The annual picnic of the Kingsland Genealogical Society, held May 13 in Granite Shoals, Texas was a chance for members to learn that the copies of the new, third edition of their book have arrived.

The publication is entitled “Families of Early Kingsland, Texas and Nearby Communities in Llano and Burnet Counties”. Copyrighted in 1998, it is a collection of family and community histories, photographs and documents given to KGS by founder and member of KGS Muriel Barnett Jackson.

Jackson was a fourth generation Texan and was born in Kingsland in 1910. She was the daughter of Emmett and Edna Murchison Barnett whose families were early settlers in Llano and Burnet Counties.

She gave her historical collection to KGS to be published and with all proceeds from sales of the book to go to the Society.

The book was edited by KGS member Colleen M. Kenyon and any reviewer would have to concede that the amateur genealogist and former Angleton City Secretary hammered the boxes of pictures, documents and handwritten notes into a resource for historians, genealogists and curious local residents alike.

Kenyon launched seriously into the task at about the same time in 1998 that her late husband Judge Tom Kenyon became seriously ill and Jackson, then in her 80’s left to reside in a San Antonio nursing home. Both died in 2000, but in the intervening years long distance calls and serious publishing work had gone on.

Family stories and historical accounts had to be verified and released by the families and no small amount of trekking was done.

“Comanche Cemetery was interesting, trying to find,” said Kenyon. “It was not easy but we found it. I did an awful lot of exploring trying to get pictures.”

The historical pictures all around the walls of the front dining rooms of Mr. Gatti’s Pizza in Kingsland are from the book, on display through an agreement with the KGS.

They and those published are just a portion of hundreds that had to be processed from Jackson’s collection and others that became available later showing scenes of early Kingsland and surrounds.

But not all of the images scanned and published were photographs.

“The part I enjoyed most was the diary of Muriel’s uncle,” said Kenyon. “It details births, deaths, animal breeding, the community’s first package deliver. A lot of things in his little journal cannot be found anywhere else.”

Carefully handling the crumbling pages, Kenyon scanned and corrected each exposure of pages for printing.

Not just Kingsland, but the former Buzzard’s Roost or Gainesville Community, Hoover’s Valley, Long Mountain and Honey Creek are among the settings for stories and personal accounts of the history of the area. Many details of family genealogy of the area are carefully recorded.