By Myra Lee Adams Goff

The year is 1849, just five years after the first emigrants arrived on the Texas coast. Hermann Seele has been invited to spend December 26th with Pastor L.C. Ervendberg, his wife Luise, their five children, and the 19 orphans left parentless by the devastating immigration conditions beginning in 1846.

The story behind the orphans is a tragic episode. In December of 1846 the first of an additional 5,247 emigrants arrived at Indianola. The Adelsverein had run out of money This factor and excessive rain led to no food and no transportation to the interior. Cholera broke out and the emigrants could not leave. At this time the sad trek to NB began and hundreds died along the way. The sick brought disease to the new colony. In 1846 alone, Pastor Ervendberg, pastor for the Adelsverein, added 348 deaths to his record and 60 children were parentless.

Ervendberg and his wife put up a large tent on their church property to protect the orphans, and friends and relatives claimed all but 19. These, in turn, were taken in by the Ervendbergs. They established Neu Wied outside the city limits, the first orphanage in Texas.

Now let’s return to Hermann Seele and end this story on a happy note.

Seele left his home which he called Elisenruhe, located on the banks of the Guadalupe River (Seele Street). On his horse, Bill, he galloped north on Seguin St. and down to the Comal Creek. Leaving the muddy street, horse and rider slid down the bank and climbed up on the other side. Now passing Merriwether’s mill, and riding through the river bottom, possibly where the golfcourse is, he crossed the original Comal about where Schlitterbahn is and on to Austin Street.He rode through the elm forest of Comaltown. Many of those 150 year old elms are still standing.

Suddenly around Rock Street, he noticed a number of crude rock-covered graves. They were some of the first emigrants in Comaltown who never reached their destination. Now on Gruene Road, his attention was diverted toward the Guadalupe River and he saw the rooftops of houses in Hortontown across the river.

Continuing on the prairie, Seele came upon Neu Wied, a charming farm building on a small hill. He was greeted by the boys who raced down the hill to open the gate. The girls greeted him from the porch.

They entered a spacious hall-like entryway that ran the entire length of the house. In the center were two long tables with benches. The schoolroom wing, where Ervendberg taught the children, was on the north. Here tables were covered with white tablecloths and presents for each child. The Christmas tree was a young cedar with a small garden around it and carved rocks to resemble honeycomb. Figurines of shepherds and the Christchild decorated the base.

Also in the room were volumes from the Smithsonian Institution, maps, silk cocoons strung on strings, insect collections, and stuffed birds.

Handmade presents were abundant. The girls had sewed suits for the boys and knitted stockings. They had crocheted gifts for each other. The boys braided whips for each other and there were new quilts in the boys’ rooms.

A colorful old gentleman named Buegel visiting with the Ervendbergs told of his adventures during the Texas Revolution to the gathering sitting around a circle in front of a crackling fire. It was 11:00 in the evening before his enchanting tale was done. Outside a fresh norther whipped up the wind.

The next morning Seele was awakened by the sound of the coffee mill and the clear voice of one of the girls singing a song by Johannes Falk:

O du fröhliche
O du selige,
Gnadenbringende Weihnachtszeit

O, thou joyful,
O, thou wonderful,
Grace-revealing Christmastide

Seele’s day at Neu Wied was over and now all of us at the Sophienburg wish you a Merry Christmas!

The front of New Wied, c.1890. Children unknown.

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

The Sophienburg Museum and Archives are decorated for the holidays. The foyer features a doll tree and a Scherenschnitte tree. Two displays in the museum, the General Store and the Cabin have old toys. Christmas memories abound with all of us, but have you thought about toys lately? Probably everyone reading this column could conjure up at least one recollection of a past toy.

Toys for children go back in antiquity. Some toys, such as dolls and marbles, have been found in every ancient culture. These objects had their beginnings as religious idols and auguries. Anthropologists learn much about the culture and economics of ancient civilizations by studying toys.

A few toys were brought from Germany with the settlers. The Sophienburg collection has many toys, but few from those early days.

Locally, the first toys sold commercially came from Amalie Henne who operated Tante Amalie’s Christmas Store (where Gabby B’s Boutique is now) from the 1880s until the early 1900s. Amalie, the sister of hardware store owner Louis Henne, ran the small store across the alley where Henne’s stoves and crockery were sold. Every year for about two weeks it became a toy store. Amalie ordered toys from New York. She would cover the store windows so that no one could look in and then have a grand opening before Christmas. AfterChristmas the store would revert back to kitchen supplies.

My favorite toys were dolls. Do I have any of them? No. Would I like to have them? Yes. When I tell you about my dolls, it won’t take long to figure out why they bit the dust.

The first doll that I can remember was a cloth baby doll with rubber head, arms, and legs. At about three years of age, I developed a strong attachment for this doll, sort of like children do for a blanket. I got her for Christmas and immediately unclothed her. From that time on she never wore anything. I named her Doeppenschmidt, not after the funeral home, but because my dad’s grandmother was a Doeppenschmidt. I liked the sound of it and the name stuck. Anyway, I drug around this unclothed creature until her head was attached only at the back of her neck. Out of fear that Doeppenschmidt was going to still be with me when I started to school, my mother hid her in the garbage can. I threw such a fit when I discovered that Doeppenschmidt was gone, that she was retrieved at midnight.

In the 1930s Shirley Temple movies were all the rage and the dolls came in all sizes. Shirley’s clothes reflected the popular styles. And all the parents wanted their little girls to be like her, so sweet, so thoughtful, and so kind. (Uh-huh).My Shirley doll was immediately unclothed and given a haircut.

My cousin Enid Zipp had a set of five tiny Dionne Quintuplet baby dolls. These little girls became famous after surviving a primitive beginning when they were born at home and kept in an oven in the kitchen for warmth.

In my late elementary years, I received a Princess Elizabeth doll (before she was queen) and my friend Betty Ann Timmermann received one too, so we got together to play dolls. By this time I had already initiated my princess by giving her a haircut and changing her clothes to something much more comfortable. Years later, Betty Ann admitted to me that she was always afraid that her dolls would meet the same fate as mine. The Ancient Greeks believed that destruction was the real root of creativity. I take comfort in that. What do you think?

Weihnachtsmarkt and St. Nick put all of us at the Sophienburg in the mood for Christmas. Why not make a visit to the Museum part of your Christmas celebration?

Research Assistant Dorothy Constable holds a 1900s doll in the General Store exhibit. Note two of the Dionne Quints at the bottom of the tree.