Welcome
Armstrong County was formed 21 Aug 1876 from Bexar County but was not organized until 8 Mar 1890. The county seat is Claude. White settlers did not arrive until the 1870's after the Red River War forced the Comanches to Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Charles Goodnight brought 1600 head of cattle to Armstrong County in 1876 and he and his partner, John G Adair eventually owned a ranch of over 1,335,000 acres, encompassing most of Armstrong County and parts of five counties around it. After the railroad came to Armstrong County in 1887, settlers began arriving in earnest. Armstrong County was named for one of the pioneer families in the area but no one is sure which family. As of the 2010 Federal Census, Armstrong County had a population of 1,901 people.About one third of Armstrong is taken up by the Palo Duro Canyon, the second largest canyon system in the United States. The 120 mile long canyon was cut by the Prairie Dog Town Fork of the Red River and is a scenic attraction for hardy visitors who like to hike. The southeastern portion of Palo Duro Canyon State Park is in Armstrong County. The canyon was the home of the legendary J A Ranch and Charles Goodnight.
Off-Site
The Portal to Texas History has two ebooks on their site that may contain information on your ancestors.A Collection of Memories: A History of Armstrong County, 1876-1965 and
A Supplement To A Collection of Memories: A History of Armstrong County, 1876-1965
Both books are completely searchable and the Supplement contains an Index of Family Stories starting on page 11. Thanks to Z Morgan for sharing these links.
Karen Goodin has sent a note about two more books available online at the Portal:
History of Armstrong County, Volumes 1 and 2, and says the local paper, Claude News is also located there.
We need volunteers!
If you have information that can be posted to this site or if you would like to learn to transcribe records, please drop me a note. We accept any historical or genealogical information pertaining to Armstrong County. TXGenWeb is now accepting volunteers for managing county websites.
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Visit the WorldGenWeb Project (not affiliated with USGenWeb®)