By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Have you ever tugged at a loose thread only to find that the thread was not really loose, resulting in an irritating unraveling of sorts? I recently pulled at said “loose thread,” but the odd “thread” that I pulled exposed a beautiful tapestry with a surprising outcome. Last month, I wrote about the beautiful cut limestone house in Comaltown built by Johann Georg Moeller (spelled with an OE) that was finished in 1866. The home was purchased in 1881 by Johannes Mueller (spelled with a UE). When I checked it out to make sure that it wasn’t just a mix up of vowels, I found a whole lot more.

Who was Johannes Mueller spelled with a “UE”? Johann or Johannes, the German form of John, was a common name. There are a ton of Johns in the world, and so it was with Johannes. This particular Johannes Mueller was born November 22, 1823, in Welsch-Neudorf, Nassau (Germany). He, along with who may have been his maternal uncle and family (Stendebach), set sail for a new life in September 1845 aboard the Ship Auguste Meline. At the ripe old age of 22, he arrived in Galveston on December 9, 1845, and made his way to New Braunfels, in what were the waning days of the Republic of Texas.

About that same time, a young woman by the name of Maria Magdelena Rheinlander arrived in Galveston on the Barque B. Bohen, December 22, 1845, with a man destined to become her husband. She wed Gottlieb Heldberg in New Braunfels in May of 1846, but her “happily-ever-after” was short-lived. Gottlieb was killed by Indians in August 1847 when Magdelena was pregnant with their daughter, Anna. Johannes and Magdelena met in 1847 and married in December 1848.

Johannes appeared to be an ambitious soul. In his first years in Texas, Johannes engaged in the freight hauling business. Freight by wagon was the only way to get goods into and out of New Braunfels for a number of years since the railroads did not arrive until 1880. Johannes was in business with Mr. John Halm until 1869 before dissolving the partnership. Besides the freight business, Johannes had opened a store, which was known as the Hannes Mueller Store selling dry goods, groceries, shoes, boots, and cutlery to name a few things.

The store, located on the corner of Main Plaza and San Antonio Street, was a two-story structure which later became the Streuer Brothers. When I was young, it was the site of the United Gas Company (now Entex) and eventually a bank building (Guaranty State Bank, Mbank and Moody Bank). Like many store owners in 19th-century New Braunfels, the Hannes Mueller family lived on the second floor above the Hannes Mueller Store (and there were a lot of people in that family).

Hannes really had his fingers in a bit of everything. While still involved with the freight company, he also served as both town Marshall and County Treasurer from September 1863 to July of 1865. In his later years, he was elected city Alderman (precursor to our city council members) from April 1881 to October 1883.

He somehow earned the nickname “MuellerHannes”. Literally translated it would be “MuellerJohnny”. MuellerHannes was said to be a very humorous man. His friends told many anecdotes about him. One of his friends was Anselm Eiband, editor and publisher of the New-Braunfelser Zeitung. He printed his anecdotes about MuellerHannes in the newspaper. Nice friends.

Johannes had developed quite the business acumen and accrued quite a bit of land in their lifetimes. In 1881, they bought the beautiful rock home in Comaltown and six adjacent lots. In 1882, their son, Henry, joined the family business. They also sold two acres of land west of town to the trustees of Three Mile School. It later became Lone Star School in 1901.

Johannes and Magdelena shared 62 anniversaries (62!) together. He died in 1908 at the age of 85 and she, the following year at 82. Their lives and the lives of their thirteen children, 59 grandchildren, and 26 great-grandchildren played out in the newspapers: births, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, deaths, funerals. It was the long listing of their family members at each gathering that caught my eye. I know those names. I know those people. In the story about the Moeller House, I told how the youngest Mueller daughter, Emma, married a grandson of Georg Moeller. What I did not tell you was that Johannes and Magdelena’s third child, daughter Marie, born 1853, who married Theodor Meckel, is my great, great grandmother. Little did I know I was writing my own family history when I first started the Moeller House story. Pulling the thread that leads to another branch of your family tree is pretty cool. And very addicting.

The Sophienburg Archives is an absolute gold mine for finding things like this. Even if you use Ancestry.com, there are things found in the Red Family Surname Books and the hanging files that most people don’t know about. And if you are working on a family history, I would strongly recommend giving a copy to the Archives, both for safe-keeping and as a resource for others. Digital records/photos may be great, but paper documents are priceless.

Sources: Sophienburg Archives: Red Family Surname Books; Rural Schools and Teachers of Comal County, Texas, 1854-1956; Alton J. Rahe.

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Education was of paramount importance to the German immigrants. Basic education classes were started for their youth in the more populated areas soon after their arrival to Texas. However, this was not the case for rural settlers where more formal education was slower in coming.

There are four phases of formal education that existed in the rural area of Comal County during the past one hundred seventy-two years.

In the first phase, rural settlers were kept busy clearing the land, building shelters and planting crops. Many times “book learning” was considered a luxury when compared to the necessities of making a living of the land. Many of the settlers had a good education and soon realized that their children did not have the same opportunity in the rural setting. After a while, usually some respectable individual took on the responsibility of teaching children in his immediate surrounding during the approximate 1845 to 1868 time period. A list of some of the dedicated individuals follows: Rev. August Engel (Cranes Mill), Albert Wunderlich (Potter’s Creek near Fischer), Adolph Schlameus (Herrera, Spring Branch, Fischer), Ferdinard Nehls Sr.(Solms),Carl Ohlrich (Smithson Valley), Rev. Louis C. Ervendberg (Orphan Home, Gruene area) and Anselm Eiband (Schoenthal). These dedicated teachers received no outside support except for appreciation and a few stipends from the neighbors for their loosely structured periodic classes.

The advancement of formal education throughout the years was very dependent on technical and social advances that existed during the time period. During the first phase of education, walking, riding horseback or in a wagon was the primary mode of transportation.

The second phase of education started in 1854 when the law establishing the first public system in Texas was enacted. At this time the county was divided into school districts with three trustees in charge of each district. Many of the schools were established by the local participants, and the State paid each district according to the number of students in the district. There were essentially 29 rural “one-room” schools in 21 “Common” districts in Comal County. The County Superintendent with the help of the County School Board managed all of the rural schools in the County. This era ended in the 1940s.

During this phase students used State issued text books and the use of community telephone became rather common. Cars were being added to the transportation system while many homes were still without electricity.

The third phase began when the rural population of the County grew smaller since next generation families were smaller in number or found work elsewhere. Many of the scattered rural schools no longer had a sustainable student base to exist. Individual small schools were not able to offer the variety of subjects needed for a well-rounded education. Thus, in 1944, the first Rural High School District (Sherwood Rural High School) was formed in northern part of the County by consolidating eight of the rural schools in the area. The next year, 1945, the Bulverde Rural High School was formed by consolidating six rural schools. The Goodwin Rural High School was formed from seven rural schools in 1949. The final Comal Settlement Rural High School was formed from five rural schools in 1958. The remaining three of the 29 rural schools became part of New Braunfels Independent School District (NBISD). The rural high schools offered instructions through the tenth grade.

By the 1940s, the roads had been greatly improved and busing transportation became more practical.

The fourth phase of education in the rural County began when NBISD had grown to the point when it could no longer accept the county school transfers to complete their requirements for an accredited high school diploma. Up to this point the New Braunfels High School was the only high school in the county. In November of 1956, the citizens of the county approved the creation of the Comal County Rural High School District with the County Superintendent as its administrator and a single board of trustees. In 1968, the district became the Comal Independent School (CISD). Now the district is independent of municipality, county or state lines, and the board is allowed to hire its own superintendent and deal with the State directly.

In 2016, the Comal Independent School District celebrated its 60^th year of Excellence is an Attitude motto.

As it is well known, many technical changes have occurred during the past sixty years. Community telephones were practically replaced with electronic devices (i.e. cell phones). Electronic communication, with easy updates, has practically replaced books, while television and computers made instant communication possible from almost anywhere in the world. Who knows what the fifth phase of education may be like.

More details on the phases of education can be found in the book entitled Rural Schools and Teachers in Comal County, 1854-1956 by Alton J. Rahe. The book, published in August 2017, is sold at the Sophienburg Museum and Archives and all proceeds from the sales of the book go to the Sophienburg.

Sources:

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