Hill County, Texas Genealogy

United States Texas  Counties H  Hill County

Guide to Hill County Texas ancestry, family history, and genealogy research page. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

County Courthouse
Hill County Courthouse PO Box 398 Hillsboro, TX 76645-0398 Phone: 254.582.4030 County Clerk has birth and marriage records1876, probate reocrds from 1879 and land records from 1853; District Clerk has divorce records

Hill County Courthouse in Hillsboro, the county seat, was completed in 1890 built of white Limestone, by the architect W. C. Dodson. This structure was designated at a Texas Historical Landmark in 1971. The courthouse was almost totally destroyed by fire in 1993. The four limestone walls and the iron staircases were all that was left standing. The courthouse been completely restored by the residents and elected officials during the late 1990s. For more, including photos, see Hill County Texas County Courthouse in the Road Trip Destination Guide website.

History
Early settlement followed the establishment of Fort Graham in 1848 to suppress Indian hostility. Hill County was formed in 1853 from Navarro County.

Parent County
1853--Hill County was created 7 February 1853 from Navarro County. County seat: Hillsboro

Record Loss
1872--The Hill County Courthouse caught fire on 18 Sept 1872. Many county records were destroyed.

1993--The Hill County Courthouse, built in 1890, caught fire on 1 Jan 1993, destroying most of the building.

Places / Localities
Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog



Populated Places
Cities and Towns:


 * Abbott | Abbott in Handbook of Texas | Wikipedia page
 * Aquilla | Wikipedia page | Aquilla Lake Wikipedia page
 * Birome (unincorporated) | Wikipedia page
 * Blum | | Wikipedia page
 * Brandon (unincorporated) | Wikipedia page
 * Bynum | Wikipedia page
 * Carl's Corner | Wikipedia page
 * Covington | Wikipedia page
 * Hillsboro (county seat) | | Convention &amp; Visitors Bureau | official city site | Wikipedia page
 * Hubbard | Wikipedia page
 * Irene (unincorporated) | Irene in Handbook of Texas | Irene history in Texas Escapes | Wikipedia page
 * Itasca |  | town website | Wikipedia page
 * Malone | Wikipedia page
 * Mertens | Wikipedia page
 * Mount Calm | | Wikipedia page
 * Penelope | town website | Wikipedia page
 * Peoria (unincorporated)
 * Whitney | Wikipedia page

Neighboring Counties
Bosque •  Ellis  •  Johnson  •  Limestone  •  McLennan  •  Navarro

General

 * Hill County Records Available on Microfilm from Baylor University (Texas State Library &amp; Archives)

African American Resources

 * Texas African American Griots ~  USGenWeb
 * AfriGeneas ~  African Ancestored Genealogy
 * Texas African American Genealogy ~  Access Genealogy
 * Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records, 1865-1870(images) - FamilySearch
 * African American Cemeteries Online ~ Partial index/transcriptions of African American cemeteries

Biographies

 * Biographies - Hill County TXGenWeb

Additional Cemetery Sources

 * Atchison, Mrs. Joe. Peoria Cemetery 1826-1978; Hill County, Texas. Waco, TX: Self-published, 1979.
 * Bessire, Royal C. Hill County Cemetery Index. S.I.: S.n., 2008. | WorldCat page
 * Bryan, J.L. Confederate Veterans Buried in Hill County, Texas. Quinlan, TX: Solis/Bryan Researches, 1988. | WorldCat page
 * Cemeteries (Hill County) (Linkpendium)
 * Cemeteries of Hill County, Texas (Cemeteries of Texas Project)
 * Cemetery Index (Hill County Genealogical Society)
 * Derden Cemetery, Hill County, Texas: From the Beginning thru 1999. S.I.: S.n., 1999. | WorldCat page
 * Dodd, Celeste Varnell. Inventory of Gravestones and Inscriptions in the "Old Cemetery" Located at Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas. [Hillsboro, TX?:] C.V. Dodd, 1972. | WorldCat page
 * Fort Graham Cemetery Records, Hill County, Texas. TX: Fort Graham Cemetery Assn., 1989. | WorldCat page
 * Freeman, Martha Doty, Douglas K. Boyd, and Texas Antiquities Committee. Historical and Archaeological Excavations of a Possible Historic Cemetery, 41HI294, in Hill County, Texas. Austin, TX: Prewitt and Associates, 2006. | World Cat page
 * Hill County Archives: Cemeteries (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * Hill County, Texas Cemeteries (Cathy Shelley)
 * Hill County, Texas Cemeteries (Historic Texas Cemeteries)
 * Hill County, Texas Cemetery Records (Interment.net)
 * Itasca Cemetery, Itasca BillionGraves. Google map, headstone photos, matched to data which is searchable from its page and the site itself as a whole.
 * Mount Calm Cemeteries: The town of Mount Calm is located in Hill County, and the Mount Calm Cemetery is located about 3/4 miles southwest of town (map). An older Mount Calm cemetery is located about 1-3/4 miles south of town in Limestone County, near the original location of the town, which was picked up and moved north when the railroad came through (map).
 * Peoria Cemetery: See Atchison, Mrs. Joe, above.
 * Richland Cemtery (transcription) -  Hill County TXGenWeb
 * Simmons Cemetery: The Forgotten Cemetery (Cathy Shelley)
 * Thompson, K., and B. Thedford, Hill County Texas Cemeteries. Moore, OK: Self-published, 1995?. | WorldCat page

Census

 * 1880 Census Images -  Hill County TXGenWeb
 * 1890 Census Images -  Hill County TXGenWeb
 * 1900 Census Images - Hill County TXGenWeb
 * Acker, Karen Ladd. Abstracts of Post Returns for Fort Graham, Texas, April 1849-October 1853: With a List of Soldiers Enumerated on the 1850 U.S. Census of Navarro County. Houston, TX: Self-published, 2008. (Contains records of personnel changes at Fort Graham in Navarro County, present-day Hill County, which closed in 1853.) | WorldCat page
 * Census Records and Indexes (Hill County) (Linkpendium)
 * Hill County Archives: Census Records (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * Layman, Helen. Czech Families in Hill County, Texas in 1900 &amp; 1910: Extractions from the United States Census. Houston, TX: Czech Heritage Society of Texas, 2001. | World Cat page

Church

 * Daniel, J.C. A History of the Baptists of Hill County, Texas. 1907.
 * Leak, Jim. Median River Baptist Association Also Known as Hill County Baptist Association: 1888-2008 - 120 Years. TX: Hill County Baptist Assn., 2009. | WorldCat page
 * Texas Christian Church Directory~ ChurchAngel
 * Catholic Parishes in Texas

Court

 * Hill County Archives: Court Records (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * Texas Naturalization Records 1906-1989  ~  FamilySearch Record Collection

Land

 * Deed records on microfilm at FHL: and property deeds with index 1853 - 1901
 * Hill County, Texas Original Land Owners (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * Hill County, Texas Miscellaneous Deeds (U.S. GenWeb Archives)

Local Histories

 * Bailey, Ellis, A History of Hill County, Texas, 1838-1965.
 * The Heritage of Hill County, Texas. Clanton, AL: Heritage Publishing, 2006. | WorldCat
 * The Heritage of Hill County, Texas, Vol. 2. Lexington, KY: Heritage Publishing, 2010 | WorldCat page
 * A History of Hill County, Texas, 1853-1980. Hill County Historical Commission, 1980.
 * Kirkpatrick, A.Y. The Early Settlers' Life in Texas, and the Organization of Hill County. 1963.
 * A Memorial and Biographical History of Johnson and Hill Counties, Texas: Containing the Early History of this Important Section of the Great State of Texas Together with Glimpses of its Future Prospects... Chicago: Lewis Publishing, 1892. | digital copy of Vol. 1 in Internet Archive | Google Books page (no preview)
 * Simpson, Harold B. Hill County Trilogy. Hillsboro, TX: Hill College Press, 1986. | WorldCat page

Maps



 * Texas Counties Map. Click on the county to go to the Texas Genweb site
 * Current State of Texas Map of Counties

General/Miscellaneous

 * Acker, Karen Ladd. Abstracts of Post Returns for Fort Graham, Texas, April 1849-October 1853: With a List of Soldiers Enumerated on the 1850 U.S. Census of Navarro County. Houston, TX: Self-published, 2008. (Contains records of personnel changes at Fort Graham in Navarro County, present-day Hill County, which closed in 1853.) | WorldCat page
 * Hill County Honor Roll: World War I, World War II, Korean War. Hillsboro, TX: American Legion Post No. 4, 1963. | WorldCat page

Civil War

 * Bryan, J.L. Confederate Veterans Buried in Hill County, Texas. Quinlan, TX: Solis/Bryan Researches, 1988. | WorldCat page
 * Confederate Reunion (Cathy Shelley)
 * Hill County, Texas Confederate Pension Applications (U.S. GenWeb Archives)

World War I

 * Military Discharges (WWI) (Cathy Shelley)

Newspapers

 * Bessire, Royal C. Obituaries Hill County, Texas: 1886 to 1900. Hewitt, TX: Self-published, 2006. | WorldCat page
 * Funeral Announcements (Cathy Shelley)
 * Hill County Archives: Obituaries (U.S. GenWeb Archives)
 * Hill County, Texas Obituaries (Cathy Shelley)
 * The Hillsboro Reporter
 * Just the News - Surnames (Cathy Shelley)

Probate

 * 1853 to 1934 with index
 * Search Tax, Criminal, Land and Wills Records ~  Ancestry.com  (subscription)
 * Texas, Probate Records, 1800-1990 (images) - FamilySearch

Taxation

 * , by the Texas Comptrollers Office

Births
Online Birth Indexes and Records


 * Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997 (index)- FamilySearch
 * Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1935 (images and index) - FamilySearch
 * Texas, Births and Christenings, 1840-1981 - FamilySearch

Original Birth Records on Microfilm

Marriages
Online Marriage Indexes and Records


 * Hill County, Texas Marriage Records A (CensusDiggins.com)
 * Hill County, Texas Marriages A to Z, Part 1 (Cathy Shelley)
 * Hill County, Texas Marriages Z to Z, Part 2 (Cathy Shelley)
 * Ingmire, Frances Terry. Hill County, Texas Marriage Records, 1873-1880. St. Louis: Self-published, 1981. | WorldCat page
 * Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977 ~ FamilySearch records collection 
 * Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973  ~  FamilySearch record collection
 * Texas, Marriages, 1966-2010  ~  FamilySearch record collection

Original Marriage Records on Microfilm



Deaths
Online Death Indexes and Records


 * 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.
 * Texas Death Index 1964 to 1998 Texas, Death Index, 1964-1998 (FamilySearch Historical Records) Name index to Texas Statewide Death Certificates or four million people who have died since 1964.
 * Texas, Death Index, 1903-2000  ~  FamilySearch records collection
 * Texas, Deaths and Burials, 1903-1973  ~ FamilySearch records collection
 * 1977 - 1986 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * Footnote.com ($) has Texas Death Certificates 1890-1976 available online.
 * Footnote.com ($) has Texas Death Certificates 1890-1976 available online.

Original Death Records on Microfilm

Divorce

 * Texas Divorce Records 1968 - 2005 (index)  -  Hidden Ancestors
 * Texas Divorce Index 1968-2010  ~  FamilySearch records

Societies and Libraries

 * Hill County Genealogical Society
 * Hillsboro Library

Web Sites

 * Hill County, Texas (Handbook of Texas)
 * Hill County, Texas (official site)
 * Hill County, Texas (RootsWeb)
 * Hill County, Texas Genealogy and Family History (Linkpendium)
 * Hill County, Texas Genealogy Data (Cathy Shelley)
 * Hill County, Texas Genealogy Forum (GenForum)
 * Hill County, Texas GenWeb (currently appears to contain no content)
 * Hill County, Texas USGenWeb Archives
 * Profile for Hill County, Texas (includes genealogy; ePodunk)
 * Texas GenWeb: May have maps, name indices, history or other information for Hill County.
 * Texas GenWeb: May have maps, name indices, history or other information for Hill County.