Waller County was created in 1873 and formed from Austin and Grimes Counties. Waller County was named for Edwin Waller, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and the first mayor of Austin, Texas. The County Seat is Hempstead. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.waller.tx.us. See also Extended History for more historical details.
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.
Waller County Clerkhas Court Records from 1873 , Land Records from 1873, Probate Records from 1873, Marriage Records from 1873 and Birth/Death Records from 1903 is located at 836 Austin Street Suite 211, Hempstead, TX 77445; Phone: 979-826-7711, Fax: 979-826-8317. 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 Waller County Court Records. Email us with websites containing Waller 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 Waller County, Texas are 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.
Below is a list of online resources for Waller County Census Records. Email us with websites containing Waller 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 Waller County Maps. Email us with websites containing Waller 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 Waller County Military Records. Email us with websites containing Waller 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.
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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 Waller County Genealogical Addresses. Email us with websites containing Waller 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 Waller County Cemetery & Church Records. Email us with websites containing Waller 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 Waller County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Waller County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:
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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 settlement large herds of mustangs and wild cattle roamed through what is now Waller County; deer and prairie chickens were also abundant. The Bidai Indians lived a migratory life in the area, where they engaged in hunting and fishing. By the time of Anglo occupation, this group had been reduced to only about 100 members. European explorers apparently did not enter the area before the 1800s. The area that is now Waller County was originally part of the Municipality of Washington under Mexican rule, then became part of Washington County and then Austin County. The area began to be settled in the early 1820s as part of Stephen F. Austin's original colony. In 1821 Jared Groce moved from Alabama with 100 slaves and established Bernardo Plantation, four miles from the site of present Hempstead. Groce grew a crop of cotton in 1822 (perhaps the first in Texas), and in 1825 he constructed the first cotton gin in Texas. A blacksmith shop and commissary were also established at Bernardo, and the plantation became the nucleus of settlement in the area. In April 1836, during the Texas Revolution, Sam Houston's army briefly camped at the plantation. Other early settlers on the east bank of the Brazos were Isaac M. Pennington, first schoolteacher in Austin's colony, and two free blacks, Lewis B. Jones and Samuel Hardin. The southern part of what became Waller County developed more slowly than the northern sections did. James Pattison established a plantation close to the site of present-day Pattison, and Edwin Waller settled near the site of the present community of Clemons sometime after 1840. Most settlers in the area came from the southern United States. By 1845 the east bank of the Brazos had become a prosperous, cotton-exporting plantation area; about 200 whites owned more than 1,000 slaves. Jared Groce's son, Leonard W. Groce, acquired some of his father's land in 1854 and built Liendo Plantation, which became the area's social center. During these years most of the area's cotton crop was taken to Houston for marketing. Planters had to rely on inadequate steamboat and poor road transportation until the late 1850s, but development of the area was accelerated in 1858, when the Houston and Texas Central Railway built into the county. Hempstead, a new town located at the railroad's terminus in the northwestern part of the county, was incorporated in November 1858 and soon became a major trade center for the area, as cotton and other agricultural exports were increasingly shipped down the railroad to the coast. Hempstead's importance as a trade center grew in 1861, when the Washington County Rail Road connected the town to Brenham. The formation of Hempstead caused a shift in the county's population, as people moved away from the northern village of Rock Island, which earlier had been the only community in the region.
During the Civil War Confederate camps Carter, Groce, and Hebert were established near Hempstead; the town became a Confederate supply and manufacturing center, and a Confederate military hospital was established there. Camp Groce was one of two locations holding Union prisoners of war. Support was strong for the Confederacy in the area. Dr. Richard R. Peebles, a prominent local citizen who helped to found Hempstead, was imprisoned and exiled by Confederate authorities for speaking and writing against the war. Union soldiers marched into Hempstead in the summer of 1865, and about 4,000 troops commanded by George Armstrong Custer camped near Hempstead from August to October. An agency of the Freedmen's Bureau was established at Hempstead in 1866, and in 1867 two companies of federal troops were assigned there. The emancipation of the area's slaves disrupted the local economy and led to the breakup of many of the large plantations; cotton production plunged, and as late as 1870 remained significantly below prewar levels. (The Liendo Plantation was purchased by Edmund Montgomery and his wife, sculptor Elisabet Ney, in 1873). Though according to some reports the white citizens of Hempstead established a good relationship with the occupying soldiers, the city's peace was disturbed by a race riot in 1868. The area's majority black population became active in local politics during Reconstruction, and a number of blacks were elected to county and state offices. After Waller County was established in 1873, a majority of the county's voters supported the Republican candidates in every presidential election from 1872 to 1896.
Settlers on the east bank of the Brazos had attempted to obtain legislative approval to separate from Austin County as early as the 1850s. As a result of political maneuvering during Reconstruction, the state legislature established Waller County in 1873 from parts of Austin and Grimes counties; Hempstead was designated the county's seat of government. The construction of new rail links and new sources of livelihood soon encouraged the growth of old communities and new towns. Pattison grew rapidly after the Texas Western Narrow Gauge Railroad arrived in 1878; Prairie View State Normal School, a state school to train black teachers, was established in 1879. In 1880 the first United States census to record the new county reported 9,024 people, including 5,830 African Americans, living in the area. The agricultural census for that year found 596 farms encompassing 103,369 acres. Waller County residents planted over 10,000 acres in cotton that year and had 10,500 cattle. Immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe, Ireland, and Italy arrived during the later nineteenth century, with Germans forming the largest immigrant group; Catholic and Lutheran churches grew with the arrival, especially, of German, Polish, and Czech immigrants into the early twentieth century. A Jewish synagogue, established in 1873, also increased religious diversity. Brookshire grew after 1893, when the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad built through the area from Houston. South Texas Baptist College was established in the town of Waller in 1898, but did not survive the great storm that pushed through the area in 1900. The Narrow Gauge Railway closed in 1899. By 1900 the county's population had increased to 14,246, including 7,874 blacks. The agricultural census reported 2,000 farms that year, and cotton production had spread to over 24,000 acres; another 18,300 acres were planted in corn, and 16,000 cattle were reported that year. The county's black majority population regularly delivered Republican victories in local, state, and national elections during much of the late nineteenth century, but in the 1880s a White Man's Party was organized to reduce black political participation, and some elections were marked by violence. As a result, the county's Republican vote dropped by 50 percent between 1896 and 1900; although 1,493 Republican votes were cast in the Presidential election of 1896, in 1900 the Republican ticket received only 760 votes. The 1903 state white primary law all but eliminated blacks as a political power in the county, and in the Presidential election of 1912, only 144 Republican ballots were cast.
Cotton production continued to expand in the first decade of the twentieth century but then began to decline. More than 30,000 acres were planted in cotton in 1910, but by 1920 only 23,000 acres were devoted to the fiber. Though cotton cultivation expanded again briefly in the early 1920s—to over 34,000 acres by 1924—it declined again later in the decade, and by 1930 only 24,000 acres were planted in the crop. By that time, a number of farmers had turned to truck farming. The county's black population declined sharply during this period. By 1930 only 4,952 blacks were living there. Overall, the population dropped to 12,138 by 1910, to 10,292 by 1920, and to 10,014 by 1930. Cotton farming in the area continued to decline during the Great Depression of the 1930s, due to federal crop restrictions, low prices, and other problems. A number of cotton gins closed during the 1930s, and by 1940, 14,000 acres were planted in cotton. Cropland harvested declined from 58,000 acres in 1930 to only 47,000 acres in 1940. The discovery of petroleum in the county in 1934 helped to diversify the area's economy during and after the depression, but production remained fairly limited. Oil production rose from 80,000 barrels in 1938 to more than 385,000 barrels in 1944 and to almost 591,000 barrels in 1948. By 1960 production had dropped to just under 332,000 barrels; about 217,000 barrels were produced in 1974, and under 134,000 barrels in 1982. In 1990 just under 199,000 barrels of crude were produced; by January 1, 1991, almost 19,426,000 barrels had been produced in the county since 1934. As cotton cultivation continued to decline after World War II many small communities lost population. Farming declined relative to ranching after the 1950s, and by the 1980s irrigated rice had replaced cotton as the area's important crop; the county's last cotton gin closed in 1976. Meanwhile, truck farming and egg production became increasingly important, while watermelon growing declined. After 1960 Waller County's population grew rapidly, as more people moved into the area to commute to jobs in Houston. The United States Census counted 12,071 people in the county in 1960, and 14,285 in 1970; in 1973 the federal Office of Management and Budget began to include Waller County in the Houston Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area. By 1980 almost half of the county's residents lived in urban areas, and the population had increased to 19,798. In the 1980s the county had only ten manufacturing firms, generally specializing in metal fabrication and drilling equipment and supplies, and three banks. Most nonagricultural workers were employed in oil and gas extraction, service industries, and construction. In 1982 about 81 percent of the land was in farms and ranches; about 33 percent of the farmland was cultivated, and about 23 percent was irrigated. Major crops included soybeans, corn, hay, and rice; watermelons, peaches, and pecans were also produced. That year about 53 percent of the county's agricultural income was derived from livestock, particularly cattle, sheep, and hogs. Forest products are also important to the local economy, and in 1981 over 1,921,000 cubic feet of pine was harvested. In 1982 almost 139,265,000,000 cubic feet of gas-well gas and 134,000 barrels of petroleum were produced in the area. Tourism also contributed to the area's economy. Two weekly newspapers, the Brookshire Banner and the Hempstead News Citizen, were published. The town of Prairie View experienced particularly rapid growth as Prairie View A&M's enrollment expanded, and by 1990 it was the largest population center in the county. The school's growth has also shaped the social and political development of the county. In the 1960s Prairie View students boycotted Hempstead businesses to force integration. Black voters became a more potent political force in 1976, after students at Prairie View A&M successfully challenged obstacles to their local voting registration. In national elections a majority of the voters of Waller County supported the Democratic candidates in every presidential election from 1900 to 1948. However, the county swung to Republicans in 1952, 1956, and 1960. The county's voters then supported the Democratic candidates in most presidential elections between 1964 and 1992, except in 1972 and 1984. By 1990 there were 23,390 people living in Waller County. Major communities in the county that year included Hempstead (1990 population: 3,551), Brookshire (2,922), Prairie View (4,004), Katy (843 in Waller County), Waller (1,323 in Waller County), Pine Island (571), and Pattison (327). Hempstead hosts a watermelon festival in July, and the Waller County Festival is held in October.
Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-10, 1926-29