Collingsworth County
Wellington, Collingsworth County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Formed from Young and Bexar territories; Created August 21, 1876; Organized November 4, 1890; Named in Honor of James Collinsworth 1806-1838; the first Chief Justice of the Republic of Texas; Signer of the Declaration of Independence at the Battle of San Jacinto; Secretary of State in Burnet's cabinet; Wellington, The County Seat.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Collingsworth County was carved from the sprawling Young and Bexar territories in 1876 and formally organized in 1890 with Wellington as its seat. It honors James Collinsworth, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, a soldier at San Jacinto, secretary of state under President Burnet, and the Republic's first chief justice. The county thus links the far Texas Panhandle to the founding figures of the Republic.
Why it matters
It shows how the settlement of the late-19th-century Panhandle carried the names and memory of the Republic's founders onto the map.
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Related people
- · James Collinsworth
Related events
- · Battle of San Jacinto
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Methodism in Collingsworth
Welllington, TX
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, most Collingsworth County communities were small settlements clustered around area ranches, and Methodist congregations sprang up among them under circuit-riding ministers. Worshipers gathered wherever they could—private homes, dugouts, schoolhouses, brush arbors, and shared Union churches. Over time the smaller groups disbanded and folded into larger ones, until by 1984 all had affiliated with the Wellington church.
First Methodist Church of Wellington
Wellington, TX
Organized in 1890 by the Rev. J. H. Linderman and a handful of charter members, this Wellington congregation took root in a raw Panhandle county where the first worship services shared a small wooden building that also served as the first courthouse. The faithful met in a schoolhouse through the 1890s until their first sanctuary was finished in 1899, replaced by a larger one in 1913 as the congregation grew. By 1984 it stood as the only Methodist church in the county.
Rocking Chair "Ranche" (1883-1893)
Collingsworth County, TX
The Rocking Chair Ranch was a grand experiment in absentee ownership: financed by the Scottish Earls of Aberdeen and Tweedmouth, it ran from 1883 to 1893 out of a headquarters called Aberdeen. Beginning with nearly 15,000 cattle, it turned a profit for a few years before faltering, and the town of Wellington was named at the owners' wish to honor a kinsman who died as an aide to the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo. W. E. Hughes bought the land in 1893, folding it into the Mill Iron Ranch before it was eventually broken into farms and smaller ranches.
Capt. Randolph Marcy's Exploration Route through Collingsworth County
Wellington, TX
In 1852 Capt. Randolph B. Marcy led a U.S. survey expedition up the Red River to chart its channel and tributaries, accompanied by Capt. George B. McClellan of the Corps of Engineers. Entering the Texas Panhandle in June, the team crossed present Collingsworth County in July, tracing the river's sources before leaving Texas for Fort Arbuckle in what is now Oklahoma.