By Myra Lee Adams Goff

An unforgettable event happened here in New Braunfels in 1905. Of course you would have to be at least 104 years old to have been there. I heard it from my parents who heard it from their parents. I’m talking about the day the President of the United States came to town. Never mind that he never got off the train and that he stayed but a few minutes.

It was an unforgettable event that day on April 6, 1905, when President Theodore Roosevelt made a stop here on his train trip from Austin to San Antonio.

When State Senator Joseph Faust found out that Roosevelt was coming to San Antonio for a reunion of his former Rough Riders, he issued an invitation to the president to stop here to hear a song in his honor sung by 1,000 children. Who could turn down such an invitation?

Lt. Col. Theodore Roosevelt in 1898 had trained his Rough Riders for the Spanish - American War in San Antonio and had probably visited Landa Park. From that time on in later wars, so many other soldiers visited the park while stationed in San Antonio.

After training in San Antonio, the Rough Riders were sent to Florida to be taken to Cuba. Historian Oscar Haas quotes James Adams from his book “The March of Democracy”: “The most noted minor engagement was at San Juan Hill where Roosevelt under Col. Leonard Wood led the Rough Riders on foot (their horses were still in Florida) against the enemy.”

In March of 1905, news of the proposed visit started appearing in the “Neu Braunfelser Zeitung” and appeared consistently for the next month. It was translated by Haas in 1969.
The president accepted Faust’s invitation and said that he had always been interested in New Braunfels because of its unique history.

The song that would be performed by the children was written by Prof. F.A. Baumann of the NB Academy. It would be sung to the tune of “My Country ’tis of Thee”. All children of the Academy, students at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School, and students in all the surrounding area schools were invited to join in the performance.

It was a big thing! The townspeople met at the Courthouse to make plans for the visit. It was resolved that Melitta Faust, daughter of Senator and Mrs. Joseph Faust, was to present the President with flowers and a copy of the song.

A group of young ladies would be in Rough Rider costumes (see picture). Those costumes were to be sewed and the girls were to pick up materials at Pfeuffer/Hellmann & Co. (now the Antique Mall on the corner of San Antonio and Castell Sts.)

All went as planned and the day the train rolled through San Marcos, a horseback rider rode up and down the streets of NB blowing bugle signals heralding the arrival of the president. As the train stopped at the I &GN RR depot, Waldschmidt’s Firemen’s Band, standing where the Brauntex Theater is now, played “The Star Spangled Banner” The president was waving from the platform of the rear car.

The children under the direction of Mr. Heilbig sang the song especially composed for him. Then the Rough Rider girls sang a jolly song and the president was immensely pleased. The shrill whistle of the steam-locomotive blew and the band played “Dixie” as the train left New Braunfels.

“Neu Braunfelser Zeitung” editor, G.F. Oheim devoted one page to his frustration about plans that made no space for him. Oheim claimed as a reporter, he represented thousands of readers who were not privileged to have front seats. He said that allowing reporters privilege view was a time-sanctioned custom when they perform their duty.
Nevertheless, according to Editor Oheim, it was an occasion never to be forgotten in his lifetime!

Girls Rough Riders greeted Pres. Theodore Roosevelt in 1905. Left to right front row: Alma Albrecht (bugler), Marguerite Druebert, Nellie Thompson, Valeta Froelich, Laura Bretzke, Valeska Kessler, Valeska Stein, Ottie Coreth, Anita Naegelin, Very Scholl, Laura Albrecht, Ella Bremer, and Vera Coreth. Back row: Thusnelda Forke, Oscie Oheim, Emma Marbach, Fernanda Wille, Meta Klein, Ella Holz, Stella Scholl, and Hilda Baus. April 1905

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Hey you NB history buffs out there, can you name some early founders? OK- Prince Carl, von Coll, Zink, Ervendberg, Lindheimer, Koester, Seele. Good. Now name some of the early women. Stumped? That’s because there is so little written about them.

Recently I ran across a tribute to Luise Ervendberg, wife of Pastor Louis Ervendberg. It was written on the occasion of her death in 1887 by Hermann Seele and translated by Curt Schmidt.

Maria Sophia Dorothea Luise Muench was born in Hannover, Germany in 1820.  At age 17 she emigrated to America with her uncle. They settled in the Chicago area and it was there in Illinois that she met L. C. Ervendberg. They married in 1838 and a year later a baby was born who survived only three months. This marked the first of many tragedies in Luise’s life.

Times were financially tough for the couple and so Luise reluctantly agreed to follow her husband to the Republic of Texas. They settled in Houston where the pastor had a small congregation and in 1840 they moved to Blumenthal. In 1844 Prince Carl came through and offered Ervendberg a position in the Adelsverein to help organize churches and schools in the new colony. Ervendberg accepted the call and Luise gave up her home and friends again. By this time she had borne three babies (One survived).

Because of advanced pregnancy, Luise did not accompany her husband to Lavaca Bay where he would meet the emigrants for the first time. She was to join him after the baby was born. In December, 1844, Luise gave birth to a son and a month later she departed alone carrying her two year old daughter and newborn son. (He died at seven months)

With a wagon laden with household goods and a wagon sheet for protection from the cold January sleet, she drove her milk cows slowly, stopping only to spend the nights by a campfire.

After this lonely, slow agonizing trip, she finally arrived at the Guadalupe and rejoined her husband in time to cross the river with the first emigrants.

Pastor Ervendberg was assigned a lot (now First Protestant Church) and Luise once again busied herself with fulfilling her duty as wife, mother, and pastor’s wife effectively.

Then the tragedy! Hundreds of emigrants died at the coast in1846.  Luise tended to the sick in the settlement. even taking care of 60 orphaned children. The couple finally adopted the 19 that had no one to claim them.

Ervendberg organized the German Protestant Church and established the first school. In 1849 they began the first orphanage in Texas on the Guadalupe in order to raise their own five children and the orphans. For reasons too numerous to state here, Ervendberg’s career as pastor fell apart. They decided to return to Illinois. She left with her three daughters, and he was to follow shortly with their two boys.

Waiting for him in Illinois, Luise learned that her husband had intentionally met one of the orphans and left for Mexico. Returning to Texas, Luise put ads in the “Zeitung” begging him to return, but to no avail. Consequently, she was granted a divorce in 1859. She never saw her boys again and word traveled that Louis had been murdered in Mexico.

Luise’s burden of running the farm became very difficult and she decided to marry again, this time to Balthazar Preiss. She bore him two children but this marriage ultimately ended in divorce.

Now her children were grown and she was looking forward to a more carefree old age. But this was not to be. Her daughter Bertha died, leaving behind six children. As a grandmother, Luise stepped in to raise the children.

An old saying goes like this: “If everyone threw their hat in a ring, you would scramble to get your own back”. I wouldn’t want Luise’s hat!

The January sleet falls on the Ervendberg children sitting by a camp fire as their mother manages the cows. 1845 Artist: Patricia Arnold