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2007-02-07 Europe

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Posted by Steve White 2007-02-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Sorry, didn't see it, delete my posting.

Thanks!

Posted by anonymous2u 2007-02-07 00:46|| 2007-02-07 00:46|| Front Page Top

#2 Interesting... especially in light of the novel that I am working on, about the great exodus of German farmers and craftsmen to Texas in the mid 1840ies. It was becoming very difficult for farmers, since inheritance split up holdings into smaller and smaller plots. And industrialization was just kicking in, and squeezing out small craftsmen... and an extremely rigid political situation left political dissidents out in the cold. The Mainzer Adelsverein signed up 10,000 familes and single men in a year or so, to come out and homestead on the Verein's land grants in Central Texas, and managed to transport about three fourths of that number before going broke. It's a fascinating story, BTW and with any encouragment at all I can bore you to death with the details.

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2007-02-07 07:30|| www.ncobrief.com]">[www.ncobrief.com] 2007-02-07 07:30|| Front Page Top

#3 exodus of German farmers and craftsmen to Texas in the mid 1840ies

Welcome to "The Hill Country" and Fredericksburg, TX!

Posted by Besoeker 2007-02-07 07:43|| 2007-02-07 07:43|| Front Page Top

#4 It's a fascinating story, BTW and with any encouragment at all I can bore you to death with the details.

I would love to be bored to death.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2007-02-07 08:30|| 2007-02-07 08:30|| Front Page Top

#5 I would love to be bored to death. - JFM
You are going to be so sorry....

Well, one of the biggest problems for the Mainzer Adelsverein was--- besides being very liberal and well-meaning (in the 19th century way, of course) was their incredibile ability to ignore the best advice of people who knew what they were talking about, and fall like a ton of bricks for the advice of parties who did not... or worse yet, were out and out crooks. And that it took at least two months to cross the Atlantic by sailing ship at that time, didn't help communications much.
Their first commissioner in Texas came out to set things in motion in 1844. He made a great splash, traveling with an entourage of valets, huntsmen, guards, and a private chef: one Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels. He committed to a entrepeneur contract agreeing to settle so many settlers on a tract of land. The Adelsverein would grant so much land per settler, pay all their transportation expenses, build them a log house and supply them with everything they needed to get started, and in return and keep a certain portion of the land for itself. So if it had been carefully managed, they might have made a profit. Unfortunatly Prince Karl had all the business sense of a turnip. (And he also managed to piss off Sam Houston, in an easy and aristocratic fashion.) The grant itself lay right spang in the middle of Comanche territory, at a time when they were pound-for-pound the meanest, leanest fightingest badasses on the whole continent, with the possible exception of the Apache. It was also not good farmland-- the Prince actually never visited it--- and he fatally underestimated the actual costs of transporting, supplying and setting up the infrastructure for those immigrants who began arriving at Galveston. Back in Germany, the Verein had already chartered ships and begun sending settlers, before there was even a place for them to settle.
(Cliff-hanging suspense, more to follow... if anyone else cares to be bored to death.)

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2007-02-07 09:46|| www.ncobrief.com]">[www.ncobrief.com] 2007-02-07 09:46|| Front Page Top

#6 Go for it, Sgt. Mom. Ladies and gentlemen, Rantburg University's History Department, Regional History 151 (The Settlement of Texas) is now in session.

*psst - sit up straight, you! Sgt. Mom is tough!*

Posted by trailing wife 2007-02-07 10:33|| 2007-02-07 10:33|| Front Page Top

#7 Jeebus, Sgt. Mom. Please tell me there's no pop quizzes on this later! I LOVE history, but have been outta school for too long to be taking tests, lol.

Posted by BA 2007-02-07 11:14|| 2007-02-07 11:14|| Front Page Top

#8 Looks like "Port Tarascon" a novel from Daudet who is the follow-up of the immensely funy "Tartarin de Tarascon".

In it the whole population of Tarascon, a small city in the South of France leaves for a paradisiac island in the South Seas to colonize a newly built city who has everything (stores, port, houses even a cathedral). When they land they discover they have been victims of a crook: there is no city, locals are canibals, island is another Guadalcanal (complete with lots of snakes, giant insects, malaria) and last but not least (for inhabitants of sunny Tarascon this was the worst) it rains 365 days a year. Nearly forgot it, the island belongs to England.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2007-02-07 11:17|| 2007-02-07 11:17|| Front Page Top

#9 Right then, (reshuffling lecture notes) continuing with todays Rantburg University History Department lecture "The German Settlements in Texas".
Because the Adelsverein's eventual profits from their land grant depended on settling people on it, it was in their best interests to move their people in as effecient a manner as possible from the ships arriving in Galveston to the grant. There were other entrepeneurs with competing grants, among them Henri Castro, who had a small grant south of San Antonio upon which he was settling Alsatian immigrants, for instance. Prince Karl thought it would be better for the Adelsverein to bring their settlers to a port farther east of Galveston, and transport them by wagon to the north, a staging point on the Comal River some 150 miles north. With a couple of ships already unloading Adelsverein immigrants in Galveston, he made a quick purchase of land from the Veremendi family of San Antonio (James Bowie had married a Veremendi daughter by the way) around a series of natural springs known as "The Fountains". This became the town of New Braunfels, which the Prince hoped would serve as a staging area, for settling the main grant of land between the Llano and San Saba rivers, north and west of the Hill Country. He also procured the use of a tract along the coast of Matagorda Bay south of present-day Port Lavaca, to land the Adelsverein settlers. This location was christened Karlshaven, later Indianola. He conducted a small party of the first arrivals from there to New Braunfels. Then, having done all the good and all the damage that he could possibly do, Prince Karl decamped for Europe, pursued by creditors, just as Texas was about to be annexed by the United States, over the strong objections of Mexico. He was replaced as commissioner in Texas by Baron Ottfried Johann von Meusebach, who had trained as a lawyer, civil administrator and forest-manager, and had the sense to first become an American citizen and drop the title, becoming simply John O. Meusebach.
In any case, he had his hands full to overflowing. Prince Karl, as noted, had the business sense of a turnip. He authorized all kinds of expenses, and the accounts were in a hideous mess. War was about to break out with Mexico, shiploads of German settlers were arriving, and pitching up tents on the beach... in the winter. Meusebach was desperatly short of funds and credit, and his contracts to transport them north to New Braunfels fell through. The cartage companies reneged, preferring to work for the US Army, hauling supplies for the war effort.
The landing-site at Indianola became such a hellhole that 500 young men chose to volunteer for service in the US Army, just to get away from it.
Lecture will continue after lunch... any questions so far?

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2007-02-07 11:33|| www.ncobrief.com]">[www.ncobrief.com] 2007-02-07 11:33|| Front Page Top

#10 Why thank you, Sgt Mom. I'll just have me a Shiner Bock in Gruene Hall until you git back.

Posted by Steve">Steve 2007-02-07 11:52|| 2007-02-07 11:52|| Front Page Top

#11 Fascinating, Sgt. Mom. A neat reflection of the shipping of Irish immigrants en masse to the Northeast during the Civil War, it seems. I understand that the character of Cincinnati, Ohio was changed by the large numbers of German immigrants that arrived after the failed democracy initiative in 1848, but I'm not aware that was as organized as this.

Posted by trailing wife 2007-02-07 12:05|| 2007-02-07 12:05|| Front Page Top

#12 Right then... finish up that Shiner, Steve, the afternoon lecture is about to begin. (clears throat, shuffles notes)Continuing with todays Rantburg University History Department lecture "The German Settlements in Texas", part three.
John Meusebach, the Adelsverein's commissioner in Texas had one of the 19th century's biggest bucket o' worms dropped into his lap when he arrived in Texas in mid 1845 to oversee the settlement of German immigrants on the Adelsverein's massive, but ultimatly useless land grant. He had a disease-ravaged tent city/reception center at Karlshaven, on Matagorda Bay, a seriously over-crowded new town/way-station on the Comal River, an empty bank account, a raging war going on between the United States and Mexico... and more chartered immigrant ships on the way... all besides cleaning up the mess, financial and otherwise, left behind by the previous commissioner.
In the crude vernacular, at first he probably didn't know whether to piss or go blind. But John Meusebach was also one of the 19th century's great organizing talents, and in the space of about a year and a half, he had managed to scrounge a letter of credit for sufficient funds to meet urgent expenses, round up enough transport and personnel to start moving settlers up from the coast, and go out on an exploring mission towards the north-west from New Braunfels to survey and map out a second town. While Prince Karl had been more moved by aesthetics, in selecting the site for New Braunfels, John Meusebach was much more practical. He selected a location with good soil, running water, generous stands of fine timber and readily quarried stone, in the Pedernales River valley, and had it marked out in half-acre town lots and larger farm plots up and down the valley. It was expected that settlers would live in town and go out during the day to farm their fields, much as was done in Germany. A train of carts and wagons brought 120 settlers to the site in the spring of 1846. The town was named Fredericksburg, and for the next year more settlers kept pouring in. Epidemics followed the settlers into the new towns: typhus and cholera, mostly. It is not certain how many died on the beach at Karlhaven, or struggling up towards New Braunfels on their own, since many died along the road and were buried uncounted. Estimates range from 800 to perhaps a quarter of the 7,000 immigrants brought in Verein-chartered ships perished during their journey or shortly after arrival.
John Meusebach still had hopes of moving them into the large grant along the Llano and San Saba, and to facilitate this... and to secure the safety of Fredericksburg, he went out in the spring of 1847 with a party of 40 men and a translator to negotiate a peace with the Comanche tribes. Much to the surprise of practically everyone, he managed to pull it off, signing a peace treaty with representatives of a good portion of the Comanche people which basically allowed the German settlers and the Comanche to exchange hospitalities and wander at will in each others' territory... not that many were terribly comfortable doing so. Still, having a large Comanche warrior wander into your kitchen and wander out with a loaf of bread or some other unconsidered trifle was a vast improvement over having him wander out with your scalp, horse, child and anything else he fancied. Still John Meusebach's peace treaty held for ten years, which was probably about as good as could be expected, given that the Comanche were first and formost warrior-raiders.
A very strong German component still remains in the Hill Country, centered around Fredericksburg, and New Braunfels. They were strongly pro-Union during the Civil War, and suffered for it. Until WWI German was the predominent language in that area. A visitor to Fredericksburg in the 1880ies noted that there was only one person in town --- the sheriff--- who understood English.
They are very charming towns, still. And when I finish my novel about it all, and find a publisher for it, the Rantburgers (Rantburgundians?) will be almost the first to know. Should anyone not already be bored into a coma, I have written moore about this at The Daily Brief... just search under the "History" heading for more.

Posted by Sgt. Mom 2007-02-07 16:28|| www.ncobrief.com]">[www.ncobrief.com] 2007-02-07 16:28|| Front Page Top

#13 Very cool, Sgt. Mom. Mr. exJAG and I often drive through Fredicksburg to visit family in New Braunfels, most recently just last month. Having spent many years in Germany now, we're always surprised at how totally German those places still are. Neat!

Posted by exJAG 2007-02-07 17:09|| 2007-02-07 17:09|| Front Page Top

#14 Should anyone not already be bored into a coma,

Coma? You didn't even manage to make me pass out.

About pro-Union Germans they were instrumental in keeping Missouri in Union side. (I hacve been reading about your Civil War).

Posted by JFM">JFM 2007-02-07 17:54|| 2007-02-07 17:54|| Front Page Top

#15 (I hacve been reading about your Civil War).

:>
My man it's not your Civil War... it THE Civil War.

I mean everything we do over here is gargantuan, you should check out our lunatic asylums for instance.....

Posted by Shipman 2007-02-07 18:24|| 2007-02-07 18:24|| Front Page Top

#16 you should check out our lunatic asylums for instance

Or just wait till next year and watch the Democrat National Convention hosted by HRH Nancy Pelosi, the most powerful woman in America.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2007-02-07 18:45|| 2007-02-07 18:45|| Front Page Top

#17 My SIL is from New Braunfels (her mother's a Hillier), and talks about it enthusiastically. Your lecture, Sgt. Mom, is greatly appreciated.

Most people don't know it, but there's also a large German population a couple of dozen miles north of Alexandria, Louisiana, and several places in Colorado. I've answered a couple of emails from the son of our former landlady in Germany about emigrating to Colorado Springs. The Germans are not happy at home - a very unsettling sign. The last time they were this unhappy, some guy named Adolph took over...

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2007-02-07 18:50|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2007-02-07 18:50|| Front Page Top

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