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Introduction to
the Various Records
on Microfilm
Most of the county records are from the offices
of the county and district clerks, with some records from the offices of the
county superintendent of schools and the county tax assessor-collector. Tax rolls
came from originals in possession of the State Comptroller
of Public Accounts.
This
section is meant to serve as an introduction to the types of records that are
available to you and what kind of information can be found in them.
Most records of the county and district clerks are indexed either in each
volume or externally in a cumulative index. Unless an index has been
transcribed and placed in order, most county index are not in perfect
alphabetical sequence. The indexes are updated continually, usually by added
entries chronically under letter groups. For example, in a typical index to
a Deed Record, all names beginning with "Ha" are gathered in one section,
all those beginning with "He" in the following section, etc.
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During the Republic and early statehood, the office of the County Clerk
was a statutory one. The Constitution of 1866 elevated it to constitutional
status, but the newly acquired rank was short-lived. The office was
abolished under the Constitution of 1869 and the duties of the clerk were
assumed by the district clerk in each county. The office was restored in the
Constitution of 1876 and has remained virtually unchanged since. The office
is combined with that of the District Clerk in counties with less than 8,000
in population, unless the voters of the county choose to have separate
offices.
The Texas County Clerk performs duties that in most other states are
divided among two or more officials. The clerk is the county recorder and as
such accepts for filing and recording a wide variety of documents from deeds
to marriage licenses to cattle brands. The clerk is also clerk to the County
Court, a court of limited jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters, but
the principal court for probate matters. Lastly, the clerk is clerk to the
Commissioners Court, the governing body of a county.
The Deed Record is among the oldest of Texas county
records. One of the principal duties of county clerks under the Republic was
the recording of deeds. It is, by far, the most voluminous county record. In
many counties established before the 1880s, the researcher is likely to find
a variety of documents, unrelated to real property matters, recorded in the
Deed Record. It was only after 1879, when separate recording of deeds of
trust was first required, that the Deed Record in most counties began to
become more and more exclusively a record of deeds and other muniments of
title. By law, the Deed Record must be indexed with reference to both
grantor (direct) and grantee (reverse).
The recording of deeds of trusts or mortgages has been required by law
since 1846, initially in the Deed Record, but beginning in 1879 in the
Deed of Trust or
Mortgage Record. Like the
companion Deed Record, the Deed of Trust Record must be indexed by law; in
this instance, to mortgagor (direct) and mortgagee (reverse).
Deeds to individuals from the State of Texas under various land grant
programs are usually found in the Deed Record, but in some counties they are
recorded separately in a Patent Record. Many Texas counties
were created from other counties and a 1879 law required that any deeds
relating to property in a county recorded in the deed records of any parent
counties be transcribed. In some counties, these transcribed deed records
are kept in volumes separate from the main body of the Deed Record. Other
laws concerning the transcription of burned deed or Spanish deed led to the
creation of separate volumes of deed transcriptions in some counties.
Special land commission board were created in each county of the Republic
in 1838 to issue headright certificates to qualified settlers. The boards
were abolished in 1853, but a few continued to work under special
legislation until the early 1860s. The Land Commissioners Minutes
contain records of the proceedings of the boards as well as recorded copies
of applications, bonds, oaths, and affidavits of witnesses. The minutes have
not survived in some counties, but deeds to grants of land obtained through
headright will likely be found in the Deed Record of the county. In
addition, the General Land Office in Austin has records of all headrights
granted throughout the state. Homestead Applications and a
companion Homestead Record, concerning land obtained as
homesteads by pre-emption or through donation or bounty warrants, were
filmed in some counties, especially south Texas.
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Since the formation of the first 23 counties under the Republic, county
clerks have been required to record virtually all papers filed in probate
cases in the Probate Minutes. In many counties, however, clerks began to
limit the Probate Minutes to a record of the proceedings in
probate cases and to record the case papers in separate volumes called the
Probate Record. In some counties, the Probate Record itself
was further subdivided into separate volumes relating to various aspects of
the probate process -- guardianship, applications for administration,
administrators' bonds and oaths, estate inventories, final accounts, probate
claims, reports of sale, orders for partition and distribution, etc. Unlike
many states, there has never been a requirement for separate recordation of
wills in Texas, although in some counties will have been or are recorded in
a Will Record.
Researchers should be aware that in some counties records of probate
proceedings can be found in the District Court Minutes or District Court
Civil Minutes during the period from 1869 to 1876 when the county court and
the office of the county clerk were abolished. In most counties, however,
wills can be found in the Probate Record. The
Probate Case Papers
themselves (and related records series such as
Guardianship Case
Papers) have been filmed in some counties.
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Of the three principal vital statistics records maintained by county
clerks, the Marriage Record is the oldest, dating from
1837. State law requires that the clerk record a marriage license upon
issuance and record, upon return of the license, the date of the ceremony
and the person performing the marriage. The use of receipt stub books (most
of which have not survived in Texas counties) beginning in the 1890s, led
many clerks to forgo recording licenses upon issuance, but only on return.
Thus, in some counties the Marriage Records is a record of all licenses
issued; in most, however, it is a record only of those licenses issued that
resulted in marriage. Black marriages were recorded separately in some
counties, especially during Reconstruction. This record is listed in this
guide under the heading Marriage Record (Freedmen). A law
permitting the recordation of proofs of marriage which took place before the
formation of the Republic led to the creation of a
Marriage Bond
Record in a few counties.
Although formal application procedures to obtain a marriage license were
not promulgated by the State of Texas until 1959, applications were used in
some counties by custom before that date. These
Marriage License
Applications have not survived in most counties, but they have been
filmed when found. Attestations of parents and guardians testifying to the
age of marriage license applicants and giving their consent if needed were
filmed when available and are listed in this guide under
Marriage
Affidavits. A short-lived statutory requirement (1929-1933) that
three days' notice of intention to marry be given led to the creation of the
Notice of Intention to Marry Record. Original, unreturned
Marriage Licenses were filmed in a few counties.
Births were registered from 1873 to 1876 by the district clerk during the
period when the office of the county clerk was abolished. When the office of
county clerk was re-established in 1876, the requirement that births be
registered was dropped; whether deliberately or through oversight is not
known. This early birth record has survived in most counties and is included
in this guide under the Birth Record, which begins in 1903
with the revival of mandatory registration. The county clerk was not the
only registrar for births in a county -- many justices of the peace and city
secretaries also recorded births -- and efforts have been made to film the
birth records of these officials whenever possible. The fact that many city
secretaries were local registrars should be kept in mind by the researcher;
the absence of a birth record with the county clerk does not necessarily
mean a person was not born in the county. If he or she was born in the city
limits of a city in which the city secretary acted as a local registrar, the
record of birth will not likely appear among the records of the county
clerk, because city secretaries, unlike justices of the peace, were not
required to forward birth records to the Bureau of Vital Statistics in
Austin through county clerks.
Beginning in 1939, persons were permitted to provide proofs of birth and
receive a delayed birth certificate, which was recorded by county clerks in
the Birth Record (Delayed) (sometimes titled Probate Birth
Record, Old Date Birth Record, or Affidavit Birth Record). The bulk of this
record in most counties falls between 1941 and 1946 when persons seeking to
retire under the Social Security Act sought birth certificates in large
numbers. Prior to 1959, persons could apply for delayed birth certificates
in the county of their residence regardless of their birthplace. Beginning
in 1960, only person born in a county could obtain a delayed birth
certificate in that county. Amended birth certificates were recorded in many
counties in the Birth Record (Corrected).
Mandatory registration of deaths began in Texas in 1903. In researching
the Death Record, bear in mind that, like records of birth,
some city secretaries also maintained death records and the information in a
city death record is not likely to be found in the record maintained by a
county clerk. Although there are procedures for obtaining delayed death
certificates, the need to do so is rare and a separate Death Record
(Delayed) is found in a few counties only.
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Under federal law in effect when Texas became a state, county courts as
well as district courts were authorized to conduct naturalizations
proceedings. By an act of Congress in 1906, this authorization was confined
among state courts to those of unlimited original jurisdiction, which in
Texas meant that only district courts could hold proceedings. Naturalization
records of the county clerk, therefore, date from before 1906. Separately
maintained naturalization records consist principally of two records series
-- Declaration of Intention, in which the immigrant
declares his or her intention to become a citizen, and the
Naturalization Record (sometimes called Petition and Record) in
which the petition for citizenship, the oath of allegiance, witness
affidavits, and the order of the court granting or denying citizenship were
recorded. It was not until the turn of the century, however, that
standardized forms for recording declaration of intention and naturalization
proceedings came into widespread use.
In the 19th century, naturalization proceedings can be found in the
County Court Minutes or
County Court Civil Minutes,
the Probates Minutes, or even the
Commissioners
Court Minutes. An effort was made to film all court minutes that
contain naturalization documents. Original Naturalization Petitions
and Naturalization Certificate Stubs were also filmed if
extant. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) indexes to naturalization
records in each county were also filmed when available.
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County Court Minutes were filmed principally to preserve
naturalization proceedings, but in those counties in which it was
commonplace to record naturalization proceedings in county court minutes
books, long runs of the minutes books have been filmed. The minutes contain
accounts of proceedings in civil and, in some cases, misdemeanor matters.
Dockets, which provide a calendar of the movement of cases
through a court and a record of filing of case papers, were filmed in a few
counties.
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A number of records maintained by county clerks do not fall into any of
the broad categories already noted. The Pauper Records is a
register of paupers or indigents receiving county aid. Recorded copies of
discharge papers from the United State Armed Forces, especially for service
in World War I, can be fount in the Discharge Record. The
Occupation Tax Record lists the names of persons subject to
tax because of their occupation; the number of occupations liable for tax
was fairly large as late as the 1920s, ranging from peddlers of various
types to money lenders to cigarette dealers, but the number was in steep
decline by the late 1930s.
The Official Bond Record contains recorded copies of the
bonds and oaths of county office holders. Voter Registration Lists,
especially those that have survived from the 19th century, were filmed when
possible. Muster Rolls, principally from the Civil War, can
occasionally be found among the records of county clerks.
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The office of district clerk has been provided for in every Constitution
since the Republic. The clerk is clerk to the District Court, the principal
trial court in Texas. The court serves as the court of original jurisdiction
in all family law matters and as the court of appeal in probate matters.
The District Court Minutes (combined civil and criminal minutes) and the
District Court Civil Minutes contain the proceedings of the
district court in civil matters, including ex parte actions such as
name changes. The minutes are indexed by the names of plaintiff and
defendant in civil actions. Ex parte actions are indexed by the name
of the petitioner, although in a few counties all ex parte actions
are indexed under "e" for ex parte.
Divorce Minutes
began to emerge as a separate records in most counties in the 1890s. The
District Court Record or
Final Record,
found in some counties, contains recorded copies of case papers. District
Court Civil Case Papers (including any separately maintained
Divorce Case Papers), relating to family law matters, are
available for many of the more recently filmed counties.
Dockets
of various types have been filmed when they contain information on family
law matters not contained in minute books.
The Declaration of Intention and the
Naturalization Record are like those of the county clerk; and, also
like that office, naturalization proceedings can often be found in other
minutes books of the district clerk. Again, WPA indexes to these records
have been filmed whenever possible.
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County board of trustees and officers of county superintendents of
schools were abolished by state law in 1978 in all counties without common
or rural school districts. The office of county superintendent could be
continued through ad valorem taxation or through agreement among the
independent schools districts of a county. In 1990, the office existed in
only 11 of Texas' 254 counties.
Between 1905 and 1970, county superintendents conducted censuses of all
school-age children in their counties. Information was then extracted from
the census forms and compiled in census rolls. Since the mid-1980s, the
Local Records Division and the Genealogical Society of Utah have attempted
to locate, list, and from the census forms in each county. Efforts continue
to be made to locate and film the census records of those counties in which
filming of other records has already been completed. Censuses of
schoolchildren of a different type, conducted in the 1880s and 1890s by
county tax assessor-collectors, are also filmed, although in many counties
these early census have been lost.
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State law, repealed in 1980, required that a copy of the annual
Tax Roll of each county be filed with the State Comptroller of
Public Accounts. These rolls list the property owners in each county, the
appraised value of their property, and the amount of taxes due. This guide
lists tax rolls on microfilm available for loan from the formation of each
county through 1910.
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