The History of the German Settlements in Texas 1831-1861
Author: Rudloph Leopold Biesele
Publisher:
Published: 2008-12-01
Total Pages: 261
ISBN-13: 9781571688576
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A New Land Beckoned
Author: Chester William Geue
Publisher: Genealogical Publishing Com
Published: 1966
Total Pages: 208
ISBN-13: 0806309814
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn this volume, using the best research techniques of the historian--that of going to the source documents--Chester W. and Ethel H. Geue set out to better understand the German movement to Texas.
Nassau Plantation
Author: James C. Kearney
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Published: 2010
Total Pages: 367
ISBN-13: 1574412868
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn the 1840s an organization of German noblemen, the Mainzner Adelsverein, attempted to settle thousands of German emigrants on the Texas frontier. Nassau Plantation, located near modern-day Round Top, Texas, in northern Fayette County, was a significant part of this story. No one, however, has adequately documented the role of the slave plantation or given a convincing explanation of the Adelsverein from the German point of view. James C. Kearney has studied a wealth of original source material (much of it in German) to illuminate the history of the plantation and the larger goals and motivation of the Adelsverein, both in Texas and in Germany. Moreover, this new study highlights the problematic relationship of German emigrants to slavery. Few today realize that the society's original colonization plan included ownership and operation of slave plantations. Ironically, the German settlements the society later established became hotbeds of anti-slavery and anti-secessionist sentiment. Responding to criticism in Germany, the society declared its colonies to be "slave free zones" in 1845. This act thrust the society front and center into the complicated political landscape of Texas prior to annexation. James A. Mayberry, among others, suspected an English-German conspiracy to flood the state with anti-slavery immigrants and delivered a fiery speech in the legislature denouncing the society. In the 1850s the plantation became a magnet for German immigration into Fayette and Austin Counties. In this connection, Kearney explores the role and influence of Otto von Roeder, a largely neglected but important Texas-German. Another chapter deals with the odyssey of the extended von Rosenberg family, who settled on the plantation in 1850 and helped to elevate the nearby town of Round Top into a regional center of culture and education. Many members of the family subsequently rose to positions of leadership and influence in Texas. Several notable personalities graced the plantation--Carl Prince of Solms-Braunfels, Johann Otto Freiherr von Meusebach, botanist F. Lindheimer, and the renowned naturalist Dr. Ferdinand Roemer, to name a few. Dramatic events also occurred at the plantation, including a deadly shootout, a successful escape by two slaves (documented in an unprecedented way), and litigation over ownership that wound its way to both the Texas Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Material Culture of German Texans
Author: Kenneth Hafertepe
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
Published: 2016-06-21
Total Pages: 530
ISBN-13: 162349382X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWinner, 2019 San Antonio Conservation Society Foundation Book Award, sponsored by the San Antonio Conservation Society Foundation German immigrants of the nineteenth century left a distinctive mark on the lifestyles and vernacular architecture of Texas. In this first comprehensive survey of the art and artifacts of German Texans, Kenneth Hafertepe explores how their material culture was influenced by their European roots, how it was adapted to everyday life in Texas, and how it changed over time—at different rates in different communities. The Material Culture of German Texans is about the struggle to become American while maintaining a distinctive cultural identity drawn from German heritage. Including materials from rural, small town, and urban settings, this masterful study covers pioneer generations in East Texas and the Hill Country, but also follows the story into the Victorian era and the early twentieth century. Houses and their furnishings, churches and cemeteries, breweries and businesses, and paintings and engravings fill the pages of this thorough, informative, and richly illustrated volume. Recent decades have seen a sharp increase of the study of vernacular architecture (which can range from traditional building to ethnic expressions to landscape ensembles) and an intensified study of American furniture and other decorative arts. Incorporating these vernacular and decorative arts methods and building on the works of cultural geographers, curators, and historians, The Material Culture of German Texans offers a definitive contribution that will inform visitors to the region as well as those who study its history and culture.
The German Settlement of the Texas Hill Country
Author: Jefferson Morgenthaler
Publisher: Mockingbird Books
Published: 2016-07-01
Total Pages: 222
ISBN-13: 9781932801262
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is the story of the founding of New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, Comfort and the other German settlements of the Texas Hill Country. Refugees from economic and social strife in Germany, followed by idealistic communalists and liberal political refugees, came to the Hill Country looking for freedom and opportunity. Landing on the windswept shores of Matagorda Bay, they traced a path across the plains, seeking a future in the hills beyond. There they found a raw, untamed realm where few but Comanches dared go. Reaching for a promised land beyond the Llano River, the earliest immigrants soon realized that their dream was beyond their grasp, and had no choice but to adapt to the realities of the Texas frontier. Some fared well. Others succumbed to disease, injury, hunger and violence. Most stayed, but some retreated to less challenging locales. A remarkable few established outposts of intellectual fervor in pioneer settlements, debating the great ideas of the day in drafty log cabins. Bringing with them traditions and perspectives rooted in the feudal and despotic European past, the Germans learned to adjust to Texan and American notions, only to find themselves divided by the great controversy over slavery and secession. This is a story of hardy, industrious people transplanted into the most challenging of circumstances. It is a story of Texan pioneers.
Texas Almanac, 2000-2001 (Millennium Edition)
Author:
Publisher:
Published: 1999
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKVoyage to North America, 1844-45
Author: Carl Solms-Braunfels
Publisher: University of North Texas Press
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 268
ISBN-13: 9781574411249
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"Included in the Appendix are two additional important documents. First, is the diary of the colonial director of the Adelsverein, Alexander Bourgeois, who accompanied Solms until dismissed in August 1844. This record provides a unique counterpoint to Solms's viewpoint. The second is the Memoir on American Affairs, addressed to Queen Victoria. In this, written in 1845 some months after Solms's return to Germany, develops political views which were strongly influenced by Solms's stay in Texas."--BOOK JACKET.
German Pioneers in Texas
Author: Don H. Biggers
Publisher: Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum
Published: 1983-01-01
Total Pages: 230
ISBN-13: 9780890153857
DOWNLOAD EBOOKGerman Pioneers of Texas was first published shortly after the 75th anniversary of the founding of Fredericksburg, Texas. In addition to relating memoirs of the early settlers, the book also gives an insight into the history of the community as it was viewed by one who recorded it in what is now almost the midpoint of its history. As such, it is, in effect, a bridge between yesterday and today. The first printing was in 1925 and then reprinted in 1983. The third reprinting was on the occasion of Fredericksburg's 150th anniversary, in 1996. Many stories have been written and books published about the German settlement of Fredericksburg. They all provide this pioneer German settlement with excellent documentation of events in its founding, its colonization, its hardships, as well as its days of glory that have come in abundance.
German Immigrants in America
Author: Elizabeth Raum
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 112
ISBN-13: 1429613564
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDescribes the experiences of German immigrants upon arriving in America. The readers choices reveal historical details from the perspective of Germans who came to Texas in the 1840s, the Dakota Territory in the 1880s, and Wisconsin before the start of World War I.
Turning Germans Into Texans
Author: Matthew D. Tippens
Publisher:
Published: 2010-01
Total Pages: 270
ISBN-13: 9780984357208
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHere is the first full-scale discussion of the impact of World War I on ethnic Germans in Texas. Germans were among the first settlers to Texas, and contributed greatly to the growth of the state in the fields of business, religion, music, agriculture, ranching, and cultural activities. Despite such accomplishments, German Texans became the targets of an anti-German hysteria during World War I. In the lead up to America's entry into the war, German Texans were subjected to intense scrutiny. After the United States declared war against Germany in April 1917, the response to German-Texan activities lost all sense of proportion to the danger. Simply being German or using the German language aroused suspicion. In the state, people tarred and feathered, beat, and whipped German Texans. Based on extensive archival research, author Matthew D. Tippens details how the attackers intended to turn Germans into Texans using whatever means necessary. Following the war, the strive for "100% Americanism" by groups such as Ku Klux Klan continued the assault. Despite the years of attacks, by 1930, German-Texan culture, though not unscathed, proved that it had survived the war and would continue for several more decades.
