By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

By the time I sat down to write this story, we were several weeks into back-to-school ad campaigns for clothing, athletic gear, and school supplies. The term “back-to-school” made me think of popcorn, parakeets and Big Chief tablets.

Maybe your brain doesn’t track like this, but there is something oddly comforting about the smell of freshly made popcorn, the sound of tweeting parakeets, and a new Big Chief tablet. In New Braunfels, it meant shopping at Winn’s.

Winn’s was my favorite back-to-school shopping place. They had everything we needed and then some. Winn’s was what they called a variety store, a five-and-dime or simply dimestore. It was downtown across from the post office on Castell Avenue (now 2tarts Bakery and River Rose Boutique). I loved Winn’s. I can still smell the fresh popcorn and hear the parakeets twittering in the back of the store.

Winn’s, founded in 1926 by San Antonio businessman Murray Winn, opened its 55th store in New Braunfels in 1959. Winn’s Stores Inc. bought the North Castell Avenue property from Norman J. Henne in March of ’59. An 8500-square-foot building was built after they razed buildings previously housing Schumann’s Battery Service, real estate office of Hilmar Doehne, and the burned out remains of Fred D’s Sporting Goods Store.

Before that, school supplies were purchased at drug stores or places like Vollmer’s or National’s Five & Dime (now Antique Mall). It must have been somewhat competitive since the stores tried to entice school shoppers by offering coupons for ice cream sodas or a free pass to the movies. I am not sure that Winn’s ever had that type of promotion.
A typical list from my childhood mirrored that of the 1959 New Braunfels Independent School District first-grade supply list. On it were nine items: #2 pencils with erasers, box of eight crayons, pointy scissors, spiral composition books, mixed construction paper, tissues, jar of paste, a pencil tablet and a cigar box.

This year’s NBISD supply list for first grade has at least 20 items. The basic items are still the same today, including crayons, construction paper, spiral notebooks, tissues and scissors (but scissors are no longer pointy). Gone is the paste that came in glass jars and tasted like mint (so I have been told). Teachers today want glue sticks.

They have replaced pencil tablets with primary notebooks. The pencil tablets were 8 x 12 pads of wide lined newsprint writing paper with Big Chief being the favored brand. Easily recognizable from anywhere, it had a red cover with an image of a Native American chief on it. It was my very own new pad of writing paper for a fresh start.

Cigar boxes were the predecessors of today’s plastic pencil box. Everyone used what was available. Back when people smoked cigars, the pharmacies and stores would save the boxes to sell with school supplies. I loved the smell of tobacco when I opened the lid of my new cardboard King Edward cigar box. Later, as people smoked less, cardboard boxes were specifically made for school supplies in bright colors, but it just wasn’t the same.

As we grew out of the Big Chief phase, we got filler paper to put in our zippered 3-ring binders which we carried in our satchels (a dorkier, more cumbersome book bag). There were no Trapper Keepers or backpacks, but we did have lunch boxes. Mine was a shiny, black-patent-look Barbie lunch kit with matching thermos. Unlike today’s Yeti insulated cups and mugs, a thermos in those days was lined with glass. Yep! A thermos in the hands of a second grader was risky business. Just one bounce when dropped and you had instant crystal maracas (which every mother loved to hear).

As for school clothing choices, there was not a lot available in downtown New Braunfels. Some people ordered through catalog stores like JCPenney or Montgomery Ward. There was no Amazon or overnight delivery so it took weeks to receive it. We got one pair of school shoes that had to last until summer: saddle oxfords or P.F. Flyers or Keds. New Braunfels had B&B Poll Parrot (left side of the New Braunfels Art League next to Scores sports bar) for shoes but they were probably a little pricier than Winn’s.
Winn’s had blue jeans, shirts, socks and tennis shoes in stock for boys. For girls, they had petticoats and slips and socks. They also had a healthy stock of bobby pins, hair bands, clips, and Aqua Net. I really do not remember the dresses at Winn’s because my mom made dresses for my sister and me. But the fabric — there were tons of fabric and patterns and buttons and zippers. I would spend time looking at pattern books while my mom shopped for fabric until I got sent on a mission to find my brother.

My brother, and most of the boys, could usually be found in the back of the store looking at all the things my mother said no to: bubbling aquariums full of fish or the dozen blue-and-green parakeets in a cage or the turtles. He did talk her into a turtle once.

Beyond school supplies, Winn’s had a wonderful supply of anything found in a variety store including lamps, curtains, laundry baskets, toilet paper, garbage cans, kitchen gadgets, costume jewelry, candy, and the list goes on.

In May of 1968, a second location of Winn’s Variety Store was opened in the new Landa Plaza Shopping Center (Das Rec) that was designed to look like faux fachwerk. It was the 87th store. It was closer to our house, but we still liked to go to the downtown Winn’s.

Winn’s Stores continued to expand in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico under other ownership, reaching 230 stores in 1987. Then things went south. Walmart and other major national retailers began moving into cities with their discount department store model. Then the dollar stores began popping up.

Winn’s sold off stores, closed others, and filed bankruptcy before finally dissolving in 1995. It was a great ride that made a ton of memories! Especially the popcorn, parakeets and Big Chief tablets — and I almost forgot, the ICEEs!

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg — 

I watch rooftops multiply daily as I look out from our house of more than 30 years. I will not lie. It is distressing. It truly makes me appreciate the beautiful well-built 100-plus-year-old buildings that grace our city. Being a native, I often wonder what has become of the many others that no longer stand in their places.

In the mid-’60s, there was a young dentist who officed in a little house on Comal Avenue. It was the cutest little two-or-three-room house, gray with a red tin roof and red window trim. That dentist was Dr. Kahler. While he was away studying orthodontics, Dr. Hubert Risinger occupied his office. Dr. Risinger was my dentist for a short time.

The cute little house was originally owned by the Heinrich Scholl family. The Scholls, consisting of Heinrich Scholl and wife Anna Marie Saenger Scholl, along with their three children, Heinrich Jr., Adam and Caroline, set out for Texas from their home in Dillenburg, Nassau, Germany, with other immigrants through the Adelsverein. Upon arriving in Indianola, tragedy struck the Scholl family. Heinrich Sr. went hunting in a boat, fell out and drowned.

His wife and her three children continued to New Braunfels. The family worked hard to survive. The boys, Heinrich Jr. and Adam, learned carpentry and the mother kept boarders. Adam and Heinrich made the windows and doors used in building houses, which became an outstanding business. At one time, they worked for Dr. Koester in a mill. Later they made chairs and tables of walnut and cedar. The Scholl brothers also built houses and built them well.

Shortly after the Scholls reached New Braunfels, the Mexican American war broke out creating trouble for those in the young German settlement. Some men enlisted in the American Army while others were not interested in war. They had left Germany to escape mandatory military service. According to Scholl family historians, Heinrich Jr, Adam and a few other men of their age decided they would hide in hollow trees down on the Comal River to escape the soldiers who were rounding up men to fight.

The Scholl home was not far from the river, so Adam, being the bravest or the hungriest, decided he would venture out of hiding to go home for food. Adam dressed as a woman with a big sunbonnet on. About the time he got in the house, a soldier knocked at the door. He told Caroline Scholl he had seen a suspicious character come into her house. In the meantime, she had shoved her brother Adam under her bed where there was a trap door to the cellar. She denied seeing anyone, telling the soldier that there was no one else there. Adam, thinking the soldier had left, peeped from out from under the bed. Caroline quickly shoved him back with her foot and the soldier was none the wiser.

Heinrich Scholl, Jr. married twice. His first marriage was to Johanna Schmidt, which produced five children. After her death, he married Louise Schneider. They had nine children including two sets of twins. Heinrich became a well-known cabinet maker in New Braunfels and eventually lived in the house across the street from the original home. He died in 1909 at the age of 81.

The old original Scholl home ca.1846 is now near 179 years old. It is solidly built and still standing, even though not in its original place. It is a unique house in that it utilizes two different kinds of fachwerk. In the front wall of the house, builders used “rammed earth” fachwerk . That is much like pouring a curb today. Forms are set up and then mud is poured in between to fill the space. The mud is ‘rammed” with a long pole to remove any air pockets. Once the mud dries/hardens, the forms are removed, and plaster is applied to both sides to make a smooth wall.

The other three walls are made of mud brick. In Germany, they used fired brick. Here in Texas, they made bricks of mud and straw in brick molds, then air dried them before putting them in between the timbers. Once the dry bricks complete the walls, cedar shingles were placed on the exterior to prevent erosion. Inside the home, they used original Bastrop pine for both the floors and ceilings. It was originally built over a wonderful root cellar, which must have served as a good hiding place. The roof was of cedar shingles. In 1867, the city of New Braunfels passed an ordinance requiring all roofs to be fireproofed for insurance purposes, so tin was simply nailed over the shingles. In 1881, 90 percent of New Braunfels’ structures were fachwerk. Now, 95 percent of them are gone.

By the mid-1960s, the porch of the little house had been closed in to make another room. More windows were added. The exterior of the entire building was wrapped in wood shiplap siding. The little house changed hands over the years with room additions made. Wayne and Toni Peters purchased it in 1987 to use as a summer home. When they completed their rock home behind it in 1999, they graciously donated the little fachwerk house to the New Braunfels Conservation Society.

In its new place among the other architectural treasures, it serves as the office for New Braunfels Conservation Society Old Towne. The Scholl Peters house has been returned to near its original state with the “rammed earth” fachwerk and mud bricks still visible thru Plexiglas windows on the walls. The little house that I thought had “gone missing” was indeed hiding in plain sight all along. When buildings disappear, our history connection disappears. It makes me happy to see the Scholl house and history being cared for.

Do you know of any hidden fachwerk buildings?

Sources: New Braunfels Conservation Society; Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Betty Stratemann.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

By now you know that “it’s fair time!” This fabulous, fun-filled week of the Comal County Fair brings the entire community together and hopefully slides in on the first norther of the year. Yeah, that weather thing is not happening this year, but still very fun-filled. Everyone that grew up in New Braunfels or has lived here a while, has a “favorite thing” about the fair.

As a child, my favorite thing was what my mother called the hobby horses. The beautifully painted horses gliding around on the glittering, mirrored carousel captured my eye from early on. Even when we were out of tickets, I was content to watch. I never seemed to move past riding anything more than the carousel, which as a teen, I’m sure made me something of an oddity. The horses just seemed so glamorous (plus, I never felt the need to spin at a high rate of speed in a cage above the fairgrounds).

Later on, a different circle of horses caught my attention. There was less gliding and galloping, but beautiful more all the same. And I do miss it!

Horse racing was a very important part of the Comal County Fair for many years. The Comal County Fair Association was formed early in 1893, fashioned after a very successful fundraiser for the Krankenhaus (hospital) in 1892. Harry Landa was elected president. They selected a date later in 1893 to hold the first fair in Landa’s pasture (later LCRA and now The Landmark). Unfortunately, there was a terrible drought that year. The fair was cancelled due to being too dusty for horse racing!

In 1894, the first actual fair was held, complete with both saddle and harness racing. Saddle racing is that of a rider perched upon a saddle on the animal’s back. Harness racing is where a rider sits upon a two-wheel buggy pulled by a single horse with a specific gait, a trot or a pace. In his memoir, As I Remember, Harry Landa tells of his rather dismal business venture where he bought buggies and a string of trotters in order to be ready to run them at the 1894 fair. He ended up trading all for 30 rail cars of hay, something he felt was a much better proposition than racing.

After five years on the Landa property, the Comal County Fair Association purchased approximately twenty-two acres in Comal Town above the Guadalupe River. There, they built a racetrack and a dancehall. Financial difficulties prompted them to sell the acreage to the city of New Braunfels, who in turn leased the property back to the Association. They appeared to enjoy some successes, but there is no mention of fair from 1910 to 1922 (basically World War I era). During that time the city used the property as a dump, building an incinerator on site. The stack is still visible.

In 1923, the Fair Association reorganized, purchasing three city blocks adjacent to the city property. The old leased property and buildings had not been touched for more than 10 years. The group worked to add improvements and bring the track back to life. Just a month before the fair, a huge fire consumed the grandstand. It was rebuilt, granting them the ability to hold both harness and saddle races. Racing became a very popular spectator sport.

By January 1926, the Association added winter pony racing events to the calendar, stepping out of the county fair time frame. There were up and down successes through the years. Texas voters approved parimutuel betting just four years prior, but it was again outlawed in 1937. Racing had remained steady without legalized betting, but the popularity of horse racing had risen when parimutuel betting was legal in Texas at four large state-designated tracks. The Comal County Fair Association benefited from all the activity even though they were never licensed for parimutuel betting.

By 1958, Marcus Adams, Secretary of the Comal County Fair Association, was appointed a member of the Texas Racing Circuit. The circuit was made up of operators from six race tracks in southern Texas: New Braunfels, Junction, Fredericksburg, Brady, Boerne, and Sonora, running both thoroughbred and quarter horses races Many CCFA members served on the Texas Racing Circuit over the years. Of the tracks that made up the Texas Racing Circuit, only Fredericksburg still operates a race track.

Along the way, the local Comal County Fair race track became known as Dutchman Downs. During the ’70s, the track developed a reputation as one of the leading training centers for some of the finest quarter horse racing stables, complimented by local award-winning trainers and jockeys.

From the time that parimutuel betting was outlawed in 1937, proponents pushed to have it reinstated. Parimutuel betting appeared on Texas ballots more than four times. Finally, in 1987, the Texas voters approved a referendum legalizing parimutuel wagering again. It also created the Texas Racing Commission and a new set of rules. The rules required a track to have a clear quarter-mile straightaway for parimutuel licensure. With the layout of the fairground property backing up to the Guadalupe River bluff, there was no way that Comal County Fairgrounds could fit a quarter-mile straightaway. Races continued to run in 1987 and 1988 with the last run in 1989. Sadly, the 1990 races were canceled due to lack of entries. There was only one.

After trainers moved to other recognized tracks, the inside fairground track rail was cut open to expand the center rodeo arena. Now, the rodeo is my favorite thing. Go to the fair and find your favorite thing! Enjoy!

Sources: Gene Chollett; Danny Scheel; It’s Fair Time by Myra Lee Adams Goff, So phienburg Museum and Archives; A Pictorial History by Rosemarie Leissner Gregory and Myra Lee Adams Goff.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Joske’s of Texas.

For many of us, hearing the name “Joske’s” conjures up memories of trips to downtown San Antonio for a day of shopping at the well-respected department store. My favorites were the trips during the Christmas holidays to visit the Fantasyland exhibit on the 4th floor and ride the miniature train through the animated village. This was free and was a brilliant ploy to get shoppers into the store. Joske’s also had a for-real bargain basement with bins full of discounted handkerchiefs, unmentionables, household items and toys.

Joske’s and Sons was established by Julius Joske in 1857. By 1900, his son, Alexander, was sole owner. The family was one of the many influential entrepreneurial families in Central Texas of Jewish ancestry. Amongst them were the Joskes, the Franks (Frank & Bros.) and the Marcuses and Neimans (Neiman-Marcus). New Braunfels had their own Jewish merchants: the Schmidts (Jacob Schmidt’s & Sons), the Mendlovitzs and, of course, the Landas. The Texas Jewish community was a close-knit group of like-minded men, so it wasn’t a surprise to find that Joske family members visited our town and had company parties at Landa Park.

The Joskes, like so many other San Antonians, participated in local singing, shooting, bowling and card societies. They also visited Landa’s park and came to picnic on the banks of the beautiful Comal and Guadalupe rivers. This is why Harold, Alexander Joske’s only son, came to enjoy a day on the Guadalupe River in 1921.

Harold Joske was born in 1890 and raised in San Antonio. He was one of the young princes of the elite in the Jewish community. Harold began working at the family’s department store as a salesclerk supervisor in 1909. His father put him in charge of Joske’s 34th Anniversary celebration for the store’s over 500 employees. Harold planned and pulled off a banquet, musical program and dancing at the San Antonio Türnverein (Athletic Club), proving he was ready for more responsibility.

World War I intervened. Harold enlisted, like many Central Texans of German descent, and he served at Fort Sam Houston in charge of the government store. After the war, Mr. Joske promoted Harold to buyer of ladies ready-to-wear, then to assistant manager and finally to store manager and vice president. Thirty-year-old Harold was a healthy, wealthy, athletic, eligible young man who had definitely arrived on the San Antonio social scene.

On Monday, September 5, 1921, Harold drove up to New Braunfels with friends: two women and “a married man from Dallas.” The group decided on a picnic spot on the Guadalupe above Waco Springs about 9-10 miles from downtown NB. By Monday evening, the citizens of San Antonio were mourning the death of one of its best-known sons, Harold Joske.

The tragic story broke in newspapers across the state in English, German and Spanish. In fact, the most detailed account of the accident was in the San Antonio “La Prensa.” This, alone, testifies to the influence of the Joske family in Texas. Details vary in the different published accounts, but the basic storyline begins with a swim.

Harold Joske was a good swimmer and around 3 P.M. that Monday, he jumped into the Guadalupe to enjoy the cool water. Witnesses reported that Harold’s “lower extremities” became entangled in roots and plants on the river bottom. He was said to “have laughed and then submerged himself.” He disappeared and never resurfaced.

Harold’s companions, “one of the women in a swimsuit,” jumped into their car and headed for New Braunfels. Within sight of town, it was reported that the man from Dallas jumped out of the car and “pulled for tall timber.”

The Record of Inquest (September 6, 1921) states that at about 4 p.m., Myrtle Chalmers notified New Braunfels Justice of the Peace, Emil Voelcker, of the incident. He left for the location at once after securing an ambulance.

At around 5 p.m., Harold’s body was found in 10 feet of water by Fred Gardiner, a boy scout from Austin, who was camping nearby with several other scouts. The young men headed into New Braunfels with the body and met Judge Voelcker and the Baetge & Friedrich ambulance on the way. After another half hour, Voelcker accompanied the ambulance and body to San Antonio. They were met on the road by Joske family members and friends.

As all that was playing out, Harold’s two women friends reported to Comal County Courthouse officials before returning to San Antonio. They came back to New Braunfels the next morning to testify at the inquest. The man from Dallas was said to have been located in San Antonio, but there is no further mention of him.

Yes. There are a lot of unanswered questions in this account and this led to many rumors about what really happened. But in deference to Alexander Joskes’s wishes, the press went quiet in respect for the family. The inquest and Harold’s death certificate state cause of death as “accidental drowning.”

Unfortunately, the tragedy didn’t end here. In 1924, Alexander Joske donated property on Broadway near Breckinridge Park to the San Antonio Council of Boy Scouts for its first permanent headquarters. Was this perhaps a thank you to the boy scouts who had found and cared for his only son?

The grand opening of the Boy Scout Headquarters occurred in February of 1926. Mr. Joske did not attend. On July 8, 1925, Alexander Joske had been found dead at his home by his good friend Stanley Frank (Frank & Bros.). He had shot himself.

FYI: Joske’s of Texas, located at the corner of Alamo and Commerce streets, was sold in 1987 to Dillard’s which became the east anchor for Rivercenter Mall in 1988. Dillard’s closed its store in 2008. Developers reopened the old Joske’s store space with new vendors in 2016 as part of the reinvention of the mall as Shops at Rivercenter.

Sources: “The Promised Land”, Mimi Swartz, 1994; LaGrange Journal; Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung; San Antonio “La Prenza”; The National Magazine : An Illustrated Monthly, Vol 52, 59; The Granger News; New Braunfels Herald; www.expressnews.com/life/life_columnists/paula_allen/srticle/Joske-mystery-death-10858227.php

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Next Saturday, March 28^th at 11:00 a.m. a rededication of an historical marker will take place at the Canyon Dam Overlook. All are invited to view this beautiful view of the lake and dam. This site which was originally honored in 1968 with a Texas Historical Commission marker was vandalized and the marker removed some time ago. It has been replaced. Words on the new marker read:

IN THIS AREA, NOW COVERED BY CANYON LAKE, GERMAN EMIGRANTS WERE THE FIRST SETTLERS. A SOCIETY OF NOBLES (MAINZER ADELSVEREIN) SPONSORED THE EMIGRATION OF 7,380 GERMANS TO TEXAS FROM 1844 to 1847. THEY FOUNDED NEW BRAUNFELS IN 1845. MOVING WEST, THEY ESTABLISHED FREDERICKSBURG IN 1846. THEIR COMANCHE INDIAN TREATY OPENED 3,800,000 ACRES BETWEEN THE LLANO AND COLORADO RIVERS TO PEACEFUL SETTLEMENT. FARMERS AND ARTISANS, SCHOLARS AND SCIENTISTS, THEY TRIUMPHED OVER EPIDEMIC AND PRIVATION TO HELP BUILD TEXAS AND THE WEST.

Sponsoring the marker are the German American Society of New Braunfels, Helgard Suhr-Hollis, John and Cindy Coers, the Canyon Lake Rotary Club, the Canyon Lake Noon Lions Club, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/GBRA, the Comal County Historical Commission and the Texas Historical Commission. Installation of the new marker was provided by Don and Jean Koepp, Bob Warnecke, and John and Karin Brooks with Danny Zunker of Brooks Stone Ranch. The marker is mounted on a 2,000 pound limestone rock from the area.

It is appropriate to honor the German Pioneers in Texas at this site. Canyon Lake, filled by the Guadalupe River, was the settling place of so many.

The idea of constructing this dam to minimize flooding and conserve water goes as far back as 1929 when the idea arose. After a survey in 1935, plans were authorized and construction began in 1958. In 1964, the gates were closed and the lake began to fill. The water reached its conservation level of 909 ft. (ideal) above sea level in 1968.The flow of the upper Guadalupe, plus rainfall, constantly allows the Corps of Engineers and the GBRA to control the lake level. This is done by monitoring the amount of water flowing from the Guadalupe into the lake every day and the lake level. If the amount of water is too great, the amount released below the dam is increased and sent down to the lower Guadalupe River.

The spillway crest is 943 ft. At the dam’s outlet, a maximum release of water is 5,000 cubic feet per second.

The building of Canyon Dam and Lake has saved many lives and millions of dollars which would have been lost as a result of flooding. Flooding on the Guadalupe affects towns all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. When you drive out River Road next to the Guadalupe River, look up and you can see how high flood levels reached probably thousands of years ago.

The year 2002 saw the lake overflow the spillway for the first time in the history of the lake. With a recorded elevation of 950.32 feet, water went over the spillway in a very short time. This overflowing of the spillway, created the Canyon Lake Gorge. It has become a “true Hill Country treasure” unearthing fossils, 110 million years old, crustaceous limestone formations, dinosaur footprints, springs, channels, and waterfalls. For a small price and a reservation for a tour, the three-hour walk is available at canyongorge.org.

With the first flood above the dam in 1978, the lake reached 930.60 ft. Another 20 feet and it would have been over the spillway. Another flood in 1987, the lake reached 942.67 feet and another in 1991 reached 937.77. In 1997 an elevation of 937.60 feet was attained. The 2002 level was the flood of record.

When the lake level is under the conservation level, the gates below the dam are adjusted, waiting for rain on the upper Guadalupe to flow into the lake. The lowest the lake has been was 892.70 in 2009. This, of course was the result of the drought.

In 2011, I wrote an article for the Sophienburg column printed in this newspaper called
“So, what exactly is under Canyon Lake?” I think some of the information bears repeating:

Imagine the Canyon Lake area with no lake. What would it have been like? Ranchland, farmland, trees, cemeteries, the Guadalupe River and the site of two very small communities, Hancock and Cranes Mill. These two communities would eventually be under the lake.

Hancock was named after John Hancock, who in 1851, was granted land on the north bank of the Guadalupe River. Although a thriving little community, the population of Hancock had dwindled to 10 in 1940.

The community of Cranes Mill was the other community that is under water. James Crain established a cypress shingle mill along the Guadalupe River in 1850. Crain changed the spelling of his name to Crane in the Civil War. No one knows why, but it’s been Cranes Mill ever since.

Where there are communities, there are cemeteries. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1958 was responsible for the re-interment of approximately 89 bodies from 16 cemeteries along the Guadalupe that would be under water. These remains were moved to various other cemeteries like Comal Cemetery, Fischer Cemetery, Mt. Sharp Cemetery, Twin Sisters Cemetery, and some smaller family cemeteries. Each plot was researched and next of kin contacted in order to get permission as to where the remains would be moved. Many opted to not have the remains removed, which was their choice.

Two years ago John and Cindy Coers, who are members of the Comal County Historical Commission, decided to trace the re-interment of John’s great- great- grandparents, Heinrich and Karoline Startz Coers. What they found out was not only where the Coers lived, but where they were buried. Their bodies were re-interred to the Fischer Cemetery.

Heinrich Coers emigrated from Germany in 1846 and settled in the Guadalupe River Valley. He and his wife were buried on the Coers property along the Guadalupe River. John Coers was able to locate photographs of the original interment sites along with headstones for both Heinrich and Karoline. She died in 1864 and her tombstone was destroyed. The family decided to leave her stone, but move the body. The tombstone is now under the lake. Heinrich’s stone was in good condition and it was moved intact to the Fischer cemetery. A beautiful inscription on the tombstone in German, here translated in English, reads:

You have quietly carried your burden through the Pilgrim’s Valley. Christ was your life and dying your gain.

The Coers have partnered with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and have scanned all of the re-interment documents. They will be soon available for research purposes at the Sophienburg Museum and Archives.

“Rest in Peace” seems quite appropriate.

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