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Saturday, May 2, 2020

Wahrmund Family - Part 2

The Wahrmunds were recorded on a passenger list of the vessel Talisman. The head of the family Johann Christian with children Louis, Susan, and Charles. Johann's wife Wilhelmine is not listed there. Charles was Karl August mentioned above. 

Three of Christian's sons were listed separately

  • Emil Wahrmund (b. 1828) single.
  • Wilhelm Wahrmund (b. 1827) and wife Amalie Schildknecht + son Ludwig. Wilhelm's profession on the passenger list was given as stonemason.
  • Then there is Louis again - a single man of Wiesbaden. That was probably Philip Ludwig Wahrmund (b.1822), the oldest son of Johann's.

What were the full names of Louis and Susana recorded with their father? Most probably they were minors as their brother Karl (Charles). However, I have not found any information about them and what happened to them later. Maybe they died?


WILHELM Daniel Ferdinand WAHRMUND, originally a stonemason, later ran a store (1). He also served as county judge. On 24 Nov. 1885, the judge was assaulted by an angry local teacher who fired two shots aiming at William Wahrmund but did not manage to wound the man. It was all about a case related to voucher approval. The teacher was caught by the sheriff. However, the assailant died shortly after the shooting. Supposedly he took some sort of poison and killed himself (2).

The house of William Wahrmund's still stands in Fredericksburg.




William's wife was Amalie Schildknecht*.

Their children
1. Son Otto married Miss Sophie Nimitz
2. Son Henry married Miss Meta Nimitz
3. Daughter Klara married Mr. Eugene Staffel
4. William Jr. married Miss Elise M. Hopf
5. Christian

 William died suddenly on 20 June 1890. The eulogy placed in a local newspaper, issued in German, describes him as one of the best-known citizens of Fredericksburg, a very popular and generally regarded man. William and his parents were co-founders of Fredericksburg.


Clipping source: Hanschke, Robert. Freie Presse für Texas. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 2484, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 26, 1890, newspaper, June 26, 1890; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1083032/: accessed April 25, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; . 

* Adolphus Schildknecht (b. 1810) of Wiesbaden, his wife Caroline (b. 1805) and children Augustus (b. 1826) and Augusta (b. 1837) came to Texas on Bohemia in 1846 (3,4). Were they Amalie's parents and siblings? 


CARL Heinrich WAHRMUND known as "Emil"

He married Miss Auguste Sander born 20 Sept. 1827 in Braunschweig, Germany. Their marriage took place on 26 Nov. 1847 in Bexar County, Texas (5).  At the time of the marriage, Emil was listed in the records as "Principal".


In 1860, Emil was a farmer and butcher (6), later he was engaged in merchandising (7).
The couple had 3 sons and 4 daughters:
  • Adolph married Miss Elise Schildknecht,
  • Emil Jr. m. Miss Auguste Feller, daughter of Clara and Wilhelm Feller,
  • Louise m. Mr. William Basse,
  • Emma m. Mr. Albert Lee Patton,
  • Mathilde m. Mr. Henry Meckel,
  • Lena m. Mr. Alfred Basse (3).

Emil Sr. was a brother-in-law of Mrs. Clara Keller* whom he helped when the lady was in a critical moment of her life.

Clara was married to Mr. Wilhelm Feller when she was eighteen. The couple bought 200 acres of land from a Mr. Ingram, they paid the man $400, 2 dollars per acre. The land was situated on Dry Creek, 15 miles from Fredericksburg. In 1853, the Feller family moved in. They built a house and cultivated their acres. After 13 years of Clara and William's marriage, William was hanged by the mob for the man's alleged anti-slavery and anti-Nueces massacre attitude. William's wife and children continued their fieldwork although without Mr. Feller's help they obviously had to work much harder. However, they managed to collect a good crop.


At that point, a certain man appeared in the area. He claimed the land the Fellers bought was bought/sold unlawfully as he was its real owner. Mr. Ingram had already moved Texas and nothing else was known about him. The newly come out owner wanted Mrs. Feller to pay him 300 dollars for the property. The lady was not able to pay that so the man took everything - the land, the house, even the crops. Whether he was the real legal owner of the property, it is not known.

Anyhow, Clara and her children were aided by Mr. Emil Sr. who gave her $100 for the past due debt note - the only thing she had had not counting some household items. The note was for less than $100. Mrs. Feller used the money to buy a house in Fredericksburg. The house had a dirt floor only but another brother-in-law, Mr. Louis Wahrmund, helped as well. He gave Clara wooden logs to make a proper floor in the house (2).

Louis Wahrmund mentioned above was Emil's brother Philip Ludwig Friedrich. He was a husband of Clara's sister Susanne.

* Clara Feller nee Ressemann (Ressmann/Roessmann) was born on 12 December 1832 in Heiligenrroth, Amt Montebaur, Nassau, Germany. She traveled from Europe to Indianola on the vessel Strabo together with her parents Johann Peter (age 53), Margarite (55), and siblings Susanne (17), a brother Christian (10), and a half-brother Caspar Ressemann (20).


Emil passed at the age of 74 on Monday, 4 March 1901. The obituary published by Freie Presse für Texas informs that he was born in Wiesbaden and came to Gillespie County, Texas through Galveston and then New Braunfels in 1845. The passenger list of the ship Talisman on which the Wahrmunds traveled to Texas gives 1846 as the year of their arrival in the New World.  Emil was a brother of an ex-judge (William Wahrmund) and an uncle of Otto Wahrmund (who was William's son), the vice president of a brewery in San Antonio.


Hanschke, Robert. Freie Presse für Texas. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 36, No. 5730, Ed. 1 Tuesday, March 5, 1901, newspaper, March 5, 1901; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1085824/: accessed April 25, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .

Emil's wife Amalie lived 83 years. The lady died on 10 February 1910. The obituary which was published in a local German-language newspaper mentions that Amalie came to Texas in 1846, together with her parents. They got to Fredericksburg area through New Braunfels.


Clipping source: Hanschke, Robert. Freie Presse für Texas. (San Antonio, Tex.), Vol. 45, No. 8464, Ed. 1 Saturday, February 12, 1910, newspaper, February 12, 1910; San Antonio, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1086526/: accessed April 25, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .

Both Emil and his wife were survived by a son (Emil), and three daughters (Emma, Louis, and Lena).

The Family branch which leads us to Emil and William Wahrmund


William/Wilhelm Daniel Ferdinand Wahrmund
his brother Emil Wahrmund (b. 3 June 1828, Wiesbaden, Germany/d. 4 March 1901, Texas)
his daughter Mathilde (Wahrmnud) Meckel (b. 20 Feb. 1859/d. 17 Sept. 1913)
her husband of Heinrich Bernard Meckel (b. 16 May 1854, Fredericksburg, Gillespie, TX/d. 16 March 1909, Fredericksburg, TX)
his mother Henriette (Luckenbach) Meckel
her brother Friedrich Wilhelm Luckenbach
his son Louis Carl Luckenbach
his wife Jeannie Katherine Hart
her sister Elizabeth (Hart) Angel
her husband Rufus Monroe Angel - our 3rd cousin once removed
his father James Monroe Angel
his mother Elizabeth Sarah (Gant) Angel
her father Benjamin Thomas Gant
his brother Jacob Rippy Gant - our great-great-grandfather

UPDATE: 

Additional info regarding Mr. Emil Wahrmund

When the Wahrmund family moved to Fredericksburg, Emil, and William Wahrmund stayed in New Braunfels - the brothers worked for the Verein (German emigration company) for 18 months.

Emil was a tall and well-built man. He had dark hair and wore a mustache. Emil's wife Auguste was a good-hearted lady, very good at cooking, sewing and managing the household.

In 1849, Emil + his immediate family moved to the Pedernales area, then to Bear Creek.

At the end of the Civil War, they moved to Fredericksburg. Emil Wahrmund built a store on the town lot which had belonged to his father Johann Christian (he passed in 1868). The porch of the store was next to the house porch. Behind the house, there was also a barn made of rock and a stable.

Emil had freight wagons which were drawn by three pairs of horses. The cargo included lumber, farm utensils, dry goods, groceries, hides, cotton, and grain as well. The farmers, Emil's customers, could buy at his store on credit until the harvest came. Then, the due payment was brought by them to the store in produce. Later, Emil was a contracted freighter for Fort Cosco too. He also ranched and raised Holstein dairy cattle.

The man was an active community member. he participated in various social events organized by the Hermann Sons, Turnverein (gymnastic club), and the Casino (including Sylvester dance/ New Year's Eve with dinner served at midnight). At Easter, he held the family gathering and BBQ at his ranch.

Fifty years after the Wahrmunds arrival in Texas, Emil and his wife went back to the old country for a visit. They brought souvenirs for their grandchildren - girls got garnet jewelry and boys were presented with watches (9).

Emil and Auguste's grave site in the Old Fredericksburg City Cemetery.








Sources:
1. "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFN8-GP5 : 15 July 2017), William Warhmund, Fredericksburg, Gillespie, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district ED 61, sheet 257D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,305. 

2. "German Pioneers in Texas", Don H. Biggers, Gillespie County Edition, Press of the Fredericksburg Publishing Co., 1925.

3."Pioneer in God's Hills. A History of Texas and Gillespie County People and Events." Gillespie County Historical Society. Printed by Boeckman-Jons, Austin, Texas, 1960.

4. "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXLK-G96 : 4 April 2020), Adolphus Schildknecht, Gillespie county, part of, Gillespie, Texas, United States; citing family 27, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). 

5. "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XL83-X66 : 4 November 2017), Emil Wharmund and Augusta Sander, 26 Nov 1847; citing Bexar, Texas, United States, county courthouses, Texas; FHL microfilm 24,917.

6. )"United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXFX-BFT : 18 March 2020), Adolph Wahrmund in entry for Emil Wahrmund, 1860.

7. "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFN8-2KG : 15 July 2017), Emily Wahrmund, Fredericksburg, Gillespie, Texas, United States; citing enumeration district ED 61, sheet 257D, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm 1,255,305.

8. Findagrave.com.

9. "PIONEERS IN GOD'S HILLS" : a History of Fredericksburg and Gillespie County People and Events", Part 1, Gillespie County Historical Society, 1960.