Wise County, Texas Genealogy

United States &gt; Texas &gt; Counties W &gt; Wise County

History
The first white settler arrived in 1854 and the first public school opened in 1855.

Just northwest of Fort Worth and Dallas, in the 1860's, "Wise County had more Indian attacks &amp; kidnappings than any other county in Texas".

In the early days of Wise County there were very large cattle ranches and homestead farms. Starting in the 1880's, coal was mined near the town of Bridgeport. Later limestone rock crushers and gas production became important.

Parent County
1856--Wise County was created 23 January 1856 from Cooke County. County seat: Decatur

Record Loss
1881--Courthouse and many county records were destroyed by fire.

Populated Places
Alvord | Aurora | Balsora | Boonsville | Boyd | Bridgeport | Chico | Cottondale | Decatur | Greenwood | Lake Bridgeport | New Fairview | Newark | Paradise | Rhome | Runaway Bay | Slidell

Neighboring Counties

 * Cooke
 * Denton
 * Jack
 * Montague
 * Parker
 * Tarrant

Resources
TXGenWeb - Wise County Texas

Local Links

 * Wise County on the Web - Many local links
 * Wise County Historical Society- Museum in Decatur
 * Bridgeport Historical Society- Bridgeport History &amp; Museum
 * Paradise Historical Society - Links to Paradise Information
 * Lake Bridgeport- Pictures &amp; links to information

Maps

 * Texas Counties Map. Click on the county to go to the TXGenWeb site.

Newspapers

 * Wise County Messenger

Vital Records

 * Texas Death Index 1964 to 1998 [no images] Name index to Texas Statewide Death Certificates or four million people who have died since 1964.
 * Texas Death Records 1890 – 1976 [with images] Name index and images of statewide death certificates, 1890-1976. The name index has been created by FamilySearch and is tied to images of the Texas death certificates. Few certificates are available prior to 1903.

Websites
TXGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the county.