By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Just imagine that you are strolling through an old German village with beautiful houses and stores surrounded by the snow-covered Alps. The Christmas season has begun and shoppers are rushing around in the Marktplatz. Sounds like fun? That’s exactly what you can experience at the Sophienburg’s primary fund- raiser,Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas Market), on November 30 through December 2.

This year’s Weihnachtsmarkt will be in the Wursthalle and the decorating committee has been working for months to make this year’s event the most beautiful yet. The effect of the German village will be enhanced by huge murals, hand-painted by artist Gene Vandiver. Originally owned by the Symphony League of Ft. Worth, they were acquired by the Wurstfest in 2005 and the Sophienburg is going to decorate with them. Stroll along in the village and visit 55 unique vendors to do your shopping.

The traditional Santa Claus in a sleigh will be there for photographs. You can eat delicious food at Sophie’s Kaffee Haus and Prince Carl’s Wassail. Also Sophie’s Shop will move down from the hill to the Wursthalle with its glass ornaments, books, and some interesting Advent houses. In honor of the 75^th anniversary of the Sophienburg Museum in 2008, a calendar will be available, featuring photographs of 12 NB buildings, “then” and “now”. This affordable calendar would make a neat Christmas gift.

In the center of the dance floor will be a giant 16 ft. Christmas tree, topped by a large nutcracker. No Christmas market or celebration is complete without the traditional decorated tree. There is evidence that fir trees were decorated indoors and out in Germany in the sixteenth century to commemorate Christmas. A common story is one of Protestant Reformer Martin Luther being awed by the brilliance of the stars peeking through the snow-covered trees one evening. Wanting to share this sight with his children, he rushed home and placed candles on a fir tree.

The Pennsylvanian Germans claim the first Christmas tree in America, but NB bound emigrants claim the first tree in Texas. Prince Carl decorated an oak tree with candles on the coast at Indianola when the first settlers arrived.

In early American Colonial days, the Puritans were against any kind of Christmas decorations, including the tree. They tried hard to stamp out the “pagan mockery” of such frivolity. In 1659, the Court of Massachusetts passed a law making any observance of December 25 other than a church service a penal offence and people were fined for disobeying the law. In the 19^th century when German and Irish emigrants flooded the US, the Puritan legacy was undermined by long standing traditions of these two ethnic groups.

When the emigrants settled in NB, they cut the juniper cedars as Christmas trees because they were the closest thing to their homeland firs. Decorated with candles, many a home was in danger of fire, but Martin Luther would have been proud.

Experiencing all the smells and sounds of Weihnachtsmarktwill bring back your own Christmas memories. When I think of Christmas trees, I remember my dad bringing home cedar trees. Finding one the right shape was the trick because they were never shaped like trees, more like bushes. He would work and work to get the tree to stand up straight. His hands and arms would bleed because of pesky stickers on the cedar. The cedar tree shows no mercy. Sometimes he would tie on branches to make it look like a tree. Finally the tree was ready for the lights. If one light went out, the whole string went out. Now we were back to the bleeding hands, looking for that one dead light. My mother and I didn’t care; we thought it was a work of art.

If you want to experience some old world Christmas traditions while shopping in the delightful market, come to Weihnachtsmarkt.

This 1890 photo shows Rose Lee Serdinko as she sits among toys placed around the cedar Christmas tree lit with candles.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Sometimes we find things stuck away in basements, attics, or sheds that look like they have value, but we don’t know why so we just hang on to them. That’s what happened to Karl Zipp, when about 25 years ago he came across a stack of papers written in beautiful German script in a shed behind the home that his parents lived in. He took them to Gene Mornhinweg, who translated them.

What Zipp had discovered was the early set of minutes of the old Comal Union School (1850-1883 ), a private school operating in Comaltown for 30 years. Unless you have some connection to relatives who lived in Comaltown, you probably never heard of the Comal Union School.

Zipp is presenting these minutes to the Sophienburg Archives. He believes that the records were in his family’s possession because Heinrich Koehler, who was one of the early trustees, was an ancestor on his mother’s side.

In the spring of 1846 Rafael Garza laid out the land between the Comal and Guadalupe rivers as a separate community, however, when the Texas Legislature incorporated the City of NB, Comaltown was included (May, 1846). It was only natural that the citizens in that area would want a school for their children since they had to walk across the Comal River to get to the city school.

The Comal Union School received a charter from the state in 1852. A constitution was drawn up for a private school. Incorporators of the school were Daniel Murchison, David Coleman, William Sattler, J.J. Ottens, Conrad Pape, C. Engelke,J.J. Klingemann, Julius Harms, and Johann Georg Moeller (my g-g-grandfather).

The constitution provided for the election of six trustees, three to be German and three to be English. Teachers were to teach in German and English.

M.A. Dooley sold a lot to the incorporators for $10 on the NE corner of Houston and Austin Sts. catercorner to the hospital. The building was totally built by the patrons. The minutes indicated what men donated towards the construction of the building in supplies and work. For example, there are detailed accounts of what each person did for the building and time spent. Someone cut trees for 28 days, one delivered a wagon-load of wood, one hauled a load of flooring from the mill. Someone brought stones, lime, chalk, and sand. The building was heated by two fireplaces with chimneys of native stone.

Board president D. Murchison announced that Mr. Julius Harms and his wife were named teachers with a salary of $200 for both per year. Next came instructions for the teachers such as: punishment was to be by warning, shame or bodily chastisement (with no harm), courses should be German, English, Government, Style Practice (writing) Geography, and Nature. Advanced courses were Literature, French, Classics, and Feminine Handiwork. Cost for elementary students was $2.50 and advanced classes were $4.00 and $6.00.

The records give us a good idea of who was living in the area by the list of children’s names, who their father was, and how many days each went to school that first year.

Meanwhile, the downtown New Braunfels Academy was organized and received a charter in 1858.The Academy was the first tax supported school in the state. They were given permission to levy taxes to all NB citizens. An inter-school row took place when the Comal Union School did not receive its pro rata share of the tax, although patrons in the area were taxed for schools. Comaltown citizens repeatedly sent petitions to the City Council and the Academy school board. The Texas Legislature finally amended the Academy’s charter so that funds derived from local taxes could be prorated among the schools in the city and contention was over. Comal Union School eventually became a NB ward school.

You may want to come to the Sophienburg and check out these interesting records.

Karl Zipp presents minutes of the Comal Union School to Sophienburg Executive Director Linda Dietert.