The Settlers of the Republic of Texas

Some 35,000 settlers resided in Texas in the fall of 1835–on the eve of the Texas Revolution. In the span of almost ten years, ending when Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845, this number grew to over 100,000 residents. The purpose of The Texians database is to identify as many individuals as possible within this dynamic population. In addition, we have recorded important detail about most of these pioneers, such as when they originally entered Texas, where they came from, and in many cases, their family and economic status within the newly formed republic. Importantly, all entries in the database are based on official government sources, including land records, tax records, voter records, and more.

Whether used to trace family ancestors or to study the activities and movements of these early Texans, the database should prove a valuable tool for historical research. Never before has so much data about the individual citizens of the Republic of Texas been assembled into a single and widely accessable source.


To achieve maximum benefit from your search, we strongly recommend that you read the background information we have prepared. The Data Sources section describes in some detail the origin of the various records in the database. Only by fully understanding the origin of this data, and the purpose for which it was first recorded, can one draw accurate conclusions from the database searches. In addition, the Search Guidelines section provides tips that will help make your database searches more focused and productive.

There are now approximately 11,000 records in the database. Considering that some records from multiple sources will sometimes apply to the same person, we estimate that the records represent more than 10,000 different individuals.

Data sources

Source records for The Texians database are grouped into the categories listed below. More detailed information for each of these sources is available by selecting the desired category. The categories are:

  • Land Records (currently includes about 10,000 records) Land records not only make up the largest segment of records in the database, they generally include some of the most detailed information about early Texans.
  • Voter Records (currently includes about 1,000 records) Records enumerating individual voters registered in the late 1860s are included if the registrant indicated a residency in Texas during the period of the Republic.

Search Guidelines

A knowledge and basic understanding of the way the Texian Database is set up is key to making efficient queries into the records it contains. The following should be kept in mind as you conduct your search:

  • A query is not sensitive to the case of the input letters (e.g., typing crockett for a query input produces the same result as typing Crockett).
  • When submitting a query to the database, a settler’s name acts as a filter to help narrow the search. Used properly, they will dramatically aid your search. However, if used incorrectly, a searcher may miss an important record or spend time unnecessarily in an inefficient search. If searching for Stephen F. Austin, for example, entering Austin for the last name and Stephen F. for the first name will return only records with exact matches to those entries. One would miss, however, a record that contains Austin for the last name but only Stephen for the first name. A better search might be to enter only Austin, or even Au, for the last name with no first name. On the other hand, entering only Smith for a last name might return more Smith’s than you ever wanted to know. A more efficient inquiry for say, Ashbel Smith, might be to use Smith for the last name with A or As for the first name.
  • Remember that in almost all instances the spelling of names in the database are unchanged from those taken from the original source records. All key variations of each name should therefore always be searched.
  • To reduce the time it takes to download your response and to avoid unnecessary overload on the server, we have limited the results for each inquiry to twenty records. However, the “Next 20 Records” button at the bottom of each search page returns additional records that meet your search criteria–without having to re-enter the query.


Begin Search

Your search of The Texians database is a two-step process. To begin, just click the category of records that you want to query from the selections below. To achieve the most productive search, we strongly recommend that you review the above Data Sources section for a perspective on the origin of the data, and take a look at our Search Guidelines for tips on conducting an efficient search.

Research Aids

Several lists and other tools useful in the research of Texas history and genealogy have been compiled by Lone Star Junction and provided for your use. They include:

Acknowledgements

Lone Star Junction gratefully acknowledges the contributions, sponsorship and active participation of the following individuals and organizations:

The single most significant contributor to the information in The Texians database is Gifford White, a native of San Saba in central Texas. After countless weeks and months that turned into years and decades, White has abstracted early records maintained in the General Land Office and at the State Archives. Tens of thousands of these records were then stored on his computer, and some of this data was collected and published in several of White’s books, including 1830 Citizens of Texas and the three volume 1840 Citizens of Texas.

White has generously made this data available to form the core of The Texians database. For all his contributions, White is a true friend of Texas. In the relatively short time that I have known him, he has also become an enthusiastic supporter of Lone Star Junction.

Many others have provided guidance and encouragement–over a period of many years–to myself and literally thousands of other researchers digging into Texas’ rich history. In particular, I would like to recognize Donaly Brice and other staff at the Texas State Archives, Ralph Elder and the staff at the Center for American History at the University of Texas, and Galen Greaser and others at the Texas Land Office for their many years of support to Texas historians in general.

Invitation to volunteers. Although The Texians database is now seeded with more than ten thousand records, there are many tens of thousands more that are yet to be abstracted. Among Lone Star Junction’s future plans, we will help coordinate a network of volunteers to assist in abstracting records from photocopies, microfilm, and other sources dating from before the Republic of Texas through the Civil War and later. Proximity to source facilities in Austin is desirable but not essential. If you are able to volunteer a substantial amount of time (approximately 100 hours or more) and would like to consider joining this effort, please contact the Editor. You will find your efforts highly rewarding, and they will be appropriately recognized by Lone Star Junction. They will also be much appreciated by both present and future generations of all Texans.

We hope that you enjoy The Texians database section of Lone Star Junction.

Lyman Hardeman, Editor

About Lyman

Lyman Hardeman has held a deep interest in Texas history. He spent his youth in College Station, Texas and received a degree in Electrical Engineering at Texas A&M in 1966. In 1995, Lyman created Lone Star Junction, a popular Texas history website that later merged with TexasProud.com. Lyman is a life member of the Texas State Historical Association and the author of Texas A&M The First 25 Years.