Freestone County, Texas

Freestone County, Texas
The Freestone County Courthouse in Fairfield
Location in the U.S. state of Texas
Texas's location in the U.S.
Founded	1851
Seat	Fairfield
Largest city	Teague
Area
• Total	892 sq mi (2,310 km2)
• Land	878 sq mi (2,274 km2)
• Water	14 sq mi (36 km2), 1.6%
Population
• (2010)	19,816
• Density	23/sq mi (9/km²)
Congressional district	17th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.co.freestone.tx.us

Freestone County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,816. Its county seat is Fairfield. The county was created in 1850 and organized the next year.

The farming Kichai band of the Caddoan Mississippian culture dates as far back as 200 BCE in the area. The Hernando de Soto expedition of 1541 resulted in violent encounters. Spanish and French missionaries brought smallpox, measles, malaria, and influenza epidemics against which the Caddo had no immunity. Eventually, the Caddo were forced to reservations.

The Tawakoni branch of Wichita Indians originated north of Texas, but migrated south into east Texas. From 1843 onward, the Tawakoni were part of treaties made by both the Republic of Texas and the United States. Tawakoni were also sometimes known as Tehuacana.

In 1826, empresario David G. Burnet received a grant from the Coahuila y Tejas legislature to settle 300 families. By contracting how many families each grantee could settle, the government sought to have some control over colonization.

The threat of Indian hostilities kept most from homesteading in Freestone County until the Treaty of Bird's Fort. Within three years of the treaty, colonization, primarily from Southern states, had been so successful that the counties surrounding Freestone had already been organized. In 1850 the Texas legislature formed Freestone County from Limestone County. Freestone is a descriptive name referring to the quality of the soil. The county was organized in 1851. Fairfield became the county seat. Of the county's total 1860 population of 6,881, more than half (3,613) were slaves.