Ochiltree County
Perryton, Ochiltree County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Formed from Young & Bexar territories: Created, August 21, 1876 Organized, February 21, 1889 Named in honor of William Beck Ochiltree, 1811-1867, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of Texas, 1842, Secretary of the Treasury, 1844, the last Attorney General of the Republic of Texas, member of the Texas Legislature, 1855; delegate to the Secession Convention of 1861, colonel in the Confederate army. County Seat Ochiltree, 1889 Perryton, since 1920. (1936)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Ochiltree County, in the Texas Panhandle, was carved from Young and Bexar territories, created in 1876 and formally organized in 1889. It honors William Beck Ochiltree (1811–1867), a Texas Supreme Court justice, treasury secretary, and the last attorney general of the Republic of Texas who later served in the legislature, backed secession in 1861, and became a Confederate colonel. The county seat moved from Ochiltree to Perryton in 1920.
Why it matters
The county's naming ties the settlement of the high plains to the Republic-of-Texas and Confederate careers of one of the state's founding-era statesmen, linking frontier expansion to Texas's turbulent political origins.
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Related people
- · William Beck Ochiltree
Related events
- · Secession Convention of 1861
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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