Medina County TXGenWeb

TXGenWeb for Medina County

Medina County, Texas was created from Bexar County and organized on August 7, 1848. Most of the earliest settlers were brought to Medina County by Henry Castro. He arranged for 27 ships to bring 2134 colonists from 16 countries between 1842 and 1847. The largest groups of immigrants were from Alsace and from Germany. The early settlements were Castroville founded in 1844, Quihi in 1845, Vandenburg in 1846, New Fountain in 1846 and D'Hanis in 1848. The original county seat was Castroville, but it was moved to Hondo in 1892.

(Medina County courthouse in Hondo before 1938. Photo courtesy of John Avant)

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It is my very great honor to be chosen as coordinator of the Medina County TXGenWeb site. No mere words are adequate to thank Margaret Meyer Simpson
for her years of dedicated work gathering all the information presented here. God bless, Margaret, and thank you! ~ Donna Schulte Loth

A few words of caution:
The above search includes pages in this web site. Linked sites will not be included. Also, the census records are exact transcriptions and census takers frequently misspelled names. Looking through the alphabetical indices will allow you to see names that are similar.
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Click button below	Bethlehem Lutheran Church Records Quihi 1852-1902 Scanned from what appears to be a carbon copy of Richard & Martha Balzen's 1976 text.	Castro Colonist's Land Grants Includes links to scanned copies of the Texas Government Land Office files containing original certificates for Castro Colony Land Grants

	Ships & Passenger Lists Chronological list of ships carrying early immigrants to Medina County, TX, including those arranged by Henry Castro with links to transcriptions & copies of the original passenger list where available (printing a copy of a scanned original page for your personal use is permitted.)	Early Immigrants (1842-1860) 543 families from Alsace, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, France (ex Alsace), Germany and Switzerland (includes Castro colonists) updated Jan 2014


	Medina County Message Board Queries (searchable) provided by RootsWeb & Ancestry.com	Texas Union Soldier Schedule (Census of Union soldiers living in Medina County in 1890)

	Registry Personal Genealogy Sites related to Medina County (If you'd like to have your site included, e-mail Margaret Meyer Simpson, County Coordinator.)	Texas Gold Star Mothers and Widows Mothers & widows were invited to attend a pilgrimage to Europe in 1930-1933 to visit the graves of their loved ones.


	What's New! updated Jan 2014	Naturalization Records (Compiled by the WPA) A - E F - K L - R S - Z

	Connect with Medina County researchers on Facebook!	Newspaper Archives (from the Castroville Public Library)


	Early Automobiles Registered in Medina County Jul 2012	Medina County Military Veterans 31st Militia Brigade, Texas State Troops A - M N - Z Jul 2012

	Index to War Activities of Medina County 1917 - 1919 A - M N - Z Jul 2012	Medina County WWII Veterans A - M N - Z Jul 2012
If you have any information that can be shared with fellow researchers or any questions, please e-mail Donna Schulte Loth,County Coordinator. Thanks to everyone who contributed data & photos; without you there would be no TXGenWeb for Medina County. Web site design by Margaret Meyer Simpson copyright 2003-2013

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visitors since January 1, 2003