The following limits, towit: Beginning at the North west corner of Bosque county, on the South line of Erath county; thence with said South line, South 60 degrees West, to the South west corner of Erath county; thence 20 East, six miles; thence South 60 West to the East line of Brown county; thence south 30 East to a point South 60 West from the North west corner of Coryell county; thence North 60 East to the North west corner of Coryell county; thence following the North line of Coryell and the West line of Bosque county to the beginning shall constitute the county of Hamilton, named in honor of the late Gen. James Hamilton. The county seat thereof shall bear the same name.

Hamilton County, located in Central Texas, is actually the second county named Hamilton in Texas; however, it is the only Hamilton County to be organized as such. Both counties were named to honor Gen. James Hamilton for his participation in the financial support of the Republic of Texas. 

"HAMILTON, JAMES." The Handbook of Texas Online

The first Hamilton County was created 2 February, 1842, by the Sixth Congress of the Republic of Texas. The Sixth Congress passed an act to divide Montgomery and Houston Counties in southeast Texas so that two additional counties would be created for "judicial and other purposes."   "It included the north half of what is now Walker County, the east portion of Madison County, and parts of Houston, Trinity, and Polk counties; Cincinnati was made the county seat. Hamilton County was abolished by the Spring Session of the Texas Supreme Court in the Stockton v. Montgomery decision which declared judicial counties created by the Texas Congress were unconstitutional."- -Oran Jo Pool, Nov. 19, 1954

"HAMILTON COUNTY (JUDICIAL)." The Handbook of Texas Online

The Second Hamilton County

"HAMILTON COUNTY." The Handbook of Texas Online

Sixteen years later, on January 22, 1858, what is now Hamilton County was sliced from Comanche, Bosque, and Lampasas Counties by the Legislature of the State of Texas. The county was organized August 2, 1858, and the county seat of Hamilton was soon surveyed. Only one family, the Ezekiel "Zeke" Manning family, lived at the site selected for the town of Hamilton. Mrs. Manning was the first white woman ever to spend a night in Hamilton. The Mannings from Perry County, MO, had arrived in 1855 in an ox cart and initially camped at the site now occupied by St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Mr. Manning built a "tavern" on the southwest corner of the square (now the at the intersection of HWY 281 and HWY 36. The square had not been laid off, and there was a big chaparral thicket where the courthouse now stands. Mr. Manning helped organize the county of which he was the first sheriff being appointed by Governor Sam Houston. Also appointed were

Chief Justice (County Judge)--James Monroe Rice

County Commissioner--Henry C. Standefer, and

County Clerk--Isaac Skelton Standefer.

The first elected county officials on 2 August, 1858, were:

Chief Justice (County Judge)--James Monroe Rice

Sheriff--Ezekiel Manning

County Treasurer--Jesse Jones Griffith

Assessor and Collector--R. B. Griffith

County Clerk--Isaac Skelton Standefer.

County Commissioners--Henry C. Standefer and Noah Crisco

Isaac Standefer issued the first marriage license in Hamilton County to Joel Baggett and Emily J. Ferrell.

Most of the inhabitants of the new county lived on the Leon River near what is now known as the Evergreen  and or the Pulltight community and they wanted the county seat to be located at the site of the future Rock House near the Leon River. Fear of losing Priddy, Center City, and the western part of the county contributed to the acceptance of a more centrally located site. In creating Hamilton County, the Texas Legislature had stipulated that both the county and the county seat would be named Hamilton, and that the town of Hamilton would be within five miles of the geographic center of the county.

M. McIlhaney offered sixty acres of land "beginning at a point where the Burch hotel now stands and extending to the F. C. Williams home, and from the Presbyterian Church street [College Street--across the street from and south of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church] to where the railroad tract now runs on the east [Railroad Street.] This was the edge of the timberland, and the beginning of the prairie."

Severe droughts in 1856 and in 1858 increased the hardships and dangers faced by the first brave souls who ventured into the soon-to-be Hamilton County.  A smallpox epidemic in 1863 took the lives of many early pioneers.  In 1877 frosts occurred every month with the exception of July and August.  The frost on 10 June, 1877, killed all of the corn crops.  There was no rain in Hamilton County in 1886, and none in 1887 until August. The years of 1917,  1918, and 1950 also brought a drought to Hamilton County. The drought of the 1950's was broken with the flood in Hamilton on May, 1957.

By 1871 residents on the Leon River were pressing for the county seat to be moved to the Leon River. On 31 January, 1871, a petition was sent to the state legislature on behalf of both the county and the town of Hamilton to leave the county seat where it was. If the county seat were moved, it would have been ten miles from the center of the county instead of four miles north of the county’s midpoint.

Also in 1871--July 17, that the first District Court was organized in Hamilton County. J. P. Ousterhout, was the first Judge of the 34th Judicial District. James B. Boyd was district attorney; Isaac Hollingsworth Steen was district clerk, and Capt. Frederick Browder Gentry was foreman of the grand jury.

Dangers from Indian attacks prevailed through the 1870's.

In 1881 the residents of Hamilton County learned that the State Legislature was considering forming a new county from the counties of Hamilton, Lampasas, Comanche, and Brown. Both the Commissioners Court and the citizens of the county sent petitions opposing the loss of any Hamilton County land to a new county. Despite the protests Mills County was organized 15 March, 1887, from the above named counties. Before Mills County was formed, the citizens of the southern portion of Hamilton County had become disgruntled with being so far from the countyseat. After the courthouse burned 2 February, 1886, these citizens petitioned for an election to consider relocating the countyseat to "Pegtown," a proposed town eight miles south of Hamilton near Shive. To preserve Hamilton as the countyseat of Hamilton County, the Commissioners Court negotiated with the residents along the southern border of the county to move the Hamilton County line north seven miles from Sims Creek south of Center City to McGirk.

HAMILTON COUNTY AIRPORTS

HAMILTON COUNTY BASIN

HAMILTON COUNTY CEMETERIES

HAMILTON COUNTY CHURCHES

PLACES:  TOWNS, VILLAGES, COMMUNITIES

SCHOOLS IN HAMILTON COUNTY

HAMILTON COUNTY CLIFF

HAMILTON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT, 1912

HAMILTON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS & OFFICIALS 1916

COURTHOUSES of HAMILTON COUNTY

CSA PENSIONS APPLICATIONS FILED IN HAMILTON COUNTY

HISTORICAL MARKERS IN HAMILTON COUNTY

HAMILTON, JAMES, GEN.

LAND SURVEY ABSTRACT INDICES

SHERIFFS OF HAMILTON COUNTY, TXHERIFFS OF HAMILTON COUNTY, TX

HAMILTON COUNTY MINUTE DETACHMENT OF MOUNTED TEXAS RANGERS

SPANISH AMERICAN WAR VETERANS FROM HAMILTON COUNTY

WOMEN HOMESTEADERS

VETERANS

WORLD WAR I

1867 HAMILTON COUNTY VOTER REGISTRATION LIST

Lawmen murdered while on duty:

A TRIBUTE TO LAWMEN

DAVENPORT, SGT. STEVE

DEATON, TOM

GIBSON, DEPUTY SHERIFF AUDIE LEE