Bringing Legends to Life
Dickens County, Texas
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Welcome to Dickens County . . . Its Land and People. This is beautiful ranch land that is rich in wonderful history. I hope you will find this site helpful in your search for your ancestors and find the charm that Dickens County possesses. We are very proud to be sponsoring Dickens County and this site will be continually updated. Any information beneficial to this site is welcome, please e-mail Linda Fox Hughes Questions or comments concerning the TXGenWeb Project should be directed to State Coordinator Gina Hefferman, or one of the Assistant State Coordinators: Jane Keppler, or Carla Clifton This site is proud to be a part of the USGenWeb Project; if we have violated copyright laws, privacy laws, or redneck laws, please contact us and it will be corrected. Vote for your Favorite County The Mike Basham Memorial TXGenWeb Award was initiated to recognize the efforts of the county sponsors providing outstanding resources and assistance to county visitors. If you would like to nominate any county for this award - make your nomination on this form. Its Land... Historic big-ranch country on Rolling Plains of West Texas just below the Caprock, created in 1876 and organized 1891 from Bexar District. The legend is that it was named for J. Dickens, hero of Texas Revolution. Research has shown there was no J. Dickens but there was a patriot by the name of James Dempkins so "Dickens" was probably a result of variance in the spelling of the name. Soldier's Mound near Spur was an army supply camp for General Mackenzie's forces. Altitude is 2,000 - 3,000 feet, with about 15,000 acres on the High Plains in NW corner of the county with the remaining lands rolling to broke. Rough Croton Breaks are in SE portion. Good ground cover is provided for quail, dove and small game. Most of the county was originally land of big ranches - Spur (Swenson), Matador and Pitchfork. The Pitchfork is the only one still intact, (the others having been broken up into small ranches) and has increased in size by adding some of the Matador land to make the present total approximately 166,000 acres (part in King County). Pitchfork celebrated its 100th year of operation by the same family in 1983. The ranches, devoted to primarily raising beef cattle are mostly in rolling and rough lands. The land which lies on the high plains above the Cap Rock is mostly used for farming as are the level areas scattered through the county. There is some irrigation and the principal crops are cotton and feed grains for cattle. Oil production is very small. The population in 1986 was 3,539. It is semi arid with an annual rainfall of around 21 inches. History of Dickens County County Maps and Land Survey   Location of Dickens in Texas; Map of entire County, showing population and altitude. Link to a very detailed map of Dickens showing communities and canyons. Neighboring Counties: [ Floyd ] [ Motley] [ Cottle] [ Crosby ] [DICKENS] [ King] [ Garza] [ Kent] [ Stonewall] Master List of All Texas Counties Texas Counties Interactive Map Its People Letter of Welcome   Historical Commission Chairman Sends "Greetings" Online Roundup   Links to Personal Webpages of Family Histories with a Dickens Brand. Remembering Pearl Harbor   Story of Survivor. Honored Dickens Heroes   Those who gave their life for our Country. County Officials   Past through Present. Duck Creek in the 1800s   A journal by Jo A.P. Dickson in 1877 on Duck Creek. Our Wonderful Contributors Its Places Dickens County Courthouse   addresses, information on records, History and Building of Courthouse. County Jail   Picture, history, story of jailbreak. Spur/Dickens County Museum Dickens Historical Museum "Boothill" - Tombstone Tributes          Cemeteries of the county, histories, burial listings including obituaries and biographies. City Folk   Towns and Communities of Dickens County Historical Markers of Dickens County   Link to Pictures of most. McAdoo, TX Patton Springs School Spur Schools        La Espuela Yearbooks Its Records County Lookup Volunteers   Volunteers with tracking information. County Resources   Places to look, people to see. Dickens County Bookends   Bibliographies of Dickens County. Newspapers of Dickens County, TX   Name of paper, years published and microfilm dates. Marriage Records Census Records   Neighbors lived 20 to 30 miles apart. Death Records     Dickens Military   Veteran Tribute and Service Records of WW I and II, Korea and Vietnam Postoffices and Postmasters of Dickens County, Texas Southwest Collection Records of County   A partial list of what I have found there so far. Trivia on County   Facts on first and last happenings in Dickens County. USGenWeb Archives In the Dickens The Texas Spur Dickens County History and Genealogy Dickens County News Wanted Dead or Alive How to Contribute Information to this site: If you have family history information that you would like to send from your computer to mine, please use the following address: Linda Fox Hughes ^. .^ \/ Happy Huntin'             Don't Spur the Horse if you don't know where you're going. Last update 03 January 2024   Thanks for Visiting! Y'all Come Back, Ya Hear? [Return to Top of Page] ©1997-2024 Linda Fox Hughes & Dickens County Historical Commission