It is documented primarily through U.S. Post Office records and the Texas Almanac as a historical town that no longer exists as an active or incorporated place. No evidence of a formal “settlement” with multiple documented founders, a school, church, cemetery, or sustained community appears in county histories, the Handbook of Texas, San Jacinto County Historical Commission materials, or other standard sources. It was likely a small cluster of homesteads, a store, or a crossroads stop that existed briefly in the early 1880s amid the county’s timber boom and post-Civil War agricultural expansion.
Post Office and Timeline
The only concrete historical marker for Clermont is its U.S. Post Office, established on September 7, 1882, with Lafayette Mason appointed as the sole postmaster. The office operated for less than one year and was discontinued on August 6, 1883, with all mail redirected to the nearby town of Shepherd. No other postmasters or re-establishments are recorded.
This pattern was common for tiny East Texas communities during the 1880s railroad and logging era. Many sprang up around a store or mill and faded quickly when they failed to grow. Clermont is listed in the Texas Almanac as a defunct town in San Jacinto County with no current post office, no incorporation, and no ongoing existence.
Location and Coordinates
No exact historical coordinates, plat maps, or modern GPS markers for Clermont were located in available sources (including historical atlases, county maps, or gazetteers). Because the post office’s mail was routed to Shepherd after discontinuation, Clermont was almost certainly in the vicinity of Shepherd in southeastern San Jacinto County, near early roads or timber trails.
Approximate regional context:
San Jacinto County’s geographic center is at roughly 30°41′ N, 95°00′ W. Shepherd (the nearest documented town) sits at approximately 30.393° N, 95.000° W. Clermont was likely within a few miles of Shepherd, possibly along what are now Farm-to-Market roads in the heavily forested area between Coldspring (the county seat) and Shepherd.
The county was (and remains) part of the East Texas Timberlands, with settlement driven by pine forests, small farms, and later railroads. No specific landmark, historical marker, or surviving structures tied to Clermont are documented.
Early Founders, Families, and Biographies
Virtually nothing is known publicly about specific founders or families beyond the single postmaster. Extensive searches across post-office records, county histories, genealogy sites, census references, and local historical commission materials turned up no additional names, land grants, biographies, or family genealogies explicitly linked to Clermont.
Lafayette Mason (postmaster, 1882–1883):
The only named individual associated with the place. No biographical details, census entries, obituaries, land records, or family information tied specifically to him and Clermont appear in searchable historical sources. He may have operated a store or farm that hosted the post office, but nothing further is documented. Many short-lived post offices were run by local merchants or farmers; Mason fits that profile but left no traceable public record in connection with the settlement.
In short, Clermont appears to have been one of dozens of ephemeral post-office communities that never developed into a documented town with known pioneer biographies. Local archives (San Jacinto County Clerk’s office in Coldspring or the San Jacinto County Historical Commission) might hold unpublished tax rolls, deeds, or oral histories that could name additional residents, but no such details are available in public online or published records.
Summary of What Is KnownExistence:
Confirmed only as a brief 1882–1883 post office near Shepherd.
Scale: Tiny and short-lived; discontinued after ~11 months.
Historical significance: None beyond illustrating the transient nature of rural East Texas settlements during the timber/logging expansion.
Surviving traces: None visible today—no marker, cemetery, school ruins, or named roads tied to it in standard references.
If you have access to local San Jacinto County records, microfilm census data from 1880/1900, or family lore connecting specific surnames to the area, more could potentially be uncovered. Otherwise, this represents essentially everything documented in publicly available historical sources about the Clermont Settlement.
