The Family Historian

Mary Alice Dell

 

 

 

 

Number one family history library –Boerne Texas!

 

My husband and I are not only genealogists, but RVers.  Before settling in Boerne in 1994, we traveled “full-time” pulling our 35 ft. condo-on-wheels along with us.  That is when we began our genealogical journey, going to places, mostly east of the Mississippi, where most of our ancestral lines lived after arriving in early Virginia, Pennsylvania, or New England. We still travel several months a year pulling our newer and slightly smaller rolling home behind us. 

 

During our travels, we have visited nearly 250 different genealogical libraries, archives, and court houses, many of them several times.   We found that genealogical libraries vary in size and scope, from the great Family History Library in Salt Lake City to county libraries with only 6 or 7 books on a shelf.    

 

We also discovered that one of the best libraries in the country for researchers looking for local family history is right here in Boerne at our own public library!  No, that is not just home-town prejudice.  Here are the reasons we feel that way:

 

First, a great deal of information about the early settlers of Boerne and their descendants has been extracted from county records and is available in books.   Or it has been published in the Keys to the Past, which the Genealogical Society of Kendall County has produced on a quarterly or semi-annual basis for the past 26 years.  Included in these books and journals are such things as early marriages, midwife reports, probate records, cemetery records, land records, and the 1880 to1890 tax records as well as family histories.   The minutes of Commissioners Court from 1862 to1900 have been reprinted into four books and have an accompanying every name index.  Among other items of interest in those books are early naturalization records. 

 

Second, the History/Genealogy library has one of the best collections of files we have seen about local families.  These Family Files, or Vertical Files as some libraries call them, obtain information about family members often donated by descendants who have provided copies, or in some cases original documents, such as marriage certificates, deeds, wills, photos, pedigree charts etc.  Obituaries have come from many sources, one of the major ones being through the efforts of the members of the Boerne Area Historical Preservation Society who faithfully clip them weekly from the local newspapers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These family files have been indexed into a Family File index that contains nearly every name that appears in the folders.  The files are cross-indexed so if you are looking for the Bergmann family, you not only would find information in the folders titled Bergmann, but information about Bergmann family members in the folders of other families with whom they interacted.. 

 

Website has Local Family History

 

This Family File index can be found on the Boerne Public Library website. To see if your family has a file, go to the right hand side of the Library’s opening web page, and click on the History/Genealogy link. . Then, click on the Genealogy Society link. On the GSKC site, you will see a box in which you can insert your family name.  This searches all the data bases that Cathy Swartz, the web master of the Kendall County GenWeb site, has placed on the Internet and will provide links to all data bases in which the surname is listed. 

 

The Family File index is not in alphabetical order, so the easiest way to search for your family name on it is to use the Find utility which is located on the drop down menu under Edit on the Tool Bar at the top of the page. By inserting the family name in the box, you will be taken to every reference in the data base.

 

The results of your initial data base search may provide a link to the Building Files if your early ancestor once owned a home in Boerne.  This is not an index, but actual information that can be found in that file in the library, such as the early history of the house and in most cases a picture.  If your family member was buried in Kendall County, you will be directed to the Kendall County Cemetery data base which will give directions to the cemetery and often to the grave. There is even more, so check it out.

 

And last, but not least the History/Genealogy Library has a great collection of First Family books.  There are currently 57 books honoring the Founders and Early Settlers of Kendall County.  In each book are documents, photos, and other information about these early residents and their descendants. 

 

 

Four New First Families to Be Honored

 

GSKC began the First Family project in 1999 and since that time has awarded 170 certificates to 90 early families.  This year, Regina Adam and Mary Taylor, co-chairman of the First Family Committee, will present ten certificates on behalf of the Genealogical Society to descendants of four additional families.

 

Founders are those persons who were living in Kendall County when it was formed in 1862. Arlan Joseph Bergmann and Betsy Bergmann Sueltenfuss will receive Founder certificates honoring their ancestors, Christian Friedrich Bergmann and Johanna Dressler Bergmann.

 

 

Christian Friedrich Bergmann, his wife Johanna Dressler, and their three sons traveled from Germany to Texas on the ship Mina Blumenthal.  This journey is described in a letter published in a recent Keys to the Past.  Christian and Johanna farmed and ranched near the Guadalupe River close to Bergheim. Christian’s name is on the list of 1862 taxpayers establishing his early residency.

 

Also receiving a certificate for a Founder will be C. Clifford Wendler for his ancestor Henry August Wendler.  Henry was born in Bielefeld, Germany. His birth and baptism are noted on the passport document of his parents.  He helped to settle Boerne and was a signer of the 1859 petition to create Kendall County.  He was a master cabinet maker and built his shop, home, and other business places on Main Street. Henry and his wife, Pauline Luckenbach, had seven children. 

 

Early Settler certificates, awarded for an ancestor who arrived in Kendall County prior to 1900, will also be awarded to Mr. Wendler honoring Pauline Luckenbach Wendler and .

her parents, Albert Jacob Luckenbach and Justina Ruebsam Luckenbach.

 

The Luckenbachs were married in Stein, Nassau, Germany and came to Texas on the ship Johann Dethardt with their two small children.   Jacob signed the petition to create Gillespie County, and in 1883 they sold their Luckenbach property and moved to Boerne. They had twelve children. 

 

Dorothy Vollbrecht Reinhard will receive Early Settler certificates for Louis P. Vollbrecht and Bertha Luckenbach Vollbrecht.  Louis was born in Texas, the son of Ludwig and Carolina Graul. He married Bertha, the daughter of Jacob and Justina Ruebsam Luckenbach in Gillespie County. Once a freight driver, he later owned a tin shop on Main Street in Boerne. He built tin roofs and tanks and sold household items in the shop.  The Vollbrechts had four children.

 

Come join us at the Boerne Public Library at 10 a.m. on October 6 for the award ceremony and to congratulate the recipients.  And while you are there, look over the great research facilities in the History/Genealogy room of the Library. 

 

Published in the Boerne Star & Recorder Sept 18, 2007 and reprinted here with their permission.