Groups seek Llano County family histories and photos
This old photo was placed on the Remember in Llano Facebook page in the hopes that the people in it can be identified as part of a joint effort by the Llano County Historical Society and the Family History Center of Buchanan Dam. Courtesy photo
The Llano County Historical Society and the Family History Center of Buchanan Dam are asking Llano County residents to share their memories and photos as part of a history and genealogy project.
Starting in April 2021, members of those two organizations will be interviewing residents who have lived in the county for at least 10 years. In addition, they are requesting that residents bring them their old photos, family albums, and genealogy books with identifications to be digitized for an archive.
The Family History Center is located at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 1675 RR 261 in Buchanan Dam.
“It’s time to clean out their attics,” said Family History Center Director Kris Richins, who is leading a group of 10 volunteers to help get the interviews. “We realize we’re missing a lot of people, and we want to share their stories.”
These stories and interviews will help build a better, and more personal, picture of Llano County’s history.
If people can’t make it to the Llano County Historical Museum or the Family History Center, volunteers will go to them.
Richins’ daughter, Cristele Richins-Severson, will be handling the video and audio recordings and is seeking volunteers to help. Volunteers will be taught how to interview people and edit audio and video. Call the museum at 325-247-3026 and leave a message for her.
The genealogy project took root after a woman purchased a bunch of old photos at a yard sale and dropped them off at the Family History Center. Richins scanned and posted the photos on the Remember in Llano and Remember in Kingsland Texas Facebook pages to see if anyone could identify the people in them. She learned the photos were of members of the Stribling family.
While family histories might seem irrelevant to some, Richins countered that lessons from the past are still important today.
“Sharing stories of (a family’s) rich history and suffering and what they went through makes it easier to face the challenges of today,” she said.
Richins-Severson noted another reason to pay attention to history.
“History will repeat itself,” she said. “You’ll be able to make stronger and better decisions and have a sense of belonging because, as much as people deny it, everyone has family.”
Richins and her team are in the process of digitizing 4,000 photos belonging to the historical society. Once digitized, they’ll post the photos online and on the two Facebook pages so identifications can be made.
Even though the project isn’t slated to begin until April, organizers ask residents to start going through their photos and family albums now.
Call the museum at 325-247-3026 or email Richins at buttons922@gmail.com to schedule an interview or for more information.
1 thought on “Groups seek Llano County family histories and photos”
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I believe Hudson Long was related to the Stribling family if my memory is good.
He and Martha were involved in writing a book about people of LLano County.
She is in Assisted Living in Midland/Odessa. She could probably answer a
lot of questions. Their daughter Patricia comes to the ranch often.
My suggestion is to see if they could contact her, she knows so much about
the history of LLano County.