By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

“Have you heard? Old Squire Moeschen is dead!” So begins Hermann Seele’s narrative of a murder here in New Braunfels in 1855. Seele spun this true, gruesome tale in his book, Die Cypress, which is available at Sophie’s Shop.

Here’s the background: Christof Moeschen, born in 1806 in Thuringia, came to Texas along with his wife, Johanna, and a 9-year-old daughter, Friederike. The year was 1844. Seele says their small log cabin built in 1845 was on Comal Creek, and consisted of one room and a porch surrounded by a fence of cedar posts.

For all one knew, the family of three lived a quiet life, but all that changed in 1854 when the Moeschen’s only child, Friederike, married the shoemaker Carl Riebeling. The mother approved of the son-in-law, but the father did not. Hermann Seele performed the wedding and the young couple lived with her parents.

Unaccustomed to outdoor work, Riebeling became sick. Moeschen believed the son-in-law was just lazy.

When a baby was born to the young couple and died, Moeschen was so distraught about the death that any harmony that had come about because of the baby disappeared. Moeschen became abusive toward his family. The daughter no longer loved her father. She resented his abusiveness toward her mother and husband. As a result, Mrs. Moeschen and the Riebeling couple contrived a plot to get rid of the old man.

On the day of the murder in early September, 1855, the father returned home exhausted, called his son-in-law a loafer and then fell asleep in a drunken stupor. In the dark of evening, the daughter provided a light, and her husband and mother killed the old man with an ax. All that could be heard was the autumn wind wafting the withered leaves from the trees and a few raindrops.

The mother laid the father, who she said was “kaput,” on a mattress and sewed him into a bedspread so no one could see him. The ax was dropped to the bottom of a pond formed by the creek.

Day dawns. Outside, Mrs. Moeschen called to her neighbor G. Holzmann, a laborer going to work. She tells him her husband has died and gives him a string to give to Gerhard, who is to make the funeral arrangements. The string is the length of the body.

Gerhard went to the Moeschen home to make some arrangements and asked to look at the body. The family refused because they said he had already been sewed into a shroud. Upon returning to town, Gerhard said to Justice of the Peace Hermann Seele that he was suspicious, and Seele called for a coroner’s inquest because of the sudden death.

Funeral arrangements continued and friends began to arrive at the house for the funeral. Present were Pastor Eisenlohr of the German Protestant Church where the family were members, the choral society, many townspeople and the carriage with the empty coffin.

Inside, the inquest was performed. The corpse was unwrapped from a dark brown checkered bedspread (shroud), and then carried outside and put on a large table.  Drs. Remer and Koester prepared for an autopsy. (Yes, right there.) Since it was getting dark, lanterns had to be brought from town. After the autopsy, it was determined “the old man has been murdered. Arrest the people.” The three family members were put under arrest.

Through the dark woods, a ghastly procession carrying the casket, proceeded to the sheriff’s home in town. In the spring of 1856, the trial found all three guilty punishable by imprisonment with hard labor for nine years each.

Additional information to Seele’s narrative was written by Everett Fey in his research about the First Founders of New Braunfels. Volunteer Tom Call researched the trial and found that Johanne Moeschen died in prison, Friedrike was paroled in 1860 and Carl Riebeling paroled in 1862.

Picture this: The funeral is at the home, the body is brought outside under a tree, an autopsy is performed right there, and all the while, family, friends, jury, doctors, singing society are all witness to the whole macabre scene. Forensic science has come a long way.

This first appeared in 2012, but we decided to run it again under our True Crime Series.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

“Around the Sophienburg” is published every other weekend in the New Braunfels Herald-Zeitung.

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Methodism is a Protestant religion whose roots can be traced way back to a preacher named John Wesley in England. John Wesley and his brother Charles, while at Oxford University in 1739, began a movement devoted to helping the underprivileged. Fellow students called them “Methodists” for the methods they used to carry out their evangelistic religion. Evangelism is the process of preaching to spread the word of Christianity.

Wesley did not have in mind to start a new religion. Both brothers were ordained ministers of the Church of England but because of their evangelistic methods, they were barred from speaking in most public places. They then resorted to preaching in homes or anywhere they could find an audience.

Another leader of Methodism was George Whitefield, also a minister of the Church of England. Eventually there was a parting of ways between the Wesley brothers and Whitefield over the subject of predestination. Whitefield was an advocate of predestination and the Wesley brothers were not.

In time, several branches of Methodism developed with these in particular: Methodist Protestant Church, Methodist Episcopal Church and Methodist Episcopal Church South. In its long history, by 1930 these three branches united and then merged with another group called the Evangelistic United Brethren. This union eventually led to the formation of the United Methodist Church.

Locally, a man named David Karbach, and a circuit riding Methodist preacher, John Wesley DeVilbiss, are given credit for starting Methodism in New Braunfels. David Karbach had heard the glowing reports about Texas given to newspapers by Prince Carl after he visited Texas in 1844. Due to bad conditions in Germany, Karbach believed his family would have a better life in Texas. So in December of 1845, Karbach with his second wife and their children, set sail on the ship Johann Dethardt and landed in Indianola. With all their worldly goods they had boarded the ship just before Christmas and arrived in Texas in March, 1846.

In New Braunfels, each settler was given one lot in town and a ten acre plot to grow vegetables and feed. It is believed that this 10 acre plot was in the vicinity of the later Locke Nursery near the Comal Springs. A need for expansion led Karbach to buy ranch land on the Hancock Road (present FM 306), about five miles from town. They kept the house in New Braunfels so that the children could go to school and they would join him on weekends. Three of the Karbach children, Fritz, John, and Emilie (later Klingemann) bought land in the area that became known as the Karbach Settlement. With time, this settlement encompassed over 2,400 acres.

While he was still in Germany, David Karbach had affiliated with the Lutheran Church, as many other Protestants did at that time. After arriving in Texas, the family began attending meetings held by the circuit riding Methodist minister, John Wesley DeVilbiss. Due to the lack of ministers in early Texas, circuit riding ministers were those who became ministers on horseback, traveling from one town to another. The New Braunfels Methodists were in a circuit that included Castroville, Cibolo Settlement, Solms, the area above Landa Park hill called Geberge and finally, Schumannsville. DeVilbiss divided his time between these four settlements.

Initially the first Methodist Church held their services in New Braunfels at the home of J. Hirschleben located in the Comaltown area.

By 1858 the group had built a small wooden church on the corner of now Union and Common Streets. Abram Gentry and Conrad Seabaugh, owners and developers of Braunfels Subdivision in Comaltown conveyed two lots to the trustees of the German Methodist Society of New Braunfels.

David Karbach and his family, particularly his son Fritz, became very active in this little church. Sunday School was held frequently in homes in the Karbach Settlement and at the church. Fritz in particular was instrumental in starting the Sunday School. Family tradition has a delightful story about Fritz and his marriage to Emilie Erck. It seems that when Fritz returned from the Civil War, he and Emilie were married in the Comaltown Church. The army band of occupation heard there was to be a wedding and they came and played the Wedding March. Fritz was the superintendent of the Sunday School for 25 years.

By 1890, the Comaltown Church was no longer used and the Karbach Settlement became the center of church activities. A new pastor, Rev. Merkel and his wife, then opened a Sunday School in the unused church and it was very successful, so the church building was once again used. This building served the Methodists for over fifty years until 1913.

Then in 1928, the old first church building was dismantled. Currently a SAC-N-PAC is located on the site with only an oak tree remaining, reminding people of the past.

In 1913 the Karbach Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South was built at its present site on San Antonio St. The Karbach name was included, indicating that family’s involvement in this church. In 1940 another name change took place to Karbach Memorial First Methodist Church. The last renovation took place in 1952 and the church took its present name: First United Methodist Church.

Sixty pastors have served the Methodist church, 45 of which were circuit-riding ministers. The present minister is Rev. Jason Adams. As one of the oldest mainline churches in New Braunfels, it has been a congregation of Christian service to others, no doubt fulfilling the vision of John Wesley. Records show needs being met in the community, all the while tending to the needs of their own members. The church responded to times of tragedy in the community and was very active during the Great Depression and the two World Wars.

Aware of their historical role in New Braunfels history, the church has preserved its records from the start. Although they were written in German, they are being translated.

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff

Prince Carl, on behalf of the Adelsverein, was given the responsibility of establishing two churches in the new settlement of New Braunfels, one Protestant and one Catholic. They were to be established at the same time, but that didn’t happen. Prince Carl engaged Rev. Louis Ervendberg as the Protestant pastor on the coast even before the group moved inland, but could not find a Catholic priest. Meanwhile to satisfy the religious needs of the early settlers, the Protestants and Catholics met together under the leadership of Rev. Ervendberg.

Finding a Catholic priest was difficult. When the prince arrived in the United States in 1844, he visited the archdiocese of Boston and Baltimore, the only organization in America at that time, looking for a priest. When he arrived in Galveston he became acquainted with Catholic Bishop Odin, the Catholic Prelate of Texas, who told him that there were no priests available for the settlement .The two traveled extensively together and became good friends. According to Ferdinand Roemer, “Odin travels continually about the country, visiting the Catholics living scattered in the various parts of the country. Fearlessly and tirelessly he traverses the lonesome prairies on horseback”…

The eventual location of the Catholic Church on Castell and Bridge Sts. has deep historic roots in New Braunfels. From a translation of Prince Carl’s report to the Adelsverein on the 27th of March, 1845, he says this: “Thirty-one wagons have arrived, and I am expecting the last half of the immigrants within a few days. I had an encampment erected on a bluff overlooking Comal Creek. For its protection I think it urgent that three sides be enclosed by palisades, whereas the fourth side is amply protected against attack by the high steep bluff of Comal Creek.”

Nicholas Zink, an educated engineer and surveyor, was given the job of laying out the streets and lots of New Braunfels. He helped set up this first camp of the immigrants. It became known as the Zinkenburg. “Burg” in English means “castle, fortress, stronghold” just like in Sophienburg the “burg” means castle.

After the settlers moved out to their own lots, the Zinkenburg became the site of the first Catholic Church. In 1847, the congregation built a temporary hut of wood and it served for two years as the first church building. This little building was on the site of the present parking lot abutting Bridge Street. It became a Catholic school when a permanent church building was constructed.

After two years, in 1849, Bishop Odin arranged for the first permanent church building. He stated that it was his intention to build the church with his own funds and he asked the Adelsverein to give him the necessary ground for the erection of a building in the city. There were only two other Catholic churches in Texas at this time, Galveston and San Antonio.

This church known as the Walnut Church was closer to the back of the property above the Comal Creek. The building was built by Heinrich Meine and built of black walnut, a hard wood that was known to be prevalent on the Guadalupe River. The building was 35 feet by 25 feet. Newly arrived, Father Gottfried Wenzel, was assigned to New Braunfels. Church archivist Everett Fey states that the Walnut Church served the congregation from 1849 through the Civil War. At that time the church was called St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles. Now the congregation had outgrown the Walnut Church.

Once again, Bishop Odin, seeing a need for expansion, dedicated the cornerstone in 1871 for a new stone church. According to Fey, the stone used to build this church was purchased from the County from the newly torn down Jail.

Now here’s an interesting story. What happened to the Walnut Church? In order to allow services of Mass, Baptism, Confirmation, Weddings and Burials to continue uninterrupted, the stone church was built around and over the Walnut Church. There was room enough inside for the smaller church to be free standing.

When the stone church was complete in 1874, there was no longer need for the Walnut Church. A notice in the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung announced that wood from the Walnut Church would be auctioned off in the church parking lot. The church would literally be pulled out the front door one log at a time. At this point, the church changed its name to the present one, Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church.

The space left by the removal of the Walnut Church greatly increased the size of the church and over the next three decades new altars and stained glass windows, now numbering 22, were added. In 1963 the size of the church was doubled. The final addition took place in 2000.

Many long-time members of Sts. Peter and Paul can claim family relationships going back generations. Everett Fey, who has worked on the church’s extensive archives for years, can stand where the Walnut Church once stood and think back to his g-g grandparents, Stephan and Margarethe Klein who worshipped there. A few steps further into the church, his grandfather, Theodore Wenzel, was the Sacristan in the first stone church. He moves up closer to the altar where his brother, Fredric Fey, was ordained a Deacon, and then finally to the most recent altar where his daughter, Janice, recently married.

A church rededication took place five years ago in 2009 on the site of where the Walnut Church once stood.

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Seldom do individuals have clubs or anything named after them. A person becomes famous because of something outstanding that they have done for the advancement of society. All you historians out there and those that have a passing interest in history know the name Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer. This extremely interesting person has been the object of my curiosity for quite a while.

Lindheimer, known as the “Father of Texas Botany”, has 38 plants containing his name. Several organizations in New Braunfels have his name as their chapter names, and his picture is larger than life on a downtown mural. He is buried in the Comal Cemetery and his Texas Centennial headstone was given by the State of Texas. What did he actually do for the community? Let’s look first at his background:

Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer was born the 21^st of May, 1801, in Frankfurt am Maine in Germany. He came from a wealthy family and was educated at the Prussian University at Bonn. At age 25 he left the university to teach at a boys’ school. At this school in 1832, a student riot occurred. At that time there was much dissatisfaction in the way German states were governed, especially among the young people. In this case, the government just closed down the school and the teachers were asked to leave the area. Lindheimer and other educated men decided to emigrate to the United States.

Eight men of high intellect and high education level migrated to a farm called Belleview Farm in Illinois. These men, including Lindheimer, soon tired of the life of idleness and headed south, bound for New Orleans with the idea of coming to Texas . He then boarded a ship and eventually landed on the Mexican coast at Vera Cruz where he started botanizing (collecting plants) in a big way. He stayed there for 18 months.

Lindheimer then involved himself in the Texas War of independence. He enlisted in April, 1836, and was discharged December 1837. His certificate of discharge describes him as a teacher, 5’8” tall, with dark hair and blue eyes. After this military stint, he bought a small farm outside of Houston, but in his own words, ‘was a failure at farming”. Farming and botanizing are two different things and he preferred botanizing.

In 1841 Lindheimer began his correspondence with well-known Illinois botanist Dr. George Englemann. This acquaintance became a lifetime of selling plants to Englemann, who as a professor and doctor, had the means to publish the information that Lindheimer sent to him. Lindheimer showed from the start that he had a keen ability to collect, describe in words and even illustrate plants. A letter to Englemann mentions a woman in Lindheimer’s life. She is not named. He calls a person named Ann his child. No evidence of a child has been found in records. There are no birth records. Could Ann be the woman?

Lindheimer met Prince Carl at Industry not far from Houston. He decided to join the Adelsverein. In that group was Rev. Louis Ervendberg and their friendship and interest in botany lasted their lifetimes.

The Adelsverein granted Lindheimer a large section of land for the services performed for that organization. Now he could botanize full time. The Lindheimer house that you see on Comal St. is on the site of the original log cabin. Maps show a large area around this area called the Botanical Garden. He married Eleanore Reinarz who according to writer Minetta Altgelt Goyne in her book “A Life among the Texas Flora”, was “sometimes difficult”. He was becoming a valuable member of the community “despite what seems to have been some eccentricities”.

In early fall of 1845 famed botanists Asa Gray and George Engelmann published results of Lindheimer’s 1843 and 1844 collections. There are 38 plants named after him and the one that we know best is “Lindheimeria texana” (or Lindheiumeria texensis), the Texas yellow star. It’s not difficult to see why this flower is so popular.

In 1850, Lindheimer became editor and eventually owner of Neu Braunfelser Zeitung. The first issue was on Nov. 12, 1852. The newspaper had difficult financial times the whole time he was editor. During the Civil War, he was influential in the secessionist movement. Although against slavery, he was an adamant “states righter” and did not want the federal government making decisions for the state. Comal County was the only predominantly German community that joined the Confederacy. The decision to secede from the union was a controversial one.

He retired from the newspaper in 1872. He is remembered for more than being the “Father of Texas Botany”. Always on the side of freedom, he was an advocate of education for all. He was on the committee pushing for the establishment of the NB Academy and for the Texas Legislature to levy taxes for the financial support of public schools.

When Ferdinand Lindheimer died in 1879, he was buried in the Comal Cemetery surrounded by family members and the flowers that he loved. Most of the information in this article came from Goyne’s book, “The Life among the Texas Flora” available in Sophie’s Shop at the Sophienburg. Goyne’s footnote explanations read almost like “the rest of the story”.

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It’s the Silver Anniversary of Weihnachtsmarkt. Can you believe it? For 25 years the Sophienburg has been putting on this event. Weihnachtsmarkt means “Christmas Market”. Patterned after the Christmas Markets in Germany, the purpose is to allow tradesmen to offer customers goods and gifts for Christmas gift-giving. Of course, our purpose is also to help keep the doors open to the Museum and Archives. The event will be at the Civic Center from Friday, Nov. 22 through Sunday, Nov. 24.

There are some unexpected connections between Weihnachtsmarkt and the Civic Center. Stretch your imagination and see if you can guess the first connection.

Karl Matern

In 1844 when the first group of immigrants on the ship Johann Dethardt arrived in Galveston, there was a young man aboard named Karl Matern. He was typical of the single first emigrants looking for a new life. Early in March, Prince Carl went to San Antonio looking for land to buy and bought the Veramendi Tract (Comal Tract) from the Juan Veramendi heirs. Karl Matern accompanied Prince Carl on this trip. As a first founder of New Braunfels, Matern received Lot #63 from the Adelsverein, on which he built a log cabin without using nails. He had been trained in forestry in Germany.

A year later Matern attended a picnic in Austin County where he met his future wife, Ulrike Fuchs. After they married in 1853, the couple moved to land on the Colorado River in Burnet County where her family had settled. Matern was gone from New Braunfels and so was his little log cabin.

Now you have connection #1. Lot #63 is where the Civic Center now stands and I’m sure lots of nails were used in construction. In front of it is the statue of Prince Carl. This is where Weihnachtsmarkt will be held.

Alonzo Garwood

About the time the Matern left New Braunfels, a child, Alonzo Garwood, was born in Bastrop, Texas. He was destined to have a successful medical practice in New Braunfels. Dr. Garwood built a grand home on the corner of Seguin and Garden Sts. sometime in the mid-1920s. The lot number was #63. He married Irene Pfeuffer, the daughter of Senator Georg Johann Pfeuffer and Suzanah Gravis and two children were born to the couple – Lucille in 1885 and George in 1889.

After Irene’s death, Garwood married Bertha Harpstrite. When Dr. Garwood died in 1932, his widow lived in the house until her death.

After several owners, the property was purchased in 1969 by the City of New Braunfels, including most of the block, that included lot # 63.

Chamber of Commerce

Fast forward to an ad in the l00th Anniversary of the Neu Braunfelser Herald-Zeitung in 1952. This ad stated that the Chamber of Commerce began in 1920 when the town was a “neat little town” of 3,590 to almost 15,000 in 1952 (today’s population is at least six times that amount). In its infancy, NB had ideal living conditions, was favored by nature, and was strategically located in the heart of Texas. Originally called the Merchants Association, the Chamber of Commerce organization became the Board of City Development and eventually the Greater New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce.

Now go way back in time. As long as commerce existed, traders grouped themselves together for protection and then eventually to set up rules of governing the conduct of trade. As a world-wide organization, the Chamber goes back to the end of the 17^th century in Marsaille, France when the city council formed an association of traders.

In the British Isles, it was in Glasgow, Edinburg, Manchester, and London in 1881. In Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm saw the advantages of such organizations for promoting trade. Its success spread over Germany.

The oldest Chamber of Commerce in America was formed in New York in 1768 and was chartered by King George of England and by 1870 there were 40 U.S. Chambers. Each was an association of tradesmen for promotion of the sale of goods. When businesses realized that their success depended on a healthy community, the Chamber of Commerce became a true community organization. That’s true of the New Braunfels Chamber. To attract new industries and to involve the community in governmental affairs on a local, state and federal level became major goals for Chamber programs.

Our Civic Center opened its doors in 1971. Most of the building is smack-dab in the middle of lot #63.

Weihnachtsmarkt

Now let’s get back to Weihnachtsmarkt. Eighty years ago the Sophienburg Museum and Archives was organized for the purpose of preserving the unique history of New Braunfels and Comal County. Weihnachtsmarkt began in 1989 as a primary fund raiser.

The Civic Center was the location of the event. During the expansion of the Civic Center, Weihnachtsmarkt was held as a one year event in the Wursthalle. Although the atmosphere was charming using huge murals of Germany, the event returned to the new Civic Center in 2008. More geared to this type of event, Weihnachtsmarkt has been there ever since.

The sounds and smells of Weihnachtsmarkt will put you in the mood for the holidays. Sophie’s Kaffee Shop gives you an opportunity to eat and rest in between shopping. There is so much variety in the shopping and if you want to experience old world Christmas charm, come to Weihnachtsmarkt.

Letter to Prince Carl:

Dear Prince Carl,

Perhaps you can be with us in spirit at Weihnachtsmarkt. We think you would like what we have done at Sophie’s Castle on the hill. We will use the money we make at Weinhachtsmarkt to keep alive the history of the community you helped found.

Sincerely,
The Sophienburg Museum and Archives

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It did not surprise me to find out that Harry Landa was the first president of the Comal County Fair Association. In those early days before the turn of the century, his name appears over and over for new projects, new industry, innovative ideas, and most of them succeeded. He would have gotten the Chamber of Commerce’s Besserung Award.

Here’s how the Comal County Fair began: The editor of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung, Anselm Eiband, (the second editor after Lindheimer) asked the question in an editorial, “Why don’t we have a fair here in New Braunfels when towns like Fredericksburg and Lockhart have one?”

An opportunity arose, as it so often does. The newly built Krankenhaus (hospital) needed money, so they decided to have a fair on their lot (corner of Zink and Seguin Sts.) during their dedication Sept. 30, 1892. It was a huge success.

Shortly thereafter, a group of civic-minded men met in the courthouse and formed the Comal County Fair Association. They elected Harry Landa to be president, so in 1893 they set the date for the fair to be in November on Landa’s pasture.

“No Rain, No Fair” screamed the newspaper headline. That first fair was called off because of a drought. In other words, too much dust for everything that was going to happen, livestock and horse races. The fair was postponed for a year.

That first fair in 1894 was a huge success according to the newspaper, and I’m sure Harry Landa relished in that success. For that matter, he rented the pasture to them to have four more years of fairs until they bought their own land.

Harry Landa became interested in horses although he admitted that he knew nothing about them. He bought a string of standard bred trotters. In the bunch was a magnificent dark brown stallion that he said he appropriately named “Bankrupt”. He not only spent a lot of money on this new venture, but he decided to dress the part himself as a racehorse owner. He bought a white plug hat (bowler), a loud checkered suit, gaudy shirt and tie with an immense Hot Springs diamond on the tie. To top off this outfit, he put a cigar in his mouth twice the ordinary size.

Possibly this new interest in horses had something to do with his interest in forming a fair association. Before the New Braunfels races, Landa decided to try out his horses at other tracks: Austin, Baylor, Waco and in all these races his trainer sent word that the horse was either lame, cast a shoe, or couldn’t be seen for the dust. Now came the New Braunfels Fair. By this time, Landa’s desire to be a big time racehorse owner had reached an all-time low. Landa’s brother, Morris, traded his horses for him for 30 carloads of hay and then sold the hay for $1,030 . This was the end of Harry Landa’s racehorse adventures.

Here is a little bit about the Landa family and how they came to own the property later known as Landa Park:

Joseph Landa, Harry’s father, ran away from his home in Germany to escape his father’s desire that he become a Rabbi. Working his way to England, he saved enough money to buy his steerage passage to America. He arrived in New York and after a few jobs, he bought a horse and loaded down a wagon with merchandise. He made his way to Texas selling his goods and arrived in San Antonio in 1844. Here he opened a little store and three years later rode his mule to NB and opened up a store on the corner of San Antonio St. and Castell Ave. now occupied by the Phoenix Saloon. Source: (Harry Landa, “As I Remember”)

He would make an annual trip to New York to replenish his stock where he met and married Helena Friedlander. She was 16, he was 41. In New Braunfels they stayed in the Millett Boarding House (where the CC Courthouse now stands). Right behind this boarding house Joseph and Helena bought the property adjoining it on the Plaza. For 75 years, members of the family lived in the beautiful Victorian home, a real showcase.

By 1862, Joseph was a prosperous merchant, owned a gristmill, owned the Comal Springs and the surrounding areas. He owned a cotton gin, a sawmill, a flour mill and a store. Then in 1896, Joseph Landa died. Harry and his mother, consequently carried on the various businesses in NB. This successful business partnership of Harry Landa and his mother bought small river frontages on the Comal River until they owned the entire stream on both sides.

A large contribution to the city was Harry Landa’s establishment of the Landa Electric Light and Power Co. Electricity for street lights would be furnished to the city at the rate of $1.50 a light a month. Soon everyone wanted electricity.

In 1927, Landa sold the entire estate including the park in compliance with the will of his mother, which called for liquidating and dividing the estate ten years after her death. The property was purchased by an investment company, suffered reverses during the depression years, and the park was closed with barbed wire surrounding the property until 1936, when the City of New Braunfels finally bought the area of Landa Park.

This week in all the excitement of the fair, let’s give a little thought to the guy that brought us Landa Park, electricity, and of course, spearheaded the Comal County Fair.

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Photos: July 4, 2013, Parade and Program

By Myra Lee Adams Goff

It is fitting that the Sophienburg Museum and Archives sponsor the Fourth of July parade and celebration here in downtown New Braunfels.

Prince Carl chose the little hill on which the Sophienburg Museum is located to build a fortress to oversee and defend New Braunfels. When he came to Texas in 1844, he brought two cannons made in Victoria. Those cannons and other guns would protect the immigrants, he said. The guns were kept in a warehouse on the grounds of the Sophienburg to be distributed when needed. The warehouse was called the magazine, hence Magazine Blvd.

The two cannons were to be set up at an appropriate point near the magazine. The Prince felt that in case of an attack the cannons could “sweep the streets with cannon shots and the enemy could be cleaned out.” Can you imagine it? These two cannons were originally set up at the east and west entrances to the Zinkenburg, the site above the Comal Creek where the Sts. Peter and Paul Church is now located.

In the New Braunfelser Jahrbuch, years later, the then mayor, C.A. Jahn, wrote that the two cannons rested for many years on the slope of the Sophienburg Hill. He says that before the Civil War, the cannons were used in Fourth of July celebrations as well as anniversaries. They would shoot one cannon, wait a few minutes, and then shoot the other cannon, giving the two to three-inch cast iron walls time to cool. He remembers seeing one cannon catapult down the hill as a result of firing it too early. Jahn also remembers hearing that one cannon blew to bits as a result of firing it in quick succession, scattering parts everywhere. This was in celebration of the end of the Civil War.

The other cannon was taken to Comaltown to be part of the 25^th anniversary in 1870 and was shot many times. It was placed on the banks of the Comal near Clemens Dam. It was shot once in 1876 at sunrise during the Centennial Fourth of July Celebration. That celebration is claimed to be the most elaborate of all Fourth celebrations.

There were many stories as to what happened to the remaining cannon. In a 1980 Reflections Program, Carlo Fischer claimed to have the real story of the missing cannon. He claims that in 1894 his father, Emil Fischer, Harry Galle, Adolph Henne, and Emil Gerlich decided to shoot the cannon to “put a little life in the town”. The cannon was located on the banks of the Comal. These three young men forced too heavy a charge of gun powder into the old cannon and inadvertently blew it up. For more on this story, see my column on Sophienburg.com, July 8, 2008.

In this year’s parade, the Sons of Confederate Veterans will enter a small float decorated with two flags – one, an 1862 Confederate flag, and the other, an 1862 United States flag. They are bringing a cannon, but don’t worry, it’s not a resurrected one, nor are they going to shoot it. This cannon is a replica that was used by NB Confederate leader, Gus Hoffmann. Hoffmann, by the way, was the first elected mayor of New Braunfels. (June, 1847 to March, 1848)

The Civil War’s 150^th Anniversary has been commemorated all year and the Sophienburg has just taken down its year-long Civil War exhibit.

The first year that the emigrants were here, only four months had passed before the Fourth of July rolled around and Texas was still a Republic. The first actual celebration was after Texas became a state of the United States in February, 1846.

Dr. Ferdinand Roemer in his book “Texas” says that the 1846 Fourth of July was celebrated in New Braunfels by hoisting a large American flag on the Verein building and a formal banquet was held to which officers of the Verein and a number of dignitaries of the city were invited. The year before, Prince Carl strung up an Austrian flag on the Verein building and downtown at the same time a group of men hoisted a flag of the Republic of Texas. Flags have always sent a very strong message and that was a strong one.

As always, the bigger an event gets, the more rules you have to have. There are some new rules: For this year, you must reserve a spot to enter the parade by submitting an entry at which time you will get a line-up number. Entries must be approved as to the type of vehicle. No trucks bigger than F350 pulling 16’ Trailer. No objects may be thrown by participants, no commercial entries or political entries. Find the application on the Sophienburg.com website or come by the Sophienburg. 830-629-1572.

For those watching the parade, the Community Band begins performing at the Main Plaza bandstand at 8:45. The parade begins at 9:15 from Sts. Peter and Paul Church parking lot, goes down Castell St., turns left on San Antonio St., continues around Main Plaza, turns onto Seguin St. after the Courthouse and disbands at Seguin & Mill Sts. At 10:00 o’clock, the patriotic program on Main Plaza begins and it traditionally lasts about half an hour. There will be special music and remarks by City and County officials. See you downtown!

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In your imagination, go back to 1845. The German immigrants will be crossing the Guadalupe River into what would become the settlement of New Braunfels. The date is March 21st and in 1845, it was Good Friday. As we know, Good Friday is not often on that date, but New Braunfels celebrates Founder’s Day on March 21, 1845. When you go into the Sophienburg Museum, the first display you see is dedicated to the brigs that brought the immigrants from Germany.

Since it is said that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, picture in your mind what the following famous ships looked like and you can get a mental picture of a brig: How about the “Sea Hawk” from the movie “Pirate of the Mediterranean”? Do you remember the “Jolly Roger”, a pirate ship of “Capt. Hook”? And then the “Covenant” from the story “Kidnapped” by Robert Louis Stevenson.

A brig is a small sailing ship with two masts. A brigantine is the same kind of ship but has a different arrangement of sails. Even now, every ship has a brig which is a prison cell where prisoners are kept until the ship reaches shore. By the 19th century, most ships were made of pine and were standard cargo ships. (They are also called barks, barkentines, clippers, named according to size and shape, number of masts, and how the sail was rigged.)

Then there were schooners which were fast, small ships used often from Galveston to Indianola. Do you remember the “We’re Here” schooner made famous by Rudyard Kipling’s “Captain’s Courageous”?

The German immigrants had the idea, as promoted by writers and especially the Adelsverein, that the two month trip, was to take them to a new exciting country where all their problems would be left behind. The romance of traveling was exciting and since most of the immigrants came from the interior of Germany, few had even seen the ocean nor a sailing vessel. They had already traveled many miles to get to Bremen or Antwerp to get on the brig to travel thousands of miles to their new Heimat (homeland). They must have had a rather “child-like” anticipation of something new and adventurous. On the other hand, it must have been a bittersweet experience, leaving your home to which you would never return and saying goodbye to friends and relatives.

Around 60 ships were leased by the Adelsverein and eventually made over 100 trips. The time taken to get from Germany to Galveston was roughly around 58 to 146 days depending on the weather, especially wind. Most of the vessels were cargo ships, well built and heavy, but slow. Group transport at the time made it profitable to convert cargo ships into emigrant ships.

The ships were divided into three sections: The bottom or the “hold” carried water, provisions, and the baggage of the immigrants. The middle section, steerage, had a hallway through the middle from one end to the other, and contained cubicles 8 x 8 stacked one on another. These cubicles were arranged with upper and lower berths with ladders to get up and down. They contained the large trunks of the family and had only a rough sailcloth straw mattress.

In a few of the ships, the steerage had portholes, but in most, the only light and air that reached these cabins was from the stairway leading to the upper deck. No running water, no buckets for “conveniences”, no lamps except whale oil lanterns, no washing facilities for body or clothes. Slop jars served as toilets, the contents of which had to be carried to the upper deck each morning and dumped into the sea. An average of 150 persons were in steerage.

The upper deck was separated from steerage by a hatch. During stormy days, the hatch had to be kept closed. Imagine the seasickness, heat, and close quarters. Many died and were buried at sea. The number has not been determined.

The first emigrants traveled to Bremen, sailed north on the Weser River to Bracke. Here they embarked on the brigs tied to the docks. Then they sailed to Bremerhaven, and out into the North Sea. The rough English Channel brought on seasickness. Eventually the drinking water took on a bad taste and smell. The food consisted of salted beef, pork, peas, beans, barley, rice, potatoes, sauerkraut, and cabbage. There was much rejoicing when they finally reached Galveston and then Indianola.

As difficult as the trip was, “All for Texas and Texas forever” says it all. Victor Bracht, 1848.

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I’m writing about iconology, the study of icons. The word “icon” has been stretched thin over the years. Originally it referred to “a painting of religious personages on a wooden panel in the Eastern Church”. In advertising, we have icons for almost everything. Christmas icons are the symbols that make us think of Christmas.

Go all the way back to the 1844 emigrant landing on the coast at Indianola. Soon after, at Christmas time, a coastal oak tree was procured and covered with candles. The lighted tree as an important icon lives on. Protestant Reformer Martin Luther is given credit for the lighted tree when he noticed the brilliance of the stars peeking through the snow-covered trees. He rushed home to put candles on his fir tree.

The Puritans were against decorations, including trees, but when German and Irish emigrants arrived in America, the Puritan legacy was stamped out by long-standing ethnic traditions. Meanwhile in the Texas Hill Country, the only tree that came close to resembling the fir tree was the “don’t touch me, I have stickers” juniper. Christmas trees changed from juniper, to imported fir trees, to artificial trees.

Candles were the only tree lights until electricity was invented around the turn of the 20th century. Those early electric lights were problematic; if one globe went out, the whole string went out. Much time was spent looking for that one burned-out globe. With time, that problem was solved and now we have LED lights.

Decorations, too, have changed over the years. The Sophienburg has some glass globes brought from Germany. Fast forward to the 1920s, before children chewed on trees, some very dangerous decorations appeared on the scene. For example, there was spun glass called angel hair, tinsel icicles made of lead, and globes made of mercury glass.

In America the most iconic symbol of children’s Christmas is Santa Claus. Long before the big guy dressed in red and was made famous by an illustration by Haddon Sundblom for Coca Cola, a similar character appeared in Europe. He was Saint Nicholas and his story was brought by the settlers from Germany. The more judgmental Nicholas filled stockings hung somewhere in the house on Dec. 5th with candy and fruit for good children and a switch or a potato or a piece of coal for a “bad” child. But “bad or good” there was hope for all children because there was still two weeks to straighten up before Santa Claus came.

Locally, Bill Vollmar was given much credit for bringing Santa Claus to New Braunfels. Vollmar owned a local 5 and 10 cent store. The picture shows Santa arriving on a train. Hearsay says he also arrived in an airplane and, of course, the vehicle of choice was not a reindeer, but a fire truck.

Gift giving has always been a big part of the holidays. Here’s a short list of advertised gifts: a Kodak camera at Voelkers Drug Store (1898); Tigress, Woodhue, and Tabu perfumes plus Tangee lipstick (1940s); hand carved dolls and marbles (ancient cultures).

Stores had toys for sale, but the first toy store was Tante Amelia’s Christmas Store next to Henne Hardware. Tante was a sister to the Hennes and the toy store was only open for two weeks. When it wasn’t a toy store, it held kitchen supplies.

Church activities dominated the Christmas season. The Germans celebrated Christmas Eve with a light supper and then gift opening. In the old days the tree was closed off to children until the gift opening ceremony. This was the first time that children saw the tree and gifts. A midnight candlelight church service followed.

In the Catholic Hispanic community, Dec. 24th was a time for friends and neighbors gathering together at one home. They would have a rosary by the nativity scene at the home and place the baby Jesus in the empty crib to remain there until Feb. 2nd. Another tradition was Las Posadas (the Inns), an old ceremony commemorating the journey of Mary and Joseph as they sought lodging preparing for the birth of Jesus.

As more and more Americans moved to New Braunfels, traditions gradually blended together. New Braunfelsers have their own icons of German, Hispanic, and American origin. Tamales, chili, poinsettias, sausage, cookies, pralines, divinity, toffee, piñatas, bells, all blend together, so–

Fröliche Weihnachten, Feliz Navidad, and a New Braunfels Merry Christmas to all!

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One of the more exciting stories concerning the early settlers of New Braunfels was that of Betty Holekamp charging across the Guadalupe on a horse after Prince Carl’s spectacular show of bravado. The story was probably somewhat embellished over the years, but nevertheless it’s a good one.

Prince Carl was of the highest class of aristocracy and I doubt seriously if he appreciated anyone trying to upstage him, much less a woman. He would not be leading the parade for women’s sufferage, but I think Betty would have.

Here’s the story: Georg and Elizabeth Holekamp had married in Germany on March 17, 1844. They set out for Texas to make a new life for themselves. They were on the brig Johann Dethart which was the first ship of the Adelsverein. They arrived in Galveston November 24, 1844.

Georg Holekamp, the son of the royal architect Daniel Holekamp, was educated at the University of Hanover and could speak German, English, French and also studied music and medicine. His father discouraged him from being a musician. He couldn’t have gone farther away from that career – a brick maker and a farmer. Music did become his hobby. For that matter it was while pursuing this hobby that Georg met Elizabeth Abbenthern. While playing the piano, Georg asked for a vocalist and Elizabeth (Betty) came forward. She was 10 years younger and he was impressed.

Betty’s father was the ministerial accountant in the royal court of the King of the state of Hannover. Betty was educated along with the king’s daughters to become a governess.  She had been around the aristocracy before so that may explain her willingness to challenge the prince.

Georg and Betty married and set out for the Republic of Texas. They arrived in Galveston on November 24, 1844. They made their way to New Braunfels and when they could, crossed the Guadalupe to get to the settlement.

Now Betty is the one that tradition says would not want to be outdone by Prince Carl. Supposedly he was riding a white horse and   plunged into the raging flood waters. This white horse story made me question the accuracy of the story. After all, “good” cowboys ride white horses. We don’t know what color Betty’s horse was but she followed suit in true pioneer fashion. Don’t you know Georg was impressed?

In New Braunfels they enrolled in the German Protestant Church. Their town lots bordered Garden St., from Comal St. to the Comal River.

When Texas became a state of the Union, Betty Holekamp sewed a 6 ft by 3 ft United States flag with the 13 red and white stripes and a lone star on a field of blue in the left corner. This earlier Texas flag was known as the Texas Lone Star and Stripes flag. Tradition says that the Holekamp flag was flown on the Plaza and believed to be the first American flag flown in town. Some think that the flying of this flag could have been a message to the aristocratic Prince Carl. What do you think?

Two years after arriving in New Braunfels, the Holekamps moved to Fredericksburg where they received property and Georg became an administrator in property settlement. They never gave up their properties in New Braunfels. Georg built a home and a saw and grist mill on the Comal River at the foot of Garza St. It was also a paper pulp mill and an ice plant. A flood nearly totally destroyed the mill in 1869. This property became Camp Landa and finally the property of Schlitterbahn.

In 1854 the Holekamps moved to Comfort as one of their first settlers. A small rock house is still preserved by the Comfort Historical Society. They also lived in Sisterdale and San Antonio. The Sisterdale house still stands also.

When the Civil War broke out, Georg enlisted in the Confederate army as a surgeon. His  small amount of medical training qualified him to do that. He was the company’s band director at the same time. Unfortunately he was killed in Brownsville in 1862 and neither the cause or burial site was revealed.

Betty Holekamp continued living in Comfort and raised her seven children alone. She outlived her husband by 40 years. What a woman!!

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