"My husband's mother was Nancy Moore Kinser. She loved things like this trunk. They had two, but when they came across the water, they got flooded and the other one rotted out. Her husband [did she mean father?] was Joshua Moore. She was an only child."

Where did they come from? "I don't know, but they come from across the water. Her daughter, Carrie Huff, lives here (Burnet) and she could tell you where they came from."

When did your husband's family come to Burnet County? "He was born in Pleasant Valley, but I don't know about his parents. I was born here in town, in the old General Johnson place, and then moved to what they called the hog ranch and then Momma and Poppa bought their home and we lived there until I married. We married on Sunday, went to Austin's grandmother's, came back by Marble Falls and got our furniture the next day and then went to keeping house, about 6 1/2 miles south of Burnet. We lacked not quite a year being married fifty years when my husband died. In our community there was a Mr. and Mrs. Norred and a Mr. and Mrs. Phillips. We all--our marriages all came close together. Mrs. Norred died, then Austin died, and Mrs. Phillips was the only one that got to have a 50th anniversary."

When were you married? "Oct 27, '19."

(We looked in the trunk) "This is a letter that says, 'State of Texas, County of Burnet. I do hereby certify the within patent was filed for record in my office the 5th of January 1857 at 9:00.' I can't read the rest of it, it has a page number and book number. It is signed, Seal of the county court of law." Mrs. Kinser says, "I guess that's when they'd buy [slaves]. Austin's grandfather had 3 [slaves]. " Also in the trunk is a certificate signed by Gov. Pease, for land bought from Noah Smithwick, at the millpond.

Mrs. Kinser: "I think this picture is the boys that were in the Army. This is a letter dated June 23 1879, written at Mormon Mill. It is written to J.W. Moore, (Mr. Kinser's grandfather) Joshua W. Moore--the letter is from J.W. Moore. This is when he sold the [slave]. This is dated 1858. Henry Erasmus bought one of the [slaves] for $1400, and that's what this one is about.

"My daughters are Doris Hasty, Ruth Jennings, who works in Mrs. Blankenship's variety store, and the other one is Loma Boyd [who] is in Austin.

"John Kinser, brother of Price, of Frederick County, North Carolina, married Nancy ____ of Ohio. Feb. 16, 1804 was when they were married. They had 3 girls and 5 boys. They had each been married before. Nancy Moore (Austin Kinser's mother) was the only child that John Moore and Nancy Piles had together. Austin's father was Price Kinser. Granpa Moore had a watch that he left to the oldest boy, so Austin got it and then Mona Ruth (Jennings) got it, and her boy will get it. It's a railroad watch, with a key.

"My husband was the oldest child. His name was Austin Moore Kinser. His sister Beth married Alfred Sylvester and they had 4 children. Then there's Mary Holland. Another brother Andrew married and had two girls. And Carrie Huff who lives here in Burnet. Then Price. and Newt and his wife died and he remarried. The last was Ellabelle(?) who was a nurse. Mary and Carrie are the only ones still alive."

Mrs. Kinser's parents: "Papa was from Kentucky and Mamma from Burnet County. Her name was Annie Eliza Kincheloe. My father was William Thomas Cummins. He was a farmer and rancher. They cut logs for 25 cents a day and it took them a long time to get here."

Do you know how your parents met? "No, they lived in the same community. My sisters and brothers are: Mrs. Vivian Crow, over in the home (Oaks?); Wanda Lee (Mrs. Bill Foster) is the baby--she was 6 weeks old when I married. I don't know the preacher who married us. Mary was married the same day; she married at 3:00 and I married at 6. When we got our furniture we sure did get a lot: two beds, a stove, just little things we bought. Then we went to my parents' house and got my things. We lived there until he died (Austin Kinser). I couldn't tend to the stock so I moved here.

"The Mormons came back to Mormon Mill and had a baptising a number of years ago. When Austin's mother moved to Mormon Mill, the Mormons were still there, but they sold the place to Grandpa (Joshua) Moore and some of it to Smithwick. Then he bought the rest of it (Moore did) and left it to his daughter Nancy (Austin's mother).

"We lived 3 miles from Austin's mother. Ten miles from here to their house and our house was 3 miles this side (north) of Mormon Mill. The Amiel Frasiers live in Granpa Moore's house now. That house that Austin and I lived in was 80 years old when we moved into it. (Where Tom Riley lives in 1977) (on Mormon Mill road at Hairston Creek) The Cummins' place was 6 miles out the old Bertram road, turn when you get to --we always called it the Wilson Ranch -- down to Hairston Creek. It was about 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 miles to the school."

Can you remember who any of your teachere were? "Buck Chamberlain and Will Chamberlain. A bunch of them were related to me. They used to make us not say we were kin or call them by their first names. And Sally Dodson, in Austin--Bill Dodson's sister. And Miss Lil Rowney (?) and my first teacher was a man, and I can't think of his name. Miss Ella Cummins was a teacher, but I wasn't really old enough to go to school. I just went along because the boys did. And I thought I had to do whatever they did."

Can you remember anyone else who went to school there? "We all went there until the 7th grade except Wanda Lee. Then we went to Burnet. Our neighbors were the Keys, the Jennings, the Gus Groves, the Norreds. The Key house fell in, but there's a well there."

How did you get to school from where Hairston Creek crosses Mormon Mill road? "It was east of M.M. road. When the school burned, they consolidated with Burnet. Ruth went there (her daughter Ruth)."

Do you know of a school that used to be across the road from where Charlie Ross lives now? "Yes, but I never heard it called any name. That's close to where you turn to get to my old house (Cummins). And the old Key place is next. Keith Althaus has that now. That was John Key; he was my son-in-law's grandfather. Ruth's husband's grandfather."

L. Ross: We live on the Old Company Ranch; but do you know what company? "Someone way up north. People used to just put their stock out there. Sometimes people lived there, but sometimes no one did. Two brothers named Charlie and Ernest Wolf lived there at different times. And the Maddox boy. Wid Anglin lived there I guess longer than anyone else. All three of his children were born and raised there. "

Who else lived around you? Did you have community gatherings? "Oh, yes. We had ice cream socials. Mr. Word bought that place (company ranch) and had it many years and then someone killed Word on the courthouse square. We always had good neighbors out there. The Will Moore place was next to Charlie Ross. We first had church at the school house. It was Methodist, Baptist and Church of Christ. We had an arbor there and we had two or three big meetings a year, when people would come stay on the grounds and camp there. We had a good time. And our school, after our children went there until the 7th grade and then they came up here (Burnet) and finished. We had plays there and had supper on the ground at the last of school."

How many people were in your school? "Well, it was always kind of small. It was just one room with one teacher. One time the kids got a mean spell on them and shot chewing gum all over the top of the schoolhouse and just covered it. They never did find out how that teacher got it all off there. We were in a good community. The men and the women visited and we really had a good community."

Did you have any kind of organized meetings like home demonstration or sewing club? "No, we didn't have anything like that. If you had anything you could make something and your neighbor could come over and look at it and make them one, but we didn't have a club."

Did you raise all of your own food? "Chickens and turkeys, but coons caught them. We had stock, and I love the cows. But when Austin died, I couldn't keep them, so I sold out and moved here (to town).

Signed by Lillie Cummins Kinser, 2 June 1977