WILSON COUNTY.  ...   Wilson County is on the upper coastal plain of South Texas. The county seat and largest city is Floresville, which is thirty miles southeast of San Antonio. Four major highways serve the county, U.S. highways 87 and 181 and State highways 97 and 123. Wilson County covers 807 miles with an elevation of 300 to 600 feet above sea level. The terrain is nearly flat to gently undulating, surfaced by deep loamy soils with clayey subsoils that support grasses, mesquite, blackjack, post oak, live oak, thorny shrubs, and cacti. Between 31 and 40 percent of the land in the county is considered prime farmland. The western portion of the county is drained by the San Antonio River, the eastern portion by Cibolo and Ecleto creeks. The climate is subtropical subhumid, with mild winters and warm summers. Temperatures in January range from an average low of 40° to an average high of 65° F and in July range from 74° to 96° F. The growing season averages 280 days per year, with the last freeze in February and the first freeze in early December. Crops include peanuts, hay, sorghum, oats, wheat, corn, watermelons, peaches, and pecans.

The area that now comprises Wilson County has been the site of human habitation for several millennia. Archeological evidence reveals that hunter-gatherer Indians of the Coahuiltecan linguistic family occupied the region for several thousand years prior to the arrival of Europeans in the sixteenth century. The area was also in the hunting range of Comanche, Tonkawa, and Lipan-Apache Indians. The first Europeans to reach the territory were Spanish explorers, who traveled through the area in the early eighteenth century. In September 1718 Martín de Alarcón crossed the area on his way to explore the bay of Espíritu Santo, and in 1727 Pedro de Rivera y Villalón went north across the territory on his tour of inspection between La Bahía and Bexar. In 1766–67 the Marqués de Rubí included the area in his inspection of the Spanish frontier, and the 1798 explorations of the coast by Francisco Vázquez de Coronado probably crossed the territory. Ranchers from nearby San Antonio began grazing cattle in the region in the first half of the eighteenth century, and temporary settlements for vaqueros and herdsmen began around the middle of the century. The first two land grants in the area were to Luis Menchaca and Andrés Hernández, who established ranches extending across the southern portion of the present county. County land was also traversed from the northwest to the southeast by La Bahía Road, a major travel route from the Alamo to the Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga Mission at Goliad. Later, this route served as a major road for cattle drives and transportation. Permanent settlement in the area began before 1830. Francisco Flores de Abreyo established his hacienda six miles northwest of the site of present Floresville; Manuel Barrera secured a land grant in 1833; Juan and Simón Arocha settled in 1834; Juan José María Erasmo Seguin built a home two or three miles from the site of Floresville in the later 1830s. In the immediate vicinity of the Flores ranch were the ranches of Chapoya, Pataguilla, Cabras, and Las Mulas; several other ranches were located along Cibolo Creek.

The first Anglo settlers arrived in the region in the late 1840s, settling along the Ecleto and Cibolo creeks. Between 1850 and 1860 planters from the Southern states moved into the area, as did German immigrants from Guadalupe County and Polish immigrants from Karnes County. Wilson County was established by an act of the legislature on February 13, 1860. It was cut from Bexar and Karnes counties and named for Somervell expedition member and legislator, James C. Wilson. Sutherland Springs was designated the county seat, and Dr. G. J. Houston, one of the first residents of La Vernia, was appointed as commissioner to organize the new county. William Sutherland became chief justice, S. W. Barker was sheriff, and John Irwin's storehouse became a temporary courthouse. By the eve of the Civil War Wilson County had a population of 1,500. Because of the emphasis on cattle-raising rather than a plantation economy, the number of slaves remained small; in 1860 there were only a few hundred slaves in the county. Nevertheless, Wilson County residents voted for secession and most actively supported the Confederate cause. Several companies of militia were organized. A protracted period of drought lasting from 1862 to 1865 further compounded wartime hardships. Because of the relatively small number of slaves, however, abolition did not affect the fortunes of Wilson County residents as severely as it did in other counties, and the economy rebounded more quickly than in many other parts of the state. In the years after the Civil War, Wilson County experienced a period of flux. John W. Longsworth, appointed judge and county clerk by the military government during congressional Reconstruction, moved the county records to Lodi in 1867, beginning a controversy about the location of the county seat that lasted for more than a decade. The county seat was returned to Sutherland Springs in March 1871 but moved back to Lodi in July 1871. An election was finally held in November 1873 to determine the location of county government, and the new town of Floresville, near the geographic center of the county, was selected as the new county seat. The citizens of Sutherland Springs called for a new election in 1883, but Floresville once again won by a margin of 250. The courthouse at Floresville was destroyed by fire in 1883, but the records were saved. The same year officials appointed noted San Antonio architect Alfred Giles to design a new courthouse in Floresville.

At the Constitutional Convention of 1868–69 legislators voted to alter the boundary between Wilson and Guadalupe counties. The legislature also approved a measure to change the name of the county from Wilson to Cibolo County, but the name was never applied. Another boundary adjustment in 1874 increased the area of the county, and the name was changed back to Wilson County. By 1867 Wilson County had three schools, five churches (two Protestant and three Catholic), and two mills. Crops included cotton, corn, sugar cane, tobacco, and potatoes. But the mainstay of the economy, as before the war, remained livestock, principally horses, cattle, and sheep. Beginning in 1866 large numbers of cattle were driven to nearby DeWitt County, and from there up the Chisholm Trail to railroads and markets in Kansas. Among the leading contractors driving cattle up the trail were John O. Dewees, whose ranch covered portions of western Wilson and eastern Atascosa counties, and Jim F. Ellison, a rancher from Lockhart, who formed a partnership in 1869. Dewees and Ellison averaged 20,000 to 40,000 cattle per year in the 1870s and before their partnership dissolved in 1877 drove over 400,000 cattle up the trail. After the Civil War the population began to grow rapidly. In 1870 it was 2,556; it reached 7,118 by 1880 and was reported as 10,655 in 1890. The greatest spur to the county's growth came from completion of the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway, which reached Floresville in 1886. The railroad not only brought new settlers, but also increased access to markets, which in turn helped to bolster the growth of the economy and encourage more diversified farming. Nonetheless, during the 1870s and early 1880s cattle ranching remained the most important segment of the economy. During the immediate postbellum period, as before, ranchers continued to use the wide expanses of open prairie to graze large herds of cattle, horses, and sheep. The practice, however, came to end with introduction of wire fencing in the early 1880s. At first, many of the fences were cut by landless cattlemen who sought land for their stock. Fence cutting became a conflict during the drought of 1883. It took place throughout the county, but the 40,000-acre ranch of Houston and Dilworth in the eastern portion of the county became the focal point. When the controversy threatened to escalate into open violence, the state legislature passed a measure in 1884 making it illegal for anyone to cut fences. Tensions gradually subsided, and wire cutting gradually ceased.

But the triumph of fencing spelled the end of ranching and the beginnings of a shift toward a farming economy. The number of farms grew from 290 in 1870 to 1,785 in 1900 and 2,297 in 1920. In the 1890s cotton emerged as the most important cash crop. The fertile soil of the northern portion of the county produced as much as one bale per acre, and by 1900 Stockdale had five cotton gins in operation. In 1898 the San Antonio and Gulf Railroad (later the Texas and New Orleans) was extended to Stockdale, allowing the cotton to be shipped directly to market. Insects destroyed the 1902 and 1903 crops, but the size of the crop continued to grow during the 1910s and 1920s: in 1906, 17,625 bales were produced, in 1916, 25,839 bales, and in 1926, 20,677 bales. During the early years of the century, however, Wilson County farmers began to turn more and more toward diversified farming, growing a wide variety of crops, including peanuts, watermelons, flax, peas, and sugar cane. The trend became even more pronounced during the 1930s, when falling prices and the boll weevil combined to sharply reduce the size of the cotton crop. By 1939 cotton production had fallen to only 1,552 bales. The growth of farming during the early decades of the twentieth century also brought with it the rise in farm tenancy. Prior to 1900 most farmers and ranchers had owned their land, but by 1930 nearly half of the county's 2,500 farms were worked by tenants. The hardships of the Great Depression of the 1930s forced many to abandon the land, and the period since 1950 has seen a shift toward larger farms worked by agricultural laborers. After World War II Wilson County farmers continued to diversify their production. The county became a leading grower of flax and peanuts; other crops included corn, vegetables, fruits, and pecans. In the early 1950s, 10,000 acres were irrigated. Ranching, which had declined during the early years of the century, made a comeback in the postwar era, and poultry raising and dairying were also developed. By the early 1950s the county's 1,767 farms earned $10,000,000 annually.

Manufacturing was also introduced after the turn of the century. Brick and tile clay, found in abundance in the western portion of the county, had been used since early colonization. In 1910 the San Antonio Sewer Pipe Company opened a factory, using the red clay for the manufacture of tile products, on the north bank of the San Antonio River near the Wilson-Bexar county line and founded the town of Saspamco. By the 1950s the plant was among the nation's largest makers of sewer pipe and other clay products. Oil was discovered in 1941, but only one well was in production in 1946. Since that time, however, the oil business has expanded gradually. Between 1941 and January 1, 1991, the county produced 37,111,56 barrels of crude oil. In 1990 production of crude was 1,973,734 barrels, and in the early 1990s oil, gas, and oilfield services still formed an important segment of the county's economy. Between 1890 and 1930 the population of Wilson County grew steadily. In 1890 the number of residents was 10,655, in 1900 it was 13,961, in 1910 it was 17,066, and in 1920 it was 17,289. The population peaked in 1930 at 17,606. It then began a long decline to 17,066 in 1940, 14,641 in 1950, 13,267 in 1960, and 13,041 in 1970. In recent years, however, the trend has reversed, and in 1990 the population stood at 22,650. In 1990, 8,054, or 35.6 percent of county residents, were Hispanic; 242, or 1.1 percent, were black; 45, or 1.1 percent, Native American; and 2,689, or 11.9 percent, other. The largest ancestry groups are Hispanic (36 percent), German (23 percent), Irish (15 percent), and English (13 percent). There are also a sizeable number of persons of Polish decent in the southeastern portion of the county. Nearly 74 percent of the residents lived in rural areas.

In the early 1980s the county had four school districts with five elementary, three middle, and four high schools. The average daily attendance in 1981–82 was 3,617. Fifty-one percent of the 146 high school graduates planned to attend college. From the time the county was established in 1860 until the 1950s, Wilson County voters remained solidly within the Democratic party fold, deviating only for Harding in the election of 1920. Republican candidates won in the elections of 1952, 1956, 1972, and every presidential election thereafter through 2004.

In the early 1990s Wilson County was a highly diversified farming area, with an average annual farm income of $16 million. Major agricultural produce included grain sorghums, coastal bermuda, vegetables, peanuts, and watermelons; cattle (both beef and dairy), hogs, and poultry contributed two-thirds of the farm income. A watermelon jubilee is held each June in Stockdale, and a peanut festival is held each October in Floresville. In 1982, 85 percent of the land was in farms and ranches, with 24 percent of the farmland under cultivation and 8 percent irrigated. Wilson County ranked sixty-eighth in the state in highest agricultural receipts, with 75 percent from livestock and livestock products, mainly cattle and hogs. The total number of businesses in the county in the early 1980s was 228. In 1980, 14 percent of the labor force was self-employed, 12 percent was employed in professional or related services, 13 percent in manufacturing, 21 percent in wholesale or retail trade, 18 percent in agriculture, forestry, fisheries, or mining, and 49 percent in other counties, and there were 1,270 retired workers. Leading industries included agribusiness, oil and gas field services, and the manufacture of structural clay products and fabricated metal plate work.

In 2014 the U.S. Census counted 46,402 people living in Wilson County; about 58 percent were Anglo, 38.8 percent Hispanic, and 1.8 percent African American.  Of residents twenty-five and older, 74 percent had completed high school and 13 percent had college degrees. In the early twenty-first century agriculture was the central element of the county's economy, but some residents commuted to nearby San Antonio to work. In 2002 the county had 2,157 farms and ranches covering 446,157 acres, 44 percent of which were devoted to pasture and 44 percent to crops. That year farmers and ranchers in the area earned $42,707,000; crop sales accounted for $35,109,000 of the total. Cattle, dairy products, hogs, poultry, peanuts, sorghum, corn, vegetables, watermelons, and fruit were the chief agricultural products.

Floresville (population, 7,100) is the county's largest town and its seat of government; other communities include Poth (2,098), Stockdale (1,560), La Vernia (1,200), Sutherland Springs (420), and Pandora (110). Floresville holds an annual Pony Express Ride, and hosts Heritage Days in the spring.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Maude Gilliland, Wilson County Texas Rangers, 1837–1977 (1977). Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin. Louise Stadler, ed., Wilson County History (Dallas: Taylor, 1990). Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin. Wilson County Centennial (Floresville, Texas: Wilson County Centennial Association, 1960).

Wilson County 53 years ago was among the beautification finalists ... (Tap to enlarge to read clearly)
–The Stockdale Star

*Ghosts of Wilson County Tx. (Courtesy of writer/historian  Lois Zook Wauson)

Wilson County in Texas is almost 150 years old. Several months ago I wondered if there were stories of ghosts seen in these old buildings or ruins. I decided that most buildings around 100 years old have certainly got some ghosts stories passed down through the years and I was going to find out if that was the case in Wilson County!

Back in 1879 a letter was written by someone who signed it "Pedestrian" about how he and a friend made a trip to the site of the old Las Cabras Mission. They walked to the river from Floresville and then waded across the river to the old Mission. It was already deserted then. He wrote about the ruins, then finished the letter with this story:

"There is a wild legend told by the Mexicans, and you shall have it as I heard it: When all the elements of nature seem to be at war, and the night is dark and dreary; if you should go alone to the old ruins, you will soon have the pleasure of hearing your teeth chatter. On such an occasion and old spirit that inhabits the ruins will take its accustomed walk, and mounting the top of the wall, will wave a light back and forth as though he were signaling to someone in the distance. However I did not remain to test the truth of the legend, as I am somewhat addicted to whistling when passing even a graveyard." * I don't know if I believe that story, but I won't go out at Rancho de las Cabras by the river, at night.

In a building as old as the county courthouse, built in 1884, I knew there were bound to be people who knew something. I was right. I interviewed one person about a ghost sighted in the courtroom upstairs.

A pretty lady in a red dress with beautiful long legs was seen by someone in the middle of the day when they were alone and cleaning the courtroom. The "lady-in-red" walked by the judge's desk and as the person turned their back to turn off the vacuum, to tell the lady no one was allowed in the courtroom, and turned around, the lady-in-red was gone. I am wondering who the "lady-in-red" was. Maybe someone who was on trial in that courtroom, a hundred years ago, coming back to visit?

When walking by the County Clerk Offices, people have felt someone brush against them walking by, and a sense of cold air as they walked by, to turn and no one would be there. Maybe ghosts from the past coming back to check on their family history stored in the ancient books in the chambers behind those doors?
I love ghosts!

WILSON COUNTY TEXAS.... borne quite a number of  Texas Rangers mainly from Fairview Wilson County Texas. Which Rangers do you remember reading about from here?
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On October 17, 1835, Texans approve a resolution to create the Texas Rangers, a corps of armed and mounted lawmen designed to "range and guard the frontier between the Brazos and Trinity Rivers."

In the midst of their revolt against Mexico, Texan leaders felt they needed a semi-official force of armed men who would defend the isolated frontier settlers of the Lone Star Republic against both Santa Ana's soldiers and Native Americans; the Texas Rangers filled this role. But after winning their revolutionary war with Mexico the following year, Texans decided to keep the Rangers, both to defend against Native Americans and Mexicans and to serve as the principal law enforcement authority along the sparsely populated Texan frontier.

Although created and sanctioned by the Texas government, the Rangers was an irregular body made up of civilians who furnished their own horses and weapons. Given the vast expanse of territory they patrolled and the difficulty of communicating with the central government, the government gave the men of the Rangers considerable independence to act as they saw fit. Sometimes the Rangers served as a military force, taking on the role of fighting the Native Americans that in the U.S. was largely the responsibility of the Army. At other times the Rangers mainly served as the principal law enforcement power in many frontier regions of Texas, earning lasting fame for their ability to track down and eliminate outlaws, cattle thieves, train robbers and murderers, including such notorious bandits as John Wesley Hardin and King Fisher.

Even as late as the first two decades of the 20th century, the state of Texas continued to rely on the Rangers to enforce order in the wilder regions of the state, like the oil boomtowns along the Rio Grande. Increasingly, though, some Texans began to criticize the Rangers, arguing that they used excessive violence and often failed to observe the finer points of the law when apprehending suspects. As a result, in the 1930s, the state won control over the Rangers, transforming it into a modern law enforcement organization.
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COURTESY / Old West Legends, Myths and More  written by Richard Mowery.

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