By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Have you ever taken a walking tour of New Braunfels? Whether with a group or self-guided with detailed maps, the tours are basically a clever way to learn history while you exercise.

While digging in the archives, I came across a 1969-version of a walking tour, which is more of a “driving tour” of New Braunfels history and includes Gruene. It is full of photographs and frankly, bits of information that I have not seen before.

In comparing the old version to the walking tour currently listed on the New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce website, I found the listings quite different. They both list big stuff — Courthouse, downtown commercial buildings, the Faust homes, etc., but many of the smaller older homes have been left off the Chamber list. Just like in real life, bigger, more beautiful homes draw attention.

So, let us explore some of those. Just as in fashion, architectural styles and influences change with time, providing natural time periods as dividers. Today, I will point out a few of those not on the current walking tour, dating from 1845 Colonial Texas up to 1860 (pre-Civil War) period.

First up is 354 W. Bridge. The home of Phillip Schmidt is perched on the bluff overlooking Comal Creek. The small 1850 house, built in the fachwerk style, is of adobe and hand-hewn logs. It was originally a one-and-a half-story building with a high-pitched roof and outside stairs up to the loft. It is still inhabited, but well hidden behind thick foliage.

Another remarkable building is the office building located at 259 N. Seguin next to the Comal County Tax Assessors office. One would never think that it is that old. It is a basic 1850 German Colonial Cottage of fachwerk and cut stone with a basement. Fachwerk (pronounced fock-verk) is the European building method that German immigrants brought with them.

Fachwerk consisted of hewn timber frameworks secured with treenails (wooden pegs). The open spaces were filled with bricks made of mud and grass, which served as fireproofing, soundproofing and insulation. Often the exterior was covered with cypress shingles or stucco. Porches much like those in Europe were added to homes to help survive the Texas heat. This structure is painted now, but in the 1970s, the exterior wood was stained/varnished wood.

Next on the list is the Julius Habermann house at 543 W. Mill Street. Although it was built in 1862, the house looks basically the same today. Julius Habermann was a shoemaker. He bought acre lot 12 to build the home. The fachwerk structure is built of hand-hewn cedar logs and cut limestone with wide plank board flooring throughout. His youngest daughter married William Tolle. The home stayed in the family until Mrs. Tolle’s death in 1958.

The house located at 189 Comal Av. is one of those that you have probably driven by unnoticed hundreds of times. It is constructed in a simplistic version of the Greek Revival style. The characteristics of Greek Revival include strict symmetry and balance of elements, prominent gabled roofs and columns supporting a gabled roof. The buildings are often painted white. Greek Revival style dominated the United States, especially the South, from 1820 to 1850, finally reaching Texas in the 1860s.

This original Comal Street structure was built in 1860. The first addition was in 1880; the rear addition was added in 1940. The front of the house is perfectly symmetrical with a small gabled porch on the front. It has 6-light or 6-over-6 paned windows.

The next couple of houses on the old historic home tour are located on Hill Avenue, the narrow street on the west side of the railroad tracks. Both are now part of the shopping village behind Huisache Grill.

The first one off W. San Antonio Street was originally at 178 Hill Ave., the home of August Wetzel. It is a little outside of the pre-Civil War era, but still an excellent example of early home. The residence was built in 1872 with a Greek Revival pediment and porch. Six-light windows, a single narrow front door and a basement. I am sure that Mr. Wetzel had no idea that the train tracks would be built along the path of Hill Avenue in 1881, slicing off his property and bringing the train to his front door. Even with the porch now removed, the building is in amazing condition.

The next one was the home of F.W. Tietze. The German Colonial style residence was constructed in 1852 by Mr. Tietze. It has very ornate double front doors, latticework ballustrade and columns on the porch. It basically looks the same today.

Now, comes the sad part of my tale. The last few of the homes on the 1969 list are no longer in their spots. Whenever you see newer or mid-century modern buildings in the heart of New Braunfels, you know that a piece of history was removed to make room for it.

The 1850 Victorian Cottage home, originally located at 488 Castell, had unique double doors and extravagant porch detailing. It was removed to make way for New Braunfels City property driveway (old City Hall), now the recycling exit driveway.

Another sad removal, the home originally located at 545 Comal Avenue was constructed about 1855 for early immigrant Johannes Heinrich Hohmann (Heinrich). The fachwerk structure was built as two separate buildings covered in wood siding. The kitchen was separate. The Hohmann House, was removed to make way for one of the huge mansions above the Comal River. Others along Comal Street suffered a similar fate. The particular house at 575 Comal was saved by Carola Davis, having been dismantled and then reassembled elsewhere.

The house previously located at 231 S. Seguin across from the Faust Hotel is another missing gem. Actually, there were two fachwerk houses on the site, one behind the other. The houses were once the residences of the Henne sisters and were thought to be built by early New Braunfels businessman Louis Henne.

In 1969, Bob Warnecke, then a student at the University of Texas, dismantled the two houses. He saved boards, windows, beams and square-headed nails, storing the materials for restoration.

The last lost gem was the building formerly located at 290 S. Seguin Ave., which is now the landscaped corner next to Johnson Furniture (Ludwig Building). The store was built in 1850. It served as the Rudolph DuMenil General Merchandise Store in 1860, then as the Ludwig Furniture Store and later Johnson’s Furniture warehouse. Fortunately, you can still see it, as it was moved to Gruene and last served as Hunter Brothers store at 1254 Gruene Road.

We are so fortunate to live in a place with such wonderful history. I am grateful for the still present examples of that history every day. I know that maintaining a historic building is not easy or cheap, but THANK YOU to those preservationists, especially now in what seems like disposable world.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Bob Warnecke; Carola Davis.

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

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Detail of K. W. Pressler & W. Völker 1851 map of Texas. This map was issued as part of G. M. von Ross’ 1851 book, Der Nordamerikanische Freistaat Texas.

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Among a stack of “orphaned” papers, I found an old map of Texas. “Orphans” are those papers or artifacts that either were inadvertently separated from their donor connection or that showed up randomly at the back door of the Sophienburg Museum in a box.

This map was cut into rectangles and mounted on a linen canvas so it could be folded into a small booklet; it is missing its front and back cardstock covers. Titled, “Map of Texas, Compiled from Surveys at the Land Office of Texas by K. W. Presler & W. Völker, Geometers of the Land Offices of Texas”, this beautiful engraved topographical map depicts Texas counties established prior to 1851 along with rivers, creeks, pioneer routes and towns. There is also an octagonal card glued to it that has “G. M. v Ross1852” written in German script.

The names gave me some starting points to find out more about the map. Turns out, this is a pretty cool, pretty rare, and remarkably accurate map.

I researched G. M. v Ross. George Moerner von Ross was an American of German descent. That little “v” in his name stands for “von”, the German word “of or from”, which usually signifies that a man is landed gentry and not your basic peasant immigrant from Germany. Ross wrote several travel/informational books for Germans considering immigration to the US of A: (1848) Rathschläge und Warnungen (a book of advice on immigration); (1851) Der Nordamerikanische Freistaat Texas (describes Texas climate, geography, animals, biology and minerals); (1851) Des Auswanderers Handbuch (includes a section on Texas).

This map was issued with George M. v Ross’ 1851 Freistaat Texas. The Texas Handbook says, “Ross was for a time associated with Ferdinand Jacob Lindheimer in the publication of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung.” George M. indeed appears in advertisements in the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung in early 1853. The paper also includes his obituary which states that he was co-editor of the NB Zeitung and also the editor of the Allgemeinen Auswanderungs Zeitung. He died on his farm in Sisterdale in October 1856. So, the map might actually have been his.

I also wanted to know about the map’s maker, K. W. Pressler. Karl Wilhelm Pressler was born in Prussia in 1823. Karl studied cartography and surveying and upon graduation, he worked for the Prussian government (or as a civil servant). Dissatisfied with most everything about Prussia, Karl, like many other young men his age, became certain that his destiny awaited him in Texas. Pressler joined the Adelsverein and landed in Galveston in February 1846, right as Texas officially became the 28th state to join the United States.

Karl joined three other German lads and tried out farming. It was a “no go” for him and he made his way to Austin. There, he became friends with a fellow German immigrant who was drawing maps for the Texas General Land Office. He managed to get a 2-month job with the GLO and spent his days drawing maps from 9-12 and 2-5. After his job ended, he travelled a bit and met Jacob de Cordova.

Cordova was also an immigrant, not from Germany, but from Jamaica. He became successful as a land agent in Philadelphia before he turned his eyes on Texas. Here he found more land than even he knew what to do with. For us in New Braunfels, Cordova is important for founding the community of Neighborsville in 1847 (Milltown) and naming many of the creeks in the Canyon Lake area. Cordova lived on the Guadalupe/Comal County border on his land, “Wanderers Retreat” for several years.

In August 1846, when young, 23 year-old Pressler met Cordova, he was made head of Cordova’s surveying expeditions of 1846 and 1847. Pressler also fact-and-quality-checked Cordova’s first map of Texas issued in 1849. Jacob de Cordova founded the city of Waco that same year. Karl, or Charles as he would come to be known, also surveyed in Guadalupe County. That makes sense. He was probably bunking at Wanderer’s Retreat with the Cordova family.

In 1850, Karl Pressler became a full-time draftsman in the Texas General Land Office. He was promoted to principal draftsman in 1858 and chief draftsman in 1865. With a short stint of service as an engineer for the Confederacy and also city engineer of Galveston, Pressler served at the Texas GLO until he retired in 1899.

Our little orphan map, issued along with G.M. v Ross’s book, is the first map K.W. Pressler drew and published. It was followed by another revised and corrected map of de Cordova’s and then his own map of Texas issued in 1858. The 1858 Pressler map was considered to be the most accurate map of Texas that had been produced and took him four years to create from records he found at the GLO. It faithfully depicted rivers, creeks, mountains, pioneer routes, forts, locations of Native-American tribes, towns and counties. The Texas Legislature appropriated $1,000 to purchase copies of Pressler’s 1858 Texas map for placement in each county clerk’s office in the state. Pressler revised his map again in1862, but it was not widely circulated due to the Civil War. Revised and reissued in 1867, it was known as the Traveler’s Map of the State of Texas. He is also credited as the creator of maps for 38 counties in Texas.

Pressler died in 1907 in Austin.

But this is not the end of this story. While researching Mr. Pressler, I found that Oscar Haas was given a collection of letters that new Texan Karl wrote home to his family in Prussia. These letters tell his story of immigration, finding work, surveying the Texas Hill Country, dances, living conditions and include descriptions of the people he met. Be on the lookout for more on this intrepid and adventurous young man.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum: Oscar Haas Collection, Neu Braunfelser Zeitung Collection; Heritage Auctions; Texas State Historical Association: George M. von Ross, Karl Wilhelm Pressler; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Karl Wilhelm Pressler; Texas Historical Commission: Texas Time Travel: Charles Pressler’s Map of the State of Texas.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

When I was 6 years old, I remember proudly being able to finally count to 100 without messing up. I counted 100 pennies. I counted 100 M&M’s (though I rarely made it through that without eating some). Those were tangible. It is still very hard for me to wrap my head around counting 100 of anything intangible … like 100 years. What was it even like 100 years ago in 1926?

Well, World War I ended in 1918. The U.S. economy was humming along, and automobiles became common place. Queen Elizabeth II was born, and the magician Houdini died. The famed U.S. Route 66 was established, connecting Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, California. Closer to home, the towering Comal Power Plant (LCRA, now The Landmark Apartments) was built, and, believe it or not, the Women’s Civic Improvement Club funded the installation of a women’s restroom under the bandstand on Main Plaza.

As New Braunfels grew, the number of churches grew to serve the needs of people moving into the community. In August of 1925, an announcement appeared in the New Braunfels Herald touting Rev. H. Schliesser, a field missionary of the Lutheran Texas Synod, was in New Braunfels to organize a Lutheran congregation. The first services, conducted in German, were upstairs at Mergele Hall.

The Mergeles of Harry Mergele’s Hall are founding families from France. They were merchants. Their home is the little green building that sits behind the store at 166 Comal Avenue (now the chiropractor office). Mergele Hall may not ring a bell with you because the building has had so many other occupants. The two-story building, now the home of Water 2 Wine at 185 S. Seguin, has housed many entities over the years, including a place for the militia to drill, a dance studio, piano studio, and an assembly hall, part of Denson-Dedeke Gifts (downstairs) in the ‘80s and the original retail space for Celebrations Bridal (upstairs). St. Paul Lutheran was one of many churches that got their start upstairs at Mergele Hall.

The new Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul Congregation was established and officially recognized March 21, 1926. The church continued to grow under the guidance of the Rev. H Schliesser. The services were conducted in German in the morning and English in the afternoon with Sunday School in between.

By October 1926, the Lutheran Mission Board of the Iowa Synod voted to contribute to the St. Paul congregation, helping them purchase a house and lot on San Antonio Street for a parsonage, along with two adjacent lots to build a church on Santa Clara. They operated out of those few buildings for a while as they continued to grow their services.

Within a year, they added a St Paul Lutheran Ladies Aid and St. Paul Luther League (for teens), and the St. Paul Lutheran Brotherhood. 1928 saw more opportunities to participate in worship with the creation of the sanctuary and junior choirs. Then, the Great Depression hit.

In 1939, Rev. H.A. Heineke formed a building committee to begin planning a new church building. The church, designed by noted architect, Jeremiah Schmidt, and built by C. R. Roessler, was built of native fieldstone with beautiful dark wood interior beams/trim and stained-glass windows. The $6,000 ($110,000 today) note covered the building and furniture. The church, now known as the Chapel, was dedicated on April 14, 1940. The Chapel is one of the only Jeremiah Schmidt buildings in New Braunfels without a Texas State Historical marker.

St. Paul’s congregation continued to grow, much like churches across the U.S. in the 1960s. This growth prompted the congregation to expand their footprint. In 1962, a new, larger sanctuary was built. The new church building wrapped around the original Jeremiah Schmidt chapel, with its modern design incorporating similar stone, wood beams and colorful stained-glass windows.

With New Braunfels being 180 years old, you might wonder why it took 80 years for a Lutheran church congregation to be established. Well, there is a whole backstory to that. The Lutheran denominations began in Europe and arrived in Texas with German, Swedish, Czech immigrants. In 1850, Pastor Kleiss of Baden, Germany, arrived in Texas to check out the possibilities for new Lutheran congregations. He established himself in the Hortontown and Neighborsville communities across the river from New Braunfels.

In 1851, the German-speaking congregation erected St. Martin Church, the oldest Lutheran church in Texas. A school building was built in 1870 (still standing across from New Braunfels Conservation Society gate). The congregation grew until the turn of the century. St. Martin’s was part of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Texas. It became difficult to supply churches with German-speaking pastors who were of Evangelical or Reformed faith. When services were discontinued, the congregants attended nearby German-speaking churches, First Protestant Church in New Braunfels or Friedens Church in Geronimo.

St. Martin’s Church was taken over and restored by the St. Paul Lutheran Congregation in 1963. St. Martin’s Church was moved to its present place in the Hortontown Cemetery when Loop 337 was built and is marked by a Texas Historical Marker. St. Paul Lutheran Church still holds special services in St. Martins.

One hundred years ago, St. Paul Lutheran began a journey in Christ and extended itself to not only take care of future congregants, but to honor the history of Lutheranism in Texas. Here’s to counting 100 more years!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

We are fortunate to live in a community proud of its heritage, culture and architecture. Our historic districts and downtown are proof of that pride. It seems so very idyllic, people creating a community by the river, building homes and businesses. The town prospers and new brick buildings to replacing the first crude wooden structures so that they will last. Or do they?

Those that we still see close to Main Plaza seem to be surviving, but a number of lavish 19th- and early 20th-century homes were torn down to make way for business structures. Think Landa mansion or the Timmermann house. I think of them as “ghost homes,” because the memory of their haunting beauty is all that is left.

One such ghost home stood on the corner of W. San Antiono Street and Academy Avenue where it was first occupied by the Holz family. Nicholas Holz, at age 20, immigrated from Germany in 1852. He was a blacksmith and wheelwright by trade who did well over the years. His son, Adolph, joined him in N. Holz & Son Implement Co. and in 1908, they built a large two-story building at 474 W. San Antonio St. to sell farm implements, buggies, and wagons. In 1909, Nicholas retired from business and it was sold to Bartels, Sands & Co.

That same year, Adolph Holz engaged architect Carl von Seutter of San Antonio to design a magnificent home at 417 W. San Antonio St. Von Seutter was well known for designing the now-historic home for Otto Koehler, founder of the San Antonio Brewing Association which became Pearl Brewing Company.

The magnificent home was built by Christian Herry for $15,000 with a crew of about 15, including his sons. Louis Herry was the project superintendent. Son Otto was the masonry foreman and son Alfred was a plasterer. The house was a two-story brick with elements of both Greek Revival and Beaux Arts styles of architecture. The building’s symmetry was offset by gabled front and side-porch porticos. Large, ornate Corinthian columns supported double galleries with heavy balustrades, gracefully wrapping around the front and side of the house.

The opulence of the interior was testament to the owner’s wealth. The grand staircase and house trims were all dark wood. The entry hall floor was parquet laid out in 12-nch sheets. The living room walls had special designs created in plaster to look like large picture frames without the pictures. A mural in a tree pattern was painted on the dining room walls. At the back of the house was a solarium with black and white tiles with a view of a magnolia tree.

The tin roof was crafted to resemble Spanish tile. Beneath the house, a large basement held a washroom and a storage space for wood carried upstairs in a dumbwaiter. Behind the house was a carriage house/livery that eventually became a garage.

After the elder Holzs died in 1910 and 1915, Adolph turned his sales savvy to real estate development. He and his wife raised their four children while enjoying a healthy social life. He was neighbors with George Eiband and Wm. Clemens. Things seemed to go south, however, when multiple lawsuits over real estate compensation were filed against Adolph and wife, Hulda, in the early ‘20s. Multiple properties were sold on the courthouse steps to satisfy their debts, including the implement building at 474 and a storefront at 301 W. San Antonio (now Clay Casa) in 1921. The house was sold to Otto Timmermann Sr. for $19,500 (about $2.5 million today) in 1924 before she and Adolph moved to San Antonio. Hulda died in 1925 after a long illness. Adolph ended up working as a farm laborer in Atascosa County for a time before living out his life with daughter and son-in-law, Ella and Harry Kastener in Milltown.

The next resident of the house was Otto Timmermann Sr. He was the son of Heinrich “Henry” Timmermann, who immigrated in 1850. Mr. Timmermann and wife, Alma Stautzenberger, of Guadalupe County, were farmers. He was said to be the land baron of Geronimo Creek. Upon his retirement, they moved into the old Holz mansion.

Otto Sr. lived in the home about 14 years until his death in 1938. Mrs. Timmermann continued to live in the house on the first floor. After World War II, when returning soldiers took up most of the town’s apartments for rent, Mrs. Timmermann rented out the top floor as a separate apartment. The second floor had a small kitchen, a living room, bedrooms and one bathroom in the hall. One of the bedrooms had six windows. Boarders had to use the back stairs and door, never the main entrance.

Mrs. Timmermann died in 1960. In 1962, the estate sold her house to Rudy Seidel. He used it as a temporary warehouse for hi-fidelity consoles, radios, cameras and electronic flash equipment for Seidel Camera next door. The house was then sold to Howard Hoerster.

It was said that the house had fallen into disrepair, but as a little girl, I looked at that house every time we passed by on the way to my Oma’s house. The grand entryway out front was huge in my eyes. I really wanted to be able to go inside one day, but that was not to be. In January of 1964, the beautiful, old, stately mansion was torn down. I cried. At seven years old, even though I did not know anyone that lived there or how important the architect was, I knew it was a treasure lost and I cried.

Howard Hoerster owned Hoerster Tire & Supply, which was previously located at 270 W. San Antonio St. (now Gourmage). They tore down everything but the large magnolia tree that stood outside the solarium window. They filled in the basement, smoothed it over and built a brand new 6500 square foot brick tire store and service center. The building served thousands of automobiles over time as Hoerster, Goodyear Service Center and DeStefano Tire before being refitted as an office building a couple of years ago.

I have visited Europe and have seen for myself the way different communities hold on to their culture. They still live and work in places that are sometimes 1,000 years old. The structures are proudly maintained for the next generation. Even in areas where war has scarred the land, buildings show dedication to restoration. They are not torn down or drastically altered for the new and trendy. I hope that New Braunfels can embrace and support our historical organizations and commissions in trying to prevent our architectural treasures from becoming “ghosts” as New Braunfels continues to grow at breakneck speed.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

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

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Last week I took on the challenge of finding out about City Lot 89. It is located on the corner of South Seguin Avenue and Coll Street, across from the First Protestant Church. We know it today as the location of Johnson Furniture Co and their lovely, landscaped corner.

This prime real estate was first drawn by lot from the Adelsverein’s land grant by Aloys Rosser in 1848. Rosser sold it to Jacob Winkler in 1850, who quickly flipped it to H. Bevenroth. By 1854, Bevenroth’s estate had sold Lot 89 to Charles Rossy and his wife, and they sold it to Carl Floege. Six owners in six years — I’m guessing that maybe they wanted farmland not city property or perhaps saw a quick way to make some cash.

Carl Floege, a cabinetmaker by trade, immigrated to Texas in 1849. After obtaining Lot 89 in 1854, he built a home and his first general store on the property. He built a much larger, two-story business on Main Plaza (location of Utilities building) and a larger home off Market Plaza. Impressive! More impressive, he used his carpentry skills and know-how to build the first low-water bridge over the Comal at West San Antonio Street (1856), the Torrey Mill bridge on the Comal at Bridge Street (1867) and a new high-water bridge over the Comal (1873) at the location of his former low-water bridge after it had washed away.

Mr. Floege also used his trade to work on the first Comal County Courthouse (1856), a new 66-foot river ferryboat (1859), add rooms to the New Braunfels Academy (1867), deal with city streets and drainage issues (1873-1874), and build numerous stores and homes. Carl could truthfully say he built a lot of old New Braunfels with his two hands.

Carl Floege sold Lot 89 to Rudolph DuMenil in 1858, after the completion of his larger store and home. DuMenil had emigrated from Germany in 1850, and first lived in Hortontown where he ran a meat market for about eight years. In 1858, he moved into the old Floege home and set up his own general merchandising business in the old Floege Store. DuMenil literally sold everything but the kitchen sink — Hungarian grass, bois d’arc saplings for living fence lines, whiskey and brandy, clothing, dry goods, lead and percussion caps, hardware, tobacco products, paint, stoves and kitchenware. Maybe he did sell the sink! Rudolph also sold an ambulance, pianos and did freighting as well as being involved in local education as a trustee at the New Braunfels Academy.

In 1875, DuMenil auctioned off his store inventory and rented the store building to Carl Floege’s son Herman to use as a wagon business. When Herman Floege moved his business elsewhere in 1881, the store was rented to Homans Saddlery/Leather shop.

Lot 89, with the old Floege home and store, was sold by the DuMenils to Cuno “C.J.” Ludewig in 1902. Mr. Ludewig and his brothers had started a furniture business in 1887 at the location of the old Krueger Chevrolet building (across from Granzin Bar-B-Q). C. J. Ludewig took over the business from his brothers and moved it to the Seguin Street property in 1905. The family lived in the old home and ran the furniture company out of the DuMenil store. In 1929, a new “modern” brick building was built next to the old DuMenil store. It had the first elevator in any building in New Braunfels. Almost 3,500 townspeople attended the new store opening event where souvenir ashtrays featuring Charles Lindbergh’s face were distributed. The building was just one of several “modern” buildings built just prior to the market crash of 1929: Travelers Hotel (Faust) 1927, Comal Power Plant (Landmark) 1926, Greyhound Bus Station (Celebrations) 1929, Booker T. Washington School 1929, and the old City Hall 1929, to name a few.

All three of Ludewig’s sons helped in the store. Local competitors included Jahn Furniture Co., Lack’s Furniture & Automotive, and Starke’s Furniture in Seguin. Ludewig’s sold all kinds of high-quality manufactured furniture that included kitchen, living and bedroom pieces. To promote their company, C.J.’s son, Monroe F. “Fatty” Ludewig, began giving out “little Lane cedar chests” to graduating senior girls in New Braunfels. I still have mine!

When the Ludewig fam­ily de­cided to get out of the busi­ness, they leased the 1929 fur­ni­ture build­ing and the old Du­Me­nil store to Wal­lace and Dorothy John­son in 1966, who con­tin­ued to run the busi­ness un­der the name John­son Fur­ni­ture Co. In 1972, the John­sons bought the prop­erty out­right. In 1984, the old Du­Me­nil Store was sold and moved to Gruene (Hunter Junc­tion) where it sur­vives.

Wal­lace and Dorothy’s daugh­ter Carol pur­chased the prop­erty from her par­ents in 1989 and runs the John­son Fur­ni­ture store to­day. She con­tin­ues the legacy of pro­vid­ing qual­ity fur­ni­ture and decor to New Braun­fels cit­i­zens that be­gan on Lot 89 over 120 years ago.

If you have never been in­side this his­toric fam­ily busi­ness, you have a chance to prac­tice yoga in it on Thurs­day, Oc­to­ber 10, 2024, from 5:30–7 p.m. The $15 fee ben­e­fits the So­phien­burg Mu­seum & Archives. Fol­low­ing prac­tice, a bev­er­age and his­tory talk will let you ex­plore the build­ing.

If you are not into yoga, drop by the store, say hello and check out all the good stuff. Carol’s got a chair, bed or table that is bound to have your name on it.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives: Ludewig, Floege and DuMenil family histories; Reflections program #918-Monroe C. Ludewig; New Braunfels Herald and Neu Braunfelser Herald newspaper collections.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg

Change. One of the few constants of life. Because change is occurring rapidly in and around New Braunfels, rural cemeteries are endangered. Cemeteries and graveyards are sometimes the only connection to the history of an area. York Creek Cemetery is one of historical importance, as it documents the lives of early permanent inhabitants of the York Creek and Hunter communities.

Where the heck is York Creek, you might ask? The actual York Creek begins somewhere around Wegner Road in Comal County and travels southeast through Hays and Guadalupe counties before flowing into the San Marcos River. The creek naturally attracted farmers to the resource.

Along about 1867, a man by the name of Andrew Jackson Hunter settled his family on York’s Creek (now York Creek). He operated a thousand-acre cotton farm. The land was strategically located along a stagecoach line that ran from New Braunfels to San Marcos before the railroad.

In 1880, the townsite of Hunter was established with the arrival of the International and Great Northern Railroad. By 1883 a post office opened in Gustavus A. Schleyer’s general store, with the owner as postmaster. Schleyer’s store, a cotton gin, a grocery store, and a saloon were in operation there by 1884, when Hunter had about sixty residents. By 1890, Hunter was a bustling community of 200 that included two saloons, a barbershop, a blacksmith, a wagonmaker, a meat market, and a gin and gristmill.

York’s Creek Cemetery came into being on October 7, 1882, when Ernst Gruene, Jr. sold one acre of land to D. G. Posey, Frank Tate, and Charles Crawford to be used as a community cemetery. Posey, Tate and Crawford were the first cemetery trustees. The cemetery doubled in size in 1904, when William Simon, Sr. sold one acre of land to cemetery trustees, D. G. Posey, Charles Crawford, and William Simon, Jr. That is when they formed an association and officially named it York Creek Cemetery. They elected D. G. Posey, C. B. Crawford, and H. Wiegreffe as commissioners. A. J. Wallhoefer was elected secretary and treasurer. Currently, Mr. James B. Skarovsky and his wife, Lynn, are the only trustees of record.

There are over 180 burials recorded in York Creek Cemetery. According to existing records the earliest burial in the newly established cemetery was John B. Taylor, in 1885. Seven of the graves must have been moved to York Creek, as the death dates predate the cemetery. Most of those buried in the cemetery were born in Texas although at least 16 were born in Germany. Over half of those buried bear German surnames. Occupations of the deceased and their families included farmers, homemakers, laborers, railroad workers, blacksmiths, military, and saloon keepers. Hobart Gilmore, who was killed in 1972 Flood, is also buried there.

Walking through the cemetery, it is easy to see the various family groupings with over 68 different surnames (no way to write about all of them!). Some families are represented in greater numbers. The Soechtings have twenty-one graves. Friedrich Heinrich Andreas Söchting (German spelling) immigrated to Texas in 1852. While preparing to emigrate, he met Christine Katarina Gold, also planning to emigrate. Since married couples received special consideration, they married, before leaving Germany. They moved inland to New Braunfels and in 1866 they purchased 17.5 acres on York Creek. In 1878, they purchased an additional 338 acres for 4.90 an acre. They raised five children.. The children in turn had large families and most continued to farm in the area.

In 1850, Henry Rutherford Crawford and wife, Ann B. Wilson Crawford moved from Tennessee and purchased a 300-acre farm on Hunter Road. The couple established a school in the nearby Bonito settlement. Prior to that time, the first school was conducted in their home with their daughter, Lizzie Crawford, as teacher. Lizzie also taught at the Hunter School. In her will, she designated 500 to build the cemetery fence. Her brother, Charles B. Crawford was one of the first cemetery trustees.

Frances D’Gress Posey came to Texas at age 5 in a wagon train with his parents, brothers and aunts from Tennessee. The Posey family arrived in Texas at the Watson Campgrounds in Comal County (or could be Hays County) in early fall of 1853. That was their home for several years. Eventually, his parents, John Bennett and Amanda Posey, farmed cotton on 539 acres in the York Creek area. Frances D’Gress Posey married Mary Elizabeth Neill in 1869. Frances was a farmer and one of the first cemetery association trustees. He, his wife and many descendants are buried in the York Creek Cemetery. Posey land is now part of TXI.

John Dix Watson conveyed one acre of land in exchange for 1 for the nearby Watson School. It was located on Neill homestead land off Watson Lane. The school was closed in 1949 and combined with other schools as the Goodwin School. Mr. Watson was a Confederate veteran. He is one of seven veterans buried in York Creek

James Curtis Riley was a saloon keeper and started Riley’s Tavern in Hunter after the repeal of Prohibition. Riley’s Tavern has a Texas Historical Commission marker and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. It is one of the oldest taverns in Texas and reported to have the first liquor license issued after the repeal.

Alwin Merz was a trustee when the cemetery was established. He was a farmer married to Annie Braune Merz. Alwin’s parents were John and Elise Strempel Merz, who immigrated from Germany and farmed the York Creek area. Both couples are buried in the York Creek Cemetery.

York Creek Cemetery is a perfect example of a rural cemetery: quietly resting under huge oak trees, protected by a chain link fence with rock posts. Unfortunately, the two-acre cemetery is no longer located among the green pastures and farmhouses. The York Creek/Hunter community was sheared in half when Interstate 35 was built; and the cemetery is now surrounded by industrial warehouses just off one of the most travelled highways in Texas. Little has changed inside the York Creek Cemetery, but much has changed around this true Comal County treasure that holds so much history. It was designated a Historic Texas Cemetery by the Comal County Historical Commission 2022.

Sources: Handbook of Texas Online; The Comal County Historical Commission; Jim Skarovsky; Paul Soechting; Wilfred Schlather; John Coers; Karen Boyd.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

It was very early in the morning, still dark, but they had far to go. As Conrad gave a final tug on the ropes securing the six bales of cotton in the wagon, he watched his 13-year-old son Heinrich say goodbye to his wife. It would be a long separation for the boy and his mother, two weeks, but the 100-plus-mile round trip to Austin and back from Geronimo would teach the boy many things he needed to know as a farmer. The cotton was good this year, and Conrad was delivering the bales to a William Schuchard who had promised to give him 18 cents a pound for it, very good money indeed. It was worth the trip.

What Conrad could not know was that this was a final good bye. Neither he nor Heinrich would return to the farm.

In the last week of March 1872, Conrad and Heinrich Bormann set out on their journey to Austin. At a rate of about 15 miles a day, it would take them at least three days to get to Swenson’s Farm outside of the city. The farm was founded as a cattle ranch in 1850 by Swedish immigrant Swen Magnus Swenson. It is now the area of Govalle located between Webberville Road and Airport Boulevard. Conrad Bormann and his son were last seen alive camping on the farm on April 1.

On March 29, 1872, William Schuchard met up with S.B. Brush of Austin. He promised Mr. Brush that in a few days he would have six bales of cotton to sell him. They shook hands and Mr. Brush waited to hear from Schuchard about the cotton’s arrival.

As the morning of April 2 dawned, Conrad and son Heinrich made ready to head for home following the sale of the cotton. What transpired is conjecture on the part of investigators. It is supposed that when Schuchard came to the campsite he wanted to take the cotton and pay Bormann the following day. Bormann was no fool and he insisted that the cotton be paid for — cash-on-delivery — as agreed. The meeting went awry. Schuchard picked up an ax and brutally beat in the skulls of both father and son. With the murder done, he claimed the wagon of cotton and contacted Mr. Brush.

Brush went out to Swenson’s Farm that afternoon and met with Schuchard near the location of the Bormann’s campsite. He bought the cotton still loaded on the wagon. Schuchard received $528 in gold — clear profit.

Back in Geronimo, Mrs. Bormann had received a telegram from her husband that he and Heinrich would be back home on Friday, April 5. When the men had not returned by Monday, she sent one of her sons off on the road to seek his father and brother while she went into New Braunfels and sent a telegram to James Davidson, Adjutant General of Texas and Chief of the State Police, to inquire about her husband and eldest boy.

Davidson immediately began an investigation. Finding out that the Bormanns had camped at Swenson’s Farm, he made a thorough search of the area. In an abandoned log cabin, he came across the partially decayed bodies of the father and son. The bloody ax used to bludgeon them lay nearby. The bodies had been concealed under the canvas tarp from the wagon and everything hastily covered with straw and hay. Davidson collected reports and determined that the murderer they were after was indeed Schuchard, an alias for William Byfield. Byfield’s reputation for trouble-making was well-documented and well-known to General Davidson. He began a state-wide manhunt for Byfield.

Oscar William Byfield (alias Schuchard, alias Kellner) was reported to have been born in 1853, in Hanover, Germany. When he emigrated is unknown. He can be traced in Texas through a series of official documents. From July 1869 until May 1870, Byfield was appointed sheriff of Kerr County until his actions got him into trouble. An 1869 muster role for Kerr County verifies he arrived in the area in July of 1869. He appears in the 1870 Kerr County census: age 23, married to a woman with six children, ages 1 year to 11 years (It is unknown whether some or any of them were his). In September of 1870, Byfield served in Captain H.J. Reichardt’s Co. E Frontier Forces until he was ousted in June 1871. Byfield once again enlisted as a soldier in San Antonio on July 14, 1871, but deserted 12 days later. This register gave a good description of William Byfield: age 24, gray eyes, brown hair, fair complexion, 5 feet 10 inches tall.

After almost four years of bouncing between law enforcement groups, William Byfield showed up in Austin in 1872 for the cotton deal with Conrad Bormann and became a murderer.

On Wednesday, April 11, General Davidson sent a telegram to Mrs. Bormann informing her of the murders of her husband and son. Mr. Loose, of the New Braunfels Telegraphic Office, immediately took the telegram to Geronimo to personally deliver it. He returned to New Braunfels and reported a heart-breaking scene as Mrs. Bormann and her nine children received the horrific news. Mrs. Bormann was just over eight months pregnant.

General Davidson continued the hunt for William Byfield who had last been seen in Austin on the day of the murders. It was first thought that he might have taken the night train to Galveston for the train arrived in Galveston at 10 o’clock the following morning just in time to catch a boat to New Orleans. On Thursday, April 4, a man was arrested, but it was not Byfield.

The newspapers reported on April 12 that a man had been arrested in Brenham by police officer Doran and was to be transported to Austin. The man arrested also turned out not to be William Byfield.

Two weeks after the murders, news arrived in New Braunfels that William Byfield had been arrested on the 14th in Castroville. A sizable police detachment was being sent by Chief of Police Davidson in order to prevent “Lynch Justice” and guarantee a proper trial by law. Once again, the arrested man was not Byfield.

Davis, the Governor of Texas, issued a statement offering a $400 reward for the capture of William Byfield, but by then the trail had grown cold. Oscar William Byfield had simply vanished.

There are a few bright spots in this dark story. Conrad and Heinrich share a single grave in Austin’s Oakwood Cemetery, buried in the section for “Mexicans”, “Blacks” and “Strangers.” S.B. Brush sent Mrs. Bormann $528 in gold — the same amount he had paid Schuchard for the cotton. And Mrs. Bormann gave birth to a healthy baby boy, the 10th child of Conrad Bormann.

Today, you can find many descendants of Conrad Bormann’s family intermarried with the other families of the Geronimo area. If you are really interested in the Bormanns, you can visit the Texas Agricultural Education and Heritage Center at 390 Cordova Road and State Highway 123 South. Located on the premises are the Conrad Bormann family kitchen and blacksmith shop as well as son Carl’s home. You can also see Conrad and Heinrich’s original limestone headstone from Oakwood Cemetery on view in the kitchen — they still rest in peace in Austin beneath a new gray granite stone.

Sources: Sophienburg Archives: Bormann and Boenig Family Histories; US Census and Fold3 records; Neu Braunfelser-Zeitung and New Braunfels Herald newspaper collections; The Texas Agricultural Education and Heritage Center; Oakwood Cemetery records; Kerrville Genealogical Society; www.austinmonthly.com; Chas. S Middleton and Son Ranch Sales.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman –

Sometimes a little tidbit of information sets me off on a bunny trail. I took one of those trails recently after finding and reading a 1975 letter from Oscar Haas to Mrs. Gregorio Coronado here in New Braunfels. Haas was drawing her attention to the mention of a Mexican boy, Pablo Diaz, in the 1850 Comal County census. That piqued my interest, and I ran down the trail Haas laid out in his letter. It isn’t that I doubt Oscar at all, I just wanted to journey along with him in his research.

Haas told Mrs. Coronado that Pablo had been captured by Comanche who had made a raid over the Rio Grande into “Old Mexico” and carried him with them up to the San Saba River country. He suggested she look at Roemer’s Texas, to find Pablo mentioned. So, I went to Roemer’s and on pages 242-243, I found Roemer describing his travels with John O. Meusebach as he was finalizing the treaty between the German Emigration Company and the Comanche Nation in February 1847.

Roemer said that they met a young blond-haired, blue-eyed, 18-year-old Anglo-American man who dressed and acted as an Indian. Ten years earlier, the blond young man had been captured after his parents were murdered by Comanche near Austin. Roemer goes on to say that the young man “had a little Mexican boy about eight-years-old, who rode behind him on the horse and whom he treated as a slave…he looked half-starved and was shivering in the cold north wind because of his scanty dress. In answer to my question how he had come here, the “Indianized” Anglo-American answered quietly, ‘I caught him on the Rio Grande.’”

Wow. Pablo was with the Comanche when he was eight-years-old.

Next, Haas told Mrs. Coronado that at the treaty conference, Meusebach ransomed Pablo from the Comanche Chief. I did a little digging and found corroboration of this in the Julius Dresel diary in the Sophienburg’s archive collection. The entry in the diary describes a time Dresel was staying on Meusebach’s farm at Comanche Springs:

“The next morning a small Mexican boy, Pablo Diaz, whom Meusebach had ransomed from the Comanches at a peace settlement on the San Saba (north of Llano), showed me how a brown bear on a long chain, could eat an enormous pumpkin which he held in his for paws while balancing on his hind paws. “Wackerlos” (cowardly) and “Schlinge” (Noose), the dogs, barked noisily. — April 18, 1853”

Oscar Haas continued in his letter to tell Mrs. Coronado that Meusebach had taken Pablo to Sisterdale and left him with the Dresel Family. True. Pablo is listed with the names of those in Dresel’s house in the 1850 Comal County census. Sisterdale was in Comal County until 1862; it is now in Kendall County.

Dresel’s diary entry for April 27, 1853, also confirms that Pablo was left in Sisterdale. Dresel says he had taken Pablo “into his quardianship” from Meusebach and that Pablo was put in charge of the milking and butter and cheese making at his farm.

Haas next informed Mrs. Coronado that Julia Dresel taught Pablo to read and write both German and English. I can find no written documentation for this statement. I did find that on Find a Grave it states that on the 1860 Gillespie County census, there is a Pablo or Paulo Diaz living as a servant in the William Marschall household. The Marschall and Meusebach families were joined by marriage so there is a link. I looked up the 1860 Gillespie County census and found a “Paulo” from Mexico listed in the Marschall household. It could be our Pablo, but I am not sure.

When the War Between the States broke out it 1861, Texas voted to secede from the Union. However, many of the Germans of the Texas Hill Country did not identify with the Confederate cause and did not want to fight for it. Some of the men decided to head to Mexico to stay during the war or find a way to get back north and enlist in the Union Army. Oscar Haas told Mrs. Coronado that Pablo joined the 68 young men from around the Fredericksburg-Sisterdale-Comfort area because he “thought it to be a good opportunity to return to Mexico to try to find his relatives. He owned a pony then and a saddle and a rifle, same as all the others.”

Geez…I wish I could find proof of this statement but I can’t. Oscar must have had an oral source from the time.

I do know that the group of men, including Pablo Diaz, started out for Mexico at the beginning of August 1862. On the evening of August 9th, the group set up camp on the banks of the Nueces River. A group of Confederate soldiers had been tracking the Germans and fired on them sometime that night. Twenty-eight men from the German group slipped away during the battle. Nineteen others were dead by morning. Nine more wounded Germans were summarily executed. Another nine were pursued by the Confederate soldiers to the Rio Grande and killed as well. The thirty-seven Germans killed in what became known as “The Battle of the Nueces” or “The Nueces Massacre” included Pablo Diaz. His and the bones of thirty-five others were recovered in 1865 and buried in Comfort. Their names are listed on the Treue der Union Monument, a twenty-foot-tall limestone obelisk erected over their remains.

On Find a Grave, it is also stated, “Although Mexican, he [Pablo] was considered by all to be as “German” and “Unionist” as any of the others.” This is someone’s theory, but I can’t say I don’t think it might be true. After all, young eight-year-old Pablo seems to have been treated with kindness and maybe even with some affection by the Germans who ended up caring for him. I am sure he spoke German. And after around 14 years with them, he had heard their views on everything…including slavery…and most likely agreed with his adopted friends and guardians.

I am absolutely enthralled with this young man’s story. It is one of incredible courage, adaptability and thirst for freedom. RIP Pablo.

Sources: Roemer’s Texas, Dr. Ferdinand Roemer, 1995 edition; John O. Meusebach, Irene Marschall King, 1967; Sophienburg Museum & Archives: Oscar Haas Manuscript Collection, the Dresel Family Manuscript Collection and the Nueces Massacre file.

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff

This week the Sophienburg Museum and Archives will present a great shopping experience to the public. It’s called Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas Market, at the Civic Center. It begins Friday, Nov. 19th through Sunday, the 21st.

The market offers 60 plus unique booths, plus Breakfast with Santa and a charming café called Sophie’s Café. It features freshly prepared food in a European outdoor café setting. Sophie’s Shop moves down from the Sophienburg to offer German-made Christmas ornaments and unique decorations. Many local authors are offering their books for sale.

The Sophienburg Museum and Archives is a not-for-profit organization that derives its operating funds from individual donations, memberships, and much from Weihnachtsmarkt. When you purchase at Weihnachtsmarkt, you are helping the Sophienburg keep its doors open.

The Museum displays the rich history of New Braunfels with occasional special exhibits. The present exhibition is the Civil War. A volunteer group works diligently on the collections stored in the old museum building. There is constant work involving organizing and restoring items and papers donated by individuals.

The Archives are a rather complicated collection of records. Let’s suppose you would like to find out something about your family or something about an historical event like WWI or something that happened in NB. In old journalistic terms, you can find out “who, what, where, where, when, why, and how”. Make an appointment to work with a helper.

Here is what is available to the public:

What the Genealogy Society has done for the Sophienburg records will “knock your socks off”. They have collected over 1,000 research books, have compiled burial records from the Comal Cemetery, New Braunfels Cemetery, Comal and Guadalupe County cemeteries and small family cemeteries. They compiled birth, marriage, and death records for Comal County, extracted from the CC Courthouse.

There is a large collection of obituaries and related documents put on the computer by genealogy, collected from 574 donated family history books. They compiled the census of 1850 and every 10 years thereafter to 1930. There is an index of Probate records and Commissioner’s Court minutes starting in 1866 through 1937. Many of the aforementioned records are available for sale in Sophie’s Shop. Genealogy has maintained the Herald-Zeitung on microfiche up to the present.

Recently First Protestant Church allowed the Sophienburg to copy their original German records from 1845 and their translation in English. There are other church histories as well, plus directories, telephone books, and high school annuals.

Now this is a big one: There are over a million photographs in the Sophienburg collection. An attendant can enter a name or event on the computer and tell you if a photograph is available. For a small fee, you can have the photograph copied. Over 200 maps, going back to 1836 are in the collection.

The Reflections program began in 1976 for the purpose of interviewing NB citizens about what they remember about the past. These programs are played on the local radio station. A list of people interviewed is available and a list of subjects is being compiled. About 1,100 interviews have been recorded and you may listen to them at the Archives or purchase a particular interview in CD form. This is an ongoing program and anyone interested in participating is welcome.

For serious historic research, there are the 65 Prince Solms Archives in German, with a few numbers translated into English. There are two volunteers available to do German translations, including the elaborate German Fraktur.

To bring us up in the technological world, the Sophienburg has a web site that you can log in at home. It’s chock full of information about what’s going on with the organization. In addition the column that I write for the Sophienburg that appears in the Herald-Zeitung every other Sunday is on the web.

The Sophienburg asks for your support in keeping this institution up to date by supporting Weihnachtsmarkt. See the website for details.

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