Texas, Eastland County Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Record Description
This collection includes the following types of court records:


 * Naturalization certificates
 * Petitions
 * Declarations of intent
 * Civil proceedings
 * Indexes to Civil proceedings

The early volumes are handwritten in book format. Later records are handwritten or typed on blank pages or preprinted forms.

Counties generally begin recording court proceedings as soon as the court is organized.

This collection covers the years 1868 to 1949.

Court records are made as a permanent record of the court proceedings. Naturalization is the process of granting citizenship privileges and responsibilities to foreign-born residents. The counties recorded naturalization procedures in the court records as legal proof of citizenship.

Information that was current at the time of the court was usually reliable. However, there was always a chance for misinformation. Errors may have occurred because of the informant’s lack of knowledge or because of transcription errors.

For a list of records by category and dates currently published in this collection, select the Browse.

Citation for This Collection
The following citation refers to the original source of the information published in FamilySearch.org Historical Record collections. Sources include the author, custodian, publisher and archive for the original records.

Suggested citation format for a record in this collection.

Record Content
The civil and criminal proceedings generally include the following information:


 * Names of interested parties
 * Names of jurors
 * Names of witnesses
 * Proceeding dates
 * Name and title of presiding officer

The Declaration of Intent and Naturalization Petitions usually included the following:


 * Name
 * Arrival date
 * Birth date
 * Birthplace
 * Age
 * Race
 * Last foreign residence
 * Current residence
 * Arrival place
 * Names of witnesses
 * Signature of judge or court official

Naturalization proceedings after 1906 usually included the following additional details:


 * Marital status
 * Name of spouse
 * Maiden name of wife
 * Birth date of spouse
 * Residence of spouse
 * Date of Declaration of Intent or Naturalization

How to Use the Record
To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "Record Category" category ⇒Select the "Record Type, Volume, and Year Range" category which takes you to the images.

Look at the images one by one comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine which one is your ancestor. You may need to compare the information about more than one person to make this determination.

When using this collection be aware of the following:


 * Many case numbers are overlapped and out of order.
 * Civil cases were heard in multiple courts and the case numbers were duplicated between courts. So although case numbers may be the same, the cases don’t have the same information and they are for different individuals.

To begin your search you will need to know the following:


 * The full name of your ancestor
 * The approximate court or naturalization date
 * The ancestor’s residence

If you are looking for a naturalization record and you do not know this information, check the 1900 census and then calculate the possible year of naturalization based on the date of immigration. The 1920 census may tell you the exact year of immigration or naturalization.

If you are looking for civil proceedings, check the index first.

Compare the information in the records to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct person. You may need to compare the information of more than one person to make this determination.

When you have located your ancestor’s record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. Add this new information to your records of each family.

For example:


 * Use the age listed to determine an approximate birth date. This date along with the place of birth can help you find a birth record. Birth records often list biographical and marital details about the parents and close relatives other than the immediate family.
 * Birth places can tell you former residences and can help to establish a migration pattern for the family.
 * Residences and ages can help you locate census records, church records, and land records.

Use naturalization records to:


 * Learn an immigrant’s place of origin
 * Confirm their date of arrival
 * Learn foreign and “Americanized” names
 * Find records in his or her country of origin such as emigrations, port records, or ship’s manifests

You may also find these tips helpful:


 * Look for the Declaration of Intent soon after the immigrant arrived, and then look for the Naturalization Petition five years later, when the residency requirement would have been met. Look for naturalization records in federal courts and then in state, county, or city courts.
 * An individual may have filed the first and final papers in different courts and sometimes in a different state if the person moved. Immigrants who were younger than 18 when they arrived did not need to file a Declaration of Intent as part of the process.
 * If your ancestor had a common name, be sure to look at all the entries for a name before you decide which is correct.
 * Continue to search the naturalization records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who may have naturalized in the same area or nearby.
 * The witnesses named on the court records may have been older relatives of the person in the naturalization process. Search for their naturalizations.
 * You may want to obtain the naturalization records of every person who shares your ancestor’s surname if they lived in the same county or nearby. You may not know how or if they are related, but the information could lead you to more information about your own ancestors.

If you do not find the name you are looking for, try the following:


 * Check for variant spellings. Realize that the indexes may contain inaccuracies, such as altered spellings and misinterpretations.
 * You may also need to search the records year by year.
 * Search the indexes of nearby counties.

Related Websites

 * Texas State Website
 * National Archives Southwest Region

Related Wiki Articles

 * Eastland County, Texas
 * Texas Court Records
 * Texas Naturalization and Citizenship

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information. This will help you or others to find the record again. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records.

A suggested format for keeping track of records that you have searched is found in the wiki article Help:How to Cite FamilySearch Collections.

Citation Example for a Record Found in This Collection
"Texas, Eastland County Records, 1868-1949." digital images FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org: accessed 25 April 2012), District Court records &gt; Civil case records, 1893-1895, no. 700-715 &gt; Image 35 of 391, W. H. Ward vs Linnie Ward; from the Eastland County, Texas District Court, Eastland, TX. FHL digital images, 20,650 pages, Family History Library Salt Lake City, Utah.citing County Records: District Court Records, Family History Library Salt Lake City, Utah.