German Texan
| Part of a series on |
| Ethnicity in Texas |
|---|
|
German Texan is both a term to describe immigrants arriving in the Republic of Texas from Germany beginning in the 1830s and an ethnic category which includes their descendants in today's state of Texas. Arriving Germans tended to cluster in ethnic enclaves, a marjority of which spread in a broad, fragmented belt across the south-central part of the state.[2] In 1990, about three million Texans considered themselves at least part ethnic German,[3] a subgroup of German Americans.
History[edit]
Emigration in force began during the period of the Republic of Texas (1836-1846) following the establishment of the Adelsverein (Verein zum Schutze deutscher Einwanderer, the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas) by a group of Germans dedicated to colonizing Texas in the 1800s.[3]
A large portion of the early settlers following statehood were Forty-Eighters, emigres from the Revolutions of 1848 who dispersed into areas of Central Texas. German Texans spoke Texas German (German: Texasdeutsch), a German language dialect.
After a period of ethnic activism during the 1850s, Civil War and Reconstruction, they lived in relative obscurity as teachers, doctors, civil servants, politicians, musicians, farmers, and ranchers.[4] They founded the towns of Bulverde, New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, Walburg, and Comfort in Texas Hill Country, and Schulenburg and Weimar to the east.
German-American cultural institutions in Texas include the Sophienburg Museum in New Braunfels, the Pioneer Museum in Fredericksburg,[5] the Witte-Schmid Haus Museum in Austin County.[6] the German-Texan Heritage Society,[7] and the Texas German Society.[8]
See also[edit]
- List of German Texans
- Texas German
- History of Fredericksburg, Texas
- German immigration to Mexico
- German Palatines
- Pennsylvania Dutch
- History of Germany
- German in the United States
- Immigration to the United States
- List of famous German Americans
- Silesian Americans
- Texas German Dialect Project
References[edit]
- ^ A 10K Walk Through German-Texas Heritage in Austin, Texas. The University of Texas at Austin. 3/6. Retrieved on November 15, 2009.
- ^ Germans from the Handbook of Texas Online
- ^ a b "William Eberling – German Texan". Texas State Cemetery. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
- ^ Forty-Eighters from the Handbook of Texas Online
- ^ "German Texans: Curriculum for Students" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-06-02.
- ^ "Witte-Schmid Haus Museum, "Das Haus"". Texas German Society. Retrieved 2013-06-02.
- ^ German-Texan Heritage Society
- ^ Texas German Society
Further reading[edit]
- Biesele, Rudolph Leopold, The History of the German Settlements in Texas: 1831–1861. 1930, 1964. Reprint, San Marcos: German-Texan Heritage Society, 1987.
- Jordan, Terry G. The German Settlement of Texas after 1865. Southwestern Historical Quarterly. Vol. 73, No. 2, Oct. 1969, pp. 193–212.
- Jordan, Terry G. German Seed in Texas Soil: Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth-Century Texas. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1966, 1975, etc.
- Lich, Glen E. The German Texans. San Antonio: University of Texas at San Antonio Institute of Texan Cultures, 1981; revised, 1996.
- Lonn, Ella Foreigners in the Confederacy. First published in 1940, it remains the only work on the subject, republished February 2002
- The German Texans. San Antonio: University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures at San Antonio, 1970, 1987. (Pamphlet in the "Texians and Texans" series)
External links[edit]
- German-Texan Heritage Society
- Texas German Society
- Wanderlust: From German to Texan, exhibit at the Witte Museum
- "German Texans: Curriculum for Students" (PDF).
- Germanic studies, University of Texas at Austin
- Austin Genealogical Society
- German Texan Families
- German immigration to Texas materials, hosted by the Portal to Texas History
- How Luckenbach, Texas Got Its Name
