Seguin

Seguin, the county seat of Guadalupe County, is on Interstate Highway 10 and the Guadalupe River, thirty-five miles northeast of San Antonio in the central part of the county. The land is suited for agriculture and ranching and is rich in oil and minerals. The Guadalupe River, the San Marcos River, and two major creeks, Cibolo and Geronimo, flow through the region. Archeological finds in the vicinity include the remains of mammoths east of Seguin and numerous Indian campsites along the Guadalupe River and various creeks in Guadalupe County. The first recorded evidence of exploration in the Seguin region was in 1718, when Martín de Alarcón, governor of the province of Texas, founded San Antonio de Béxar Presidio and San Antonio de Valero Mission in San Antonio and conducted several explorations north and east of San Antonio. Eventually Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo settlements were founded in the area that would become Seguin, where Tonkawa Indians had lived, and by 1833 there were forty land titles in the region. One of the most notable settlements was the ranch of José Antonio Navarro, three miles north of Seguin at a site now on State Highway 123. The next record of settlement in the Seguin region dates from 1831, when Umphries (or Humphries) Branch was awarded a league of land on the northeast bank of the Guadalupe, thirty-eight miles above Gonzales. In 1833 Branch and his family built a cabin, said to be the first Anglo residence on the site of what is now Seguin. The location chosen was in the western part of what had been Green Dewitt's colony, where Gonzales was the main town. Branch was assisted by his father-in-law, John Sowell. On August 12, 1838, thirty-three of the Gonzales Rangers, a volunteer group, joined Joseph S. Martin in laying out a townsite near Walnut Branch; they named the site Walnut Springs. The name was changed in February 1839 to Seguin for Juan N. Seguín.

Adapted from the official Handbook of Texas, a state encyclopedia developed by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). It is an authoritative source of trusted historical records.