Who Bee County is Named For

County established, named

Texas joined the United States in 1845, and in 1858, Bee County was created by the Texas Legislature and named in honor of Col. Barnard E. Bee, who served as President Sam Houston’s secretary of war and as President Mirabeau B. Lamar’s secretary of state during the days of the Texas Republic. The first county officials were elected on Jan. 25, 1858, and the Commissioners Court met for the first time on Feb. 10. The selection of the county seat was a hot issue, and was evidently settled in an April election when a 150-acre site on Medio Creek, about seven miles east of present-day Beeville, won out over two other offers of land. However, the Medio Creek location proved unsatisfactory and, in another election, held in February 1859, the residents voted to find a more central location. The county court then accepted the offer of 150 acres from the Carrolls and her son, Patrick Burke Jr., and Beeville-on-the-Poesta became the new county seat.

https://www.beeville.net/historicalsites/00%20-%20BRIEF%20HISTORY%20OF%20BEE%20COUNTY.htm