Because it is different. Texas is the only state in the union that was a individual country of it's own and had been governed by five other countries before it became a state-- Therefore, TEXAS is both a state of the union and a state of mind!

First we have to remember that Texas was a Spanish Colony and not an English Colony. This means that when researching early Texas before 1836, the records were either Mexican or Spanish. The first "Legal Angelo Americans" to immigrate to Texas were Stephen F Austin's original 300 families. This group's move to Texas is documented in many excellent books with the colonists names listed. Almost any large library should have one or more of these reference books either in the genealogy section or the history sections.

These original legal settlers were required to swear an oath to Spain, renounce any allegiance to the United States and join the Catholic Church. Catholic Church records and early court documents for Mexico can be instrumental in your research if your ancestors arrived before 1836.

Texas won it's independence from Mexico in 1836. The Texas Revolution is well chronicaled with it's defeats such as the Alamo, Bohnam and it's victories San Jancinto. The coverage of our revolution helps the genealogists in ways that are unavailable to those researching in other states. Texicans are by nature monument builders and we love to inscribe the names of our fallen heroes on these monuments. You can obtain the names of those who fought at the Alamo, died with Bohnam, charged across that grass field at San Jacinto and a dozen other battles from a number of different places.

1) The Daughters of the Republic of Texas - an organization that is compromised of the descendants of the people that lived in the Republic of Texas

2) The Texas State Historical Dept. Located in Austin

Also available to Early Researchers is the 1840 Republic of Texas Census. Now I should point that the modern borders of Texas were not set until 1845 when we became a state and renounced our claim to vast sections of the west including New Mexico, Colorado and other states.

When Texas joined the US we voted for annexation and in some cases those voting records are still available through the county courthouse's or state records department.

Early Land deeds are available on line all you have to do is punch in the surname and the search engine will go through the available records. HOWEVER, all records are not available yet.

There were of course 1850 and 1860 Federal census of Texas, you can search these at most of the larger libraries and the nearest National Archives office.

IN 1861 Texas seceded along with the rest of the South. If you live near a large library there are numerous books that list the soldiers that fought for the South. Because of our (At that time) frontier location few battles were fought in Texas and our County courthouses were not destroyed like they were in many Southern States during the War of Northern Aggression.. You can get the address's for the various court houses at Keyword: Roots, then Vital Records.

In 1870 Texas was readmitted to the union and The more conventional methods kick in. But, even after 1870 there are a few oddities you need to keep in mind when researching Texas. Texas was on the frontier and many of our settlers changed their names to avoid problems with the law, debts and ex-wives. A lot of small and not so small towns sprang up and died out during the Cattle Boom and Oil Booms between 1870 and 1920.

Until about the late 1950's, when you were talking about "Texan's Genealogy" it usually meant Southern States Genealogy. For instance when I was growing up in the 1930's and 1940's, 90% of Houston's population was made up of people born locally, those from East Texas and those from Louisiana. Almost all of those group's ancestors came from Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia. I think Nellie's and my families are representative of that fact as shown in the Family History Table below.

The early cities of Texas were San Antonio, Galveston, and Nacogdoches. You might consider contacting their Historical or Genealogical societies. Most of our counties and large cities have excellent Genealogy Societies that can help you immensely.