Yorktown Bicentennial Chapter
Yorktown, DeWitt County, Texas
Organized: 1981
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DeWitt County, Texas
written by our member,
Mrs.
Rosemary Blackwell Sheppard
In 1996, DeWitt County
reached its 150th year. 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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