Burnet library’s genealogy room holds treasured trove

Burnet native Paula Hasse uncovered buried treasure while working on her family tree. She wasn’t digging in the dirt; she was looking through the genealogy archives in the Herman Brown Free Library in Burnet. 

“I didn’t know my great-grandfather was a county commissioner here,” Hasse said. “Two of his sons were commissioners later on.” 

William Thomas Morris served as a Burnet County commissioner in the mid-1930s. His two sons, Hasse’s great-great-uncles, were elected to the Commissioners Court years later. 

Hasse found that and more in the Burnet library’s Elizabeth Van Gorkom Genealogical Research Room, which underwent a $50,000 upgrade this year to expand its storage capacity and add several community features. 

“All kinds of treasures are tucked away in this library,” Library Director Florence Reeves said. “One of our goals is to take the good foundation we have been given by the keepers of history before us and take it to the next level with the intent of making this the best small-town genealogy center it can be.” 

READ: Meet Burnet library’s new genealogy librarian

Artist Ronda Hostetter turned to the genealogy room when commissioned to do paintings of the Burnet County Courthouse Square as it appeared in the early 1900s for County Court-at-Law Judge Cody Henson. All but the final painting in the series of six are hanging in the conference room of his law office at 205 S. Pierce St. 

“It was absolutely phenomenal what (the library) had to offer,” Hostetter said. “I had no point of reference, so it was the first place I went. They were so patient with me.”

Requests come in daily, many from out of state via email or phone. Author Caroline Alexander called to ask for help finding a quote in the library’s World War II oral histories collection for her book, “Skies of Thunder: The Deadly World War II Mission Over the Roof of the World.” The book was published by Penguin Publishing Group on May 14. 

Chapter 9, “End of the Road,” includes Army Airman Durwood Chester Kincheloe’s recollection of haunted dreams as an air traffic controller at Chanyi Air Base in China’s Yunnan Province. Kincheloe fought in the China-Burma-India Theater. The book is now available for checkout at the Herman Brown Free Library. 

“Those are the kinds of things we are hoping to increase and add to what we have housed here,” said Library Director Reeves. “We need the communities to help fill those gaps with local family history because, while we have a very large collection, it is not exhaustive.”

Another query came from an out-of-state researcher collecting information on famous caves in the United States. Genealogy Librarian Heather Bailey scanned the entire Longhorn Cavern file and emailed it to him. 

The library’s Texana collection of out-of-print, hard-to-find books from the Depression era is housed in the genealogy room. 

“It’s not just genealogy; it’s local history, and beyond local, it’s history,” Bailey said. “There’s a lot more happening in this room than family research. You don’t have to want to learn more about your family to come in and read the files.”

Hasse quickly moved from her family tree to studying Burnet County history, which makes her invaluable as a helper in the genealogy room. For almost three years now, she has been volunteering, helping organize and digitize archives. 

“I’m going through folders and finding this information or that information, and it leads me to other things,” she said. “I get to know people, I get to know the history. I always get excited when I find something new.” 

Hasse is secretary of the Burnet County Genealogical Society, a volunteer group that helps the library with its more vague research requests. She has also volunteered at Fort Croghan Museum and Grounds in Burnet. 

The library staff encourages people gathering family histories to donate copies of their final products to the library.

“What we are trying to do is build our Texas and local history aspect of this collection with the understanding that not everyone living in Burnet has their roots in Burnet or their roots in Texas,” Reeves said. “The way I see it, if you are living in Burnet County, your story is now our story.” 

Family history collections can now be exhibited in a new Community Heritage Display case in the genealogy room. 

“The purpose of this case is to foster a sense of connection with our past and to encourage people to share their history and their knowledge and their little piece of the puzzle,” Reeves said.

Along with extensive online resources, the library’s website at hermanbrownlibrary.org offers a quick and easy way to reserve the case for three months at a time. Library staff will help curate the display and advertise it to draw in the public. Reservations are free. 

“We want this to be an attraction for those who are visiting from out of town, too,” Reeves continued. “It’s a good opportunity to connect the history at the library with the history on display at the Old Burnet County Jail just down the street and with Fort Croghan Museum a few blocks from here. These aren’t three separate things; they are connected.”

Another new display case currently contains surveyor instruments, one of which is on loan from Fort Croghan. It also has a 1933 booklet of Burnet County warranty deeds dating to the 1840s and a Bond and Oath for county surveyors. 

“My favorite part is the Bond and Oath, where surveyors have to swear they have never been involved in a duel,” Reeves said. “It’s really neat to have those treasurers.” 

The instrument on loan from Fort Croghan was made in Burnet, and Reeves wants to know more about it. 

“So far, we haven’t found anyone who can tell us anything about it,” she said. “One person said, ‘I remember that in high school, but can’t remember anything about it.’ That’s all we have so far.”  

If you have any information on angle finders manufactured around 1916 in Burnet County, Reeves wants to talk to you—or anyone who has pieces of the county’s history puzzle. 

Also on Reeves’ wish list is information about the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration on the Burnet square. According to a March 1936 newspaper article she read, the city hired decorators from Dallas to deck out downtown in style.

“If anybody has a photograph of this or has a living memory of it, please come and share it,” Reeves said. “When people are going through a loved one’s estate, and they find they have multiple copies of research, this is a good place for it to come. Although, we do not have to have the originals. We can make copies. What we’re interested in is the information.”

The first Burnet library opened in 1948 in a corner of the Old Burnet County Jail’s second floor. At the time, a local newspaper printed a list of books available every week. Now, just about everything the library has can be located and, in many cases, read digitally without ever having to enter the building. 

The Herman Brown Free Library is well worth an in-person visit, however, especially if you’re looking for history.  

“I want to encourage folks to write down their memories, specifically as we are in the 75th anniversary of having a library in Burnet County,” Reeves said. “We would love stories from folks who remember using the old jail as a library or the old Presbyterian Church fellowship hall. That’s not just part of the library’s history; it’s part of Burnet’s history. It gives us an idea of how much we’ve grown.”

The Herman Brown Free Library is located at 100 E. Washington St. in Burnet. Call 512-715-5228 or visit hermanbrownlibrary.org for more information.

suzanne@thepicayune.com