Speedbird087 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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Same for me...except it was my mother's side of the family.

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The other thing I noticed was how many families became so intertwined that they could be on both sides. In my case a whole lot of Schucharts married Wurzbachs over the years. Proximity I'd suppose.

Not saying my family tree doesn't have branches, if anything it has way too many. We never lived in that area but my late brother lived in San Antonio a year or so before he died, was out dancing one night, met a gal danced with her a couple of times. When they initially exchanged names, just gave their first names. As they continued to talk, things started sounding more and more familiar. Turns our she was a second cousin.

Zarathustra said:

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Ever notice that all the iconic Texas towns are German? There was a big difference in culture between the German settlers and their stone work buildings compared to the Scottish / Irish that settled from the east in their clapboard shacks.

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My German forefathers were stone masons, brick layers, and builders.

One of their stone buildings has a historical marker.

My moms family were Wends that came through Indianola and settled in the Serbin/Warda area. Was just there in Serbin for a funeral on Monday and got to see my great great grandfathers grave. I had forgotten how they split the children off in their own section of grave yards. Was a stark reminder of how good we have it now days. Lot's of children younger than 2 years old, with last names from my moms side buried in those cemeteries of Serbin and Warda.

Fathers ancestors were German/Prussian that settled in the Coperas Cove area about the same time but around 1900 moved up to the Panhandle and homesteaded in Friona.

3 out of 4 of my grandparents still spoke fluent German but it pretty much died with them. Both of my grandfathers along with their brothers built multiple homes that still stand today for their parents and siblings. The craftsmanship and quality of their work was amazing. When my grandfather retired, he disassembled an old house on the family farm and built a new retirement house in Marble Falls over the course of a couple years. Neither of my grandfathers and most of their brothers on both sides of my family rarely made it past 8th grade before they dropped out of school to help on the family farm. Amazing what they were able to accomplish.

aggiehawg said:

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Speedbird087 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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Same for me...except it was my mother's side of the family.

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The other thing I noticed was how many families became so intertwined that they could be on both sides. In my case a whole lot of Schucharts married Wurzbachs over the years. Proximity I'd suppose.

Not saying my family tree doesn't have branches, if anything it has way too many. We never lived in that area but my late brother lived in San Antonio a year or so before he died, was out dancing one night, met a gal danced with her a couple of times. When they initially exchanged names, just gave their first names. As they continued to talk, things started sounding more and more familiar. Turns our she was a second cousin.

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I'm not sure how familiar you're with San Antonio but there's 3 Wurzbach named major streets here in town.

Wurzbach Rd, Wurzbach Pkwy and Harry Wurzbach Rd.
Nuts.

Wish I could claim my German-Texas heritage as being part of one of those early famous immigration groups, unfortunately one of my German great grandads was a draft dodger. It was a family expectation to join the army (Schleswig-Holstein). He caught a ship and came to Texas alone.

Another part of my family were Swiss-Germans that were anabaptists. The Catholic Church put pressure on them to give up their beliefs and convert or their lands would be taken by the church. William Penn invited them to Pennsylvania and they settled in Berks and Lancaster counties. Many of the family became Amish and Mennonites. My family eventually left the group and settled in Texas.

p_bubel said:

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aggiehawg said:

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Speedbird087 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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Same for me...except it was my mother's side of the family.

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The other thing I noticed was how many families became so intertwined that they could be on both sides. In my case a whole lot of Schucharts married Wurzbachs over the years. Proximity I'd suppose.

Not saying my family tree doesn't have branches, if anything it has way too many. We never lived in that area but my late brother lived in San Antonio a year or so before he died, was out dancing one night, met a gal danced with her a couple of times. When they initially exchanged names, just gave their first names. As they continued to talk, things started sounding more and more familiar. Turns our she was a second cousin.

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I'm not sure how familiar you're with San Antonio but there's 3 Wurzbach named major streets here in town.

Wurzbach Rd, Wurzbach Pkwy and Harry Wurzbach Rd.
Nuts.

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Harry is not in my direct ancestry, I know that much. How far back his progenitors may have been in the woodpile, IDK.

Tex117 said:

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Read my first post.

Both of yall. Especially that last line....

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I read it. It said:

Quote:

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Good grief....they barely cite any resources that didn't originate from the 60's and 70's...but this is like catnip to yall.

Reads like pure fantasy of a time that never existed, once again.

Quite being so damn gullible.

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I've repeatedly asked you to explain what is wrong with the Texas State History Association page linked in the OP.

Has there been new scholarship that drastically changes our knowledge of Germans in Texas, since the references were written in the 60s and 70s?

What is fantasy, and why?

What knowledge do you think you have, that we don't, that makes you call us gullible?

There was a great German restaurant in. San Antonio in '50s and ''60s. Forget the name.

wbt5845 said:

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Good stuff. My dad remembers people in San Antonio in the 1930's still speaking German in stores he visited.

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My wife's great grandparents emigrated to Texas from Germany and helped found Kerrville and Fredericksburg.
Somewhere along the way her grandparents moved to San Antonio. I remember when I first started coming to San Antonio with her, and at least into the 1980s, The Joske Church (ones from San Antonio will know what I am talking about) had church services in 3 languages. English, Spanish and German.

And thanks to the OP for starting this conversation. Now that we are both retired I am trying to get my wife to go to the library in Kerrville and do some digging. We already have one newspaper article from the Kerrville paper from the 1950s or 60s about her great grandparents and the first mill he built in Kerrville.

My GGFather immigrated to texas from Prussian side of Germany as a teenager in the late 1800s. Probably around 1880. He was born about 1865. Supposedly came through Galveston and then settled near La Grange. My grandparents were married there in the 1930s. My Gmothers family was also German but had already been in the Fayetteville area for several generations.

Hattermans Rotters Stelzig and Ladusch were the nearest surnames.

My dad's side migrated from Switzerland (German speaking) and settled in Galveston in the 1850's. The original spelling of our last name was full of umlauts so they Americanized the name for easier pronounciation. People still can't pronounce the new version.

CanyonAg77 said:

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The only thing wrong with this discussion is that it is on the Politics Board, it should be moved to theHistory Board

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Wider audience here

Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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CanyonAg77 said:

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The only thing wrong with this discussion is that it is on the Politics Board, it should be moved to theHistory Board

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Wider audience here

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Yes, but the other boards are supposed to help relieve the clutter here.

The Germans brought with them the kick ass jalapeño cheddar sausage kolaches. And for that I thank them.

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Germans...jalapeño cheddar sausage kolaches.

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Me, backing away slowly from the incoming...

Ellis Wyatt said:

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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).

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My ancestors came over on the Ben Nevis. About one in seven died during the journey. I never knew about my Wendish heritage until 4 years ago. My mom is from Weir, and can still understand German, though she speaks very little. Also, our Lutheran church was banned from speaking German during WWI, as demanded by the local residents. Germans generally thought of the Wends as beneath them (servants and laborers).

Cen-Tex said:

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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.

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I grew up in Rosehill, home to the oldest Lutheran church in Texas. Tomball class of '99 actually graduated there. I love the local family names (Mueschke, Schroeder, Shultz, Froelich, Beckendorf, Kuykendahl, Wunderlich, etc). My first job in middle school was picking produce at Weinberg Farms. Good people. It's sad that the culture is fading away/crowded out.

Fightin_Aggie said:

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Will read later. Interesting fact:

German POWs were housed at country campus in Huntsville, TX during WW2. The main reason being that the Geneva convention required prisoners be held in a location similar to their homeland.

Although not sure how the climate factored into that, maybe it was just topography/forests

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German POW's were also held at Camp Bullis, which is in San Antonio.

All of the POW camps were listed earlier

A Jeopardy final question:

The German immigrants entering Texas called this animal "Panzerswine"?

https://texaswendish.org/

APHIS AG said:

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A Jeopardy final question:

The German immigrants entering Texas called this animal "Panzerswine"?

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armadillo

Burdizzo said:

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

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https://www.mysanantonio.com/food/recipes-cooking/article/Recipe-Koch-Kaese-5295106.php

this one is super easy to make. Found the recipe I use in MySA. I was too lazy to dig thru my recipe book.

-just don't add the food coloring

Cen-Tex said:

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APHIS AG said:

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A Jeopardy final question:

The German immigrants entering Texas called this animal "Panzerswine"?

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armadillo

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Correct.

The oldest active gun club in the United States is the San Antonio Gun Club, which was founded by Germans back in the day. Unfortunately, when World War One broke out the San Antonio residents weren't to happy with a bunch of people of German heritage running around shooting their guns at the club they started. The club is a beautiful and welcome place to this day, although there's probably not many Germans.

I'm 73 and never heard of the Wendish before reading this thread! How did I miss it?

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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Our place is just a few miles from the Serbin church and was just there last weekend at the South Lee County VFD fund raiser.

My father-n-law was born in Serbin and German was his first language. I can remember before my wife and I got married in the mid 80's helping him haul hay. There was an older man helping and he didn't say much..after we were finished, it was late and my wife and I went into town and got burgers, etc..

We get back and everyone is eating except the older guy..my father-n-law walked up to him and said something in German and he nodded his head and got a burger. He could not speak any English...and this was in the mid 80's. From what I recall, he lived with his two old maid sisters in the family home on 217.

StonewallAggieDEFENSE said:

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The oldest active gun club in the United States is the San Antonio Gun Club, which was founded by Germans back in the day. Unfortunately, when World War One broke out the San Antonio residents weren't to happy with a bunch of people of German heritage running around shooting their guns at the club they started. The club is a beautiful and welcome place to this day, although there's probably not many Germans.

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Schuetzen Verein

I live in Sauerkraut Bend in San Antonio, got a neighborhood Biergarten from 1872 in the hood.

German/Czech/English family, a late arrival by way of Chicago.

My grandma has written us a family history from when her family came over in late 1800s up to the 1990s when her last grandchild was born. Had no idea about some of the stories. Was fairly rough going early on. Her dad spoke German well into the 1940s-1950s. They'd go to Lutheran services around Houston that were all in German.

Where in SA is Sauerkraut Bend?

BoerneGator said:

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I'm 73 and never heard of the Wendish before reading this thread! How did I miss it?

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When driving on Hwy 21 in Lee County (Giddings) there is a billboard for the Wendish Museum. That is how I know something about the Wendish.

The great great grandfather of Teacher Wife '82

https://texashistoricalmarkers.weebly.com/hermann-seele.html

One of his murals in downtown New Braunfels . Also a school named after him….

One of my really good Aggie friends grew up in New Braunfels. His parents still spoke some German. Both his parents are deceased now--really, really good people--and their funerals were in the First Protestant Church in New Braunfels. The scripture that is on the wall in that church is in German and part of his dad's service was conducted in German.

RiverAg 80 said:

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Where in SA is Sauerkraut Bend?

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King William, next to downtown.