By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

Christmas lights and decorations are going up all over town. I love all the green, the red, the shiny and the bright. Our German town founders did too.

The tradition of putting up a Christmas tree goes back to 16th century Europe. Germanic-speaking Christians brought fresh-cut evergreens into their houses and decorated them. Not the first time that people celebrated with trees; older cultures like the Druids, Romans and Vikings used trees to celebrate during winter solstice festivals. The German Christian Christmas tree had evolved from the Medieval practice of the “Paradise Tree”. A fir tree was decorated with apples and communion wafers on Christmas Eve and used as the central prop in the “Paradise Play” which told the story of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin and the promise of the coming Savior, Jesus. A tree, the cross, figures in this story as well.

The 16th century Christmas trees were decorated with baked goods and fruit. The first recorded decorated tree was in Riga, Latvia, in 1510.

The first recorded Christmas tree with a New Braunfels connection was reported by our well-known teacher, mayor and lawyer Hermann Seele, in his book, Assembled Writings. It was on December 14, 1843, that Seele’s ship landed in Galveston. A stranger in the Republic of Texas, Seele was feeling a bit lonely and homesick on Christmas Eve. He attended the Episcopal church Christmas Eve service. It was decorated with fresh dark green cedar garlands and well-lit with lamps and candles. Seele delighted in the feeling of his home country and in the choir’s beautiful songs.

Nostalgia set in and Hermann Seele found himself strolling the streets of the East End to see if perchance there was a Christmas tree he could glimpse through the window of a home. He did find a candle-lit tree and after gazing at it for a while, he returned to his lodgings a happy and more settled young man.

Also in Assembled Writings, Seele records the story of December 24, 1844. Here, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels is the hero by providing Christmas spirit and cheer for the children encamped with their parents at Indianola. The immigrants of the Johann Dethardt were camped in a grove of live oak trees for protection from the foul weather and access to firewood. Prince Carl decorated a small live oak with candles and presents for the children on their first Christmas in Texas. To accomplish this wonderful gift, Prince Carl had to have bought small presents and Christmas candles in Galveston before he sailed down to meet the immigrants at Indianola. Surely, that Christmas on the beach in 1844 was a precious and delightful memory for all.

Ferdinand Roemer, in Roemer’s Texas, wrote about his Christmas experience in New Braunfels. It is the first recorded Christmas that was celebrated on the Sophienburg Hill. For those who do not know, the Sophienburg Museum stands on that hill and is where the Adelsverein (Association) built their log headquarters. Named the Sophienburg by Prince Carl in honor of his fiancé Sophie, this is where the officers of the “Verein” were quartered. In 1846, geologist Ferdinand Roemer was passing through New Braunfels and was told by John O. Meusebach to ask Lt. von Coll for a place to stay within the “Verein Building”. Roemer writes, “According to a custom at home, Christmas Eve was celebrated in the company of the jolly companionship of the Verein’s officers around a richly decorated and candle-lit Christmas tree, for which a young cedar (Juniperus virginiana L.) was used.”

No mention is made of what was going on in the immigrant homes within the town, but I suspect that they, too, were gathering around their own freshly cut cedar trees. The tradition of cedar Christmas trees decorated with cookies, fruit, small gifts and candles was widespread in our founder families and carried on even after the addition of shiny glass ornaments. Funny thing, they used to sometimes use Spanish moss as icicle-like decoration.

Today our decorations go up around Thanksgiving. Back then building fronts were festooned with green cedar garlands the week of Christmas. The Christmas trees were put up that week as well, but no child ever saw the tree, or their gifts, until Christmas Eve. The big reveal of the decorated and candle-lit Christmas tree with presents was a magical and wonderful moment.

The Sophienburg Museum invites you to another precious, time-honored Christmas tradition in New Braunfels. On Friday, December 5, our German-speaking St. Nikolaus will visit on the eve of his feast day. It’s just $10 a family and a fun way to learn the story of St. Nikolaus, get a chance to take a photo and chat with him, make a kid’s craft and enjoy the Christmas decorations throughout the museum. Sophie’s Shop will also be open for purchasing German and other gifts.

Please RSVP at 830-629-1572 to reserve your family’s place at the 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. session.

My wish for you is that during the flurry of events and things we do during this holiday season, you stop and experience at least one moment of wonder and magic. Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum: Assembled Writings, Herman Seele; Roemer’s Texas, Ferdinand Roemer; Oscar Haas Collection.

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

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

What if New Braunfels was not named New Braunfels? I had never considered this, but of course the wonderful historian Oscar Haas did and recorded his findings in his book, History of New Braunfels and Comal County 1844-1946.

There are two occasions on record wherein New Braunfels nearly lost its place-name. — Oscar Haas

Many of you readers know that New Braunfels was named and founded on March 21, 1845, by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels. He chose to name this town after his hometown of Braunfels on the Lahn River in Germany. The first time the name “New Braunfels” was in jeopardy was just prior to the creation of Comal County by the First Texas Legislature.

There was much talk of creating a new county with our town as the county seat. There was some dispute as to whether the county seat should be called New Braunfels or Comaltown. — Oscar Haas

The Republic of Texas began creating counties in 1836. Rusk County was the 36th and the last to be formed during the Republic. In March 1846, Comal County became the 44th county and was formed from the eighth precinct of Bexar County. Bexar County was the third county created by the Republic of Texas and it was beyond enormous. Between 1845 and 1876, the Texas Legislature formed over 120 new counties from what was originally Bexar County. Just FYI: there are 254 Texas counties.

New Braunfels kept its name. It is interesting to note that a lot of county seat cities are located near the center of the county so it is reasonably accessible to the whole county. New Braunfels sits on the southeast boundary of the county as it was, and still is, the largest city in Comal County.

The second time New Braunfels found its name in danger was in 1918. The October 31, 1918, edition of the Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung published an article first published in the October 29, 1918, edition of the Galveston News.

The war with Germany has set a movement on foot aimed at changing the name of the City of New Braunfels. It could be that the loyal descendants of the German colonists of the year 1845, who settled there … [would] under present circumstances consider it a disgrace. It may be true that Prince Solms-Braunfels was not possessed of great aptitude. It is said that he left the colony in the lurch at a critical moment and that his successor had to pay some of the Prince’s debts in Texas and that he never returned.However, New Braunfels is an established name that has grown estimable to the highest degree through the citizenship of that community among whom are many direct descendants of the colonists who landed at Galveston and via Indianola came overland to the Comal in search of freedom and opportunity. The name signifies a great deal with regards to history and cannot possibly have any bearing on the present international state of affairs.

With the place-name New Braunfels, which stems from an ancient place-name of the old country, with its street names, Texas possesses an aesthetic treasure. In New Braunfels one finds Spanish, Mexican, Indian, German, and unalloyed Texan street names, in a manner that reveals beauty and meaning. The picturesque historical names of Texas cities, which came into existence since the Republic, are Texan. Names should never be changed just because of a foreign country origin whose behavior we do not sanction.

To the above article, the editor of the Neu-Braunfelser Zeitung added:

The Galveston News has eminently reasonable views in such matters. Besides, here, no one thinks of changing the name of our city, which, moreover, is not named for a prince, but an especially pretty little city which has furnished our country with admirable citizens. Loyalty is not proven by name-changing or through vandalistic destruction of historical characteristics, but through disposition and performance, and on these standards New Braunfels can confidently be surveyed.

New Braunfels has kept her name. People get it wrong, but locals will always proudly correct them to its true pronunciation.

Just for grins, Oscar Haas listed a few of the before-mentioned multi-cultural street names in early New Braunfels:

• Hispanic — Guadalupe, Nacogdoches, San Antonio, Seguin, Veramendi
• Native American — Waco (Caddo), Comal (Nahuatl), Comanche (Ute)
• German — Baden, Basel, Becker, Castell, Clemens, Coll, Dittlinger, Eickel, Faust, Giesecke, Gruene, Guenther, Hampe, Jahn, Karbach, Klingemann, Kuehler, Lindheimer, Meusebach, Seele, Tolle, Zink
• Scottish — Ferguson, Murchison
• Irish — McGaugh, McKenna
• English — Torrey, Lincoln, Water, Mill, Bridge

What multi-cultural street names can you add to the list?

And, if you are interested in more fun, unusual and “make-you-look-clever” historical facts, Oscar Haas’s book can be purchased at Sophie’s Shop in the Sophienburg Museum for $40 plus tax.

Sources: History of New Braunfels and Comal County 1844-1946, Oscar Haas; 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 — 

I watch rooftops multiply daily as I look out from our house of more than 30 years. I will not lie. It is distressing. It truly makes me appreciate the beautiful well-built 100-plus-year-old buildings that grace our city. Being a native, I often wonder what has become of the many others that no longer stand in their places.

In the mid-’60s, there was a young dentist who officed in a little house on Comal Avenue. It was the cutest little two-or-three-room house, gray with a red tin roof and red window trim. That dentist was Dr. Kahler. While he was away studying orthodontics, Dr. Hubert Risinger occupied his office. Dr. Risinger was my dentist for a short time.

The cute little house was originally owned by the Heinrich Scholl family. The Scholls, consisting of Heinrich Scholl and wife Anna Marie Saenger Scholl, along with their three children, Heinrich Jr., Adam and Caroline, set out for Texas from their home in Dillenburg, Nassau, Germany, with other immigrants through the Adelsverein. Upon arriving in Indianola, tragedy struck the Scholl family. Heinrich Sr. went hunting in a boat, fell out and drowned.

His wife and her three children continued to New Braunfels. The family worked hard to survive. The boys, Heinrich Jr. and Adam, learned carpentry and the mother kept boarders. Adam and Heinrich made the windows and doors used in building houses, which became an outstanding business. At one time, they worked for Dr. Koester in a mill. Later they made chairs and tables of walnut and cedar. The Scholl brothers also built houses and built them well.

Shortly after the Scholls reached New Braunfels, the Mexican American war broke out creating trouble for those in the young German settlement. Some men enlisted in the American Army while others were not interested in war. They had left Germany to escape mandatory military service. According to Scholl family historians, Heinrich Jr, Adam and a few other men of their age decided they would hide in hollow trees down on the Comal River to escape the soldiers who were rounding up men to fight.

The Scholl home was not far from the river, so Adam, being the bravest or the hungriest, decided he would venture out of hiding to go home for food. Adam dressed as a woman with a big sunbonnet on. About the time he got in the house, a soldier knocked at the door. He told Caroline Scholl he had seen a suspicious character come into her house. In the meantime, she had shoved her brother Adam under her bed where there was a trap door to the cellar. She denied seeing anyone, telling the soldier that there was no one else there. Adam, thinking the soldier had left, peeped from out from under the bed. Caroline quickly shoved him back with her foot and the soldier was none the wiser.

Heinrich Scholl, Jr. married twice. His first marriage was to Johanna Schmidt, which produced five children. After her death, he married Louise Schneider. They had nine children including two sets of twins. Heinrich became a well-known cabinet maker in New Braunfels and eventually lived in the house across the street from the original home. He died in 1909 at the age of 81.

The old original Scholl home ca.1846 is now near 179 years old. It is solidly built and still standing, even though not in its original place. It is a unique house in that it utilizes two different kinds of fachwerk. In the front wall of the house, builders used “rammed earth” fachwerk . That is much like pouring a curb today. Forms are set up and then mud is poured in between to fill the space. The mud is ‘rammed” with a long pole to remove any air pockets. Once the mud dries/hardens, the forms are removed, and plaster is applied to both sides to make a smooth wall.

The other three walls are made of mud brick. In Germany, they used fired brick. Here in Texas, they made bricks of mud and straw in brick molds, then air dried them before putting them in between the timbers. Once the dry bricks complete the walls, cedar shingles were placed on the exterior to prevent erosion. Inside the home, they used original Bastrop pine for both the floors and ceilings. It was originally built over a wonderful root cellar, which must have served as a good hiding place. The roof was of cedar shingles. In 1867, the city of New Braunfels passed an ordinance requiring all roofs to be fireproofed for insurance purposes, so tin was simply nailed over the shingles. In 1881, 90 percent of New Braunfels’ structures were fachwerk. Now, 95 percent of them are gone.

By the mid-1960s, the porch of the little house had been closed in to make another room. More windows were added. The exterior of the entire building was wrapped in wood shiplap siding. The little house changed hands over the years with room additions made. Wayne and Toni Peters purchased it in 1987 to use as a summer home. When they completed their rock home behind it in 1999, they graciously donated the little fachwerk house to the New Braunfels Conservation Society.

In its new place among the other architectural treasures, it serves as the office for New Braunfels Conservation Society Old Towne. The Scholl Peters house has been returned to near its original state with the “rammed earth” fachwerk and mud bricks still visible thru Plexiglas windows on the walls. The little house that I thought had “gone missing” was indeed hiding in plain sight all along. When buildings disappear, our history connection disappears. It makes me happy to see the Scholl house and history being cared for.

Do you know of any hidden fachwerk buildings?

Sources: New Braunfels Conservation Society; Sophienburg Museum and Archives; Betty Stratemann.

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

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

I wake up in the morning and the first thing I do is pull up the weather app on my phone. I want to know temperature and precipitation possibilities in order to get dressed appropriately.

Humans have always watched the weather. Where to settle, when to plant and harvest, what to accomplish during the day and yes, how to dress are all dictated by weather. Weather encompassed the seasons of the year which could be wet or dry, hot or cold. Weather was either your friend or your worst enemy. It has always been watched, but it has not always been recorded on a daily basis and used to predict weather patterns, droughts and storms.

The science of meteorology, the tracking and understanding of weather patterns is really a relatively recent thing. Ancient Babylonians tried to predict major weather change based on the shape and look of the clouds. Egyptian astronomers were fairly adept at predicting the arrival of the Nile’s seasonal floods. Aristotle wrote Meteorologica as a compilation of all known knowledge about atmospheric phenomena, theories and guidelines for predictions. But it was the invention of data recording devices — barometers, dew point calculators, anemometers, hygrometers — that helped insure accuracy. Ordinary people, interested in the nature of weather, began keeping records. Well, not all were ordinary; Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo and Benjamin Franklin are on that list.

In the early 1800s, volunteer recorders and observers of weather in the United States started seeing patterns emerge in the data. The telegraph, invented in 1837, aided in weather information collection and sharing. In 1849, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, began collecting data from across the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean by giving out weather instruments. Weather watchers transmitted their observations to the Smithsonian at least three times a day. Weather maps were drawn, sent to press and posted in public places within about three hours. A six-word message relayed the city, barometric pressure, dew point, temperature, cloud cover, wind velocity and direction. As people daily transmitted weather information, scientists correlated and analyzed it to find the patterns and make predictions — modern meteorology was born.

One hundred fifty volunteer observers across the nation reported regularly to the Smithsonian. By 1860, that number had risen to 500. Texas had at least 42 men and women who were Smithsonian meteorological observers between 1854 and 1873. Several of these were well-known individuals in New Braunfels; two of them lived and worked here.

Louis Cachand Ervendberg, born around 1809 in Germany, emigrated to Illinois in the 1830s. He came to Texas in 1839, and after meeting up with Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels in Industry, Texas, he was given the job of pastor of the German Protestant immigrants. He and Ferdinand Lindheimer met the immigrants at Indianola and came inland with them. Ervendberg first lived in a house on Church (now Coll) Street, behind the log German Protestant Church. The cholera outbreak of 1846 was the cause of at least 60 orphaned children. The Ervendbergs opened their home and set up a tent to house and care for them. In 1848, Ervendberg set up the first state-sanctioned orphanage (Waissenhaus) out near Gruene.

Along with their own five children, the Ervendbergstaught roughly 20 orphans farming and housekeeping, as well as reading, writing and arithmetic. Ervendberg left the pastorship in 1851 and concentrated on finding out what crops could be grown in Texas. He experimented with different wheats, tobacco, medicinal plants, sheep and silkworms. Ervendberg corresponded with many men, including Asa Grey at Harvard. He was also one of the early Smithsonian meteorological observersof the 1850s. The rest of the Ervendberg’s story has been covered by Myra Lee Adams Goff in “Around the Sophienburg” articles (search on Sophienburg web site).

Jacob Ludwig Forke was born in 1817 in Hanover, Germany. After arriving in New Braunfels, he took over the position of Smithsonian meteorological observer reporting from 1855 to 1857, after Ervendberg left New Braunfels for Mexico. Family lore says Jacob made daily trips out to the Waissenhaus to record his observations. He married Karoline Langkammer, one of the orphans, in 1856. Talk about your “meet cute”!

Jacob Forke first farmed land on the Waissenfarm for at least a year, making 32 bushels of corn which was ground into meal. Eventually, wife Karoline bought the store and home of Victor Bracht (author of Texas in 1848) in 1865. The 1852 Bracht home and store stood at 593 S. Seguin Street, the present-day corner carpark of Bluebonnet Motors. Karoline deeded the property to her husband in 1866. No reason for this rather interesting chain of ownership can be found. However, a story has been told that Karoline would often leave her home and go next door to the Forke store to fuss at her husband and the men gathered inside playing skat or dominoes instead of working. She was obviously one of those strong, independent, no-nonsense German women. The property was sold by the Forke descendants in 1970, and eventually the store became a part of the New Braunfels Conservation Society’s Historic Old Town New Braunfels.

The telegraph had given meteorologists the ability to observe and display almost simultaneously all the observed weather data. This led to actual forecasting of weather. Because of the complexity of capturing and understanding the weather information, the system became part of a governmental agency. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a law in 1870 which birthed the first national weather service as a part of the US Army Signal Corps. In 1890, President Benjamin Harrison moved the meteorological responsibilities to the newly-created US Weather Bureau, an agency of the Department of Agriculture. The Bureau eventually became the National Weather Service, an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in 1970.

Whether or not you are interested in weather, are you not continually amazed at how our little Hill Country town finds it way into the history of our world?

Sources: Sophienburg Museum: Oscar Haas Collection, Newspaper Collection, Forke and Ervendberg genealogies; PBS: The American Experience: A Brief History of the National Weather Service; National Weather Service: History of the National Weather Service; OpenMind BBVA: Meteorological Records: This Is How We Started to Record the Climate.

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By Keva Hoffmann Boardman —

A Princely Estate — We learn that Maj Leland of New York, has settled among us, having purchased the Comal Ranch of Col. Sparks, fronting the Guadalupe River 9 miles, and laying 22 miles west of New Braunfels … all one body of some ten thousand acres with improvements thereon, and some 640 acres under fence near Mr. G.W. Kendall’s celebrated sheep farm. In his purchase of stock from Col. Sparks, there are some 3000 sheep, 750 head of cattle, 250 head of horses and mules, working oxen, a Maltese jack, two Bramah bulls and the celebrated race horse, Hockaway, and also 1000 hogs, goats, etc … amounting to $106,700, the largest sale ever made in Texas of any stock farm.” — The True Issue (LaGrange) Feb 22, 1859.

Wow. So many questions. Where was this? Who was Col. Sparks? Who was Maj. Leland? Why have I not heard of this enormous ranch?

Oscar Haas apparently had the same questions, because piece-by-piece he collected information from the older generation. Piece-by-piece a mental image has started to come together in my head.

First, where was it? The article said, “fronting nine miles on the Guadalupe … 22 miles west of New Braunfels” and another description adds “about 30 miles nearly north of San Antonio”. This puts us in the Spring Branch area. Bridging Spring Branch and Western Comal County, Texas, by Brenda Anderson-Lindemann, is an exhaustive history of the early German settlers of that area. However, there are only a few references to Comal Ranch, one being that “the Comal Ranch, a Confederate Post about a mile from Spring Branch” became the area post office with William DeForest Holly as postmaster in 1861 and Col. Charles Power from 1862-1865. Knowing these names, Mr. Haas delved into early land records. If you have never read original land grants/deeds, let me tell you, it is not easy.

The news article of Feb 1859 gave the names Col. Sparks and Maj. Leland. Found very little on Daniel P. Sparks. He was originally from South Carolina and served in the US Army in 1812 (yes, that war). In 1857, he moved his family to Louisiana and then to Indianola, Texas. Don’t know how he got to Comal County but after he died in 1867 on a trip to New Orleans, his will was probated in Comal County. According to the above news article, he sold the expansive Rancho Comal to Maj. Leland in 1859.

Maj. William W. Leland was from a well-known family of New York hotel proprietors. In 1849 at age 28, he headed to California for 10 years. After that, he owned a hotel in New York for several years and then did a salvage project in Russia. He took the remains of his fortune and purchased the Comal Ranch, in 1859, to go into stock raising on a grand scale. In a May 1859 issue of the NB Zeitung, Maj. Leland advertised the service of several fine stallions for $25-$75 and the sale of merino rams from Vermont for $100-$500. He was fairly successful, but the project was doomed by the coming of the Civil War. Maj. Leland was elected to the Texas Convention on Secession as a delegate from Karnes County. He strongly opposed secession and spoke out defending the Union. He was given two hours to leave the State, his property was confiscated, and he went back to New York financially ruined. He joined the Union Army and after the war got into the hotel business again.

The Rancho Comal was next owned by William DeForest Holly and Danville Leadbetter. In 1860, DeForest Holly conveyed half of the following tracts of land for $19,375 to Danville Leadbetter: 431 acres of the (1851) James Henderson Survey north of the river; 50 acres known as the Foster Place on Spring Branch Creek; 960 acres of (1846) John Angel Survey; 1280 acres of the (1846) James Henderson Survey; 1600 acres of three (1846) Gordon C. Jennings Surveys; 580 acres of the (1848) James Webb Survey; and 640 acres of the (1848) James W. Luckett Survey. You can see these land grants on the map.

DeForest Holly was made Confederate postmaster of the Comal Ranch/Spring Branch area in 1861, but in 1862, the Comal Ranch was sold to Col. Charles Power … 5324 acres for $19,543.44. The ranch came with: a caballado of 322 horses; 350 head of stock cattle; 50 beef cattle; 2000 sheep; 40 bucks; one Brahmin bull; 3 stallion horses named Belchazer, Scott Morgan and Hockaway; 5 yokes of oxen; 1 ox wagon; hogs and goats.

In 1869, an incident at Rancho Comal made the NB Zeitung. A young black girl was living with a Mexican family named Rodriguez. She was molested by a black man called “Crazy Gus’. Mr. Rodriguez confronted Crazy Gus, but was stopped in his questioning by two other men, Alfred Carson and Antonio Rubio, who defended Gus. A week later, Crazy Gus went to the Rodriguez home and threatened to hurt or murder the girl and Mrs. Rodriguez. Old man Carson tried to shoot him but Mrs. Rodriguez intervened and the men were taken to Comal Ranch and held. Rodriguez appealed to the Justice of the Peace Theodor Goldbeck for retribution. JP Goldbeck could not have Crazy Gus arrested because there was no sheriff sworn in. It seems that the Reconstruction government after the Civil War had not gotten around to everything yet. Crazy Gus, crazy politics, just crazy.

Col. Power went bankrupt in 1869. The Rancho Comal went into receivership secured by creditors in Austin. 2800 sheep, 233 horse, 400 cattle, 30 beeves, 2 stallions, 1 jack, 28 bucks, 2 Mexican jacks, 1 jenny, 1 Durham bull, 12 stock horses, 200 hogs, 6 yokes of oxen, 2 ambulances, 6 sets of harness, and 3 mules were auctioned off on Tuesday, May 1, 1869.

The 5334 acres, made up of 9 surveys, were bought by the creditors for $4,500.

In 1871, 960 acres of the John Angel Survey were purchased by Dietrich Knibbe who had founded the community of Spring Branch in 1852. In 1880, 92 acres were bought by Keturah M. Voight; Voight picked up 277 ½ acres more in 1881. In 1882, 1421 acres of the Luckett, Webb and Jennings Surveys were sold to F.W. Rust; 195 ½ acres were bought by Herman and Charles Knibbe; 976 ½ acres were sold to Friedrich Bartels; and the last 546 acres were purchased by Henry Bender.

The Comal Ranch was now a part of the families of many of the early Spring Branch settlers. However, the extensive ranch with prize stallions lived on in stories. In 1884, the San Antonio Light related a story which had recently occurred to C. J. Forester while at “Comal Ranch”:

I want to tell you a horse story, not a fish story, yet a true story … I had in New Braunfels a spring wagon and a pair of horses. One of them, a stallion was taken sick with colic and came near dying; he was so bad that after the lance was struck it was nearly two minutes before he bled. We then took about a gallon of blood from him, and turned him into an unused lot to get a roll and some grass. Next morning I put his mate in with him. In the lot was a well about 50 feet deep, with 15 feet of water in it, partially covered with plank, and it is supposed that in playing or fighting, the stallion kicked his mate into the well. Some men nearby, hearing the rumpus and the fall, and going to the well, found the horse partly submerged, with his feet resting on the ledges of rock, keeping his head above water. Being at once apprised of the case, I had a derrick rigged and placed, and paid a negro $10 to go down and fix the ropes on him. The air was so bad that he nearly fainted, but pulled through, and we pulled up the horse, who, strange to say, after four hours in the well, started off with only a limp, and went to grazing. We found he had a cut in the shoulder, which we sewed up; otherwise he seemed uninjured …” — San Antonio Light, October 9, 1884

I have asked lots of people what they know about Rancho Comal and truth be told, even if they have heard of it, no one really knows anything about it. Was that because it belonged to a string of Anglo Americans originally from other parts of the US and not the German immigrants? I find it interesting that several of the early owners were military men with visions of a grand project in Texas, but that none of them were buried in Texas. And then there was the Civil War; it definitely had an impact on the viability of Comal Ranch.

I keep looking at the land grant maps and thinking, “Wow. I can barely imagine a huge ranch like that here in Comal County.” Sadly, that vast Comal Ranch full of cattle, race horses, sheep, goats, pastures and farm buildings is now full of lots and lots and lots of homes.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum Oscar Haas Collection; Texas General Land Office; Neu Braunfelser-Zeitung; San Antonio Light; The True Issue, LaGrange; Bridging Spring Branch and Western Comal County, Texas, Brenda Anderson-Lindemann; Sparks Family pedigree; Find a Grave; Wikipedia; Comal County Historical Commission; Land Grant Map of Comal County, DelRay E. Fischer, 2007.

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

The year is 1849, just five years after the first emigrants arrived on the Texas coast. Hermann Seele has been invited to spend December 26th with Pastor L.C. Ervendberg, his wife Luise, their five children, and the 19 orphans left parentless by the devastating immigration conditions beginning in 1846.

The story behind the orphans is a tragic episode. In December of 1846, the first of an additional 5,247 emigrants arrived at Indianola. The Adelsverein had run out of money This factor and excessive rain led to no food and no transportation to the interior. Cholera broke out and the emigrants could not leave. At this time the sad trek to NB began and hundreds died along the way. The sick brought disease to the new colony. In 1846 alone, Pastor Ervendberg, pastor for the Adelsverein, added 348 deaths to his record and 60 children were parentless.

Ervendberg and his wife put up a large tent on their church property to protect the orphans, and friends and relatives claimed all but 19. These, in turn, were taken in by the Ervendbergs. They established Neu Wied outside the city limits, the first orphanage in Texas.

Now let’s return to Hermann Seele and end this story on a happy note. Seele left his home which he called Elisenruhe, located on the banks of the Guadalupe River (Seele Street). On his horse Bill, he galloped north on Seguin St. and down to the Comal Creek. Leaving the muddy street, horse and rider slid down the bank and climbed up on the other side. Now passing Merriwether’s mill, and riding through the river bottom, possibly where the golf course is, he crossed the original Comal about where Schlitterbahn is and on to Austin Street. He rode through the elm forest of Comaltown. Many of those 150-year old elms are still standing.

Suddenly around Rock Street, he noticed a number of crude rock-covered graves. They were some of the first emigrants in Comaltown who never reached their destination. Now on Gruene Road, his attention was diverted toward the Guadalupe River and he saw the rooftops of houses in Hortontown across the river.

Continuing on the prairie, Seele came upon Neu Wied, a charming farm building on a small hill. He was greeted by the boys who raced down the hill to open the gate. The girls greeted him from the porch.

They entered a spacious hall-like entryway that ran the entire length of the house. In the center were two long tables with benches. The schoolroom wing, where Ervendberg taught the children, was on the north. Here tables were covered with white tablecloths and presents for each child. The Christmas tree was a young cedar with a small garden around it and carved rocks to resemble honeycomb. Figurines of shepherds and the Christchild decorated the base.

Also, in the room were volumes from the Smithsonian Institution, maps, silk cocoons strung on strings, insect collections, and stuffed birds.

Handmade presents were abundant. The girls had sewed suits for the boys and knitted stockings. They had crocheted gifts for each other. The boys braided whips for each other and there were new quilts in the boys’ rooms.

A colorful old gentleman named Buegel, visiting with the Ervendbergs, told of his adventures during the Texas Revolution to the gathering sitting around a circle in front of a crackling fire. It was 11:00 in the evening before his enchanting tale was done. Outside a fresh norther whipped up the wind.

The next morning Seele was awakened by the sound of the coffee mill and the clear voice of one of the girls singing a song by Johannes Falk:

O du fröhliche
O du selige,
Gnadenbringende Weihnachtszeit

O, thou joyful,
O, thou wonderful,
Grace-revealing Christmastide

Seele’s day at Neu Wied was over and he made his way back home.

Fast forward to today. Gone are the days of mostly handmade gifts and decorations as Amazon continues to boom, but here in New Braunfels we still share the traditions of our German heritage brought over by the immigrants. One of those traditions is the celebration of Saint Nikolaus Eve on December 5th. St Nikolaus day is observed on December 6, and it is the feast day of Saint Nicholas of Myra. It is a favorite holiday with German children and, with those in New Braunfels as well. St. Nikolaus is not the jolly, old, bearded Santa that we know. He is a little gruffer, taking more interest in the children’s behavior and learning their prayers. Here, on the night of December 5, hang their stockings before going to sleep. Next morning, they find stockings filled with nuts, candy, and small gifts from St Nikolaus.

St. Nikolaus visits the Sophienburg Museum on December 5, to find out if the children have been good. There is still time to call the Sophienburg to RSVP for your family now. If we should miss you, the Sophienburg wishes you Merry Christmas!

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; Around the Sophienburg by Myra Lee Goff.

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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.

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By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

New Braunfels has an historic and active downtown. In order for that to happen, three things are necessary. First, the buildings themselves must be of lasting quality. Secondly, an active preservation philosophy must be prevalent. The third is to have creative successful business owners. We are fortunate to have all of three.

As I drove around Main Plaza, on Seguin Avenue and down San Antonio Street, I was surprised and pleased to count 17 buildings built in the early 1920s by my grandfather, A.C. Moeller. This prompted me to do research on the Moeller brothers of Comaltown.

The Moeller family has been involved in building since their immigration to Texas and the formation of Comaltown. The story began, as so many do, in a German town called Michaelsrombach. Several years ago, I was able to visit this beautiful tiny village where the emigrant, Johann Georg Moeller, was born. It was a charming place. The house where the Moeller family lived dates back to the 1600s. The stone house stands almost in the center of the village and is still occupied by Moeller descendants. Originally, cows lived on one side of the house to protect them from the winter elements but over the years, additions were made to the home and the cows are gone. A beautiful Catholic church sits on a small hill overlooking the village. The Moellers attended this church and went to school there. The adjoining cemetery contains many Moeller graves. It is a very strange feeling to realize that all those buried there are my ancestors. Michaelsrombach seemed like a fairy tale place to grow up in.

Johann was 25 years old when he left the harbor of Bremen and sailed on the ship Weser. His Reisepass (passport) stated that he was 5 foot 2 inches tall, had blond curly hair and blue eyes.

There were seven men and one woman aboard the Weser from Michaelsrombach. I wondered why they left such a beautiful town. Then I found a statement made by historian, Rudolph Biesele, from his research on emigration. He writes: “Generations ago when German tribes were still living in their primitive social development, they frequently undertook adventurous enterprises under leaders especially chosen for that purpose. These expeditions developed among the early Germans an adventurous spirit for which in a much later period they used the term ‘Wanderlust.’ This Wanderlust or desire to wander, has remained with them through all the ages as one of their national characteristics.” Sound familiar?

Most of the Michaelsrombach emigrants were young men in their 20s. One couple, Peter and Maria Reus, were each 50 years old. Others were Johann Georg Moeller, Johann Arnold, Valentin Fey, Johann Schneider, Johann Schwab and Thomas Schwab. Why so many Johanns? Looking over so many family trees, I noticed that the oldest boy was named Johann. In America, most of these Johanns were referred to by their middle name. So, from this point on, Johann Georg Moeller will be referred to as Georg Moeller. His first son, who was named after him, became the Americanized name of John.

These immigrants, and 84 others, had been asked to settle Texas by Henry Fisher who had arranged for them to sail on the ship Weser. They arrived in Galveston in July 1844, five months before the Adelsverein immigrants. Prince Carl was to meet the Henry Fisher group in Galveston, but he left to secure another port for the Adelsverein immigrants to disembark. He established a port at Indianola and by December 1844, 292 immigrants had landed and awaited their trek inland. On March 21, 1845, the immigrants crossed the Guadalupe River into New Braunfels. Many of those from Michaelsrombach came with this early group. Georg Moeller did not make the trek with the immigrants but arrived soon after and settled in Comaltown. We do not know why he didn’t wait with the other immigrants, but could he have given in to Wanderlust? Nevertheless, we know that he arrived in Comaltown soon after the March 21st group. In I846, Georg married the widow Katherine Hoffmann; her husband had died shortly after the family arrived leaving her with two children. Eventually, Georg and Katherine had one daughter that died and then three sons. They were twins John and Franz and then Louis (Ludwig).

Georg bought a large piece of property in Comaltown and it was on this property that he built a magnificent two-story rock house that still stands at 212 West Austin Street. Supposedly, the rock was hauled from a nearby quarry on Rock Street. All the walls are constructed of smooth hand-hewn limestone. Heavy cedar beam staircases lead to a basement. No nails were used. After Georg died in 1857, the house was occupied by family members and eventually sold by the three sons. The most recent acquisition was by Schlitterbahn. In 1970 the house received the Recorded Texas Historic Landmark designation.

It is in this second generation that fellow researcher David Hartmann and I branch off. We share Johann Georg and Katherine Moeller as our first ancestors in New Braunfels. My great grandfather was John Moeller and David’s g-g grandfather was Louis Moeller. John Moeller continued in the building trade, constructing homes in the area. He also built a Victorian home in 1894, on the corner of Union Avenue and Camp Street, which still stands. On the back of this property, John had a small lumber mill. It was here that John and wife, Anna Rauch Moeller, raised their four boys and exposed them to the building business. Adolph was the oldest, then Ed, then Herman and last Alwin Carl Moeller.

Adolph Moeller carried on the building tradition and was known as a commercial builder. Several well-known downtown buildings were built by him: Fire Station #1, the old New Braunfels High School on Mill Street and many houses including his beautiful home on Garza Street. Ed Moeller is listed for a short time as a builder but spent most of his time as the owner of the bus station where the Celebrations Store is on Seguin Avenue. He was also involved in politics and became sheriff for a time. Hermann was listed as a carpenter.

And now we have the story of the prime builder of the Moeller clan: Alwin Carl “Kid” Moeller. He was my grandfather. To this day, his name is imprinted as “A.C. Moeller, Contractor” all over sidewalks and cornerstones in town, especially downtown. At an early age, he learned the contracting business from his oldest brother Adolph. A.C. went into business for himself and from the early 1920s until he died in 1936, he constructed many buildings. About 17 buildings downtown have cornerstones which carry his name. Some notable buildings that you are probably familiar with are the Seele Parish House, the Richter Building, Johnson Furniture, the Phoenix Saloon addition, the complete remodeling of the Doeppenschmidt Funeral Home, Plaza Drug Building, Comal Flower Building, the Black Whale, the Bus Station and many others. He built the first annex to the Courthouse (for $73,000) in 1930, the Garden Street Bridge and the textile mill dam across the Guadalupe River. Aside from commercial buildings, he was an expert on homes in the bungalow, craftsman and Prairie style. Some of these homes have been converted into offices contributing to the conservation of downtown. The law office of Jack Borchers on Seguin Avenue is a good example of a converted home to an office. Another example is the red brick Prairie style home on East San Antonio Street, owned by descendants of the Wagenfuehr family. Hundreds of A.C. Moeller homes still stand in New Braunfels and benefit from his skill at building. In 1924, he was awarded a big contract with New Braunfels schools to build Lamar School, Carl Schurz Elementary, Steven F. Austin School and the Home Economics Cottage for the high school on Academy Avenue. One of his last projects was the remodeling of the bandstand on Main Plaza.

Alwin Carl Moeller died in 1936 and it can definitely be said that he was one of those who “left footprints on the sands of time.” Also, I’m right about what I said about what makes a viable downtown. The Moeller brothers built buildings that last and are worth saving and we have people in NB who recognize the importance of preservation.

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Don’t know your early NB history? No excuses, people. There are many outstanding works of art and memorials you probably see every day just driving through our beautiful downtown. Pack up the kids or load up your Omie and Opie and take a mini field trip or two. Enjoy the summer weather and connect with your community’s past.

Start with a trip to the NB Civic Center on S. Seguin St. for a really good overview of New Braunfels’ beginnings. Out in front is a bronze of our city founder, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels. Did you get that? Solms-BRAUNFELS. There. You know how we got our name. We are the only city in Texas founded by a Prince!

Walk up on the front porch and you will find an entire wall of metal plaques that lay out the basics of our town’s history. There are 20 etched metal “photos” of early NB sites and leaders and four rectangular metal etchings of the German immigrants’ journey from Indianola. It’s a lot to take in, but there is more.

Go around the left side of the building. You will pass a blue-tiled fountain that honors citizens who have been designated as “Legends”. These individuals have given countless hours to make our city better. Maybe one day your name will be etched into our history.

Continue to the back entrance and find a long polished grey granite marker in the flower bed. Check out the towns the immigrants passed through as they followed the Guadalupe River up from the coast. That trip took almost six weeks to walk. I just drove that route with a group of fellow citizens; it took us a day in an air-conditioned van. I can truthfully say that I would not have made it to NB. No apology.

Another concentration of art, architecture and memorials is found on our beloved Main Plaza. On the north side, find the rough pink granite rock with a plaque from the City’s 150th Anniversary; it has an outline of the changes made to the Plaza. Having been planned from day one to be the City Center, the Plaza is almost overflowing with information of our past.

And flowing in front of you is the Plaza Fountain, bought and installed in 1896, with funds from the City’s 50th Anniversary celebration. The fountain has not only survived time, it has survived being hit (and badly damaged) several times by drunk or speeding drivers. Did you know that the fountain has not always been black?

The Bandstand has been New Braunfels’ centerpiece since 1905. Just imagine that for over a century, singing and shooting society festivals, presidential and gubernatorial visits, community meetings, concerts and city anniversaries have been celebrated in its shadow. It has witnessed hundreds of 4th of July, Dies y Seis, Loyalty Day, Comal County Fair and Kinder Maskenball parades. Innumerable wagons, carts, bicycles, automobiles and trucks have circled around the octagonal red-roofed little building. Just stand in it and you are a part of that history!

Near the Bandstand is the “Friendship Tree” (Freundschaft Baum) dedicated to YOU, the citizens of New Braunfels. If you circle the Plaza, you will find four polished pink granite markers for the 150th Anniversary. Take some large sheets of paper and some crayons and make rubbings of the crests. Can you figure out what the symbols mean?

At the east end of Main Plaza are two memorials to Comal Countians who fought for our rights and freedoms in the Civil War and WWI. Note that the Civil War monument honors all men who died, both North and South. I like what that says about our town.

If you still haven’t had your fill of history, you can read the marker on our century-old, restored Comal County Courthouse. Take time to go inside and explore the exhibits and spaces of this unique and stately structure; believe me when I say there will be some fun surprises.

Cross Seguin St and grab a cup of coffee at Crosswalk in the former lobby of the Schmitz Hotel where you will walk on floors that knew the footsteps of Texas Rangers, Civil War officers and men, cotton merchants and so many more. I suggest you park yourself in a chair on the front porch. Take a little time to watch present day history happen right before your eyes and be thankful for the all the people who have made New Braunfels so wonderful.

FYI: Saturday, May 19th is FREE Museum Day from 1-4pm. Take advantage of this once a year freebie.

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