By Myra Lee Adams Goff

“Connecticut Yankees in Prince Carl’s Court” might describe the Torrey brothers, John F., Tudor, Abraham, George, David, and Thomas. They were indeed from Connecticut and three of them did end up in Prince Carl’s domain. One of them, John, stayed.

If you look at the 1850 map, you will see a street named Yankee Strasse parallel to the Comal River. It was next to the property on which John Torrey put his first mill. Yankee Street is no more and what used to be called Market Road was renamed Torrey Street.

In 1838 we find the Torrey brothers engaging in a merchandising company near Houston located on a hill about two miles from the Brazos River. The brothers were “closely associated with Sam Houston’s efforts to establish friendly relations with Indians in Texas”. (Source: Oscar Haas) Indians hunted hides of buffalo, deer, raccoon, cougar, beaver, antelope, bobcats, grey wolf hides and they were traded for provisions that the Indians wanted. The hides were processed by the Torreys and sent all over the United States, even Canada. Mules were also traded. Most of the mules were captured by the Comanches on their annual raids in the northern province of Mexico. (Source: Roemer)

The Torrey brothers furnished wagons, teams, and provisions for the first German emigrants coming to NB from the coast. The company also supplied guns and swords for Prince Carl’s mounted soldiers. As a result, John Torrey accompanied the emigrants to NB and there established a trading house. The first corn crop from the settlers was ground by a horse-powered grinding mill for 10 cents a bushel. This establishment was at the intersection of San Antonio and Hill Streets.

Three of the Torrey brothers married in New Braunfels; John married Laura Dittmar, George married Mary Frances Taylor, and Tudar married Annie Weir. The 1860 census for Comal County lists John Torrey, wife Laura, daughter Emma, son John; also Abraham Torrey and the Torrey’s father, Jacob.

An interesting family connection to George Torrey is that his wife’s father was Matthew Taylor, who was the proprietor of Taylor Hotel (former Comal House) located where the Pfeuffer Law Offices are now. During the Civil War, Matthew Taylor became the tax assessor and collector in Comal County of Confederate States War Tax. The rate was 50 cents for $100 value.

In 1848 John Torrey began his manufacturing ventures big time.  He received a permit to build a water powered grist and saw mill on the Comal River at the foot of Mill St. To this he added the manufacturing of wheat flour and a shop to produce doors, sashes, and blinds. In 1861 this three story timber constructed building was destroyed by fire in the early morning hours.

Not giving up, Torrey in 1863 received a charter from the State of Texas to import cotton cloth weaving machinery, duty free, from Mexico. He built a three story stone building at the same site on the Comal and went into partnership with the Runge Brothers of Indianola. Once again, Nature swooped down and a tornado in 1869 took off the third floor where the looms for manufacturing cotton cloth were located. He put a roof on the second floor and continued operation.

Three years later the Comal River went on a flooding rampage and totally collapsed the newly renovated stone building, plus the rebuilt dam and a nearby iron bridge. The only thing left is part of the Torrey Mill foundation visible at the Clemens Dam area at the foot of Mill Street.

That was it for John Torrey. He left New Braunfels and lived out the rest of his life on land that he had purchased in 1843 in Hood County. He died in 1893. Although he gave eight acres of land to establish the Comal Cemetery, he is not buried there.

CAPTION: Descendants of Torrey gather at the marker placed at site of first grist and flour mill. Erected by the State Centennial Historic Committee on Oct. 9, 1936, the marker can be seen near the tube chute.

Descendants of Torrey gather at the marker placed at site of first grist and flour mill. Erected by the State Centennial Historic Committee on Oct. 9, 1936, the marker can be seen near the tube chute.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Next week is Valentine’s Day and the Sophienburg has a display of about 30 of their historic valentines from the early 1900s to the 1950s. The most elaborate and beautiful card is a zephyr (hot air balloon) decorated with a technique called “honeycomb”. Parts of the card fold down and paper doilies are the predominant decoration. The cards are in a display case next to the front desk.

The message and subject on the card gives you a clue to its date. In the early 1900s the message was very sentimental, like “With fond and true affection” and “Sincere and true is my love for you” and decorations looked Victorian with hearts and flowers. Remember the Campbell’s Kids on the soup cans? We have a valentine with those kids and that puts it in the 1920-30 era. Valentine postcards were a big thing. Some are sentimental, but many are humorous, like “I’m looking for one like you to spend my money on”. That one wasn’t signed.

Almost everyone has a Valentine story. One of my favorite stories came from Janelle Berger who told me that when her husband, Dr. Chuck Berger, was in medical practice here in New Braunfels, he accepted a lady’s valentine collection as payment for medical treatment.

While I was teaching, I would wear my 1941 heart bracelet on February 14. The bracelet has 30 hearts engraved with friends and family names. The hearts were soldered on because my mother knew that I liked to take things apart. I used the bracelet to tell the students about WWII and NB. One heart actually has 1941 engraved on the back - the year the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

Five of the hearts predictably have American flags and one has the Liberty Bell which became the icon of defense bond sales. Three hearts have tropical scenes with palm trees, ocean shores, no doubt because of America’s involvement in the South Pacific.

One heart I found at the bottom of Landa Park pool when it was being drained and cleaned. One heart was a sample from Vollmar’s Five and Dime. I didn’t know the “Catherine” that was engraved on the back, but the Vollmars were friends of my family and I was often the recipient of such goodies.

I see that my cat Snoopy went down to Roth’s Jewelry to buy a small heart with a stone on it. Roth’s Jewelry hearts were engraved with a machine and some have beautiful enameled surfaces. Snoopy had good taste.

Heart bracelets were outlawed at school.  I suppose that anything that takes 20 or 30 people to put together makes too much noise. Thank you, Mother, for not letting me take my bracelet apart.

There are as many versions as to how Valentine’s Day started as there are valentines. The history is both interesting and bazaar. Here’s one: In Roman Empire days, the Romans engaged in a pagan practice of putting the names of teenage girls in a box and adolescent boys would draw a name at random. The girls were then assigned to live with the boys for a year, celebrating a young man’s rite of passage. Early church leaders, objecting to this practice and determined to replace this pagan Lupercalia festival on February 14th, substituted St. Valentine, a bishop who had been martyred two hundred years earlier for secretly  marrying couples after Emperor Claudius II banned marriage. February 14th then became St. Valentine’s Day in his honor. The box idea lived on, and with time, into the box were put names of saints. Both men and women drew a name and in turn promised to live like that saint. St. Valentine was the most popular saint.  Valentine boxes have changed dramatically over the years!

Think about this: Valentines have evolved to the Internet. Is the meaning still the same?

Happy Valentine’s Day from the Sophienburg Collection Ladies. Top row, L-R Ann Giambernardi, Georgia Banta, Yvonne Rahe. Sitting, L-R Virginia Nowotny, Madelyn Harris, Helen Hoffmann

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

The name Johann Jacob Rahm is not a very familiar one in New Braunfels – nothing is named after him, no street or school like after Solms, Seele, or Lindheimer. But Rahm is perhaps the one person who actually was the most influential in the selection of this site to become New Braunfels.

Here’s the story: Rahm was in Texas about 10 years before the first settlers arrived here in 1844. Hailing from Schaffhausen in Switzerland, little is known of his background. After arriving in Texas we know he was a private in Captain Thomas J. Morgan’s Company G of the Republic of Texas Army in 1836. Everett Fey’s book, “New Braunfels, The First Founders” has Rahm serving in the Santa Fe Expedition of 1841 organized by Republic of Texas President Lamar to open trade with Mexico. Rahm was captured and marched to Mexico. Later, returning to Texas, Rahm enlisted in Col. Jack Coffee Hays’ Texas Rangers on June 1, 1843.

According to Fey, while he was on a surveying expedition with Hays, Rahm was captured by Indians on the Comal River. He thereby became familiar with the area that the Indians called “Los Fontanas” or “the springs”.

Supposedly Rahm helped out the abandoned colonists of Henry Castro. He fed them with his own resources, provided for the sick, and helped them in other ways. As a result of this help, he attracted the attention of Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels who persuaded the Adelsverein to present Rahm and his superior Col. Hays with rifles as tokens of their admiration.

In March, 1845, Prince Carl came to San Antonio hoping to find a way-station for the settlers before they arrived at their final destination which originally was to be the San Saba and Llano Rivers. Prince Carl met up with Rahm once again in San Antonio and

Rahm told him of the beautiful spot between two rivers, the Comal and Guadalupe. With his respect for Rahm, Prince Carl entered into a contract to buy the 1,265 acre Comal Tract from the Juan Veramendi heirs, sight unseen. This he did on March 15, 1845, just six days before the settlers crossed the Guadalupe into the land that would become New Braunfels.

Johann Rahm then joined the prince and three days before the first settlers crossed the Guadalupe, Prince Carl, Rahm, and 25 men made an inspection of the area. They camped on the Comal at the foot of Bridge St. and during the night a light dusting of snow covered the tents. The prince thought this was a good omen.

From Prince Carl’s report: “March 19: I went with Rahm, Wrede, Lüntzel, and Zink into the woods; with hunting knives and axes we cut a four mile trail to the springs. The next day I went on a long ride with Coll, Lindheimer, and five men”. On March 21, the first 15 wagons crossed the Guadalupe.

Prince Carl presented Rahm with 4 ½ acres generally between San Antonio St. and Coll St. Here Rahm set up a butchery and became the official butcher of the German Emigration Company.

All was well until October of that same year, 1845. John Meusebach in his report to the Adelsverein states that Rahm died as a result of two pistol shots by settler Maertz. Meusebach reports that Rahm in a state of drunkenness was very argumentative and he whipped out his pistol and shot twice in the air, missing Meartz, but Maertz felt threatened, and in self-defense, shot Rahm who “lay dead on the floor”.

Prince Carl called Rahm “savior of the unfortunate”. Oscar Haas called him “the forgotten man”. I’m at a loss for words as to what to call him.

Prince Carl, Rahm, Wrede, Lüntzel and Zink cut a trail to the springs. Artwork by Patricia S. Arnold

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

On March 2, 1847, about 30 miles from the mouth of the San Saba River and north of Fredericksburg, John O. Meusebach, second commissioner-general to the Adelsverein, negotiated a peace treaty with the Comanche Indians. A treaty with the Comanches was essential to settling the Llano and San Saba valleys. Meusebach, whom the Indians called “El Sol Colorado” (the red sun) because of his red hair, had the ideal personality to bring this treaty to fruition.

Dr. Ferdinand Roemer who was traveling in Texas at the time was there when the treaty was signed. He gives a thorough description of the incident in his book Texas. In early February of 1847, Dr. Roemer along with Jim Shaw, and Government Indian agent Major Neighbours would travel to the valley of the San Saba and join Meusebach. Jim Shaw was a six foot Delaware Chief, wearing a black oilcloth coat he bought in Austin. Roemer says that from the back, Jim Shaw looked like a European, but not from the front, as he lacked trousers and wore only deerskin leggings. Major Neighbours would help with translation.

At the end of February after meeting up with Meusebach, the party was greeted outside the Comanche camp by three of the most important Comanche Chiefs. First was Mope-tshoko-pe, meaning “Old Owl”. He was a small undistinguished looking old man, but his crafty face marked him as the diplomatic political chief. Then there was Santa Ana, the powerfully built man who was the war chief. Last, the “unadulterated picture of a North American Indian” (source: Roemer). It was Buffalo Hump. The upper part of his body was naked and only a buffalo hide wound around his hips. His powerful arms were decorated with copper rings and a string of beads was around his neck. He had distinguished himself as a warrior against the Texans.

A camp of about 150 tents made up the camp, some decorated with emblems of individual warriors – shields, headdresses made of buffalo skins with horns attached. About 1,000 horses were grazing nearby and the women and children were busy making horsehair ropes, braiding leather lassos and scraping and cleaning buffalo hides with white clay.

In the morning the chiefs were already squatting before their fire. And by noon, buffalo hides were spread out in a circle in front of the tents. The chiefs and their best warriors sat on one side of the circle and on the other side sat Meusebach, Roemer, Jim Shaw, Major Neighbors, and several others. In the center of the circle lay a pile of tobacco and a pipe. One Indian took two puffs and in complete silence passed it around twice.

Herr Meusebach made the proposals that the Germans should be allowed to settle on the Llano and to survey the land of the San Saba. For this, the Comanches would receive $1,000 in two months in Fredericksburg, where the final meeting would be held. Meuseback assured the Comanches that they would be treated as friends when they visited German settlements.

Abruptly the meeting was over when the chiefs said they would consider it a bit longer.

The next day the proposals were accepted. The two parties mutually embraced with the Comanche trying to show the degree of their friendship by the strength of their embrace. Then they ate venison and rice together.

During the night there was a peculiar serenade made up of Indian men and women. It was a wild, monotonous song along with the beating of sticks over stretched buffalo skins. This was perhaps a response to the folk songs sung by the Germans earlier. They departed on March 3 and headed back to Fredericksburg. Mission accomplished!

A sculpture by Jay Hester in Fredericksburg depicts Meusebach passing the peace pipe to the Comanche Indians.

This traveling exhibit has been rescheduled
for Jan. 12-Feb. 9, 2010.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

The Sophienburg’s first traveling exhibit will be open at the museum on Tuesday, Jan. 12 and stay through Feb. 9. Hours are 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. excluding Mondays and Sundays.

The exhibit called “Vanished” is about the German-American Civilian Internment that took place from 1941-1948. An organization called “Traces” brings living history to towns and in this case, to Texas towns.

For a donation of $5 to the Sophienburg, one may view narrative panels, see a NBC Dateline documentary, and see a 1945 US Government film. Your donation will also cover your entry into the museum. The sponsoring organization is non-profit and contributions are tax-deductible.

Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt issued a presidential proclamation to authorize the US to detain allegedly potential dangerous enemy aliens of Japanese, German, and Italian descent living throughout the US. Thousands were arrested, some did have Axis sympathies, many were released, but many were interned with little or no evidence against them. Remember Roosevelt’s famous saying, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself”? How does that fit this situation?

Was there anyone from NB arrested? I don’t know the answer. Was the FBI undercover here? Probably. I do know that everyone who went into the service from predominantly German towns was thoroughly investigated. The flip side to that is that many went into intelligence work because of their knowledge of German.

As a young teenager, I heard stories of Nazi sympathizers in town. The reality was that very few NB Germans had relatives left in Germany because most had been Americans for four or five generations.

There was much discrimination against German-Americans when WWI broke out. By 1918, it was against the law to teach German in the schools, to speak German on the playground or in public places. Both my parents were in elementary school here in NB when that war broke out. Both had been taught in German and English.

When WWII began, the German language was on its way out. Few of my generation can speak German at all. “Wie shade” (What a shame). Supposedly it was unpatriotic to speak German, but a lot of the older people from out in the country couldn’t speak English so you could still hear German in the stores and on the streets in NB.

We have a great family story about speaking German. My dad, Marcus Adams went to A&M College. His freshman year he took German (an easy “A”). Immediately he was put in advanced German because he was good at it. His first assignment was to write an essay in German. He did just that, but he wrote it in Fraktur (old German script). The prof couldn’t read it because they were no longer teaching this old writing in Germany. Dad made straight A’s.

Look at the picture. It takes place in Kenedy, Texas, where a German internment camp was located and where my husband’s family lived. Glyn was the youngest of five children. He remembers the trainloads of prisoners being brought into Kenedy at night. The shades were drawn, supposedly so they wouldn’t know where they were. The camp was an old converted CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) building. Glyn’s sister Joyce was part of the Methodist Youth Group that had permission to sing Christmas songs to the prisoners. She has a vivid memory of the prisoners on the other side of the fence.

Those that died while incarcerated were buried in the city cemetery, but on the other side of the road. Glyn’s mother told me that a young man had been buried there and after the war, his parents made a pilgrimage to Kenedy from overseas once a year to visit his grave.

“Vanished” is a disturbing story. In wartime, fear motivates distrust, and prejudice can result. Come see it.

Camp Kenedy -- German repatriates leaving for Jersey City. (Camp Administration building in background.)

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Hermann Seele arrived in Galveston on Dec. 13, 1843. He had come alone to make his home in Texas. On Christmas Eve, he walked the streets of Galveston totally alone and his thoughts were of home in Germany. He remembered how the children stepped up to the glittering Christmas tree and thought, “I wish I could be with them for only an hour, I am so alone here…” Then he saw a Christmas tree through the shutters of a home and the happy children and the faces of the little children heightened his loneliness.

The next Christmas (1844), Seele had been in the coastal area for another year. Nostalgic thoughts of Christmas led him to write in his diary:”Memories, sweeten for me lonely as I am in a foreign country, the hours with the balsam of a wonderful past”. (Source: “The Diary of Hermann Seele”)

A month before Seele was spending his second Christmas in the coastal area in 1844, the first Adelsverein brig, the Johann Dethardt sailed into Galveston harbor. They had finally arrived at the Republic of Texas. By Dec. 1, three one-mast schooners picked up these first emigrants in Galveston to take them to Pt. Lavaca. Two of the three vessels made it easily through Pasa Caballo into Matagorda Bay and then landed on the shore at Pt. Lavaca. There they camped under the open skies for the night. From there they moved to the first camp among the live oaks.

The third schooner had been caught in a storm and driven back into the Gulf of Mexico. The craft had sprung a leak. For days the storm carried the small craft towards Mexico. Finally the winds shifted from the south, moving the schooner back to the Texas coast and into a shallow bay, but during the night a norther tossed the boat so violently that the chain was broken and the boat was once again carried southward. After winds calmed, the vessel finally made its way into the bay. The other earlier arrivals were on the shore greeting them with relief.

Prince Carl greeted the first emigrants and it was at the encampment two miles west of Port Lavaca that the first German emigrants of the Adelsverein held their first church service in the Republic of Texas. The day was Dec. 23, 1844 and the service was conducted by Rev. Louis Cachand Ervendberg who had been hired by Prince Carl to tend to the religious needs of the emigrants.

The prince was aware that Christmastime would be a particularly difficult time for the emigrants, so he cut a small oak tree and decorated it with candles and provided small gifts for the children. There were no fir trees on the coast for the traditional “Tannenbaum”.

On Christmas Eve, the passengers from the second Adelsverein ship, the Herschel, had arrived safely at Carlshafen. On Christmas day, Rev. Ervendberg held the first Communion Service for the new arrivals. The prince presented them with a silver chalice, a communion flagen (pitcher) and a communion paten (wafer plate) to the pastor for use of the first church. Those items are on display at the First Protestant Church. The chalice would forever be a link between the new land and the old, as a duplicate would reside in the ancestral home in Braunfels Germany. (Info Source: “Journey in Faith”; Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Myra Lee Adams Goff”)

The first emigrants arrived in New Braunfels on March, 1845, and Hermann Seele joined the Adelsverein’s second group six weeks late in May of 1845. The next Christmas in 1845 was the first Christmas spent in New Braunfels, their “Neu Heimatland” (new homeland).

Fröliche Weihnachten from the Sophienburg!

The first settlers celebrate with a church service on the Texas coast, 1844. Patricia S. Arnold, Illustrator

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Prince Carl, leader of the Adelsverein emigration group and Alamo hero Jim Bowie were vastly different from each other. And yet, the two had a round-about connection. They were both in Texas at about the same time, they both had a New Braunfels connection, and they made enough of an impact to be in history books.

By now, you probably know about Prince Carl’s role in the founding of NB, but do you know how Jim Bowie fits in the picture?

At the Sophienburg, Joy Alexander recently researched the Juan Martin de Veramendi family. He became the vice governor of Coahuila y Tejas 1831. Alexander was led on a path of this interesting story: Ambitious young Jim Bowie floated lumber to market and invested his funds in property, often without a clear title. With a somewhat shaky reputation, he loved hunting, fishing, riding wild horses, and trapping alligators and bears. A true adventurer!

Bowie and his brother engaged in the slave trade with the pirate Lafitte on Galveston Island. Hot-tempered Bowie got in a fight with a banker who wouldn’t give him a loan and the banker fired a gun at him, leading to a gun fight. One story goes that Bowie’s brother provided him with a large butcher-like hunting knife and he won the fight with the “Bowie knife”.

In 1830 Bowie came to Texas and posing as a man of wealth, introduced himself to Juan Veramendi, He went into business with Veramendi. and then married his daughter, Ursula. Some stories say they had two children and that the president of Mexico, Santa Anna, was godfather to one of them. Bowie was on the receiving end of the Veramendi family, even moving into their palace. He spent little time at home, as he looked for lost gold in the San Saba mines.

In 1833, Ursula, her children, and her parents died of cholera in Coahuila, Mexico. Meanwhile Bowie was ill with yellow fever and did not know of their deaths. Interestingly, he wrote a will in which he left his estate to his brother and sister. Three years later Jim Bowie died in the Alamo. Speculation is that he was incapacitated with TB, but the movies show him battling from his cot with his famous Bowie Knife.

Now let’s compare Bowie with Prince Carl.

Prince Carl was born at Neustrelitz on July 27, 1812. He had many prestigious relatives, not the least of which were Queen Victoria and Czar Alexander of Russia. The handsome spirited youth was educated as a soldier and because of his family connections, he secured many prestigious military assignments and awards.

In 1839 he was sentenced by a Prussian Court to four months in prison for AWOL. (Source: “Handbook of Texas”). At the age of 22 he married a “commoner” and they had three children (a no no for him) and divorced her in 1841.

Prince Carl then worked to promote the Adelsverein to sponsor emigration to Texas. He made quite a stir in his military get-up when he arrived in Galveston in 1844. Right after the settlers arrived, he purchased the Comal Tract from landowners Rafael Garza and wife Maria, heirs to Juan Veramendi.

The Prince stayed in New Braunfels two months and left to marry Princess Sophie. Back in Germany he continued his military career, retired as field marshal in 1868, and died in 1875 at the age of 63.

Now here’s the Bowie/Solms connection, as remote as it is: Bowie’s father-in-law, Juan Martin de Veramendi, was also the father-in-law of Rafael Garza, married to Maria Veramendi, from whom Prince Carl bought the Comal Tract. (Ursula Bowie and Maria Garza were sisters)

Really stretch your imagination and you just might say that there is a connection between the Sophienburg and the Alamo.

Jim Bowie in front of the Veramendi Palace and Prince Carl in front of the Braunfels Castle.

Emmie Seele Faust was the daughter of one of New Braunfels’ most outstanding citizens, Hermann Seele. He provided a good roll model for his daughter and for her 90 years, she contributed much to her beloved city.

Mrs. Faust’s father, you recall, taught the first school in NB and it was only natural that his daughter would be interested in education. She was active in many philanthropic activities, but her crowning star was the establishment of a local public library. She donated a large amount at the time ($7,439.37) for the stone building on the corner of Coll and Magazine.

The Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library was open from 1938 to 1967 when it became the storage place for the Sophienburg’s collections. But the collections grew and grew. This year under the supervision of Helen Hoffmann and Keva Boardman, the collections were reorganized and moved to the old museum building on the corner of Coll and Academy.

So what about the little library building? Now the Sophienburg Museum Association has launched a campaign to renovate this historic building and turn it into a public access meeting room and classroom. Like some library books, this renovation project is long overdue.

Plans for this building were unveiled recently at the Volunteer gathering at the Sophienburg. For a pledge of $200 you may have your name exhibited in the renovated library. This is your opportunity to preserve some of our history.

What are all these collections? Many items are from NB’s earliest days, and items that were used to set up the museum. The collections are from people who see the value in keeping things that become more historically valuable with time. Collections are used for educational purposes. They represent who the people were and who they are now. The Sophienburg is the guardian of these collections.

Program Director Keva Boardman uses what she learns from these collections to present educational programs, mostly for children. She and volunteer Carolyn Phelan organize a day-long history program for all 4th graders in the NBISD. This cooperative effort, paid for by the NBISD Education Foundation, includes a living history program at Heritage Village, and finally an educational tour of the Sophienburg Museum.

Boardman conducts other educational programs at the Museum. Recently she and Sophienburg Director Linda Dietert presented a program on early thread to the Ferdinand Lindheimer Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. As an example of what is done for the school children, the “Plants to Thread” program covered early plants from which thread was obtained. Cotton and flax (for linen) were the most common.  From the collection the group was shown a spinning wheel, carders, and a drop spindle and some flax brought from Germany by an early settler.

How are the museum, the archives and all the programs funded? First the Sophienburg is a not-for-profit organization depending on individual donations, grants, and finally the big fund-raiser of the year, Weihnachtsmarkt. Held in the Kongresshalle (Civic Center), Weihnachtsmarkt is truly a Christmas shopping extravaganza. A private gala launches the market this Thursday. Reservations are necessary.

This Friday, doors will be open from 10:00a.m. - 6:00p.m.. Something new this year will be “Wine and Cheese Shopping” on Friday only from 6:00p.m. - 9:00p.m. for those who would rather shop in the evening. Reservations are suggested, but tickets may be purchased at the door as space is available. Call 629-1572.

Saturday’s time is from 10:00a.m. - 6:00p.m., with “Breakfast with Santa” from 8:30a.m. - 10:00a.m. Call for reservations.

Finally, Sunday’s time is from 11:00a.m. - 5:00p.m. All three days, Sophie’s Koffee Haus serves homemade German fare.

Co-chairmen Allison Humphries and Erin Hindman invite you to launch your Christmas season and help the Sophienburg maintain the quality of programs and maintain the history of NB for which they are known.

Inside the Emmie Seele Faust Memorial Library in the 1950s. The teacher is Edna Mae Staats. If you know any of the children, call Sophienburg, 830-629-1572.

“Treue der Union”. These are words that memorialize a group of young Texas men who were loyal to the Union during the Civil War. It’s a sad story that has a New Braunfels connection through the three sons of Wilhelm and Caroline Brückisch.

Wilhelm Brückisch was born in 1802 in Postelwitz, Silesia (Prussia). He was a scientific beekeeper. In 1853 he was persuaded by Ferdinand Lindheimer, botanist and editor of the “Neu Braunfelser Zeitung”, to come to Texas. Lindheimer had observed that a lack of bees in the area had kept the fruit from being pollinated and fruit production was affected.

Brückisch, then 51 years old, came with his wife Caroline, sons Carl, Theodore, Wilhelm, and daughters, Wilhelmine and Marie. Along with the family came several hives of Italian black bees. They settled in Hortontown close to the Breustedt family with whom they became close friends. (See www.sophienburg.com Oct. 6 ‘09) Wilhelm Brückisch is given credit as the first person in Texas to become interested in the commercialization of bees.

The sad story of the family began right before the Civil War. The  Brückish sons were against secession and they were not alone. They did not agree with Texas’ vote to join the Confederacy and would not sign the oath of allegiance to a government that condoned slavery. An interesting story in the family tells of Confederate troops looking for Union sympathizers. Going to their neighbor’s house, the boys hid in Mrs. Breustedt’s cellar under the front porch. She placed her rocking chair over the trap door and began shucking corn with the shucks falling over the trap door. They escaped detection when the Confederates came looking. (from Arthur Lee Richter, g-g-grandson, and Claudia Skoog, g-g-granddaughter of Wilhelm Brückisch)

A way to escape conscription came about when a group of 18 men in the Texas Hill Country (Bettina, Luckenbach, Sisterdale, Tusculum, Kerrville, and Comfort) organized the Union Loyal League, its purpose to remain loyal to the United States. This League was part of a state organization “whose goal was to restore the Federal government in Texas”. (Rodman Underwood, “Death on the Nueces”)

The Hill country group was made up mostly of Germans commonly called “Freethinkers”, a movement in Germany as early as the 1700s. Freethinkers were   intellectuals and students who believed in the scientific study of human nature and openly fought against ignorance, social injustice, superstition, and were fleeing from political and religious tyranny. They were advocates of freedom for all and against slavery.

After the German revolution of 1848, many freethinkers emigrated to Texas and gathered together in the Hill Country and when the Civil War broke out, they were against secession. Many considered their controversial utopian ideas suspect. One can only imagine how the freethinker ideas were received in Texas where the state voted to secede from the Union by a vote of 46,129 to 14,697, and all predominantly German communities in Texas voted against secession, except New Braunfels.(see www.sophienburg.com Apr 14,’09)

It is believed that the Brückisch boys went with this Hill Country group that was to proceed south across the Edwards Plateau, across the Medina, Frio, and W. Nueces rivers, and across the Rio Grande into Mexico. Near the Nueces River, however, on August 10, 1862, forty men were ambushed by Confederates. It was known as the “Battle of the Nueces”. Family legend places the three boys at this battle, but Theodore escaped and was executed later.

It was not until three years later that the bones of those killed in this battle and others were gathered and brought to Comfort. A white marble monument was erected in Comfort honoring the memory of 68 men. Theodore Brückisch’s name is on the monument.

Driving up the hill to the monument, a US flag with 36 stars flies perpetually at half-mast.  Treue der Union!

Scientific Beekeeper Wilhelm Brückisch

Ein Prosit der Gemütlichkeit! Powerful words for an idea that is truly German. Loosely translated, it means “salute to German fellowship.” According to the late author Curt Schmidt, Gemütlichkeit is a concept that has grown out of thousands of years of German tradition based on history and folk wisdom. It is facilitated by good food, beer, drinks, singing, and laughter in the company of family and friends. “It is a state of the mind, the body and the emotions in perfect harmony.” This truly is what Wurstfest strives to attain.

The Prosit is done with mugs and steins in the air. The Wurstfest has produced a mug and/or stein for sale since 1969 when Herb Skoog was president of the organization. He has a collection of every Wurstfest stein. The ceramic mugs have no lids and the steins have pewter lids. Skoog’s sister, Doris Wallace, made the first mug and she made about 50 of them. The next year (’70) an undated mug was sold at Ken Armke’s Opa’s Haus, followed by another undated mug in 1971 when Wurstfest president Walter Zeisig  sent the parking sticker to Germany and had some mugs made.

There are different theories of why steins have lids, but the most prevalent is that steins go back hundreds of years and Germans in particular like to sit outside in beer gardens and drink a liter or two. Lids were put on mugs to keep insects from flying in and carrying disease from one stein to another. Imagine that problem during the plague.

An interest in German imports prompted Ken Armke to produce dated mugs and he added steins in 1981. His OHI Collectibles has exclusive rights to the official Wurstfest mugs and steins. The NB Art League has designed the last few steins.

Herb Skoog has other steins in his collection, perhaps over 1,000. His collection began when he made trips to Germany, which he has done about 35 times. When he was general manager of KGNB in 1968, Lufthansa and the radio station sponsored a trip to Southern Europe and the collection began.

Wurstfest, which starts in 10 days (Oct. 30 through Nov. 8 ) has plenty of steins, mugs, and souvenirs for sale. Our Sophienburg’s Sophie’s Shop has a booth at the celebration and we have an impressive collection of German mementos.

This year’s souvenir is an affordable Christmas ornament made of solid pewter. On the front is a little German man holding a stein with “Wurstfest, New Braunfels” on it. On the back is “Sophienburg Museum and Archives, New Braunfels, Texas”. Years from now when you see this ornament hanging on your Christmas tree, you can remember that you were there.

As expected, Sophie’s booth features outstanding German Christmas ornaments. Big sellers at our booth are the Smoking Men. They are made close to the border between Germany and the Czech Republic,in a village well known for its wooden toy manufacturing. The Smoking Men are hand made wooden art forms  representing all walks of life. Yes, they do smoke. Insert a small toothpick–sized wood into his mouth and the small smoker has smoke circling his head.

By far the most sought-after ornaments are the star-crowned Inge Glas ornaments. The company goes back to 1596 in Germany. Mouthblown and handpainted, the ornaments are  heirloom quality. Nancy Classen who runs Sophie’s Shop is particularly excited about two ornaments that appear to have been sent here for Wurstfest; 5”ranz in his lederhosen and 5” Risi in her dirndl. Their faces are beautifully hand painted cherubs.

Next year the Wurstfest Association will celebrate its 50th birthday and Skoog says big things are planned. Armke says that the 2010 stein will reflect the anniversary. When Wurstfest says “big”  they mean big. So polka on down to the Wursthalle and give a Prosit to Gamütlichkeit.

Franz and Risi with Nancy Classen in Sophie’s Shop