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Birth of Brazos County

by Robin Montgomery

Between 1821 and 1831, Austin Colonists who sought plantation sites on the Brazos in the area of later original Washington County were Elliot McNeil Millican, Richard Carter, James H Evetts, Melvin
Lanham, Lee C. Smith and Mordecai Boone. Due to problems of the Brazos River bisecting Washington County, in January 1841 a new county emerged called Navasota County. Fourteen miles west of the present site of Bryan at the home of Joseph Ferguson the first court convened with Judge R.E.B. Baylor presiding.

The first county seat, located in the northeast portion of later Bryan, received the name of Boonville in honor of Mordecai Boone. Mordecai was a nephew of Daniel Boone, the great Kentuckian. Navasota County lasted only one year. In January 1842, the county assumed the new name of Brazos for the impact of the Brazos River on its affairs. In 1866, the new town of Bryan replaced Boonville as the capital of Brazos County.

A well-kept cemetery marks the site of Old Boonville. Among the graves in the cemetery is that of Harvey Mitchell. Harvey is known as “The Father of Brazos County” for his contribution to the development of the area. Harvey was born in Cornersville, Tennessee in 1821 and came to Texas in 1839.

Among Harvey’s accomplishments, he was a justice of the peace, a surveyor, a blacksmith, a school teacher, the operator of a gristmill and the proprietor of a large array of landholdings. Around his home some two miles southeast of Bryan grew up a community which came to be called Harvey in his honor. Harvey Mitchell is perhaps best known for his pivotal role in the politics surrounding the location of Texas A&M
University in his county of Brazos.

Thank you.


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