USA > Texas > History of the German element in Texas from 1820-1850, and historical sketches of the German Texas singers' league and Houston turnverein from 1853-1913, 1st ed > Part 10
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returned, Castro had contracted with McMullen to colonize his 17 leagues. In his diary Castro writes the following in reference to this transaction: "I understood that if he (Prince Solms) negotiated for the occupation of such a tract of land, my enterprise would be ruined, and, taking advantage of his absence, I entered into negotiations with McMullen and with the assistance of one of our most able and honorable attorneys, Mr. Vanderlip, made a contract with the said John McMullen to colonize his grant on cer- tain conditions. When the Prince returned to San Antonio he certainly was disappointed." Thus the Adelsverein un- fortunately was deprived of a most promising opportunity to acquire a large tract of fine farming land, near a city and other settlements and admirably suited for German col- onization.
In 1850 the first United States census in Texas was taken. Its figures of the number of Germans in Texas is far from being correct. It gives 8191 inhabitants as having been born in Germany. Under the auspices of the Adels- verein alone there had come to Texas 7380 immigrants, while in 1847, 1848 and 1849 about 15,000 more Germans had arrived, and more than 10,000 from 1830 to 1845. This makes a total of about 33,000 Germans in Texas in 1850. The number of deaths from 1830 to 1850, despite the fearful epidemics at New Braunfels and Fredericksburg in 1846, did certainly not exceed the number of births, as these pio- neers had plenty of children. In South and Southwest Texas many Germans lived in every town and city, while numer- ous settlements were entirely German, and have so remained to the present day.
The Germans comprised one-fifth of the total white pop- ulation of Texas in IS50. Of these 6000 lived in Eastern Texas, about equally divided between Harris and Galveston Counties ; 10,000 were in Central Texas, in Austin, Wash- ington, Fayette, Colorado, Milam, Bastrop, Travis and other counties, while more than 15.000 lived in Western
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Texas in the present counties of Comal, Bexar, Gillespie, Medina, Guadaloupe, De Witt, Victoria, Calhoun, Cald- well, Llano, Hays, Kerr and Gonzales. German influence in the development of Texas was very pronounced and can hardly be overestimated. Their intrepidity opened up a here- tofore unknown country and in exposed positions they firmly established their settlements and cultivated the virgin soil ; they as the first pioneers crossed the rivers and brooks of West Texas and won wide stretches of land from the Indians for the civilization of the white race. Their noble and courageous work should always be properly remem- bered.
CHAPTER XXIII. Industrial Establishments of the Early German Settlers and Their Relation to the Anglo-Saxons.
The generation of the twentieth century purchases almost every article or necessity "ready made." Ours is the age of factory products, manufactured by the million in the large and ever-growing industrial establishments of the manufacturing centers and sold in the humblest village everywhere. Sixty years ago this was very different. While, of course, many factories then also existed in the larger cities of the United States, the ready-made article did not control and absorb the entire market as at present. The mas- ter mechanic had a chance to work in his own shop, and al; articles made by him "to order," bearing a certain stamp of individuality, were vastly preferred to goods with the trademark of some factorv. Now the master mechanic, who could once point with pride to the products of his skill and workmanship, has almost disappeared, sacrificed on the altar of the factory-Moloch and trade monopolies. Whether this survival of the fittest in the onward march of civiliza- tion must be considered an undisguised blessing for the general public, or not, will not be discussed here.
Texas in 1850, being a new State, sparsely populated and far removed from the civilized part of the United States, had no factories at all. There were no cities in Texas then with more than 5000 inhabitants (Houston, Galveston and San Antonio). The nearest city of any consequence was New Orleans, that could be reached from Texas only by the old San Antonio wagon road or by ship from Galveston, a distance of nearly 400 miles. There were no railroads in Texas before 1860, when the Houston and Texas Central Railroad between Houston and Millican. So miles long, was built. Nine-tenths of the population of Texas in 1850 lived
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on isolated farms or in small settlements, of which New Braunfels, La Grange, Victoria, Fredericksburg, Castro- ville, Industry, Indianola, Cat Spring and Dhannies were the largest. The pioneer settlers led the most simple life imaginable and even the rich men of the cities did not en- joy any specail comfort or luxuries. Almost everything they used was either homegrown or homemade.
Life on the plantations, cultivated by slave labor, was quite different from that on German farms, or in German settlements. The planter and slave owner with his family generally indulged in a life of case and indolence, while on the German farms every member of the family worked continuously, often even on Sundays, using in Texas the same intensive system of agriculture as formerly in Ger- many, in order to clear their land not only of the trees, brush and weeds, but also of the mortgage in the hands of the great land owners, and thus become free and inde- pendent farmers in a free country.
Not only in the German settlements, but also in the cities almost all trades and industries were in the hands of thrifty and skilled German mechanics and tradesmen, while the Americans were generally restricted to the voca- tions of lawyers, physicians, civil engineers, bankers and brokers, land agents, lumbermen, wholesale merchants, cot- ton factors and public officials. With the German immi- grants of the thirties and forties a great many expert work- men and master mechanics had come to Texas, who con- tinued their trade in their new homes as in the Fatherland. But also many of the scientific men and the nobles who had arrived with the colonists of the Adelsverein, often en- gaged in some industrial or commercial enterprise with more or less success. Robert Kleberg for some time made cigars for the trade, while Dr. Kapp of Sisterdale offered his guests with pardonable pride Havanas grown on his own field and made with his own hands. Count Henkel von Donnersmark and Baron von Nauendorf sold liquor in New
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Braunfels, while Baron K. von Zypry dispensed the amber fluid of the New Braunfels brewery. Count von Donners- mark was also the owner of a grocery and hostelry and gained many thousand dollars every year. Dr. Roemer, in his book, "Texas" (1849), says: "Army officers, counts, barons, noblemen, are seen here transformed to ox drivers, teamsters, innkeepers, farmers and servants."
New Braunfels in 1847 had one physician, two drug stores, three bakeries, one brewery, four blacksmith shops, one locksmith, one gunsmith, two beer taverns, six carpen- ters, five stonemasons, three tanners, one upholsterer, two saddlers, eight cabinetmakers, three wagonmakers and one carriage factory, one brick kiln, a jeweler, several tailors, shoemakers and mechanics of almost every kind. Frederick Law Olmstead, who visited Texas in the early fifties, has the following to say about the German industries at New Braunfels: "I do not think that there is another town in the slave States in which the proportion to the whole pop- ulation of mechanics or of persons employed in the exercise of their own discretion in productive occupations, is one- quarter as large as in New Braunfels, unless it be some other in which the Germans are the predominating race."
In Galveston, Houston and San Antonio about two-fifths of the population were German in 1850, according to Kapp, while von Behr, writing in 1847, says that Galveston was more than half German; Comal and Gillespie Counties were exclusively German, and Medina and Austin Counties con- tained more German than American farmers. Nearly all local industries and work shops in the above mentioned cities were conducted by Germans, as were most of the re- tail stores and establishments. They were all small concerns compared with the stores of today, but sufficient for the wants and needs of that time, and most of the proprietors earned a comfortable living. From them grew many of the largest industrial establishments of Texas, and the founda- tion of the wealth of many of our rich merchants and pro-
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fessional men was laid 60 and 70 years ago in an insignifi- cant shop, behind which the family lived and toiled in a few small rooms.
The relations between the Germans and the Americans in Texas have not always been as friendly as they are now, or have been for the last 40 years. Before the Civil War there were many sources of disagreements between the two na- tionalities. Most of the Anglo-Americans in Texas between 1830-1850 had come from Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee or other slave States, where there were very few Germans, and the reputation and character of many Americans from the Northern States who had sought new homes in Texas, were not always above reproach, a great number of them being bold and unscrupulous adventurers, while most of the German immigrants were plain, unsophisticated peo- ple, striving by hard and conscientious labor to establish new homes for themselves and their families. The Ameri- can planter and slaveholder firmly believed that manual labor was degrading and looked with derision, mingled with contempt, ou the German farmer, plowing his fields and harvesting his crops. This mistaken conception of race superiority was the direct result of the American rule over slaves and continued for some time after the Civil War and after slavery was legally abolished. It is only during the last decades that the sound conviction is growing apace in the minds of all the people that honest labor of any kind should be properly respected. and we are now beginning to realize that we had been victims of the foolish fallacy that manual training is well enough only for those who can not do anything else.
The thousands of German farmers who were continuously and persistently toiling and improving their lands and crops, naturally became formidible competitors of slave labor on the American plantations and increased the lack of har- mony between these two different elements of population. The planters became jealous of the German immigrants.
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while the latter felt that slayery lessened their own value and favored the abolition of slavery from moral reasons.
The German farmers by cultivating their land more ju- diciously and using intelligent economy, often raised more cotton to an acre than the American planters, and the so- called "free cotton" often brought from 1 to 2 cents more per pound in the markets than that picked by slaves in the same locality. Thus the Germans not only disproved the general belief that cotton could be grown only by slave la- bor, but also proved that they could grow a superior grade of the staple. All this tended to strain the relations be- tween the Americans and Germans in Texas, and as the latter generally kept closely together in their settlements, they mingled but little with the Americans, except for busi- ness purposes, and the opportunity for becoming mutually better acquainted was but scant. Olmstead in his "Journey Through Texas in the Saddle," says: "The manners and ideals of the Texans and the Germans are hopelessly di- vergent. They make little acquaintance, observing one an- other, partly with unfeigned curiosity, often tempered with mutual contempt."
Now everything has changed. The Civil War, followed by the abolition of slavery, revolutionized the agricultural system in Texas, the large plantations either being changed into cattle ranches or divided up into small farms, that were either sold or rented to new settlers, and the aristocratic planter gradually disappeared. The Germans were assimi- lated to American views and ways, and the Americans be- gan to recognize the sterling worth of German immigration. Both nationalities now live and work in perfect harmony in friendly competition for the development of Texas and the continued glory of our great and powerful country.
,, Gefang erfreut bas Menfchenberg „,llebt wunderbare straft „In freude, jowie auch) im Schmerz „Or Wonn' und Eroft verichafit.
Houston Saengerbund ouston, Texas
Gegründet ben 6, Oftober 1883. Organifiert, ben 23, Dai 1884. Anforporiert ben 3, Juli 1890.
Chartermitglieder.
Chas. 5. Denne, Paul Fiepfchold, Sarl Gubin, Chas. 2. Dumler, Soe Reffel, Etto Breußner, M. Deifter, Gus. Hilfening, Chas. Hetzer, Lub. Ecard, M. U. S. Streit, Anton Brunner, William Rummer.
Beamte, 1912 - 13.
21. Dellberg Brajibent.
28. 3. Roblbauji
Vige Bräfibent.
21. Brunner Schatzmeister.
B. Suenger . . Gelretar.
Verwaltungsrat.
2. G. Miller, S. Bolfer, B. Bottler, Win. fuchs, F. Ditzfcholb, 21. Striegel, Noe I. Seifer, Sans Citrom, 5. Mbrecht.
Shormeifter : (5. 6. Vieb.
Anser Gruas mit hellem Klang, gilt deutscher Sitte, Brutsthem Đang!
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF
TEXAS GERMAN SINGERS' LEAGUE : (STAATS SAENGERBUND)
FROM 1853-1913
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE GERMAN STATE SAEN- GERBUND OF TEXAS.
For the fourth time in the interesting history of the Ger- man State Saengerbund of Texas the City of Houston will be host to the German singing societies that will gather here on May 5th for the celebration of the Twenty-ninth biennial State-Saengerfest. The city is ready to bid a hearty welcome to the German singers and greet them joy- fully with :-
"Seid uns willkommen Alle! Gegruesst mit Herz und Hand, Die Ihr des deutschen Liedes Euch freut in diesem Land !"
The Texas metropolis will entertain the singers royally. Like the Greeks of classical antiquity the Germans are the music-loving nation par excellence of the present time, and the love of song is particularly an innate gift with most of them. The hundreds of folksongs (Volkslieder), the origin of which in many cases cannot be traced, are sung with equal fervor by young and old in the sumptuous palaces of the nobility, as in the humblest cottages of the poor. While the German forests in spring and summer are filled with the joyous warblings of thousands of small singing birds, the highways and fields almost everywhere resound from the merry songs of a lonely wanderer, or the busy toilers of the soil, filling the air with mirth and glee.
The first singing societies ( Liedertafeln) in Germany were organized in the beginning of the last century by F. Zelter in Berlin and C. Zoellner in Frankfort-on-the-Main. and their compositions are still among the most favorite songs of the German singers everywhere. Their example workel like an inspiration : it was quickly followed by many teach- ers of music in North Germany and the beautiful cities along the blessed banks of the Rhine, Neckar and Main
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Rivers, and in a few years singing clubs were established in almost every city, large or small, in Western Germany. These singing societies soon became the social centers of the citizens of these towns and fostered a closer union and friendship among them. The first German National Saen- gerfest was celebrated with the greatest enthusiasm in Frankfort-on-the-Main, on July 28, 29 and 30th, 1838, and 760 singers from various cities between Manheim and Cob- lenz actively participated in the festival to offer homage at the altar of the fair muse Euterpe. The present member- ship of all singing societies in Germany is approximately 500,000 and more than 40,000 singers took part in the last National Saengerfest that was celebrated last summer in Nuernberg, Bavaria.
This inherent musical sentiment follows the German wherever he goes, and it may be of some interest to note that the first piano on Texas soil was brought here by Robert Kleberg, Sr., who emigrated to Texas with his family in 1834. This instrument unfortunately became a prey of the flames that destroyed Harrisburg in the spring of 1836, when the hordes of Santa Anna applied the torch to that thriving little town, and many a year passed before the soft strains of a piano were again heard in Texas.
The German immigrants that came to Texas in great numbers from 1815 to 1850 brought along an invisible passenger, "Das deutsche Lied" (the German Song). It accompanied them westward on their dreary march across the broad prairies, where many of the prospective settlers fell by the wayside from exposure and exhaustion, and es- tablished itself with the sturdy pioneers on the beautiful banks of the Comal and Piedernales, to cheer them in their daily toil and brighten their evenings at the fireside. Soon some congenial spirits met occasionally under the shady trees on the banks of the silvery Comal at New Braunfels, for the purpose of rehearsing and singing the cherished songs of the Fatherland. On March 2nd, 1850, on the an-
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niversary of the birth of the Republic of Texas, the singing society (Germania), the first singing club in Texas, was organized at New Braunfels. Shortly afterwards German singing clubs were started at Sisterdale, Austin, San An- tonio and La Grange, and in the summer of 1853 the "Ger- mania" sent out invitations to these societies to meet at New Braunfels on October 15 for the purpose of celebrating a German Saengerfest.
The First German Saengerfest in Texas.
"Lasst hell erklingen das deutsche Lied Dass weit es schalle durch Wald und Ried."
The singing societies of San Antonio, Austin and Sister- dale responded to the invitation, that was gladly accepted, and the people of New Braunfels at once began the erection of the first "Saengerhalle" in Texas, on the shady banks of the Gaudeloupe. Although the building was but a rough and primitive structure and the decorations of the simplest, the lack of fineries and modern comfort was amply re- placed by the true and unfeigned enthusiasm of all partici- pants, and very likely no subsequent Saengerfest in Texas was celebrated more joyfully and with greater zeal and earnestness than this first festival in New Braunfels. The little burg was all astir, bustle and expectation and young and old vied with each other in preparing a royal welcome to the expected guests. When the day for the opening of the Saengerfest had arrived, it looked as if a superior force would prevent the assembling of the German singers at the young settlement. Diluvial rains that had poured down for more than a week, had changed all the creeks and rivers in West Texas into raging torrents, while the roads were al- most impassable. But all these obstacles could not deter the singing societies from fulfilling their promise given to the New Braunfels Club. The singing societies from San Antonio succeeded only with great difficulty in crossing the Salado and Cibolo Creeks, and the Austin singers for a time doubted whether they should risk the crossing of the
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swollen Blanco River, or not. After long deliberation the attempt was finally made at the risk of their lives, and when they reached the opposite banks they found that nearly all of their effects, including their music books, had been car- ried away by the waters. All they had saved besides their lives was their banner.
All the singers from San Antonio, Austin and Sisterdale, however, arrived at the proper time, October 15, in New - Braunfels, amid the merry cheers of the whole populace, and notwithstanding the fact that the way from the town to the "Saengerhalle" could be made only by wagon, or on horseback, through mire, mud and water, almost everybody in New Braunfels attended the concert of the singing so- cieties on the evening of October 16th. Unbounded en- thusiasm prevailed, the Saengerfest became a true Volks- fest and the general arrangement committee, consisting of Messrs. G. Eisenlohr, F. Moureau, H. Seele, J. Eggeling and F. Mueller saw with great satisfaction that their un- tiring efforts were crowned with success.
The following singers participated in the concert that be- gan at six o'clock in the evening, viz. :-
From San Antonio: Fritz Voelkerath, J. Konzen. C. Lane, W. Richter, J. Schmitt, A. Senz. A. Eule. G. Schleich- er, F. Enderle, A. Move, G. Freiselben, Duerler, Lemelson, C. Lege, Elbers, Alex. Strator, J. Conrad, Th. Conrad, Fr. Oswald, J. Riotte and Dr. Adolf Douai, leader.
Sisterdale : Ottomar von Behr, L. von Donop, W. Rho- dius, and A. Siemering, leader.
Austin : G. Petmesky, C. Zuschlag, two brothers Press- ler, H. Brognaar, Rindel, Aug. Neumann, Wilhelm Schultz, Oppelt. Domsky, Peter Klebar, P. Schmidt, Wm. Kuhfuss, and W. Schmitz; leader unknown.
To these forty singers must be added the "Germania" of New Braunfels, with twenty-four voices, under the leader- ship of H. Guenther.
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The following interesting program was ably rendered amid the enthusiastic applause of the whole audience :--
PART I.
I. Vaterlandslied, A. Marschner, Masschorus.
2. Liebeschmerz, Volksong, Austin Society.
3. Minnelied, J. Otto, Germania Singing Society.
4. Der Tanz, Walz by Otto, San Antonio Society.
5. Das treue deutsche Herz, by J. Otto, Germania.
6. Trinklied, by C. Kreutzer, Sisterdale Quartette.
PART 2.
I. An die Freundschaft, by A. Neithardt, Masschorus.
2. Lebewohl, by F. Silcher, Austin Society.
3. Song of the Spiritis Above the Waters, by Goethe, Sis- terdale Quartette.
4. Schlosserlied, by J. Otto, Germania Singing Society.
5. Was ist des Deutschen Vaterland, by Cotta, San An- tonio Singing Society.
6. Jaegers Abschied, by Mendelsohn, Masschorus.
After the concert an informal dance was quickly ar- ranged, and although the rain came through the leaky roof in several places, not only the young, but also the older people enjoyed the sport until the early dawn of morning.
During the intermission between the first and second part of the concert, Mr. Hermann Seele, the Mayor of New Braunfels, and the principal of the New Braunfels Acade- my, delivered the oration, an eloquent panegyric of the German song, and after him Dr. Douay and A. Simering spoke feelingly on the universal liberty of mankind and of the unlimited prospects of the pioneer settlers in the young State of Texas.
After the concert a brief meeting was held, in which a resolution was offered and unanimously passed that an- other, second Saengerfest, should be celebrated next year in San Antonio.
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This second Saengerfest took place on the 14, 15 and 16th of May, 1854, and the singing societies of Austin, La Grange, New Braunfels, Sisterdale and San Antonio par- ticipated in the festivities. It would go far beyond the space alloted to this sketch to publish all the programs of the different Saengerfests, and it must suffice to state that the songs rendered at the second and third Saengerfests did not materially differ in style of composition and diffi- culty of production from those of the first Saengerfest and were all sung a capella.
On March 16, 1854, the last day of the second Saenger- fest, according to prearranged plans, a German convention in "Vauxhall Garden" on Alamo Street was held, the pro- gram of which had been suggested by the political econo- mists and idealists of Sisterdale, where Ottomar von Belir, A. Siemering and Dr. Kapp were strenuously agitating the principles of social and political freedom and equality, and earnestly advocating the general brotherhood of mankind. Through the eloquence of these men, ably assisted by Dr. Adolf Douay and F. Tielepape, resolutions were adopted demanding the abolishing of capital punishment, the for- bidding of speculation in land values, an income and inheri- tance tax, and declaring slavery a monstrous social wrong that should be abolished in conformity with the Constitu- tion of the United States which declared in emphatic terms that "all men are born free." This resolution also urged non-interference of the United States in the slavery ques- tion, but after a State or Territory had abolished slavery, or wished to do so, it should be sustained by the Federal Government.
All these resolutions of the German convention are con- vincing proof of the radical progressiveness of the German pioneers in Texas, a progressiveness that was far in ad- vance of the times, but somewhat utopian in character. While the participants in the German convention gave an unmistakable proof of the courage of their convictions, their
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public declaration in favor of abolishing slavery in a slave state must be styled an imprudent temerity, as it placed them in direct opposition to the majority of the Americans in Texas, and added materially to increase a feeling of dis- trust, that the American planters and slave holders held against the German farmers and the Germans generally.
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