Kerr County Stories by Lanza Teague

  Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on September 12, 2026 Nina Harwood celebrates her 91st birthday in the Daily Times Newsroom When Nina Harwood entered a room you were instantly aware of her. People who knew her referred to her as a dynamo, feisty, fearless and a force of nature. A co-worker once said that she was, “tough as an old range boot and tart as a fresh picked jalapeno.” Between 1989 and 1993, I had the honor of knowing and working with Nina when I was a young writer at The Kerrville Daily Times. She would storm the newsroom once a week, often with a leashed dog in tow (rarely it was the same dog twice). After greeting the newsroom with a colorful comment or joke that would make a seasoned sailor blush, she would approach one of the (back then) new-fangled computers and pound out her weekly column with intense determination. I have to admit to being both in awe and a bit afraid of the woman. Nina Harwood was born in 1906. She claimed she had been a foundling, discov...

Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on August 29, 2026 This cannon, a relic of the Civil War, stands on the eastern side of the Kerr County Courthouse A reader approached me recently and asked about a story she heard involving the cannon on the courthouse lawn. The woman heard that shortly after being installed in the court-house square, the cannon was fired in celebration and a truck parked nearby was totaled in the process. This is the second time the question has come up this year. It’s a story I had never heard before. I decided to do some digging to learn the cannon’s history and the truth behind the rumored truck destruction. The story is interesting enough to make it into a column, so here it is. The cannon once belonged to C.W. “Bill” Bocock, a master machinist and founder of Technical Instrument Company, a Houston-based business that was involved with seismographic equipment. He also had a passion for collecting and restoring classic cars. He came to Kerr County in 1952, wh...

  Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on July 25, 2026 The post oak in front of the Kerr Arts & Cultural Center before the July 16 Storm  If you are familiar with the old Post Office building in downtown — now home of the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center — you may have noticed a big change in the yard this week. The big, beautiful oak tree that has stood sentry in the front yard fell victim to the storm on July 16.  In the grand scheme of damage in Kerr County, the loss of a tree is minor, but the loss hit me hard all the same. For the better part of 19 years, I have worked in Kerrville’s historic Post Office building — I started here as the manager in 2007 and am now the director of the Kerr Arts and Cultural Center. I have worked other places but have recently come to the realization that KACC is my professional home, and I will be here for a while. As a local history geek, I enjoy working in and maintaining a historic downtown building, although the maintenance pre...

 Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on July 2, 2026 Hen Baker in 1924 In last week’s column, I began the tale of Henry Harrison “Hen” Baker, a Texas Ranger and sometime deputy sheriff, who became a controversial character in Kerr County History. In spite of his early years in law enforcement, in later years, he began to take the law as a suggestion rather than the rule. . I have told you about Baker’s early years — his brave service with the Texas Rangers, his marriage to Sarah Coker and how toward the end of his life, he began “borrowing” items from his neighbors, was accused of stealing cattle and pigs from area ranches and developed a hair trigger temper that led him to face the charge of murder in the killing of Newt Merrit and the charge of attempted murder in the “cutting” of Harry Stokes. Baker was fond of telling people that you never needed to bother with lawyers when you got in trouble, all you needed was two or three good witnesses. That philosophy seemed to keep him...

Henry Harrison "Hen" Baker, his wife Sarah Coker Baker and some of their children. A man can be revered and called a hero by some, while others call him a villain. The subject of today’s column was a complicated man of contradictions.  As one account states, “Hen Baker was at one time a Texas Ranger and part-time deputy sheriff. His experience on the right side of the law evidently didn’t make much of an impression of him for he hardened in his old age. Hen always stayed in trouble but his dry wit and sharp reasoning usually kept him out of jail." The story of Hen Baker is one that has fascinated me for years. His family still lives in Kerr County, and I am not writing this column to embarrass anyone. My intent here is to set the record straight on a complex individual — a man who died more than 90 years ago but continues to inspire debate among the older families in the western part of the county. I was meticulous in my research for this column, using not just local his...

Published in the Kerrville Daily Times on June 6, 2026 An early photo of San Antonio Street in Center Point. The Burney Family settled in Center Point and descendants still live there today In 1856, when the State of Texas granted a petition to form Kerr County, and Kerrville was named the county seat, there were only 10 families living in Kerrville. Today’s column is about one of those families, with emphasis on one of the members of that family, W.D.C. Burney. William Dewitt Clinton Burney, known to his friends as Dewitt, was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, on Oct. 16, 1828. He was one of six children born to Robert and Lydia McCain Burney. Dewitt’s father served as Guildford County Sheriff from 1820-26.  When Dewitt was a child, the family moved to McNary County, Tennessee. At the age of 21, DeWitt, his older brother, Robert (1833-1905) and a neighbor, Tom Saner (1826-93) decided to strike out on their own and head west. They stopped for a while in Arkansas, but wa...