to be abandoned. Preoccupied with their own problems, and content for the moment to remain within the Republic of Mexico, the people of Laredo and the surrounding area played only a small role in the Texas Revolution. Mexican commanders passing through the area en route to and from Texas battlefields requisitioned livestock from local citizens and sometimes stopped in Laredo, but the citizenry remained largely uninvolved in political issues.

Between 1836 and 1848 the area that is now Webb County was part of the disputed strip of land between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River claimed by both Mexico and Texas. Though Laredo was briefly designated capital of the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande during a federalist rebellion led by Antonio Canales, residents remained primarily loyal to the Republic of Mexico. Consequently, the area was raided on several occasions by Texans seeking revenge, adventure, or booty. Erastus (Deaf) Smith led an 1837 expedition that stopped just short of an attack on Laredo, for example, and an expedition led by Alexander Somervell in 1842 captured and plundered the town. The area was brought more firmly into the orbit of the United States during the Mexican War of 1845-48. Laredo was captured in 1846 and held for the duration of the war. Meanwhile, even before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo assigned the Nueces Strip to Texas, legislators in Austin included it in the new jurisdiction of Nueces County in 1846; in January 1848 the Texas legislature established Webb County, which was named in honor of Judge James Webb. Despite the hopes of prominent Laredo citizens, who petitioned to remain part of Mexico, the area was formally incorporated into the United States in May 1848. Worried about their future after annexation, many residents moved to the Mexican side of the river and established Nuevo Laredo; others moved into the surrounding Texas countryside. Suspicions that land titles would not be respected under the new government were soon put to rest. The Bourland-Miller Commission, which inspected Spanish and Mexican land titles in South Texas, proved to be fair and impartial in its assessment of land records. Local landholders therefore found it easier to accommodate themselves to the new political situation. Federal soldiers stationed at Fort McIntosh patrolled the area for bandits and hostile Indians.

The state Secession Convention voted in 1861 to leave the Union; and though Webb County had sent no delegate to the convention, residents later overwhelmingly approved secession by a vote of 70-0. During the Civil War hundreds of local men joined the Confederate army, many of them enlisted by Santos Benavides, who organized a Confederate company and successfully employed his force against a threat to the area posed by Juan N. Cortina in May 1861. In 1863 Benavides raised and commanded a regiment of Confederate cavalry. Confederate units in Webb County protected cotton shipments en route to Mexico and engaged in actions against Indians and against Union troops and sympathizers. Two minor battles were fought on the outskirts of Laredo. The war helped to invigorate ranching in Webb County. Only 2,987 cattle had been reported in the county in 1859, and only 1,340 in 1860; but by 1866 there were almost 30,000 cattle and 43,000 sheep. The raising of livestock remained at the center of the economy until the early twentieth century. Forty ranches or farms were counted by the U.S. census in 1870 and forty-six in 1880. The economy began to change in the 1880s, however, with the arrival of the railroads. In 1881 both the Corpus Christi and Rio Grande (later the Texas Mexican) and the International-Great Northern railroads built lines to Laredo. The construction of the rail lines brought jobs for the work crews and also made it easier for ranchers to ship their livestock to market and to receive manufactured goods from the East and Midwest.

The connection with the outside world also had far-reaching effects on the culture of the county, for it brought an infusion of American culture to what had been essentially a Mexican ranching community. After 1881 the number of Anglo-Americans began to increase, and by 1900 they represented one-fourth of the population of 21,851. The coming of the railroads also brought about the establishment of numerous new towns, including Nye, Sanchez, Webb, Callaghan, Cactus, Pescadito, Reiser, Aguilares, Oilton, Mirando City, and Bruni, which grew up along their routes, replacing many of the earlier ranching communities. With the railroads in place, the county's large deposits of cannel coal began to be exploited. Around 1882 Charles R. Wright purchased 1,000 acres surrounding the earlier community of San José, renamed it Dolores, and a short time later organized the Cannel Coal Company. Numerous mines were started, and a thriving mining industry grew up, giving rise to the communities of Carbon, Islitas, and Joyce. In the middle 1880s the Rio Grande and Eagle Pass Railway was built to ship the coal out of the county. The 1880s also saw the rise of two political factions- the Botas and Guaraches. Leaders of the Botas ("Boots," a symbol of wealth and class) included Raymond Martin and county judge José María Rodríguez, while Santos Benavides was a major figure in the Citizen's Party or Guaraches ("Sandals," symbolizing the lower class). In the 1890s the rival factions united to form the Independent Club, which dominated county politics until the 1970s.

The number of ranching operations in the county increased between 1880 and 1890, as the railroad spurs opened the area to more intensive development and Indian and bandit raids were curtailed. By 1890, 283 ranches and farms had been established, covering 791,000 acres. Large ranches increasingly became the norm. Of the forty ranches and farms established before 1870, only one was larger than 1,000 acres, but by 1890 fifty-seven were at least 1,000 acres, and some were considerably larger. A good deal of the county's growth during this period can be attributed to sheep ranching. In 1865, 34,000 sheep were reported in the county. By 1870 there were 72,000 sheep and 10,047 cattle; and by 1880 almost 182,000 sheep were counted, but only 3,300 cattle. Sheep ranching peaked in 1887, when the total reached 199,000, then declined for a number of reasons, including a sharp drop in wool prices, a severe drought, and the depletion of grasslands. The number of sheep dropped to 110,000 by 1900 and to 10,143 by 1910. As sheep ranching declined, cattle herds increased. County ranchers owned 23,000 cattle in 1890 and 38,000 in 1900.

On March 12, 1899, the Texas legislature abolished Encinal County and added its territory to Webb County, which became the largest Texas county east of the Pecos River. By 1900 large numbers of Anglo immigrants began to move into the county, turning former rangeland into farmland. The introduction of water pumps powered by wind, gas, and electricity for the first time allowed for large-scale irrigation along the Rio Grande. In 1898 Thomas Nye began to irrigate his fields for vegetables, especially Bermuda onions, which thrived in the warm climate. Numerous other farmers began irrigating their fields, and within a few years Webb County became known as the "Bermuda Capital of the World." At the peak of the onion boom around 1910 some 1,700 cars of onions were being shipped per year. The number of farms in the county grew to 408 by 1900, and the population reached 22,503 by 1910 and 29,152 by 1920. Cotton also began to be grown around the turn of the century. At this time the discovery of oil helped spur the economy. Gas was found by L. A. and Edward J. Reiser in 1908, and in 1921 Oliver W. Killam brought in the first producing oil well, prompting a boom. During the 1920s and early 1930s modern hotels were built in Laredo to meet the demands for accommodations, and several new towns, including Oilton, Villegas, Mirando City, Miles Bennett, and Moglia, grew up to service the nearby oil and gas fields. The population was 42,128 in 1930. Farming continued to play an important part in the economy, but with the onset of the Great Depression in the early 1930s agriculture went into a steep decline. Competition from the lower Rio Grande valley and a decline in prices dealt a serious blow to the onion and cotton growers, as did increasing diesel fuel prices, which made irrigation more expensive. Some landowners were able to make up for the shortfall with oil money, but many farmers were forced to give up their lands. The number of farms in the county, which reached an all-time high of 522 in 1930, fell to 327 by 1950. Coal mining also declined during the 1930s, falling victim to competition from other Western mines and from increasing transport costs. In 1939 the Cannel Coal Company, the area's largest producer, ceased operations. As a result, most of the coal towns declined or were abandoned. A few families stayed to try their hands in farming, but most moved to Laredo or out of the county. In 1940 the population stood at 45,916.

During World War II Webb County served as an important training center for United States military forces. Fort McIntosh was the local National Guard base, and Laredo Army Air Field, with its Central School for Flexible Gunnery, trained thousands of soldiers for the European and Pacific theaters. After the war ranching and the oil and gas industry increasingly took center stage in the county's economy. Many of the remaining farmers gave up agriculture, and by 1970 farming played only a very minor role in the economy. The county population was 56,141 in 1950 and 72,859 in 1970. In 1980 Webb County was the seventh-largest beef-producing county in the state; principal breeds included Santa Gertrudis, Hereford, Brahman, and Charolais cattle. In 1982 over 90 percent of the county's land was devoted to ranching.

In the early 1980s leading industries in Webb County included tourism, oil and gas extraction, general and heavy construction, meat packing, soft-drink bottling and canning, trucking, and the manufacture of clothing and leather shoes. In 1982 Webb County ranked ninety-eighth in the state in the highest agricultural receipts, with 83 percent coming from livestock and livestock products, especially cattle. Principal crops included sorghum and hay. Oil and gas continued to account for an important part of the county's income. Crude oil production in 1982 totaled 871,615 barrels; 106,351,146,000 cubic feet of gas-well gas, 602,983,000 cubic feet of casinghead gas, and 763,206 barrels of condensate were also produced. In 1989 Webb County was first in the state in production of natural gas, with 24,979,392,000 cubic feet. In 1990, 2,583,994 barrels of oil were produced in the county, and total production between 1936 and 1990 was over 127 million barrels.

In the early 1980s Webb County had four school districts with twenty-seven elementary, seven middle, and six high schools. Laredo was the site of Texas A&M International University and Laredo Junior College. From the time of Texas's admission to the Union until the 1950s, Webb County was staunchly in the Democratic camp. Despite occasional challenges from Republicans and independents, Democratic presidential candidates have prevailed in every election since the county was established, and the Democratic party has dominated in state and local elections. The county population was 99,258 in 1980 and 133,239 in 1990. Laredo, with 122,899 residents, accounted for more than 90 percent of the population. Persons of Hispanic descent formed the largest ancestry group with 93.9 percent. Other towns in the county included El Cenizo (1,399), Bruni (698), Mirando City (559), and Oilton (458). In recent years uranium mining has emerged as a significant industry, and at least one coal mine was operating in the late 1980s. International trade and tourism, however, appeared to constitute the most important future sectors of the economy, with Laredo serving as a major gateway to Mexico.

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