Calhoun County Texas History and Genealogy - presented by Genealogy Trails

Calhoun County is named for John Caldwell Calhoun, the seventh vice president of the United States. Its county seat is Port Lavaca.

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.

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. 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.