COUTCHMAN, TEXAS. Coutchman was on Farm Road 489 five miles west of Streetman in northern Freestone County. The site was settled around 1850 and was named for William Coutchman and his family, who owned much land in the area. At one time the town had about 300 residents, two Masonic organizations, a grocery store, a gin, and a school. It also had four churches-one Methodist, two Baptist, and an Assembly of God. A post office was established in 1894 in W. T. Stubbs's grocery store. By 1905 the post office had closed. At one time the community's school had an attendance of more than fifty, but it was eventually consolidated with the Wortham school district. In the 1930s the community had only a few scattered dwellings, and by the late 1980s it was no longer shown on county highway maps. Blues singer and guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson^qv was born in the area and spent some of his youth there.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Freestone County Historical Commission, History of Freestone County, Texas (Fairfield, Texas, 1978).

Chris Cravens