County Origins
Rains County Was Named for a Man Who Refused to Join the Confederacy
The county and its seat are both named for Emory Rains, an early Texas lawmaker who wrote the state's first homestead protection law.
Rains County was created on June 9, 1870, carved mostly from Wood County. It was named for Emory Rains, who came to Texas in 1817 and later served as a senator in the Congress of the Republic of Texas. His most lasting act was sponsoring Texas's first homestead law in 1839. That law protected a family's home from being seized by creditors — an idea that still shapes Texas property law today.
When Texas seceded from the Union, Rains refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy or take part in the Civil War. He settled in what became the county and died there in 1878. The town of Springville was chosen as the county seat and renamed Emory in his honor. The county's early economy ran on cotton farming. A railroad arrived around 1880, and brick manufacturing using local clay was a significant industry in the early 1900s. Lake Fork and Lake Tawakoni now cover more than 10% of the county's land area.
Source to confirm: Handbook of Texas – Rains County