Editing San Saba County, Texas (section)

==History==

===Early history===
Early Native American inhabitants of the area included [[Tonkawa]], [[Caddo]], [[Lipan Apache people|Lipan Apache]], and [[Comanche]].<ref name="San Saba County">{{cite web|last=Murphy|first=Victoria S|title=San Saba County|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcs05|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 28, 2010}}</ref> In 1732, Governor of [[Spanish Texas]], [[Juan Antonio Bustillo y Ceballos]], arrived on the feast day of sixth-century monk [[Sabbas the Sanctified|St. Sabbas]], and named the river [[San Saba River|''Río de San Sabá de las Nueces'']].<ref name="Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands"/><ref name="San Saba River">{{cite web|title=San Saba River|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rns11|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 28, 2010}}</ref> Santa Cruz de San Sabá Mission was established in 1757.<ref name="Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands">{{cite book|last=Barr|first=Juliana|title=Peace Came in the Form of a Woman: Indians and Spaniards in the Texas Borderlands |year=2007|publisher=The University of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-5790-8|page=327}}</ref> In 1788, José Mares led an expedition from San Antonio to Santa Fe.<ref name="Spanish Texas, 1519-1821">{{cite book|last=Chipman|first=Donald E|title=Spanish Texas, 1519-1821|year=1992|publisher=University of Texas Press|isbn=978-0-292-77659-3|page=208}}</ref>

In 1828, 28 people from [[Stephen F. Austin]]'s group passed through. A portion of the county was included in Austin's grants from the Mexican government.<ref name="San Saba County"/>  The [[Fisher–Miller Land Grant]] in 1842 contained most of later land deeds.<ref name="Along the Texas Forts Trail">{{cite book|last=Aston|first=B W|title=Along the Texas Forts Trail|year=1997|publisher=University of North Texas Press|isbn=978-1-57441-035-8|author2=Taylor, Ira Donathon |page=119}}</ref> Five years later, the [[Meusebach–Comanche Treaty]] was signed in San Saba County.<ref name="Along the Texas Forts Trail"/> In 1854, the Harkey family settled at Wallace and Richland Creeks. The David Matsler family moved from [[Burnet County, Texas|Burnet County]] to Cherokee Creek.<ref name="San Saba County"/><ref name="The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West">{{cite book|last=Wallis|first=Michael|title=The Real Wild West: The 101 Ranch and the Creation of the American West|year=2000|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|isbn=978-0-312-26381-2|page=536}}</ref>

San Saba County was organized from [[Bexar County, Texas|Bexar County]] and named for the San Saba River in 1856. [[San Saba, Texas|San Saba]] was selected as the county seat.<ref name="San Saba County"/>  The Seventh Texas Legislature confirmed the boundaries of the county in 1858.<ref name="San Saba County"/> in 1860, the population was 913, which included 98 slaves.<ref name="San Saba County"/> The county was divided into 10 school districts in 1867.<ref name="San Saba County"/>

In 1874, Edmund E. Risen devoted his work to improving local nuts, in particular the [[pecan]]. San Saba eventually billed itself as the Pecan Capital of the World.<ref>{{cite web|title=Edmond E. Risien, Pecan Pioneer|url=http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5411001391|work=Texas State Historical Markers|publisher=William Nienke, Sam Morrow|access-date=November 28, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707072335/http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5411001391|archive-date=July 7, 2011}}</ref>

===Post-Civil War history===
In the 1880s-'90s, mob rule not only whipped and forced out numerous people in towns throughout Texas, but also took 140 lives in Texas following the Civil War. San Saba County had the worst of the violence, with 25 lives taken by lynching from 1880 to 1896. Mob killings in Texas in the years after the war were often racially motivated crimes committed by members of the Ku Klux Klan against suspected slave rebels and white abolitionists. An investigation led to the [[Texas Rangers Division|Texas Rangers]] restoring order.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cox|first=Mike|title=The Texas Rangers: Wearing the Cinco Peso, 1821-1900|year=2009|publisher=Forge Books|isbn=978-0-7653-1892-3|pages=439–441}}</ref> Many of the mob executions committed throughout Texas in the time following the Civil War were racially motivated and often committed by members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), which formed in Shelby County, Texas.<ref name="tshaonline.org">{{Cite web|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/jgl01|title=LYNCHING|last=R.|first=ROSS, JOHN|date=June 15, 2010|website=www.tshaonline.org|language=en|access-date=July 30, 2018}}</ref> Most of the people killed by vigilante mobs in the five years after the war were "suspected slave rebels and white abolitionists". Although the KKK in Texas was less active by the 1870s, lives continued to be taken each year. In 1885, for the state of Texas, "...an estimated 22 mobs lynched 43 people, including 19 blacks and 24 whites, one of whom was female".<ref name="tshaonline.org"/> "The San Saba County lynchers, the deadliest of the lot, claimed some 25 victims between 1880 and 1896. Vigilante lynching died out in the 1890s, but other varieties of mobs continued."<ref name="tshaonline.org" />

The San Saba Male and Female Academy was founded in 1882.<ref name="San Saba County"/><ref>{{cite book|last=Burton|first=Jeffrey|title=The Deadliest Outlaws: The Ketchum Gang and the Wild Bunch|year=2009|publisher=University of North Texas Press|isbn=978-1-57441-270-3|page=19}}</ref>  In 1889, the United Confederate Veterans William P. Rogers Camp No. 322 was established, named for Col. William P. Rogers.<ref name="United Confederate Veterans William P. Rogers Camp No. 322">{{cite web|title=United Confederate Veterans William P. Rogers Camp No. 322|url=http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5411012748|publisher=William Nienke, Sam Morrow|access-date=November 28, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707072341/http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5411012748|archive-date=July 7, 2011}}</ref>  West Texas Normal and Business College was organized by Francis Marion Behrns in 1885.<ref>{{cite web|last=Upchurch|first=Alice Gray|title=West Texas Normal and Business College|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kbw11|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 28, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Seeber|first=Jill S|title=Francis Marion Behrns|url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fbe97|work=Handbook of Texas Online|publisher=Texas State Historical Association|access-date=November 28, 2010}}</ref>

===Late 19th and 20th centuries===
The parallel-wire suspension Beveridge Bridge was built across the San Saba River in 1896 by Flinn, Moyer Bridge Co.<ref>{{cite web|last=Kinsey|first=Jim and Lou|title=Beveridge Bridge|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasHillCountryTowns/San-Saba/Beveridge-Bridge-San-Saba-Texas.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=November 28, 2010|author2=McBride, Judy }}</ref> In 1911, the Lometa-Eden branch of the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway was built through San Saba County.<ref>{{cite web|title=San Saba, Texas|url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasHillCountryTowns/San-Saba-Texas.htm#landmark|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=November 28, 2010}}</ref>  San Saba County brick and sandstone courthouse is erected. Architect Chamberlin & Co.<ref>{{cite web|title=San Saba County Courthouse |url=http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasHillCountryTowns/San-Saba-County-Courthouse.htm|work=Texas Escapes|publisher=Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC|access-date=November 28, 2010}}</ref>
In 1930, half of the county farms were [[Tenant farmer|tenant farmed]].<ref name="San Saba County"/>  In 1931, pioneer rancher W.H. "Uncle Billy" Gibbons gave the [[Boy Scouts of America]] a 99-year lease to campgrounds along [[Brady Creek (San Saba River)|Brady Creek]] on the historic Gibbons Ranch. Relocated several miles upstream in 1946, the Boy Scouts continue to use Camp Billy Gibbons to this day.<ref>{{cite web|title=W. H. (Uncle Billy) Gibbons (1846-1932) - Richland Sprinds, San Saba County, Texas|url=http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5411005670|work=Texas Historical Markers|publisher=William Nienke, Sam Morrow|access-date=November 28, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707072345/http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5411005670|archive-date=July 7, 2011}}</ref> The 1938 San Saba River floods caused county-wide devastation. One-third of the town of San Saba was under water.<ref>{{cite book|last=Burnett|first=Jonathan|title=Flash Floods in Texas|year=2008|publisher=TAMU Press|isbn=978-1-58544-590-5|page=120}}</ref> The Town of San Saba was incorporated in 1940.<ref>{{cite book|last=Hellman|first=Paul T|title=Historical Gazetteer of the United States|year=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-93948-5|page=1084}}</ref>  Prolonged drought in the mid-1950s brought hardship to the county agricultural economy.<ref name="San Saba County"/>

The ''San Saba County News'' merged with the ''San Saba Star'' in 1960.<ref name="San Saba County"/> In 1965, a historical marker was erected to honor pioneer doctor Edward D. Doss.<ref>{{cite web|title=Edward D Doss|url=http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5411001397|work=Texas Historical Markers|publisher=William Nienke, Sam Morrow|access-date=November 28, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707072351/http://www.9key.com/markers/marker_detail.asp?atlas_number=5411001397|archive-date=July 7, 2011}}</ref>