•?; UNIVERSITYy^ PENNSYLVANIA LIBRARIES <4 (5crman Qmcrican Ctnnals CONTINUATION OF THE QUARTERLY AMERICANA GERMANICA A BI-MONTHLY DEVOTED TO THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE * Historical. Literary, Linguistic, Educational and Commercial Relations OF Germany and America ORGAN OF The German American Historical Society The National German American Alliance The Union of Old German Students in Atnerica EDITOR, MARION DEXTER LEARNED, University of Pennsylvania. CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: H C. G. Brandt, Julius Goebel, Hamilton College. University of Illinois. W. H. Carpenter, J. T. Hatfield, Columbia University. Northwestern University. W. H. Carruth, W. T. Hevvett, University of Kansas. Cornell University. Hermann Collitz, A. R. HOHLFELD, Johns Hopkins University. University of Wisconsin. Starr W. Cutting, Hugo K. Schilling, University of Chicago. University of California. Daniel K. Dodge. H. Schmidt-Wartenberg, University of Illinois. University of Chicago. A. B. Faust, Hermann Schoenfeld, Cornell University. Columbian University. KuNO Francke, Calvin Thomas, Harvard University. Columbia University. Adolph Gerber, H. S. White, Late of Earlham College. Harvard University. Henry Wood, Johns Hopkins University. New Series, Vol, 7. 1909. Old Series, Vol. 11. published by THE GERMAN AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY E. M. Fogel, Business Manager, Box 39, College Hall, University of Pennsylvania IPbUaDelpbia. 3iSerlin : IRew l^orft : Xcfp3ia : MAYER & MOLLER CARL A. STERN F. A. BROCKHAUS XonOon : IPads ; KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TROBNER & CO., Ltd. H. LeSOUDIER CONTENTS OF GERMAN AMERICAN ANNALS Continuation of the Quarterly Americana Germanica. New Series, Vol. 7. Old Series, Vol. 10. 1909. Pages Community at Bethel, Mo., The 257, 306 Deiler, J. H., Eine Wiirdigung 277 Germans in Texas, The 3. I03» 164, 208, 235, 283 Settlement of the German Coast of Louisiana, The .34, 67, 123, 179 Vereinigung Alter Deutscher Studenten in Amerika, Philadel- phia Zweig 280 PUBLISHED BY THE GERMAN AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY E. M. FoGEL, Secretary, Box 39, College Hall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Leipzig : Berlin : New York : MAYER & AliJLLER CARL A. STERN F. A. BROCKHAUS Paris : London : KEGAN, PAUL, TRtJBNER & CO., Ltd. H. LeSOUDIER J^^^t^'X (5crman Qm^rican Ctnnals CONTINUATION OF THE QUARTERLY AMERICANA GERMANICA New Series, January and February Old Series, Vol. VII. No. I. 1909. Vol. XI. No. I, GERMANS IN TEXAS. By Gilbert G. Benjamin, Ph. D. CHAPTER III. The Society of German Princes and Nobles Formed for THE Purpose of Aiding Germans to Settle in Texas. Its Aims. Its Influence on German Immigration. It has been previously shown that before the forties many Germans had already settled in Texas. With the early forties immigration to Texas began in great numbers. One year the number landing in Galveston is stated as 8,000;^ and in three months alone 4,020 Germans landed at that port. The motives which enticed such a number of immigrants to choose Texas for their home; the influences which brought about emigration en masse ; the character of the emigrants themselves—their rank and position ; the many sad instances resulting from such an immense immigration : these make the story one of as absorbing interest as the undertaking in itself was novel. Of all the colonial experi- ments attempted in this country, probably none had such a peculiar history as the one about to be told. The story in brief accounts has been told by many a Gemian traveller and by as many more who never even saw the shores of America.^ The accounts in ^ Cf . supra, Ch. I, p. 2. ' Soergel in his work, Neueste Nachrkhtcn aus Texas, Eislehen, 1847, says that the author of the work entitled, Texas Rathgcber fiir Auswandercr von Kuno Damian Schuts, Vereinsbeamten in Neu braunfels, Weisbaden, 1846, had never set foot in Texas. Others could be mentioned. (3) 4 Germans in Texas English have been meagre, and of only brief mention. Those deserving special notice are Olmstead, "Texas Journeys"; an arti- cle in Tait's Edinburgh Magazine for 1848, and an article by Fer- dinand Kapp in the New York Tribune, January 20, 1855. The story is also interesting because it shows what an important part literature played in inducing the Germans to immigrate. As the colonists in the early Colonial period were induced by the de- scriptions of life in America, as one dramatist of the time said, that "all the streets were of massy gold," so the colored pictures of life in Texas, the freedom of the inhabitant, led thousands to settle in Texas. The influence of Duden's work has been told in a previous chapter. It is also interesting to note that among the first German settlers, the one who probably was the first to bring his family to Texas was incited to emigrate to America after having read that book. His pictures in turn brought other immi- grants. The Texan revolution, with its many thrilling stories, the struggle of a handful of hardy settlers against tyranny and religious oppression; the dramatic accounts of "the Alamo", of "Goliad" and "San Jacinto" became known throughout the read- ing public, not only of this country, but of Europe also. Many of those partaking in its engagements were Germans. These may have sent letters home, and in this way had an influence on im- migration. Be tliis as it may, one writer's influence was particu- larly strong. This was the anonymous writer Sealsfield. His real name was Carl Postl. He was born March 3, 1793, in the village of Poppitz, Austria, and died in Switzerland in 1864. His father was mayor and justice of the town. He himself be- came secretary of the Kreuzherren von Poeltenberg in 18 16. On account of trouble, he fled in 1823 to the United States. He travelled extensively in this country, and is supposed to have l)een a plantation owner in Louisiana. He became a most pro- lific writer. His descriptive powers were uncommon; his knowl- edge of life and character of every kind exceptional. "His his- torical novels are based on original research; his tales of the present time give us the fruit of his own observation and personal experience, beyond which the author had no desire to go."^ It " Faust, Sealsfield, p. 43. : Germans in Texas 5 is stated that "in the fortress of the Bund at Mainz some offi- cers and nobles whiled away the time by reading. Among the works was that of the latest romance, "The Cabin Book" of the beloved writer, Sealsfield, which caused a furore in all circles of Germany.^ Bracht mentions his work among those worthy of mention regarding Texas.^ Kapp says that the Society of Nobles was influenced by the fact that Prince zu Leiningen had read during a sickness many works praising Texas.^ That Seals- field's novels were among these is very probable. In 1837 ^^P" peared his work, "Nathan the Squatter ; or, the First American in Texas. "^ His descriptions of pioneer life are picturesque in the extreme, and some of them are almost idyllic. It is not to be marvelled at that they aroused a spirit of adventure in "the young Germans" of that time, who, to use the expression then current, were Europamiide. He gives idyllic scenes of life in the then thinly populated territory of Texas. Here is a description of scenery that must have been novel to his German readers "The colony * * * extended from southeast to north- west along the summit of a ridge about fifteen miles in length, ris- ing about seventy feet from the river on the southern side, and gradually sloping away to the prairie on the north. On the level summit of the ridge were situated the plantations of the wealthier members of society; and a more beautiful, or more favorable set tlement you could not imagine. On one side lay what are called clearing lands, from which the primitive forest had just been re- moved—on the other, immense prairies with the tall grass waving about the heads of the browsing cattle, and horses who were pulling and tumbling against each other like rolling stones ; the sound of tinkling cow-bells came to our ears on the gentle breeze ; and in the far blue distance, a thick fog was seen glimmering in the sun- beams through every opening of the vast forest. The whole scene was buried in the profoundest silence—save only the tinkling cow- bells, and occasionally the heavy blast of the sea-shell calling the * Rosenberg, Kritik, Austin, 1894, p. 13. Rosenberg was an early settler of Texas. His uncle was the Rosenberg mentioned above. "Bracht, Texas im Jahre 1848, 1849, p. 308; also cf. Gottschall, Rudolf, Die Deutsche National Litcratur dcs Neunschntcn Jahrhimdcrts. Article on "Sealsfield and the Ethnographische Roman or Exotische Culturroman." *Kapp, Aus und Ubcr Amerika, Pt. II, p. 247. ''Nathan, der Squatter Regulator, odcr dcr erste Amerikaner in Texas. Zurich, 1837; translated into English. Life in the New World. Translated by Hebbe and Mackay. New York, J. Winchester, 1844, Part 5. ; 6 Germans in Texas workmen home from the fields. There was something charming and irresistible in the landscape. We paused * * * after hav- ing contemplated the magnificent scene for several minutes in silence. * * * "Here these once magnificent trees—the best adapted for ship timbers of any in the world—were burned solely for their ashes. In France, a single one of these trunks would have sold for a thou- sand livres.® * * * "With the wreck of our fortune, as little as it was competent to support us at home, here it was amply sufficient to gratify every wish of the heart—here I could prepare a home for my betrothed far from the injuries and storms of the world. If the French, the Spanish and the Germans, with far less means, had succeeded in this country, and placed themselves on an equality with the wealthi- est in the land, surely I could do the same.