Texas History and Genealogy - presented by Genealogy Trails

Tonkawa Indians occupied Central Texas at the time the future Llano County was first explored, but it is uncertain how long they had lived there. The Tonkawas hunted and gathered along streams and did not farm. They were not warlike, however, and they apparently invited the Spaniards to establish missions that would help them against the fierce Comanches. The Comanches came into the Tonkawa area in the eighteenth century and eventually claimed territory as far southeast as San Antonio and Austin. During the Republic of Texas era, conflict between whites and Comanches in the region was marked by such battles as a fight at Enchanted Rock in 1841

The first permanent settlers of European origin in the area were brought in by the Adelsverein. German settlers established the town of New Braunfels (now in Comal County) in 1845, and Fredericksburg (now in Gillespie County) in 1846. In 1847 John O. Meusebach, the leader of the German settlers, negotiated a treaty with the Comanches to permit Germans to live in the area of the Fisher-Miller Land Grant, which included what is now Llano County.

Llano County was organized in 1856 after the Texas legislature formed the county from the Bexar District and Gillespie County. Donations of 250 acres were made for a site for the county seat. By 1858 the population exceeded 1,000, and cattle, hides, and pecans were being exported. Farming was the chief occupation in the north and ranching in the south. Germans predominated in the western parts and Anglo-Americans in the other areas. By 1860 the county had eighty-nine farms, encompassing 59,744 acres. The agricultural census that year reported 21,344 cattle and 1,492 sheep in Llano County, and the corn harvest exceeded 23,500 bushels. The United States census found 1,101 people living in the county that year; of these, 21 were slaveholders and 54 were slaves.

Cities and Towns

Buchanan Dam	Kingsland
Castell	Llano
Horseshoe Bay	Sunrise Beach Village
	Tow