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Welcome to Texas Genealogy Trails!
*Volunteers dedicated to putting free data online.*
This County Website is available for adoption.
If interested in joining our group, view our
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contact Kim.
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The county is named for Junius William Mottley, who died in the
battle of San Jacinto (a spelling
error was made when the county was named.) This sparsely settled
county comprises 959 square miles of rough and broken terrain
drained by the North Pease, Middle Pease, and South Pease rivers and
their tributaries. |
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Comanches of the Wanderers, Liver-Eaters, and Downstream bands
hunted buffalo and other game in the area before white settlement,
but were displaced by the army's Indian campaigns of the 1870s. In
1876 the Texas legislature formed Motley County from lands formerly
assigned to the Bexar District and attached the area to Crosby
County for judicial purposes. Sometime in the 1870s a buffalo
hunter named Ballard established a supply station at the springs
that now bear his name. In the mid-1870s Frank Collinson was
commissioned by Samuel R. Coggin to bring 8,000 of John S. Chisum's
cattle to establish the first ranch in the area. |
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In 1890 the county had thirteen ranches, encompassing 30,225
acres, and the local economy was almost entirely devoted to cattle
ranching. Settlers began to move to the county in greater
numbers in the early 1890s; an incomplete 1891 tax roll listed 317
taxpayers. That same year the county was organized, with Matador as
county seat. Since the General Land Office required a county seat to
have twenty businesses, Matador Ranch employees had opened temporary
stores stocked with ranch supplies. During the 1890s the county was
disturbed by friction between settlers and the managers of the
Matador Ranch, who attempted to control the county government. |
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Cities and Towns |
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Matador |
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Roaring Springs |
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Tee Pee City |
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ONLINE DATA |
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Mockingbird
State Bird
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