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Welcome to Archer County, TXGenWeb
Hello! My name is Dorman Holub and I'm the coordinator for Archer County TXGenWeb. I don't live in Archer County , but I lived close enough that I may be able to answer general questions about genealogy and help with specific issues for this website. I also collect information for the site., which is a part of The TXGenWeb Project and The USGenWeb Project and devoted solely to the genealogy and history of Archer County. All of the information on this site is provided free of charge to the researcher. Volunteers are always needed and welcome. If you would consider volunteering by transcribing records or submitting material or photographs, please contact me to see how you can help.
Sharing With Others
If you have family history, stories, photos, books, marriages, births or death records, newspaper clippings such as obits, birth, wedding, military, wills or other data about Archer County, send the information to me and I'll post it on these pages. Your help is greatly appreciated!Add your family surnames so others can contact you. It's a great way to find more information and meet new cousins! Send me an email and include your surnames and I will add them to the list.
A Bit of History
Before white settlement, Apaches, Wichitas, Tawakonis, Kichais, Caddoes, Comanches, and later Kiowas camped and hunted in the area now known as Archer County. Spaniards and Anglos crossed through the area at various times, and in the eighteenth century French traders operated a post close to the two small mesas in the west central area later called Little Arizona. Kichais defeated the Texas Rangers in the battle of Stone Houses in southeastern Archer County in 1837, and Kiowas led by Kicking Bird defeated United States cavalrymen led by Capt. Curwen B. McClellan in the battle of the Little Wichita River in the northwestern part of the county in 1870.On January 22, 1858, the Texas legislature marked off Archer County from Clay County and named it in honor of Republic of Texas commissioner Branch Tanner Archer. No settlers had yet arrived. By 1875, the United States Army had moved the Idians from North Texas and the area was open to settlement. In 1874, Dr. R. O. Prideaux, originally from England, settled on the West Fork of the Trinity River in southeastern Archer County. He had observed that the buffalo he had shot there were fat. Soon other cattlemen and farmers moved in, and scattered herds of longhorn cattle were introduced to different parts of the county's grasslands. For more, see the Handbook of Texas Online.
The Texas Legislature created Archer County in 1858 but wasn't organized until 1880 when a small group of locals petitioned in Clay County for an election.
