Texas, Mills County Clerk Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
These records begin as early as 1841 and generally continue through 1935 with some continuing on until 1985.

This collection consists of the following:
 * Commissioner's Court records,1887-1933 and index 1887-1940
 * District Court records (includes Divorce records)
 * Land records, 1872-1889
 * Naturalization records, 1888-1904, 1906-1928
 * Probate records
 * Vital records

The county was organized and created 15 March 1887 from Comanche, Brown, Hamilton, and Lampasas counties. The court minutes are generally handwritten in bound volumes. Probate records are usually loose, handwritten pages that have put together in an envelope called a packet. Vital records are usually handwritten on pre-printed pages. Many marriages recorded in the South, are separated by race in volumes, books, or registers. Be sure to check to determine if you have the right set of marriage records.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Birth
 * Date of the record
 * Child’s name, gender and race
 * Legitimacy
 * Child's birth date and place of birth
 * Father's full name, age, race and occupation
 * Mother's maiden name, age, race and occupation
 * Parents' nationality
 * Parents' residence
 * Live birth or stillborn
 * Number of living children of mother
 * Name of informant

Marriage
 * Names and ages of bride and groom
 * Marriage date and place
 * Name of person performing the ceremony

Death
 * Precinct, county and state where death occurred
 * Full name and gender of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Cause of death
 * Age of deceased in years, months and days
 * Race, occupation and marital status of deceased
 * Date and place of birth
 * Names of parents and their birthplace
 * Residence of deceased
 * Name of spouse
 * Name of informant
 * Burial date and place of interment
 * Name of undertaker

Probate
 * Name of the testator or deceased
 * Names of heirs, such as spouse, children, other relatives, or friends
 * Name of the executor, administrator, or guardian
 * Names of witnesses
 * Dates the documents were written and recorded (used to approximate event dates since a will was usually written near the time of death)
 * Description and value of personal property or land owned by the deceased

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, it is helpful to know:
 * Name of the person
 * The location or date of the event

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
Indexes and transcriptions may not include all the data found in the original records. Look at the actual image of the record, if you can, to verify the information and to find additional information.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Add any new information to your record
 * Use a Probate record to identify adoptions, guardians, heirs and relatives
 * Use a probate record to approximate a death date, then find a death certificate
 * For earlier years, use the probate record to substitute for civil birth and death records
 * Use the age or estimated birth date to determine an approximate birth date to find other church and vital records such as birth, baptism, and marriage records
 * Use the information found in the record to find land, probate and immigration records
 * Use the information found in the record to find additional family members in censuses
 * Repeat this process with additional family members found, to find more generations of the family

I Can’t Find the Person I’m Looking For, What Now?

 * If your ancestor does not have a common name, collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you find possible relatives
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby town or county
 * Try different spellings of your ancestor’s name
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Texas.
 * Texas Guided Research
 * Texas Record Finder
 * Texas Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Texas Research, 1880-Present

FamilySearch Catalog

 * Hartal Langford Blackwell. Mills County : the way it was. Goldthwaite, Texas : Eagle Press, 1981, c1976 FHL 976.4512 H2b
 * Mills Co. Birth and death records, 1934-1946
 * Mills Co. Birth records, 1853-1936; indexes, 1887-1992
 * Mills Co. Commissioners Court records, 1887-1933; index, 1887-1940
 * Mills Co. Death records, 1903-1985; indexes, 1903-2009
 * Mills Co. Deed records, 1885-1944; indexes, 1841-1924
 * Mills Co. District Court civil case records, 1887-1900, 1907-1930
 * Mills Co. District Court minutes, 1887-1933; indexes, 1888-1932
 * Mills Co. Divorce case files, 1887-1941
 * Mills Co. Marriage records, 1887-1954, 2004; indexes, 1887-2000
 * Mills Co. Naturalization records, 1888-1904, 1906-1928
 * Mills Co. Probate case files, 1892-1937
 * Mills Co. Probate minutes, 1887-1941; index, 1881-1973
 * Mills Co. Small estates records, 1967-1993
 * Mills Co. Mullin, Birth and death records, 1917-1934
 * Mills Co. transcript records, 1872-1889 Land and Property

FamilySearch Digital Library

 * Texas Historical Records Survey, Division of Professional and Service Projects, Work Projects Administration. Inventory of the county archives of Texas, no. 167, Mills County (Goldthwaite). San Antonio, Texas : Texas Historical Records Survey, 1940

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.