Callahan County, Texas Genealogy

Guide to Callahan 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 James Hughes Callahan, an American soldier in the Texas Revolution. The County is located in the north-central area of the state.

County Courthouse
County Clerk has birth and death records from 1903, marriage, probate, and land records from 1877; District Clerk has divorce and court records

County Clerk

100 W 4th St. Suite 104 Baird 79504-5300 Phone: 325-854-1217

District Clerk

100 W. 4th St. Suite 300 Baird 79504-5396 Phone: 325-854-1800 Callahan County Website

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:

Neighboring Counties
Brown •  Coleman  •  Eastland  •  Shackelford  •  Taylor  •  Jones  •  Stephens

Resources

 * Look-Up Volunteer for Callahan County~Callahan County, TXGenWeb
 * Other Callahan County Resouces~Useful resources of Callahan County~Callahan County, TXGenWeb

African American

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

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


 * African American Cemeteries Online ~ Partial index/transcriptions of African American cemeteries

Census

 * 1850 - 1930 USGenWeb Census Project Texas

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

Land

 * Callahan County General Index of Deeds Callahan County Homepage
 * Texas Land Grants Database Search from the Texas General Land Office

Naturalization and Citizenship

 * 1906 - 1989  — index and images

Local Histories

 * Early Days in Callahan County, 1966, by Brutus Clay Christman.
 * I Remember Callahan, 1986 Callahan County Historical Commission. Order from: Georgia Yawn, Chairman 100 West 4th Street, Suite 100 Baird, Texas 79504 Name index to I Remember Callahan from the Callahan County Homepage.
 * Belle Plain, Texas: The Ghost Town in Callahan, 1972 by Thomas Robert Havins
 * Cottonwood's My Home: Recipes, Memories, History, 2007, Cottonwood Historical Association. Also, Supplement to Cottonwood's My Home, and Cottonwood's My Home: Vol. 2. Cottonwood History, Family Histories, Recipes, Old Photographs.
 * Cross Plains Remembered : Photos, Memories &amp; A Little Bit of Everything Else, 2011, Cross Plains Remembered, Volume 2, 2012 and Cross Plains Remembered, Volume 3, 2012 by the Barbarian Festival Committee. 352 pages each. Available at the Cross Plains Library.
 * Footsteps of Approaching Thousands, a History of the Early Days of Cross Plains, 2011 by Ann Beeler. Available from the Cross Plains Library.
 * Crossties to Callahan: The Family of Alfred Dayton Williams, 1981, by J. D. Williams.
 * The Hills of Home, 1949 by John Berry. Story of the author's growing up in Clyde, Texas.
 * Nubbin Ridge: My Boyhood on a Texas Farm, 1960 by Lewis Nordyke. Story of Nordyke's growing up in the Cottonwood/Turkey Creek area in the 1910s-1920s.

Maps

 * Texas Counties Map. Click on the county to go to the TXGenWeb site
 * FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Military

 * Cross Plains Veterans Memorial website Listing of all of the 3000+ veterans from Cross Plains and the surrounding area, from Civil War through Afghanistan, whose names are on the memorial. Photographs of the stone tablets, photographs, obituaries and information on of many of the veterans.

Mexican-American War

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

Civil War
Online Records
 * 1861 - 1865 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861 - 1865 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1835 - 1836 Texas Muster Rolls and Military Records for 1835 &amp; 1836 Complete List ~ TXGenWeb
 * 1838 - 1900 Texas Muster Roll Index Cards 1838-1900 at Ancestry — index and images $
 * Confederate Pension Applications ~ Texas State Library and Archives Commission


 * 6th Regiment, Missouri Infantry (Union), Company E

World War I

 * 1917 - 1920 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

 * Back Issues of the Cross Plains Review, 1911-1975, and the Baird-Callahan County Star, 1888-1935, are available for viewing on microfilm at the Cross Plains Library.
 * Newspaperarchive.com ($) has historical newspapers available on-line. Their database has digitized Abilene newspapers that may include residents from Callahan County.
 * Texas Digital Newspaper Program at The Portal to Texas History
 * Wikipedia has a list of online newspaper archives for Texas.

Obituaries

 * 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 (Ancestry)

Probate
Online Probate Indexes and Records


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

Vital Records

 * Vital Records of Callahan County ~Birth, Death, Marriage, and Divorce Records for Callahan County

Birth
Online Birth Indexes and Records


 * 1840 - 1981 — index - How to Use this Collection
 * 1903 - 1935 (images and index) - How to Use this Collection
 * 1903 - 1997 (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 — index and images - How to Use this Collection
 * 1837 - 1973 — index - How to Use this Collection
 * 1837 - 1977 — index - How to Use this Collection
 * 1837 - 1977 Texas Select County Marriage Index 1837-1977 at Ancestry — index $
 * 1877 - 1965 Callahan County Marriages Index 1877-1965 from the Callahan County Homepage
 * 1966 - 2010 - FamilySearch record collection - How to Use this Collection
 * 1966-2016 Texas Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage ($) — index

Death

 * 1890-1976 with images - How to Use this Collection Name index and images of statewide death certificates, 1890-1976.
 * 1903 - 1973 — index - How to Use this Collection
 * 1903 - 1982 Texas Death Certificates 1903-1982 at Ancestry — index and images $
 * 1903 - 2000 (index) - How to Use this Collection
 * 1964 - 1998 (no images) - How to Use this Collection
 * 1977 - 1986  at FamilySearch.org — index

Divorce

 * 1966-2016 Texas Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage ($) — index
 * 1968 - 2010 — index - How to Use this Collection
 * 1968 - 2011 Texas Divorces 1968-2011 at Ancestry — index $

Societies and Libraries
Callahan County Historical Commission Facebook Page

Cottonwood Historical Association P. O. Box 704 Cross Plains, TX 76443

County Public Library and Pioneer Museum Courthouse, 100 W 4th B1 Baird, TX 79504-5305 325-854-1718

Clyde Public Library 121 Oak St. Clyde, TX 75910 325-893-5315

Cross Plains Public Library and Genealogy Society 149 N Main St. P.O. Box 333 Cross Plains, TX 76443 254-725-7722 Hours: Monday, Wednesday &amp; Thursday 1 p.m.- 5 p.m.; Tuesday 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Closed Saturday and Sunday

FamilySearch Centers

 * Abilene Texas FamilySearch Center
 * Snyder Texas FamilySearch Center


 * Cross Plains Public Library - an affiliate library

Websites

 * Callahan County, TXGenWeb
 * Callahan County Homepage
 * The catalog is genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) This catalog is different than the indexed Historical Records.