Brief History of Chambers County

For over 150 years

Chambers County has been a
significant part of Texas History. It has

a colorful past, and is a tale worth
retelling. Take a minute to read about
the rich history in your own back yard.

General Thomas

Jefferson Chambers

Thomas Jefferson Chambers (1802-1865), an

accomplished lawyer, land speculator, army general and

politician in Texas, served under the rule of Mexico, the

Republic, the Union and the Confederacy. Born in Virginia,

he moved to Mexico City in 1826. In 1829 he was

appointed the surveyor general of Texas. Through

purchase and land grants, Chambers obtained title to 16

leagues of land located in present day Ellis, Navarro,

Photo courtesy of Chambers Chambers and Hays counties. In 1830, Chambers
County Historical Commission received Mexican citizenship and license to practice law.
He was state assessor briefly in 1834 and authored the

Chambers Jury Law which brought jury trial to Texas. Also

in 1834, he became the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas.

In payment for this office, Chambers was granted thirteen leagues of

land which he selected from the site of present day Austin. During the

Texas Revolution, Chambers received a commission to raise the

Army of the Reserve on his own credit and was reimbursed with

1,280 acres of land in 1846. He entered and lost four political

elections between 1839 and 1861. These years also brought the loss

of much of his land due to lawsuits in 1855 and 1862. In 1861 he

represented Chambers County at the state secession convention. As

a volunteer aid to an officer in Hood's Texas Brigade, Chambers was

wounded during the Seven Days' Battles. In 1865, Chambers was

shot and killed by an unknown assassin at his home in Anahuac while

holding his daughter Kate on his lap.

The state of Texas failed to reimburse Chambers or his estate for
large tracts of Austin land condemned in 1839 to establish the capital.
This fact led to a long series of legal contests by Chambers' heirs
who eventually won monetary compensation by an act of the Texas
legislature in 1925.

"Thomas Jefferson Chambers Papers Manuscript Collection: MC018."Thomas Jefferson Chambers Papers
Manuscript Collection: MC018. University of Texas at Austin, n.d. Web. 26 June 2015.

Early Settlers of Chambers County

James and Ruthie Miller Theodore & Charles Dorsett
Shadrack Burney and Charles C.P. Welch
Joseph Lawrence
James Hanney James Allen
William Bloodgood Benjamin Barrow
Christian Smith James Taylor White
John Iiams Silas Smith
E.H.R. and Sarah (Barrow) Wallis Charles Willcox
Solomon and Elizabeth (Winfree) Barrow William Barret Travis
Reuben Barrow, Jr. Andrew Briscoe
Absalom Jesse (A.B.J.) Winfree Patrick C. Jack
William Henry Hodges John M. Smith
Robert Wiseman
Henry & Amelia (Barrow) Griffith

Towns, Communities, and Settlements

Towns within Chambers County in order of establishment:

Wallisville Hankamer
Anahuac Mont Belvieu (Barber’s Hill)
Beach City Old River-Winfree
Cove Smith Point
Double Bayou Winnie-Stowell

Several communities and settlements were established over the past several decades.
Some of these communities exist today, while others no longer exist. They include:

Acom, Bancroft, Black Branch, Cedar Bayou, Cedar Point, Dellyville, Eagle, Eminence,
Glen, Graydon, Harmon, Lake Charlotte, Lone Oak, Monroe City, Morgan’s Settlement,
New Boston, Oak Island, Round Point, Seabreeze, Straddle, Thornton, and Turtle Bayou.

The Early Years

Chambers County was initially home to the Akokisa, Bidai and
Atakapan people. The earliest European settlement in this part of
the state was “El Orcoquisac,” a Spanish outpost established in
Chambers County Courthouse, circa 1912 1756 to keep French traders out of the region. This consisted of
a mission, Nuestra Senora de la Luz, and Presidio San Agustin de
Ahumada. The outpost was abandoned in 1771.

The first Anglo settlers came in the early 1820s, and the Mexican military
established Fort Anahuac in 1831 with Colonel Juan Davis Bradburn assigned to
that command. After Bradburn imprisoned local attorneys William Barret Travis and
Patrick C. Jack in 1832, other colonists came to the fort to demand their release.
This led to a brief skirmish in the summer of 1832 known as the Battle of Anahuac,
the eventual release of the prisoners, and the transfer of Bradburn. Travis came
back three years later, in 1835, and took the fort in a second brief battle. Travis
gained immortality on March 6, 1836 when he fell at the Alamo, at which place he
served as commander of the Texian garrison there.

In January 1835 Capt. Antonio Tenorio arrived with about forty troops to reopen the
fort, but it was in such disrepair that he asked his superiors for wood to make
repairs. The wood arrived in May but was burned by irate Texans. Tenorio had no
artillery when Travis and his volunteers attacked on June 29, so his troops fled into
the woods. He capitulated the next day, and the small garrison sailed to Harrisburg
and retreated to Bexar.

Fort Anahuac was never used again; the land became private property. In 1938 the
county surveyor made field notes of the existing foundations. Erosion caused by
rechanneling the Trinity River sometime after the 1930s caused the remains of the
southwestern redoubt to fall into the water. Chambers County
acquired the site for a park in 1946, and officials ordered it
cleared and the rubble buried for safety reasons and to prevent
vandalism. An amateur excavation was made in 1968 before
preservation laws went into effect, but no in-depth archeological
study was attempted until 2001, when the county government
asked the Texas Historical Commission to survey the park to
find the fort’s exact location. About half of the fort was located,
and recommendations made, but no further work has been
done to date.

Courthouse History

The county’s first courthouse was built in the first county seat of Wallisville in 1858. It
was destroyed by an arsonist in December of 1875, taking with it most of the county
records. In 1886 a second courthouse was constructed with a brick jail built nearby in
1894. The jail included a hanging tower that was never used.

A dispute over roaming livestock in Wallisville, known as the "County Seat Hog War,"
led to an election that relocated the county seat to Anahuac in 1908. A 1915 hurricane
almost destroyed Wallisville and severely damaged the courthouse and jail buildings.
The 1894 jail was torn down and the 1886 courthouse was finally demolished in 1948.

The county's third courthouse was completed in the new county seat of Anahuac in
1912 and served the county until it burned down on April 28, 1935.
The fourth and current courthouse was built in 1936 designed by Houston architect
Corneil G. Curtis, who also designed the 1931 Liberty County courthouse. The 1936
courthouse has many examples of Art-Deco ornamentation and retains most of its
original exterior and interior appearance.

The Texas Historical Commission website contains information on the following:

 Historic County Courthouses

 National Register Properties

 State Antiquities Landmarks (Buildings only)

 Historical Markers

 Cemeteries

 Museums

 Military sites Chambers County Courthouse, 2015
 Sawmills

 Neighborhood surveys

Search by county at:

http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/shell-county.htm

Chambers County Historical Commission
is a group of Chambers County residents who work to preserve,
protect and promote history within the county. They meet 6 times

yearly. For more information: www.cchcnews.com

Wallisville Heritage Park

is a privately funded museum and archive facility. It contains genealogy materials, and houses
over 1,500 vertical files on pioneer families, along with historic people and places from within the

county. The Park is open Mon-Sat, 8-5 at no charge to the public and is currently under the
direction of John Kemp. For more information:
www.wallisville.net 409-389-2252

This is a publication of the Chambers County Library System. The library collections
contain additional material on Chambers County history, and other matters of local

interest. We invite you to visit and make use of this tax supported institution.

For more information about your local library:
Chambers County Library, Anahuac: 409-267-2554
Juanita Hargraves Memorial Branch, Winnie: 409-296-8245
West Chambers Branch, Mont Belvieu: 281-576-2245

www.chambers.lib.tx.us