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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
Volunteer Information Page and
contact Kim.
[Basic webpage design knowledge and a desire to transcribe data is
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Following the annexation
of Texas by the United States in 1845 a number of forts were built
to restrain the Indian attacks and protect the Americans moving to
the region. A second series of forts was built, including Camp J. E.
Johnston (1852) in northwest Tom Green County and Fort Chadbourne
(1852) in the area of modern Coke County, thirty miles up Owl Creek
from its confluence with the Colorado River. The Butterfield
Overland Mail stage line followed in 1857, west through Carlsbad,
across the headwaters of the Middle Concho River, on to Horsehead
Crossing on the Pecos River, and El Paso. The stage line was
abandoned, as was Fort Chadbourne, with the outbreak of the Civil
War. |
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The county was established by the state legislature on March 13,
1874, and named for Thomas Green, a Confederate brigadier general.
It originally comprised an area of over 60,000 square miles.
The original county seat was the town of Ben Ficklin. In 1882 flood
waters destroyed the town and drowned 65 people. The county seat was
moved to Santa Angelina. In 1883 the town's name was changed to San
Angelo by the post office. |
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A major factor in the development of agriculture was the first rail
connection completed in September of 1888 by the Santa Fe Railroad.
This provided direct access to market for cattle, sheep, goats, and
wool and other products. By the turn of the century an estimated
3,500 to 5,000 railroad cars of cattle were shipped annually—making
San Angelo the largest range cattle-shipping station in the United
States. A second rail connection was completed in 1908
by the Kansas City, Mexico and Orient Railway. The decade of the
1880s ended with the incorporation of San Angelo as a city and the
closing of Fort Concho in 1889. The Indians had been subdued and
confined to the reservation. The frontier was gone. The first
electric light plant was built in 1890, and the first sewer system
was completed in 1895. |
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Cities and
towns
San Angelo
Christoval
Unincorporated areas
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Carlsbad
Christoval
Grape Creek
Knickerbocker
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Tankersley
Vancourt
Veribest
Wall
Water Valley
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ONLINE DATA |
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Mockingbird
State Bird
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