Cameron County, Texas Genealogy

United States

Texas

Cameron County

Guide to Cameron County, Texas ancestry, genealogy and family history, birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Texas Online Genealogy Records

County Facts County seat: Brownsville Organized: September 11, 1848 Parent County(s): Nueces Neighboring Counties Hidalgo • Willacy • Tamaulipas (Mexico) See County Maps Courthouse Location Map

County Information

Description

The county was named for Captain Ewen Cameron, a soldier during the Texas Revolution and in the ill-fated Mier Expedition. The county is located in the south-central area of the state.

County Courthouse

Cameron County Courthouse
1100 E Monroe St
Brownsville, TX 78520
Phone: 866-544-0830
Cameron County Website

County Clerk has birth, death and military records from 1848, marriage records from 1800, land records from 1845, probate records from 1850 and court records from 1964.

Cameron County, Texas Record Dates

Information for this chart was taken from various sources, often containing conflicting dates. This information should be taken as a guide and should be verified by contacting the county and/or the state government agency.

Known Beginning Dates for Government County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1848	1800	1848	1964	1845	1850	1829
*Statewide registration for births and deaths began in 1903. General compliance by the 1930s.

Record Loss

There is no known history of courthouse disasters in this county.

Boundary Changes

Parent County(s): Created from Nueces County on 12 February 1848, organized 11 Sep 1848 County Seat: Brownsville Texas Individual County Chronologies - Newberry Library list of all boundary changes by county Texas Historical Borders - Map at Newberry Library Atlas of Historical County Boundaries; Also at: mapofus.org - animated maps illustrating Texas county boundary changes

Populated Places

For a complete list of populated places, including small neighborhoods and suburbs, visit Hometown Locator. The following are the most historically and genealogically relevant populated places in this county:

Cities
Brownsville (county seat) Harlingen La Feria	Los Fresnos Palm Valley Port Isabel	Rio Hondo San Benito
Towns
Bayview Combes Indian Lake	Laguna Vista Los Indios Primera	Rancho Viejo Santa Rosa South Padre Island
Villages
Boca Chica Village	Rangerville
Unincorporated communities
Arroyo City
Census-designated places
Arroyo Colorado Estates Arroyo Gardens Bixby Bluetown Cameron Park Chula Vista Del Mar Heights El Camino Angosto Encantada-Ranchito-El Calaboz Grand Acres Green Valley Farms	Iglesia Antigua Juarez La Feria North La Paloma La Tina Ranch Lago Laguna Heights Las Palmas II Lasana Laureles Lozano Olmito	Orason Ratamosa Reid Hope King San Pedro Santa Maria Solis South Point Tierra Bonita Villa del Sol Villa Pancho Yznaga
Ghost towns
Santa Rita

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemeteries of Cameron County, Texas online and in print
Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Find a Grave Cameron County TX Tombstone Transcription Project BillionGraves Cemeteries of TX USGenWeb Archives TXGenWeb Project Interment.net
Tombstone Transcriptions in Print (Often more complete)	FamilySearch Library WorldCat
List of Cemeteries in the County	Find a Grave FamilySearch Places
See Texas Cemeteries for more information.

Census Records

• 1850-1930 USGenWeb Census Project — Texas 1850 - 1930

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1850	8,541		—
1860	6,028		−29.4%
1870	10,999		82.5%
1880	14,959		36.0%
1890	14,424		−3.6%
1900	16,095		11.6%
1910	27,158		68.7%
1920	36,662		35.0%
1930	77,540		111.5%
1940	83,202		7.3%
1950	125,170		50.4%
1960	151,098		20.7%
1970	140,368		−7.1%
1980	209,680		49.4%
1990	260,120		24.1%
2000	335,227		28.9%
2010	406,220		21.2%
Source: "Wikipedia.org".

Church Records

• See Texas Church Records for more information.

• Christian Church Directory for Texas at ChurchFinder
• Catholic Parishes in Texas

List of Churches and Church Parishes

• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places
  

Directories

• 1970-2024 United States, Residence Database, 1970-2024 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; index, coverage may vary

Funeral Homes

Darling-Mouser Funeral Home in Brownsville Delta Funeral Directors in Brownsville Funeraria del Angel Buena Vista & Buena Vista Burial Park in Brownsville Garza Memorial Funeral Home in Brownsville Los Fresnos Funeral Home in Los Fresnos Salinas Funeral Homes in Brownsville Sunset Memorial Funeral Home & Crematory in Brownsville Treviño Funeral Homes Treviño Southmost in Brownsville Trinity Funeral Homes in Harlingen

Land and Property Records

• See Texas Land and Property for more information.
• Cameron County Genealogy University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Library Archives, Genealogy Research.
• Full-Text Search - Land Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Cameron County and may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information.

• See Texas Local Histories for more information.

• Texas Indexes (about 20 counties) at EveryNameIndex.com — Select the county

Maps and Gazetteers

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Texas Land Survey Maps for Cameron County (land patent maps) at HistoryGeo.com ($). Free surname search.
• Texas Counties Map. Click on the county to go to the TXGenWeb site
• FamilySearch Places: Map of cities and towns in this county - How to Use FS Places

Military Records

• Cameron County Military Resources at Cameron County, TXGenWeb

Mexican-American War

• 1845-1848 US American Volunteer Soldiers Mexican War 1845-1848 at Ancestry — index ($)

Civil War

• 1861-1865 Texas, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images at partner site
• 1861-1865 Texas, Civil War Service Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images at partner site
• 1838-1900 Texas Muster Roll Index Cards 1838-1900 at Ancestry — index & images ($)

Civil War Battle
The following Civil War battle was fought in Cameron County.

• May 12-13, 1865 - Palmito Ranch, also known as Palmito Hill.
• Battles of the American Civil War maps - filter by state or by battle name.

World War I

• 1917-1920 Texas, World War I Records, 1917-1920 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images

Naturalization and Citizenship

• 1906-1989 Texas Naturalization Records, 1906-1989 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images

Newspapers

• w3newspapers - Texas Newspaper Index with links
• Newslink - Texas Newspaper List (sorted by publication frequency)
• The Olden Times - Historic Texas News Online
• Texas Digital Newspaper Program at The Portal to Texas History
• 1800s-Current Texas, U.S., Newspapers.com™ Stories and Events Index, 1800's-Current at Ancestry — index & images ($)

Obituaries

• USGenWeb Archives Obituary Project at Texas

• Obituary Daily Times at Citations to over 15,000,000 obituaries (Ancestry)

Probate Records

Probate records of Texas counties were kept by the probate clerk, usually in "probate minutes."

• See Texas Probate Records for more information.

• 1800-1990 Texas Probate Records, 1800-1990 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Images only
• 1800-2000 Texas Wills and Probate Records 1800-2000 at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• Search Tax, Criminal, Land and Wills Records Ancestry ($)
• Texas Land Title Abstracts at Ancestry ($)
• Full-Text Search - Wills and Probate Records at FamilySearch - index & images; dates, records, and places vary; How to Search

Social Security Records

• 1935-2014 United States Social Security Death Index at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index. Also at Ancestry, findmypast, Fold3, GenealogyBank, MyHeritage, and Steve Morse. Click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 at Ancestry — index ($) click here for more information.
• 1936-2007 United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; index

Tax Records

• See Texas Taxation for more information.

• 1846-1910 Texas, County Tax Rolls 1846-1910 at Findmypast — index & images ($)

Vital Records

Vital Records of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths were recorded on registers, certificates, and documents. Copies can be obtained from the County Clerk's office, or order certified copies online or by mail at the Texas Vital Records State Department of Health. See Texas Vital Records for more information.

Birth

• 1840-1981 Texas Births and Christenings, 1840-1981 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index
• 1903-1935 Texas Birth Certificates, 1903-1935 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1903-1997 Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index; Key to Texas County Codes; Also at: Ancestry ($)
• 1926-1995 Birth Records of Cameron County 1926-1995 from the USGenWeb archives
• 1926-1995 Texas Births, 1926-1995 at MyHeritage — index ($)

Marriage

• 1802-2010 Texas, United States Marriages at Findmypast — index ($)
• 1814-2011 Texas Marriage Collection 1814-1909 and 1966-2011 at Ancestry — index ($)
• 1823-1965 Texas, U.S., Select County Marriage Records at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• 1837-1965 Texas Marriages, 1837-1965 at MyHeritage — index & images ($)
• 1837-1965 Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1837-1965 Texas, U.S., Select County Marriage Records, 1837-1965 at Ancestry — index ($)
• 1837-1973 Texas Marriages, 1837-1973 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index
• 1837-1977 Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1837-1977 Texas Select County Marriage Index 1837-1977 at Ancestry — index ($)
• 1966-2010 Texas Marriages, 1966-2010 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index
• 1966-2016 Texas Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage — index ($)

Death

• 1890-1976 Texas Deaths, 1890-1976 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images
• 1903-1973 Texas Deaths and Burials, 1903-1973 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index
• 1903-1982 Texas Death Certificates 1903-1982 at Ancestry — index & images ($)
• 1964-1998 Texas Death Index, 1964-1998 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index
• 1968-2011 Texas Divorces 1968-2011 at Ancestry — index ($)
• 1977-1986 Texas Deaths, 1977-1986 at FamilySearch — How to Use this Collection; Index and images

Divorce

• 1966-2016 Texas Marriages and Divorces at MyHeritage — index ($)
• 1968-2001 Divorce Records of Cameron County 1968-2001 from the USGenWeb archives
• 1968-2011 Texas Divorces 1968-2011 at Ancestry — index ($)

Research Facilities

FamilySearch Centers

FamilySearch Center and Affiliate Library Locator map - search for local FamilySearch Centers or Affiliate Libraries

• FamilySearch Centers provide one-on-one assistance, free access to center-only databases, and to premium genealogical websites.
• FamilySearch Affiliate Libraries have access to most center-only databases, but may not always have full services normally provided by a FamilySearch center.
  

Local Centers and Affiliate Libraries

• Brownsville Texas FamilySearch Center
• Harlingen Texas FamilySearch Center
• Matamoros Mexico FamilySearch Center

Libraries

Caprock Public Library
104 N 1st St
Quitaque, TX 79255
Phone: 806-455-1225
Website

Websites

• Cameron County Genealogy Trails
• Cameron TX GenWeb, part of TXGenWeb
• Cameron WSGWArchives part of USGWArchive Texas Counties
• Frontier Times Magazine
• Historic Texas
• FamilySearch Catalog – The FamilySearch catalog contains descriptions and access information for all genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) in their collection.  Use Historical Records to search for specific individuals in genealogical records.

This table contains the dates the local or state government began recording in the county or county equivalent. Use substitute records for earlier dates. If you believe there is an error, email us at wikisupport@familysearch.org.

County boundary maps are currently unavailable. Download information instead.

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Users should verify which locations and dates are included in this collection.

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“Current” indicates records are available as recently as privacy laws allow. This date can change from year to year. To determine the exact dates available, contact the respective organization/repository.