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Texas became the 28th state on December 29, 1845
 
Capital - Austin
Motto - Friendship
Nickname - Lone Star
State Song - Texas, Our Texas
Flower - Bluebonnet
Tree- Pecan
Bird - Mockingbird
 

In memory of
Malcom Luther "Mike" Basham 
First TXGenWeb State Coordinator
25 May 1942
to
15 September 1997

Adjacent Counties
  Hood County, TX - N
  Bosque County, TX - S
  Johnson County, TX - E
  Erath County, TX - W

TXGenWeb County Listings









 

George's Creek ,Somervell County TX

Latitude N
Longitude W
TXGenWeb Site
 
Cemeteries
Library
Local Genealogy Society
Wikipedia
.gov
 
 
George's Creek is north of U.S. Highway 67 between Cleburne and Glen Rose in northeastern Somervell County. At the time of its founding the community was in Johnson County; the site subsequently became part of Hood County, and, in 1875, of Somervell County. The site is in the Brazos overlooked by a sharp escarpment. The countryside is heavily wooded with live oak, cedar, post oak, Spanish oak, and some mesquite. Barnard's Knob, Berry's Knob, and Comanche Peak break the horizon to the northwest. The town developed as a companion community to Fort Spunky in the 1850s on a tributary of the Brazos River called George's Creek. George Barnard, who founded several Indian trading posts along the Brazos River, bought several thousand acres of land in the area, including the little creek bearing his name. His brother Charles Barnard had a trading post four miles to the north of George's Creek on the Brazos until the United States government moved the Indian tribes to Fort Graham. The George's Creek community survived the decline of the trading post and continued to exist until World War II.

The first settlers, J. H. Chambers and Norv Randle, came in 1854. An influx of families starting a new life after the Civil War brought growth to the community; most of the new residents were farmers. The business center included a cotton gin, a school, a church, a cemetery, and a copper and sulfur mine operated during the Civil War. A post office was opened in 1876, but rural delivery replaced it in 1939. Later businesses included a blacksmith shop, photographers' studios, a shoe shop, a barbershop, a doctor's office, and a telephone exchange. With the coming of the automobile and paved roads, most of the people of the community moved to the cities. The small farms were incorporated into large cattle ranches, especially George's Creek Ranch, a spread of several thousand acres. A silica mine on the banks of George's Creek near the cemetery was thriving in 1888. A short distance away a rock-crushing plant furnished tons of gravel for highway contractors. A peanut dryer in the community served local peanut farmers. The George's Creek school closed in the mid-1940s. The population of the community decreased from eighty-six in the mid-1920s to a low of twenty-five in 1960. In 1988, however, the number of residents had increased to eighty-six. Descendants of the early settlers have gathered each year since 1892 at the George's Creek Cemetery tabernacle for a cleanup, dinner on the grounds, and reunion. In the mid-1970s about 400 came to renew ties with the community. In 1990 and 2000 the population was reported as sixty-six.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cleburne Times-Review, November 19, 1967. Raymond Elliott and Mildred Padon, Of a People and a Creek (Cleburne, Texas: Bennett Printing, 1979). Glen Rose Reporter, January 11, 18, 25, 1968. W. C. Nunn, Somervell: Story of a Texas County (Fort Worth: Texas Christian University Press, 1975). Kathleen E. and Clifton R. St. Clair, eds., Little Towns of Texas (Jacksonville, Texas: Jayroe Graphic Arts, 1982).

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