Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

When nine young men from Frankfort emigrated to Texas in 1849, they were given the nickname of “Die Neunköder” or “the Nine Lures” or “the Niners.” One of them, George Weber, described the group of adventurers:

“Taking a sailship at Antwerpen, we finally landed at Indianola after a 57-days voyage…after a four-weeks trip reached our destination New Braunfels shortly before Christmas 1849. We were a group of nine who in jest were called “die Neunköder”. After a number of trips into the surrounding country in its yet primitive state, we bought 400 acres of raw land on the left bank of the Guadalupe between New Braunfels and Seguin and began early 1850 to put it into cultivation. It soon proved that our plan “one for all and all for one” was a miserable failure. Ability, views, skills, etc…, are so dissimilar apportioned. And so after 4-months of labor it was decided to sell the land and each go his own way…”

Tradition has it that the nine bachelors first worked for Jacob de Cordova at his home, Wanderer’s Retreat (south of present day Clear Springs), before they bought 400 acres from him and named their new community Neu Frankfort. Hermann Seele named all but one of them in his Gesammelte Schriften: J. August and Ferdinand Michael Dietz, J. Halm, Rudorf, Behr (or Boer), Buss, Heinrich Bauer, and George Weber. Oscar Haas thought possible names for the ninth “lure” might be Fertsch, Deisler, Grossmann or Meimoro.

After the collapse of their communal farm project, the Dietz brothers bought out Bauer, Behr, and Buss and by 1853, the community was known as Dietz. Oddly enough, two of my dad’s ancestors, Johahn Phillip and Jacob Stautzenberger, bought some of August Dietz’s land in 1861 and 1871.

I started following up on George Weber and found out that in 1869 he invented a machine to clean castor beans. He then set up the first castor oil mill in our area in 1870. He sold the oil as a medicine and a lubricant. Ok, now I have to know more about castor oil. I remember my mom saying they had to take spoonfuls of castor oil as kids. Just what is it and why did they have to take it?

Humans have harvested and used the castor plant for 7000 years. Castor oil (known as kiki by the ancient Greeks) was an early commercial product used by many ancient cultures as a medicine, lamp fuel, in wick-making, leather lubrication, fabrics, and varnish. Egyptians used castor oil to prevent eye irritations. It was used in India as a laxative. The Chinese used it both internally and externally in medical treatments. You can find it mentioned in the Book of Jonah in the Bible. Folks in the middle ages used the oil for its skin healing properties. Travelling salesman of the 19th C hawked castor oil mixed with as much as 40% alcohol as a cure for many things including heartburn, constipation and to induce labor.

The castor plant (Ricinus communis) is a perennial shrub which grows between 6’-8’. Dorothy Kypfer Constable, a staff member at the Sophienburg, brought me some seed pods from a wild castor plant growing on the Kypfer Farm out past the NB Airport and in the area of the old Dietz community. The seeds or beans, encased in spiny pods, are silky smooth and shiny grey to brown in color with intricate mottled designs. They actually look a little like cow ticks.

The plant contains three poisons so it is classified as a toxic plant. You think? The seeds contain about 50% oil by weight. The poison lectin is extracted from the seeds during the oil-making process. We’ve all heard of terrorists using ricin, right? Well, this is where it comes from!

There is science behind the use of the castor bean oil. Castor oil contains a high amount of ricinoleic acid, a fatty acid that is the source of its healing properties. It prevents bacteria and virus growth by increasing white blood cells and antibodies. Rub it on arthritic joints and it increases blood circulation to those areas. Castor oil also contains salts and ethers which act as skin conditioners and it can assist the body in expelling toxins.

Grandmas and moms don’t sound so mean now for making kids take the oil, do they? The seemingly cruel doling out of castor oil, was really doing a lot of good. If you were constipated, it was a laxative. If you had PMS, it helped absorb hormones. It also strengthened your body’s viral and bacterial resistance by increasing the production of lymphocytes.

Today, people are using this ancient homeopathic medicine to treat skin infections — – its antifungal, antibacterial properties remove toxins and reduce swelling. It fights acne — – it kills bacteria that causes breakouts and hydrates the skin. It relieves arthritis — – used as a massage oil, its anti-inflammatory properties ease pain in joints and muscles. And it promotes healthy hair growth — – its omega-6 acids help hair grow and give it shine.

Castor oil also has the ability to “cling” to very hot moving parts so it is utilized in high performance engines (Castrol-R). It was used extensively in WWI, WWII and Korea in hydraulic fluids, greases and lubricants for military equipment. Castor oil is added to paints and varnishes to help them dry faster, and it is a basic ingredient in the making of nylon and other synthetic resins and fibers. The castor plant is currently being researched as a product plant to use in rotation with cotton and studies are testing its use as a biofuel.

Cool beans, right? Just be aware that It grows wild in our area and remember, the castor bean plant is poisonous.

Sources: Neu Braunfelser Zeitung and New Braunfels Herald newspaper collections – Sophienburg Museum & Archives; The New Braunfels Sesquicentennial Minutes, ed. Roger Nuhn, 1995; Edna Faust and Oscar Haas collections — Sophienburg Museum & Archives; www.tshaonline.org; www.dovebiotech.com; The Agriculturist, “The Perfect Storm”, Fall 2011; FarmProgress, “Castor an oilseed crop that can cure, kill you”, Oct 9, 2012.

The post Die Neunköder and the castor bean appeared first on Sophies Shop.

By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

It’s words like this that make the German language so much fun. Actually, this word doesn’t even translate into English…which happens more times than you think. It comes with a great story though.

I found a history of Luckenbach, Texas, on the town’s website. Yes, it’s the same town from the country western song and it indeed exists about 10ish miles from Fredericksburg. Reading along, I saw names of people connected to our founders here in New Braunfels, names of people I know and lots of fascinating information. My eyes stutter-stepped over the word “elfendritschenwolpertinger”. What?

“1847: Reports circulated throughout the area that the first elfendritschenwolpertinger was seen by hunters in the South Grape Creek woods.”

Clue #1: It is something found in the woods.

The story continued with John O. Meusebach’s treaty with the Comanche, and how they had shared cherished secrets about the fruit of cactus, what they called cactus hearts, with their new German friends.

“Following the recipe of instructions the Indians taught them, they ceremoniously ingested the compound. In the midst of the “Rausch” or rush of the resultant bliss, there would often suddenly appear on the edge of the camp the jolly, chirping elfendritschenwolpertinger: nature’s most perfect of all living things. So awesome the men would collapse in sheer ecstasy, not waking until the crack of dawn.”

Clue #2: It is only seen when you are intoxicated.

The men returned to their homes and shared the experience with family and friends. The children searched long and hard for the elfendritschenwolpertinger in the fields and woods around Grape Creek to no avail. Only when they reached the appropriate age, would they be initiated into the rituals of the hunt for the rare creature.

You have to admit, these Freidenker (free-thinking) Germans had quite the fun-loving imagination — – with a little “medicinal” help.

I looked up elfendritschenwolpertinger on the internet. Only when I split the word did I come up with some answers. A wolpertinger is an animal from German folklore found in the forests of Bavaria. A hybrid of many forest creatures, it often has the head of a rabbit, body of a squirrel, antlers of a deer and the wings of a pheasant. It’s not known exactly when or where (or how?) this creature came into being, but there was a rise in its possibility and popularity in the 19th century as stuffed representations began to come out of Bavarian taxidermy shops. These composite creatures found pride-of-place in bars, hotel lobbies and museums. Present-day tourists may still find examples.

Locals continue to spin tales of romantic encounters between hares and roebucks, foxes and ducks or pine martens and pheasants and their possible offspring. You can see that the variations can be endless which is why no two wolpertingers look alike, and why they begin to embody more than two animals. I mean, if two wolpertingers mate…well, it boggles the mind.

Now an elfendritschen, or more popularly known, elwetritsch, is a legendary chicken-like creature with antlers. They seemingly come about through the coupling of chickens, ducks and geese with mythical beings such as goblins and elves. That makes sense.

Elwetritsch were lost to time for a while but rediscovered by a man in Espenschied. He organized hunting parties to search the forests of the German Palatinate for the shy, horned, bird-like beasts that couldn’t fly since they had scales or feathered fur instead of feathers. A coat made out of the skin was reputed to make the wearer invisible.

An elwetritsch hunt was very like a snipe hunt. In a snipe hunt, you and your buddies drink a lot, gather flashlights and rope for a trap and take off into the woods. Of course the newbie or most gullible in your group gets to sit by the trap while the rest beat it home. Hunting the elwetritsch involved a “Fänger” (catcher) with a big sack and a lantern accompanied by a group of “Treiber” (beaters). Apparently elfendritschen follow lights so a trail of lanterns lead to the open sack trap. The dupable Fänger is literally left “holding the bag” as the group of Treiber stop beating the bushes and sneak away to the nearest pub and wait for him to figure out the game.

I am interested in how German-Texans morphed these beings together. Espenschied is just west of Frankfort so it is reasonable to assume that there were many of the German immigrants who knew the elfendritschen folktale. Others who came from southern German states knew the wolpertinger myths. I guess the creature was even more wonderful when combined. Let’s face it, everything is bigger and better in Texas! The addition of special cactus juice makes it more intriguing. It must have been quite the rite of passage for young German boys. Keeping the secrets to pass on to each year’s initiates bonded them into a special brotherhood.

America’s take on the wolpertinger is the horned rabbit we know as the jackalope. Popularized in the 1930s by a pair of hunter/taxidermists in Wyoming, it is thought that the inspiration for this creature first came from sightings of rabbits or hares infected with a viral infection (Shopes papilloma virus) that causes antler-like tumors to grow on a rabbit’s head and body. Seeing one of these infected little bunnies would make a believer out of me.

Elvendritschenwolpertinger. Say it fast three times. Now have a couple beers and try again. A new bar game?

Sources: www.luckenbachtexas.com, Wikipedia; https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2NRJG_elwetritschjagd-in-espenschied?guid=99fedec3-3c87-4e84-a0f5-a39d98e2bce7; https://www.thelocal.de/20171006/beware-the-wolpertinger-bavarias-legendary-hybrid-creature; https://www.iamexpat.de/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/german-folklore-wolpertinger; https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/viral-internet-frankenstein-rabbit-modern-day-jackalope-6C10622178

The post Elfendritschenwolpertinger appeared first on Sophies Shop.