If you have had reason, as I have, to look up information from the 1870-1880 era, you need not find the information you want, because of the fire that destroyed the courthouse and all its records in 1878.
For example, a group in Mineola is trying to gain ownership of an old abandoned cemetery, Fore-Green Cemetery just west of Mineola. From the dates on burials there, it is known that the cemetery had burials take place during the 1870-1880 time period. However, our search did not find a deed. Additionally, when a survey of the property was done, the surveyor could not find one either.
The county clerk told us that after the courthouse fire, county resident were notified to bring back any item they had had recorded and there would be no charge. Apparently, many did not receive the message, or, for some reason, never brought their legal instruments to be filed.
There are several interesting scenarios concerning the fire.
First, the federal court was meeting at the time of the fire. It seems to have been believed by many that the fire was set to destroy the courtroom and all the papers which would break up the business of the court.
The general belief and impression was that some of the parties from Wood County that had been indicted in the court had committed the act.
Also, another possibility for the fire was also put forward: The judge at the time, Judy DeVal, was a strong Unionist and had taken a stern line with the people of East Texas, who had resisted Reconstruction.
According to the court minute book, the fire occurred on December 11th, 1878. All papers and records were destroyed along with the courthouse.
Another story that circulated was that a man who was to be tried for horse stealing was the person who set the fire, but that was never proved.
However, in November of 1878, Jim Hogg was elected county attorney by a large margin. Many people believed that one or more of the region's notorious desperados, who were well aware of Hogg's unswerving determination to enforce the law, had chosen this method of destroying court records.
Regardless of how the fire started or who may have set it, the event is still causing problems to this day for anyone researching information from that time period.
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