Votaw

Votaw, also known as Votaw Branch, was a mile west of the site of present Karon fourteen miles northeast of George West in east central Live Oak County. In 1857 Elijah Votaw received a grant of 320 acres from the adjutant general of Texas for service in the battle of San Jacinto. A community developed in the vicinity after the Civil War. The first Votaw school was located near the old Lebanon church and cemetery at Gamble Gully. The Salt Branch school in nearby Bee County was later used by some Votaw residents. In 1896 an old building from the Oakville area was refurbished and moved to Votaw for use as a school building. It was enlarged twice, and a second teacher was hired, but in 1915 a fire consumed the building. A new school was built, and by 1935 it was enlarged to accommodate a third teacher. The building doubled as a community center and church building for visiting Baptist, Methodist, and Pentecostal preachers. The school was eventually consolidated with the Oakville Independent School District, which the George West Independent School District annexed in 1943. Cotton was the only cash crop produced through the 1920s in the area; in 1923 a gin was built in Karon. A gristmill also operated at this time. The community has never been shown on state highway maps.