Establishment The Texas State legislature officially established Ellis County on December 20,1849 when it passed a bill sponsored by Gen. Edward H. Tarrant. It was drawn from Navarro County and is named for Richard Ellis, president of the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1836. County Seat Waxahachie was named the county seat and established on land donated by E. W. Rogers in August, 1850. William Hawkins was the first chief justice (county judge). Judge Oran Milo Roberts presided over the first term of the Ellis County district court during the fall of 1850. General Demographic Characteristics for Ellis County Texas, 2010 United States Census Bureau: Total population 149,610 Total area of 952 square miles, of which, 940 square miles of it is land and 12 square miles is water