Wednesday, April 26th, 2023 in collection highlights, elected officials, history of Travis County, people. No Comments
Author William Sidney Porter lived in Austin from 1884-1896. Later known by his pseudonym O. Henry, he wrote in 1894, “It is a well-known tradition in Austin and vicinity that there is a buried treasure of great value on the banks of Shoal Creek, about a mile west of the city…” During the 1890s, Austin […]
Tuesday, April 11th, 2023 in research. No Comments
If you have the basics of deed research down, you have a general idea of how to use deed indexes to find property records (if you don’t, visit our post here.) Did you know that deed indexes give references to records other than deeds? If you look at the column labeled “Nature of Instrument” in […]
Friday, February 10th, 2023 in Announcements, collection highlights, criminal records, District Clerk, research, Uncategorized. No Comments
Travis County District Civil Courts have original jurisdiction in all divorce cases, cases involving title to land, election contest cases, and civil matters in which the amount of money or damages involved is $200 or more. Travis County Criminal District Courts preside over felony cases. Court minutes are the record of courtroom proceedings, such as the […]
Monday, August 1st, 2022 in collection highlights, criminal records, District Clerk, exhibits, explore Travis County, history of Travis County. No Comments
The archives is proud to announce a new online exhibit, “Law and Lawlessness in Early Travis County”. This exhibit explores the environment of lawlessness in early Travis County using county criminal court records, photographs and newspaper clippings. The exhibit also looks at the response of law enforcement and the criminal justice system to the criminal […]
Tuesday, April 26th, 2022 in Uncategorized. No Comments
The Commissioners Court is the general governing body of the county. It functions as both the legislative and executive branch of county government. The Commissioners Court consists of the County Judge and four Commissioners. As a member of the Commissioners Court, a Commissioner conducts the general business of the county, including overseeing the budgetary and […]
Wednesday, March 9th, 2022 in collection highlights, County Clerk, District Clerk, genealogy, people, Portal to Texas History, research. No Comments
Naturalization is the process by which an alien becomes an American citizen. Prior to 1906, immigrants could file for naturalization in any court at the local, county, state or federal level. In Travis County, naturalization records can be found in the records of the District and County Courts and date from 1887-1906. In 1906, the […]
Wednesday, September 1st, 2021 in County Clerk, genealogy, Portal to Texas History, research. 12 Comments
What are vital statistics records? Vital statistics records are those that record the important events in human life, such as births, deaths, marriages, and divorces. Vital statistics records are valuable sources of information when researching your family history. These are the various types of records in Travis County and where to locate them. Marriage Records […]
Thursday, October 29th, 2020 in history of Travis County. No Comments
This mini-documentary about the history of the Travis County Poor Farm was produced by the Travis County Media Department in collaboration with the Travis County Archives.
Monday, August 31st, 2020 in collection highlights, history of Travis County, Portal to Texas History, research. No Comments
Convict leasing was a system of penal labor in which prisoner labor was leased to private parties. The practice began in Texas and other southern states shortly after the Civil War, when officials realized they had a large population of prisoners to care for and very little money. Leasing the inmates to private individuals appeared to offer […]
Thursday, August 6th, 2020 in collection highlights, history of Travis County, Portal to Texas History, research. No Comments
In Texas, one of the duties of the Commissioners’ Court is the construction and maintenance of county roads and bridges. County roads are public roads that are located outside of city limits but within the county boundaries. City roads are the responsibility of cities, and interstate highways and farm to market (FM) roads are the […]