By Myra Lee Adams Goff

It’s been four years since Jennifer Niven wrote the book “Ada Blackjack” in which she told a 1921 tale of an ill-fated Arcticexpedition to Wrangel Island by four men and an Inuit Eskimo woman (Blackjack). One of the men was New Braunfelser Milton Galle.

Niven’s local resource contact was NB Librarian Lynn Thompson who allowed me to read her files. Niven’s book was not my first contact with Galle’s story. The first book written about the adventure was the 1925 book,“The Adventures of Wrangel Island,” which was recommended reading for advanced readers at Carl Schurz School in the late 60’s. Also as a child I had heard of Galle’s story from my mother. In the early 40’s I was taking piano lessons from Alma Galle, Milton’s mother, and when I balked at practicing, my mother told me I was not to give Mrs. Galle any more stress; she had enough. Here’s why:

Take yourself back to 1920 New Braunfels (mentally, that is).The Chautauqua was coming to town as it had since 1917. The Chautauqua was a traveling entertainment and weeklong lecture series. Milton Galle, who had graduated from NBHS in 1919, was a good-looking, popular young man who suffered from Wanderlust (the desire to wander) and to get out of NB and see the world. On the lecture circuit was Arctic Explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, and Galle was enthralled with the lecture. He too wanted to explore the Arctic!.

The Chautauqua had begun with a parade around Main Plaza where the performers invited the audience to come to the big tent located where the Producers Co-Op is now. Ironically, if you cross the railroad track right behind this area, you will be in the back yard where Galle and his family lived at 227 Academy. The large house still stands. It was built in 1914 by Harry Galle (Milton’s father) after becoming one of the heirs to a family glass factory fortune in Alsace-Lorraine.

Galle joined the Chautauqua but came back to NB after the traveling season was over. He sold rawhide whips but was not happy. When the Chautauqua returned in 1921, he was looking forward to Stefansson’s lecture once again but 28 eight year old E. Lorne Knight and 28 year old Fred Maurer were sent to speak instead. Both had been with Steffanson in the Arctic and once again the prospect was intriguing to Galle. He left with them and joined the Chautauqua again, this time as Steffanson’s secretary.

Steffanson was determined to get back to the Arctic and to claim the small Wrangel Island off the coast of Siberia for the United Kingdom. His idea was to colonize it for one year. He chose Knight, Maurer, 20 year old Allan Crawford, and finally Galle.After hiring Ada Blackjack as a cook and seamstress, the group of five was transported to Wrangel Island with six months supplies. A supply ship was to come in 1922 but regrettably could not break through the ice. After two years with no supplies delivered, Knight fell ill with scurvy and he and Blackjack were left behind in January of 1923 while the other three took off towards Siberia for help. Galle’s notes left behind on the island showed that he was against abandoning the camp when they did and that he definitely intended to come back.

Meanwhile Arctic explorer Harold Noice was hired by Steffanson to pick up the five. When Noice arrived on Wrangel Island, he found only Blackjack alive. They buried Knight and returned to Nome to report that Crawford, Galle, and Maurer had apparently perished in the ice. The island was ultimately claimed by the Soviet Union.

The men were never found but the Galles never fully gave up hope. To this day there is no marker in the family plot at Comal Cemetery. Knight’s complete diary also left behind gives us a harrowing description of the adventure, particularly the final days. What I remember of gentle Alma Galle, I can’t imagine her reading Knight’s diary and his tales of Milton’s many encounters with bears.

I’ll practice the piano!

Milton Galle in 1919. Photo owned by Bill Lawless.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Possibly you, as I, have never heard of August Heinrich Hoffmann (von Fallersleben) (1798-1874). A renowned German poet, Hoffmann had a philosophy of freedom that was one of the strong factors leading to emigration to Texas from Germany.

The translated poems and the info for this article were sent to me by Dr. Robert Govier who had received the poem from a mutual friend of ours, Dr. Preston Kronkosky (both NBHS graduates).Govier has translated letters found in Volume 9 from the Prince Solms papers and they are available at the Sophienburg.

One of the poems, “Ein Guadalupelied” (A Guadalupe Song) was written by Hoffmann somewhere between 1841-45, about the time that the immigration plan to Texas was begun.

“In the Valley of the Guadalupe
There is no Master and Servant;
No one becomes Despotism’s Victim,
We all are free People,
We all have one Law, one System of Justice .” (excerpt)

Hoffmann was never in Texas, and yet we may glean something of the German mind at the time when we realize the themes in the poem. They advocate a classless society without nobles, a government with severely limited authority, and individual freedom of thought. Govier believes that Hoffmann thought that these ideals could not be achieved as long as nobles were in charge of the emigration project.

In 1818 when Hoffmann was a university student, he joined a secret fraternity rebelling against the status quo, using the power of the pen in journalism. German scholars call this group “young Germany” and students and intellectuals belonged to it. They wanted freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of press, emancipation of women, and a united constitutional Germany. In the 1840s, Germany consisted of two kingdoms (Prussia and Austria) and possibly 37 Principalities of which Solms-Braunfels was one. The ruling nobles were still desperately trying to hold on to their power, resisting a unified Germany and individual freedoms.

The freedom movement brought about by the French and American Revolutions had an effect on German society. Whereas the Adelsverein (Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas) was organized in 1842 by 21 noblemen and was interested in relieving over-population in Germany and establishing a market for German industry overseas, most of the German immigrants were interested in freedom and a fresh start in Texas. After unsuccessful previous Texas land negotiations, the Adelsverein sent Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfelsto Texas in 1844 to pave the way for the first group of immigrants. He purchased 1,111 acres of land along the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers (NB). The Adelsverein was very successful in convincing the Germans to emigrate and in December of 1844, the first group of an estimated eventual 6,000 arrived on the coast at Indianola and made their way inland to NB and the “Valley of the Guadalupe”.

The first settlers to the colony of NB reached the banks of the Guadalupe River on Good Friday, March 21, 1845, and by so doing, accomplished their first step toward freedom and liberty.

The rest of the story reveals that probably because of poor management and lack of understanding of a frontier, the Adelsverein had financial problems from the start and went bankrupt by 1853. Basically the immigrants were on their own. The Count of Castell, as a representative of the Adelsverein, approached Hoffmann in 1846 with a deed to 300 acres of land if he would go to Texas, but he refused. The Adelsverein wanted Hoffmann’s approval of the project, thereby getting the approval of the German people. Hoffmann had written a poem called “The German National Treasury” in which his feelings about the immigration project were revealed, full of sarcasm and satire. He reflects that although the peoples’ longing for liberty and freedom caused them to emigrate, he is skeptical about the venture due to the Adelsverein’s motivation for the project.

Hoffmann’s poems are written in German script (Fraktur) and this form of writing, although beautiful, was abandoned even in Germany. The Sophienburg is looking for anyone who can read this script and help translate. Contact sophienburg@sbcglobal.net

“The Guadalupeleid” by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben