During the Napoleonic wars (1800-1815) the number of ruling German entities was reduced from several hundred, to just thirty-nine. As each territory fell, it was immediately annexed to the lands already claimed by the conqueror. The general population was advocating a single, unified state; But the thirty-nine rulers, who were known as the Confederation of Princes, were not open to the idea . . . because unification would certainly come at the cost of the lands that they had just acquired. Quite to the contrary, the overlords totally ignored the desires of the people within their provinces, discounting their dignity by referring to them as Bavarians, Rhinelanders, Prussians, etc., rather than Germans. Each of these lords and princes was clinging to his own sovereignty; So, they set about designing all manner of policies to favor their own interest and keep the people as pawns, with some still retaining feudal rights over their subjects. As a citizen, this meant that the man of the house or any sons therein, could be called upon, at any time, to fight and die in the many feuds and wars that were declared by the overlord. Adding to the frustrations of the citizenry, was the decree of policies that took away political freedoms such as the right to gather, free speech and limitations of what could be published. Frustrations were also heightened, as the people faced the industrial revolution which moved product assembly away from hand crafting and toward mass production. As a result, great numbers of skilled crafts persons found themselves without work, leaving many people struggling to pay the ever rising taxes and land fees, with little chance or hope for economic advancement.
Still, questions have been raised as to the character of the literature published by various German writers between the years of 1821 and 1836. Blissful stories, telling of unlimited opportunities in America's Mid West became powerful inducements and set people to thinking and dreaming. Wishing to capitalize on this surge of interest in America, a German emigration society was organized in New York in 1838 with it�s purpose being to establish a colony in Texas. The organization sent its first ship load of immigrants, consisting of 129 persons, in December 1839. However, upon arriving in Galveston and hearing that an epidemic of yellow fever was raging, the majority of persons, including their leader, decided that it was wiser to remain on board the ship and thus returned to New York.
It was after Texas had secured its independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836 that the greatest flood of books and newspaper articles were released in Germany. As circumstances would have it, the German people were ripe to receive such enticements. Books and pamplets told of inexpensive land that was available in many settled areas and awards of great tracts of raw land, in undeveloped areas. Additionally, portrayals of the independent Texas pioneer peacefully going about his agricultural pursuits in near utopia, fired the imagination of persons from all stations in life. Texas was a place of no overlords, where each man could rise to meet the challenges of his own responsibilities. Already, a host of young men, baffled in their attempts at political improvement were eagerly making preparations to escape the persecution dealt by blind reactionary governments; Still other young men were fleeing from being drafted into military service. The potentials for an individual shone like a great beacon of welcome.
All of this excitement, led to a meeting in Mainz, Germany on March 24, 1844, resulting in the creation of a stock company that took on the name �Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas.� Eighteen princes and noblemen comprised the membership. The society became known in Europe as the League of the Nobility �Verein zum Schutze deutscher Einwanderer in Texas� or as Texans called it �Adelsverein� or �Verein�. The threefold purpose of the Society was announced as: 1) improvement of the conditions of the working classes and decrease of pauperism 2) opening of new markets for the products of German industry 3) the development of maritime commerce. While the purposes were philanthropic, financial gains were expected, as the distribution of profits was provided for.
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However well intended, the Adelsverein had no appreciation as to what was required (or costs thereof) to do business in the wild Texas hill country. Consequently, the start up capital of $80,000 was far too little to fund a project of such magnitude. The outcome was that the colonists were relying upon the fulfillment of promises made by an ill-advised Society . . . with many settlers ultimately paying the final price.
Two representatives for the Adelsverein, Count Victor von Leiningen and Count Castell, entered into a contract with a Frenchman by the name of Bourgeois, even though Germany�s Count Boos-Waldeck warned against it. Bourgeois had acquired a land grant from the Texas government on July 3, 1843 for territory that was located to the west and northwest of San Antonio. The terms under which the grant was issued, stated that he must settle 400 families within eighteen months or his certificate became null and void on December 3, 1843. Having no intentions of colonizing the land, Bourgeois had simply acquired the grant with the intent of selling it to someone else, thus making a profit for himself. Although the grant was near expiration when Bourgeois first presented it to Castell, Bourgeois assured him that there would be no difficulty in having his close personal friend President Houston, extend the deadline. Further misrepresentation in this endeavor, if not all out deception was that Bourgeois described the lands as being extra ordinarily fertile and healthy when he had never seen the territory, even though he had been in Texas long enough to have known that this portrayal was probably not altogether accurate. The reality was that only a small per cent of the land was tillable.
Eloquent and smooth talking, Bourgeois represented himself as being of royal blood, not only working his way into the Adelsverein, but becoming an officer. Castell was easily convinced to make the purchase for an amount referenced as having been �considerable�. The deal was sealed on April 7, 1844, four full months after Bourgeois�s grant had expired with the Texas government. Having been completely taken in, Castell returned to Germany and recommended that the Verein proceed in its colonization efforts. The company now supposedly having a great tract of land, launched it�s advertisement campaign throughout Germany.
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TO EACH EMIGRANT IT IS GUARANTEED A TRACT OF GOOD LAND IN A WONDERFUL FERTILE AND HEALTHY COUNTY, BEING A PRESENT FROM THE ADELSVEREIN FOR WHICH IT WOULD EXPECT NO COMPENSATION WHATSOEVER!
Each single man, was required to deposit $120, and each married man was required to deposit $240. It is most likely that the Adelsverein would have chartered entire ships, providing only steerage accommodations for the German immigrants. This would allow them to transport a maximum number of persons for a minimum amount of investment. No figures are available as to the individual costs for a ticket from Germany to America in the year 1845, but a ticket from Gotenberg, Sweden to New York, which was purchased in 1895, costs $24.00. This gives us some reference, as to the individual fare for transporting the German immigrants in 1845.
In order to get the colonist from the landing point to the grant lands, the Adelsverein would need wagons, teams and tents, for which they had not yet negotiated a contract, but estimated that $4 would be sufficient. $24 was estimated as adequate funding to construct a rude dwelling, which the Adelsverein had promised to build on each emigrant�s land. The Adelsverein would reserve the balance of the deposit to provide for a contingency fund to be drawn upon by the Colonist in purchasing implements and supplies such as food and clothing. By acquiring these items in bulk, the Adelsverein anticipated to negotiate a favorable price, which they would pass onto the colonist. With their plan in place, the Verein did not foresee any difficulties in sustaining the colony through it�s first year . . . after which the first crop was expected to have been harvested.
Meanwhile, Bourgouis attempted to obtain an extension on his land grant, but President Houston, who had probably never heard of Bourgouis, emphatically refused. Now, with a large number of Germans booked to sail shortly for the promised land, the Adelsverein was without a single acre of land. Not surprisingly, the land deal was exposed as a ruse resulting in Bourgouis being asked to leave the organization. Prince Solms-Braunfels now assumed the responsibility of acquiring colonization land and quickly began his search, as there was no time to lose.
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of the Mainzer Verein |
Still the Emigration Company director�s, who were sitting comfortably in their castles back in Europe, did not understand the full scope of the conditions, or actual cost of living and doing business in Texas. Fisher used this to his advantage and took every opportunity to tell the Verein officers just how easily the colonist project was going to come about. He also enticed them with stories of undeveloped minerals within the grant lands, including silver mines that had been abandoned by the Spaniards, but failed to mention that the Spaniards had left because the Comanche Indians had driven them from the area. Fisher also neglected to mention other difficulties that the immigrants and Resident Director General were undoubtedly going to encounter, seeing no benefit to himself by doing so.
700 German immigrants landed in Galveston in November 1844. Here the colonist were transferred from the large ship and onto a light schooner which would transport them 100 miles from Galveston to Indianola, where Solms had determined that the overland journey was to begin. The name of that port had been changed to Carlsshafen by Prince Solms, to honor the three men of that given name: Prince Leiningen (who according to Solms, had been Christened Carl, not Victor), Count Castell and himself. The schooner trip was generally a one to three day excursion, although it could take as many as five days, depending upon the weather.
Solms had exchanged letters with an English ambassador, in regard to creating a German occupation within Texas . . . the beginning of a German state that would facilitate Germany�s commercial access to the Gulf of Mexico and hopefully restrain the power of a growing United States. The Prince feared that the colonist would lose their inherent characteristics if allowed to mix with other nationalities and therefore strategized that contact between the German immigrants and local inhabitants had to be minimized. It was this mind set that led Solms to develop an inland route that would avoid any existing roads as they would also pass through populated areas. Solms had also written to the Secretary of State to the Republic of Texas, stating that the Society preferred to see Texas remain independent, offering to confer with Santa Anna and promote the sovereignty of Texas. Such ideas were a detriment to the Society and had they been generally known, would have compromised its standing. The vice-presidency of Mexico was offered to Prince Solms, who most likely, was tempted to accept. Had this fact become public, the situation would have become much more complicated. While Britain also wished that Texas remain an independent state, there was no evidence of their having lent any monetary support.
Since the Fisher Miller lands had not yet been surveyed, as specified by the Republic of Texas, there was no way that the Adelsverein could take the colonist 300 miles in the dead of winter into a wild country where they had no legal rights and from which the Republic of Texas could eject them at any time. So the colonist waited inside company tents while Solms negotiated for a tract of land located near the intersection of the Comal and Guadelupe rivers. Two months later, the deal was completed, with the company securing 1300 beautiful acres boasting seven clear springs and stands of fine timbers.
The wagons were dispatched in groups of ten or twelve; led by one of the German immigrants who was chosen by his fellow countrymen or by a Society Officer and protected by twenty men carrying arms. Prince Solms had located suitable way stations between Indianola and the 1300-acre tract, making arrangements in advance, for the Germans to stop at these sites. The primary halting places were located at Victoria, Gonzales, and Seguin; each chosen for their qualities of providing shelter, water and wood for cooking, as well as green grass for the animals. Even with the rest stops, it was still an arduous overland trek of more than 150 miles.
The first exhausted colonist reached the springs, on March 1, 1845, having been guided there by Prince Solms-Braunfels. Their first encampment was erected on a bluff overlooking the Comal River, which is now the site of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church. The town was later named New Braunfels in honor of the Prince Solms�s Castle, which was located on Germany�s Lahn River. Each colonist received a town lot and ten acres near the townsite. The gift in no way invalidated their rights to the land to be allotted when the Fisher grant was to be surveyed. So the immigrants quickly built several log houses, while the Adelsverein erected a stockade which was named �Sophienburg� in honor of Princess Sophie, the fianc�e of Prince Solms.
School has been held uninterrupted in New Braunfels since the morning of Monday, August 11, 1845. Hermann Steel began teaching the children of the new settlement in both English and German under the elm trees at the foot of Sophienburg Hill approximately four months after the German�s had arrived. Highly educated men from within the immigrant ranks helped to establish the school and served as teachers. Worship services were initially held under the same elm trees, but �kirches� (churches) were built almost immediately after the settlers came into any new location. The First Protestant Church was established under the laws of the Republic of Texas on October 5, 1845. As in Europe, the clergy diligently recorded births, deaths and marriages among their parish. The German immigrants also brought along their love of music to America, carrying with them �Das deutsche Lied�� meaning the German Song. It accompanied them in their westward journey, lightening their daily toil and brightening their evenings by the campfire.
Reporting to be in poor health, Prince Solms left for Germany within a month of having arrived in New Braunfels, even before his replacement John Meusebach had arrived. As it worked out, the cost of transporting each emigrant had been more than $20 and the cost of each log house was more than $100. The Adelsverein had underestimated their costs by approximately four hundred percent! In Solms�s eleventh and final report to the director�s back in Germany, he recommended that immigrants be required to either sign a two year endenturement to the Adelsverein or agree to pay five times the current charge, in order to cover expenses.
Meusebach was described as a man of iron will and sound judgment, unyielding sense of justice, tireless energy and dogged determination. Stepping onto Texas soil at Galveston, Meusebach was promptly embarrassed to have creditors approaching him regarding nonpayment for supplies delivered per Solms�s orders. Arriving at New Braunfels with his pockets stuffed with invoices, he found that Solms had already departed, the colony was in total disarray with the Organization�s credit at a low ebb and its contracts unfulfilled . . . all of this, and a large consignment of new immigrants due to arrive in Galveston. Organizing the clutter of paper, Meusebach discovered that the ledger showed a debt of approximately $20,000. Wishing to receive the details of how the money situation came to such a state, Meusebach hurried back to Galveston, hoping to overtake the Prince and receive his oral report. He found the Prince in Galveston, who was also anxious to see Meusebach, as the Prince was being detained by a legal attachment for unpaid debts. Meusebach had arrived with $10,000 credited to his account. Drawing upon his credit, Meusebach lifted the attachment, but Solms requested additional funds from Meusebach so that he could deal with other creditors who might overtake him between Galveston and New Orleans, where his ship would depart for Germany.
With practically all of the $10,000 having been spent in rescuing the Prince in his dilemma upon departure, Meusebach and the colonist, were now relying upon Prince Solms�s promise to report the financial needs to the Society and to see that remittances were sent to Texas without delay. In the meanwhile, Meusebach set about restoring the confidence of creditors, making whatever payment he could, with his limited resources. Despite his best attention to business affairs, by the first of November 1845, the amount of debt had increased to $24,000. Regardless of this financial handicap, Meusebach set about making preparations for the arrival of the several thousand immigrants due to arrive in November of 1845. Realizing that he would not be able to place the latest arrivals in New Braunfels, Meusebach quickly searched for additional land, finding it on the Pendenales River about 80 miles northwest of New Braunfels. Meusebach was the first white man to set foot upon the 10,000-acre tract, laying the groundwork for the settlement of Gillespie county and the founding of a new settlement, which was to become Fredericksburg. Meusebach was also thinking about ways to integrate the Germans and Americans, as an interchange of ideas would certainly be helpful. Although protested by Baron von Ehrenkreuz, Meusebach issued an invitation to the Americans to settle in the Verein�s colony. The only comment that Meusebach received from the directors back in Germany, was from Castell, who advised Meusebach that it was important that he not antagonize the Americans as the Prince had done.
Leading up to the Decision to Imigrate (Part 2 of 2)
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