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Courthouse, Webb County, TXGenWeb — County Courthouse about 1900

Webb is the largest county in south Texas and 6th in size statewide. Webb County was created in 1848 from the Bexar district and was cut in half (north to south) in 1856 to create Encinal County. Encinal was never formally organized and the land returned to Webb's jurisdiction. Smaller pieces of Webb County were used to create pieces of Dimmit, LaSalle and Zapata counties in 1858. Be sure to check those counties for records if your family disappeared from Webb.

The county seat is Laredo, which began as a rudimentary settlement, Villa de San Agustin de Laredo, in 1755, became the capital of the short-lived Republic of the Rio Grande (1840) and is now the largest inland port on the Mexican border. Laredo is over 95% Hispanic and is one of the least diverse cities in the country. It's the third largest city on the Mexican border after San Diego and El Paso with about 260,000 people. Across the river is our much larger sister-city, Nuevo Laredo, with almost 400,000 more people. Keep in mind that families freely crossed the border until about World War II.

Laredo City Hall, Webb County, TXGenWeb — Laredo City Hall

Resources

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Off-Site

Webb Archives

Other TXGenWeb Counties

Portal to Texas History

Query Board

Publications

Books

The Trail Drivers of Texas; by Hunter, J. Marvin (John Marvin), 1880-1957; Saunders, George W. (George Washington), 1854-1933; Old Time Trail Drivers' Association; Publication date 1925; Publisher Nashville, Tenn.: Cokesbury Press, 1925; Language English; Call number 976.4 H945; Pages: 1072
Historic Laredo, An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb County; by Maria Eugenia Guerra; Historical Publishing Network; San Antonio, 2001.
Early Texas Birth Records (1833-1878); by Alice Duggan Gracy, Jane Sumner, Emma Gene Gentry

Newspapers

Blitz, Fort McIntosh, 1942-194?
Daily Gate City, Laredo, 1888-????
El Correo de Laredo, Laredo, 1891-????, Spanish
El Democrata Fronterizo, 1896-1920, Spanish
El Diputado, Laredo, 1882-????, Spanish
El Figaro, Laredo, 1892-????, Spanish
El Horizonte, Corpus Christi, 1879-????, Spanish
El Mutualista, Laredo, 1885-????, Spanish
El Progreso, Laredo, 191?-????, Spanish
Evolucion, Laredo, 1916-????, Spanish
Gunner's Target, Laredo, 1944-1945
La Colonia mexicana, Laredo, 1885-????, Spanish
La Cronica, Laredo, 1909-????, Spanish
Laredo Daily News, Laredo, 1881-????
Laredo Daily Times, Laredo, 1888-1921
Laredo Morning Times, Laredo, 1982-current
Laredo Times, Laredo, 1881-188?
Laredo Times, Laredo, 1921-1926
Laredo Today, Laredo, 1987-current
Laredo Weekly Ledger, Laredo, 1922-19??
Laredo Weekly Times, Laredo, 188?-19??
Laredo Weekly, Laredo, 19??-????
Los Muertos Hablan, Laredo, 19??-????
South Texas people, Laredo, 19??-????
The Borderland of Two Republics, Laredo, 1905-????
The Chaparral, Laredo, 1899-????
The Daily Laredo times, Laredo, 1883-1888
The Laredo Citizen, Laredo, 19??-????
The Laredo Daily Times, Laredo, 1926-192?
The Laredo News, Laredo, 1977-1984
The Laredo Times, Laredo, 192?-1982
The News, Laredo, 1984-????
The South Texas Citizen, Laredo, 1932-19??
The Weekly Laredo Times, Laredo, 188?-188?
Weekly Gate City, Laredo, 1888-????