La Vernia, Texas

La Vernia is a city in Wilson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,034 in the 2010 census. It is part of the San Antonio Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

The area known as present-day La Vernia was first inhabited by indigenous American Indians of the Coahuiltecan speaking peoples of Texas and subsequently by nomadic bands of Apache and Comanche who migrated to Texas in the 17th century. One of the earliest land grants made was to Erastus "Deaf" Smith, also known as Deaf Smith. Deaf Smith married Guadalupe Ruiz Durán, a Mexican citizen who was descended from one of the original Tejano or Spanish Texas families; and as such, received a land grant from the Mexican government on the Cibolo River, north of present-day La Vernia in 1825. This area remained primarily unsettled by Europeans until 1837, when veterans from the recent wars of Independence from Mexico began to arrive.

W. R. Wiseman of Mississippi, who organized a Presbyterian church at the site around 1851, is said to have named the place Live Oak Grove. Although, in 1853 William Claiborne Rector was the postmaster at the local post office and during this time the town was still called Post Oak.