San Augustine County, Texas Records

Collection

Identifier: B-0035

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection at the East Texas Research Center consists of miscellaneous loose papers, mostly of records of the San Augustine District Court. The records include criminal and civil cases, promissory notes and accounts, some oaths to the Board of Land Commissioners, estate records, treasurer warrants, tabular statements of schools, letters, and manifests. A detailed inventory is included in the volume San Augustine County, Texas Courthouse Records and Loose Papers 1831-1906, Inventory and Index, available in the ETRC.

Dates

Creation: 1831-1906

Language of Materials

The collection is in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Open for research.

Biographical or Historical Information

About 1928, San Augustine County officials tore down their courthouse to make way for a new building. Rather than move all the public records to the new courthouse, they hauled away those they deemed expendable to ditches, where they were mixed with rubble from the old courthouse. A few citizens managed to rescue some of the records.

In 1929, a historically-minded citizen of San Augustine, Horace E. Wolcott, wrote to the then Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College. He described how he came into possession of some of the documents, offering them for a small fee to the College. The College did pay the small amount asked and obtained the collection. ("Wolcott, Horace E. to Rev. George L. Crocket, ALS, 28 December 1929." George Louis Crocket Papers. East Texas Research Center. Ralph W. Steen Library. Stephen F. Austin State University.)

Extent

2.00 Cubic Feet

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection consists of 811 items described in 197 folders and was originally housed in eight clamshell boxes. Boxes 1-7 were consolidated into a single banker's box. The original folder numbering for boxes 1-8 remains in place.