LAVACA COUNTY DEED B/207

Lavaca County Deed B/207 Hallettsville July – December 1852 

A pivotal event in the development of Hallettsville took place in June thru October of 1852. June 14, 1852 was selected as the Election Day for the county residents to select a permanent county seat. Only two towns made a bid for the site – Petersburg, the current county seat, and Hallettsville. 

On June 21, 1852, Margaret P. Hallet and Collatinus and Mary Jane (Hallet) Ballard deeded to John H. Livergood, County Judge of Lavaca County, 274 acres of land more or less on the east bank of the Lavaca River which included the town site of Hallettsville. This deed stated that the property was given to the county in consideration of the County Seat for the County of Lavaca being permanently located by the voters of said County of Lavaca in the town of Hallettsville as evidence by an election on the 14th June 1852. 

Hallet and the Ballards had a vested interest in making sure that the county seat would be located in Hallettsville and their land donation, they hoped, would seal the deal. The deed was filed for record on the 21st of October 1852. 

Reserved from the deed were the following properties: 

•Lots 1, 2, 4 & 7 in Block 5 entered in the name ofA.G. Foster
•Lots 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5 in Block 1 entered in the name ofA.G. Foster 

• Lots 2 & 3 in Fractional Block 2 entered in the name of A.G. Foster
• Block 3 in the name of A.W. Hicks
• The street between Blocks 2 & 3 in the name of A.W. Hicks 

• Lot 7 in Block 10 entered in the name of J. Dowling
• One tract of 80 varas square for the family school house 

• One tract of 80 varas square to the Methodist society for a meeting house 

After this deed transaction, the entire town tract of Hallettsville now belonged to the Lavaca County except for the property that had been previously sold or reserved by Margaret Hallet or Collatinus Ballard. 

In August of 1852, Lavaca county residents, William and Cynthia Smothers, also in consideration of the County Seat for the County of Lavaca being permanently located by the voters of said County of Lavaca in the town of Hallettsville, deed to Joshua E. Martin, County Judge of Lavaca County, 100 acres of land, in a square form that adjoined the tract of said C.K. Ham on the east. 

*Lavaca County Deed B/207 *Lavaca County Deed B/241