Notes Toward A Post On the Influential and Singular Families of the Somerset Area : Part One
Bernard Pyron
A local history of an area like that of Somerset can be organized around the most influential and singular families and the land they owned. But it is not always easy to create accurate lists of the members of such families, especially going back to a hundred years or more. Fortunately, for a few Somerset families, there are sworn affidavits which are available in online Bexar County Clerk's Office, among the copies of deeds.
The Patrick Kenney Family of Old Bexar and Somerset:
Children of Patrick Kenney and Rosa Zensch Kenney and Some History Related to the Kenneys
http://mykindred.com/cloud/TX/getperson.php?personID=I143626&tree=mykindred01
Patrick Kenney was born in Ireland on February 1, 1839 and died in Bexar county, Texas on August 1, 1930. Rosa Zench Kenney was born on August 18, 1850 in Poland and died on December 5, 1923 in Bexar county, Texas. They were married in about 1869.
Children:
1. John J. Kenney, b. 8 Nov 1870, Texas, d. 8 Dec 1916
2. William F. Kenney, b. Jul 1872, Texas, USA d. 1959
3. Catherine "Katie" Kenney, b. 8 Oct 1875, Texas, d. 31 Jul 1915, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas,
4. Patrick Kenney, b. Abt 1877, Texas, , d.
5. Thomas Albert Kenney, b. 31 Jan 1879, Texas, d. 11 Sep 1965, Atascosa county, Texas, USA
6. Alvena Kenney, b. 17 Mar 1881, d. 9 Jul 1903, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas,
7. Annie Kenney, b. 15 May 1884, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas, d. Oct 1977
8. Margie Kenney, b. Nov 1885, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas, d.
9. James Alphonsa Kenney, b. 25 Aug 1890, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas, d. 23 Mar 1967, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas,
William F. Kenney (1872-1959) is Will Kenney, husband of my Aunt Jessie Pyron Kenney, and owner of two grocery stores in Somerset. The first Will Kenney store in Somerset was north across the railroad tracks on the west side of Somerset Road, in Block 29, near the Catholic Church. Patricia Kenney Anderson said the first Will Kenney store was about the size of the Tom Kenney store, and that it was built in 1915 or 1916, at about the time Will Kenney, Aunt Jessie, and their children William Pyron (Billy) and Nellie Mae moved from Old Bexar to Somerset.
Billy Kenney in his 1988 interview for the Institute of Texan Cultures talked about going to school at the Wildman School and said it was on Somerset Road, and that he ran a "school bus" to the school, meaning he took kids to school in a wagon pulled by horses. He said that one of his teachers at the Wildman School was named "Smoot" from Southerland Springs. He meant Moote, that is, Mabel Moote, my mother, who married in May of 1915 and ended her teaching career. It makes more sense that when Billy Kenney and Nellie Mae Kenney went to the Wildman School they lived in what is now Somerset, rather than over west in Old Bexar.
An online Bexar county deed says "S.H. Wildman (born 1833) deeded to Bexar county on September 27, 1889 a "Tract or parcel of land lying on the south side of Elm Creek about 1/2 mile from Elm Creek on the Somerset Road, it being a part of the S.H. Wildman tract of 470 acres...containing two acres more of less... land is deeded to the State of Texas for school purposes and the house shall be known as the (Alamo? handwriting not too clear) Creek School."
My sister Louise Pyron Poppe wrote some notes, also in 1988, saying that Mother first taught at Old Bexar apparently in the school year of 1912-1913, and that the following year she was assigned to teach at the Wildman School. Louise writes that "This building was restored and moved to our present day school grounds at Somerset where it was utilized as additional class rooms, including a band hall."
Elm Creek crosses Somerset Road about half a mile north of where the road to the Frank Hoffman house exits Somerset Road. The Wildman School was probably close to that turn off to the Hoffman place.
The William Pyron Kenney 1988 interview is at:
http://digital.utsa.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15125coll4/id/1663/rec/19
Nellie Mae Kinney wrote a History of Old Bexar in 1986
Nellie Mae Kinney and her older brother, William Pyron Kinney, known
as Billy, are shown in the above photo of Mabel Moote, my mother,
and her Bexar students in about 1915. Nellie Mae has on a bonnet and
Billy is a taller boy standing. Nellie Mae and Billy were children of
Will Kinney and my aunt Jessie Pyron Kinnney and they apparently lived in the
new town of Somerset in 1914 to 1915, the last school year Mabel Moote, my Mother,
taught before getting married in May of 1915.
Bernard Pyron
A local history of an area like that of Somerset can be organized around the most influential and singular families and the land they owned. But it is not always easy to create accurate lists of the members of such families, especially going back to a hundred years or more. Fortunately, for a few Somerset families, there are sworn affidavits which are available in online Bexar County Clerk's Office, among the copies of deeds.
The Patrick Kenney Family of Old Bexar and Somerset:
Children of Patrick Kenney and Rosa Zensch Kenney and Some History Related to the Kenneys
http://mykindred.com/cloud/TX/getperson.php?personID=I143626&tree=mykindred01
Patrick Kenney was born in Ireland on February 1, 1839 and died in Bexar county, Texas on August 1, 1930. Rosa Zench Kenney was born on August 18, 1850 in Poland and died on December 5, 1923 in Bexar county, Texas. They were married in about 1869.
Children:
1. John J. Kenney, b. 8 Nov 1870, Texas, d. 8 Dec 1916
2. William F. Kenney, b. Jul 1872, Texas, USA d. 1959
3. Catherine "Katie" Kenney, b. 8 Oct 1875, Texas, d. 31 Jul 1915, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas,
4. Patrick Kenney, b. Abt 1877, Texas, , d.
5. Thomas Albert Kenney, b. 31 Jan 1879, Texas, d. 11 Sep 1965, Atascosa county, Texas, USA
6. Alvena Kenney, b. 17 Mar 1881, d. 9 Jul 1903, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas,
7. Annie Kenney, b. 15 May 1884, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas, d. Oct 1977
8. Margie Kenney, b. Nov 1885, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas, d.
9. James Alphonsa Kenney, b. 25 Aug 1890, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas, d. 23 Mar 1967, San Antonio, Bexar county, Texas,
William F. Kenney (1872-1959) is Will Kenney, husband of my Aunt Jessie Pyron Kenney, and owner of two grocery stores in Somerset. The first Will Kenney store in Somerset was north across the railroad tracks on the west side of Somerset Road, in Block 29, near the Catholic Church. Patricia Kenney Anderson said the first Will Kenney store was about the size of the Tom Kenney store, and that it was built in 1915 or 1916, at about the time Will Kenney, Aunt Jessie, and their children William Pyron (Billy) and Nellie Mae moved from Old Bexar to Somerset.
Billy Kenney in his 1988 interview for the Institute of Texan Cultures talked about going to school at the Wildman School and said it was on Somerset Road, and that he ran a "school bus" to the school, meaning he took kids to school in a wagon pulled by horses. He said that one of his teachers at the Wildman School was named "Smoot" from Southerland Springs. He meant Moote, that is, Mabel Moote, my mother, who married in May of 1915 and ended her teaching career. It makes more sense that when Billy Kenney and Nellie Mae Kenney went to the Wildman School they lived in what is now Somerset, rather than over west in Old Bexar.
An online Bexar county deed says "S.H. Wildman (born 1833) deeded to Bexar county on September 27, 1889 a "Tract or parcel of land lying on the south side of Elm Creek about 1/2 mile from Elm Creek on the Somerset Road, it being a part of the S.H. Wildman tract of 470 acres...containing two acres more of less... land is deeded to the State of Texas for school purposes and the house shall be known as the (Alamo? handwriting not too clear) Creek School."
My sister Louise Pyron Poppe wrote some notes, also in 1988, saying that Mother first taught at Old Bexar apparently in the school year of 1912-1913, and that the following year she was assigned to teach at the Wildman School. Louise writes that "This building was restored and moved to our present day school grounds at Somerset where it was utilized as additional class rooms, including a band hall."
Elm Creek crosses Somerset Road about half a mile north of where the road to the Frank Hoffman house exits Somerset Road. The Wildman School was probably close to that turn off to the Hoffman place.
The William Pyron Kenney 1988 interview is at:
http://digital.utsa.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15125coll4/id/1663/rec/19
Nellie Mae Kinney wrote a History of Old Bexar in 1986
Nellie Mae Kinney and her older brother, William Pyron Kinney, known
as Billy, are shown in the above photo of Mabel Moote, my mother,
and her Bexar students in about 1915. Nellie Mae has on a bonnet and
Billy is a taller boy standing. Nellie Mae and Billy were children of
Will Kinney and my aunt Jessie Pyron Kinnney and they apparently lived in the
new town of Somerset in 1914 to 1915, the last school year Mabel Moote, my Mother,
taught before getting married in May of 1915.
.Nellie Mae writes that "She says "The first store was owned by John Connoly and Dr.
Matthews, who was the only MD in Bexar at that time."
"There was also a theater - Mrs John Connoly directed the plays,
an excellent orchestra - directed by a Mr Priest, a post office and a
cotton gin."
"Pat Kenney owned 600 acres of land, part of which was in downtown Bexar.
Others had ranches further out."
"Among the original families were the Connoly's, the Matthew's,
McMonagles, Longs, McCoys, Malones, James's, Scanlons, McConnels,
Pyrons, Kenneys, and the Norris's who owned the land where Somerset is
now located."
William McMonagle, the father of James Connell and Shorty, or Kenneth, lived in or near Bexar. The only child, a son of James Connell McMonagle, James Joseph McMonagle, known to me as Joe, was a classmate in the Somerset grade school in the early forties. Joe is a graduate of Notre Dame and retired as a Marine Corps Major General.
The James family of Old Bexar included Luther M. James 1888-1965 and Jesse Christopher James 1859-1919, who were cousins. Luther James lived on Kenney Road just south of Old Bexar for many years, near Jessie Garfield James 1897-1942, son of Jessie Christopher James. The wife of Jessie James was Clara Muriel McCoy, of the Old Bexar McCoys. Jessie was shot dead in the coal mine at Old Bexar by George Leonard in 1942. Luther James was one of the Somerset area "Wolf Hunters," and father of Bill James, or William Marshall James , 1915-2004, who was the Somerset School Superintendent for many years.
Nellie Mae mentions the Norris family as one of the Old Bexar families. I only know about Eugene S. Norris, who owned a part of the John Christopher Republic of Texas land grant, at the south end, a tract which was sold by Carl Kurz to the First Townsite Company to create Somerset.
Matthews, who was the only MD in Bexar at that time."
"There was also a theater - Mrs John Connoly directed the plays,
an excellent orchestra - directed by a Mr Priest, a post office and a
cotton gin."
"Pat Kenney owned 600 acres of land, part of which was in downtown Bexar.
Others had ranches further out."
"Among the original families were the Connoly's, the Matthew's,
McMonagles, Longs, McCoys, Malones, James's, Scanlons, McConnels,
Pyrons, Kenneys, and the Norris's who owned the land where Somerset is
now located."
William McMonagle, the father of James Connell and Shorty, or Kenneth, lived in or near Bexar. The only child, a son of James Connell McMonagle, James Joseph McMonagle, known to me as Joe, was a classmate in the Somerset grade school in the early forties. Joe is a graduate of Notre Dame and retired as a Marine Corps Major General.
The James family of Old Bexar included Luther M. James 1888-1965 and Jesse Christopher James 1859-1919, who were cousins. Luther James lived on Kenney Road just south of Old Bexar for many years, near Jessie Garfield James 1897-1942, son of Jessie Christopher James. The wife of Jessie James was Clara Muriel McCoy, of the Old Bexar McCoys. Jessie was shot dead in the coal mine at Old Bexar by George Leonard in 1942. Luther James was one of the Somerset area "Wolf Hunters," and father of Bill James, or William Marshall James , 1915-2004, who was the Somerset School Superintendent for many years.
Nellie Mae mentions the Norris family as one of the Old Bexar families. I only know about Eugene S. Norris, who owned a part of the John Christopher Republic of Texas land grant, at the south end, a tract which was sold by Carl Kurz to the First Townsite Company to create Somerset.
Patricia
Kenney Anderson, daughter of Billy Kenney, my first cousin, said the
first Will Kenney store was just south of the Kenney house. The brick
store on the east side of Somerset Road, on and south of the railroad
tracks, which was taken over in 1948 by Blake and George Pyron, was
built in about 1931.
Thomas Albert Kenney (1879-1965) or Tom Kenney, had the grocery store on the west side of Pyron Strret at the point where it runs into Somerset Road at an angle, across from what is now the El Gallo Mexican Restaurant. I am still not certain about whether the A.E. Shannon Drug Store was in a separate building beside the Tom Kenney store in lot 7 of block 36 or if Tom Kenney took over the building from A.E. Shannon. If Tom Kenney took over the building the drug store was in this probably happened sometime from the late thirties to the time of the early years of World War II, because I remember being in both stores, which might have been in the same building, during this period of time.
I have no certain memory of the other children of Patrick and Rosa Kenney, other than George had me tell a man who then lived on Highway 81 - Interstate 35 - not far east of Lytle that Will Kenney had died. That must have been in 1959, and the man, I think, was Will's brother.
Patrick Kenney owned the land which became Old Bexar, and sold some parts of his land to individuals in the area between Bexar and Benton City Roads about two miles west of what became Somerset.
Online Bexar county land transactions show that on September 28, 1893, Patrick Kenney deeded an acre and a half to John Conoly, out of the Clemente Bustillo survey. The deed says the land joined "...the Bexar school lot on the west...beginning at a stake on the Benton City Road." Patrick Kenney deeded on March 22, 1881 a tract of land to Jane Kirkwood, out of the eastern half of Survey No 134, known as the coal mine tract.
La Colorada was the name the Hispanics gave to Old Bexar. Patrick Kenney hired Hispanics to work his coal mines and many of them lived in the north part of old Bexar. The Kenney coal mines, or mine,, on the hand drawn map in the book, Patchwork: Lytle Folks Facts & Fables, is shown to be northwest of the more recent Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery on the north side of Bexar or Kenney Road, at the intersection of Bexar and Benton City Roads. I am not sure exactly where the mine was.
One interesting land transaction of Patrick Kenney was a tract of land he sold to the Elm Creek Comet Band on March 29, 1889, from Survey No 348 granted to Clemente Bustillo. Probably no one has heard anything about the Elm Creek Comet band in many years..
On May 18, 1891 Patrick Kenney deeded land to the Bishop of the Diocese, one acre of the Clemente Bustillo grant. This land was probably for the building of the St. Patrick's Catholic Church, a branch of the first Catholic Church at the Medina River community, then called Garza's Crossing. Nellie Mae Kinney's History of Old Bexar, The History of Somerset and the Old Bell at Bexar (1986), says that St Patrick's Catholic Church was built in 1892.
And on August 2, 1883 Patrick Kenney deeded two acres of land out of the Peter (really Petra) Bustillo, widow of Domingo Bustillo, of Survey No 348, for $37.50, for the purpose of establishing a public school. The deed is in Book 34, page 6. This may have been for the school which was built at Old Bexar.
On an October 13, 1905 Bexar county land transaction, the trustees - like members of a school board - of the school district number 33 of Bexar county, which was Old Bexar, were H.P. Drought, B. McConnell, A.M. Pyron, and J. C. James, probably Jessie Christopher James, the father of the younger Jessie James (1897-1942).
Thomas Albert Kenney (1879-1965) or Tom Kenney, had the grocery store on the west side of Pyron Strret at the point where it runs into Somerset Road at an angle, across from what is now the El Gallo Mexican Restaurant. I am still not certain about whether the A.E. Shannon Drug Store was in a separate building beside the Tom Kenney store in lot 7 of block 36 or if Tom Kenney took over the building from A.E. Shannon. If Tom Kenney took over the building the drug store was in this probably happened sometime from the late thirties to the time of the early years of World War II, because I remember being in both stores, which might have been in the same building, during this period of time.
I have no certain memory of the other children of Patrick and Rosa Kenney, other than George had me tell a man who then lived on Highway 81 - Interstate 35 - not far east of Lytle that Will Kenney had died. That must have been in 1959, and the man, I think, was Will's brother.
Patrick Kenney owned the land which became Old Bexar, and sold some parts of his land to individuals in the area between Bexar and Benton City Roads about two miles west of what became Somerset.
Online Bexar county land transactions show that on September 28, 1893, Patrick Kenney deeded an acre and a half to John Conoly, out of the Clemente Bustillo survey. The deed says the land joined "...the Bexar school lot on the west...beginning at a stake on the Benton City Road." Patrick Kenney deeded on March 22, 1881 a tract of land to Jane Kirkwood, out of the eastern half of Survey No 134, known as the coal mine tract.
La Colorada was the name the Hispanics gave to Old Bexar. Patrick Kenney hired Hispanics to work his coal mines and many of them lived in the north part of old Bexar. The Kenney coal mines, or mine,, on the hand drawn map in the book, Patchwork: Lytle Folks Facts & Fables, is shown to be northwest of the more recent Saint Mary's Catholic Cemetery on the north side of Bexar or Kenney Road, at the intersection of Bexar and Benton City Roads. I am not sure exactly where the mine was.
One interesting land transaction of Patrick Kenney was a tract of land he sold to the Elm Creek Comet Band on March 29, 1889, from Survey No 348 granted to Clemente Bustillo. Probably no one has heard anything about the Elm Creek Comet band in many years..
On May 18, 1891 Patrick Kenney deeded land to the Bishop of the Diocese, one acre of the Clemente Bustillo grant. This land was probably for the building of the St. Patrick's Catholic Church, a branch of the first Catholic Church at the Medina River community, then called Garza's Crossing. Nellie Mae Kinney's History of Old Bexar, The History of Somerset and the Old Bell at Bexar (1986), says that St Patrick's Catholic Church was built in 1892.
And on August 2, 1883 Patrick Kenney deeded two acres of land out of the Peter (really Petra) Bustillo, widow of Domingo Bustillo, of Survey No 348, for $37.50, for the purpose of establishing a public school. The deed is in Book 34, page 6. This may have been for the school which was built at Old Bexar.
On an October 13, 1905 Bexar county land transaction, the trustees - like members of a school board - of the school district number 33 of Bexar county, which was Old Bexar, were H.P. Drought, B. McConnell, A.M. Pyron, and J. C. James, probably Jessie Christopher James, the father of the younger Jessie James (1897-1942).
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