Red River County, Texas Genealogy

Guide to Red River County Texas ancestry, family history, and genealogy research page. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, and military records.

Texas Online Genealogy Records

Description
The County was named for the Red River, which forms its northern boundary. The County is located in the northeast area of the state.

County Courthouse
Red River County Courthouse 200 North Walnut Street Clarksville, TX 75426 Phone: 903.427.2401 County Clerk has birth and death records from 1903, marriage records from 1845, probate and land records from 1835; District Clerk has divorce and court records

County Clerk

200 N. Walnut Clarksville 75426 Phone: 903-427-2401

District Clerk

400 N. Walnut Clarksville 75426 Phone: 903-427-3761

Red River County has had five courthouses. The fifth and current courthouse was built in 1885.

Red River County Government Website

Parent County
1836--Red River County was created 17 March 1836 from an Old Mexican Municipality. LaGrange (now called Madras) was named temporary county seat in 1837, until Clarksville was selected as the county seat in 1838.
 * County seat:Clarksville 

Boundary Changes
See an interactive map of Red River County border changes.

Record Loss
There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Places / Localities
Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog



Populated Places
For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

Neighboring Counties
Bowie •  Choctaw County, Oklahoma  •  Delta  •  Franklin  •  Hopkins  •  Lamar  •  McCurtain County, Oklahoma  •  Morris  •  Titus

African American

 * 1865 - 1870 - FamilySearch (images) - How to Use this Collection

Cemeteries
Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.

Additional Cemetery Sources


 * African American Cemeteries Online ~ Partial index/transcriptions of African American cemeteries
 * Texas Escapes Listing of Texas cemeteries with transcriptions and lots of pictures.

Church
List of Churches and Church Parishes
 * Texas Christian Church Directory~ ChurchAngel
 * Catholic Parishes in Texas
 * FamilySearch Places

Local Histories

 * Bible Records of Red River County, Texas Genealogical Members, Volume * Bible Records of the following families: Meyer, Lee, Turk, Myers, McCain, Low, Jones, McCuiston, Hall, Johnson, Pinson, Young, Strawn, Turner, Rose, Seale, Smith, Claiborne, Williams, Dyers, Strange, Benton and Hufford. Available from the Red River County Texas Genealogical Society
 * Reflections of Red River County 1830's-1890 by Marion Butts. Available from the Red River Co Genealogy Society
 * Red River County History from the Handbook of Texas Online.
 * Biographies ~  USGenWeb Archives Project

Maps

 * Texas Land Survey Maps for (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.
 * Texas Counties Map. Click on the county to go to the Texas Genweb site
 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Military

 * 1838-1900 Texas Muster Roll Index Cards 1838-1900 at Ancestry — index and images $

Mexican-American War

 * 1845-1848 US American Volunteer Soldiers Mexican War 1845-1848 at Ancestry — index $

Civil War

 * 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
 * Confederate Pension Applications ~ Texas State Library and Archives Commission
 * Civil War Dead buried in Red River County, Texas, by Lawrence and Sue Dale. Contains all notes from cemetery records, 374 individuals, most without formal Civil War markers. Available from the authors

World War I

 * 1917-1920 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

 * Wikipedia has a list of online newspaper archives for Texas.
 * w3newspapers -  Texas Newspaper Index with links
 * Newslink -  Texas Newspaper List (sorted by publication frequency)
 * The Olden Times  -   Historic Texas News Online.
 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has The Paris News from 1925 that may include residents from Red River County.
 * Texas Digital Newspaper Program at The Portal to Texas History

Obituaries

 * Red River County Obituaries ~  USGenWeb Archives Project
 * USGenWeb Archives Obituary Project ~  Texas
 * Afrigeneas ~ African American death notices, obituaries and funeral programs compiled by users from current newspapers and historical sources
 * Obituary Daily Times ~ Citations to over 15,000,000 obituaries including interactive search function

Probate
Online Probate Indexes and Records


 * 1800–1990 at FamilySearch — images
 * 1800–2000 Texas Wills and Probate Records 1800-2000 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
 * Search Tax, Criminal, Land and Wills Records ~ Ancestry.com (subscription)

Social Security Records

 * 1935-2014 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry ($) — index, click here for more information.
 * 1936-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index

Taxation

 * 1846-1910 Texas, County Tax Rolls 1846-1910 at Findmypast ($) — index and images

Birth
Online Birth Indexes and Records


 * 1903-1935 - FamilySearch (images and index) - How to Use this Collection
 * 1903-1997 - FamilySearch (index only) - How to Use this Collection
 * 1926-1995 Texas Births, 1926 - 1995 at MyHeritage ($) — index

Marriage
Online Marriage Indexes and Records


 * 1802-2010 Texas, United States Marriages at Findmypast — index $
 * 1814-1909 and 1966-2011 Texas Marriage Collection 1814-1909 and 1966-2011 at Ancestry — index $
 * 1837-1965 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1837-1973 - FamilySearch — index - How to Use this Collection
 * 1837-1977 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1837-1977 Texas Select County Marriage Index 1837-1977 at Ancestry — index $
 * 1966-2010 - FamilySearch - FamilySearch record collection - How to Use this Collection
 * 1966-2016 Texas Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage ($) — index

Death

 * 1890-1976 - FamilySearch with images - How to Use this Collection Name index and images of statewide death certificates, 1890-1976. The name index has been created by Family Search and is tied to images of the Texas death certificates. Few certificates are available prior to 1903.
 * 1903-1973 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1903-1982 Texas Death Certificates 1903-1982 at Ancestry — index and images $
 * 1903-2000 - FamilySearch (index) - How to Use this Collection
 * 1890-1976 - FamilySearch with images - How to Use this Collection  Name index to Texas Statewide Death Certificates or four million people who have died since 1964.
 * 1977-1986 at FamilySearch.org — index

Divorce

 * 1850-1930 USGenWeb Census Project ~ Texas 1850 - 1930
 * 1966-2016 Texas Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage ($) — index
 * 1968-2011 Texas Divorces 1968-2011 at Ancestry — index $

Societies and Libraries
Red River County Public Library 307 N Walnut St Clarksville, TX 75426 Telephone Number: 903-427-3991 Website

Red River County, TX Genealogical Society PO Box 516 Clarksville, TX 75426-2720 Website

FamilySearch Centers

 * McKinney Texas FamilySearch Center
 * Paris Texas FamilySearch Center
 * Plano Texas FamilySearch Center
 * Queen City Texas FamilySearch Center
 * Texarkana-New Boston Texas FamilySearch Center


 * Atlanta Public Library - an affiliate library
 * Franklin County Genealogical Society - an affiliate library
 * Hopkins County Genealogical Society Research Library - an affiliate library
 * Mt Pleasant Texas Public Library - an affiliate library
 * W Walworth Harrison Public Library - an affiliate library

Websites

 * Red River County Archives ~  USGenWeb Archives Project
 * TXGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the county.
 * Red River County ~ TXGenWeb
 * USGenWeb Texas Archives Vital statistics, maps, obituaries, Bible records, tombstone transcriptions and many other records.
 * — The catalog is genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) This catalog is different than the indexed Historical Records.