Feller Family

Johann Philipp Feller was born in Dillenburg, Germany on 24 August 1775 in the family of Johann Heinrich Feller (b. 1740/d. 1794) who was a master tanner, and Friedericke Blum (b. 1751/d. 1787).
Johann Philipp - when he grew up - worked as a tanner, probably with his father. In 1795 he joined his brother Karl who had emigrated to England earlier. Karl lived and worked in London. Johann became a shoemaker and also a brewer.

In 1812, the man married Miss Maria Badland, the daughter of Thomas Badland. Maria was younger than her spouse, she was born about 1790/95 in Preston, England. Three of the couple's children were born in England as well:
Marie (b. 5 May 1812, Preston, England),d. 24 March 1848
Philipp (b. 12 March 1816, London),
Heinrich (b. 1 June 1818, London).

In 1819, the family came back to Dillenburg. Johann worked as a tanner again, later he was a miner in Nanzebach.

On 22 August 1821, the fourth child was born to the family. The son's name was August Valentin Heinrich Philipp Martin. In the same year, on 31 October, little Heinrich, who was about 3, died.

1823
Karl Heinrich, the fourth son of Johann and Marie's, was born on 4 Dec.

1826
Wilhelm Philipp was born on 5 Feb.

1831
Christian Karl, the seventh child and the youngest son was born on 4 March.

1835 

Tragedy struck - Johann Philipp, the father of the family passed on 23 Oct. Was his death related to the job he was doing? Very likely. The miner's work was very dangerous, however, a bit better paid than a day-laborer's.

1836
5 June - the Fellers celebrate the marriage of Marie, 24-year-old bride. Her broom was Jost Heinrich Stahl, a tanner of Mademühlen. He was born in 1803 (d. 1875).

1843
Philipp who worked as a joiner and day laborer passed away on 15 April.

The economic situation of the people in the Dillenburg area worsened with the potato famine, trade downfall, skilled labor market collapsed, and skyrocketing prices of food with the lowering labor pays.
Mrs. Maria Feller and her children must have struggled as well. 

1844

Another family tragedy - Christian Karl - the youngest son - died on 22 June.

 

Maria and her two youngest sons Karl Heinrich and Wilhelm Philipp decided to emigrate to Texas. They traveled on the ship Arminius in 1845.

Later in the same year, on 2 November, August who worked as a gentleman's tailor in the town of Dillenburg, married Miss Auguste Lepper (b. 19 April 1822). She was the daughter of Herr Friedrich Lepper (b. 1779/d. 1845) and Frau Marie Johannette Klauer (b. 1787/d. 1855).

The belongings and land of the widow of Mr. Heinrich Feller and his grown-up children were sold at an auction held in Dillenburg, Germany on Thursday, 19 March 1846.

In Texas, Karl Heinrich became Charles Henry and Wilhelm became William.

According to one source (1) Charles got married on 20 Jan. 1850 to Miss Sophia Jung (b. 1825) of Niederossbach, Westerwald, the daughter of Mr. Johann Martin Jung and Maria Betz.

In 1850, the family of Charles and Sophia Feller was registered during the census. They lived in the Pedernales settlement in Gillespie county together with their children Lora (b.1848), Charles (b. 1850), brother William, and Miss Susana Rump, age 16, who was a laborer (2).

 

The death certificate of (3) Charles Feller, the son of Chas and Sophie's, shows that he was born on 20 Jan. 1850. If the information regarding Karl and Sophie's marriage is correct, the two got married on the very same day.

Sophie and Karl had at least three more children (4) Mathilda (b. 6 August 1861), (5) Thomas (b. 9 May 1857), and (6) Franziska (b. 24 August 1863).

On 1 January 1851 Maria Feller, the mother, remarried. Her second husband was James S King. Maria passed in about 1853.

Charles remarried after Sophie's death (which came on 29 August 1865). The family lived on Bear Creek then. The second wife was Maria Magdalene Markwordt nee Hoffmann. She had been widowed by Mr. Heinrich Markwordt. The marriage of Charles and Maria's took place on 19 August 1867 (7).

Children born to the couple were (8) Oswald C (b. 15 April 1872), (9) Alice (b. 12 March 1874), (10) Cornelia (b. 27 January 1878) and (11) Olfen A (b. 1870).

Charles was Justice of the Peace and a Tax-collector, and Gillespie county commissioner from 1872-1874 (12). The man died on 18 Feb 1899 on Bear Creek.

Before his emigration to Texas, William Feller was a brewer and innkeeper in Dillenburg. In Texas -William became a farmer. He was also Justice of the Peace (county commissioner). At first, the man lived in the Fredericksburg area, later, around 1860, moved to Cave Creek.

Wilhelm Philipp married Miss Clara Ressemann from Heiligenroth in 1851. Clara was born 12 Dec. 1832/d. 27 Feb. 1930 in Fredericksburg. I wrote about them more in the article dedicated to the Wahrmund family - to whom Wilhelm and Clara were related.

The 1860 census data (13) informs that William, Clara, and their children Mary (b. 10 August 1851), Auguste (b. 1 August 1853), Clara (b. 6 August 1855), Emma (b. 1 April 1857), and Rosa (b. 1859) lived in Precinct #4, Gillespie County, Texas. August Hoffman, a wagoner, age 17 (born in Prussia) lived with the family (13, 14, 15).

 William and Clara Feller had also twins - a girl (Louise) and a boy (Herman) - born on 3 August 1861.

During the Civil War William and some of his neighbors were killed by the mob, so-called "Hängerbande" (16).

 

Wilhelm Feller met death on 9 March 1864. He was 38 years old. The man's body was buried at the city cemetery in Fredericksburg, TX.

The Feller family was related (among others) to the Wahrmunds, Meckels and Luckenbachs. The Luckenbach line leads in the family tree to Mr. Rufus Monroe Angel, our 3rd cousin once removed.

UPDATE:

Karl and Sophie had ten children (one died young): Charles, Thomas, Willie, Lora, Emelia, Francisca, Carlena (married Louis Herbort), Sophie (married Mr. Jenschke), Mathilda (married August Herbort).

Maria Markwordt, the second wife of Karl's, had five children from her first marriage (to Heinrich Markwordt). They were Berthold, Sarah, Ottilie, Amanda, and Angelia.

Karl and Maria's children were Emil, Hugo, Oswald, Alice (married John Warterbach), Cornelia (married John Warterbach), and Martina.

Karl had seventeen children and five step children.

Doing the tax assessor and collector's duties, Karl rode from one farm to another on a white horse. He carried documents and the money in two saddlebags. The man had to deliver the money to the bank in Austin as there was no bank in Fredericksburg where he lived and worked. Karl most often traveled to Austin accompanied by his friend Mr. Haman Klein. For safety reasons they first rode to a certain point and checked the area. If everything seemed to be alright, they rode fast  ahead. Such a trip always took a few days. The men spent the nights then, sleeping hidden in a dense thicket (17).

---

More about that family line in

Konrad Meckel and Henriette Luckenbach

Wahrmund Family - part 2 

Resources: 

Many thanks to Ms. Ursula Hatzfeld for her book "From Dillenburg to Texas."

1. "From Dillenburg to Texas. Emigration in the District of Dillenburg from 1845 to 1846" Ursula Hatzfeld, translated by Henry Salzhandler, El Gritodel Lobo Press, 2015.

2. "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXLK-GSJ : 4 April 2020), Charles Feller, Gillespie county, part of, Gillespie, Texas, United States; citing family 34, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

3. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3WK-SSV : 13 March 2018), Chas Feller, 10 Jul 1911; citing certificate number 15672, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,050,487.

4. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3MV-PWD : 13 March 2018), Carl Feller in entry for Mathilda Herbort, 01 Jan 1940; citing certificate number 2320, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,118,469.

5. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3Z7-TKZ : 13 March 2018), Chas Feller in entry for Thomas Feller, 13 Jan 1924; citing certificate number 1568, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,075,023.

6."Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K363-VQX : 13 March 2018), Carl Feller in entry for Franziska Herbort, 12 Jul 1949; citing certificate number 41105, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,223,522.

7. "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VXGC-V5Y : 22 December 2016), Charles Feller and Marge Magdalene Markwords, 19 Aug 1867; citing Gillespie, Texas, United States, county courthouses, Texas; FHL microfilm 982,801.8. 

8. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3XD-1YX : 13 March 2018), Charles Feller in entry for Oswald C Feller, 27 Jul 1962; citing certificate number 40372, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,117,022.

9. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3XD-886 : 13 March 2018), Charles Feller in entry for Alice Wartenbach, 26 Feb 1962; citing certificate number 18164, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,116,967.10. 

10. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3Q1-74W : 13 March 2018), Charles Feller in entry for Cornelia Wartenbach, 27 Mar 1953; citing certificate number 15342, State Registrar Office, Austin; FHL microfilm 2,113,849.

11. findagrave.com

12. Biggers, Don Hampton, 1869-1957. German Pioneers in Texas; A Brief History of Their Hardships, Struggles and Achievements, book, 1925; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29394/: accessed October 5, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas at Arlington Library.

13. "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXFX-GZ2 : 18 March 2020), William Feller, 1860.

14. "Texas Deaths and Burials, 1903-1973", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6TD-S2X : 13 February 2020), William Feller in entry for Mrs. Auguste Wahrmund, 1944. 

15. findagrave.com

16. The Weekly State Gazette. (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 15, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, March 23, 1864, newspaper, March 23, 1864; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth181540/: accessed October 7, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.  

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

My own MyHeritage research