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United States Texas Counties B Brown County

Guide to Brown County Texas genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

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Brown County, Texas
Map
Location of Texas in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	Augst 27, 1856
County Seat	Brownwood
Courthouse
Address	Brown County Courthouse 200 S Broadway Street Brownwood, TX 76801 Phone: 915.643.2594 Brown County Website

County Courthouse

County Clerk has birth records from 1900,
death records from 1903, marriage, land,
probate, court and military records from 1880;
District Court has divorce records from 1880^[1]

History

Parent County

1856--Brown County was created 27 August 1856 from Comanche and Travis Counties. County seat: Brownwood ^[2]

The county was named for Henry Stevenson Brown, (1793-1834), early settler, trader, and Indian fighter, who was born in Madison County, Kentucky, on March 8, 1793, the son of Caleb and Jemima (Stevenson) Brown.

Boundary Changes

Record Loss

1880, 1894--Courthouse and many county records were destroyed by fire in March 1880 and February 1894.

Places / Localities

Populated Places

Towns and Cities: | Bangs | Blake | Blanket | Brookesmith | Brownwood | Byrds | Cross Cut | Early | Grosvenor | Holder | Lake Brownwood | Lake Shore | May | Owens | Thrifty | Williams | Winchell | Zephyr |

Neighboring Counties

• Callahan
• Coleman
• Comanche
• Eastland
• McCulloch
• Mills
• San Saba

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.

Additional Cemetery Sources

Cemetery Books available from the Brown County Historical Society

• History of Greanleaf Cemetery
• Eastlawn Memorial Park, Early, Texas, records of over 4,000 tombstones,1951-2001.
• Zephyr Cemetery Survey Book, 1455 deceased names listed with years of birth & death, updated 2007.
• Salem Cemetery, Brown County, history and alphabetical listing of persons buried.
• Fairview Cemetery, Grosvenor, list of known deceased from 1878, history, cemetery plat.
• Rural Cemetery Inscriptions of Brown County Supplement includes 51 rural cemeteries updated 1970-2002.

Church

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death/burial date and place. For general information about Texas denominations, view the Texas Church Records wiki page.

• List of Churches in Brown County from the Brown County TXGenWeb site.
• St. John's Episcopal Church, Brownwood History from the Brown County TXGenWeb site

Court

• Brown County District Court Records, starting with 1860 are available at the Local History and Genealogy Library, Brownwood, Texas.

Land

After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions, including deeds and mortgages, have been recorded by the county. You can obtain copies of these land records by writing to the county clerk at the county courthouse. For more information, see Texas Land and Property.

The Family History Library Catalog lists microfilm copies of deeds, trust deeds, and mortgages of many counties.

• Brown County Bounty-Land Warrant Files A-S are available at the Local History and Genealogy Library, Brownwood, Texas.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Brown County, Texas. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Texas Local Histories.

• Brown County, Texas, 1956-1985, published 1987 by Estill Franklin Allen, Brown County Historical Society.
• In the Live and Lives of Brown County People, 23 volumes, available from the Brown County Historical Society
• The Promised Land: A history of Brown County, 1941, by James C. White, available from the Brown County Historical Society   Partial transcription online at the Brown County TXGenWeb site.
• Something About Brown, 1958, by Dr. T. R. Havins., available from the Brown County Historical Society
• Frontier's Generation, 1931, by Tevis Clyde Smit.
• Blanket, Texas Community History 1983, with an Edition compiled in 2000, by Estill Franklin Allen, available from the Brown County Historical Society
• Early Communities of Lake Brownood by Pattie Lee Cross Weedon, available from the Brown County Historical Society
• Pioneer Women of Brownwood, History & Genealogy of Brown County Sheriffs 1858-2008, Last Train to Blanket, and other Brown County Books available from the Brown County Historical Society
  
• Frontier Times Magazine by J. Marvin Hunter.  Database of magazines 1923-1954 located at the Local History & Genealogy Library  The magazines chronicle life in Western and Central Texas in the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s and feature county and town histories, lives of interesting people, biographies of Texas Rangers, etc.  Index to the magazines at Frontier Times website.
  

Maps

• Brown County General Highway Map 1940 from the Texas State Library.
  
• Brown County General Highway Map 1961 Detail of Brownwood and other towns in Brown County from the Texas State Library.
• Map of Historic Brown County with locations of former small communities, schools, etc. available from the Brown County Museum of History and the History and Genealogy Research Library
  
• Texas Counties Map. Click on the county to go to the TXGenweb site.

Military

• Veterans Memorials in Brown County from the Heritage Association Brown County.
• Civil War Veterans of Brown County (In the Life and Lives of Brown County People, Vol. 10) includes 440 Veteran listed alphabetically. Available from the Brown County Historical Society.
• Brown County World War II Veterans, Surnames A-G with brief biographical sketches. Alphabetical list of veterans who lost their lives; and Brown County World War II Veterans, Surnames H-Z, includes biographical sketches, "Women in the Military" and "Story of Camp Bowie. (In the Life and Lives of Brown County People, Vol. 12 & 13) Available from the Brown County Historical Society.

Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Brown County, Texas newspapers in online catalogs like:

• WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Do a Brown County, Texas Place-name search for these and other records in the Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search).

• Brownwood Bulletin Newspaper
  
• Brownwood Bulletin and Brownwood Banner newspapers archives are available on microfilm at the Local History & Genealogy Library.

Probate

Probate records of Texas have been kept by the probate clerk in each county courthouse. You can obtain copies of the records from the clerk's office. In most counties, all information pertaining to a probate case is recorded in the "probate minutes."

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their places of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records.

See the Wiki page Texas Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Taxation

Texas tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information, see the wiki page Texas Taxation.

Texas County Tax Rolls, 1846-1910 lists FHL films with county tax lists. The lists vary by county and year. Most records are between the years of 1846 - 1910.

• Brown County Tax Rolls 1859-1910 are available at the Local History and Genealogy Library, Brownwood, Texas.

Vital Records

See Texas Vital Records for more information about Vital records in Texas. Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. United States Vital Records has additional research guidance on researching and using vital records.

A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Texas Vital Records State Department of Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred.

• Brown County Marriage Records, Texas Birth Index 1903-1976 and Texas Deaths 1906-1973 are available on microfilm at the Local History and Genealogy Library, Brownwood, Texas.
• McInnis Funeral Home Records, 1910-1942. Book available from the Brown County Historical Society
• Index to Marriages Brown County Texas 1880-1920. Book available from the Brown County Historical Society
• Texas Death Index 1964 to 1998 [no images] Name index to Texas Statewide Death Certificates or four million people who have died since 1964.
• Texas Death Records 1890 – 1976 [with images]
  Name index and images of statewide death certificates, 1890-1976. The name index has been created by FamilySearch and is tied to images of the Texas death certificates. Few certificates are available prior to 1903.

Societies and Libraries

Libraries

• Brownwood Public Library
  600 Carnegie
  Brownwood, TX 76801
  325-646-0155   website

• Local History and Genealogy Library
  Includes DAR Genealogy Library
  across the street from the Courthouse
  213 S. Broadway
  Brownwood, TX 76801
  325-646-6006   information
  The library has the Brownwood newspapers on microfilm, City Directories from 1909, phone books, cemetery burial lists, Brown County Tax Rolls, District Court records, World War II records and newspaper clippings, and vital records.
  The libraries' Genealogy holdings are searchable in the Brown County Public Library catalog.
  Closed on weekends and Saturdays
  

• Walker Memorial Library includes Burress Genealogy Library
  Howard Payne University
  1000 Fisk St.
  Brownwood, TX 76801
  325-649-8602  hours & info
  Genealogy collections are listed in the library's catalog
  

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Family History Center
  4503 4th St.
  Brownwood, TX 76801 

Societies

• Pecan Valley Genealogical Society
  213 S. Broadway
  Brownwood, TX 76801
  325-646-6006   website
  

• Brown County Historical Society
  Located in the Local History & Genealogy Library
  213 S. Broadway
  P. O. Box 146
  Brownwood, TX 76801-0146
  325-646-8208
  website

• Brown County Historical Commission
  305 North Fisk Avenue
  Brownwood, TX 76801
  325-643-3322   website

• Heritage Association of Brown County

Museums

• Brown County Museum of History
  Located in the Old Jail, Downtown Brownwood
  P.O. Box 2006
  Brownwood, TX  76804-2006
  325-641-1926   website
  Also has an Annex located at 209 Broadway Street, across from the Jail.

• Blanket Museum of History
  Located in the former Blanket State Bank building and the former Ernest Allen Drug Store building
  712 Main Street
  Blanket, TX  76432  website
  

Web Sites

• Family History Library Catalog
• TXGenweb Project

References

1. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), Brown County, Texas. Page 659 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
2. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).

• This page was last modified on 3 May 2013, at 00:38.
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