April 1998, Volume 1, Issue 1, Part Two

The Karnes Crowbar

Karnes County, Texas

In 1853, with the population increasing, Ruckman and Owings started a movement to create a new county from parts of Bexar, Gonzales, DeWitt and San Patricio Counties. On February 4, 1854, the Legislature of Texas passed the act creating the County of Karnes, named after the Texas patriot, Henry Wax Karnes. Helena was appointed the county seat. (From http://www.dallas.net/~seale/helena.htm.)

Karnes County is located one hour southeast of San Antonio on the rolling coastal plains and halfway between Austin and Corpus Christi. Fertile agricultural lands support grain, wild game and cattle production along with the oil and gas industry. Fiberglass manufacturing and grain milling are other local enterprises.

Falls City, Karnes City, Kenedy and Runge are its major towns along with Helena and Panna Maria, each of which sponsors various annual festivities featuring barbecue, Polish sausage, Czech kolaches and Mexican fajitas.

In addition to its natural beauty and prime location, Karnes County is proud of its rich history. Beginning in 1758 as part of a Royal Spanish Land Grant, it became the site of the first ranch in Texas and had a small Spanish Presidio in place in 1776. The wild frontier town of Helena was host to many a gunfight, and those stories are still being handed down today. Nearby lies Panna Maria, the first Polish settlement in America. The Polish, German, Czech and Mexican cultures intermingle to provide a uniquely different cultural environment. That living heritage, together with the county's historical locations, is a major attraction of the Historical Corridor project which runs along the San Antonio River from San Antonio to Goliad. (From http://www.karnescounty.com/)

Karnes City was developed along the tracks of the S.A. & A.P. Railroad through Karnes County. On December 20, 1890, a group of Cuero businessmen purchased a 1000 acre tract of land six miles north of Kenedy. In March of 1891, they plotted the townsite of Karnes City. On April 1, 1891, the post office of Karnes City was established. By 1893 it had grown to become the largest town in Karnes County. Helena, which had been the leading town in Karnes County since 1854, started a decline concomitantly with the construction of the railroad through the county in 1886-1887. (From http://206.76.136.3/cfair/kccourt.html)

Helena's abandoned courthouse is now a museum of area history with early trail, ranch and home artifacts, tools and implements. Upstairs area features early courtroom setting. Schoolroom setting recalls days when building was used as a school, 1894 - 1945. Open Tues. - Sat. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. The Chamber of Commerce of Karnes County, Texas is at http://www.karnescounty.com/. Karnes County, Texas genealogy is http://paris.chem.yale.edu/~zondlo/karnes/.

Websites with Karnes family ties

http://chariott.com/~schmidt/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/h/u/g/Tracy--Huggins/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/u/l/Mitchell-D-Mullens/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/p/l/u/Rose-M-Plunk/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/w/h/e/Roy-W-Wheeler/index.html

http://www.ghg.net/sellers/html/douglas.htm

http://www.inetone.net/carver/gilpin.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/i/l/Carla-A-Miller/index.html

http://home1.gte.net/cobbwebb/TitlePage.htm

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/f/o/r/William-E-Forehand/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/f/a/r/Robert-L-Farrell-ii/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/f/l/a/Nancy-L-Flack/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/g/a/r/Cheryl-W-Garrison/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/j/o/n/Carol-Ann-Jones/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/k/i/r/Gina-M-Kirkland/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/k/a/r/Douglas-J-Karel/index.html

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8908/main.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/s/p/r/Charles-H-Sprague-jr/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/m/c/c/Ronald-B-Mccomb/index.html

http://www.voicenet.com/~koates/html/index.htm

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/s/e/a/Evelyn-R-Seagle/index.html

http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/j/o/h/Jeffrey-E-Johnson/index.html

http://www.trellis.net/users/madamx/

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8839/index.htm

https://www.angelfire.com/tx/shirlrun/index.html

http://genealogy.org/~czech/SURNAMES.html

http://www.primenet.com/~dsmyre/rootz/surname.htm

http://www.fred.net/stull/surnames.html

http://fly.hiwaay.net/~bjacobs/genealogy/laster/html/persons.html

http://www.genforum.com/kearns/

http://user.maas.net/~coffee/surnames.html

http://www.hcis.net/users/dowser/dawson.htm

http://www.bchm.org/

This list is on the web at https://members.tripod.com/~spiel/karnes1-2.html with the links already activated.

If you would like to have your web page included in this list, please let me know.

Queries

Corley, Karnes: I am looking for any information regarding Daniel Spain Corley who married Susan Howry Karnes. Daniel is the son of George and Willie Corley. No further information is known about his parents. Kimm Antell, 910 Cypress Station #1503, Houston, TX 77090; schmidt@chariott.com; http://chariott.com/~schmidt/.

Instructions regarding queries: If you are interested in submitting a query, please use the following format:

Your Name

Surname

Address

Query

City, State, Zip

E-mail

Country (if not US)

Family Tree Web Page

There is no limit to queries. However, please try to keep them brief and to the point. Only put the essential places and dates. (i.e.: birth, marriage, death) If someone thinks that there is a link, they will contact you for more information. If you don�t have an e-mail or family tree web site (not just a personal), then please put n/a.

Please send all queries to be submitted in this newsletter to schmidt@chariott.com or, in lieu of e-mail, Kimm Antell, 910 Cypress Station #1503, Houston, TX 77090.

I hope that this newsletter has been of a help to you or at least been interesting and informative. Please let me know if you have any ideas or requests to be added to the newsletter. Cheers!

Murphy's Laws of Family History -Yigal Rechtman rechtman@aol.com
The keeper of the vital records you need will just have been insulted by another genealogist.
Your great-grandfather's obituary states that he died, leaving no issue of record.
The town clerk you wrote to in desperation, and finally convinced to give you the information you need, can't write legibly, and doesn't have a copying machine.
That ancient photograph of four relatives, one of whom is your progenitor, carries the names of the other three.
Copies of old newspapers have holes which occur only on maiden names.
No one in your family tree ever did anything noteworthy, always rented property, was never sued, and was never named in wills.
You learned that Great aunt Matilda's executor just sold her life's collection of family genealogical materials to a flea market dealer "somewhere in New York City."
Yours is the ONLY last name not found among the three billion in the world famous Mormon archives in Salt Lake City.
Ink fades and paper deteriorates at a rate inversely proportional to the value of the data recorded.
The critical link in your family tree is named "Smith."
You were sent this newsletter because you had the surname of Karnes, Carnes or Kearns listed as one of your roots on the internet. I respect your privacy and do not want you to be overcome with a newsletter that you do not want. (Especially if you have one person with the surname of Karnes who is the step-daughter of your 3rd cousin 5 times removed and you would rather do research on your 4th great-grandfather, Benjamin Franklin, than you would on the Karnes person.J) If you would like to be removed from the mailing list, please e-mail me at schmidt@chariott.com and I will remove your name and address promptly and you will not be added in the future. That is, unless you request it. Thanks!