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Welcome to Texas Genealogy Trails!
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This County Website is available for adoption.
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The first permanent white settlers in the area were probably Robert
Carter and his family, who arrived in 1854. By 1855 a number of
others, including James Rice, Henry Standefer, Frederic Bookerman,
William Beauchamp, and Asa Langford had settled there. Rice and
Standefer opened a store that soon developed into the town of
Hamilton |
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Population grew rather rapidly, and in 1856 settlers circulated a
petition asking that a new county be formed to accommodate their
needs. Later that year the Texas legislature approved the request
and marked off Hamilton County from land previously assigned to
Comanche, Bosque, and Lampasas counties. Two years later a five-man
commission selected the town of Hamilton to be the county seat. |
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Between 1880 and 1900 cotton farming, grain production, and sheep
and cattle ranching expanded despite periodic droughts and financial
difficulties experienced by local farmers. During the 1880s and
1890s many settlers bought farm tracts from speculators who
subdivided former rangeland; others purchased public school lands.
Fence-cutting disputes occurred, conflicts erupted between cattlemen
and the increasing numbers of sheep raisers, and a drought
devastated the county from 1881 to 1887. |
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Cities and
towns
Evant
Hamilton
Hico
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ONLINE DATA |
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