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written by our member, Mrs. Rosemary Blackwell Sheppard
"1996 was our
county's 150th birthday. The county was named for the colonizer,
Green DeWitt, and comprised of portions of the counties of Gonzales,
Victoria and Goliad. Many of the early settlers had come from
the Southern states and the late 1840's brought European settlers.
These people had lost friends and loved ones at the Alamo, fought in
the battles of Bexar, Goliad, Gonzales and San Jacinto. Some of
the men took part in engagements against Indians and remnants of the
Mexican army in the Somerville Expedition, Santa Fe Expedition, Mier
Expedition, Battle of Salado, Council House Fight, Sacking of
Linnville, and the Battle of Plum Creek.
March 24, 1846 was the
date of the first DeWitt County organizational meeting. Meetings
would continue to be held to select a site for a county seat, elect
county officials, and attend to county business in 1846. The
first meeting was held at Daniel Boone Friar's store, located at the
junction of the LaGrange-LaBahia and Victoria and Gonzales Roads (to
us in an area
near US Hwy 183 and US 77A junction).
At least three men were
anxious to secure the county seat on their property. The new
state of Texas had rules locating the county seats.
One declared that
the seat must be in the geographical center of each county or within a
five mile radius of the county center.
Captain D. B. Friar
hoped his combination home, store,
and post office area would be
selected as the county seat. The surveyors discovered Friar's
store to lie seven miles from the county's geographical center.
Richard H. Chisholm, a
ferry boat owner on the Guadalupe River, donated 640 acres for
consideration as a county seat location. He was eager for a town
to grow on the west bank of the Guadalupe near his ferry operation, a
town he called Clinton.
To settle the matter,
a
committee was chosen by the Texas Legislature, consisting of John Troy,
William Blair, Daniel Boone Friar, and James McCulloch Baker, to select
a county seat site. On June 23, 1846, these men announced the
county seat to be located on the east bank of the Guadalupe River,
nearly opposite Sandie's Creek (approximately three miles north west
of present day Cuero). The site was located on the John J.
Tumlinson Survey on land donated by Joseph Tumlinson. The name
selected for the new county seat was to be Cameron, commemorating the
life and death of Captain Ewen Cameron, the ill fated leader of the
Mier Expedition and one of the victims of the famous Black Bean
drawiing by his Mexican captors. It was also agreed that the
election of county officers would take place July 13, 1846.
The meeting was held
and the officers took oath of offices on July 27, 1846, at D. B.
Friar's home, a temporary meeting place.
The voters selected:
Probate Judge - James McCulloch Baker, who as Chief Justice of
Gonzales County, swore in the other officials: County Judge -
John Troy; County Clerk - James Norman Smith; District Clerk - Joseph
L. Baker; Sheriff - W. P. Patterson; Commissioners - V. V. Poinsett,
John York, Crockett C. Cardwell and Kimber Barton; Justice of the
Peace - Jonathan Scott and Miles Squire Bennet.
The judge and court
soon appointed Arthur Burns, Rufus Taylor, Samual Donald and John
McCrabb to lay off and mark a road leading from Chisholm Ferry on the
Guadalupe to intersect the Gonzales and Victoria Road at Patrick
Dowlearn in the nearest, best and most practical way.
Court business was
conducted at the Friar store until moved to the one room log court
house at Cameron. The settlement consisted of James N
Smith's house and several other houses. When court was in
session the officials camped out to be present for meetings.
Cameron never proved suitable as a site for the county seat and the
court moved to Clinton. After arrival of the railroad and
founding of Cuero in 1873, the county seat made its permanent move to
Cuero in 1876.
The two story wooden
courthouse at Clinton was moved and rebuilt on the site of the present
courthouse. This building burned in the early morning of April
8, 1894.
Our present sandstone
and granite courthouse, completed and accepted by the court in late
1896, has served DeWitt County well for 100 years.
This frontier land our
county began 150 years ago has seen many changes. We are
grateful to all who came, stayed, and added through the years to our
county.
*The
word CUERO means leather in Spanish.
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