Essays
Moseying: History of the Southern Llano Estacado
German settlement in west Texas
October 20, 2004
Deborah and I were not the only Midlanders in St. Lawrence on October 3rd buying sausage at its fall festival. We ran into several people we knew. As is our wont, Deborah and I strolled through the graveyard behind the Catholic Church, where we found that over half of the names were of German heritage (the rest were mostly of Mexican heritage). By the vagaries of circumstance, this year we have found ourselves in three different small farming communities (St. Lawrence, Nazareth, and Windthorst) in western Texas that are predominately German.
In the 1830s to 1860s Germany many people felt oppressed by mandatory drafts, no freedom of the press, and other repressive strictures on life and moved to “the free land” of Texas. In the 1840s the “Verein” (this is the shorthand version name of a colonizing group) received four million acres of the Fisher-Miller grant, which stretched from the modern day towns of New Braunfels to Menard and to near Kerrville.
So many Germans came to Texas that now people of German heritage make up the third largest ethnic group in the state. The influence of this German heritage is a major factor in the popularity of Fredericksburg and New Braunfels as tourist destinations. The small farming communities that Deborah and I have visited reveal the underlying principles and lifeways that make these larger towns so appealing.
A sense of “pride of place” is announced in the wonderful church buildings, the neatness of the homes and fields, and in the festivals celebrated in Windthorst and Nazareth. St. Lawrence is a “community of farms” spread out over the plateau between the northern and central drainages of the Concho River, so it does not have a “village” aspect as the other two do. The children of St. Lawrence go to school in Garden City, and the few businesses located in Glasscock County are there as well.
The St. Lawrence farming district was not settled until after World War II. A large group of veterans raised in the area around Wall (east of San Angelo), could not afford the land of “Lipan Flat” (the bottomlands below the confluence of the three forks of the Concho River) where their parents had settled in the 1920s, but found that some ranchers were willing to sell their land in Glasscock County. The families that moved to St. Lawrence have settled in surrounding areas as well. In an essay in “Elmer Kelton Country,” Kelton reports that some of the farmers at Midkiff and Coyanosa are the sons and grandsons of the St. Lawrence settlers.
Windthorst, Umbarger, Nazareth, and Slaton were settled earlier by other German settlers. These settlements were led by priests of the Catholic Church. Stanton was originally Marienfield, and was begun by German Carmelite monks. Windthorst was settled in 1891, and Nazareth in 1902. Some of these settlements have not survived, such as Mt. Carmel, west of Wichita Falls which was settled in 1906, but its church and town buildings were sold in 1966.
Most have persevered, however. Nazareth, for example, nearly became a ghost town in the years of the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, but regained population during World War II. Nazareth is a good example of the strong community sense that permeates the ethics of the agrarian German. In a town of less than 400, cultural events happen almost on a weekly basis. Musicians, storytellers, artists, and lecturers on many varied subjects have graced the Mercantile in Nazareth. Nazareth native Darryl Birkenfield, a former Catholic priest, who has spent his life promoting community development, has taken this sense of community to even a larger scale.
Birkenfield started Ogalalla Commons, seeking to unite the citizens of the Ogalalla Aquifer from Colorado to Texas. He promotes seminars, festivals, and academic gatherings that celebrate or investigate the shared resources of the region. Some of the gatherings have focused on such subjects as water, playa lakes, renewable energy, and the arts of the Ogalalla Commons.
Don Biggers writes “out of German immigration Texas received many of its greatest physicians, writers, musicians, artists and mechanics, as well as some of the world’s greatest farmers. Their towns, homes, farms reflect the embodiment of system, thoroughness, and energy. The Germans are independent and sensitive, but they are not people of high prejudice. They have a high standard of honor, hate deception, and carry frankness to an extreme. In the early days of their settlement, they had a radical progressiveness far ahead of the times. It is no uncommon thing to find even the third or fourth generation of Germans living in the same community.”
Respect for the endeavors of the mind among the German immigrants is exemplified by some of the Llano River settlements in the 1850’s. Learned people all, they decided to make Latin their official language, but their utopian goals were defeated by drought – most of those settlers ended up in New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. The greatest botanist of early Texas, Ferdinand Lindheimer, lived in New Braunfels, where today a visitor can tour his house, and learn more about his connections to the western world’s scientific community of the mid 1800s.
Like the Hispanic settlers, the German settlers also have had to endure vicious prejudice. During World War I, German-Americans were forced from some towns (in Runnels County, for example.) Around Mason, conflicts between Anglo Americans and German Americans resulted in the “Hoo-doo War” in the latter part of the 1800s. Many German-Americans honor their heritage by learning the German language, and it is still used in some of the communities. They were castigated and maligned for honoring their heritage and continuing to speak the language of their ancestors, just as have the Mexican-Americans.
As we nibbled on some of the home prepared treats we purchased at St. Lawrence, and listened to the accordion music of polkas, schottisches, and waltzes of both German and Tejano styles, I realized that those European ethics and lifeways have been successfully transplanted to the Texas countryside. I also reflected on the similarities between the German festivals and Hispanic fiestas. Tejano culture is intricately intertwined with German influences – from the accordion music to the robust beers to the strong family relationships to the shared devout Catholic spirituality.
American travelers in Europe often comment about the timeless, enduring, solid, and civilized aspect of the European countryside. I have heard versions of the following from a number of people: “Those people know how to live! They love life. Everything they do is done with pride and care, and is built to last. They know who they are.” As I enjoyed the food and music in St. Lawrence, I felt the same about people I have met this year in west Texas German communities.