Dolphin Ward Floyd, a native of North Carolina, left his home in 1825 and arrived in Gonzales, Texas, about 1832. He married Esther Berry House and they had two children. In February 1836, Floyd, along with 31 other Gonzales residents, answered Lt. Col. William B. Travis' call for help at the Alamo in San Antonio. During the battle that ensued, Floyd and his comrades were killed fighting for Texas' independence from Mexico. When this county was created by the Texas legislature in 1876, it was named in his honor.