New history book in Burnet County’s future

Work has begun on “Burnet County History, Volume III” to include people who settled in the county from 1900-2000. Volumes I and II were published by the Burnet County Historical Commission and the Burnet County Commissioners Court in 1979 and feature families who settled in the area in the 1800s. 

“The family history book ended in 1900, and we want future generations to know the families who chose to live, work, and raise families during the next period of time in Burnet County,” said Historical Commission Chair Polly Krenek. “Families who moved here in the 20th century have had just as much impact on our way of life as the pioneers of the 19th century.”

Krenek takes her two, large hardcover books with her wherever she goes. They weigh about 4 pounds each and total over 750 pages. She has read every single one of those pages. Her copies are marked by sticky notes and penciled-in notations. 

“Everytime I open one of these books up, I start reading,” Krenek said. “And every time, I will see something I want to look into further or have a question I want to ask about. It’s fascinating.” 

The commission recently launched a years-long effort to publish a third volume of Burnet County history that will take Volume II on Family Histories up to the 21st century. 

Volume I focused on community essentials, moving through early explorations, the birth and naming of the county, and development and growth of towns large and small, schools, and businesses through 1979, when both volumes were published.

Volume II contains biographies and pictures of 344 pioneer families who settled in Burnet County in the mid-1800s.  

According to the Introduction on page iii of the preface of “Volume I: A Pioneer History 1847-1979,” original settlers were defined as those who lived in or moved to the area within 50 years on either side of the county’s inception in 1852. 

Families meeting that criteria were asked to submit their histories along with one picture for possible inclusion in the book. Families are listed in alphabetical order, starting with William Franklin and Sarah Ellen Griffith Alderson, who settled in the Double Horn Community south of Marble Falls in August 1885, and ending with James William and Caroline C. Nevill Zimmerman, who settled in Naruna in northern Burnet County in 1881.

“The volume is not a book of genealogy—but a book of history,” wrote Darrell Debo in the introduction for Volume II in 1979. “It is anticipated that sometime in the future a volume three will be published, which will include any families not included in volume two plus families who entered the county during the next 50 years (1900-1950).” 

Krenek and the Burnet County Historical Commission plan to extend that time period by an additional 50 years to the year 2000 and to have the book ready for publication in three to four years after the Dec. 31, 2026, deadline for submitting information. 

“The Historical Commission is hoping all citizens who moved to Burnet County during that period of time will consider this as a record for your ancestors for perpetuity,” Krenek said.

Although Debo is credited as author of the first two volumes, he was aided by more than 100 volunteers who worked diligently over five years to complete the research. Also working closely with Debo were Estelle Asher Bryson, who was BCHC chair for 20 years; Willie Mae Price, director of the Herman Brown Free Library in Burnet; and District Judge Thomas Ferguson, all now deceased.

Their influence will carry on to the new volume, with Rachel Bryson, who is Estelle Bryson’s daughter; Florence Reeves, director of the Burnet County Library System and an avid history buff; and Krenek, who lives on the Oatmeal farm where she was born. And, of course, everyone connected to Burnet County history from 1900 to 2000, no matter where they now live.

“The Historical Commission wants you to submit your family ancestral history, stories, pictures and any other information about your family,” Krenek said. “And if your family was left out of the previous volume, please submit your information. We are going to print an update, too. We want as much information as possible.” 

Bryson, who was in her 30s when her mother was working on the first two volumes, remembers volunteers spending countless hours transcribing courthouse records by hand. 

“Those women and men had to sit in the courthouse and copy it out of those books,” she said. “You couldn’t even bring a typewriter in there. You had to write it out, then convert it to type, and print it. Think about that.”

Verifying information involved writing letters sent through the U.S. Postal Service and making phone calls. Despite the modern ease of computer research today, Bryson urges everyone filling out the forms for Volume III to “dig a little deeper,” to do the extra work, and to involve all of their family members.

“Talk to some of the older people in your family,” she said. “See if they have pictures, letters, journals. Go to the county clerk’s office, the school libraries.”

Both Krenek and Bryson emphasized the importance of recording local history.

“These stories need to be heard and shared by more places than just around the dining room table or on the back porch, or just within your family,” Bryson said. “I never ceased to be surprised by the stories I have heard from my grandparents and parents, and they’re gone now.” 

The Bryson family is not listed in Volume II, except as a marriage of a distant relative in the section on the Barton family on pages 14-16. Rachel’s Bryson branch moved into Burnet County in 1907.

There’s also no listing for the Krenek family, which Polly married into, but you can find out about some of her ancestors on page 7 of Volume II: the family of George and Hannah Bright Ater, 1853. Her maiden name, Watson, has a listing on page 330, but they are not directly related. She is also a descendant of the Potts family of Bertram. 

“My mother was a Potts, my grandmother was an Ater,” she said, adding that her family came from Butler, Georgia, moving to Burnet in the early 1900s. 

The Potts & Ater Brothers mercantile store and unincorporated bank—firsts in Bertram—were co-owned by members of these two early pioneer families. 

Krenek was baptized by Debo, a Church of Christ minister, when she was 12 years old. She has fond memories of the man she calls the smartest person she ever met. 

“He was a super-smart person,” she said. “And he did know his bible.” 

Debo (1931-2017) earned a Bachelor of Music and a Bachelor of Divinity from Texas Christian University. Except for his college years, plus about 18 months, he was a lifelong resident of Burnet County. 

The Debo family story begins on page 72 of Volume II. They arrived in America after fleeing persecution as French Huguenots (Protestants) in the early 1700s. Darrell Debo’s great-great-grandfather Cornelius brought his family to the Spring Creek community 6 miles west of Burnet in 1875. 

Debo wrote a local newspaper column in the 1970s and was known for his prosaic writing style, much on display in the Preface and Acknowledgements on pages v-vi in Volume I.

“History is being made today and the documentation of it is well preserved and authenticated; so we leave to someone else that task of extending the story of Burnet County in the future,” he wrote in 1979. “However, those capable hands to whom the torch is flung will have our feeble efforts upon which to build and with which to begin—something we did not have when we began this project.”

The torch has thus been flung to the Burnet County families who made history in the last century—and to the current Burnet County Historical Commission who needs your help.

“We would like to continue the history of Burnet County from the last book forward,” Krenek said. “We want to keep our history of Burnet County alive and moving forward.” 

To submit information for Volume III, pick up printed forms at any Burnet County library or the old Burnet County Jail. A digital version of the form can be downloaded from the Burnet County Historical Commission webpage at burnetcountytexas.org/page/hist.home. Completed forms may be emailed to historicalcommission@burnetcountytexas.org or dropped off in person at any Burnet County library. Pictures can be sent to the same email address or brought to the Herman Brown Free Library, 100 E. Washington St. in Burnet, for scanning. 

The deadline for submitting completed forms and pictures is Dec. 31, 2026.

suzanne@thepicayune.com