New Braunfels Founded by German Colonists
Written by H. W. Baylor, San Antonio, Texas
from Vol. 6, No. 9, Frontier Times, June, 1929

Much credit is due the type of early settlers that came to this country to make their home in the wilderness of the frontier then existing. One is always thrilled by narratives alluding to the settlement of our country and the hardships and privations that confronted them and they had to overcome. Interesting indeed is the early history of New Braunfels and the causes that led up to its settlement in Texas. Nothing compares in pathos and human interest with the story of the movement which, beginning in the Fatherland in 1842, at a meeting of noblemen, eventuated in the foundation of New Braunfels and Fredericksburg, and other scattering German settlements northwest of these two points.

In this aristocratic enterprise the moving spirits were the Count of Castell, who was the active head in Germany, and Counts Bass-Waldeck and Leiningen. The latter noblemen made a preliminary visit to Texas for the purpose of securing land for colonization purposes, and Count Bass-Waldeck bought a tract in Fayette county, which he placed in cultivation with the aid of negro slaves while Count Leiningen failed to get concessions from th Texas Government such as he thought necessary, and left empty handed. The general policy of the Texas Government at that time was liberal enough to have made the colonization movement which followed success from the start, instead of the disaster which developed, had these representatives of the association had the judgement and foresight which was shown by other colonization enterprises.

Of the more than five thousand persons who landed at Galveston from the emmigrant ships between the time of the arrival of the Johann Dethard on November 23, 1844, and the end of April, 1846, it is said that not more than 1,500 found homes in the promised land.

Whether the German League of Nobility, which stood sponsor for the emmigration movement which resulted in the settlement of New Braunfels and Comal county had ulterior motives as inspirations for its ill-considered and hopelessly mismanaged activities; whether Prince Solms-Braunfels was acting in the interest of his royal cousin, Queen Victoria of England, or was simply seeking an outlet for his superabundant though untrained energies; in fact, the question of whether the Mainzer Adelsverein was organized for the purpose of establishing in the Republic of Texas a German buffer state to halt further expansion southward of growing American power, and the extension of slave territory, as has been frequently charged, may never be settled to the satisfaction of the historians. However, the fact is apparent that the group of princes and moblemen of who comprised the Mainzer Adelsverein imposed on thousands of unfortunate Germans who responded to their glittering prospectus and put their little savings, and entrusted their persons, their families and their movable property the tender mercies of the Association for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas. The history of the operation of the Adelsverein, as the association was popularly called, is filled with a chain of blunders, indicating ignorance of the dictates of business prudence and good judgement.

Upon the arrival in Galveston the immigrants were transported to the mainland at a port which was called Carlshafen by Price Solms, and after a short stay here were moved to Chocolate Bayou where they were kept for several days and then moved farther inland to a point in the vicinity of the present town of Victoria.

This delay was occasioned by the fact that the Bourgeois land purchased proved fraudulent, and it became necessary to make some other provisions for carrying out the contract of the association to deliver these immigrants upon tracts of land to which title could be given. It must be remembered that upon the flimsy foundation of the Bourgeois contract, the association had advertised by circular to furnish transportation to a Texas home, to furnish subsistance for all who joined in the party until a crop could be made upon the land, and to give title facts of 180 acres to each single man and 360 acres acres to each head of every family. With this understanding $120 had been collected from each single man applying and $240 from each head of a family.

The estimate made of the cost of carrying out these contracts woefully inadequate, and the burden of this blunder fell upon the unfortunate immigrants who in many cases were left to their own resources and suffered terribly in consequence.

The first consignment of immigrants fared somewhat better than those who followed later, because of the presence with them of Prince Solms-Braunfels commissioner general of the Adelsverein, who was able measurably to mitigate the hardships occasioned by the blunder of the parent organization. Going ahead of the caravan of immigrants, Prince Solms visited San Antonio, where he was told of Las Fontanas at the head waters of the Comal, and immediately visited the place where all that had been told of its beauty and desirability as a place of rest for the immigrants was found to be short of the truth, and he quickly closed negotiations with a man named Garza whose wife was a daughter of a former governor of Texas under Mexican jurisdiction, Veramandi. Becoming possessed, thus of a small tract of land, the course of the immigrant caravan was directed thither; and the first wagon crossed the Guadalupe on Good Friday, March 21, 1845.

The new settlement was named New Braunfels, in honor of the ancestral castle of Prince Solms. Half an acre was given to each family for a home on the level tract which was set aside for the town, and ten acres were likewise deeded to each family of the outside acreage acquired, for a plot upon which to raise simple supplies of food products.

Prince Solms tired of the unique experience after tem months and left.

The affairs of the colony were left in absolute confusion, the funds of the association were exhausted, and little had been done toward a permanent settlement, principally because it was understood that New Braunfels was but a way-station. Baron von Meusebach was appointed commissioner-general of the association to succeed Prince Solms.

The most conservative statement of the occurence is that of the 5,247 persons who reached Galveston, 1,000 were left at Indian Point and on the road to New Braunfels, 500 returned to Germany, 500 enlisted in the U. S. Army under Colonel Buchel for the war with Mexico, 250 lost their lives at Indian Point, of fever and exposure, 100, on the road to the settlements and 100 died of fever after reaching New Braunfels.

The Mexican War, which was entered upon by the United States just before the arrival of these immigrants, accentuated the troubles of the immigrants, as agents of the government bought all the horses and wagons available in Texas for the transportation of troops.

It was a case of the survival of the fittiest and thus it is that those who finally reached their destination were especially fitted to win success in the undertaking of wrestling a living and a competency out of the soil of their new country. The newcomers were about equally divided between New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. Despairing of proper consideration of his representations made to the officers of the Association, Baron von Meusebach caused to be written and published in German papers a statement of the situation, which did not gloss over the short-comings of the Association, and gave a graphic description of the horrors of the trail from the coast to the settlements. This caused such a stir that the attention of the Government was called to the matter, and an investigation being imminent, a credit of $60,000 was opened for von Meusebach.

Upon this slender foundation, notwithstanding the discouraging shortcomings of the promoters the sturdy Germans, by energy, pluck and untiring industry, have built a community where no signs of poverty are to be seen, and where prosperity is written large in the portion of a large proportion of the population. The little rude huts then erected have been replaced by handsome residences, and the small farms staked out and put under cultivation have been extended along the fertile valley, the hills surrounding have been acquired for pasturage or for the wealth of limestone they contain, and New Braunfels and Comal Co., have been made the beauty spot of Texas.