By Keva Hoffmann Boardman –

I just finished an exhibit on the Waissenhaus or Orphan’s Home. Organized in 1848 near Gruene, it was the first orphanage in Texas. I perused the Sophienburg’s collections to find original artifacts to use in the exhibit, and knew that of two large dough troughs, one was used at Waissenhaus. The other simply has a note, “used by the Mormons” and no donor name or other provenance. Hmmmmm …

Looks like it’s time to get out all the old standard research materials.

In a nutshell, the history of Mormonism in Texas began in 1844 with a plan by its founder, Joseph Smith. When Smith was killed, Brigham Young was made the new leader. Young decided to move the group to Utah; however, there were a few who wanted to continue Joseph Smith’s plan to settle in Texas (negotiations had already been made with Sam Houston). A group broke away from Young and moved to Texas with 200 settlers. They were led by Lyman Wight. Wight guided the group across the Red River in November 1845 and wintered in an abandoned fort in Grayson County until April. On June 6, 1846, the group settled at what is now called Mormon Springs, on the Colorado River, just under Mount Bonnell in Austin. They built the first water powered mill in the area.

Here is where they get tied in with the German colonists.

For some reason, Lyman Wight did not feel like his people were at their “Eden”. In 1847, he sent a team of four scouts into the Texas hill country. They found a site on the Pedernales River, four miles southeast of Fredericksburg — they reported, “a land with plenty of water and timber and abounding in good game and honey.” The colonists began to construct a 35-mile road leading north to the Pedernales which became known as the Old Mormon Road.

“Three elders from a Mormon Colony who had settled near Austin, came to Herr Meusebach. They asked permission to settle a company of 46 families on the grant of the Verein…the group had come to Texas and settled…with great foresight and remarkable speed they had erected a mill … this mill now produces most of the cornmeal used at Austin and New Braunfels. … The three elders were not given an unqualified promise to their petition; however, a contract was signed with them whereby they agreed to build a mill at Fredericksburg.” — Ferdinand Roemer, Roemer’s Texas

“I have visited Austin … the well-equipped mill, that supplies Austin and Fredericksburg in part with corn meal is located near a spring on the Colorado … This mill is at present operated by Mormons, of whom about a hundred will settle in the grant of the Verein.” — Felix Bracht, Texas in 1848

The Wight colony packed up and moved to their new Fredericksburg location. Within six weeks, they constructed and opened a gristmill and saw mill. Wight named the colony ZODIAK. About 20 families built homes on regularly spaced plots of land all with river frontage. They helped with the construction of Fort Martin Scott and even took in new German settlers arriving to the town.

“The Mormons built convenient houses, a large school, and a temple … They engaged in agriculture, producing mostly corn. They were on friendly terms with their German neighbors, furnished them with meal and lumber, and instructed them how to cultivate their fields advantageously.” — R.L. Biesele, History of the German Settlements in Texas

“Much of the lumber that they [the Germans] used came from the saw mill on the Pedernales in the Mormon community of Zodiak … Meusebach had welcomed the Mormons when they had established the settlement in 1847. Their technical skill in the building and operation of a saw mill as well as a gristmill, was a useful addition to this pioneer region … Meusebach and his wife enjoyed the wheat flour ground at the Mormon mill, where the first wheat flour of the entire region was made.” — Irene Marshall King, John O. Meusebach

It seemed peaceful enough. The Germans and the Mormons were much alike in regards to social interaction and business ethics. In 1850, Lyman Wight was elected Chief Justice (County Judge) of Gillespie County. The trouble began when disputes arose between the German colonists and Wight’s congregation. He invariably sided with the Mormons. It was also said that the Mormon grain was always ground first. Wight became offended by the comments of the members of the commissioner’s court and then refused to show up for court sessions. The commissioner’s court finally declared his position vacant and voted in a new justice.

Wight was ready to move his people again, even before the Pedernales flooded and washed away the Zodiak mills in 1851. The colony moved to Burnet County, then wandered through Llano, Gillespie, Kerr and Bandera counties before settling 12 miles outside of Bandera at a site called Mountain Valley (now under Medina Lake) in 1854. Incidently, I found out from my mom that the Mormons had camped on the creek below my great great grandfather’s home at Cherry Springs! In 1858, with only a few of his followers still in tow, he moved from Mountain Valley and headed towards San Antonio. He died unexpectedly in Dexter and was taken back to Zodiak. He was buried in the colony’s cemetery, now on private land. A Texas Historical Marker was placed nearby.

All that is to say, that New Braunfelsers did have contact with the Mormons. I looked in the old records and found that the two donations above the dough trough were from Mrs. Fridolin Hanz, and seem to have been recorded the same day. Mrs. Faust, the first Sophienburg Museum director, kept great records and I can only assume that so much was coming in for the Museum’s opening in October 1933, that this enigmatic artifact, the 60th recorded item, got lost in the shuffle. Did she forget to add the Hanz name?

The Hanz family ranch was located near the Anhalt area near where US 281 intersects Hwy 46. Fridolin Hanz was the mail carrier between New Braunfels, Spring Branch, Bulverde and Blanco. The early Hanz family could definitely have encountered the Mormons, maybe even several times. But, that’s just an educated guess.

For now, it looks like the story of the Mormon dough trough will remain a mystery.

Sources: The Democratic Telegraph and Texas Register, Jul 8, 1846 and Sep 7, 1848; The Dallas Morning News, Jan 23, 1928, Ted Thompson, “Texas History 101: Texas is Morman country”, Susan Currie, October 2001; The Lyman Wight Colony in Texas, Came to Bandera in 1854, J. Marvin Hunter; “The Southwestern Historical Quarterly”, Vol 49, Jul 1945-Apr 1946; The History of the German Settlements in Texas, R.L. Biesele, 1930; Texas in 1848, Felix Bracht, 1931; John O. Meusebach, Irene Marshall King, 1967; Roemer’s Texas, Ferdinand Roemer, 1935

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman –

Did you read my Herald-Zeitung article on Herman Lehmann? If not, you should, because this dovetails into it. To recap, Herman Lehmann was captured by Apache in 1870, when he was 11 years old. He published an autobiography, Nine Years Among the Indians, in 1927. It’s a fascinating story and considered to be one of the best captive narratives. What makes it even more special for me is that he was a distant cousin my mom and his niece were first cousins. The icing on the cake is that Cousin Esther, who died in 2016, was considered to be the last person who knew an Indian captive.

Herman lived in the Squaw Creek and Loyal Valley area north of Fredericksburg. You might think he has little connection to New Braunfels, but you would be wrong. Esther would say, “the Indian never left him.” And because it didn’t, I can write this story.

You see, Herman did a lot of odd jobs and tried a lot of things as he was readjusting and becoming “civilized,” but he loved his Apache way of life and the skills he learned. He was an adopted member of both the Apache and Comanche. People would come from all around to “see a real Indian” and Herman did not disappoint. Cousin Esther told stories of men who would bet Herman that he couldn’t put an arrow through their hat. They would place the hat far away on a stump and Herman would nail it with an arrow every time. One time a guy folded his hat several times to make the target smaller he lost the bet and had a hat full of holes to prove it!

Herman also went around to county fairs and pioneer/settler reunions and put on an Indian version of a wild west show. One of his feats was to show how the Indian killed buffalo. Herman would dress head to toe in a fringed buckskin suit with a breastplate of bones hung from his neck. He wore a buffalo hat with horns that jutted out above his ears; those ears retained the marks of ritual piercing. His outfit was completed with a floral-beaded belt at his thin waist and moccasins on his feet.

Herman would sit bareback astride his horse holding his bow and arrow. A man would release a calf, steer or cow. Lehmann would let loose a war whoop that made women scream, babies cry and grown men sweat. The whoop would also frighten the animal which would take off at break-neck speed. Herman would gallop close behind, holding on to his horse with only his legs. He would lean down under his horse’s neck, and with skill honed on many buffalo hunts, draw his bow and let his arrow fly. The crowd would hear a “thunk” and the animal’s cry as the point pierced its tough skin. It would run a little further before its legs buckled and it dropped in the dirt. Lehmann would let out another spine-tingling whoop as he wheeled his horse around and jumped gracefully off. Kneeling by the animal, he would raise his arm and plunge his knife into its belly. To the abject horror of the crowd, he would stick his hands into the bloody, steaming cavity and cut out the liver. Dramatically holding the liver above his head for all to see, Herman then began to eat the raw liver and when done would wipe the blood and bile off his face and remount his horse.

Pretty good show, right? OK, it’s a little graphic and was even more so to the audiences back then. Herman felt like, if they had come to see a man who had been raised by the Indians, they should get to see the real thing.

In November 1899, Herman Lehman came to New Braunfels to visit his friend Gustav Altwein and stopped by the Neu Braunfelser Zeitung office for a chat. The newspapermen were so enchanted that they published a story about it in the next issue. The next time I can find Herman in New Braunfels is in 1901. He was booked at Matzdorff’s Halle (now Eagles’ Hall) to speak about his experiences with the Apache and Comanche and share some artifacts from those days.

In 1928, the Comal County Fair Committee hired Herman to take part in the county fair. He was billed as, “Herman Lehmann, captured by Indians when a boy, now over 70, will show Indian sports and dances each day.” The description is more detailed in the German Zeitung and includes that he was the son of German immigrants in Gillespie County, and will be giving shows between the horse races, which will include Indian-style bareback riding skills, dances and shooting with “arrow and bow.” I do love the different journalistic styles.

Several days before the fair, which occurred on October 5, 6, and 7, Herman Lehmann visited with local school children talking about the lifestyle and customs of the Apache and Comanche. He told them his story: his terrifying capture, the torture and abuse and the special bond he eventually formed with his adopted families. Herman never held any anger against the Indians. He said God knew the hearts of each man and you were only held accountable for what you did that you knew was wrong. Every story has two sides and he understood and placed value on both. You might say he was an early advocate for Native American rights.

He then led the children outside where he demonstrated dances, shot arrows at targets, and rode his horse Indian-style. I bet the children were absolutely enthralled. I certainly would have been.

Sources: “Reflections” #292-Esther Lehmann and Gerda Lehmann Kothman, Sophienburg Museum & Archives; New Braunfels Newspaper collection – Sophienburg Museum & Archives; “Lehmann Show”, by Mike Cox – TexasEscapes.com.

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I found this story by Louis B. Engelke in the Sunday, January 3, 1954, edition of the San Antonio Light. It’s the story of Henry Langerhans and the part he played in the demise of Capt. J.P. Waldrip. It is really too good not to share in its entirety.

The death of Capt. J. P. Waldrip occurred in 1867, two years after the end of the Civil War and two years after Waldrip had been indicted as a wanton killer. In fact, Waldrip’s entire gang, known as “Waldrip’s Wolfpack,” was indicted for “mob murder” as soon as the Fredericksburg Germans could emerge from a reign of terror which ended in 1865. For a period of four years, the pro-slavery Waldrip gang had killed one anti-secessionist German after another. Victims were usually seized at night and hanged or tortured to death before the eyes of their wives or children. During the war years, no one dared to seek an indictment against Waldrip. That’s why the action waited until 1865. Even then, it was a dangerous procedure, for some of Waldrip’s men still lurked on the highways and byways of the county, and continuing post-war murders were attributed to these die-hards. Consequently, with typical German thoroughness, Gillespie County declared Waldrip “Vogels-frei,” which in German means ”free as a bird” — to shoot of course.

Why Waldrip left his hideout 10 miles east of Fredericksburg and rode into town on a sway-back mule that fateful day in 1867, nobody really knows. Perhaps it was to burn the courthouse, or more likely to steal a horse. But whatever the reason, an unknown party in Fredericksburg wired Capt. Phillip Braubach in San Antonio. The message brought Braubach, US Customs collector for the Western District of Texas, riding as fast as a horse could carry him to Fredericksburg.

A native of Wiesbaden, Germany, who had settled in San Antonio in 1850, Braubach had served with McCullough’s Texas Rangers…he was arrested by Confederate agents in Fredericksburg, where he had been visiting his fiancé, Fraulein Louise Schuetze, when the Civil War broke out. Taken to San Antonio, a ball and chain was fixed to his leg and he was given the then odorous job of cleaning up the San Antonio River. Braubach eventually escaped to the border, where he formed an anti-Confederate company of Mexicans.

Becoming lovesick for Louise, Braubach finally decided to risk a trip to Fredericksburg, but Waldrip learned of Braubach’s visit and raided the Schuetze farmhouse. Not finding Braubach there, the gang murdered Louise’s father. Vowing to avenge Herr Schuetze, Braubach headed back for the border and later made his way to New Orleans where he joined the Union Army, rising to the rank of captain. After the war, Braubach returned to Texas and married Louise. They were living in San Antonio when the important looking telegram arrived late one afternoon. Braubach calmly told his wife he had some “business to tend to in Fredericksburg,” and departed on a fast horse.

Never having seen Waldrip before, Braubach entered the Nimitz Hotel before high noon the next day with one hand on [his] Colt revolver. Nothing happened when he entered the lobby so he next entered the hotel’s saloon. The only person present was the bartender who he knew.

“Waldrip ist hier — im Fredericksburg,” the bartender whispered.

“Where is he? How can I identify him?” Braubach asked.

The bartender said Waldrip was wearing a big black beaver hat and had gone west on Main Street. Braubach circled north around a two block section, so as to meet Waldrip face to face. The pair met 150 yards west of the hotel in front of Brockman’s store.

Noticing Waldrip’s black hat, Braubach asked, “Are you Captain Waldrip?”

“Yes, sir,” Waldrip replied.

Braubach drew his gun and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Braubach cocked the revolver and pulled the trigger and again nothing happened. The revolver was of the cap and ball type, and the powder had become soaked with the sweat of Braubach’s horse.

Waldrip by now was running as fast as he could toward the Nimitz Hotel with half the village, including Braubach, who was shouting for somebody to throw him a rifle, after him. Women, who had ventured onto the street to catch a glimpse of the notorious criminal, were now fleeing in every direction. Among them was Mrs. Henry Langerhans, with two-year old Bertha in her arms.

Observing Waldrip wrestle with a man for a gun at the hotel and seeing his wife and Bertha still on the street, Henry Langerhans, standing in the second-story window of his boot and saddle shop, kitty-corner from the Nimitz Hotel, reached for the Kentucky rifle he had used in many a Hill Country turkey shoot.

Waldrip went through the hotel, with Braubach, who now had a Winchester rifle, after him. Waldrip, holding his shoulder where Braubach had winged him, then came vaulting over the hotel’s high stone fence. Langerhans saw Waldrip take refuge behind a great oak near the fence. Waldrip raised his head and looked in one direction then another. If the man was ever to get a horse, he had to get it now.

It then dawned on Langerhans that Waldrip might possibly grab his wife and child as hostages. Taking careful aim with the long rifle, Langerhans fired. Waldrip toppled into the ditch. Everybody in town looked at Waldrip’s body, particularly the hole in his head, but nobody knew who fired the fatal shot. Nobody but Langerhans and his wife, that is.

Mrs. Langerhans kept the secret from her [eight] children until her husband, the man who had got the drop on Waldrip, died of natural causes. One couldn’t be too cautious when dealing with any of the Waldrips. Even those who had the protections of public office knew that. This was evidenced by the fact that Gillespie county officials waited until 1874 before they paid Charles Basse $10 for hauling the body of the notorious outlaw 300 yards in a wheelbarrow from the Nimitz Hotel to an unmarked grave on Town Creek. Afraid of the werewolf of the Hill Country? Perhaps.

And to top everything in the Waldrip saga is this weird touch. They buried Waldrip with his big, black beaver hat. Two years later, Waldrip’s brother, who somehow had learned exactly where Waldrip was buried, sneaked into town by the dark of the moon and resurrected the hat.

That, my friends, is entertaining journalism!

Sources:

• San Antonio Light, Sunday, January 3, 1954, “He Got the Drop on Waldrip”

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In the early days, when Seguin Ave. was considered the main street in New Braunfels, the first houses and businesses were constructed there. Possibly Seguin Ave. was so named because most people entered the town from guess where? Seguin. When the settlers first crossed the Guadalupe River in 1845, they traveled from Nacogdoches Road to Seguin Ave. and then on to the location where they would camp above the Comal Creek. Hermann Seele wrote about coming to the town on Seguin Ave. Early traveler and historian Friedrich Olmstead, commented that he found Seguin Ave. in New Braunfels three times wider than Broadway in New York.

Nicholas Zink, surveyor and engineer for the Adelsverein, set up our Main Plaza, and intersected it with Seguin Ave. and San Antonio St. By May of that first year of settlement in 1845, Zink had plotted the town lots and a drawing was held for each lot.
Let’s look at one of the old homes built on Seguin Ave. in 1870 or maybe as early as 1866. The house which still stands is located at 228 S. Seguin Ave. on lot #56 between the Faust Hotel and the Taco el Tapatio. This house has been the home or office of some very influential people and the house itself has received some very prestigious designations. In 1968 the Texas State Historical Survey Committee awarded a marker to this building. In 1999, it became a New Braunfels Historic Landmark and in the year 2000 the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The person responsible for having the house constructed was Carl Wilhelm August Groos, born in Prussia, Germany in 1830. He immigrated to Texas with his brothers and sisters and his widowed father in 1848. His two brothers, Friedrich and Gustav, became very important in his life. For two years Carl lived in Fayette County and then moved to Gillespie County where he lived with relatives.

In 1854 Carl joined his brothers Gustav and Friedrich in Eagle Pass. Brother, Friedrich had secured a contract in 1849 with the United States Government to send freight into Eagle Pass. He formed the F. Groos and Company.

During the Civil War in 1862 Carl was arrested by Confederate authorities and taken to San Antonio. A letter that had been addressed to him was found on the body of a Mexican killed near the border of Texas and Mexico. Carl was eventually released and returned to Eagle Pass. He then moved to Matamoros where the Groos Company had a branch office. The firm weathered the Civil War by freighting cotton to Mexico.

After the war, Carl moved to San Antonio where the F. Groos and Company was relocated. In 1870, Carl married Hulda Amalia Moreau. She was the daughter of Franz Moreau, who was a cotton broker in New Braunfels and a German consul. Shortly after their marriage, Carl had a home built on Seguin Ave. Family history notes that it was a wedding gift to Carl and Hulda. Hulda’s father, Franz Moreau lived at 190 S. Seguin Ave. His home was built in 1854 and is still standing and serves as an office complex. Between the Groos home and the Moreau home was a store that became known as Moreau and Groos. After the Civil War, the economy in New Braunfels was suffering but business was booming in San Antonio. In 1872, Carl and Hulda moved to San Antonio but kept the home at 228 S. Seguin Ave. for summer visits until 1879.

The history of the property goes like this: The first immigrant to draw lot #56 was George Kirchner. If Kirchner built some sort of house on that lot, it wouldn’t be surprising, because he could easily go to the German Protestant Church, where he was a member. Kirchner died very soon in 1846 and the administrator of Kirchner’s estate conveyed the lot to Jacob Winkler for $60. In 1857, Winkler sold the lot to August Forke who sold it in 1866 to Charles Bender and four years later it was sold to Carl Groos, the subject of this information.

When Carl bought lot # 56 on Seguin Avenue he also bought lot #72 directly behind this lot on Castell Ave. It is believed that he had the house built on lot # 56 in 1870. The adobe brick L shaped, Gothic Colonial house with its cypress floors was beautifully crafted. The front door contains ruby glass and the cement frame windows are of original rolled glass. In 1879 the house was sold to Groos’ sister, Emilie and her husband Johann Friedrick Giesecke, Mayor of New Braunfels. After that, Giesecke sold the house to Fritz Scholl who owned it until 1946, when it was purchased by Arlon and Faye Krueger. After Arlon Krueger’s death, the house ownership remained in the family and became home of the New Braunfels Art Center and then the business office of Ambassador Robert Krueger.

Here is more of the story that resulted in the transformation of F. Groos and Company to the Groos National Bank. Carl’s brother Friedrich, a graduate engineer and architect, had a United States Government contract which he procured in 1849 for sending freight into Eagle Pass. The freighting business was successful despite the danger operating in Indian Territory. Branch businesses were located in New Braunfels, San Antonio, and Matamoros, Mexico. Carl and Gustav joined Friedrich in a mercantile company in 1854. It was called F. Groos and Co. A primitive form of banking was necessary for the operation of a frontier store. Saved money was hidden in boxes, cotton bales, axels of wheels or just about any hiding place. This resulted in the brothers forming the Groos National Bank of San Antonio. This bank became a very successful financial institution in San Antonio. The banking business prospered so well that the freighting was discontinued. Carl became the first president of the firm and in 1879 built the first building in San Antonio devoted exclusively to banking at the corner of Commerce and Navarro.

What happened to the original builder of the house on Seguin Ave.? After Carl and his brothers became founding members of the Groos National Bank, Carl built a beautiful home in 1880 at 335 King William Street in the King William Historic District in San Antonio. He hired famous architect, Alfred Giles, to design the San Antonio home. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was eventually purchased by the San Antonio Council of the Girl Scouts of the USA who sold it to Charles Butt, founder of the grocery chain.

The King William Historic District, the state’s first historic district, was created in the late 1800s on the south bank of the San Antonio River. Prominent German merchants brought with them a distinct architectural style and created an elegant residential area of 25 blocks. For a real treat, log on to the King William Historic District and view these magnificent homes.

Carl Groos died in 1893 and is interred in San Antonio City Cemetery #1. His first home still remains on Seguin Ave. in New Braunfels, Texas.

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If you believe that all of the earliest settlers of New Braunfels were of German descent, then you will be surprised to learn how many European natives were represented. One of those Ausländers (a person not originally from New Braunfels with a German heritage) was James Ferguson from Scotland, about whom I will tell you in this article.

No list, I don’t care for what purpose, is entirely accurate, and in the case of New Braunfels, the first official list we have of inhabitants came from the 1850 census. According to the census, those of German descent far outnumbered inhabitants of other countries. There were people from Ireland, England and Scotland and there were people from other states who settled here also of Irish, English, Polish and Scottish ancestry. These transplants came to Texas from New York, Connecticut, North and South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Maine, Indiana, Kentucky, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and then many from other areas of Texas. These non-Germanic people engaged in businesses, merchandizing, ranching, farming, milling and real estate. Most were given land grants and many bought land. They must have had funds to invest. Also on the census were two children native of Mexico and several children born “at sea.”

James Ferguson of Pershire, Scotland is listed on the 1850 Census as being 30 years old. Also in his household was Marie Hessler Ferguson, 32, native of Germany and wife of James; Alexander Ferguson, 24, native of Scotland, brother of James; Margaret Ferguson, 22, native of Scotland and sister of James; and Euphemie, three- months-old born in Texas, daughter of James.

James, as head of the household, not only acquired a vast amount of real estate, but was a successful merchant, and also involved in civic affairs. Scotsman James and his brother-in-law, Heinrich Hessler, from Stuttgart, Germany, were early merchants in New Braunfels. They purchased lots #3 and #4 fronting on San Antonio St. where the Red Stag store is located, and also the lot immediately behind this business, fronting on Castell Ave. Here they put up a two-story building for a mercantile store with their residence upstairs.

Writer Victor Bracht said in his book, “Texas 1848”, that caravans from Mexico stopped at Ferguson & Hessler Store to make purchases and that the brothers had transferred their business from the islands of St. Thomas. Ferdinand Roemer in his book, “Roemer’s Texas”, described the store as containing articles of food, ready-made clothing, shoes, saddles and harnesses, cotton and silk goods, and implements of all kinds.

Heinrich Hessler died in 1849 at the age of 28 as a result of being struck by lightning. His death brought about a partnership between James and his brother, Alexander, and the store then became Ferguson & Brother. Both became naturalized citizens in 1849. The meaning of this is that they did not come directly from St. Thomas to New Braunfels, but that they were in the U.S. or Texas before coming to New Braunfels.

James Ferguson took an active part in civic affairs. He became a city alderman from 1851 to 1854 and a Comal County Commissioner from 1854 to 1856. In 1853 he headed a committee of five men appointed to circulate lists for voluntary contributions to establish a municipal school. He was very successful at collecting these funds which were to augment money appropriated by the city council for the purpose of establishing a city school. This was the beginning of the New Braunfels Academy.

As a county commissioner, Ferguson worked for the building of a courthouse. Heretofore court business had been transacted in various rented buildings, including houses. Abandoning the idea of building a courthouse on the city-owned Comal River, and the other idea of a courthouse in the middle of the Plaza, the Commissioners Court decided to purchase half a lot from James Ferguson located where the Chase Bank is now for the courthouse. Later, on the steps of this old courthouse, Sam Houston made his pitch to Comal County citizens to vote against secession. This courthouse was built in 1860.

James Ferguson died June 11, 1858 and at the time of his death, he was the owner of vast real estate in New Braunfels and the counties of Comal, Gillespie, and Bexar. He not only owned the property on San Antonio St. and Castell Ave. but the lot where McAdoo’s Restaurant is located. He owned 2,046 acres of Potters Survey north of New Braunfels.

James and his brother-in-law purchased 305 ½ acres in Sattler from Jacob de Cordova in 1847. James named the property Marienthal after his wife, Marie, and “thal” in German meaning valley. This property is located on Farm Road 306 about ten miles north of New Braunfels. In those early days this road was just a dirt trail for wagons.

In 1857 the Ferguson brothers deeded Marienthal to Theodore Koester who, acting as agent, sold this farm to Carl Baetge. Carl built a two-story home on the property. This Carl Baetge is the same person whose previous home on Demi John Bend was dismantled and rebuilt at Conservation Plaza. If you haven’t seen the Baetge Home, it’s worth the visit. It is maintained by the Conservation Society. Carl Baetge from Uelzen, Germany, was certified as a civil engineer and went to work for a privately owned engineering company specializing in railroad building. In 1840 he was in Russia as chief civil engineer of the construction of a 420 mile railroad line between St. Petersburg and Moscow for the Russian government. Czar Nicholas I was eager to have the line because it would connect the summer and winter palaces of the royal family. The line was completed in 1846. The Czar awarded Baetge an honorary title for his railroad construction. The plans for this railroad are preserved in the Baetge Home.

Back to other pieces of property owned by Ferguson, there were two lots on Seguin Ave. near the old depot. This property was sold and became the location of the “Orphan Mother Felecites von Fitz” who conducted a Roman Catholic female school, according to historian Oscar Haas.

In Comaltown, he owned 12 lots and a 13 acres tract called “Amistad” farm. The location of this property was along the Comal River. He owned two lots in Fredericksburg, two lots in San Antonio plus 15,860 acres in head-right lands grants in Texas.

Ferguson leaves behind a block-long street or alley called Ferguson Avenue connecting Mill and San Antonio Streets. In 1856 Ferguson owned a 9 ½ acre tract of land outside the city limits that the county needed to construct part of a road. This little road became Ferguson Avenue. His name remains prominent in two places, the name of the street and his name on his tombstone in the Old New Braunfels Cemetery.

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