Tyler County, Texas

Tyler County Education, Geography, and History

Tyler County is a county located in the state of Texas. Based on the 2010 census, its population was 21,766. Its seat is Woodville. Tyler County is named for John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States.

Etymology - Origin of Tyler County Name

John Tyler, the tenth president of the United States

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Tyler County History

Tyler County is a county located in the US state of Texas. Its seat is Woodville. Tyler County is named for John Tyler, the tenth President of the United States.

Despite its name, Tyler County does not contain the city of Tyler, Texas; the latter is located approximately 140 miles to the north in Smith County.

Handbook of Texas Online
The area of Tyler County was for centuries occupied by agricultural Caddoan, and possibly Atakapan, Indians. White settlers there in the early nineteenth century encountered both Caddoan-related Cherokees uprooted from the east and groups of Alabama and Coushatta Indians, recent migrants from Louisiana. In 1809 there were hundreds of Alabama Indians living on the west bank of the Neches River, three leagues above the junction of the Neches and Angelina rivers. At Peach Tree Village in Tyler County, their principal Texas settlement, the Alabamas kept cattle, horses, and hogs and cultivated corn, potatoes, beans, and yams. The Cherokees were eventually driven from the state by order of Mirabeau B. Lamar, but the Alabamas and Coushattas cooperated with Sam Houston and others friendly to their cause and have survived as one of only two Indian groups living on their own reservations in Texas. The Alabama-Coushatta Reservation is just across the western Tyler County line in Polk County. The settlement by whites of what was to become Tyler County began before the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836. Three Americans received land grants there from Mexican authorities in 1834, and thirty-four more men and one woman, Jane Taylor, received grants during 1835. The area was originally organized in 1842 under the name of Menard District, "for judicial and other purposes," from a part of Liberty County. Tyler County was officially established by the Texas legislature on April 3, 1846, and was named in honor of President John Tyler. In 1842 Town Bluff, one of two early settlements, became the temporary county seat. In 1845 a permanent location was chosen. This was the site of the present county seat, Woodville, on 200 acres of land donated by Dr. Josiah Wheat in the forks of Turkey Creek. Woodville was named in honor of George T. Wood, who introduced the bill to establish the county and was the second governor of the state of Texas. The other early settlement, Fort Teran, on the Neches River where it crossed the Old Spanish Trail from Nacogdoches to Liberty, was established as a result of Anastasio Bustamante's Law of April 6, 1830 and its policies of restrictions on immigration. More at
Megan Biesele, "TYLER COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hct10), accessed January 24, 2016. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 936 square miles (2,423 km²), of which, 923 square miles (2,390 km²) of it is land and 13 square miles (33 km²) of it (1.37%) is water.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Angelina County (north)
• Jasper County (east)
• Hardin County (south)
• Polk County (west)

Education

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