Creation of Panola County
Laws of the State of Texas
(pp 1837-1838)
To create and organize the County of Panola.
Section 1 ... Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That all the territory comprised within the following limits, to wit: Beginning at the twenty seventh mile post, on the line dividing the State of Texas from the State of Louisiana; thence, in a direct line to the mouth of Eight-mile Creek, on the Sabine river; thence across and up said river, with its meanders to the Trammel Trace; thence, with said trace to where it crosses the west boundary line of J.W. Adams' league of land; thence, in a direct line to the old line that divided Harrison from Shelby county, before the passage of an act, entitled "an act to alter and establish the eastern boundary line of Rusk county, and for other purposes" approved December 31st, 1844; thence, with the line dividing the counties of Harrison and Shelby, to the line dividing the States of Texas and Louisiana; thence, with said line to the point of beginning, be, and the same is hereby made a new county, by the name of Panola.
Section 2 ... Be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of said county, be, and they are hereby invested with all the rights, privileges and immunities belonging to, and of right appertaining to citizens of other counties, except the right of separate representation, except also, the right of electing a separate county surveyor, or being a separate land district, which shall remain as it now is, until altered by law.
Section 3 ... Be it further enacted, That Jas. Rowe, Parson Herron, Dickson, James A. Pugh, Richard Golden and James Williams, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, to select two eligible sites, neither of which shall be more than five miles from the centre of said county, for the county seat of said county, which places shall be submitted to the legal voters of said county at public election, at such time and places as may be prescribed by law; and the place receiving a majority of the legal votes cast at said election, shall be the county seat of said county, and shall be known and called by the name of Carthage, unless at said election, some town or village now in existence in said county, be selected as the county seat; and said commissioners shall have power to purchase, or receive by donation for said county, such quantity of land, not to exceed _________ acres, as may be necessary for said county in erecting public buildings and other necessary expenses.
Section 4 ... Be it further enacted, That all civil suits which may have been instituted against any of the citizens of the county created by this act, in either of the counties from which said county is taken, shall be transferred, together with all papers thereunto belonging, to the proper officers of said county, and be carried on the same manner as if continued in the county in which they were instituted.
Section 5 ... Be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of said county, as present embraced within the limits of Harrison county, shall pay a proportionate part of the debt due and owing by the county of Harrison, at the time of the final passage of this act.
This copy of the legislative act that created Panola County was furnished by Judge Guy Griffin, Presiding Judge of the 123rd Judicial District of Panola and Shelby counties.