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Welcome
to Texas Genealogy Trails!
*Volunteers
dedicated to putting free data
online.*
My
name is Janice
and I am your host of Upton
County. Please help me to make
this section of the State a
wealth of information for others
researching their ancestors that
traveled to and through our
County. Please contact
me with your submissions to
Upton County. If
interested in joining our group,
view our Volunteer
Information Page
and contact
Kim.
[Basic
webpage design knowledge and a
desire to transcribe data is
required]
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The area that is
now Upton County was traversed
during the early nineteenth
century by Comanches and
Apaches, who competed for
hunting grounds in the area.
Both tribes were superior
horsemen, capable hunters of
buffalo and other game, and
relentless raiders of their
neighbors. Despite their
considerable achievements in
material culture and adaptation
to their environment, the
Indians lost their domination of
the region to the United States
Army and the advancing tide of
white settlers in the 1870s and
1880s. In the 1860s the
Chihuahua Trail from Mexico to
Indianola, Texas, a significant
trading route, crossed the
region, as did the route of the
Butterfield Overland Mail
(1858-61), and the
Goodnight-Loving Trail.
Originally part of the Bexar
Territory, the area was part of
Tom Green County from 1874 until
1887, when Upton County was
established. Click
Here To
view early land records.
Select Upton County to view all
early Upton claims. |
| In
the fall of 1911 the Kansas
City, Mexico and Orient Railway
reached the townsite of Rankin,
and by January 1912 most of the
people living in Upland had
moved to Rankin. The county's
population soon was concentrated
at or near Rankin, and after
1913 the town's school system
served the entire county. Rankin
became the county seat in
1921. |
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| In
1926 George McCamey's wildcat
brought 700 hopeful people to
the area and established a new
town in the southwest corner of
Upton County named for the oil
discoverer. The opening of the
Yates oilfield especially helped
to develop Upton County's
economy. The Yates field
actually lies in Crockett and
Pecos counties, but Rankin
developed as the supply and oil
service center for the rich
district and boomed as a
result. McCamey field
operators gained a railroad spur
from the Santa Fe Railroad,
which had taken over the Orient
Railroad, to aid development and
encourage growth of the new
town. By late 1927 several
thousand people lived in McCamey.
Water had to be freighted from
Alpine, 100 miles distant, and
was sold at one dollar per
barrel until 1929, when good
water from the Trinity sands
wells seventeen miles away was
piped into the town. |
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Towns
of Upton County
Crossett
Mc Camey
Rankin
Upland |
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Outlaws
of America
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ONLINE
DATA |
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Mockingbird
State Bird
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NEW
DATA!
NEW
D\ATA!
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you have information that
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any town, family, county
or subject, please send it
to us and we'll make sure
it gets posted to the
right county. We are
looking for Census,
Births, Deaths, Marriages,
Biographies, Obituaries,
and Newspaper
Stories, Email
me |
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