Irion County, Texas Genealogy

Guide to Irion 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 Robert Anderson Irion, a secretary of state of the Republic of Texas. The County is located in the central area of the state.

County Courthouse
Irion County Courthouse 209 N. Parkview PO Box 736 Mertzon, TX 76941-0736 Phone: 325-835-2421 Fax: 325-835-7941

County Clerk has birth, marriage, death, divorce, land, probate, military and court records from 1889; Tax Assessor has poll tax records.

County and District Clerk

P.O. Box 736 Mertzon 76941 Phone: 915-835-2412

Irion County has had two county seats (Sherwood 1889-1936 and Mertzon 1936-present) and three courthouses. When Irion County was organized in 1889, Sherwood was chosen as the county seat. Sherwood, however, was bypassed by the railroad and its population declined. In 1927 the town of Mertzon made an unsuccessful bid for the county seat. In 1936 Mertzon was successful and became the county seat.

In 1889, the first courthouse was built in Sherwood. By 1900 construction started on a new two-story stone courthouse. This new courthouse, completed in 1901 served the county until the county seat until Mertzon became the county seat in 1936. The building is currently in use as a Community Center.

In 1937 the Irion County Courthouse, a two-story brick contemporary style design building, in Mertzon was completed.

The county clerk's office has court records from 1889, land records from 1889, probate records from 1889, marriage records from 1889 and birth and death records from 1903.

History
1870's--Early settlements began in the early 1870's.

Parent County
1889--Irion County was created 7 March 1889 from Tom Green County.
 * County seat: Mertzon

Irion County was named for Robert Anderson Irion (1804-1861), physician, surveyor, and Republic of Texas secretary of state.

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

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
Crockett •  Reagan  •  Schleicher  •  Tom Green  •  Sterling

African American

 * 1865-1870 Freedmen's Bureau Field Office Records(images) - FamilySearch
 * African American Griots ~ USGenWeb
 * AfriGeneas ~ African Ancestored Genealogy
 * Texas African American Genealogy ~ Access Genealogy
 * Texas Freedman's Bureau Records ~ Freedman's Bureau Online

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

Census

 * 1850-1930 USGenWeb Census Project Texas 1850-1930

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

Land

 * Original Land Owners of Texas ~ Irion County   ~  USGenWeb Archives Project

Local Histories

 * A History of Irion County, Texas, 1966 by Leta Crawford.
 * A History of Irion County, Texas, 1978 by Irion County Historical Society.
 * Irion County Historical Markers ~  USGenWeb Archives Project

Maps

 * 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 at Ancestry — index and images $

Mexican-American War

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

Civil War

 * 1861 - 1865 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1861 - 1865 at FamilySearch — index
 * Confederate Pension Applications ~ Texas State Library and Archives Commission
 * Confederate Pension Applications ~ TXGenWeb

World War I

 * 1917 - 1920 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

 * w3newspapers -  Texas Newspaper Index with links
 * Newslink -  Texas Newspaper List (sorted by publication frequency)
 * The Olden Times  -   Historic Texas News Online
 * Texas Digital Newspaper Program at The Portal to Texas History

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 including interactive search function

Probate
Online Probate Indexes and Records


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

Taxation

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

Birth
Online Birth Indexes and Records


 * 1903-1935 Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1935 (images and index) - FamilySearch
 * 1903-1997 Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997 (index)-FamilySearch
 * 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 at Ancestry — index $
 * 1837-1965 at FamilySearch — index and images
 * 1837-1973 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1837-1977 at FamilySearch — index
 * 1837-1977 Texas Select County Marriage Index 1837-1977 at Ancestry — index $
 * 1966-2010 at FamilySearch
 * 1966-2016 Texas Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage ($) — index

Death

 * 1890-1976 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
 * 1903-1973 at FamilySearch.org — index
 * 1903-1982 Texas Death Certificates 1903-1982 at Ancestry — index and images $
 * 1903-2000 Texas, Death Index, 1903-2000 (index) - FamilySearch
 * 1964-1998 Texas Death Index 1964-1998
 * 1964-1998 Texas, Death Index, 1964-1998 - FamilySearch Historical Records Name index to Texas Statewide Death Certificates or four million people who have died since 1964.
 * 1977-1986 at FamilySearch.org — index

Divorce

 * 1966-2016 Texas Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage ($) — index
 * 1968-2010 at FamilySearch.org - index
 * 1968-2011 Texas Divorces 1968-2011 at Ancestry — index $

Societies and Libraries
Irion County Historical Society 209 N Park View Mertzon, Texas 76941 E-mail:[mailto:Grayins@aol.com Grayins@aol.com] Website

Irion County Library 111 W Fayette Ave Mertzon, TX 76941 Telephone Number: 325-835-2704 Website

FamilySearch Centers

 * Big Spring Texas FamilySearch Center
 * Midland Texas FamilySearch Center
 * Odessa Texas FamilySearch Center
 * San Angelo Texas FamilySearch Center


 * Brownwood Texas Genealogical Library - an affiliate library
 * Midland Centennial Public Library - an affiliate library
 * Tom Green County Library - an affiliate library

Websites

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