Cultural traditions around the world are alike in many ways. In other words, a common thread links us together as human beings. Take for example, the German tradition of the Kaffeeklatsch compared to the English tradition of Afternoon Tea. Although these traditions share a common purpose, they are vastly different in practice.

Broken down, the word Kaffeeklatsch means “coffee gossip”. The meaning of the word will tell you a lot about what goes on at this event. Naturally, coffee is served and “klatsch” means to gossip. The Kaffeeklatsch was a women’s activity. Now, that is assuming that only women gossip. I know that’s not true because women get lots of information from men.

The klatschen group, meeting in the afternoon, usually consisted of four to twelve women who had something in common, like family, interests, etc. The two groups that I remember as a child were both family groups, my mother’s Roessing relatives and my paternal grandmother’s Rose relatives. As a child, I didn’t have much to contribute but I learned a lot. This is where I picked up a lot of German. My mother’s family spoke mostly English, but my grandmother’s group spoke mostly German. Both groups would switch into German when they were saying something that they didn’t want the children to understand.

The best dishes were used. You honored your guests with the best that you had to offer – no paper products, fresh flowers picked from the yard and cloth tablecloths and napkins.

The food at the Kaffeeklatsch consisted of sandwiches of kochkäse, cucumber on crème cheese, sardine spread and the traditional open-faced sandwich with butter and thinly sliced venison sausage. In the early days, water cress gathered from the Comal and Guadalupe Rivers was spread on white bread and crème cheese. During WWII, Spam salad sandwiches made their appearance for the first time. There was always one special cake and cookies on the side. The old NB cookbooks are full of special cakes that every woman knew how to bake but that took a long time. My favorites were the Blitzkuchen (lightning cake because it did look a little like lightning struck it), the Potato Cake, (a chocolate cake with a whole cup of mashed potatoes), Sauerkraut Cake with a full cup of sauerkraut. The cookies and candies were loaded with pecans because they were so prevalent.

The English tradition of afternoon tea, on the other hand, was much more formal. Recently I had Afternoon Tea at the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia. Compare their menu with the Kaffeeklatsch menu:

Smoked salmon pinwheel sandwiches, Cucumber sandwiches with saffron loaf, Free range egg salad sandwiches in a croissant, Cognak Park Pate’ on sundried potato bread; then, Lemon curd tartlets, Chocolate tartlets, Rose Petal shortbread, Parisian macaroons, and their specialty–Scones with butter, clotted cream and raspberry preserves.

A delightful little book about tea by Muriel Moffat tells that at the Empress Hotel the drinking of tea, whether hot or cold, began more than 5,000 years ago in China. According to Moffat, the Chinese Emperor Sheen Nun in 2737 discovered tea by accident. The legend goes that Sheen Nun was resting in his garden sipping boiled water. A few dried leaves fell from a tree into the cauldron of water. The result was a delicate aroma and a change in the water color to brown. He tasted it and found it pleasant so he told his servants to cultivate the plant called “Camellia Sinensis” and tea was born.

The tea culture spread throughout China and for many centuries the purpose of tea was medicinal and spiritual. Legend says that the English started drinking tea in 1650 when King Charles II’s queen brought her tea habit with her from Portugal. Before tea was introduced, the British ate two meals a day – breakfast and dinner. The royals found that another meal was needed between the two meals.

In 1840 Ann Marie, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, after experiencing a sinking feeling late in the afternoon, began Afternoon Tea. Inviting her friends over, at about 4:00 o’clock, they were served small cakes, sandwiches and sweets and of course, Tea.

Afternoon Tea was a social event enjoyed by ladies who wanted to be seen at the right place at the right time and with the right company. That was not the case with the Kaffeeklatsch. This group was not interested in being seen by anyone else and the right place was in the home.

You have probably heard of “High Tea”, but have you heard of “Low Tea”? High Tea was served at the dining table or kitchen table and was less a social event but more of a meal for the manual laborer and farmer. Served at 7 or 8 p.m., it consisted of meat, cheese, thick sandwiches, coddled eggs, scones and pies, and was the main meal of the day. “Low Tea” on the other hand was generally served from a low table in the parlor and was more of a social gathering. Low Tea eventually evolved into Afternoon Tea.

The Sophienburg is working on an exhibit of Grimm Fairy Tales and one of the tales is “One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes”. The story has to do with tables of food and the exhibit shows this with its collection of miniature tables set with tea sets. Although this particular story is not directly about Kaffeeklatsch and Afternoon Tea, there is a social connection to food. Look for this big exhibit in September.

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The City of New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Dept. is living up to the city’s mission statement of adding value to the community by planning for the future and encouraging community involvement. Two public parks are in the planning stage, Fischer Park and Mission Hill Park.

If all goes well, an opening date of 2014 is anticipated for the 62 acre Fischer Park located at County Lind Road and McQueeney Rd. Mission Hill will be somewhat after this date.

Wade Tomlinson, Park Development Manager, in speaking of Fischer Park, said the historic character of the park was important and that the aim was for anyone who visited the park to be able to perceive that the property had been a working farm. The Fischer family brand will be used on park signage to help represent this. Two ponds already on the property will become potential fishing and boating ponds, one with a pier. New buildings will have a ranch-look to them.

A large event center designed in the central Texas ranch style, painted in earth tones, could be rented out for up to 300 people. It would have outdoor seating as well and could be used for weddings, family reunions and other gatherings.

Another potential building would be used for classrooms and offer nature courses. A ranch-like playground would contain a nature trail and splash pads. Austin parks have splash pads and children love them. This park will be free to the public but buildings will be available for a fee.

The 62 acres was at one time the homestead of Dewey and Milda Fischer. Their son, Maurice Fischer, and his brother and three sisters sold 55 acres to the City of NB and donated three acres to the NB Parks Foundation.

Back to the beginning of the Fischer family in Texas: Willie Fischer began his ranching business in Kendalia in the Twin Sisters area when he bought a large tract of land around the year 1900. Willie was the son of German immigrants Fritz and Caroline Klinger Fischer from Burgdorf, Hanover, Germany. Willie married his wife Meta Knibbe and in 1898, Meta died as a result of giving birth to their only child, Ottilie. The baby was raised by her grandparents, Charles and Pauline Knibbe of Spring Branch. Ottilie would marry Alfred Jonas and produce twin girls, Audrey (Dean) and Jacquelyn (Mayer).

Willie continued ranching in the Twin Sisters area. Then in 1904 he married again to Martha Bartels, the daughter of Henry and Marie Startz Bartels. They had three children, Linda, Nola, and Dewey.

Dewey Henry Fischer was born in 1911. At a dance at Smithsons Valley, he met his future wife Milda Sahm. Milda was born in the settlement of Comal in 1918 to Edwin and Hilda Sahm. Dewey and Milda were married in a formal wedding ceremony at First Protestant Church in New Braunfels in 1935 by Rev. Gottlob Mornhinweg. (Five generations of the Fischer family were married in this church.) Dewey and Milda lived at the family ranch house in Kendalia .

Willie Fischer in 1944 bought land in New Braunfels between Hwy. 725 and the Old McQueeney Road. Dewey bought land on the other side of his dad’s property in early 1946 and shortly thereafter he and Milda moved their family to this property. Their oldest child, Maurice, was getting ready to start to school and they wanted him and their future children to attend school in New Braunfels. Children Dean, Beverly, Faye Lynn, and Debra were born in New Braunfels. This is the property where the park is located.

Dewey Fischer was a successful farmer and businessman on the Kendalia ranch and later in New Braunfels. As a young man, he purchased a bulldozer, built a trailer, and then added a scraper, a grader, and two caterpillar crawler tractors. With this he began the Dewey Fischer Construction Company. He was active in soil conservation work and dug the pond that is on the park property.

He died suddenly in 1967. His wife Milda continued living in the NB property and several years later she married Helmuth Schlameus.

Over the years various family members lived in the farmhouse and Christmas 2006 was the last time that the family celebrated together in the old house. There are, however, 29 direct descendants of Dewey Fischer living within two miles of New Braunfels.

The Fischer family can be proud of the community use made of their land and the homestead will live on through the park.

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Immigrant Julius Voelcker arrived in New Braunfels in 1845 and at age 25 became one of the First Founders of the city. Before arriving, he had studied pharmacology and medicine at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. His profession in the 1850 census was listed as “farmer”. A majority of immigrants listed their profession in this way. They came for land and this was a way to survive. Ultimately Voelcker chose to be a pharmacist and opened his pharmacy next to his home on the north side of the plaza.

Julius Voelcker’s chosen field would spur on a family tradition, as six members would follow this profession in the next generations. He married Louise Karbach in 1857 who had emigrated to Texas with her family from Mecklinberg, Germany. Four sons and one daughter were born to this couple: Frank, Rudolf, Bruno, Emil and daughter, Emma. Emma’s life would bring the family much joy but also grief.

During the Civil War Julius Voelcker joined a company of State Troops, 31st Brigade as a 1^st Lieutenant. Norma Colley, granddaughter of Voelcker, in a paper written in 1990 told stories that her grandmother, Louise Voelcker, told of the family’s experiences during the war when Julius was away serving in the war. Her grandmother and the children moved to a hill over the Guadalupe River. Frank, the oldest son, was bitten by a water moccasin on the banks of the Guadalupe. His life was saved by his mother. Bruno fell from a cliff but survived. After the war when Julius returned, the family moved back to their home in town.

On July 22, 1874, a terrible tragedy befell the Voelcker family when 12 year-old Emma Voelcker was murdered in the Voelcker home by Wilhelm Faust of Seguin. Faust’s estranged wife, Helene, was spending the night at the Voelcker home as she had done before and she was sleeping in the same bed as Emma. During the night, Mrs. Faust moved to the floor and the assailant entered the home and attempted to kill his wife with an ax, thinking she was in the bed. In the dark he hit Emma instead, killing her. Mrs. Faust was blinded by a near-fatal blow. Faust escaped but was caught in November. It wasn’t until October of 1875 that he was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Locally the populace was enraged by the sentence so he was moved to a jail in San Antonio. He was moved back to the Comal County Jail but a lynch mob attempted to assassinate him. He was then moved into the Comal County Courthouse. (Old courthouse where Chase Bank is located) On July 28, 1876, some unknown person shot Faust through the window of his cell and killed him.

Julius Voelcker was elected mayor in 1875 but died six weeks before his term expired in 1877. Louise lived 41 more years. When the New Braunfels Parks and Recreation Dept. conducted its “Soul Searching” program in November, the Voelcker gravesite was one of the sites featured in the Comal Cemetery.

Bruno Voelcker followed in his father Julius’ footsteps. His drugstore was located on the corner of San Antonio St. and Castell Ave. (Red Stag). Bruno’s two sons, Edwin and Julius were both pharmacists.

Julius’ youngest son, Emil, married Caroline Zuehl and they lived on the Karbach ranch for many years. Emil was also a pharmacist. Their children were Louise , Herbert, and Norma. In 1891 Emil purchased six lots in the Braunfels subdivision between Union and Washington Sts. in Comaltown. A small house was already on the corner of Union and South Sts. and added on to over the years. This house still belongs to descendants of the Voelcker family.

Louise Voelcker married Robert Wagenfuehr and both were very civic minded and active in New Braunfels. Their children were Esther May,(mother of Betty Kyle), Milton, and Harvey. The Voelcker pharmacy tradition continued in the family with Harvey Wagenfuehr becoming a pharmacist and eventually owning Peerless Pharmacy on San Antonio St.

Tracing the history of the Voelcker family is in many ways typical of other family histories of immigrants who made New Braunfels their home in the 1800s. But in many ways this family’s history is unique.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Shopping for a wedding gift used to be something that I looked forward to. My most recent “gift shopping” experience involved scanning a QR code where I was then directed to a website to choose the appropriate item and clicking to send. Wow! So very anticlimactic. Where is the fun in that?

My first memory of going shopping for a wedding gift was at Dedeke’s in downtown New Braunfels. It was a beautiful store full of beautiful things. Tables were dressed in the finest table linens and perfectly set with china, silver and crystal to tempt any bride. The walls were lined with china place settings of nearly every pattern and color. Another part of that memory is the stern warning from my mother not to touch anything. I watched as my mother carefully selected a crystal pitcher and handed it to the clerk. It was so gratifying to walk out with our specially chosen, professionally wrapped gift to deliver in person.

Dedeke’s Housewares was a small store on Seguin Avenue that specialized in gifts and bridal registries in the 1950s-70s, but their story began much earlier. Richard F. Dedeke was born in New Braunfels in 1878. His grandfather, a farmer, had emigrated from Hannover in 1846. Richard’s father was a farmer and saddle maker. Richard was ambitious and in 1903, he sought his own fortunes in a thriving rural community of 200 people on York Creek. He purchased three lots in Hunter, Texas, between Grand and Railroad (now JC Riley) Streets to establish a residence and general merchandise store. A downturn in the cotton economy caused many of the Hunter businesses to close, including Dedeke’s General Store.

In 1928, R.F. Dedeke opened a new store in New Braunfels. The store was part of the ‘M’ System grocery chain. It opened at 215 S. Seguin Ave. (in the same brick building as The Oyster Bar). ‘M’ System was marketed as a new, self-serve way of shopping with multiple brand choices (as opposed to having a clerk bring a single brand from the shelf behind the counter). It sounds like the beginning of our current supermarket system.

R.F. Dedeke retired from his grocery business in 1951, and then the fun began. Richard’s son, Leslie Dedeke, and his siblings, Dorothy and Edward Dedeke opened Dedeke’s Housewares in the same location. In 1966, nearly a century after it was built, property at 173 S. Seguin Ave. was completely restored and the Dedeke family reopened the gift shop there. That is the beautiful store from my childhood. Even the patterned floor tiles were beautiful, but it was not beautiful before remodeling.

The Heinrich Krause building, located at 173 S. Seguin, already had a long history. The original part was built in the 1860s by Friedrich Krause and his son, Frederick Krause, who brought their carpentry skills with them from Germany. The first 45-foot section of the 24-foot-wide building (nearest to the street) is the oldest, built with squared cedar timbers. The next 45-foot section is of German Fachwerk, built with squared lumber. It had a small basement with rock walls and exposed square cedar timbers.

During the previous one hundred years, the one-story Krause building saw a lot of tenants. It was used by Weber & Deutsch, as an early general store; as an opera house; as a drill hall for a Texas Militia unit; as a blouse factory; as a barber shop and a newspaper office for Town & Country News. The Dedeke’s attention to detail and dedication to correct historical preservation of Krause building helped garner a Texas Historical Marker for the building, as well as honors from the New Braunfels Conservation Society.

In 1976, Dick and Bonnie Denson purchased the Dedeke’s business and it became Denson-Dedeke’s. In 1977, they also bought the entire property extending all the way to Comal Avenue, including the historic Krause building, the adjacent two-story Hoffmann building (on the left side of Denson-Dedeke), the parking lot in back, and the Mergele House on Comal.

In 1979, Sami’s Jewelry opened a kiosk at the front of Denson’s, near the windows. The large storage space in the back of the store was opened to create the perfect home for Marian Benson’s The Collection.

In 1981, the interior of the adjacent Mergele Building, was completely gutted by fire that spread from Ludwig Leather Company (two doors down from Denson’s). Fortunately, the tin roof and separation between the buildings prevented fire from damaging Denson’s. To prevent the building from being torn down, the Denson’s bought the Mergele Building and rebuilt the interior, preserving our Seguin Avenue merchant district. They opened up the walls between the two buildings and expanded their footprint again.

Upstairs in the Mergele Building, above retail space, were the Denson-Dedeke offices, and the very first home of Celebrations Bridal by Connie Worley. By incorporating three historic buildings with a courtyard and promoting complimentary retail tenants, Dick and Bonnie Denson successfully created a boutique shopping experience in a historic setting which eventually became Landmark Square.

The Mergele Building was sold to new owners in 1996. The rest of the property, including the Krause building, the Hoffmann building and the Mergele House on Comal Avenue, was sold in 1997 when the Densons retired. The Krause and Hoffmann properties have sold again in 2008 and 2018.

During that time, there have been multiple tenants of the Krause building, including photographers, marketing firms, a lingerie store and most recently a French café bistro.

When we look at historic buildings, we are spoiled and tend to look for the bigger, fancier, more ornate ones, i.e. the Court House (1884) or the row of buildings on San Antonio Street (circa 1890–1924). By doing that, we may be missing out on the hidden jewels (Krause building ca.1860) that make up the foundation of who New Braunfels is. Not slick. Not fancy. Historic.

Enjoy and appreciate the view and the experience, before you can only click on a QR code to see it. Preserve our history!

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

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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 Tara V. Kohlenberg —

Having lived in New Braunfels for most of my life, it feels oddly disturbing to see long-standing buildings damaged or torn down. It also piques my interest. Questions about what happened there or where the buildings went start spinning in my head. I wanted to know what happened to the collection of gray and orange buildings on South Seguin Avenue, recently vacated by Adele Kerr Antiques. As a child, I remember the buildings so differently. Definitely not gray with orange trim. So, let’s dig in.

First of all, the property of gray buildings really had multiple addresses. We will start with the oldest building. The building that looked like a house with a closed-in porch and an orange door was, indeed, a house. It was built in 1909. The property was once part of the estate of Conrad Friedrick Meyer, one of the city’s earliest citizens.

Conrad Meyer, 29, emigrated from Grossenmahner, Hildesheim, Hanover, with his wife Christine Kassel Meyer, 28, and son Christian, age 5, arrived on the ship Eberhardt in 1845. According to census records, Conrad Meyer was listed as a stonemason and later, a farmer. He and his wife had ten children, two of which died in childhood.

Conrad was an active community member. During the Civil War, at age 45, he was enlisted as a private with the Comal County Militia, Company A. He was listed in the 1878 Reunion of Surviving Settlers photograph taken in front of the original Adelsverein Sophienburg building. Conrad Meyer and wife made their home on acreage located between South Seguin and Castell Avenues. That property eventually became part of New City Block 1034.

Their fourth child, Marie (Mary) married Robert C. Sands, a Union solider from Indiana whom she met while his unit was stationed on Camp Street in Comaltown. They, in turn, had three daughters, Fenora Sands, Laura Sands, Clara Sands and one son, Oliver. From her father, Mary Sands was deeded Lot #25 on which to build their home. Having lost her husband at age 44, Mary continued to share the home with her three daughters — who never married. They lived all in the home until the last daughter died in 1950. Lot #25 is located at 636 S. Seguin where Cancun Mexican Restaurant recently burned down.

Mary also later received Lots #23, 24, 9 and 10 from her father’s estate. Just for perspective, lots 23, 24 and 25 face S. Seguin. Lots 9 and 10 back up to 23 and 24, but face Castell. Lot #23, located at 666 S. Seguin Avenue, was acquired at some point by local businessman Otto Bodeman and his wife Emma. Nothing was built on the property. They sold it in 1939 to Felix Garza.

Mary Sands deeded Lot #24 to her son Oliver, who built the beautiful house at 650 South Seguin in 1909. Oliver and his wife had two children. Their home was masterfully constructed with state-of-the-art materials on a pier and beam foundation. The front of the house was symmetrical, with large windows flanking the big wooden door. The door was framed by sidelight and transom windows. The porch ran the width of house, accentuating the simple architectural design. Originally, it had three fireplaces which were later covered by drywall when the gas floor furnace was installed in the living room. Oliver and Julie Sands continued to live out their lives in the home after their family was grown. Julie Sands died in March of 1948. The house was sold in 1950 to Felix Garza.

The story of Felix and Olivia Zamora Garza and the properties of South Seguin Avenue is a whole other story all its own. I will save that for next time. In the meantime, I will tell you that the once beautiful Sands house has been saved; moved to another location nearby to enjoy a rebirth with another owner in recent weeks. Stay tuned for the Garza story.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Alicia Garza Moreno; Sally Tamayo Stoneking.

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