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United States Texas Counties E El Paso County

Guide to El Paso County Texas genealogy. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

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County Courthouse

El Paso County Courthouse
500 E San Antonio Street
El Paso, TX 79901-2421
Phone: 915.546.2071

County Clerk has bird, death, and burial records from 1903,
marriage records from 1880, military discharge records
from 1919, probate and land records^[1]

Seven courthouses have been the home of El Paso County Government. The first courthouse was built at San Elizario in 1850. When Ysleta became the county seat, a second courthouse was built, 1866. Two additional courthouses were built at Ysleta in 1871 and 1882. A three-story Second Empire style courthouse was built at El Paso in 1886; it was torn down in 1918. In 1917, a Classic Revival style courthouse was built; it was extensively remodeled in 1955, and then demolished in 1992. El Paso County's current courthouse, a glass and steel structure opened in 1991. ^[2]

El Paso County Courthouse
County Clerk's Office website
500 E. San Antonio, Suite 105
El Paso, Texas 79901
(915) 546-2071
Fax (915) 546-2012 Main Office
Fax (915) 543-3806 Vital Records Department
El Paso County Government website

History

El Paso County is located in the far south western corner of Texas where the states of New Mexico and Texas, and the country of Mexico meet.

El Paso is presently its largest city.  Across the Rio Grande is Chihuahua's largest city, Ciudad Juarez.  Today it is a major international port of entry, and from its earliest days has been a significant customs and immigrations checkpoint between the United States and Mexico.

Parent County

1850--El Paso County was created 3 January 1850 from Bexar Land District.

County seats San Elizario, 1850-1866, Ysleta, 1866-1868, San Elizario, 1868-1873, Ysleta, 1873-1883, El Paso, 1883-present ^{[3] [4]}

Boundary Changes

1912 - Culberson County created from eastern portion of El Paso County.

1917 - Hudspeth County created from eastern portion of El Paso County.

Record Loss

Places/Localities

Populated Places

Anthony | Clint | El Paso | Fabens | Horizon City | Socorro | Vinton

Neighboring Counties

• Dona Ana County, New Mexico
• Hudspeth
• Otero County, New Mexico

Resources

Cemeteries

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

Church

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death/burial date and place. For general information about Texas denominations, view the Texas Church Records wiki page.

LDS Ward and Branch Records

• El Paso
• El Paso Dist
• Emery

Court

Land

After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions, including deeds and mortgages, have been recorded by the county. You can obtain copies of these land records by writing to the county clerk at the county courthouse. For more information, see Texas Land and Property.

The Family History Library Catalog lists microfilm copies of deeds, trust deeds, and mortgages of many counties.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for El Paso County, Texas. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Texas Local Histories.

• The City and county of El Paso, Texas : containing useful and reliable information concerning the future great metropolis of the Southwest ... 1886, El Paso Bureau of Information. Digital book online from archive.org.
  
• The Land Where We Live: El Paso del Norte, 1973, by Conrey Bryson.
• Pass of the North: Four Centuries on the Rio Grande, 2 vols., 1968, 1980, by Charles Leland Sonnichsen.
• El Paso: A Borderlands History, 1990, by W. H. Timmons.
  
• Souvenir of the city of El Paso, Texas. Photo-gravures.  Digital book online at archive.org.
  
• San Elizario, 1973, by Eugene O. Porter.
• The El Paso Salt War, 1877, published in 1957 by Charles Leland Sonnichsen. Digital book on line at archive.org.
• Forty years at El Paso, 1858-1898; recollections of war, politics, adventure, events, narratives, sketches, etc., 1901by W. W. Mills  Digital book online at The Portal to Texas History.
• El Paso County History from the Handbook of Texas Online.

Maps

• El Paso County 1881 from the Culberson County TXGenWeb site
  
• El Paso 1886 Panorama Map from the Amon Carter Museum.
  
• El Paso County 1900 from the Culberson County TXGenWeb site
• El Paso Quadrangle 1908  Shows contour lines, elevations, rivers, creeks, towns, cities, roads, buildings, schools, and railroads. Covers part of El Paso County.
• El Paso 1920 Automobile Blue Book Map from the Amon Carter Museum.
  
• El Paso - Fort Bliss Main Post Historic District, 1891-1939 from the Amon Carter Museum.
  
• El Paso County General Highway Map 1940
• El Paso General Highway Map 1940 shows detail of the City of El Paso and vicinity.
• El Paso County General Highway Map 1961
• Texas, West Portion Asher and Adams Map from the David Rumsey Map Collection.
• Best Route for the Movements of Troops from San Antonio to El Paso, Texas 1865 from the A.R. Roessler Collection, Texas State Archives.
• Texas and Part of New Mexico 1856 from the David Rumsey Map Collection.

Military

Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as El Paso County, Texas newspapers in online catalogs like:

• Paso+county+Texas+Newspapers&qt=results_page WorldCat (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).
• Do a El Paso County, Texas Place-name search for these and other records in the Family History Library Catalog (For instructions see FHL Catalog Place-name Search).

• El Paso Herald, selected issues on line 1910-1914 from the Portal to Texas History.

Probate

Probate records of Texas have been kept by the probate clerk in each county courthouse. You can obtain copies of the records from the clerk's office. In most counties, all information pertaining to a probate case is recorded in the "probate minutes."

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their places of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records.

See the Wiki page Texas Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Taxation

Texas tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information, see the wiki page Texas Taxation.

Texas County Tax Rolls, 1846-1910 lists FHL films with county tax lists. The lists vary by county and year. Most records are between the years of 1846 - 1910.

Vital Records

See Texas Vital Records for more information about Vital records in Texas. Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. United States Vital Records has additional research guidance on researching and using vital records.

A copy or an extract of most original records can be purchased from the Texas Vital Records State Department of Health or the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred.

• 1860 Census - El Paso County: Census images online at archive.org, 1860 Census transcription from the El Paso County TXGenWeb site.
  
• 1870 Census - El Paso County: Census images online at archive.org.  Census images online at the TXGenWeb site.
  
• 1880 Census - El Paso County: Census images online at the TXGenWeb site.

• El Paso County Death Records Search from EPCounty.com, the official county government website.
  
• El Paso County Birth Records Search from EPCounty.com, the official county government website.
• El Paso County Marriage Records Search from EPCounty.com, the official county government website
  
• Texas Death Index 1964 to 1998 [no images] Name index to Texas Statewide Death Certificates or four million people who have died since 1964.
• 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.
  

Societies and Libraries

Family History Centers

• Introduction to LDS Family History Centers
• El Paso Texas 1st & 3rd Family History Center
• El Paso Texas Family History Center
• El Paso Texas Mount Franklin Family History Center
• Hondo Pass Texas Family History Center
• Socorro Texas Family History Center

Web Sites

• TXGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the county
• USGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the state, then the county.
• Family History Library Catalog

References

1. ↑ Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America, 10th ed. (Draper, Utah: Everton Pub., 2002), El Paso County, Texas. Page 663 At various libraries (WorldCat); FHL Book 973 D27e 2002.
2. ↑ HistoricTexas.net: El Paso County http://www3.historictexas.net/el-paso-county-texas
3. ↑ The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).
4. ↑ Handbook of Texas Online: El Paso County http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hce05

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