Upshur County, Texas: History
Humans have inhabited what is now Upshur County since at least 10,000 years ago. The Caddoan people lived in this area, but were driven out about 1750, probably due to losses from new infectious diseases carried chronically by Europeans.
Later, some Cherokee migrated to the area from their territories in the Southeast – Georgia and Alabama. The Cherokee were driven out of here by European-American settlers in 1839, after having been removed from the Southeast.
The first European-American settler in Upshur County was probably Isaac Moody, who settled there in 1836. Upshur County was named for Abel Parker Upshur, secretary of state under John Tyler.
Upshur County has the distinction of being the county that has the largest settlement in Texas organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1904, the Latter-day Saint Southwestern States Mission organized a colony at Kelsey, Texas.
In 1919, Chilton Jennings, a 28-year-old African-American man, was lynched in Gilmer’s town square by a mob of about 1,000 White residents.
On March 21, 2022, Upshur County was hit by an EF-2 tornado, with winds reported as high as 135 mph. Extensive damage was reported, but no fatalities. This tornado was a part of the tornado outbreak of March 21–23, 2022.