Editing Groesbeck, Texas (section)

=== European colonization ===

Limestone county was a part of the [[Empresario]] grants given out by the government of [[Coahuila y Tejas]], with [[Haden Edwards]] given permission to settle an area including most of Limestone County in 1825, but the Mexican government legally forbade Anglo-Americans from settling into Mexican Texas after the [[Law of April 6, 1830]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/law-of-april-6-1830|title=The Law of April 6, 1830: Catalyst for the Texas Revolution|first=Texas State Historical|last=Association|website=Texas State Historical Association}}</ref><ref> https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2124&context=ethj </ref> Settlement continued however, including in 1833 when a group of Anglos from Illinois settled Fort Parker, the earliest known European settlement in the vicinity.<ref name="auto2"/> Numerous Mexican and Anglo settlers made land claims in the area before 1836. After 1836, due in part to the [[Fort Parker massacre]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.texasalmanac.com/places/limestone-county|title=Limestone County|first=Texas State Historical|last=Association (TSHA)|website=Texas Almanac}}</ref> and ongoing violence in between settlers and natives in Limestone county,<ref>https://library.uta.edu/borderland/event/386</ref> the newly established [[Republic of Texas]] forbade new settlement until the [[Treaty of Tehuacana Creek]] in 1844. In the mid 1840s, two more towns were founded before on April 11, 1846, Limestone county was formed from [[Robertson's Colony]], with Springfield being named county seat. As of 1860 there was a population of 3,464 whites, 1,072 slaves, and a free black woman.<ref> https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/limestone-county#:~:text=Farms%20numbered%20447%2C%20with%20a,dominated%20by%20the%20Democratic%20party.</ref> In 1861, 98% of voters in Limestone county voted to secede and join the [[Confederate States of America]].