Those familiar with Charlie Robison probably know the song.

Quote:

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My dad built a sawmill of Cypress and stone
It was there on Medina that we made our home
It was year 1850 and I sent for my girl
Oh Fraulein, come meet me in this brand new world
At Indianola

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Most of those Germans arrived in Texas through Indianola (Carlshafen), making their way north as described by buda. Many never made it out of Indianola due to hardship, disease or natural disaster. The town had a promising future as the principle port of Texas until Indianola was destroyed in 1875 and again in 1886 by hurricanes. The foundation of the old Calhoun courthouse is still visible from shore. If you've never been before, it's worth a stop next time you're out that way.





An interesting book if you can locate a copy.

My German relatives arrived through Galveston around 1860. My grandmother was still fluent in German.

My father had to speak his confessional statement for his Confirmation in both English an German. This was a small town Lutheran church in central Texas in 1955.

My family hails from the Muenster/Lindsay area... both towns are on HWY 82 separated by ~13 miles. Both dominantly Catholic. I have the Muenster history book published after its centennial. Parents have the Lindsay version from my late grandfather. Love the old pictures. Stories of the "Kraut Bowl" football games. East Germany vs West Germany as some would joke.

I have fond memories of Muenster. Great, great grandparents met in Iowa and came down around the same time as the Flusche brothers (related to some Flusches). Founded on Dec. 8, 1889. Held Holy Mass as first order of business. Three generations of ancestry buried there in Sacred Heart Cemetery. Doubt my parents will be though. Love that little community.

Ellis I would have liked to have read your paper. My great great grandparents (Wends) came over with John Kilian. They settled in Serbin near Giddings. There is still a church and historical museum there and the cabin that my great great grandfather built for Kilian still stands.

Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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Those familiar with Charlie Robison probably know the song.

Quote:

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My dad built a sawmill of Cypreses and stone
It was here on Madena that we made our home
The year 1850 and I sent for my girl
Oh Fraulein, come meet me in this brand new world
At Indianola

---

Most of those Germans arrived in Texas through Indianola (Carlshafen), making their way north as described by buda. Many never made it out of Indianola due to hardship, disease or natural disaster. The town had a promising future as the principle port of Texas until Indianola was destroyed in 1875 and again in 1886 by hurricanes. The foundation of the old Calhoun courthouse is still visible from shore. If you've never been before, it's worth a stop next time you're out that way.

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The first few years in New Braunfels weren't too rosy either. No telling how many unmarked graves there are between there and Indianola.

https://sophienburg.com/the-year-1846-was-a-dark-year-for-the-german-immigrants/

My ancestors lived around the Seguin/Geronimo area and had brought a piano with them. Family lore says that the local indians would gather at a distance to hear them play at night. Sometimes leaving venison. Cool story. I like to think it is true.

Allen76 said:

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aggiehawg said:

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My father's side was from Alsace and settled in Medina County in the 1850s.

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My dad spoke Alsatian and German, and had to learn English in school.

Give me a clue AggieHawg, maybe a last name or something, to see if I know your family (probably do if they are still in Medina County).

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Oh shoot, we lost track of that side of the family in the 70s. But I'm sure there are a ton of distant relatives still in the areas around San Antonio. Schuchart and Wurzbach were two of the names in the woodpile.

This is very cool. I'm fifth generation Texan; my family traveled through Indianola before settling in Luckenbach/Fredericksburg in the late 1840's. German could be readily heard around town through the late 90's until all the out-of-towners began moving in and taking over…

I try to go up and do the German fest Run every April. Then drink too much.

wbt5845 said:

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I try to go up and do the German fest Run every April. Then drink too much.

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I still have some of those old beer truck cups (white with green and orange decor on them). Gemutlichkeit!

We used to go the Anhalt Dance hall near Honey Creek twice a year, for a big Sunday festival, celebrating the spring and fall harvests..

B-1 83 said:

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CanyonAg77 said:

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B-1 83 said:

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They had a German POW Camp in Crystal City………..figure that one out. Some stayed after the war.

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I thought the Crystal City Camp was not a POW Camp, but instead an interment camp for Americans of German, Italian, and Japanese descent. You hear a lot about the Japanese camps, but other Axis powers were subject to interment, too.

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That would be news to me, but certainly not impossible. I just always heard it referred to as a POW camp.

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The Crystal City camp was a primarily Japanese internment camp but also housed Germans.

https://www.thc.texas.gov/crystalcity

The different waves of immigration are interesting. I'm guess that most Germans came in the 1800s and ended up in Central Texas. The little town of Umbarger and Nazareth in the Texas Panhandle were founded around 1910 by a later wave of immigration.

Going back to the POW camps, the Catholic Church in Umbarger has some amazing art work produced by Italian POWs after the close of WWII, in gratitude for their treatment by the parishioners. The POWs worked on area farms, and were fed by the farm families at a time when the official US policy was short rations.

https://stmarysumbarger.com/






My German heritage comes from people who came over to Pennsylvania as indentured servants in the early 1700s. They worked their way down to North Carolina, and served the Revolutionary Army. My direct ancestor built wagons for them, I think others fought, but I'm not clear. Later generations ended up in Tennessee and eventually West Texas.

A house built by a (I don't know how many greats) uncle in 1766 still exists.

https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/NC-01-159-0053

Painted Churches of Texas, I believe were mostly Catholic German and Czech.

Wife and I did a tour of them about 7-8 years ago one time when dropping our daughter off at A&M.

Painted Churches of Texas: The Complete Guide (tripsavvy.com)

12Power said:

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Ellis I would have liked to have read your paper. My great great grandparents (Wends) came over with John Kilian. They settled in Serbin near Giddings. There is still a church and historical museum there and the cabin that my great great grandfather built for Kilian still stands.

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I have never been to the museum in Serbin, but I'm quite aware of it. I know a number of people of Wendish descent, but I'm not sure they even realize their families are Wendish and not German. Many still live in and around Copperas Cove and Walburg/Georgetown.

My German descent is through south Louisiana, around Des Allemands (The Germans).

buda91 said:

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The road west from San Felipe was the "Gotier Trace". The road name is a misspelled take on James Gotcher who was hired by Stephen F Austin to develop the road west from San Felipe on the Brazos towards the newer colony in the Austin area. Along the Gotier Trace, towns developed as German and Czech immigrants arrived: Cat Spring (the Kleberg family), New Ulm (Czechs), Industry (Freiderich Ernst), Nassau Plantation and Round Top (Adelsverein), Serbin (Wendish people from the ship Ben Nevis), through the lost pines and down to the El Camino Real crossing of the Colorado (now Bastrop). It was the sight of Indian raids and battles and is part of Crockett and the TN Volunteers path to the Alamo.

I do a lot of historical research on the Gotier Trace, raise money for local charities, and once a year ride horse from the Brazos to the Colorado (100 miles; about 6 days).

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Interesting. I would have thought New Ulm would have been settled by Germans, since it's named for a city in far western Bavaria. on the border with Baden-Wurrtemberg.

Squadron7 said:

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My German relatives arrived through Galveston around 1860.

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Mine too, although I think they may have arrived a decade or so later.

Settled in the Plantersville area. Lots of Germans and Czechs there.

Nm

Burdizzo said:

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Sixty years later men walked on the moon. Hell of an era to live.

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On German-American rocket technology.

My mother's side of the family is of German heritage. I believe it was my great grandparents who were the ones to come to America from Germany. At the onset of WWII, they faced ostracism due to their German heritage; the great grandparents still spoke only German. My grandmother's maiden name was Wuensche, and was part of the family with the restaurant that I believe still operates in Spring, TX.

buda91 said:

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The road west from San Felipe was the "Gotier Trace". The road name is a misspelled take on James Gotcher who was hired by Stephen F Austin to develop the road west from San Felipe on the Brazos towards the newer colony in the Austin area. Along the Gotier Trace, towns developed as German and Czech immigrants arrived: Cat Spring (the Kleberg family), New Ulm (Czechs), Industry (Freiderich Ernst), Nassau Plantation and Round Top (Adelsverein), Serbin (Wendish people from the ship Ben Nevis), through the lost pines and down to the El Camino Real crossing of the Colorado (now Bastrop). It was the sight of Indian raids and battles and is part of Crockett and the TN Volunteers path to the Alamo.

I do a lot of historical research on the Gotier Trace, raise money for local charities, and once a year ride horse from the Brazos to the Colorado (100 miles; about 6 days).

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When Kleberg's group arrived in Cat Spring, my great x4 grandfather had almost died of scarlet fever waiting for them to arrive (he traveled ahead in the advance party to secure the land grants from S.F. Austin). He was in the advance party as much driven by adventure as by getting out of Prussia ahead of further retribution for killing a calvary officer in a duel. Married one of the only single German girls in Texas (an Ernst - whose father shared a similar urgency to vacate his postal office in Germany). Fought at the seige of Bexar and again at San Jacinto.

His brother eventually bought Nassau Plantation, but lost it to another Adelsverein lienholder in court. Apparently his sister was THE reason that Kleberg convinced the family to come to Texas (they were later married).

Got plenty of other good kraut family stories from that Republic of Texas/ early statehood time frame, both east and west German krauts as well as French krauts, we got a good mix.

Is French Kraut and Alsatian or Belgian?

Burdizzo said:

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Is French Kraut and Alsatian or Belgian?

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Alsatian... my grandmother's family was in the first group off the boat, great x3 grandfather was a kid on the trip over and became a Texas Ranger around and during the Mexican War.

Evidently once my paternal ancestor got kicked out of Hapsburg Austria for not being Catholic, he and his brothers hid out in Alsace. His brothers went back to Carinthia when offered new titles for converting, my spiteful ancestor joined the army of Gutavus Adolphus during the 30 years war and ended up in charge of provisioning the entire Swedish calvary. Ended up staying in protestant Southern/western Germany, where my greatx3 grandfather got recruited by a group of Adelsverein settlers who were going to create a marxist communist utopia in the Texas hill country (before they ran out of other people's money.)

Like I said, some crazy bats in the belfry.

I like that whoever put that map together did a thorough job. Usually the assumption is that Germans are just in Brenham or the Hill Country. But they got it right with my family being from the west McLennan County/East Coryell County area and my wife's being from Riesel and Marlin.

Industry

A guy I knew at A&M in the 80s told me a story about a German Air Force officer who was on assignment in San Antonio. I think he was working with a defense contractor or something. Anyway, one Saturday he went out for a drive and stopped in Fredericksburg at a convenience store for gasoline.

He apparently did not know very much about the area. He gassed his car up, bought some snacks, and left. He got a few miles outside of town and realized that his entire conversation in the convenience store had been in German.

I've been told that the John Deere house in New Braunfels answered the phone in German well into the 1970s

Crawford, Texas is Lammert territory.

It is well documented in the public record.

[This was a good thread until you decided to post on it and now you are not allowed to post on it again. -Staff]

Any of you square heads got a recipe for Koch Kase?

7th generation German Texan. This is my jam

[This was a good thread until you decided to post on it and if you are disrespectful on it again you will not be allowed to post on the thread. -Staff]

aggiehawg said:

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My father's side was from Alsace and settled in Medina County in the 1850s.

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Same for me...except it was my mother's side of the family.

Cinco Ranch Aggie said:

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My mother's side of the family is of German heritage. I believe it was my great grandparents who were the ones to come to America from Germany. At the onset of WWII, they faced ostracism due to their German heritage; the great grandparents still spoke only German. My grandmother's maiden name was Wuensche, and was part of the family with the restaurant that I believe still operates in Spring, TX.

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Know some folks that are descendants of the Theiss family from the same area. Lots of German families settled in the Spring, Klein, Rose Hill, Cypress and Tomball areas. (NW Harris Co.) in the 1840's. Tomball holds its German festival in early December.