Rockwall County, Texas Genealogy

United States

Texas

Rockwall County

Guide to Rockwall County Texas ancestry, family history, and genealogy research page. Birth records, marriage records, death records, census records, family history, and military records.

Rockwall County, Texas
Map
Location in the state of Texas
Location of Texas in the U.S.
Facts
Founded	1 March, 1873
County Seat	Rockwall
Courthouse
Address	Rockwall County Courthouse 1101 Ridge Road Ste 101 Rockwall, TX 75087
Adopt-a-wiki page This page adopted by: TXGenWeb Project who welcome you to contribute. Adopt a page today

County Information

Rockwall County, Texas Record Dates

Known Beginning Dates for Major County Records
Birth*	Marriage	Death*	Court	Land	Probate	Census
1875	1875	1875	1875	1873	1877	1829
Statewide registration for births and deaths began in 1903. General compliance by the 1930s.

County Courthouse

Rockwall County Courthouse
1101 Ridge Road Ste 101
Rockwall, TX 75087
Phone: 972.882.0240 

County Clerk has birth, marriage, and death records from 1875,
land records from 1890, probate records from 1877 and court records

County Clerk

1111 E. Yellowjacket Ln. Ste. 100
Rockwall 75087
Phone: 972-204-6300
Fax: 972-204-6319

District Clerk

1111 E. Yellowjacket Ln. Ste. 200
Rockwall 75087
Phone: 972-204-6500
Fax: 972-204-6509

History

1846-- Settlement by Anglo-Americans commenced in 1846.

Parent County

1873--Rockwall County was created 1 March 1873 from Kaufman County.

• County seat: Rockwall

Record Loss

1875 - Courthouse and most, if not all, county records were destroyed by fire in March 1875.

1892 - Rockwall County Courthouse caught fire on January 27, 1892.  All records were saved. 

Places / Localities

Town/city records in the FamilySearch Catalog

• Royse City

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
Blackland Dallas‡ Fate Heath‡	McLendon-Chisholm Mobile City Rockwall (county seat)	Rowlett‡ Royse City‡ Wylie‡

‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

Neighboring Counties

Collin  • Dallas  • Hunt  • Kaufman

Resources

Cemeteries

Cemetery records often reveal birth, marriage, death, relationship, military, and religious information.

Tombstone Transcriptions Online	Tombstone Transcriptions in Print	List of Cemeteries in the county
FindAGrave	Family History Library	FindAGrave
Linkpendium	WorldCat	Tombstone Project
BillionGraves (name)		Cemeteries of TX
GenWeb Archives		Texas Cemeteries
BillionGraves		TX Gravestones
TXGenWeb		Epodunk
Names in Stone
See Texas Cemeteries for more information.

Church

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death/burial date and place. For general information about Texas denominations, view the Texas Church Records wiki page.

Land

After land was transferred to private ownership, subsequent transactions, including deeds and mortgages, have been recorded by the county. You can obtain copies of these land records by writing to the county clerk at the county courthouse. For more information, see Texas Land and Property.

The FamilySearch Catalog lists microfilm copies of deeds, trust deeds, and mortgages of many counties.

Local Histories

Local histories are available for Rockwall County, Texas Genealogy. County histories may include biographies, church, school and government history, and military information. For more information about local histories, see the wiki page section Texas Local Histories.

Maps

Click a neighboring county
for more resources

• Texas Counties Map. Click on the county to go to the TXGenWeb site

Military

• 1838 - 1900 - Texas Muster Roll Index Cards 1838-1900 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Mexican-American War

• 1845 - 1848 - US American Volunteer Soldiers Mexican War 1845-1848 at Ancestry.com — index $

Civil War

• 1861 - 1865 - Texas, Civil War Service Records of Confederate Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index
• 1861 - 1865 - Texas, Civil War Records of Union Soldiers, 1861-1865 at FamilySearch — index

World War I

• 1917 - 1920 - Texas, World War I Records, 1917-1920 at FamilySearch — index and images

Newspapers

Additional newspapers abstracts can sometimes be found using search phrases such as Rockwall County, Texas Genealogy newspapers in online catalogs like:

TX Newspaper Abstracts (For instructions see WorldCat Online Catalog).

• Census Diggins 1830-1930
• Do a Rockwall County, Texas Genealogy Place-name search for these and other records in the FamilySearch Catalog (For instructions see FamilySearch Catalog Place-name Search).

Probate

Probate records of Texas have been kept by the probate clerk in each county courthouse. You can obtain copies of the records from the clerk's office. In most counties, all information pertaining to a probate case is recorded in the "probate minutes."

Content: Probate Records may give the decedent's date of death, names of his or her spouse, children, parents, siblings, in-laws, neighbors, associates, relatives, and their places of residence.

Record types: Wills, estates, guardianships, naturalizations, marriage, adoption, and birth and death records.

See the Wiki page Texas Probate Records for information about how to use probate records.

Online Probate Records

• 1800 – 1990 Texas Probate Records 1800-1990 at FamilySearch — images
• 1800 – 2000 Texas Wills and Probate Records 1800-2000 at Ancestry.com — index and images $

Taxation

Texas tax records complement land records and can be used in place of censuses or to supplement the years between censuses. Because only persons who owned taxable property were listed, many residents were not included in tax lists. There may also be gaps of several years in the tax records of some counties. For more information, see the wiki page Texas Taxation.

1846-1910 Texas County Tax Rolls lists FHL films with county tax lists. The lists vary by county and year. Most records are between the years of 1846 - 1910.

Vital Records

Vital Records consist of births, adoptions, marriages, divorces, and deaths recorded on registers, certificates, and documents.

Certified birth and death certificates or birth and death verifications can be ordered online or by mail at the Texas Vital Records State Department of Health. Copies can also be obtained from the County Clerk's office of the county where the event occurred and are often less expensive. You can also order them online through a third party company.

Marriages records can be obtained from the county the marriage occurred. Only marriage verifications can be obtained from the Texas Vital Records State Department of Health.

See Texas Vital Records for more information about Vital records in Texas.

Birth

Online Birth Indexes and Records

• 1840-1981 Texas, Births and Christenings, 1840-1981 - FamilySearch
  
• 1903-1935 Texas, Birth Certificates, 1903-1935 (images and index) - FamilySearch
  
• 1903-1997 Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997  (index)-  FamilySearch
  

Marriage

Online Marriage Indexes and Records

• 1802-2010 Texas, United States Marriages at FindMyPast — index $
• 1814-1909 and 1966 - 2011 Texas Marriage Collection 1814-1909 and 1966-2011 at Ancestry.com — index $
• 1837-1965 Texas, County Marriage Records, 1837-1965 at FamilySearch — index and images
• 1837-1973 Texas, Marriages, 1837-1973 at FamilySearch — index
• 1837-1977 Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977 at FamilySearch — index
• 1837-1977 Texas Select County Marriage Index 1837-1977 at Ancestry.com — index $
• 1966-2010 Texas, Marriages, 1966-2010   -  FamilySearch record collection

Death

Online Death Indexes and Records

• 1890-1976 Texas Death Records 1890 – 1976 [with images]
  Name index and images of statewide death certificates, 1890-1976. The name index has been created by Family Search and is tied to images of the Texas death certificates. Few certificates are available prior to 1903.
• 1903-1973 Texas Deaths and Burials 1903-1973 at FamilySearch.org — index
• 1903-1982 Texas Death Certificates 1903-1982 at Ancestry.com — index and images $
• 1964-1998 Texas Death Index 1964 to 1998 [no images] Name index to Texas Statewide Death Certificates or four million people who have died since 1964.
• 1977-1986 Texas Deaths 1977-1986 at FamilySearch.org — index

Divorce

• 1968-2005 Texas Divorce Records  1968 - 2005  (index)  -  Hidden Ancestors
• 1968-2010 Texas Divorce Index 1968-2010 at FamilySearch.org — index
• 1968-2011 Texas Divorces 1968-2011 at Ancestry.com — index $

Societies and Libraries

Rockwall County Genealogical Society
PO Box 471
Rockwall 75087

Rockwall County Historical Foundation
PO Box 916
Rockwall, Texas 75087
this is a paid membership site

Family History Centers

Family History Centers provide one-on-one assistance and free access to premium genealogical websites. In addition, many centers have free how-to genealogy classes.

• For current information about a center near you, go to the Family History Center Map

• Rockwall Texas Family History Center (Heath)
  

Websites

• Rockwall County TXGenWeb
• TXGenWeb project. May have maps, name indexes, history or other information for this county. Select the county.
• FamilySearch Catalog — The catalog is genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) This catalog is different than the indexed Historical Records.

Family History Library