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Welcome to Texas Genealogy Trails!
*Volunteers dedicated to putting free data online.*
This County Website is available for adoption.
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From about 1700 to the 1870s, Comanche Indians ranged the area that
is now Coke County. They competed with the Tonkawa Indians to the
east and the Lipans to the west for dominance of the Edwards Plateau
and Colorado River valley. In 1851 Fort Chadbourne, in the northeast
part of the future county, was established by the United States Army
to protect the frontier; the fort was manned until the Civil War.
The Butterfield Overland Mail ran through the area from 1858 to
1861. |
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Between 1860 and the early 1880s the only settlers in what became
Coke County were ranchers attracted to open grazing land. J. J.
Austin established his ranch headquarters near Sanco in 1875, and
Pate Francher settled in the area in 1877, after he drove a cattle
herd for John Austin and Joe McConnel to the Odom Ranch near Sanco.
In 1882 the Texas and Pacific Railway began providing service to San
Angelo, and settlers started coming into the region in somewhat
larger numbers. |
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The Texas legislature established Coke County in 1889, carving it
out of territory previously assigned to Tom Green County; the county
was organized that same year, with Hayrick as county seat. In 1889
the county's first newspaper, the Hayrick Democrat, began
publication; shortly thereafter it was renamed the Rustler.
By 1890 there were 163 farms and ranches in the county, and 2,059
people lived there. Only about 4,000 acres of the county was
classified by the census as "improved" at this time. Ranching
dominated the local economy, and 13,806 cattle were counted in Coke
County that year. |
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Cities and
towns
Blackwell (mostly in
Nolan County)
Bronte
Robert Lee
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ONLINE DATA |
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Mockingbird
State Bird
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