For well over one hundred years, the Tarver Abstract Company has provided real property title information to the citizens of Liberty County. Thomas Carey Tarver (1846-1925), a native of Tennessee, moved to Texas as a young boy. He served in the Confederate States Army before moving to Houston in 1875 where he worked in a number of different businesses, including a messenger for Wells Fargo and a clerk for the Houston & Central Texas Railway. In 1903, Tarver purchased a ten-year-old abstract business from B.F. Cameron and W.J. Swilley in Liberty and changed the name from Cameron and Swilley Abstract Company to T.C. Tarver Abstract Company. The company originally provided abstracts of title and over the years transitioned to title insurance policies, a regulated product issued by licensed title insurance companies. Abstract and title companies are an essential element of the local economy by providing stability in land ownership. The business operated out of the courthouse until 1919 when it moved to the local masonic building until 1950. For the next forty years, the business moved several times, finally settling at this location in 1992 and developing into one of the anchors of the downtown business district. Although ownership of the company has changed through the years, Tarver Abstract Company continues to provide an important service and remains a large contributor in the development of liberty county.