A letter written on May 2, 1845, two months after the first settlers arrived in New Braunfels, gives us details of those first two months in NB. The letter was written by Lt. Oscar von Claren to his sister in Germany. The end of von Claren’s life overshadows the optimism conveyed by him, as you will see.

When Prince Carl left to go back to Germany, amid festivities and cannon fire at the site of the Sophienburg, he offered to take 69 letters back to Germany. Mail at that time took three months or longer. According to author Everett Fey, writer of “First Founders”, there are 14 letters preserved and transcribed “and it is uncertain whether the rest of the letters were delivered to families. There is a good possibility that these 14 letters were used as advertising by the Adelsverein to promote their immigration project.”

The preserved letters are mostly positive about the project, so what happened to the other letters that were perhaps not so positive? Were only the letters of satisfied customers published?

Letters alleging that the Adelsverein was irresponsible in caring for the immigrants were also published in the newspapers. The Adelsverein fought back with replies by one of their own, Count Carl of Castell. He demanded publication of letters giving the “voice of truth” or the positive view.

One of those 14 letters was Oscar von Claren’s sent to his sister, Augusta, and she, in turn sent it to the Adelsverein. It was, no doubt, of value to them.

Oscar von Claren from Hanover arrived on the ship Apollo and came inland with the first group of emigrants. As a young single man, von Claren was chosen by Prince Carl for the responsible position of being in charge of artillery in Prince Carl’s Militia. He organized them to protect the emigrants, both on the way and in the settlement.

In his letter to his sister, von Claren described his arrival in New Braunfels in April 1845 and then of the celebration that took place in early May when Prince Carl was getting ready to leave for Germany. He said that at the Sophienburg (fortress), festive speeches were made and the cannons fired.

At the time of year of his arrival, it was too late to put in a garden on the lot that had been given to him. He put in a cow pen out of logs where the calves stayed while the cows roamed freely. It was not necessary to feed them. In the evening, the cows would automatically roam back to their calves in the pen. Even people that had no houses had pens with cows. Anyone who had more than 25 cows had to pay a fee to the state of Texas. Von Claren was waiting to get chickens; “four hens for $1.00 and a rooster for a third of a dollar”. “He who has cattle, chickens and a livable house has everything” he told his sister. Milk, eggs and butter were the main diet.

Von Claren was aware of unfamiliar noises, like the cutting of trees, plowing and the building of huts. He arose at five in the morning, lit a fire, dressed, cooked tea, baked bread and ate breakfast. After 11 o’clock in the morning the heat was unbearable so everyone stopped working. At this time he cooked dinner and then at three o’clock went to work again. After working, the evening meal was prepared and took a long time because corn meal bread had to be baked every day. It tasted bad when it was not fresh. It got dark around seven o’clock. Twilight, like in Germany, was not known in Texas and it got much darker. Von Claren told his sister that what he needed more than anything was tools, carpenter tools and tools for gardening. Also he needed seeds, fruit seeds of all kinds, lentils, and grape vines. He wished he had brought more with him. An immigrant only paid for the transportation from Bremen and the Adelsverein provided everything else to the colony.

He told his sister that during the land trip in from the coast, many of his clothes and part of his weapons were damaged due to not having them packed in boxes encased in tin. He now sleeps on animal hides and covers with a woolen cover instead of the linens he is used to.

About 300 Tonkawa Indians visit the settlement daily. They are at peace with the Germans and come into town to trade. Von Claren traded animal skins, hides and leopard fur. He traded gun powder, colorful chinz and calico, red and white beads, but not yellow or green (curious), and all kinds of toys made of tin or German nickel silver. Turtles and snakes demand high prices and he intended to sell them.

Their clothing was very thick and long boots were indispensable, but very expensive. He praised the beauty of the area, pretty forests next to the Guadalupe River, hills and prairies covered with wild flowers. Wood like cypress and cedar trees emit a magnificent odor and remind him of pencils. The beautiful blooms of the cactus would be greatly admired in Germany. At night, the air is filled with lightning bugs.

(Here’s the catch:) One must become accustomed to the great heat and large unpleasant animals that inflict deadly wounds, and the numerous rattlesnakes, some ten feet long and probably 15 years old. There are also a large number of alligators, so bathing in rivers is dangerous. He shot a 14 foot alligator. Tarantulas, large spiders that “runs around with the snakes and scorpions” in the woods, have a disagreeable stinger. Finally there is a caterpillar that crawls over the skin.

In May of 1845, there are 400 people living in the settlement. He would like to have friends and family with him “with whom he could cultivate a companionable relationship”.

By the time his sister received his letter, von Claren had been brutally killed and scalped near Live Oak Springs. He and two companions were returning to NB from Austin and while camping, a band of natives attacked the three. Wessle got away and led the Rangers to the site of the massacre. Von Claren and von Wrede were buried there.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

With the Comal County Fair over and done, we look forward to the other fall community events. Dia de los Muertos comes next and will be followed by the granddaddy of them all, Wurstfest!

For me, a first founder descendant, Wurstfest is my favorite. It is much more than beer and sausage. It’s the time families and friends, old and new, gather to have Gemütlichkeit. Translated loosely, that means a time of warmth, friendliness and good cheer amongst people. Wurstfest is also a time we get to dance to the music and songs that have always been a special part of our lives.

The polka music that our grandparents taught us to dance to at weddings and dances have a nearly 200-year-old history. Mystery surrounds the true beginnings of the polka. Some say the name comes from the Bohemian word pulka, which is the half-step dance movement one uses. Others claim that the dance was invented by a young Polish servant girl and named “polka” in reference to the word for Polish woman.

History only knows that around 1830, in villages around Prague, the polka rhythm and steps were noticed and became a sensation in Prague itself. The upbeat tempo, catchy tunes and often humorous lyrics then took Paris by storm in the 1840s. Well, all of that and the added bonus that a man could hold his lady friend deliciously close when spinning her around the dance floor. The polka was a far cry from the formal and staid minuets, quadrilles and waltzes of the 19th century.

The major emigration of Europeans in the 1840s brought the sound, beat and steps of the polka to North America. Texas, with its high concentration of Germans, Czechs and Poles, became a hotbed and haven of the polka. As Germanic immigrants settled throughout east and central Texas, they tended to band together for their common good. They formed vereins. These associations or clubs promoted their members’ general welfare as well as preserving their culture. Music — and the polka — always played an integral part.

Dance halls were basically mandatory in these communities and bands were readily available since there were many men who knew how to play at least one instrument. Stringed and brass instruments came with the immigrants. Woodwinds like flutes, clarinets and saxophones were also prevalent. But the most distinctive instrument was the accordion.

The accordion is a wind instrument comprised of two reed organs connected by folding bellows. Sound is made by expanding and compressing the bellows forcing air through the reed organs. A keyboard of keys or buttons is used to play the melody.

The earliest accordion was invented by Friedrich Buschmann of Berlin, Germany in 1822; Buschmann called his instrument the Handäoline. In 1828, Armenian organ and piano maker Cyrill Demian created the Akkerdeon and chose that name based on the German word Akkord, which means chord.

The Germans, Czechs and Poles loved their accordions and the polka, and the music was heard often. In a wonderful turn of events, Texas-born Tejanos in the San Antonio area took the accordion, the polka sound and dance steps they heard and saw and invented the unique musical genre of conjunto. Conjunto blended the sound and rhythms from both German and Hispanic communities and remains popular in Texas music today.

The same beat, similar dance steps and the all-important sound of the accordion still echos in dance halls and street festivals. Even if you are new to the polka or conjunto sound, I guarantee that if you listen to the beat your foot will start tapping. If you listen closely to the words, you will often find yourself giggling. If you really listen to the music, I’m going to bet that you will get off your chair, grab yourself a partner and dance deliciously close in circles around and around the dance floor.

Sources: PBS Western Reserve: The History of Polka: From Europe to Northeast Ohio; Appalachian Freunde Polka Band; Handbook of Texas.

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

New Braunfels historians have told us that the first immigrants arrived with very little in the way of belongings. And, unlike today’s new arrivals in New Braunfels, our founding ancestors had a lot to do before settling into a house. They had to secure materials (chop trees for lumber, make mud bricks, cut stone) to be able to build their own places to live. We are very fortunate to live in a place where so many of those early homes still exist. One of my favorites stands on a lot at 212 W. Austin Street in Comaltown, exactly where it has stood for over 150 years.

The story? It begins with people making life-changing decisions to build a new life, sell everything, move across the Atlantic Ocean and settle on the Fisher Miller Grant in the Republic of Texas. Like many, that is exactly what Johann Georg Moeller did.

Georg Moeller left Bremen aboard the ship Weser, arranged by Henry Fisher for the San Saba Colonization Company, in May of 1844. Once he arrived in Galveston in July 1844, he learned that the Fisher & Miller land grant had never materialized. He was stuck along with several others from his hometown of Michelsrombach, Hesse. Moeller did eventually end up in New Braunfels in late 1845.

Meanwhile, on similar track, Johann Peter Hoffmann boarded the Garrone, arranged by the Adelsverein, with his wife and children. They arrived in Galveston in December of 1844 and finally reached New Braunfels with the First Founders. Mr. Hoffmann died shortly thereafter, leaving Elizabeth Hoffmann to fend for herself and her two children, Charlotta and Alex. (Soap operas got nothing on true history!).

So fast forward to 1848, when Georg Moeller and widow Elizabeth Hoffmann married. Their instant family of four eventually totaled seven with the addition of twin sons, Franz and Johann, in 1849 and Louis in 1852.

The Moellers settled in Comaltown. At one time, they owned/farmed most of the Landa Estates area. Georg Moeller began building my favorite limestone house in 1859. He built it all by himself. The beautiful two-story is constructed of hand-cut hard limestone that was quarried locally. All the walls are constructed of hard limestone, cut into squares and rectangles with stone lintels across the top of each window.

The wood beams and roof rafters are of hand-hewn cedar logs and the floors are hand-hewn cypress planks. Although the outside walls are perfectly square and the floors and ceilings are perfectly level, there are no two rooms the same size, no two walls the same thickness and no two rooms with the same size floorboards. The walls range from 8 to 18 inches in thickness. The original house had two staircases: one leading to the basement, the other to the second floor. Each wood tread of the steps going upstairs is smoothly fitted into grooves in the supporting side boards. No nails were used. The stairs to the basement are solid rock. It is truly amazing that no cement was used to put the stones together. In some places, it is said to be plain black dirt mixed with straw; and in others, a mortar made of sand and lime was used.

The limestone house, begun in 1859, took 6 years to build. The family lived in a modest home where Our Lady of Perpetual Help is now located while their limestone home was being built. It was finally completed in 1866. Sadly, Johann Georg Moeller died in 1867, just weeks after the family moved into the new home.

In 1881, ownership of the house changed. Okay, this is where it gets sticky. Pay attention to the “OE” and “UE” here. The home was sold by the Johann Georg M”oe”ller family to Johannes M”ue”ller, known as “Mueller-Hanas” in 1881. He owned a freight company. Mueller-Hanas was a very interesting guy, but I will save that for another day. He raised his family in the home. Johannes Mueller died in 1908 followed by his wife in 1909. Oddly enough, Emma, daughter of Johannes Mueller, married Henry Moeller, the grandson of Johann Georg Moeller.

In 1910, the home was sold to Mr. & Mrs. Albert Nowotny. Their son Jerome, who was born in the home, bought it in 1947. He eventually built a very successful tourist attraction/restaurant around it — Bavarian Village. By coincidence, Jerome Nowotny’s son, Lionel, married Mary Lou Mueller, a great-granddaughter of Johannes Mueller, second owner of the house. The Moeller House is now owned by Schlitterbahn Waterparks/Cedar Fair.

There were many descendants of the Moellers in the area and many were builders. Most of the structures are still standing as they are very well built like the Moeller House. The following is a list just to name a few: Garden Street Bridge, Mission Valley Mill Dam, Old Fire Station, Richter Buildings, Wagenfuehr House, Celebrations, Comal Flower Shop, The Black Whale Saloon, Lamar School, Seele Parish House, Johnson Furniture, Main Plaza Gazebo, Gerlich Home (Borchers Office), Fischer House (next to the Civic Center), Corner Coffee Shop, Old New Braunfels High School, Citizens Ice House (Conway’s), numerous curbs and sidewalks, and hundreds of homes in the area and surrounding counties. They truly lived well-built lives.

The Moeller House became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1970; however, at some point the marker was removed. A new marker was sponsored by a Johann Georg Moeller descendant, Myra Lee Adams Goff.

The Moeller House Marker Rededication ceremony will take place Sunday, March 3, 4:00 p.m. at 212 W. Austin Street. The public is invited.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Comal County Historical Commission.

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By Keva Hoffman Boardman —

The Six Shooter Ranch. The name evokes something rather wonderful in an old-Western-movie kind of way. However, dear reader, the history around the Six Shooter Ranch is anything but romantic. There are tales from different time periods which give us clues to its story and with some sniffing around, I think I have got the gist.

I first found a paragraph in the Marjorie Cook files. She was a feature writer/editor for the NB Herald.

Six Shooter Ranch was owned by Coreths and got its name from a man named John Sippel (who married a daughter of Ernst Gruene, Sr. Sippel lived in the house there and used to get drunk, lie on his bed and shoot flies with his six-shooter. The ceiling was full of holes as a result. The house stood on top of the hill adjoining the Eden Home. This was levelled for crushed rock by Landa on a lease from Coreth. Just before the house was torn down, it served as a bordello.

Is your interest peaked? Are there facts to back up any of this tale?

A transcript of an interview with Coreth Family descendants fills in some details of the location.

At one time they [Coreths] owned property from Mission Hill all the way over to the Eden Home. My uncle Rochette Coreth referred to it as the Six Shooter Ranch. There was a quarry there on the edge. That was in 1913, when Landa wanted to establish a rock quarry on the Coreth property and [paperwork] refers to it as the Six Shooter Ranch.

I looked into the land area a little closer and it seems that it was first owned by Ernst Gruene. His daughter Johanna and husband John Sippel lived on the property when they got married in 1873. In 1887, Sippel opened a rock quarry on the hill to get rock and gravel for the construction of the Guadalupe River Bridge (Faust St. Bridge). Sippel later recovered an 8-pound mammoth tooth at the site. The Coreth’s then acquired the land and they leased it to Landa to quarry gravel.

Olinska Sippel Posey, one of the daughters of John and Johanna Sippel, shared a very personal insight on her family. John built a home on the corner of Academy and Coll in 1881, and that’s where she lived so she didn’t live on the Six Shooter Ranch. She did remember that her father was a little bit crazy and dangerous. Olinska remembered that father John took her to visit her Gruene grandparents who lived on Rock Street one day. They crossed the San Antonio Street bridge, went through Comaltown and at the railroad tracks there on Rock Street, John told her to get out and walk the rest of the way. As she walked, he shot his gun several times over her head to hurry her along.

Olinska’s mother Johanna had a mental breakdown in 1893. Olinska said her mother felt she had to file for divorce in 1894. After her husband shot himself in the head on the second floor of his Phoenix saloon in 1900, Johanna Gruene Sippel lived until 1942.

Doesn’t this recollection just break your heart? Here is a bit more of the Sippels’ story.

John was the son of Valentin Sippel, one of NB’s first founders. John was quite the entrepreneur. He and father Valentin built the first Phoenix Saloon — same location, different building — in 1873. Off and on he lived on the 2nd floor of “Sippel Hall” and rented out the first-floor saloon. He also added an alligator pond and a bowling alley. In 1885 he became the local distributor for Anheuser-Busch. John set up a soda and mineral water bottling works, St. John’s Bottling, in 1886. In 1887, he opened the quarry at the Six Shooter Ranch. He added an ice factory to his line of businesses and became the distributor for Lone Star Beer in 1890.

I think his world started falling apart in 1892. His 18-year-old, first-born son Henry was shot and died while at business college in Dallas. The Sippels’ had already lost a two-year-old daughter in 1883. Henry’s death caused Johanna to have a mental breakdown and require several months of hospitalization. John was having a hard time financially as well. The bottling works went bankrupt after a bad freeze and it and the ice factory were put up for sale. Johanna filed for divorce and six years later, most likely depressed and drinking, John shot himself.

Perhaps this is the origen of the “drunk and shooting the flies on the ceiling” story; so much trauma and heartache for this man and his family to handle.

My last reference to Six-Shooter Ranch is later in time. Hanno Welsch Sr. recorded an oral history at the Sophienburg and told an interesting story. His family lived on a farm out on River Road and Rock Street. Remember that the ranch house of the Six Shooter Ranch was located about where the Eden Home and Dean Word’s pit is now.

There was a fella by the name of Clapp, of Clapp Shoe Company. He was living up there. He was a playboy. I imagine they gave him lots of money to get him away from their business. He hooped it up! He had some nice black horses and a buggy; well-groomed. He’d go to town and meet these girls. He’d get a pretty girl from off the train and have big parties there. And he liked six shooters, pistols and stuff like that. He was shooting at the fella that was working in the field on Rock Street, and, of course, once in awhile this fella would shoot back too you know. I don’t know but I think they were both drunk. They couldn’t hit a target.

Finally. I think I understand the bordello reference in Marjorie Cook’s notes. Mr. Welsch also talks about the “pretty ladies” which came in on the train. Behind the depot was a one-story house about 30 feet long with a porch along the sidewalk of Mill Street. The mostly dark and shuttered house was “verboten to us youngsters” but Welsch and his friends would slip over to the windows and listen to the “sweet talk”. Hanno describes how the ladies would come in by train, pulling up their skirts above the ankle as they stepped down onto the ground. There were always a lot of cowboys ready to help and then escort the ladies to the “entertainment house”. I think the Clapp gentleman at the Six Shooter Ranch would bring “these girls” to the ranch house to party.

So it looks like I’ve figured out quite a bit of the story. But Mr. Welsch gave me one more tantalizing tidbit connected to Six Shooter Ranch. One day Hanno’s father was plowing in the field down on the corner of Rock Street and he plowed up an old pistol.

It was a very peculiar pistol. It was originally a rim fire and it had been converted into a center pin fire pistol. It had beautiful engraving on it and a nice wooden handle. It must have come from the Six Shooter Ranch somehow.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum: Neu Braunfelser Zeitung; New Braunfels Herald; Marjorie Cook Collection; Myra Lea Adams Goff Collection; Hanno Welsch Sr. “Reflections” oral history.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Day two of the 25th Jubilee of the founding of New Braunfels turned out to be just as wonderful as the day before. As it neared 10 am on Monday, May 16, 1870, citizens once again assembled at the school on Academy and Mill streets. The front of the building was gaily decorated with wreaths and garlands of evergreens and the old Academy flag. Today was not just a procession of citizens and guests, but an honest-to-goodness, full-blown extravaganza of a parade. It was to be a day showcasing the history and development of the town but also one of joyful fun.

While the parade was forming up, a sixty-gallon barrel of beer was tapped and glasses served to the participants and spectators. A sixty-gallon barrel of beer? Yeah, let’s try this today!

A group of young men, dressed as Native Americans, rode on horseback at the front of the parade. The grand marshal and the US flag led the group of First Founders and their descendants. They were followed by a plethora of floats and societies

The Turnverein float, drawn by six white horses, carried the 37 young ladies who had presented the banner to the men the day before. Dressed in white with blue scarfs, they represented the 37 states of the Union. At the top of the float stood a tall young lady in white with a golden belt and crown holding a flag emblazoned with “USA” and “Liberty”.

The groups of children from all the local schools walked in the same order as before. They were followed by an immigrant wagon pulled by four mules. The driver smoked a pipe and wore a Staubkittel (blue duster). The recently arrived Börner family joined 70-year-old Mr. Riedel, Mrs. Sacherer, Mrs. Merz and Mrs. Pfannstiel in the wagon already full of immigrant trunks and a spinning wheel.

The next float entered was the New Braunfels Woolen factory which portrayed industry in New Braunfels. Examples of lovely colored fabrics, green wreaths and a sign created with flowers decorated the float. A large working loom was being used causing spectators to cheer as it passed by.

Marching and singing, the members of the Neu Braunfelser Gesangverein and the Turnverein came next. They were followed by a float drawn by four oxen with gilded horns. This float carried Mr. Schuster dressed as Gambrinus in “a costly cloak of real red satin trimmed with ermine” and wearing a crown (Gambrinus is the legendary “King of Beer”). The float carried the sixty-gallon barrel of beer that was tapped at the beginning of the parade; the barrel was marked “From the First German Brewery in West Texas”. It had been donated to the festivities by W. A. Menger of San Antonio. Two smaller 15-gallon barrels from Rennert’s brewery were hitched to the back. King Gambrinus reigned over four boys dressed as pages who served beer to the thirsty parade members.

Various other businesses and groups participated in the parade that took the same route as the procession the day before. Each new section of the parade was separated with horse-back riders carrying US standards. The parade participants played “tin music” and cheered as they walked along. The shout of “Hoch!” (High! Raise up!) was sounded each time the parade passed through the arches on Main Plaza. A very loud cheer arose from both participants and spectators when the parade paused to take on new barrels of beer from Rennert’s Brewery.

Cheers from the spectators greeted groups and floats. Float riders sang German songs as they travelled along. The agent who worked for The Union and Bulletin in Galveston was hailed. Parade participants shouted, “Prost!” as they passed the homes of the mayor, Jubilee committee members and Dr. Koester. The “Indians” on horseback randomly attacked and tried to raid the floats. They were successfully fended off with guns, smoking pipes, a crutch and yes, one woman used a sausage! The “Indians” managed to steal a boot and a bottle of whiskey, but these were soon confiscated by the sheriff.

Even with all the unbridled levity, the boisterous crowd became silent and bared their heads in honor as they passed the home of Dr. Remer on Seguin Street. He “who had worked so diligently for the success of the Jubilee, who had labored so faithfully with the founders for the town’s development” was very ill. (The day before, he had been in a chair on his porch and received loud cheers and the well-wishes of friends as they passed by.)

The parade continued and finally passed over the Comal Bridge. When Joseph Landa’s coachman turned the oxen of the Gambrinus float to pass the triumphal arch, Mr. Landa seized the reins and guided the float smoothly under the arch to the applause and cheers of “Landa, the driver of oxen!”. The crowd dispersed and found one of the many bars scattered around that dispensed beer and both native and imported wines. There was also an all-day lunch room which served hot meals and “good coffee” for a nominal price. Just past the festival grounds were two shooting ranges where contests took place — – one for target shooting, the other for shooting flying targets and skeet.

Mr. Seele delivered another speech and read congratulatory letters from absent dignitaries. Gambrinus stepped onto the platform and gave Seele a glass of beer to drink to the health of these well-wishers. Later in the day, Seele addressed the American population, in English, emphasizing how they helped, encouraged and stood by the Germans. He ended with a “Lebenhoch” (Good luck cheer) for the town’s American friends.

In the evening, the grounds were again lit up with colored lanterns and large kerosene torches. The triumphal arch was lit in a manner that made it seem transparent with changing red, blue and white lights. Music and dancing lasted late into the night only to be finished by another dramatic firework display.

Over 200 cannon shots were fired during the two-day festival!

On Tuesday, several citizens and Jubilee committee members “held a cozy post-celebration on the festival grounds and at Mrs. Josts, and so the Jubilee which will always be dear to the memory of all came to a close.”

Did these guys know how to party or what!?!

Sources: Faust Collection, Heilig album, Seele collection, Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung: Sophienburg Museum & Archives

The post New Braunfels 25th Birthday (Part 2) appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

New Braunfels, founded on March 21, 1845, traditionally celebrated the city’s anniversaries in May, because of agricultural and weather issues. The 25th Anniversary was held Sunday and Monday, May 15-16, 1870. Jubilee committees worked from March through May to plan the event. At 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, the committee handed over the festival grounds to the Jubilee president. A cannon shot, fired by first founder Fr. Heidemeyer from the Sophienburg, was answered by cannon shot, fired by first founder Hugo Loep, from the festival grounds. First founders Seele, Rennert, Wetzel, Lindheimer and Moreau signed a telegram to J. von Wrede in Wiesbaden: “Send the following dispatch to Prince Carl Solms Braunfels: All hail from the Citizens of New Braunfels at their Jubilee!”

Sunday hadn’t even dawned when at 4 a.m. twenty-five cannon shots were fired from the Verein cannons on Sophienburg Hill. People were stirring bright and early on that partly cloudy, breezy day. The Catholic and Protestant churches held shortened services with sermons based on Deut.28: 3-4: “Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field…”. After services, 37 young ladies presented an embroidered white silk banner to the Türnverein in front of the old courthouse (Chase Bank corner of Main Plaza).

Mrs. Edna Faust (first director of the Sophienburg Museum) translated Lindheimer’s musings on that day.

As Lindheimer went through the streets that Sunday morning he saw many decorated residences and business houses. There was a triumphal arch at the entrance and exit of each main street [4 at Main Plaza]. There were many inscriptions and symbols. A few of the houses were decorated only with American and German flags, but most of them were decorated with garlands, wreaths, and festoons. The dates 1845 and 1870 could be seen on many of the houses and on the triumphal arches. At the entrance to San Antonio street the arch showed a view of a log hut with an Indian nearby and a wilderness out of which the tents of the immigrants were showing. On the arch reverse, a woolen factory was painted with its high chimney. A farmer was returning from his field, and from the blue sky a cornucopia was blessing the land with its gifts.

Hermann Seele’s home on San Antonio Street was richly decorated and on its front was the coat of arms of his native city Hildesheim. It bore an inscription in Latin: “Give peace, O Lord, in our days!” A rope was strung from Pfeuffer’s Store diagonally across to Gruene’s Store with garlands, wreaths, and streamers and a United States flag right over the middle of the street. A large US flag thirty feet long was fastened to a cable strung from the courthouse to the two-story house of Halm and Mueller. The stores of Wetzel, Scherff, and Simon were tastefully decorated. Over the entrance to Bernhard’s Store was a scene depicting an immigrant under the figure 1845 who was grinding his corn into meal on a mill fastened to a tree. Moreau’s Store was decorated with columns and festoons to resemble a Greek temple. It reminded Lindheimer of “Die Götter Griechenlands,” a poem by Schiller.

A verse from a church hymn was lettered [in German on a slate] above the door of the Protestant Church. The front of the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung building was decorated with foliage and festoons, and in a large wreath of roses and foliage appeared a verse. On the front of the New Braunfels Academy the following verse in German could be seen: “Long live New Braunfels! May future generations find here a site for morals and right!”

There were triumphal arches at the east end of Seguin Street between Brun’s house and Forke’s Store, on Comal Street between the residences of Julius Rennert and H. Lister, between the homes of Ziegenhals and Boerner, between the homes of Lawler and Mergele, on Market Square between the residences of Floege and Landa, and on Mill Street between the homes of G. Weber and Goldenbagen and those of W. Ludwig and Dr. Lehde [7 crossing over the streets].

Sunday’s procession formed at 10 a.m. in front of the school at Academy and Mill streets. Turning left on San Antonio, it was led by Grand Marshall Friedrich Hoffmann, the US flag and a 12-member City Band. Citizens followed in specific order:

1. Eight white-dressed girls strewing flowers
2. First Founders and their descendants
3. County officials (Governor Davis and legislators declined invite)
4. Mayor and city council members
5. Principal, teachers and pupils of the NB Academy with a blue silk banner
6. Teachers and students of the Catholic School, Wipprecht’s School, and Union School of Comaltown
7. NB Gesangverein with two banners
8. Schuetzenverein men marching with their rifles
9. Guests from Fredericksburg, Boerne, Comfort, San Antonio, Bastrop, Austin, Seguin and San Marcos
10. Citizens of New Braunfels and their families
11. Group of men on horseback made up of sons of Comal County farmers
12. Decorated coaches and carriages of rural families from Comal County

The procession passed through three arches on the Plaza before turning right on Comal Street. Proceeding south through four more arches it turned right again to Seguin Street and headed north to Mill Street passing under another three arches. Turning right at Mill, the procession crossed the bridge over the Comal to the festival grounds. Another arch had been constructed over the bridge upon which bore the words, “Vivat Neu Braunfels!”.

The festival grounds (Prince Solms Park area) were entered through a large triumphal arch. Further back was a smaller arch painted with 1845 and a vase of wild flowers and 1870 and a vase of cultivated flowers. To its right was a tall flagpole flying an American flag with the cannon furnished by General Reynolds of San Antonio at its foot and to its left were wooden scaffoldings for fireworks. A sixty-foot dance floor had been laid, with railings and a platform for the speakers and musicians. The gymnastic equipment of the Türnverein was set up behind it.

Passing through the triumphal arch, the individual groups placed their flags, banners and standards at designated spots around the dance pavilion. The City Band played “Hail Columbia!” and Hermann Seele gave a welcome address to the 6000 people on the grounds! After the band played “Yankee Doodle”, lunch was served from tables piled with platters of barbecue, knives and forks and “new” plates.

The New Braunfels Gesangverein and other singing groups serenaded the crowds with “The Shepherd’s Sunday Song”, “The German Fatherland”, “The Rhine”, “Hunters”, and “Farewell and Homecoming from France”. At 3 p.m., Hermann Seele delivered the Julbilee speech which was followed by a shooting contest won by William Habermann. Later, Türnverein members wowed the crowds with horizontal bar routines and there were games for the children.

A Bürgerball (Citizens’ Dance) began at 7 p.m. and included a grand march. The first day ended with a fireworks display of red and white Bengal’s Fire, Roman candles, fire wheels and firecrackers.

Next time: 25th Birthday, Day 2

Sources: Faust Collection, Heilig album, Seele collection, Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung: Sophienburg Museum & Archives.

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What do three houses on Mill Street have in common? The homes located at 502, 528 and 554 West Mill Street are part of New Braunfels’ Mill Street Historic District and they are homes built on the property owned at one time by George Ullrich in the 1850s through the 1860s.

George Ullrich bought the partitioned lots in 1850 from Jean Jacque von Coll. They were part of the larger acre lot #168, acquired by von Coll in 1847 from the German Emigration Company. Von Coll served as business manager for the Adelsverein. Ullrich was the Adelsverein wagon master.

George Ullrich was one of those First Founders who, along with his wife, Margarethe, were in Texas before the Adelsverein immigrants. Prince Carl met Ullrich in Frelsburg in the early 1840s. The prince asked him to lead the immigrants inland from the coast as head wagoner. He lead the 31 wagons across the Guadalupe River on Marcy 21, 1845.

Mill Street runs parallel to San Antonio Street all the way to the Comal River at Clemens Dam where the Torrey Mill was located, therefore Mill Street. It is one of the earliest named streets in New Braunfels. Many of the homes on Mill Street are the oldest surviving homes from the time of the city’s settlement. Several of the homes are log homes and many are fachwerk. A home’s core building materials were typically covered over with layers of plaster or wood for insulation and protection from the environmental elements and when restoration occurs, the construction is revealed. The log home and fachwerk home were the earliest building techniques used, with the use of cut limestone blocks to follow. The log home is made using walls of horizontally placed logs with chinking in the spaces between the logs and the fachwerk home is constructed using timber framing with some type of infill, usually brick, rubble or rock.

554 West Mill

The home at 554 W. Mill has a historical marker titled the Pioneer Home. The marker reads: “Sand brick home built 1855, by Geo. Ullrich, who had driven first wagon of German Emigration Co. settlers in 1845 across the Guadalupe River.” On July 7, 1962, this home belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Chester W. Geue, was awarded the Texas Historical Building Medallion, the first awarded in New Braunfels and Comal County. The Geues had purchased and restored the home because the Ullrichs were his ancestors. The home was originally built as two front rooms and kitchen. By 1865, a daughter of George and Margarethe Ullrich, Sophie, married William Froelich and they lived in the home adding rooms to accommodate a growing family. The Geues bought the home from Blanca Froelich Bading. In 1965, the home was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark. The Comal County Historical Survey Committee is now known as the Comal County Historical Commission.

528 West Mill

The home at 528 W. Mill is owned by Marvin and Ann Giambernardi. This home was recently on the New Braunfels Conservation Society tour of homes and it was this tour that piqued my interest in the homes on Mill Street and about the people who so lovingly restore them, the Giambernardi’s being two of them.

Marvin and Ann met when he was helping her with electrical work involving the restoration of her home at 581 E. Camp Street. Ann had been an antique dealer here in New Braunfels for several years, having shops in downtown New Braunfels. She grew up in San Antonio but decided in 1990, to purchase the home on Camp St. so she would not have to drive back and forth from San Antonio to New Braunfels for her business. Her description of the home when she moved in is priceless. It had been in the same family from the time it was built and Ann bought it from the family. Ann lived in the home while restoring it. It had only cold running water. The previous owner heated her water outside in a tub. The electricity consisted of a bulb hanging on an electrical wire from the ceiling and there were no outlets. This did not deter Ann from living in the home while restoring it. Ann’s abilities in home restoration, expertise in the antique business, eye for color coordination along with her abilities as a seamstress, combined with her endless energy, contributed to success in the restoration arena. All she needed was an electrician, plumber and wood craftsman. This was when Marvin entered the scene.

Although Marvin was retired from the military as an aircraft inspector, he was also an electrician, plumber and wood craftsman. Marvin was living at Lake Dunlap at the time in a home he had restored that had belonged to his father. Marvin did some work for Ann on the Camp St. house and the rest is history. They married, eventually sold the Camp St. home, bought the 528 W. Mill home, restored it and now are working on another restoration. Home restoration is the perfect outlets for their creative talents and energy. They love the local history.

Back to 528 W. Mill Street. The home was thought to have been built in 1865 by George and Margarethe Ullrich. Around the same time, the 554 W. Mill Street home was given to their daughter and husband. The home is a beautifully crafted fachwerk home with handmade brick infill. The Giambernardis have exposed the fachwerk in several areas to show the construction. It was originally three large rooms with very high ceilings (about 14 feet), divided with one large room on the right and two smaller rooms on the left. One of the rooms on the left was the kitchen. There are two fire places, one on each side of the home. Additions were made throughout the years and provide ample room for Ann’s extensive collections of antiques. She began collecting as a teenager.

502 West Mill

Marvin and Ann recently purchased the small home next door at 502 W. Mill. The home had belonged to Elsie Roeper. Elsie was born in 1916 and lived in the home her whole life, caring for her grandparents who also lived there. Elsie’s mother was Alma, and Alma’s parents Julius and Julia Krueger Buske (Elsie’s grandparents) bought the home in 1890. The home was built on property owned by George Ullrich and was possibly built by him in the 1850s but may be much older. The home is a combination of log cabin and fachwerk with homemade brick infill construction.

The home originally was a small, single room log cabin with front and back porch. This single room is constructed of hand-hewn horizontally placed logs on all four sides that was revealed when Marvin and Ann removed the plaster. At some point, the back porch was closed in using fachwerk with handmade brick infill. A kitchen was built behind the home and at some time, the front home and kitchen were connected and also a bathroom added to the south side of the front structure. Marvin noted that termites where only present in the bathroom addition and nowhere else in the older parts of the home. Marvin and Ann are continuing their restoration and are in the process of researching more to find the exact construction date of the home. It is surely one of the oldest in New Braunfels and worthy of preservation.

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Recently, the Ludwig Leather Company on Seguin Avenue was purchased by Terri Moore Cocanougher, originally from New Braunfels. The new name of the company is Ludwig and Marglin. Why Marglin? Marglin is the French name for Mergele and First Founder Peter Mergele is Terri’s ancestor. Steve Moore, her father is the ggg-grandson of Peter Mergele (Pierre Marglin). The Marglin family hailed from the French area of Alsace. Terri and her parents, Steve and Marlene Moore, are very interested in the Mergele family history.

Terri graduated from New Braunfels High School, got a degree from A&M University and is dealing with what she has always been interested in, horses and ranching. She spent 20 of the past years living in Decatur, Texas, raising children and working at the Cocanougher Feed Stores. The building next to the leather company that now houses Water to Wine, was originally the Mergele Building where Terri’s ancestor had a butcher shop. Directly behind the Mergele Building is a restored brick home at 166 Comal Avenue that was built by the Mergele family on their original lot. Even though Terri did not buy the actual Mergele building, being next door is meaningful. When Terri bought the Ludwig Leather and changed it to Ludwig and Marglin, she also bought a Victorian home directly behind Ludwig’s at 184 Comal Avenue. She is in the process of restoring this home.

Before we talk any more about Peter Mergele, here’s a little background:

The first Adelsverein immigrant ships from Germany to Texas were the Johann Dethardt, the Herschel, the Ferdinand and the Apollo, and we know these immigrants as First Founders of New Braunfels.

Would it surprise you to find out that many ships arrived before the above? Four of them were the Jean Key de Teau, the Heinrich, the Ocean and the Weser. Although these ships carried immigrants, they were not initially sponsored by the Adelsverein. The Jean Key de Teau, the Heinrich and the Ocean were bound for a land grant given to Henri Castro whose purpose was to establish a settlement west of San Antonio near the Medina River. When established, the settlement would be called Castroville. The immigrants were from Alsace and they were French, Swiss and German. The fourth ship, the Weser, arrived under the colonization contract of the San Saba Company of Henry Fisher and Berchard Miller.

The Jean Key de Teau was the ship on which Peter Mergele arrived. This ship departed from Antwerp in Belgium. In Everett Fey’s book, The First Founders Volume I, he prints a letter from Edward Mergele, a descendant of Peter Mergele, one of the Castro immigrants. He tells of stormy weather causing the captain to tell the immigrants that the seasickness that they were feeling would quickly pass and sure enough, as soon as the brig passed by Puerto Rico and Dominique in the West Indies, the seas became calm. After arriving in Galveston, the water was too shallow to allow the passengers to disembark. Eager to get ashore, 30 of the immigrants boarded the small pinnace and started rowing towards the shore. The pinnace began leaking and the immigrants on the over-crowded little boat began bailing out water with their hats and shoes. Since the water was only four feet deep, the new Texans waded proudly ashore.

Family tradition fills in information about the Mergele family. Alsace, their home, became part of France in 1789, after being a part of the Swiss Confederation. It was taken by Germany in 1871, and remained with Germany until 1918. The World War I Armistice settlement gave Alsace back to France. During World War II, Germany again took over this area. Back in the 1800s, after much strife in the area, Peter Mergele probably read posters that Count Castro was distributing in the area. He was looking for 7,000 immigrants to sign up to go to Texas. By 1843, many had signed up.

The fifteen original immigrants of the Jean Key de Teau were Blasius Albrecht, Jacob Ernst, Peter Mergele with four family members, and Joseph Schertz with seven family members. Peter Mergele was born in Habsheim, Haut/Rine, France, in 1810. He married Barbe Schertz and they emigrated from Germany in 1843. After arriving in Galveston, they made their way with other immigrants to San Antonio and there they camped on the Alamo Mission grounds for over a year. They had heard rumors of other settlers having trouble with the Natives near the Medina and the Texas Rangers could not guarantee safe passage to the grant. Many became ill and some died. Castro was not sympathetic to their plight and the settlers realized that Castro would not live up to his promises. They decided to travel back to the coast to Indianola and then back to Germany. During this period of time, they met Prince Carl and he convinced the Mergeles and others to join the Adelsverein.

There is little information on the Castro immigrant ship, the Heinrich, as much of it has been lost. The main families that joined the Adelsverein from this ship were Gabriel Sacherer and five family members, Sylvester Simon and Nicolaus Zercher and wife. The third Castro ship, the Ocean, transported nine immigrants that joined the Adelsverein, Johann Lux and three family members, Carl Brockhuisen, George Humand, Jacob Kaderli and his brother Johann Kaderli, Germain Moritz and Jacob Schmitz. Like others, these settlers joined with Prince Carl and were granted lots in New Braunfels by the Adelsverein.

The Weser arrived in Galveston on July 8, 1844. My g-g-grandfather Johann Georg Moeller was in this group. They were part of the ill-fated San Saba Colonization Company. Weser immigrants that joined the Adelsverein included Thomas Schwab, Peter Reis, Johannes Schneider, Johannes Arnold, Andreas Eikel, Sebastian Moesgen with wife and daughter, Valentin Fey and Johann Schulmeier with wife and children. It was unknown where my ancestor Johann Georg Moeller was located after arriving in Texas but he arrived on his own in New Braunfels very early.

Some of the immigrants listed as First Founders were already in Texas before the March 21, 1845, Guadalupe River crossing. They joined the Adelsverein group with the encouragement of Prince Carl. This group included Louis Ervendberg, Ferdinand Lindheimer, Daniel Murchison, George Ullrich and Jean von Coll.

Peter Mergele and family crossed the Guadalupe with the Adelsverein in 1845, and received lot #43. He built his cedar log home on Comal Avenue in 1845. The family lived in this cedar log home for years. Eventually Peter’s grandson tore it down and built a brick home that still stands. There’s lots of history in that small area downtown.

Terri Moore Cocanougher has developed a wonderful vision for her company, Ludwig and Marglin. She employs several of the long-time Ludwig Leather employees including a silversmith and leatherworkers that make all kinds of purses, tack, chaps, belts and more. They repair saddles and other leather items. Terri has deep roots in New Braunfels and is glad to be home.

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