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 9
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After an unsuccessful attempt made by Commissioner General Spiess on October 28, 1847, to oust Schubert from
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Nassau by force, during which an American named Sum- mers, and a German painter, by name of Rohrdorf, were killed, the claims of Schubert were finally compromised by paying $4000, after which he returned to Germany. Later he published several sensational novels about Texas life under the nom de plume "Armand," that excelled in the description of the most thrilling adventures and bloody combats.
Then Otto von Roeder was appointed superintendent of the farm Nassau. In 1849 he bought the property from the bankrupt Adelsverein for $18,000, which amount the Adelsverein owed him for corn and flour, and sold part of the lands in small tracts to new German settlers. Two years later, in 1851, execution of a judgment of $150 against the defunct Adelsverein was ordered by the court at LaGrange and as von Roeder steadfastly refused to pay this, the remaining property of farm Nassau was sold at sheriff's sale to Mr. James Chandler for 4 cents the acre. The appeal of von Roeder was carried to the United States Supreme Court. This tribunal rendered its final de- cision in 1865, in which it declared that the Adelsverein had never been the legal owner of farm Nassau, as it was neither incorporated in Germany, nor in the United States. The judgment of the lower court was confirmed and von Roeder lost all.
Herman Spiess, who had been tried for the murder of Captain Summers at LaGrange in the fall of 1848 and ac- quitted by a jury composed of none but Americans, re- mained commissioner general of the Adelsverein in Texas until 1852, but had very little to do, except representing the Verein in litigation before the courts of Fayette, Bexar, and Harris Counties. He was replaced in 1852 by former Lieutenant Bene, who was the last official representative of the Adelsverein in Texas. After another year of prac- tical inactivity the Verein withdrew finally from Texas, by assigning on September 13, 1853, all its property in
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Texas, and all rights derived from the colonization grant to its Texas creditors. This was the ignominious finale of the ostentatious colonization enterprise of German no- bility, conceived in arrogance and carried out in the most incompetent manner imaginable.
After the actual collapse of the Adelsverein Fisher and Miller tried to reap the profits of the land grant that they had sold to the Adelsverein for themselves. On August 23, 1851, they appeared before Granville H. Sherwood, commissioner for the Fisher and Miller grant, and stated under oath that the German Immigration Company (the Adelsverein), had introduced and settled in Texas 1600 families and 1000 single men, and therefore was entitled to 160 sections of 640 acres each and 100 half sections of 320 acres, a total of 134,400 acres, as the stipulated pre- mium for the settling of European immigrants. It will be remembered that Fisher and Miller were represented by three votes in the "Colonialrat" of the Adelsverein, but in 1851, this committee had ceased to exist for several years. Despite this fact, Fisher and Miller had procured judg- ment, which ordered that the certificates and title to these 134,400 acres should be made out in their name. Com- missioner Sherwood did so, but the Commissioner of the General Land Office refused to issue the patents for the land demanded. When the petition of Fisher and Miller to legalize their claim came up in the House of Repre- sentatives in the spring of 1852, the Hon. Sam Maverick of Bexar County, opposed it vehemently in a forceful speech that concluded with the following words:
"They (Fisher and Miller) say that they have judgment for their claim; it is a snap judgment secured in a dark corner ; it is a fraud, a fraud!" The House then rejected the petition. (Meusebach. Ans. p. 9.)
CHAPTER XXI. Criticism of the Adelsverein.
Much has been written about the Adelsverein. Dr. F. Kapp, A. Sicmering, J. von Meusebach, William von Ro- senberg, L. F. Lafrentz, A. Eickhoff, Alvin H. Soergel, Dr. Roemer and G. G. Benjamin have all contributed to its pathetic history. They all are unanimous in their strong condemnation of its methods, but some of them vary greatly about the motives, that induced German princes and noblemen to engage in an emigration and coloniza- tion project, while some of the authors mentioned above do not touch the interesting, but intricate question of the motives of the Adelsverein at all.
Eickhoff simply calls the enterprise "A tragedy of er- rors," while Dr. Kapp, who visited Texas in 1852, reaches the following conclusion: "I am far from accusing this noble association, as has been often done, of an intentional deception of the emigrants, or of a speculation for mon- etary gain. This accusation is absurd, because men of the exalted position of the founders of the Adelsverein, and among them very wealthy princes, would have found much nearer and safer places for speculation, if they really wished to engage in it, than the then uncivilized Texas. Aside from this, considering the most honorable, public spirited and unblemished character of the members of the Verein, I am firmly convinced of their philanthropic intentions. As they spoke in their public announcements, men only can speak who are firmly convinced of the purity and un- selfishness of their enterprise." (F. Kapp, "Aus und über America," Berlin, 1876.)
A. Siemering, on the other hand, asserts that the Adels- verein was organized and manipulated in the interest of England and was paid by the English Government to di-
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rect German immigration to Texas, for the purpose of pre- venting annexation to the United States and abolishing slavery in Texas, thus erecting a barrier against the spreading of slavery, as well as against the extension of the United States.
I am constrained to differ with both Kapp and Siem- ering. The latter's assumption that the Adelsverein was an agency of British diplomacy and was subsidized by England, is made without any basis of truth and unsub- stantiated by any documentary evidence. Siemering was an inveterate revolutionist, who hated the very name of royalty or prince, and this bitter aversion led him to im- pute sinister motives to any of their actions. His impu- tation does not deserve serious consideration.
It is true that England wished to prevent annexation of Texas to the United States and that the English Gov- ernment and the strong abolitionist party in England fa- vored the abolishment of slavery as much in Texas as anywhere, but when the Adelsverein started its coloniza- tin movement in the fall of 1844, all chances of England to get control of Texas by advancing a loan to the Re- public and making a commercial treaty with it, had van- ished through the election of Polk to the presidency of the United States in 1844, which meant the final annexa- tion of Texas. Before the news of Polk's election spread in Texas, Anson Jones, opposed to annexation and leaning toward England, which had dropped its former demand for abolishment of slavery in Texas in return of En- gland's recognition of the independence of Texas, had been elected President of the Republic and for a short time it seemed as if England would yet receive control of Texas and the Gulf of Mexico. Prince Solms, who was then at Galveston, sent President Jones the following let- ter, dated December 3, 1844 :
"To His Excellency. President Anson Jones.
"Honored Sir: I send you these lines to express my
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deep regret that I cannot be present at your inauguration as President of the Republic, but, my emigrants having just arrived, makes my presence at Lavaca Bay impera- tive. I spoke today with General Duff Green, Consul of the United States in Galveston, and from his words I could instantly interpret the meaning of his mission. He spoke of a threatening attack by Mexico and advises an- nexation to the United States. It is my duty to inform you, that my last dispatches from Europe apprise me that annexation would mean a possible war between England and the United States. Green shall urge us to a war with Mexico, and promises assistance of the United States.
"I am at your service and ready to visit Santa Anna, or in any other way to act according to your wishes.
"Karl, Prince von Solms."
All European citizens of Texas were against annexation, because they were against slavery and believed this odious institution could be more easily abolished if Texas re- mained independent, than if it should join the United States.
Captain George Elliot, the English diplomatic agent for Texas, offered an English loan of £5,000,000 sterling and exerted his whole influence against annexation, and as the Oregon question became an important factor at that time, the situation seemed favorable for England's aspira- tions in regard to Texas. But President Tyler and his Secretary of State, Calhoun, were equal to the occasion and the Gordian knot of the Texas question was settled on the last day of President Tyler's administration, when on March 3, 1845, he signed the joint resolution of Con- gress authorizing the annexation of Texas. On the same day Calhoun sent a dispatch to Texas, offering the army and navy of the United States to Texas in case of war with Mexico, and the American agents kept up an active agitation, urging the people of Texas "to return to their father's home." In a general election, held on October
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13, 1845, the annexation of Texas was almost unanimously ratified, and on February 19, 1846, President Anson Jones handed over the executive authority to Pinckney Hen- derson, first Governor of the State of Texas.
Thus, the annexation of Texas to the United States, that had dragged for almost ten years, was accomplished and, as demonstrated, above, the Adelsverein could not be of any service to England's aspirations, although its in- terest lay in the same direction.
An independent Republic of Texas, politically and finan- cially weak, was more favorable, yea, even indispensable, to the purpose of the Adelsverein than the sovereign State of Texas, a member of the powerful United States. The real object of the Adelsverein, as expressed in their first declar- ation from Biebrich in 1842, was "the purchase and acqui- sition of lands in the free State of Texas." Through the arbitrary actions of Napoleon, later sanctioned by the Congress of Vienna, many petty principalities in Western Germany had been abolished, and their former sovereign rulers were reduced to simple lords of their private fam- ily estates. These estates were entailed by the law of pro- geniture to fall always to the eldest son or nearest male heir, leaving the other sons and daughters of these de- posed princes and landgraves in comparative indigence and dependency. Then Texas arose as the bright star of hope from its unknown darkness through the glowing de- scriptions of Hecke, Sealsfield, Duden and others. and as these noble lords had but a very dim knowledge of the real conditions in Texas, they readily grasped the idea of procuring estates for their offspring in this land of fabled beauty and grandeur. The philanthropy of which Dr. Kapp speaks, was exclusively directed toward their sons and relatives, for which they desired to establish large estates on which they could live properly as lords and barons. The German immigrants were simply a necessity and the Adelsverein expected that the princes and counts
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would be able to keep them always in a kind of dependency so that they had some real subjects to rule. This might have been barely possible if Texas had remained an inde- pendent republic, but as a sovereign State of the great American Union, Texas was no longer a proper field for aristocratic feudal estates. As soon as it became known in Europe that the annexation of Texas was a foregone. conclusion, Prince Solms' mission had come to an end. He was recalled and glad to leave a country, the very air of which seemed to infuse democratic tendencies into former loyal subjects, who had grossly offended the Prince's feelings by hoisting a Texas flag on the square in New Braunfels, while Prince Solms had unfurled the Austrian banner (there being no German flag in 1845) on the Sophienburg.
That the Adelsverein, or its leading director, Count Castell, showed very little consideration for the emigrants, is sufficiently demonstrated by the careless manner in which the financial matters were handled, which for him and the members of the general committee seemed always to be of secondary importance. To one of von Meuse- bach's many appeals for funds, he briefly answered on March 24, 1846: "The general committee did make the mistake of sending the immigrants, but not the money re- quired for their transportation."
The history of the Adelsverein was not only a tragedy of errors, as Eickhoff says, but a gross and inexcusable deception from beginning to end, probably an uninten- tional deception, as F. Kapp states, but, nevertheless, a deception that was almost criminal and that points to a very poor development of the intellectual faculties of its leading members.
Some writers state that Count Castell wished to emu- late the British East India Company in Texas. This as- sumption seems almost too far fetched for serious consid- eration, but, if the Adelsverein and Count Castell should
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have harbored such an absurd idea, it is only further proof of the haziness of their immature plans. The Adels- verein was the direct opposite of the East India Company. The latter was an organization of shrewd and energetic business men, having a set purpose in mind that was car- ried out systematically and with an unwavering determi- nation, while the princes and lords of the Adelsverein were as incompetent in business affairs as children and their plans visionary and totally impracticable. Business men were rigorously barred from this association "inter pares." Then the conditions existing in India were en- tirely different from those in Texas. The East Indies were a country inhabited by more than 150,000,000 people, who enjoyed a certain Oriental civilization, and were ready to buy European manufactured goods in exchange for the rich tropical products of their fertile country, their gold and precious stones, while Texas in 1844 did not have more than 120,000 white inhabitants and otherwise was almost barren of civilization and cultivation. There were no articles of export in Texas besides cotton, and its needs for industrial products of Europe were insignificant.
It is therefore hardly conceivable that the Adelsverein, or Count Castell, even with their limited knowledge of Texas, entertained the plan of a commercial organization, and the plain fact remains that they only hoped to acquire extensive landed estates for their families with the least possible expense. Ottomar von Behr in his book, "Ad- vice to Immigrants" (Leipzig, 1847), says that "the Adels- verein wished to establish in Texas a feudal State, which would lend money to the settlers. and, by keeping them in a more or less dependent state, they would be treated, in a way, as mere subjects."
To satisfy this desire was the Adelsverein's first and only aim, and on account of a total ignorance of Texas and a stupendous credulity the directorate of the society of noblemen fell an easy prey to scheming promoters, but
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it is not only subjected to severest criticism for the de- plorable inefficiency with which the financial affairs were conducted, but must also be condemned for the wanton sacrifice of hundreds of lives of immigrants who had im- plicit faith in the pledges and promises of their princes and sovereigns.
Although the Adelsverein had been practically bank- rupt since the beginning of 1847, the directorate of this society still continued to make contracts, promising not only land, but also a small block house to cach emigrant, but the latter was never furnished, and even the land was generally so far from any organized settlement that many of the prospective settlers preferred to drop their con- tract with the Adelsverein when they reached Galveston. The diary of C. Groos, grandfather of Hon. C. J. von Ro- senberg, LaGrange, shows that he emigrated to Texas in the fall of 1848 under a contract with the Adelsverein, according to which he was to receive 320 acres of good, tillable land and a block house. After his landing at Galveston with his family of eight children, he found that he could neither receive the land nor the house. He therefore went to Fayette County, where he bought a small tract of the farm Nassau from von Roeder, who then was the de facto owner of this farm. Von Roeder gave Groos credit for the $100 paid by the latter to the Adelsverein for free transportation to West Texas and the promised house, and even allowed $40 interest. of the eight children of C. Groos, who arrived in Texas with their father in 1848, three are still living, Mrs. Emilie Giesecke and Adolph Groos of San Antonio and Mrs. Wilhelmina Giesecke. widow of Captain Julius Giesecke, at New Braunfels.
CHAPTER XXII. The Revolution of 1848 and Its Effects on German Emi- gration.
In the year 1848 continental Europe experienced another momentous political upheaval. The signal was again given in Paris, where on February 24, Louis Philipp of Orleans, the citizen-king, was forced to abdicate and the republic proclaimed. This was followed in March by a general up- rising of the people in Berlin, Vienna and many other cities throughout the German States. "Down with Metternich and his system," was not only the cry of the inhabitants of Vi- enna, but was shouted aloud by the infuriated masses every- where in Germany. The Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia were compelled to grant their people the long promised constitutional government, but the uprising in Baden in 18.19 was forcibly put down by Prussian regiments, and the reaction following forced many of the best German patriots who had taken part in the revolution to seek safety in Switzerland, England and America.
This exodus of university professors, literary men, artists and students from every German State was considerably augmented by thousands of mechanics and farmers who were driven from their homes by unbearable administrative ordinances and annoying police surveillance, and "the Forty- eighters," as these immigrants were generally called, were soon to be found in great numbers in New York, Illinois, Chio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri and Texas. The wave of immigration ran high in 1848 and 1849, and the quota that Texas received did certainly not fall much below the number of immigrants in 18.17, when, according to Franz von Loeher, 8000 Germans landed in Galveston. It is im- possible to state the accurate number as all shipping lists from 18.40-1860 were destroyed in the Galveston storm of 1900.
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. Most of the German immigrants coming to Texas were peasants and mechanics, but as in the carly thirties, so it was in 1848 and 1849, that quite a number of highly edu- cated men were among them. The most noted of them were Dr. Adolf Douay, Dr. E. Runge, Ed Degener, Ottmar von Behr, A. von Westphal, Prof. Rodius, Dr. Ernst Kapp, Julius Dressel, Captain E. B. H. Schneider and Dr. A. Hertzberg. Dr. Douay was the founder of the first Ger- man newspaper in San Antonio in 1854, and fearlessly but very uncautously advocated abolition of slavery. When the tension between pro and antislavery parties grew, he was forced to sell his paper and leave the State. Edward Deg- ener represented the Fourth Congressional district of Texas in Washington from 1870-1874, after which he retired from public life, living in San Antonio until his death in 1891, beloved and esteemed by thousands of friends.
Prof. Ernst Kapp, former teacher at the College of Min- den, Westphalia, was the author of a scientific "Compara- tive Geography" and a brother of Dr. Frederick Kapp, men- tioned in a preceding chapter. E. B. H. Schneider, one of the founders of the Houston Turnverein in 1854, was cap- tain of the Turner Rifles during the war of secession and was wounded at Galveston at the capture of the sloop Har- riet Lane. He died in Houston, where he had lived for 54 years, on January 1, 1903. Except Captain Schneider, all of the men mentioned above had lived for some years at Sisterdale, northwest of San Antonio, that became known as the Latin settlement. Sisterdale, so named from two mountains overlooking the valley and traversed by the Sister Creek, formed by two brooks that run in a parallel direc- tion for miles, is a most beautiful and romantic spot of West Texas. The first house in the valley was built in 1847 by Lieutenant Colonel Zink, who had plotted New Braunfels in 1845, but becoming dissatisfied, had moved westward. Being enthusiastic over the picturesque scenery of Sisterdale, he decided to make the valley his future home
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and built his block house on Sister Creek near where it empties into the Guadalupe River. He was soon joined by Ottomar von Behr, who erected his home on the west- ern banks of the Guadalupe, on a prominence overlooking the valley, with a magnificent view of the beautiful pano- rama of hills and dale. Then Edward Degener, Professor Kapp, Dr. Douay, von Westphal, Dr. Runge, von Donop, von Meusebach and other men of culture and means ar- rived, all of whom were accomplished Greek and Latin scholars, but, except Degener, knew almost nothing about farming. The "Latin Settlement" had been born -- a library of the ancient and modern classics was to be found in al- most every house and the latest products of literature were eagerly read and discussed at the weekly meetings of these gentlemen farmers at the school house. It sometimes oc- curred at these meetings that Comanches stood listening gravely at the open door, while one of the Latin farmers was lecturing on the socialistic theories of St. Simon or Fourier. Their social life was most refined and reached its climax when Prince Paul of Wuerttemberg, brother of the reigning King, arrived at Sisterdale. Prince Paul was a naturalist and botanist of note and during his extensive travels had also come to Texas, where he was highly pleased to find real drawing-room conversation on the borders of civilization.
These men of Sisterdale were strict abolitionists and in 1853 organized a political society, the "Freier Verein" (free association ), that called a German convention in May, 1854, which assembled at San Antonio. Among the resolutions adopted by this convention was one declaring that "Slavery is an evil and should be abolished." This was in full accord with the sentiments of all Germans in Texas, who, like Sam Houston, in 1861 tried to prevent Texas from joining the secession. In the "San Antonio Zeitung" they had an organ that ably and aggressively advocated their abolition- istic doctrines and during the war between the States the
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unionistic feeling throughout West Texas was quite pro- nounced.
The Latin Settlement did not survive the Civil War. Its fame came to an end with the death or removal of its founders. Degener and Dressel were taken to San Antonio in 1862 as prisoners of war, and although soon discharged, did not return to Sisterdale. Von Donop was killed by In- dians, Dr. Runge died and Dr. Knapp returned to Ger- many in 1864. O. von Behr died during a voyage to Ger- many and others moved to San Antonio or Austin. As in the colony Bettina, so in Sisterdale the places of the lit- erary men were taken by German farmers, and the scientific discussions on the merits of the epics of Virgil and Homer were replaced by the more practical conversations about agricultural requirements.
Many writers of Texas history name Castroville among the early German settlements. This is not proper, because Henry Castro, the founder, was a Frenchman, and his col- onists came mainly from Belgium and Alsace, which in 1844 still belonged to France, although most of the Alsa- tians spoke German and acknowledged to be Germans after the Franco-German war of 1870-1871. Castro's grant was from 25 to 50 miles west of San Antonio in the present counties of Medina, Frio and Uvalde, and its location, al- though near the Mexican boundary, was, at that time, far better adapted to European colonization than the Fisher and Miller grant, 150 miles north of it. When Prince Solms arrived at San Antonio on July 27, 1844, he at once began negotiations for the purchase of 17 leagues (75,276 acres) of land directly northeast of Castro's grant and owned by a citizen of San Antonio named John McMullen. Castro, whose first colonists had just then arrived at San Antonio, was absent on his grant, looking for a suitable place to establish his first settlement. When he returned to San Antonio on July 31, Prince Solms had started for the land he expected to buy for the German colonists. Before he
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