Editing Erath County, Texas (section)

==History==
===Native Americans===
[[Caddo]] tribe [[Nadaco|Anadarko]] villages were scattered along the [[Trinity River (Texas)|Trinity]] and [[Brazos River|Brazos]] Rivers.<ref>{{cite web|title=Anadarko Indian History|url=http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/caddo/anadarkohist.htm|publisher=Access Genealogy|access-date=December 15, 2010}}<br>- {{cite web|title=Caddo Indian History|url=http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/tribes/caddo/caddohist.htm |publisher=Access Genealogy|access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref> [[French people|French]] explorer [[Bernard de la Harpe|Jean-Baptiste Bénard de la Harpe]] developed camaraderie among the Anadarko in 1719 when he established Fort Saint Louis de los Cadodaquious.<ref>{{cite book|last=Weddle|first=Robert S|title=The French Thorn: Rival Explorers in the Spanish Sea, 1682-1762|year=1991|publisher=TAMU Press|isbn=978-0-89096-480-4|pages=208–228|chapter=Cannibal Coast}}</ref> The Anadarko became entangled with the French battles with the [[Spanish people|Spanish]] and later the Anglos and suffered the consequences, including diseases from which they had no immunity. By 1860, these tribes moved to [[Oklahoma]]. Erath County falls into [[Comancheria]] and found itself raided by Comanches until their removal to Oklahoma after 1875.<ref>{{cite web|title=Texas Indian Lands|url=http://www.texasindians.com/map2.htm|publisher=R E. Moore and Texarch Associates|access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref>

===County established and growth===
Erath County was formed from [[Bosque County, Texas|Bosque]] and [[Coryell County, Texas|Coryell]] counties in 1856 and named for George Bernard Erath, one of the original surveyors of the area.<ref name="Erath County, Texas">{{cite web|last=Young|first=Dan M|title=Erath County, Texas|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hce06|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 15, 2010|date=June 12, 2010}}</ref> In 1856, John M. Stephen offered to donate land for a townsite. It was named [[Stephenville, Texas|Stephenville]] after him and became the county seat.<ref>{{cite web|title=Stephenville, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/StephenvilleTexas/StephenvilleTexas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref>

Jones Barbee founded the community of [[Dublin, Texas|Dublin]] in 1854.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dublin, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/CentralTexasTownsNorth/DublinTexas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref> His children were the first citizens to be buried in Erath County in the community of Edna Hill, which is located in Southern Erath. Barbee Cemetery is named after him. Jones traveled with his wife and children across the country coming from North Carolina. He is the grandson of Christopher "Old Kit" Barbee who was the largest wealthiest landowner in North Carolina. He was the largest land donor for the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/early-benefactors/contiguous-land-donations-to-t|title = Early Land Donations · Carolina's Early Benefactors · Carolina Story: Virtual Museum of University History}}</ref> Barbee served as board president; a bronze statue of him is in the university. Jones had many children who went on to populate the county with names still enduring today such as Barbee, White, Durham, and Brambeletts. Some of his great-grandchildren still reside in the community. His great-great-great-granddaughter, Carolina, lives on his land today in Edna Hill and is the 6th generation to continually live on his old homestead. Her children are the 7th generation to do so. The families of other early settlers still endure there today. 
Dublin later became famous as the early boyhood home of the [[PGA Championship|PGA]], [[U.S. Open (golf)|U.S. Open]] and [[Masters Tournament|Masters]] golf champion [[Ben Hogan]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Beh Hogan bio |url=http://www.worldgolfhalloffame.org/hof/member.php?member=1061 |publisher=World Golf Hall of Fame |access-date=December 15, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604054553/http://www.worldgolfhalloffame.org/hof/member.php?member=1061 |archive-date=June 4, 2011 }}</ref>

In 1857, thirty pioneers settled in the county led by surveyors George Erath (1813–1891). The group included brothers William F. and John M. Stephen and a black family whose name and destiny is unknown.<ref>{{cite web|last=Longwell|first=Evelyn Clark|title=Neil McLennan|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmc89|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=December 15, 2010|date=June 15, 2010}}</ref>

Erath, an immigrant from [[Vienna, Austria]], was a [[Texas Rangers Division|Texas Ranger]] and member of Billingsley's Company C, 1st Regiment of Texas Volunteers, under the command of Col. Charles Burleson at the [[Battle of San Jacinto]], and a member of the [[Confederate Home Guard]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Officers and Enlisted Men Battle of San Jacinto 21st April 1836|url=http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/sjvetsunit.htm|publisher=Sons of Dewitt Colony Texas|access-date=December 15, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101205100747/http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/sjvetsunit.htm|archive-date=December 5, 2010}}</ref> As a [[Freemason]], he was a charter member and secretary of Bosque Lodge #92, from 1852 to 1855{{snd}}which changed its name to Waco #92 in 1857 and remains the oldest continuous organization in Waco, Texas.<ref>{{cite web|title=George B. Erath - Texas Mason Honored in Stephenville |url=http://www.grandlodgeoftexas.org/node/2148 |publisher=The Grand Lodge of Texas Ancient Free and Accepted Masons |access-date=December 15, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123215754/http://grandlodgeoftexas.org/node/2148 |archive-date=November 23, 2010 }}</ref>

Cotton became the major crop between 1875 and 1915, with the largest crop being in 1906. The industry was helped in 1879 when the Texas Central Railroad reached Dublin, and in 1889 when the Fort Worth and Rio Grande railroad was completed through Stephenville. This opened eastern markets for the county's cotton crops. By 1910, soil erosion and the [[boll weevil]] caused diversity planning that led to dairy farms, fruit orchards, nurseries, peanuts, feed crops and poultry.<ref name="Erath County, Texas"/>

The community of [[Thurber, Texas|Thurber]] was created by the Johnson Coal Company.<ref>{{cite web |title=Thurber, Texas |url=http://www.texasescapes.com/FEATURES/Thurber_Texas/Thurber_Texas_ghosttown.htm |work=Texas Escapes |access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref> From 1888 to 1921, the Texas Pacific Coal Company mined coal near Thurber, making it a leading coal producer in the state. Fifty-two percent of the miners were of [[Italian people|Italian]] ancestry, creating the "Italian Hill" community just outside Thurber. The [[United Mine Workers]] in 1903 sent Joe Fenoglio to organize the Italian workers, thus beginning the Thurber Coal Miners Strike. In the 1970s, the area began [[bituminous coal]] production for fuel in the cement industry.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Italian Presence in the Coal Camp of Thurber, Texas |url=http://www.thurbertexas.com/history/italian.html |publisher=Thurber, Texas |access-date=December 15, 2010}}<br>- {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Wilma Rugh |title=Gospel Tracks through Texas: The Mission of Chapel Car Good Will |year=2005 |publisher=TAMU Press |isbn=978-1-58544-434-2 |pages=47–56 |chapter=Finding Surprises in East Texas}}</ref>

[[Tarleton State University]] was founded in 1893 as Stephenville College but was renamed in 1899 after the local rancher John Tarleton rescued the institution from financial difficulties.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dethloff |first=Henry C |title=Texas A&M University: A Pictorial History, 1876-1996, Second Edition |year=1996 |publisher=TAMU Press |isbn=978-0-89096-704-1 |pages=62–64}}<br>- {{cite book |last=Peterson's |title=Colleges in the South: Compare Colleges in Your Region |year=2008 |publisher=Peterson's |isbn=978-0-7689-2695-8 |page=194}}</ref>

On November 4, 2008, Erath County voters elected to allow the sale of beer and wine in the county for off-premises consumption.

===Courthouse===
Erath's original 1866 wooden courthouse burned to the ground, destroying county documents along with it. A second stone courthouse was built in 1877 but eventually razed. The cornerstone for the current courthouse was laid in 1891. The architects [[James Riely Gordon]] and D. E. Laub designed the present three-story showcase Victorian structure. In addition to Erath, Gordon designed the [[Arizona]] State Capitol, and courthouses in [[Aransas County, Texas|Aransas]], [[Bexar County, Texas|Bexar]], [[Brazoria County, Texas|Brazoria]], [[Comal County, Texas|Comal]], [[Ellis County, Texas|Ellis]], [[Fayette County, Texas|Fayette]], [[Gonzales County, Texas|Gonzales]], [[Harrison County, Texas|Harrison]], [[Hopkins County, Texas|Hopkins]], [[Lee County, Texas|Lee]], [[McLennan County, Texas|McLennan]], [[Victoria County, Texas|Victoria]] and [[Wise County, Texas|Wise]] counties.<ref>{{cite book|last=Lurie|first=Maxine N|title=Encyclopedia of New Jersey |year=2004|publisher=Rutgers University Press|isbn=978-0-8135-3325-4|author2=Mappen, Marc |author3=Siegel, Michael |page=324}}</ref> The building was completed in 1893, with limestone from the [[Leon River]] and red sandstone from [[Pecos County, Texas|Pecos County]]. The building's centralized 95-foot tower has a bell tower and creates a chandeliered atrium from the first floor to the third. The interior is east Texas pine, with cast and wrought-iron stairways, and tessellated imported marble floors. It was renovated in 1988.<ref>{{cite web|last=Herda, Ed.D.|first=Lou Ann|title=Erath County Courthouse|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TRIPS/GreatAmericanLegendTour/ErathCountyTx/ErathCountyCourthouse.htm|work=Texas Escapes|access-date=December 15, 2010}}</ref>