By Myra Lee Adams Goff —

An outstanding early citizen of New Braunfels and one who contributed much to the culture of the community was a man named Stefan Haelbig. Haelbig organized many of the early musical groups and was the music instructor of hundreds of children and adults alike in voice as well as musical instruments. He generally made music a big part of the community. His studio was moved to Conservation Plaza and open for all to see.

Stefan Haelbig emigrated to New Braunfels from Germany through Indianola in 1868 at age 40. His obituary states that he worked in the woolen mills and resided at the Waisenhaus (orphanage) for a year and a half, giving music instruction from there. He instructed piano, French horn, cello, violin, cornet, clarinet and voice.

Haelbig had received extensive musical training in Germany. He had been the bandmaster of a Regimental band in the Austrian Army, and had played Wagnerian (Richard Wagner) music while Wagner himself was the conductor. With a few local musicians, he was able to put together an orchestra to perform the finest of classical music. Those local musicians were listed as Father Blum, Hermann Schimmelpfennig, Mr. Wenzel, Bose and Eberhard. They, however, were amateurs but Haelbig exhibited the greatest patience and persistence, thereby guiding them into playing the classics. Many fine musical events were held in the old Matzdorff’s Halle and Seele’s Halle on the Guadalupe. Concerts were also held at the Seekatz Opera House, featuring the Haelbig orchestra and selected singers.

Not only in instrumental music was he a leader, but also in vocal music. He founded and became leader of the Maennerchor and Concordia Mixed Chorus. He organized the New Braunfels Music Club and its orchestra. Mrs. Lottie Faust was the pianist for this orchestra. In addition he gave lessons several times a week in San Antonio.

When Haelbig was 83, a celebration was given in his honor. Joseph Faust and A.C. Coers told of his abilities and called him the soul of music in New Braunfels. They raised their glasses and gave a toast, “Er lebe hoch, Er lebe hoch, Er lebe hoch”.When the glass was raised, the salute was given in this manner, showing high admiration The literal translation is “He lives high”.

Before being moved to Conservation Plaza, Haelbig’s studio was located on Seguin Street. After he vacated it, the building became Voigt’s Shoe Repair and that’s how I remember it. There was after all a time when people had their leather shoes repaired instead of replaced. Putting on a new sole or a new heel could add years more service to a shoe. The building was moved to Conservation in the early 1980s and the lot became the site of Pizza Hut and is now Taqueria El Tapatio.

There are some interesting things inside the Haelbig studio at Conservation Plaza. You would expect a piano, although it is not Haelbig’s. Paul Jahn’s cello stands up against the wall. Al Schnabel’s trumpet, the “wiggle and wobble with Al Schnabel” orchestra leader and student of Haelbig. There are pictures of former students, names familiar from the past like: Bading, Fischer, Gerlich, Gruene, Heidrich, Naegelin, Marckwardt, Koebig, Jahn, Oelkers, Voelcker, Coreth, Altgelt, Schultz .There is a tiny trumpet, no longer than 8 inches called a piccolo trumpet. Used in classical music, this instrument plays tones higher than a regular trumpet.

Remember that Haelbig once played Wagnerian music in Germany with Richard Wagner as conductor? Hanging on the wall are three pictures from the operas, “Ring of the Nibelung”, a collection of fantasy-filled operas of Norse Mythology. The first picture is the Rhine Maidens, the second is Siegfried Slaying the Dragon, and the last is Brunhilde, all characters from the four Ring operas. Glorifying ancient war heroes in mythology, Wagner operas became controversial at different times in history.

Stefan Haelbig died at age 90. His obituary ends with, “Here in the beautiful city of New Braunfels, he made an impression which is more beautiful and more lasting than any monument of marble – the love and appreciation of music.” Er lebe hoch, hoch, hoch!

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

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By Tara V. Kohlenberg —

As a child, were you ever told that wanting a special toy or dress or bike would land the whole family on the poor farm? I’m not sure it was said specifically to me, but I have heard it said. I wondered where these farms were and who had to go there, but never really got an answer, until now. Did you know that New Braunfels had a poor farm? I certainly didn’t, and I grew up here.

I think the farm location shocked me the most. A farm. In town. Okay, it was actually located in Comal Town, close to what is now Landa Park, but only a mile and a half from Main Plaza. The area was rural farmland when the county commissioners created it, and Comal Town was not part of New Braunfels. Let’s start over.

As long as people have inhabited the earth, there have been people of lesser means – the indigent or poor people. Many were poor because of unfortunate circumstances, illness or old age. Continental Europe followed Spanish traditions where families and the church charities were responsible for helping the needy. Within English society, responsibility for care of the poor was given to local authorities and families, but with government oversight.

Pauper care in Texas was rooted in Spanish tradition that expected the church, charities and families to care for the needy. The churches did the best they could. With the formation of the Republic of Texas 1836, care for those in need changed to a system rooted in English poor law. The new republic enacted laws that organized courts and defined their duties. One law specified that it was the “duty of said board of commissioners to provide at the expense of the county, for the support of indigent, lame, and blind persons, who are unable to support themselves.” Support came as both outside support (money to help them in their homes) or inside, which meant living in an almshouse or on a poor farm. After Texas gained statehood, the act was modified in 1846 to include a provision for responsibility of pauper burials.

Those who came to Texas from Europe banked all they had to make a new life in this wonderful land. The risk was high and there was no Plan B. If things went wrong, they were in trouble. Illness, snake bites, childbirth, even riding a horse could create a traumatic change of events. Losing a spouse to childbirth or illness often split up families. Those with frailties, no means of support and advanced age were sent to the poor farm and children went to an orphanage. The indigent of early New Braunfels were usually widows or of very advanced age. They were granted support of about $6 monthly.

After the Civil War, there was much suffering that churches and charities could hardly keep up. The Texas Constitution, amended in 1869, provided for the establishment of the county labor poorhouses. It was not until 1897 that Comal County Comissioners voted to establish a poor farm in New Braunfels. They voted to purchase fourteen acres of land from Louis Moeller for $1350. The land was located in the vicinity of the Landa Estates, bordered by Market (now Torrey), LibertyAvenue, Mulberry Avenue and the Comal River. The county authorized the building of three houses of board and batten construction. The houses were located on Lots No. 74 & 82 up front on Market. Mr. George Lang was hired to be the manager of the poor farm. He was allowed to live rent-free in the middle house and was expected to feed all of the paupers sent to the farm on 20 cents per day. Approximately eleven and a half acres of the property was leased back to Mr. Moeller for cultivation.

The poor farm continued to operate over the years in spite the MKT Railroad cutting through the property. Albert Marion was manager for twenty-four years. After his death in 1934, his nephew Milton C. Marion took the job. The poor farm had been very important in helping many people make it through the depression, being able to work and support the families.

In 1934, the Social Security Act changed indigent care forever and the need began to dwindle. I could still find M.C. Marion was listed as poor farm manager in 1940, but not after that. In 1936, Harry Landa sold his park to the City and the Landa Estates developed on property that was once poor farm. People still resided in the old poor farm houses in the ‘40s and ‘50s.

Time moved on and in 1961 the City County Health Department took up residence in one of the white board and batten Torrey Street houses. If you had to get vaccinations or health cards between 1961 and 1974, that is where you went. At the same time, the county warehouse occupied barns on the same poor farm property between the railroad and Torrey Street. After the Health Department moved to the old Naval Reserve building on Comal Street, the County Probation department had some programs there. The two-acre poor farm property changed hands in 1980 when Henk Paving moved in. The last board and batten structure was recently destroyed to make way for parking.

Sources: Sophienburg Museum & Archives; https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1467&context=ita

Caption: Map indicating the location of the Comal County Poor Farm

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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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Imagine that you are on the Texas Coast where you have just arrived on one of the Adelsverein ships. You left Germany three months ago. You are far away from the Heimatland (homeland) for the first time ever and it is Christmas time. Your whole life you have loved the traditions that you grew up with – the music and the decorated tree that celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. On Hermann Seele’s arrival in Galveston, he wrote in this diary: “Memories, sweeten for me, lonely as I am in a foreign country, the hours with the balsam of a wonderful past.”

The year is 1844. The Republic of Texas is in the last stage of being an independent nation. Texas would soon become a state of the United States. The land was beautiful but rugged.

These immigrants would bring their culture and joyous traditions with them from Germany. The Adelsverein promised them land, supplies to help them get established and the provision of churches and schools. The immigrants brought with them the love of music, food and dance, strong family values, and the German traits of self-discipline and most of all, tenacity. These last two were important qualities because the whole venture was fraught with obstacles, but they persevered. In five years, New Braunfels was the fourth largest city in Texas.

Prince Carl hired Louis Ervendberg to establish a church in the new settlement of New Braunfels. Ervendberg met the first group of immigrants on the coast and conducted the first church service there on December 23, 1844. Prince Carl cut down a small oak tree for a Tannenbaum and decorated it with candles and candy for the children. This service on the coast is considered the first church service of the German Protestant Church. Prince Carl made this comment about the service: “The people, deeply touched, shed ardent tears of compassion and on Christmas, Holy Communion service would be conducted.”

German historian, Joachim Klenner, has done extensive research on Ervendberg and says this about the man:

He graduated August 26, 1833 from the University of Griefswald, taught school for four years, and then requested consent to immigrate to North America in1837. He gave as his reason for immigrating that a rich family from Hannover wanted him to come to North America to teach their children for five years. He was granted a permit with the stipulation that he could not come back to Prussia if he ever returned to Germany (no reason is given for that). He emigrated as Louis Ervendberg although his family name was Cachand. You have to wonder why he changed his last name.

Ervendberg settled in Illinois where there were others from Hannover, Germany. There was no pastor in the area so he organized a congregation. In 1838, he married Marie Luise Sophie Dorothea Műnch. They left Illinois in 1839 to come to Texas. After arrival in Galveston, they moved to the small settlement of Blumenthal in Colorado County. It was in Blumenthal that he was later approached by Prince Carl to handle the religious services for all the settlers, Protestant and Catholic. He accepted the invitation.

Ervendberg met with this first group of immigrants on the coast and accompanied them as they crossed the Guadalupe on March 21, 1845. This date is considered the founding date of New Braunfels as well as the German Protestant Church. He lost no time in organizing his German Protestant Church in New Braunfels. Prince Carl gave remembrance gifts to the congregation: a chalice, the twin of which is located in Germany, and two bells that are currently installed on the front lawn of the First Protestant Church.

In the settlement of New Braunfels, the first services were held outside at the foot of Sophienburg Hill until a log church could be built. Hermann Seele taught school in the same spot. Seele was chosen secretary of the church, a position that he held for 56 years.

Constant rain kept the Guadalupe River in a constant state of flooding that brought disease. The steady arrival of immigrants on the coast under these conditions played out a tragic drama of horrors. After Texas became a state, a war broke out between the United States and Mexico and the promised immigrant wagons were sold to the United States Army. There was no housing, no food, and no way to get from the coast to the settlement. In desperation, many immigrants tried to walk the 150 miles to New Braunfels. Hundreds died along the way and many arrived in the settlement sick, only to spread the sickness. A make-shift hospital was set up and Pastor Ervendberg recorded 348 deaths in one year. Sixty orphaned children were left and all but 19 were taken in by family or friends. The remaining 19 were taken in by the Ervendbergs. The Adelsverein gave Ervendberg land on the Guadalupe where he and Luise eventually set up what is believed to be the first orphanage in Texas.

For numerous reasons, Ervendberg’s career as pastor fell apart, as did his marriage to Luise. They decided to return to Illinois. She left with their three daughters, and he was to follow shortly with their two sons. Waiting for him in Illinois, Luise learned that her husband had intentionally met with one of the orphans and left for Mexico. She returned to Texas and he was gone. She never saw her sons again and she was granted a divorce in 1859.

Although the orphanage story is sad, the Ervendbergs provided a home where memories were made as well as old traditions kept and new ones formed for all who lived there. Many of the orphans and Ervendberg children grew up, married and had happy endings to their stories. Generations later, descendants of the orphans and the Ervendbergs gather at the old orphanage to celebrate the Ervendbergs and their ancestor’s survival in Comal County.

The German Protestant Church also survived and a stone church was built in 1875, with the tower added to the front of the building in 1889. This building still stands today.

In 1894, three new bells were installed in the tower (not the two small bells that you see now on the front lawn). Each bell has a significant name – Germania signifies the German heritage, Columbia signifies the immigrant loyalty to their new country and Concordia expresses the hope for harmony between the old and the new, not only generations, but ideas and traditions. The largest of the bells, Concordia, almost six feet in diameter and four feet high, has a deep mellow voice and forms the bass for the harmony of their blending. Columbia is forty-four inches in diameter and forty inches high. Germania is the smallest, three feet in diameter and thirty inches tall. Hers is the high tenor. These bells represent the struggles that the church and community have endured in its long history.

Henry Longfellow’s poem, “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” tells it all:

(Verse 1)

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

(Verse 4)

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.

(Verse 5)

Till ringing, singing on its way
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

At least eight generations have been born in this new land of Texas with new memories made and old traditions harmonized with new. I heard the bells on Christmas Day.

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Do you believe everything you read? Do you believe everything you hear? If your answer to these two questions is “no,” you must be thinking like an historian. A good historian reads material and thinks “there must be more” and hears information and thinks “where’s the proof?”

One of our best historians is Brenda Anderson Lindemann who has provided us with lots of history of Comal County. Her latest interest is the first orphanage in Texas, the Waisenhaus, located 3.5 miles from New Braunfels, on the Guadalupe River. Most New Braunfelsers know about the origin of the orphanage. There were 76 orphans to begin with that were left stranded here in New Braunfels because their parents either died at the coast, on the way to the colony, or in New Braunfels. Nineteen orphans were not claimed by family or friends and three of these died. The remaining sixteen orphans were raised by Pastor Louis Cachand Ervendberg and his wife, Louisa. We know the “fairytale” version of the orphanage story and how totally happy they all were.

As time has gone by, different historians have added to the knowledge of the orphanage. Brenda is going to tackle a segment of the story that has been little researched and even less written about. She is looking for information about what became of the orphans and who their descendants were.

Brenda has a personal interest in finding out about the orphans because she is the great-great-granddaughter of one of them, Lisette Schmidt. She knows quite a bit already about Lisette from family history. She wants to know the personal stories of the orphans because she is not satisfied with the fairytale version. She wants to know the real human story. Lisette Schmidt came to Texas with her parents, one brother and three sisters. All of the family members died in 1846 except Lisette and her sister, Nathalia. These two sisters were raised at the orphanage by the Ervendbergs.

According to family tradition, Louisa Ervendberg became their second mother. Lisette later married Hans von Specht, who had been hired by the Adelsverein to be the bodyguard for Prince Carl in Texas. Specht became an Indian fighter with the Texas Rangers. In 1853 he married Lisette Schmidt. He leased land at Honey Creek. A flood in 1869-70 destroyed their home and the couple moved to Spring Branch. On their 922-acre ranch, they raised 10 children. The couple was well-known in the Spring Branch area.

The following is a short synopsis of the Waisenhaus story: In the spring of 1846, a cholera epidemic broke out along the coast where the immigrants were waiting to be transported to NB. The conditions were so bad that the disease spread like fire over dry grass. Many headed by foot to the colony, bringing this dreaded disease with them. Hundreds died along the way. Many died in NB and were buried in the New Braunfels or Adelsverein Cemetery in a mass grave. As a result of this highly contagious disease, 76 orphans were left to fend for themselves without parents. Brenda has the names of all of these orphans.

The pastor of the German Protestant Church and his wife were given the responsibility of taking care of the orphans. The Adelsverein built a small log house for the pastor on the property of the present First Protestant Church. The orphans were housed in a large tent next to the pastor’s cabin. This must have been one of those very large supply tents provided by the Adelsverein. All but 19 of the orphans were claimed and in a short time, three more had died. While Louise Ervendberg was taking care of her own children and the orphans, Pastor Ervendburg was busy supervising the construction of a log church for his flock.

In 1848, Ludwig Bene, Hermann Spiess, and Louis Ervendberg incorporated the West Texas Orphans Asylum for the protection and support of orphan children. A piece of property was purchased outside of town and a building to house the orphans was constructed. Early stories of the orphanage were filled with happy fairytale like stories. Here they did have a home, not a tent. There was plenty of food. Family stories of celebrations and happy traditions began. The boys were taught agriculture and the girls learned homemaking skills. Wonderful birthday celebrations and gift giving became a part of their life. They were schooled by the pastor.

Pastor Ervendberg was experiencing financial trouble. When he accepted the position of pastor of the settlers, his salary was to be from the “good will” of the congregation and supplemented by the Adelsverein. But the Adelsverein declared bankruptcy in 1847 and could no longer supplement his salary. In four years, the total amount of congregation money was $200. In 1850 Ervendberg submitted his resignation to the church. By submitting his resignation, perhaps the pastor thought it would help the congregation see the necessity of a steady salary. This did not work.

After advertising for a pastor, Gustav Wilhelm Eisenlohr of Ohio submitted his application to the German Protestant Church. At the last minute, Ervendberg submitted his name also as a candidate. The vote was 70 for Eisenlohr and 28 for Ervendberg. Sadly, Pastor Louis Ervendberg left the church that he had founded.

According to family tradition, he took refuge at the Waisenhaus. Now he would have more time to work with his botany experiments. Ervendberg’s longtime friend, Ferdinand Lindheimer ordered silkworm eggs from botanist Asa Gray at Harvard for Ervendberg. As a result, he mastered the technique of producing silk. Another project was growing tobacco and making cigars.

But the fairytale was about to break apart. There was trouble between Louisa and Louis. Louisa noticed that Louis was taking a strong interest in one of the orphans, Franzeska Lange, age 19. When confronted with this possibility, the couple decided that the best course of action they could take was to both leave the orphanage and start life over together. The plan was that Louisa was to take the three girls and travel to Illinois. Louis was to keep the two boys with him, close up their business at the Waisenhaus, and join them in Illinois. While Louisa kept her end of the bargain, Louis left the orphanage with the two boys and took Franzeska with him to Mexico. It was not only an end of the marriage, but an end of the orphanage. So much good can be attributed to both the pastor and his wife, we should honor the positive aspects of their lives.

Brenda Anderson Lindemann will be the featured speaker at the September 10^th meeting of the Ferdinand Lindheimer Chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The meeting is at 9:30am at Forke Store at Conservation Plaza, 1300 Churchill Drive, here in New Braunfels. The meeting is open to the public. She will be speaking about the orphans and would like to meet with anyone who thinks they are descended from one them. Here is the list of the 19 orphans:

Augustine Bitter, Daniel Fromme, Christian Guenther, Wilhelmine Koether, William Kretzer, Heinrich Kreikenbaum, Franzeska Lange, Louise Lange, Lisette Schmidt, Nathalie Schmidt, Carolina Schuessler, Anna Marie Stendebach, Peter Walter, George Walter, Fredrich Walter, Philipp Heinrich Weber, Friedrich Weber, John Wessinger, and Lena? (later Spiess).

This historical project has just begun.

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