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Stonewall County is named for Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson, a general of the Confederate Army. |
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Stonewall was one of fifty-four counties formed by the Fifteenth Texas Legislature
in 1876 from the Young and Bexar districts. It remained attached to Young County for judicial and all other governmental
purposes until March 31, 1887, when it was attached to Jones County for convenience. Stonewall County was still
unorganized in 1880, when the census found 104 people, including 91 whites, 10 blacks, and 3 Indians, living there.
Settlers moved to the county in increasing numbers during the 1880s. At first they settled a few miles south of
the site of the present county seat, but they eventually spread to the west and northeast. About the same time,
ten families settled on the east side of the county and established the community of Hooker. In 1888 the residents
of the county petitioned the Jones County Commissioners Court to hold an election for the organization of the county.
The balloting took place on December 20 of that year. However, the question of the county seat had been omitted
from the ballot. On June 12, 1889, W. E. Rayner granted land for a townsite, and the new town of Rayner became
the county seat. The courthouse, a large stone building, was built the following year. By 1890 there were 1,024
people living in the county. The agricultural census for that year found 144 farms there, encompassing more than
23,000 acres, 6,758 acres of which was classified as "improved." The cattle industry dominated the local
economy. Only 719 acres was planted in corn, the county's most important crop at that time, while the agricultural
census reported 5,023 cattle and 5,203 sheep. As the county's population continued to expand in the 1890s, the
placement of the county seat became a source of local controversy. A. L. Rhomberg had secured a patent in February
of 1889 and platted a town, Aspermont, which was closer than Rayner to the center of the county. Beginning in 1892
the citizens of Aspermont made several attempts to make their rapidly growing town the county seat, and finally
succeeded after an election held in June 1898. The controversy did not really end, however, until March 1900, when
a contract to build a new courthouse in Aspermont was signed. Rayner soon ceased to exist. |
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