Kimbro

(Severin)

Biographies Alf. L. Scott and T. J. Westerberg

Kimbro, Travis County, Texas, was first known by the name “Cotton Wood,” because the Cotton Wood Creek flowed through the area. It later got the name “Smith’s Rote” after William Smith, who had moved there from Littig. The name Kimbro first appeared in 1900, when the areas got its first post-office, which was named after a Mexican landowner called Kimbro.

The first Swedish family in the area was probably William Smith, who moved there in 1877. A couple of bachelors arrived at the same time, Emil Lundgren and Johan Anderson. They say that Mr. Anderson got so scared by the rattlesnakes that he left the area after a short time. Manne Gustafson, brother of William Smith, moved there in 1879 with his family.

William Smith was the first to buy land in 1877, a stretch of land of 113 acres at a price of $5.30 per acre. It is said that Mr. Sampson had bought land in the area from a doctor at a price of 60c per acre. The doctor had received the land of 3,400 acres as payment for his services as a doctor. Emil Lundgren, brother of Mrs. Smith, bought land at the same time as William Smith. The third to settle in Kimbro may have been Oscar Lundgren who came in 1881, and in 1884 a newly married couple arrived, the Gustaf Petersons. In 1887 another family, the A. J. Carlsons arrived. There were great difficulties in cultivating the land, and the threat from rattlesnakes was great. One of the settlers, Emil Gustafson Smith, became the victim of a rattlesnake at the time of his first harvest.

After 1888, the influx of settlers started growing and Kimbro began to look like a small Swedish farm village.

The pioneer days had its many trials and tribulations here as in other places in Texas. For the first settlers there were no neighbors, no transport except ox-cart, no roads except cow-trails, no water for people or animals except for what they could transport from rivers and creeks, no fencing for their cattle which had to graze on the open prairie.

If the pioneer dared to fence his land, the fencing was often cut down and ruined by the “Cowman”, the cattle-rancher who was then “King” in Texas.

There was no church or school there. William Smith, Emil Lundgren and A. J. Carlson were the first to create a school in the new community. People attended the Swedish Lutheran Church in the neighboring community of New Sweden, located five miles west of Kimbro.

The first cotton-gin in Kimbro was built in 1886 by Batty & Fowler. The land was donated by William Smith. They formerly had to take their cotton to Manor to have it ginned. They took it to Manor one week and picked it up the following week.

At the turn of the century in 1900, a new phase began in Kimbro. A store was started by A. F. Smith and Carl Sandahl. The store was run in conjunction with the post-office that had been created the year before. The store had the same owner until 1911, when it was sold to Lind & Lundgren, who have run it and expanded it since then.

In regard to religion the community mainly belongs to the Free Church. There is such a church there, and in 1914 a modern school-house was built.

The community is progressive in all aspects. It has a good communications with the other communities through the Farmers Telephone Company, a Swedish company. Kimbro has a music orchestra which is in great demand among the Swedes in Texas. The Swedes in Kimbro take an active part in politics, and to its credit, it has cast its vote for every improvement to the community that has been decided by ballot.

There are no more mesquite bushes on the prairie. The rattlesnakes are now rare. Where there used to be cactus and rattlesnake nests, you can now see fertile fields and gardens. Modern homes, shaded by trees half a century old, bear witness that the Swedish immigrants have been a hardworking group.

The first settler, William Smith, and his wife are still living; also his brother-in-law, Emil Lundgren. The old people love to talk about the good old days, but they have left the current work to the younger generation.

Extracted from: Swedes In Texas In Words and Pictures,

English Translation, 1838 - 1918