By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

This year, the New Braunfels Hermann Sons Lodge #21 is celebrating 135 years. What sounded like a simple “Happy Birthday” article soon became a rabbit hole that I could not ignore. Hold on!

First of all, who is Hermann and why do his sons have a lodge? I learned that the answer is somewhat complex. The Order of the Sons of Hermann fraternal (men only) organization was founded in 1840 by German immigrants in New York. Originally established under the German name “Der Orden der Hermann Soehne”, sometimes shortened to ODHS, it was created to provide mutual aid to members while promoting and preserving the German language and traditions in their new homeland.

Hermann is a hero. The Hermann Sons organization was named after a first century Germanic hero, Hermann the Cherusker (Defender) who destroyed three Roman legions at the Battle of Teutoberg Wald (Teutonia Forest) in 9 A.D. Hermann was revered for helping prevent Roman rule over the Germanic tribes. The Sons of Hermann organization protects its members and their German traditions just like Hermann did centuries before.

It took more than twenty years for The Order of the Sons of Hermann to make it down to Texas. There, several German-speaking San Antonio residents gathered and voted to organize a lodge, mainly to be of assistance to one another. The Harmonia Lodge #1 of San Antonio was created in 1861. Upon the death of one of their members three months later, several in the brotherhood paid for his coffin and grave, as well as provided financial assistance to the widow for several months afterwards.

Strong feelings about assisting and supporting their members in times of need became the driving force behind Harmonia Lodge’s request to National Grand Lodge for an obligatory life insurance program for members. In 1876, The National Grand Lodge adopted the recommendation, mandating a life insurance purchase with each membership so that each brother would receive $300 life insurance and $60 if his wife preceded him.

By March 1890, Texas Germans had organized ODHS Lodges in seven other cities for a total of eight, granting Texas the right to establish a State Grand Lodge of the Order of the Sons of Hermann. Ninety-two more lodges were established that same year, including Teutonia Lodge #21 of Hortontown in Comal County. Teutonia was in deference to the Teutonia Forest region of Germany.

Hortontown, is also sometimes written as Horton Town in documents. It was named for the owner of land where it was located, across the Guadalupe River from New Braunfels/Comaltown, A.C. Horton. Albert Clinton Horton, originally from Alabama, fought in the Texas Revolution and served as the first Lt. Governor of the State of Texas. He was extremely wealthy before the Civil War. According to records, he owned at least three tracts of land in Comal County, including a league (4428.2 acres) that stretched from the Guadalupe River to FM 306, then Nacogdoches-Austin Road (Broadway and Post Roads) to Gruene. Hortontown, by my best calculations, is thought to have been situated at the old Goodwin school grounds and then along Broadway Street (Loop 337 cuts through it) toward the backside of the old textile mill. In Comal County property records, older properties (not subdivisions) located on the Horton league will bear the name Foster, since he surveyed the land.

The Teutonia Lodge was the first one in Comal County. At one time, there were actually 24 separate Brother lodges located in Comal County. Comal Lodge #45 was established in 1892, followed by York Creek #63 and Steuben #73 in 1893. Casper Real #104 was chartered in 1894. Johann Sahm #116, Marbach #125 and Prinz Carl #127 were all chartered in 1895 and then Prinz Solms #136, Hunter #145, Ullrich von Hutten #146 and Thornhill #149 (Gruene) chartered in 1896. There were only four more lodges organized over the next thirteen years: Lone Star #91, Schuchard #181 (Comaltown), Fischer Store #219 and Marienthal #248.

The ladies were not to be left out. In 1896, the National Grand Lodge allowed for Sister (all women) lodges, but it was not until 1900 that the first Sister lodge was organized in Comal County, Prinzessen Heinrich #12. The other seven lodges organized between 1907 and 1911, included Freiheit Sister #45, Fruhling #48, Marie #91, Gludaus #101, Gloeckenbluemen (Bluebell) #104, Gartenlaube (Gazebo) #105, and finally, Heimat #99.

By 1920, the Order of the Sons of Hermann in Texas had more members and greater financial stability than all of the lodges in the rest of the United States combined. The Texas Grand Lodge broke away from the National Order of the Sons of Hermann and became independent and autonomous. They eventually transitioned from the German language to the English language by the late 1930s, although Teutonia meeting minutes were still recorded in German through 1942. Since Hermann Sons was organized for German immigrants, all of the members were of German descent, but by 1965 only about half were. By 1994 membership was open to all ethnic groups.

At the height of its popularity, there were more than 250 Hermann Sons lodges in Texas, with at least 100,000 members. Now the lodges number approximately 125 with less than 65,000 members. Comal County lodges have dwindled to three. Many of them dissolved after trying to survive by merging with others: Casper Real consolidated with Gludaus Sister Lodge, but dissolved in 1943. Johann Sahm, Marbach, Fruhling all merged together and then consolidated with Carl Rompel #268 before dissolving. Fischer Store and Marienthal merged before dissolving in 1954.

The three remaining are Prinz Solms #136, Spring Branch #127 and New Braunfels #21. Prinz Solms (who merged with Heimat Sister Lodge #99) is the only one to retain its original name. Spring Branch (originally Prinz Carl #127) joined with Gloeckenbluemen #104 and took on the name of Spring Branch #127. All of the other lodges, through various moves and mergers finally consolidated with Teutonia #21, which changed its name to New Braunfels #21 in 1962.

Since 1957, the New Braunfels Hermann Sons Hall has been located on Union Street, where the local lodge holds meetings and operates a dance school. Hundreds of girls have taken dancing in that hall, including all three of mine. They have also attended Hermann Sons summer camp along with their friends in Comfort, Texas, which has operated since 1954. True to their mission of lifelong support, the local lodge also offers scholarships to the youth, insurance for every level of life and has a retirement home in Comfort.

In 2017, The Order of Hermann Sons in Texas changed its name and rebranded their organization. Originally founded in 1890 as a fraternal benefit society for German immigrants in Texas, the name became Hermann Sons Life to better reflect its broader mission and inclusivity.

Alles Gut zum Geburtstag, Der Orden der Hermann Soehne, Neu Braunfels #21!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives, New Braunfels Hermann Sons Lodge #21.

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

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

So, I’m still in “cigar-mode.” Once begun, research on a subject takes me down many roads, each with their own questions to answer.

For instance, I found out that early New Braunfels had cigar makers. These were not big outfits, but little factories which had one to five individuals who hand-rolled the cigars. While some did grow their own tobacco, most obtained tobacco leaves from Cuba and places in east Texas and Louisiana. It almost goes without saying that most of the makers here in New Braunfels had been trained back in Germany.

As early as 1853, a Mr. Arnold is listed as a local cigar maker in the city. Gustav Conrads set up a cigar factory in 1871, and employed four workers until 1874. Ed Rische, formerly a New Braunfels resident, advertised in 1880 that he had opened a factory in San Antonio and would sell locals (his old friends) his cigars. Gus Mittendorf had been making cigars in his small factory in Comaltown for several years. In 1896, he moved his enterprise out to Austin Hill. Adam von Buchberg reportedly began a cigar factory in 1896 which was still operating in 1902. It is difficult to find information on these early men, but now they are on my radar. Does anyone know of some Hispanic cigar makers?

Carl Schreyer (Schreier) started his cigar making business in 1901. Carl had moved his family to New Braunfels in 1898. He was fond of singing and was a member of the Protestant Church choir and the Echo men’s singing society. He was also in Hermann Sons. His cigars were so good that they won prizes at the Comal County Fair in 1903. The Schreyer cigar factory was located in Comaltown.

Carl also manufactured a special cigar blend for Ed Gruene. “Ed Gruene’s Military Band” brand cigar box featured a photo of the band on the inside of the cigar box lid. Members in the photo were: Director Gruene; Robert Schreyer, brother of cigar maker Carl; Robert Zipp; Alwin Steinbring; Edward Kanz; Harry Eberhardt; Oscar Braunholz; Henry Dierks; Carl Freitag; Richard Nolte; Willie Nuhn; Carl Fehlis; Carl Druebert; Willie Gebhardt, founder of the Gebhardt Chili Co.; Robert Kirmse; Edwin Eberhardt; and drum major Adam von Buchberg, who also made cigars.

The best-known local cigar maker was H.W. Schmidt. He was born at Bünde, Westphalia, in 1866. Schmidt learned cigar making as a young man in Germany before he immigrated alone to America when he was 18 years old. Schmidt moved around mid-America living and making cigars in St. Louis, Denver, and Milwaukee. It was in Milwaukee that a doctor diagnosed him with a heart ailment and told him to move to the Texas Hill Country region. In 1905, H.W. Schmidt moved to New Braunfels with his wife and two daughters. He opened his cigar factory in 1906, featuring his “Comal” and “Colorado” brands. Schmidt sold his cigars to almost all the saloons in downtown New Braunfels and in rural Comal County. His first factory was in the “old Schnabel home on Comal Street.” Later, he moved the factory to “Mrs. Scherff’s recently vacated building on Mill Street.” Schmidt entered his cigars and tobacco in the 1908 Comal County Fair. By 1909, he may have opened another factory in Lockhart. He also bought Ed Kuhfuss’s billiard and pool establishment, “The Smoke House,” at 508 San Antonio St. He promised patrons that the quality of his cigars would never be lacking. His brothers Ernst and Herman joined him in the factory; they are listed along with H.W. as cigar makers in the 1920 US Census.

While H.W. Schmidt sold his own brands of cigars, he also blended custom cigars for many of his patrons. These were boxed under exclusive labels. At least two of these patrons featured their sons’ portraits on the cigar boxes. “Little Dan” cigars were made for saloon owner Otto Reeh who at one time also managed the Phoenix Saloon. “Little Julius” or “Little Schleyer” cigars were made for Ed Schleyer who sold them in his saloon. Julius Schleyer, known as “Judge” Schleyer, was later a prominent local attorney but he was just a small child when his face graced his dad’s exclusive cigar boxes in 1906.

Fischer Store, out near what is now Canyon Lake, bought and sold many H.W. Schmidt’s cigars. Schmidt also shipped his cigars to the community of Comfort and towns in the Hill Country. The New Braunfels Herald even reported that Max Neuse kept himself supplied with Schmidt’s cigars when he went off to World War I. Schmidt cigars were obviously a local favorite for many years.

H.W. Schmidt died from complications following surgery in 1929. Carl Schreyer had died in 1928. With their passing, the era of a good hand-rolled local cigar had come to an end.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum: NB Zeitung and Herald newspaper collections; Family genealogy collections; Oscar Haas; Edna Faust and Marjorie Cook collections.

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