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Leon County was officially formed from Robertson County by the
First Texas Legislature in 1846. The first meeting of the county
court was held on October 16, 1846, with R. E. B. Baylor as
presiding judge. The naming of the county is the subject of much
controversy. Some maintain that it was named for Martín De León,
founder of Victoria. However, many residents insist that the
name ("lion" in Spanish) came from the nickname of a yellow wolf
of the region commonly called the león. |
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The first county seat, Leona, on the southern boundary near the
Old San Antonio Road, was picked in 1846. The first chief
justice was David M. Brown; William B. Middleton served as
sheriff for the first term in 1846. Centerville became county
seat in 1851, as a result of a state requirement that county
offices be as close to the geographical center of a county as
possible. The first newspaper was published there in 1851, the
Leona Signal, under the ownership of Judge W. D. Wood. |
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In the early years most Leon County residents engaged in
subsistence farming, raising corn, cattle, and hogs.
The citizens of Leon County fervently supported secession; 87
percent of county voters (534 of 616) cast their ballots for it.
John D. Stell, a Leon County representative to the Secession
Convention, was chosen to help prepare an address to the people
of Texas about the convention's vote to secede. County residents
responded enthusiastically to the call to arms. W. D. Wood, who
wrote an account of Leon County during the war, estimated that
more than 800 county men enlisted in the Confederate Army.
Several units were recruited from the county: Company C of
Hood's Texas Brigade, Companies D and E of Robert S. Gould's
battalion, Captain Black's Company A of John H. Burnett's
Thirteenth Texas Cavalry, and Company D of Xavier B. DeBray's
Twenty-sixth Texas Cavalry. |
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Counties and Towns |
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Buffalo |
Marquez |
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Centerville |
Oakwood |
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Jewett |
Normangee |
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Leona |
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ONLINE DATA |
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