Texas Secretary of State voter registration lists, 1867-1870
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The Texas Secretary of State voter registration lists compiled between 1867 and 1870 include qualified voters within each county who would be eligible to vote in the state’s Constitutional Convention.
Hill County, Texas Secretary of State voter registration lists. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Ledger entries are grouped by county, and the names are listed chronologically in the order individuals presented themselves for registration. The register entry may include the following information:
- Name
- Place of residence
- Precinct
- Length of residence (in state, in county, in precinct)
- Native country or state
- If naturalized, how, when, and where
- General Remarks — black voters are indicated in the remarks column as "colored" or "col."
This group of ledgers represents the only comprehensive listing of eligible voters in the state held by the Texas State Archives. Routine voter registration is a county function, and such registration lists may also be found at the county level.
The Texas Secretary of State voter registration lists have been digitized from reference microfilm copies, which are available online from the following sources:
Texas Digital Archive (TDA)
Images from the digitized microfilm are available on the TDA 
and organized by county of registration. Please note, the counties are not arranged in strict alphabetical order and some counties may be found on multiple reels.
The microfilm reel numbers needed to access county voter registrations on the TDA are listed below and in the online finding aid . Once you enter the records for a specific reel, you can use the search page to filter by name, birthplace, residence, and registration county.
There is no subscription or login needed to access digitized records through the TDA.
Ancestry.com and Ancestry Library Edition
Digitized records are also available through the Ancestry database "Texas, U.S., Voter Registration Lists, 1867-1869". The records may include a few registrations from 1870 and later. If you or your local library has access to one of these resources, you may search, view, and print entries from that site. Free access to Ancestry.com Texas is available to Texas residents.
The original volumes have been microfilmed and we have reference copies of these reels available to access on-site in our Reference reading room or to borrow through Interlibrary Loan (ILL). Ask your local library for more details about the ILL program. Find Texas libraries near you using our Find a Library tool.
A listing of the counties found on each microfilm reel can be found below. Please note that counties are not arranged in a strict alphabetical order and some counties may be found on multiple reels. Should you wish to request the film through the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) program, please contact your local library for assistance.
County | Reels digitized on the TDA | Reels available at TSLAC |
|---|---|---|
Anderson, Angelina, Atascosa, Austin, Bandera, Bastrop, Bee, Bell | 976.4 V941 REEL 01 | |
Bexar, Blanco, Bosque, Bowie, Brazoria, Brazos, Brown, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Calhoun, Cameron | 976.4 V941 REEL 02 | |
Chambers, Cherokee, Collin, Colorado, Comal, Comanche, Cooke, Coryell, Dallas, Davis (pgs. 312-339) Note: for Cass County, see Davis County | 976.4 V941 REEL 03 | |
Davis (pgs. 312-351), Denton, DeWitt, Ellis, El Paso, Falls, Erath, Fannin, Fayette | 976.4 V941 REEL 04 | |
Fort Bend, Freestone, Galveston, Gillespie, Goliad, Gonzales, Grayson | 976.4 V941 REEL 05 | |
Grimes, Guadalupe, Hamilton, Hardin, Harris, Harrison | 976.4 V941 REEL 06 | |
Hays, Henderson, Hidalgo, Hill, Hood, Hopkins, Houston, Hunt, Jack (page 393 marked "Jack County and Young"), Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Karnes, Kaufman, Kerr | 976.4 V941 REEL 07 | |
Kendall, Kinney, Lamar, Lampasas, Lavaca, Leon, Liberty, Limestone, Live Oak, Llano, Madison, Marion, Mason, Matagorda | 976.4 V941 REEL 08 | |
Maverick, McLennan, Medina, Milam, Montague, Montgomery, Nacogdoches, Newton, Navarro, Nueces, Orange, Duval, Palo Pinto, Panola, Parker | 976.4 V941 REEL 09 | |
Polk, Refugio, Red River, Robertson, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Patricio, San Saba, Shelby | 976.4 V941 REEL 10 | |
Smith, Starr, Trinity, Tyler, Tarrant, Titus, Travis, Upshur, Van Zandt | 976.4 V941 REEL 11 | |
Victoria, Walker, Washington, Webb, Wharton, Williamson, Wilson, Wise, Wood, Zapata | 976.4 V941 REEL 12 |
We recommend using the online access options described above, which are fully indexed and allow name searches. Researchers may still be interested in two published indexes to this collection:
- An Index to the 1867 Voters' Registration of Texas, compiled by Donaly E. Brice and John C. Barron, was published on CD-ROM in 2000.
- A published index specific to Bexar County is also available. 1867-1869 Registration of Voters, Bexar County, Texas, compiled by Jean Halden Walker, was published in the 1970's by Daughters of the American Revolution, Alamo Chapter.
If you're unable to visit us in person, your local library may submit an ILL request on your behalf to borrow these titles.
Although we are unable to provide photocopies of records from this collection, patrons are welcome to print or save images from the digitized records available online or on microfilm.