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Queries concerning settlers after 1897 should be directed
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Project
county. The original Greer county Texas covered the current
Oklahoma counties of
Beckham,
Greer,
Harmon,
Jackson,
and parts of Texas counties
Childress,
Collingsworth,
Hemphill,
Lipscomb,
and Wheeler.
History
On February 8, 1860, the
Texas legislature passed an act providing for the formation of Greer County,
with boundaries "beginning
at the confluence of Red River and Prairie Dog Town River; then
running up Red River, passing
the mouth of the South Fork (Elm Fork) and following main or
North Red River to its intersection
with the twenty-third degree of west longitude (the 100th meridian);
thence due south across
the Salt Fork to Prairie Dog River, and thence following that river to
the place of beginning."
The act went into effect
at once, but because of the confusion consequent to the outbreak of
the Civil War little was
done immediately toward organizing and putting into operation a system
of county government. Greer
County was named for John A. Greer, Senator, Secretary of State,
Republic of Texas; Lieutenant
Governor, 1847-1853. In 1884, 144,000 acres of land was patented
to the Day Land and Cattle
Company, which also leased 203,000 additional acres. By 1885
there were in the county
some ten families and 60,000 cattle belonging to seven or eight firms
that employed 100 men. The
Francklyn Land and Cattle Company owned 40,000 cattle there.
In July 1886 the settlers
of Greer County met at Mobeetie and organized Greer County on the
authority of the act of
1860. Mangum was named the county seat, and provision was made for
a county government. Soon
the county commissioners began building a county jail, planned to
cost $11,000. Two post offices
were established, one at Mangum and another at Frazier. A
school system was set up,
and by 1892 sixty-six school districts had been formed with an
enrollment of 2,250 pupils.
But the comparatively rapid
development of Greer County was disturbed by a dispute between
Texas and the United States
over the ownership of the area. The controversy had origin in an
1819 treaty fixing the line
between United States and Spanish territory. A map designating
the Red River and 100th
meridian as boundary lines was part of the treaty; but the map
aroused dispute, for it
incorrectly marked the 100th meridian and showed only one fork
of a two-forked Red River.
Texas claimed the north fork
and meridian shown on map defined territory, and legislation
and occupancy by Texans
decided sovereignty. The United States contended south Fork
(larger of the two) and
true 100th meridian marked boundaries. Three joint survey
commissions failed to settle
the issue. The U.S. Supreme Court in 1896 ruled that the
region was in 1819 part
of the United States' unorganized Indian Territory.
Old Greer County Texas was
comprised of all of present day Greer Co. OK, Jackson Co.
OK, Harmon Co. OK, and parts
of present day Beckham Co. OK, Lipscomb Co. TX,
Hemphill Co. TX, Wheeler
Co. TX, Collingsworth Co. TX, and Childress Co. TX.
Complied from The New Handbook of Texas, The Texas Almanac, and Texas Historical Markers.
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