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Ethel Starkey
ETHEL: No, but they had kept her up-to-date, she was looking forward to seeing him, I
imagine. So anyway, then the George M. Ridleys, in fact the whole Ridley
family - they were very active public citizens, and at that time, the courthouse
being in San Antonio, it was very difficult to get business done. You sold a
piece of property, you had to go all the way - 10 days minimum to get to San
Antonio and contract your business and come back -- everybody wanted to
have a county of their own. So a group of men, and James Monroe was one of
them, signed a petition to the governor of the state asking him to create a
county named Kerr County. And it was granted, and in 1856 Kerr County was
founded. He had already talked to, found out about these two tracts of land.
They went from the Guadalupe River all the way back to Town Creek. So he
really picked out a good piece of land. And he bought the two 320 acre pieces.
And then when they founded the county, they had a meeting and he was
elected the first Kerr County tax assessor collector. And two years later he
was county judge for a couple of terms, I believe. He was very active in
public, in school, for 25 years I think he was on the county school board or
something like that. And roads, he and someone else went on to do something
about the roads. But he was active in all community affairs. He was a member
of the, let's see, what were they called? They were an offset of the Rangers.
Where the rustlers - this group would go out and find the rustlers and return
the cattle, that type of thing. And the first thing he did was build his barn. He
wasn't married, you see. That was in 1856. So he built his barn and then by
1860 he had built, he also was a shingle maker, and then had a mill, too, where
they ground corn and different things, and cut gourds. But he was definitely
meaning to marry, and so he built a log cabin. And Junior remembers seeing it
and being in it. And he had the finest Cypress logs, all finished off, for his
family because in 1860 then he married Martha Rees. And they started their
family. And they had three sons and a daughter. Well, actually four, but Jones
died so early. And those three sons were J.J. Starkey, who we always called
Uncle Jim, and A.L. -- Alonzo Lycurgus. James Monroe was orphaned when
he was six, and his little brother, four years younger I believe it was - they
were left orphans. And so they were raised by their maternal grandmother and
an uncle, Tom. But they saw to it those boys had excellent schooling.
Because in his letters home there's not a single misspelled word, perfect
grammar, and beautiful penmanship.
FRANCELLE: Let me ask you about that name, Lycurgus. Where did that come from?
That's so interesting
ETHEL: Well, they were, you know, in Sparta, Tennessee. Everybody there was
interested in Greek - and actually they were English and Scots-Irish descent.
But Lycurgus, I think, wrote the constitution for the Spartans.
FRANCELLE: So they picked that from somebody they really admired. It's a beautiful name
and it's neat that you've used it.
ETHEL: Well that was his brother's name, you see. And present day there are still -
Kerr County Historical Commission 14 Oral
History Project