Go West Young Germans!

Germans contributed far more to Texas than any other European immigrants.  They came to represent the largest foreign born element in Texas, outnumbering even the Mexicans!

Mainzer Adelsverein was a society for the protection of German immigrants in Texas.  It was organized by a group of German noblemen in 1842, and was largely responsible for the German migration to Texas. 

In 1844, the society published an offer; each single adult who subscribed $120 would receive free passage to Texas and 40 acres; families for $240 got free passage and 80 acres.  The society also would provide houses, livestock, and tools as well as build the public buildings and roads for the settlement.  Pretty good deal, right?

In answer, 180 German families joined the society's leader, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels who had gone to Texas earlier.  The emigrants landed at Galveston in the fall of 1844 to quite a surprise!  The land promised was a remote wilderness, mostly uninhabited except for unfriendly Indians. 

The following spring Prince Carl moved his group to an area NE of San Antonio and set up the town of New Braunfels.  The settlers had to build cabins, plant the first corn crops, keep the Indians at bay, and deal with the savage wind storms accompanied by driving sleet that froze their livestock.  But the settlers survived despite Prince Carl, who was replaced within a year by a more capable Baron Hans von Meusebach. 

Meuseback later led a second group of German settlers to found the settlement at Fredericksburg.  Other German villages grew to the south including Sisterdale, Boerne, and Comfort, to the southeast at Sequin, Victoria, and Indianola. 

Next time...Life on the Raw Texas Frontier
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Today in Pioneer History:  On October 31, 1892,  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle, is published. The book was the first collection of Holmes stories, which Conan Doyle had been publishing in magazines since 1887.