The first Europeans to pass
through Hunt County were French. Seutter's 1735 map of
the Texas area shows that St. Denis, a trader traveling
between from Louisiana to the Rio Grande, passed through
Hunt County and crossed the forks of the Sabine in 1713
and again on his return journey in 1716. In 1787, a
French-Spanish expedition headed by Vial and Fragosa
also crossed through the county. Evidence of their
journeys in the form of blue trading beads were
discovered during the construction of Lake Tawakoni in
the 1960s.
Though the Mexican government issued a small number of
land grants in the area that is now Hunt County in 1835,
settlement did not begin until 1838-1839. The first
settlers arrived in the area that is now Hunt County
around 1840. These early settlers found tribes of Kiowa,
Caddo and Tawakoni Indians settled amidst the tall
native prairie grass and large thickets. Approximately
500 people lived in the county when it was formed from
Fannin and Nacogodoches Counties by the first
legislature of Texas in 1846. The official act to create
Hunt County was signed on April 11, 1846. Hunt County's
early settlers came mostly from Tennessee, Kentucky and
states in the deep south such as Alabama, Georgia and
Mississippi. Many of the county's early settlers also
came to stake claim to land grants from the Republic of
Texas, or as a part of Charles Fenton Mercer's colony.
The county was named for Memuchan Hunt, the first Texas
minister to the United States. Greenville, which was
established on land donated by McQuinney Howell Wright
and James G. Bourland, became the county seat.
Greenville, the county seat, is named for Thomas
Jefferson Green, who, among other things, was second in
command of the Meir Expedition. Narrowly named
Pickneyville in honor of Governor J. Pickney Henderson,
a change was written in at the last moment, and the
first seat of Collin County ended up named as such. The
first sale of town lots for Greenville was held in 1846,
though the city was not officially incorporated until
1850. This was because after the initial survey was
done, it was decided that the format of the town needed
to be moved somewhat so that trees for lumber would be
included in the town site. Because the surveyor had
gone, and was not located until 1850, Greenville was not
incorporated until that time.
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