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Contents

County Courthouse

History

     The first white settler arrived in 1854 and the first public school opened in 1855.
     Just northwest of Fort Worth and Dallas, in the 1860's, "Wise County had more Indian attacks & kidnappings than any other county in Texas".
     In the early days of Wise County there were very large cattle ranches and homestead farms. Starting in the 1880's, coal was mined near the town of Bridgeport. Later limestone rock crushers and gas production became important.

Parent County

1856--Wise County was created 23 January 1856 from Cooke County.
County seat: Decatur [1]

Record Loss

1881--Courthouse and many county records were destroyed by fire.

Places / Localities

Populated Places

Alvord | Aurora | Balsora | Boonsville | Boyd | Bridgeport | Chico | Cottondale | Decatur | Greenwood |
Lake Bridgeport | New Fairview | Newark | Paradise | Rhome | Runaway Bay | Slidell

Neighboring Counties

Wise County Free Genealogy Research Resources

TX GenWeb - Wise County Texas


Births

1864-1933 Recorded Births & Birth Certificates Data of 19,202 births with 9,500 certificates online.
1926-2009 Birth Statistics and Announcements We no longer have online. Sent on request.
2003-present  Wise County Messenger Newspaper Birth announcements online

Marriages/Divorces

1881-1945 Bride & Groom & Date of Marriage 14,976 Listings
1966-2001 Bride & Groom & Date of Marriage 10,527 Listings
2000-2009 Wedding Announcements from The Wise County Messenger Newspaper 1,520 With Complete Text
1968-2001 Divorces With Marriage Dates & Number of Children 5,904 Records

Census

1860-1930 Images of Actual Census Pages LARGE images of all year's pages
1860 All of Wise County Transcribed with Additional Information 3,034 names with index
1870-1910 Indexes of Last Names Only
1900&1910 Transcriptions & Index of Names Southwest corner of Wise County only
1920 All of Wise County Transcribed with Additional Information 23,117 names with index
1930 All of Wise County Transcribed with Additional Information 19,202 names with index (population was less)

Schools

1900-1970s Old School Pictures & Yearbooks Indexed class pictures & yearbooks

Old Newspapers

1910-1975 Bridgeport Index Newspaper 15,377 images of pages with names indexed

Death Records

Cemeteries
1850-2010 Alphabetical Headstone Listings for Whole County 31,537 Names with headstone pictures online
2002 Cemetery Location, Maps & Inforamtion 101 Cemeteries in Wise County
Funeral Home Records
1914-2001 Records in Alphabetical Order 19,000 Pages with older images online
Recent Jones Family Funeral Home  Link - Bridgeport Texas
Recent Hawkins Funeral Homes Link - Decatur, Bridgeport & Boyd
Death Certificates & Recorded Deaths
1903-1966 Death Certificates Online 7,904 Images online
1903-1999 Wise County Recorded Deaths 11,324 Listed
Obituaries
1960-1989 (most 1970s) Obituaries From Local Papers 4,160 Newspaper clippings online
1910-1975 (only a few in older years) Whole Newspaper Pages - The Bridgeport Index Most years have names indexes
1976-2008 Obituaries From The Bridgeport Index 7,106 Newspaper clippings online
2000-2009 Obituary Text From The Wise County Messenger 5,197 Obituaries with complete text
Recent The Wise County Messenger Link - Decatur paper obituaries
Recent The Bridgeport Index Link - Bridgeport paper obituaries

Local Links

Wise County on the Web - Many local links
Wise County Historical Society - Museum in Decatur
Bridgeport Historical Society - Bridgeport History & Museum
Paradise Historical Society - Links to Paradise Information
Lake Bridgeport - Pictures & links to information


Maps

Texas Counties Map. Click on the county to go to the Texas Genweb site

Newspapers

Wise County Messenger

Vital Records

Texas Death Index 1964 to 1998 [no images] Name index to Texas Statewide Death Certificates or four million people who have died since 1964.

Texas Death Records 1890 – 1976 [with images]
Name index and images of statewide death certificates, 1890-1976. The name index has been created by FamilySearch and is tied to images of the Texas death certificates. Few certificates are available prior to 1903. 

Websites

TEXAS GenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the county.

Family History Library Catalog

References

  1. The Handybook for Genealogists: United States of America,10th ed. (Draper, UT:Everton Publishers, 2002).

 

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