Wood County Texas

One of the first white men to settle permanently in Wood County was Martin Varner, who lived southeast of the site of present Hainesville by 1824. Webster, the first real communityin the area, was established by 1845. In 1850 Wood County was demarked from Van Zandt County and organized. Quitman was established to serve as the county seat. The county was named for George T. Wood, governor of Texas from 1847to 1849. In 1861 the county voted in favor of secession by a majority of 70 percent, yet the two men elected by the county to serve as its delegates to the Secession Convention, John D. Rains and A. P. Shuford,both voted against the secession ordinance. Emory Rains, state senator from Wood County, was one of the signers of the public address asking the citizens of Texas to vote against secession. Wood County remained during the years 1870 to 1920 as it was during the antebellum years, overwhelmingly agricultural and rural. During these fifty years both the population and the number of farms grew-from 6,894 and 756, respectively, to all-time highs of 27,707 and 4,333. During those years corn and cottonwere the main crops. In 1920 the county produced 1,033,231 bushels of corn, an all-time high. The valuation ofcounty farms stood at almost $19 million. [Excerpts from: David W. Gilbreath, "WOOD COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online; Published by the Texas State Historical Association]

Courthouse and all county records were destroyed by fire in December 1878.

CITIES, TOWNS,  AND POPULATED PLACES

* Alba * Hawkins * Mineola * Quitman (county seat) * Winnsboro * Yantis * Crow * Cartwright * Concord * Fouke * Golden * Hainesville * Holly Lake Ranch * Liberty * Macedonia * Mount Enterprise * Mount Pisgah * New Hope * Oak Grove * Peach * Perryville * Pine Mills * Black Oak * Caney * Cedar Tree * Center Point * Chalybeate Springs * Coldwater * Cottonwood * Dyess * Fletcher * Floyd's Common Ridge * Forest Hill * Forest Home * Friendship * Lone Pint * Lone Star * Merrimac * Mount Zion * Muddy Creek * Myrtle Springs * Ogburn * Persimmon Grove * Pleasant Divide * Pleasant Grove * Robinson's Chapel * Rock Hill * Salem * Sand Springs * Shady Grove * Smyrna * Spring Hill * Tranquil * Webster *