Sabine County, Texas

Sabine County, an original Texas county, is located in far East Texas on the Louisiana border, surrounded by Shelby County to the north, the Sabine River and Louisiana to the east, Newton County to the south, Jasper County to the southwest, and San Augustine County to the west. Hemphill, the county seat is about 170 miles northeast of Houston.

Cities, Towns & Communities

Bayou | Brookland | Bronson | East Mayfield | Fairdale | Fairmount | Geneva | Gravehill | Hemphill – county seat | Isla | Milam | Pendleton | Pineland | Plainview | Rosevine | Sabinetown | Sexton | Tebo | Time | Vesta | Yellowpine

History

On December 14, 1837, Sabine County was organized and its boundaries defined. John Boyd represented the county at the First and Second congresses of the Republic of Texas, and Matthew Parker was appointed the first chief justice. The county boundaries have remained unchanged since its establishment; however, when the area was known as the Municipality of Sabine, it encompassed parts of present-day San Augustine, Jasper, and Newton counties. Milam was the original county seat, but as early as 1850 settlers began to petition the government for a more centrally located county seat. On November 11, 1858, after a survey found Milam to be six and three-quarter miles from the center of the county, another election was held, and a majority again voted for relocation and … that the county seat be located at the center of the county. The new town was named Hemphill.

Sabine County’s population grew from 1,021 in 1847 to 2,498 in 1850, of which 1,556 were Anglo-Americans and 942 were African-American slaves. The population was 2,750 in 1860. During the Civil War the county was the scene of a Confederate supply trail along which cattle were driven to Natchez, Mississippi. Public schools were established as early as 1854. Milam Masonic Institute opened in 1854 under the direction of Bertrand McClosky and operated until 1859. Sabine Baptist College opened in Milam in 1858 but closed during the war. It reopened in 1868 under the direction of W. C. Maund and was closed permanently in 1870. Sabine Valley University was established in 1876 in Hemphill. It was sponsored by Mount Zion Baptist and Bethlehem Baptist associations. By 1890 there were fifty-one rural community schools in the county.

County Histories

Sabine County, Texas, 1987, by Robert Cecil McDaniel.

Sabine County Historical Sketches and Genealogical Records, 1972, by Edna McDaniel White and Blanche Findley Toole.

Location

Hemphill, TX 31° 20′ 26.664″ N, 93° 50′ 48.6672″ W

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