Texas Culpepper Archives
Brewster County

County History and Geography

Located in the Trans-Pecos region of West Texas, Brewster County, was formed in 1836 as an original Texas county. It is the the largest county in Texas and the site of Big Bend National Park, the largest park in the state. Alpine, the county seat and largest town in the county, is on US-90, about 220 miles southeast of El Paso. Brewster is bordered by the counties of Presidio, Jeff Davis, Pecos and Terrell, plus the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila.

A burgeoning cattle industry got a major boost in 1882, when the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway built through the area. Suddenly the gradual influx of cattlemen became a veritable flood, as a number of surveyors who had come with the railroad, and the Texas Rangers who had been assigned to protect them, elected to stay.

Initially, at least, ranchers generally settled in the northern part of what is now Brewster County, for ease of shipping their cattle via the railroad; the Gage Ranch and the G4 Ranch, started in the mid-to-early 1880s, were the first major cattle operations in what is now southern Brewster County, and Gage soon moved north to be nearer the railhead. Several towns sprang up along the rails, the most significant of which were Alpine, then called Murphyville, and Marathon.

Source: Southeastern Genealogy Online.

Any names below in red have not been matched with a person in the Culpepper family tree. If you can identify any of them, please let us know.

Census Records

No Culpeppers were found in any any Brewster County census prior to 1930.

Brewster Co., TX - 1930

Transcribed from Ancestry.com images by Kelly Culpepper.

Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997

Source: Ancestry.com. Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005. Original data: Texas. Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997. Microfiche. Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas.

Military Records

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918

Source: National Archives and Records Administration. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-18 [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2002. National Archives and Records Administration. World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918. M1509, 4,277 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration

U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

Source: National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005. Original data: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database]; World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.

Marriages

Texas Marriage Collection, 1814-1909 and 1966-2002

Source: Ancestry.com. Texas Marriage Collection, 1814-1909 and 1966-2002 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005. Original data: Texas Department of State Health Services. Texas Marriage Collection, 1814-1909 and 1966-2002. Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas.

Land Title Abstracts

Source: Texas General Land Office, Texas Land Title Abstracts [database online] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000. Original data: Abstracts of all original Texas Land Titles comprising Grants and Locations. Austin, Texas: , 19--.

Deaths

Texas Death Index, 1903-2000

Source:  Texas Department of Health. Texas Death Index, 1903-2000. [database on-line] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2006. Original electronic data from: Texas Department of Health. Texas Death Indexes, 1903-2000. Austin, TX. Texas Department of Health. State Vital Statistics Unit.

Social Security Death Index

Source: Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index [database on-line]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2006. All records of deaths on or before 31 Dec 2005 in which the final benefit was paid or final residence was in this county.