Kendall County, Texas
History, Records, Facts and Genealogy

Kendall County Facts

Kendall County was created in 1862 and formed from Kerr and Blanco Counties. Kendall County was named for George Wilkins Kendall, an early journalist and sheep rancher. The County Seat is Boerne. The Official County website is located at http://www.co.kendall.tx.us. See also Extended History for more historical details.

Areas adjacent to Kendall County are Gillespie County (north), Blanco County (northeast), Comal County (southeast), Bexar County (south), Bandera County (southwest), Kerr County (west)

The original section of the present Kendall County Courthouse was designed by S. F. Stendeback. It was a simple one-story building two bays deep and four bays wide. Similar to many early courthouses constructed by the individual counties, it was without architectural pretension and was designed in a straight-forward functional manner.

In 1885 the County Commissioner's Court authorized the addition of a second story with a "gallery." Charles Buckel drew the plans. Characteristic of many of the buildings located in the predominantly German populated county, the building incorporated fine craftsmanship. Stone walls with flush masonry joints were accented by corner quoting and cut stone lintels spanning the openings. The cornice was developed with simple moldings, accented with brackets. On the south, or main, facade a two-story porch was included. Victorian gingerbread provided charm to the ensemble. Over the main section of the building above the entrance was a Mansard roof with delicate cast iron cresting. This Mansardic roof and the Victorian gingerbread was fashionable during the early 1880s throughout Texas.

In 1909 it was determined that the courthouse should be expanded. Alfred Giles, San Antonio architect, was commissioned to draw the plans. The construction contract was subsequently awarded to E. H. Clement.

The design of the new addition, like the previous expansion, reflected the stylistic trends of the period in Texas. The semi-circular arches of the Romanesque Revival style appeared on many Texas buildings of the 1890s and early years of the twentieth century. In the 1909 addition to the Kendall County Courthouse, these features distinguish the entrance as well as the walls above the upper cut stone stringcourse.

Stone, similar to that in the original walls, was employed in the addition and visually unified the works. However, the new architectural forms contrast with the original building. In the addition, the rough texture of the quarry-faced ashlar stonework contrasts with the smooth surfaces of the earlier part. Sophistication of craftsmanship is apparent in the wide cut-stone string courses and rectangular columns. Contrasting rough and smooth stones form a balustrade over the entrance.

The addition makes the south access prominent. A triple arched arcade, rising above the stone-surfaced porch, emphasizes this entrance. Flanking either side are octagonal wings. Above the porch rises a parapet on which the date of construction is cut. The octagonal wings are surmounted by hipped roofs with standing seam sheet metal roofing, a common material in the regions populated by the Germans.

Due to remodeling and additions, the plan is irregular. A central hall with several offsets and a stairway extends through the building, north to south. On the second floor of the old section is the courtroom; on the second floor of the addition are offices.

The courthouse has both architectural and historical significance. The original section is the state's second oldest courthouse still used in its original role (only Cass County has one older--1866). Both the original and the addition display fine craftsmanship.

Architecturally the original courthouse and its additions are distinguished by conservative design--a characteristic of much German architecture in the community and surrounding area. In the 1869 building and the additions the openings and masses are well proportioned. Designed by an outstanding nineteenth-century Texas architect, the 1909 addition contrasts with the early sections, yet a subtle relationship results from the use of the same type of stone. The conservative type of design--much less picturesque than that of numerous other courthouses constructed around the turn of the century--well reflects the generally conservative attitudes of the county residents.

Historically this courthouse has been a center of activity within the county since days of Reconstruction. Throughout history residents have met at the square to conduct business and visit. Although the Boerne public square is not surrounded by commercial buildings as was commonly the case in Texas, it nonetheless is an important site where many decisions having a bearing on the destiny and well being of the county occurred

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Kendall County Court Records

Kendall County Vital Records

Kendall County Census Records

Kendall County Maps & Atlases

Kendall County Military Records

Kendall County Tax Records

Kendall County Genealogical Addresses

Kendall County Church & Cemeteries

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

The use of published genealogies, electronic files containing genealogical lineage, and other compiled sources can be of tremendous value to a researcher.

When view family trees online or not, be sure to only take the info at face value and always follow up with your own sources or verify the ones they provide. Below is a list of online resources for Kendall County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information. Email us with websites containing Kendall County Family Trees, web forums and other family type information by clicking the link below:

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Reference Materials & Finding Aids - Reference materials, including dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other how-to books, can be tremendously helpful in finding and interpreting historical documents. Many of these books can help you learn where to look for more information and how to use what you've already found to uncover more clues.
Kendall County, Texas Family Books at Amazon.com

Extended History

The Central Texas region, including Kendall County, has supported human habitation for several thousand years. Archeological evidence suggests that hunting and gathering peoples established themselves in the area as early as 10,000 years ago. Lipan Apaches, Kiowas, and Comanches became the dominant tribes in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and were present when Germans began arriving in the 1840s. The Meusebach-Comanche Treaty, signed in 1847, was to permit the settlers to enter Indian territory to settle and the Indians to enter the settlements. German immigrants established Sisterdale in 1847, Tusculum (Boerne) in 1849, Curry's Creek in 1850, and Comfort in 1854. Although relations between settlers and Indians were fairly sympathetic, small groups of Indians did make frequent raids on farms in the area, and in some instances killed settlers and stole children. The threat of raids continued through the mid-1870s but lessened as the frontier was pushed farther west.

Most of the Kendall County area was part of the Bexar County established by the Republic of Texas in 1836; it later became part of Kerr County, which was separated from Bexar in 1856. Comfort served as county seat of Kerr County for two years before Kendall County was formed. In 1859 residents of Boerne and Sisterdale petitioned the legislature for a new county; the legislature granted the petition in 1862, and the new county, carved from Kerr and Blanco counties, was named in honor of George Wilkins Kendall. The first Kendall County officials were elected later that year, and Boerne was chosen as the county seat. The earliest schools in the area were private institutions that met in someone's home or in donated space. The first public schools were organized at Comfort in 1856 and at Boerne in 1857. Although the legislature had authorized a district system in 1854, the system was not put into effect before the 1870s or 1880s. Shortly after 1900 Kendall County had twenty-two common school districts. It was not until the 1930s and 1940s that improved transportation made large-scale consolidation of schools into independent school districts possible. Until the mid-twentieth century extensive schooling was for many children a luxury that took second place to their duties on the family farm, and drop-out rates were high. As late as 1940 less than 9 percent of the population over the age of twenty-five had completed high school. The percentage of residents who finished school began to rise as the job market in nearby San Antonio expanded. By 1960, 20 percent were high school graduates, and by 1980 the number represented nearly 65 percent of the population over twenty-five. Religious development in the county was fairly slow. Many of the early German immigrants were "freethinkers" and were not particularly receptive to organized religion. In the 1840s and 1850s a priest from the cathedral in San Antonio traveled to the area occasionally to provide services to those people who wanted them. A priest was assigned to Boerne in 1860, but because of local sentiment, built his church on a hill outside the town. As more people moved into the area, however, more churches were established. A Methodist congregation was organized in the mid-1870s, an Episcopal church in 1881, and a Lutheran church in 1891. In the early 1980s the county's fifteen churches had an estimated combined membership of 5,514; Catholic, Southern Baptist, and American Lutheran were the largest denominations.

The major issue at the time of the county's formation was the Civil War. Kerr County, which in 1861 encompassed Kendall County, passed the ordinance of secession by a vote of 76 to 57; however, the majority of voters in Kerr County's Precinct 2, the area which became Kendall County, opposed secession 53 to 34. The level of Unionist sentiment in the region was due in large part to the number of German immigrants, most of whom opposed both slavery and secession. A company of men from Kendall County fought for the Union at the battle of the Nueces; the Union soldiers who were killed at the Nueces were buried in a common grave at Comfort after the war, and a marker was placed there in their honor. County residents supported Edmund J. Davis by a greater than two-to-one margin in his 1869 gubernatorial campaign, and by nearly three to one in his unsuccessful bid for reelection in 1873. In presidential politics county voters preferred Republican candidates in all but two elections between 1872 and 1992, the exceptions being Teddy Roosevelt, who headed the progressive Bull Moose party in 1912, and Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932.

Like most areas in the South, Kendall County suffered considerable economic hardship immediately following the Civil War and throughout the Reconstruction period. Between 1864 and 1866 the county as a whole experienced a 52 percent loss in property tax receipts. Because few residents had practiced slavery, only 15 percent of this property loss was in slaves; most of the loss came from declines in total farm acreage, farm value, and livestock value, each of which fell 20 to 30 percent. The county began to show signs of recovery by 1880. The overall population rose from 1,536 in 1870 to 2,763 in 1880, and the 1880 census reported 419 farms in the county, up from 197 ten years earlier. The amount of improved land rose from 3,617 acres in 1870 to 22,452 acres in 1880. Field crops such as corn, wheat, oats, and cotton took up a third of the improved land, while livestock dominated the rest. Sheep ranching, which had been introduced to the area by George W. Kendall in the 1850s, had become the county's principal industry. The 1870 census reported the county as having 4,293 sheep and producing 8,781 pounds of wool; in 1880 the county's 16,259 sheep produced more than 65,200 pounds of wool. The completion to San Antonio of the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway in 1877 made outside markets more accessible to Kendall County residents, and freight services thrived, hauling local farm produce, wool, and lumber. Transportation became easier still in 1887, when the San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway reached Boerne. In 1914 the San Antonio, Fredericksburg and Northern Railway connected Fredericksburg with the San Antonio and Aransas Pass track just east of Comfort. The Welfare, Waring, and Bankersmith communities developed as a result of the railroad construction, and established towns such as Boerne and Comfort thrived on the increased economic activity. By 1900 the population of the county had increased to 4,103, and the ethnic makeup was changing. In 1870 25 percent of the population were native Germans, 3 percent were from other European countries, 6½ percent were black, and 2 percent were native Mexicans. The remaining 63 percent were either native to Texas or had come from other states. New immigrants arrived from England in the 1880s and 1890s and from Mexico shortly after the turn of the century. By the 1930s Mexican Americans represented more than 11 percent of the county's population. The number of blacks increased more slowly, from 101 in 1870 to 253 in 1910, but decreased steadily as a percentage of the total population. In the 1910s and 1920s, as urban environments outside the county began to offer greater opportunities for advancement, Kendall County's black population was drawn away, falling to twenty-four by 1980. In the early 1980s 40 percent of the county's 10,635 residents were of German descent, 25 percent were English, 20 percent were Irish, 13 percent were Hispanic, and less than ¼ percent were black.

In 1900 Kendall County had 542 farms, and the amount of land in farms had more than doubled, rising from 153,921 acres in 1880 to 339,653 in 1900; the average farm size had increased from 367 to 626 acres. Stockraising was still the principal industry. By 1900 the county had nearly 20,000 cattle and 8,600 sheep. The wool and mohair industry had also been introduced to the area, and although the county had only 2,048 goats in 1900, their numbers increased rapidly; by 1920 the county had 13,626 goats. The planting of field crops also became a popular venture. From the 1880s through the mid-1920s the cotton industry commanded several thousand acres a year and kept a number of cotton gins in business. By the 1920s, however, corn and oats had eclipsed cotton, proving to be more profitable for an economy that was based on livestock. Some of the corn and oats were used locally as feed, and the rest was put on the San Antonio market. Kendall County had almost completely abandoned the cotton industry by the mid-1920s. The Great Depression of the 1930s reinforced the shift away from cotton and brought an increase in farm tenancy. From the 1880s through 1930 tenants had represented less than a fifth of the county's farmers. Between 1930 and 1940, however, the number of farms run by tenants rose from 130 to 171, or nearly one quarter of the county's farms. Many businesses in Boerne were forced to close, and a number of residents had to leave to look for work. The population of Kendall County as a whole showed a net increase of only 110 residents during these years, rising to 5,080 by 1940.

American involvement in World War II brought new industries to neighboring Bexar County. The presence of several large military bases in the San Antonio area meant an increased demand for civilian support services. Many Kendall County residents joined the military or took advantage of the availability of nearby jobs. Rail service to Fredericksburg had been discontinued in the early 1940s and the equipment given over to the war effort, but the county's rail link with San Antonio remained. In the 1950s many aspects of life in Kendall County settled back into the accustomed routine. Wool and mohair production remained high, with 414,160 pounds and 197,171 pounds, respectively, being marketed. The average farm size rose to 562 acres, as many smaller tenant farms were absorbed by larger ranching operations. One important difference in post-war Kendall County was a shift in the urban/rural balance of the population. Before 1940 residents of Boerne and Comfort made up less than 40 percent of the county's total population; the majority of residents lived in small rural communities or on farms. In the 1950s the ratio began to change, and by 1960 nearly 60 percent of the county's 5,889 residents lived in either Boerne or Comfort.

Kendall County, Texas
History, Records, Facts and Genealogy

Kendall County Court Records

See Also Texas Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

Kendall County Vital Records

See Also Vital Records in Texas

Kendall County Census Records

See Also Research In Census Records & Statewide Records that exist for Texas

Kendall County Maps & Atlases

See Also Research In State Map Collections

Kendall County Military Records

See Also Military Records in Texas

Kendall County Tax Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

Kendall County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Texas Genealogical Addresses

Kendall County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in Texas

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Extended History

Kendall County, Texas History, Records, Facts and Genealogy

Kendall County Court Records

See Also Texas Land Records, Marriage Records, Court & Probate Records

Kendall County Vital Records

See Also Vital Records in Texas

Kendall County Census Records

See Also Research In Census Records & Statewide Records that exist for Texas

Kendall County Maps & Atlases

See Also Research In State Map Collections

Kendall County Military Records

See Also Military Records in Texas

Kendall County Tax Records

See Also Research In Tax Records

Kendall County Genealogical Addresses

See Also Other Texas Genealogical Addresses

Kendall County Church & Cemeteries

See Also Church & Cemetery Records in Texas

Family Trees & Genealogy Tidbits

Extended History

Kendall County, Texas
History, Records, Facts and Genealogy