 French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle is believed to have crossed the county on his way westward from Victoria County; and while La Bahia was a common route, no evidence of any settlements exist before the Anglo homesteaders.In 1825, empresario Green DeWitt received a grant from the Coahuila y Tejas legislature to settle 400 families.Between 1826 and 1831 settlers arrived from Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, and other Southern states.