Pioneer History: A Monthly Supplement of Kerrville Times ([Kerrville, Tex.]), Vol. 1, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 1, 1933 Page: 4 of 4
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PIONEER HISTORY
■gainst Indians and Mex-
ps. For years this road
|y soldiers going- from San
the forts out west,
remember when a boy
the soldiers travel along
horseback
way to Fort
Pitt, Fort Terrett, and other
Ifexas posts. This road was so
Ip to 1880 or later.
Fs in wagons, on
* foot on their wa
Hero’s Chair
parly Kerr County
Institutions
KerrsvilT? t'
Pedernales. The rev!
M. Starkey, H. M. Burifl
Harbour, J. P. Stroope an..
Pafford. (frees were blazed oneae
side of the road).
^ The first road laid off in Kerr
County was from Kerrsville to
Brownsboro via. Comfort (Browns-
boro was a settlement on the Guada-
Jupe river below Comfort in which
Bi'own’s predominated). In four
years, from 1856 to 1860, the road
business ha,s enlarged to take care
* traveling to nearby towns, mills,
arts and settlements.
Johnston’s Government Road
No road, so far as we have been
able to discover, has up to this time
been laid out up the river from
Kerrville, There must however have
been a government road up John-
ston Creek, a branch of the Guada-
lupe river, from the early fifties. Al-
bert Sidney Johnston, who lost his
life in the Civil War, was a Texan
by adoption and saw service in the
B. S. Army during the years preced-
ing .the Civil AVar. Johnston is cred-
ited with having laid out a govern-
ment road via. Kerrville and up
Jon os ton Creek, which creek was
ji tiis honor. Forts were
g- out over west Texas for
rpace in this issue does not permit
Eving the history of other Kerr
•ounty buildings movements such as
he early schools, churches and re-
creations, but in later issues of the
Pioneer Supplement, we plan to do
this. The early pioneers believed in
Almighty. God and although in a
crude, rough country made provi-
sion for the worship side of life, in
log cabins, under brush arbors, the
settlers assembled to hear the pio-
neer preacher exhort them to a life
of righteousness.
Alonzo Rees, deceased, stated dur-
ing his life that the first brush ar-
bor used for preaching services in
Kerr County was near the mouth of
Cherry Creek in the southern part
of the county.
Schools also began to be taught
soon after the settlement of Kerr
County. William E. Pafford .taught
the first school of the county in'
Kerrville in the old log* court house.
The early commissioners’ courts
began to take notice of the schools,
making provision for the schooling
of indigent children, etc.
Sidney B. Rees, who taught school
near Center Point, W. E. Pafford
and others began early the business
of training the youth, that has link-
ed on down to the present splendid
public school system.
Each county was awarded by the
State school lands which were sold
or leased for the benefit of the
ture to write the history of the pub-
lic schools of the county from earl-
iest times on down, and we invite
the aid of all who may know some-
thing about this history. Would like
also to get all possible information
about the early churches and other
institutions of the pioneers.
11
The articles, in this picture were
property of David Crockett, one
of the greate.it-heroes of Texas
independence. The chair is 125
years old, and was brought to
Texas from Tennessee on the side
of a covered wagon by Colonel
Crockett’s widow. It is now the
property of his granddaughter,
Mrs. T. H. Hiner, of Grandbury.
The fork and teapot were ac-
quired by Colonel Crockett while
he represented West Tennessee
in Congress in 1832. The missing
prong of the fork was removed
and used^ as an awl for making
shoes during the Civil war.
Buy Pioneer Supplement
It is considerable trouble and ex-
pense to get' out the Pioneer Sup-
plement each month, but we believe
that it will accomplish good in its
line. We have received communica-
tions from historical societies and in-
dividuals from in the State and out
of the State, which seem to appreci-
ate it very much.
Several local readers state that
they are filing the monthly issues
of the Pioneer Supplement because
of the valuable history it contains.
If you believe it is a good thing, buy
copies to keep or send to your
friends. It will cost you 5 cents
per copy.
You can buy the Pioneer History
Supplement direct from the Kerr-
ville Times, or from the Musuem
Club of Junior High School. Fifty
per cent of the Museum Club sales
go to that organization for the pro-
motion of the Kerr County Museum.
made by Brown to the County of
Kerr went to record on October IS,
1856, making a donation of the pub-
lic square four lots and. the streets
of the town of Kerrsville.
Tradition says that it had been
proposed to name the new county
Brown, after Joshua D. Brown; but
Brown refused the honor and sug-
gested Kerr, the first American set-
tler on the Guadalupe River, as a
namesake (Brown and Kerr had
been friends at Gonzales), and it was
so ordered by the Legislature act
which created Kerr County. The
name passed also to the county site.
At first the county seat was spelled
“Kerrsville” and so appears for sev-
eral years in the county records. In
later years the “s” was dropped, and
thereafter the county seat name be-
came “Kerrville.”
-— -o-o-
David Crockett (speaking of Van
Buren): “He set out with this rule
—never to choose sides ’til he found
out which was which; and if he
happened to make a mistake, it was
nothing to nobody; and things soon
got straight. He never was wrong
in any dispute, if either side was
right; that is, he was always right
unless both sides was wrong.”
The Location and Naming !
of Kerrville
county’s schools. Kerr County’s
school lands were located in Brown
County. We are planning in the fu-
On May 20, 1856, the second day
of the first session of the Commis-
sioners’ Court (held at the George
Ridley farm, opposite the present
site of Center Point), Joshua D.
Brown appeared before the commis-
sioners and submitted a proposition
for the location of the county site,
on Survey No. 116. This site had
been selected by vote at the first
Kerr County election on March 22,
1856. The commissioners and Brown
came to an agreement and the deed
| JOIN THE . . .
I PIONEERS OF
* KERR COUNTY!
An organization of
♦♦♦ of 1885 or prior to that date
* and their descendants. ♦>
*
f J. J. STARKEY, *
X President,
* A. B. WILLIAMSON, *
* Vice-President, ❖
X BERT C. PARSONS, ±.
Secretary-Treasurer. X
*> ♦:*
cL
•ril
llllllllllllllillllllllillllllllllilllE
kBoost the Kerr County Museum Collection
AMD HELP BUILD A MUH NEEDED INSTI TUTI0N
HAVE been collected by the MUSEUM CLUB OF THE
ANKLIN JUNIOR SCHOOL CLUB, UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF MRS. R. A. FRANKLIN.
%
WHY THIS^HO™^^ GR°WN FR°M A SMALL NUCLEUS AND THERE IS NO REASON
J J IStI?kEYABECS<St°F RIST0RIC VALUE SEND IT IN TO MRS. R. A. FRANKLIN,
J. J. STARKEY, B. C. PARSONS, OR LEAVE IT WITH THE ARCADIA THEATRE.
PLAY YTTHr apm'tIh" .PART, °F ™E MUSEUM CLUB’S COLLECTION ARE NOW ON DIS-
TO TIME ARCADIA’ AND ADDITIONS TO THE COLLECTION WILL BE MADE FROM TIME
COUNTY AN^nT^wrtmlfn^ MEM0RY 0F THE DEEDS OF THE PIONEERS OF KERR
COUNTY AND OUR SECTION OF THE STATE. A MUSEUM WILL HELP DO THAT!
The following business firms of Kerrville are aligned in the movement for a Kerr County Museum:
Chas. Schreiner Bank St. Charles Hotel
First State Bank Pampers
Chas. Schreiner Company Kerrville Iqvkstorage Co.
Rock Drug Store Kerrville Drug Companv
R. J. Castillo, Merchant Acadia Theatre
Henry Lewis, Jeweler Texas^ower & Light Co.
Garrett Insurance Agency
Kerrville Telephone Company
Blue Bonnet Drug Store
Blue Bonnet Hotel
Henke Brothers
Peterson’s Garage
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Pioneer History: A Monthly Supplement of Kerrville Times ([Kerrville, Tex.]), Vol. 1, No. 3, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 1, 1933, newspaper, March 1, 1933; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth839683/m1/4/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .