Handbook of Texas Online, s.v. "," http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/hcc5.html (accessed May 15, 2007). (NOTE: "s.v." stands for sub verbo, "under the word.")
Anglo settlement began in the late 1830s, with
most of the early settlers coming from the southern states of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. The earliest communities
in the area were Pittsburg, near the center, and Lilly and Pine, in the southwestern and south central part. There
were probably some early settlers along Big Cypress Creek in the northern portion also, but no information is available
about their activities. The first post office, established in 1848, was located in the community known now as Pine,
and was called Pine Tree. In 1855 a post office was also established at Pittsburg, and by 1860 this town had become
the most important supply center for northern Upshur County farmers. |
| These early, predominantly southern settlers brought with them their
southern heritage and institutions. Most of the early settlers were Protestants, especially Baptists and Methodists.
A number of the settlers were also slaveholders, who used the fertile soils of the county to grow the two most
important southern crops, cotton and corn. Although precise figures are not available, the proportion of the population
who were blacks held as slaves probably exceeded the 1860 statewide average of about 30 percent. |
|
| Camp
County was separated from Upshur County in 1874 and named for John Lafayette Camp,qv who was serving as state senator from Upshur County
and presented the petitions that led to the action of the legislature. A county seat election was held, and Pittsburg
won with 500 votes. Leesburg, to the west, received 228, and Center Point, in the southeastern part, received sixty-nine.
Following the election, a courthouse was constructed of locally manufactured brick on a lot donated by William
Pitts. Since the 1874 election the choice of county seat has never been contested. |
Cities and towns
Pittsburg
Rocky Mound
|
|
The.first settlers came to Camp County
in 1844 and located on Big Cypress Creek. A few others came in 1850, and quite
an inflow occurred in 1855, and another in 1859. Almost all of these immigrants came from the more eastern Southern
States, particularly Georgia and Alabama, and took up the greater part of the land that is cultivated to-day. Since
the civil war the population has increased steadily, until now it numbers 9,000, about 55 or 60 per cent being
native white and the remainder colored. There are practically no foreigners in the county.
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