| The Brown County Historical
Commission issues a certificate to descendants of
pioneer families who settled in Brown County prior to
1920. Jerry Spain, former Vice
Chairman of the Historical Commission, stated that
1857 is the earliest settlement recording that has
been turned in for this certificate. By then,
Texas was a state in the United States. But one
Texas history source said that veterans who fought for
Texas' independence from Mexico in 1836 were given
deeds to land in Brown County. The program is
designed to honor the early settlers of Brown County
in Texas.
To be eligible for a certificate, a descendant needs to prove family lineage or bloodline and prove that the ancestor did own or purchase property in Brown County. Those who can prove their ancestors settled in Brown County prior to December 31, 1920 qualify for the certificate. A person would need to show his or her birth certificate, which would list the parents, and work back from there. A copy of a deed or a census record is needed to prove residence. Copies of documents would suffice, originals are not required. Applications are available by contacting Wanda Ferguson at wandaf@browncountymuseum.org You can now download a copy of
the Pioneer Family Application by clicking HERE. You
will need Adobe Acrobat program in order to read the
application and print it out. If you do not
have Adobe Acrobat on your computer, you can
download a free program at: Acrobat
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