Peter Metzger & Family

Peter Metzger was born on 10 March 1861, north of Fredericksburg.  His birthday is coming soon.

Peter was the second youngest child (the youngest son) of Jakob Metzger and Anna Maria Trumm. Peter's grandparents, Catherine Leyendecker and Friedrich Metzger, were mentioned in the previous post dedicated to Johann Leyendecker. 

Baby Peter was about 17 months old when his father died. Jakob Metzger was a farmer. The man owned 113 acres of land, which he claimed on 24 September 1857 (1).

👉 Census 30 June 1870 - Peter, his mother Anna (age 44), and his siblings were recorded by a Census clerk, Rudolph Runge. They lived in the Fredericksburg Valley, Gillespie County, Post Office Fredericksburg (2). Anna ran the family farm with the help of her children Johann (age 20), Wendelin (age 19), Adam (age 16), Friedrick (age 15), Christian (age 12), Eva (age 7), and 9-year-old Peter. The boy's grandfather Friedrich (age 89) lived with the family as well.

 

 

A few months after the census, on ♦ 9 February 1871, Friedrich Metzger, the patriarch of the Metzger family, passed away.

On 12 February 1874, Peter's eldest brother Johann started his own family and left the family home. Johann's spouse was Elisabeth Kunz (3).

Wendelin, the second eldest brother of Peter, married their sister-in-law, Anna Maria Kunz, on 13 November 1877 (4).
 
When Peter grew up, he continued to help his mother run the farm and earn money to make ends meet. At the age of 17, he hauled hay for his brother (on a wagon with a team of 8 oxen) to Fort McKavitt and Fort Concho.

 

At the age of 24, on 9 September 1885 (5), Peter married Miss Emma Sophie Houy (born on 22 August 1862). She was the daughter of Ernst Houy and Dorothea Mengis.

 

 

Peter and Sophie moved to the Cherry Mountain area. The young man bought 320 acres from his father-in-law and built a log house there. It had two rooms and a dirt floor.

Children were born to the couple:

• Alvin August - born on 4 June 1887 (6),
• Edward - on 9 November 1888 (7),
• Hulda - 23 December 1895 (8),
• Dorothea - 18 October 1899 (9).

👉 Tax Records 1896 - Peter had bought more land (160 acres) from Sophie's father. Those acres were of better quality than the 320 he got previously as the record informs the 160 were worth $500 and the 320 only $400. In that year Peter also paid taxes for 4 horses and 15 head of cattle (10).

Mr. Peter Metzger was a farmer. Besides cattle, he also raised sheep and hogs. His additional job was cleaning out dirt tanks (with a horse and a scraper) for the public.

 

👉 Census - March 1900 - the family was registered during the census in Justice Precinct #4, Gillespie, TX. 80-year-old mother of Sophie, Dorothea Houy, lived with Peter, Sophie, and their children (11).

After about 17 years in the Cherry Mountain area, Peter Metzger sold his land and purchased 640 acres in Mason County, between the Union Community and Fly Gaps. The family moved to the new place on 28 December 1901.

⚭ Alvin August was married in about 1909 to Annie Mary Jung (born on 14 January 1896, Gillespie, TX). She was the daughter of Jacob Rudolph Jung and Maria Hartmann.
⚭ 1909 - Ed (Edward Arnold) was married to Alma Alice Brown (born on 14 May 1890, Mason County, TX), the daughter of Robert Leonardo Brown and Elizabeth Adella Fleming (12).

Sophie's mother, Dorothea, passed on ♦ 19 February 1910.

👉 Census 7/8 May 1910 - Peter Metzger (age 49), his wife Sophia (age 47), and their two daughters, Hulda (age 13), and Dora (age 10) lived in the household in 🏡 Justice Precinct #8, Mason County, TX (13).

After 12 years in Mason County, Peter sold half of his acres to Ernest Leifeste. The sons Alvin and Ed were given 160 acres each. Peter, his wife, and their daughters moved to Fredericksburg.

⚭ 29 December 1913 - 19-year-old Hulda married 27-year-old Mr. Harold Edward Stork (14). He was born on 11 July 1886 in Gillespie, to Adolph Stork and Angelina Markwardt Stork.

 👉 12 January 1920 - another census - Peter, Sophie, and their youngest daughter Dorothea lived in Justice Precinct #1, Gillespie, TX (15).

In the same year, on ⚭ 28 April (16), Dorothea (age 20) married a year older Edward Louis Woerner (born on 23 December 1898). Dotothea's in-laws were Mr. Louis Woerner and Mrs. Kornelia Treibs Woerner.

 

Peter Metzger lived in Fredericksburg with his wife until the day of his passing, which came at 7:05 PM, on ♦ 11 April 1937. The man lived 76 years, 1 month, and 1 day (17). His body was buried at the City Cemetery in Fredericksburg.

Peter's wife Emma Sophie passed about a year later, on ♦ 13 February 1938 (18).

 

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This post is part of our series "They lived in Texas".

Sources:

• "Mason County Historical Book", Mason County Historical Society, Mason County Historical Commission, 1976.  
• Findagrave.com
  

1. Cushing, E. H. The Weekly Telegraph (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 15, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 23, 1863, newspaper, June 23, 1863; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth236238/: accessed February 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.

 2. "United States Census, 1870", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXL5-J5D : Tue Oct 03 23:17:57 UTC 2023), Entry for Anna Metzgar and John Metzgar, 1870.

3. "Texas Marriages, 1837-1973", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FX3B-YXS : 22 January 2020), Johann Metzger, 1874.
4. "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VXGC-K7S : Thu Nov 30 11:49:30 UTC 2023), Entry for Wendelin Metzger and Anna Maria Kunz, 13 Nov 1877.
5. "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK8T-9VBQ : Thu Nov 30 11:52:17 UTC 2023), Entry for Peter Metzger and Sophie Hauy, 09 Sep 1885.
6. "Texas Births and Christenings, 1840-1981", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6P9-SL2 : 13 February 2020), Peter Metzger in entry for Alvin August Metzger, 1887.
7. "Texas Births and Christenings, 1840-1981", , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4LKL-TK6Z : 14 February 2020), Edward Arnold Metzger, 1888.
8. "Texas Births and Christenings, 1840-1981", , FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6PM-74N : 13 February 2020), Peter Metzger in entry for Hulda Emma Metzger, 1895.
9. "Texas Births and Christenings, 1840-1981", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6PM-3Y6 : 13 February 2020), Peter Metzger in entry for Dorathea Metzger, 1899.
10. "Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QJ85-TP7X : Sat Dec 16 08:23:52 UTC 2023), Entry for Peter Metzger, 1896.
11. "United States Census, 1900", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M3GZ-7DB : Fri Oct 06 07:59:37 UTC 2023), Entry for Peter Metzger and Sophia Metzger, 1900.
12. Mason County Marriages
13. "United States Census, 1910", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2QH-Q1K : Fri Oct 06 08:54:35 UTC 2023), Entry for Peter Metzger and Sophia Metzger, 1910.
14. "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK8T-9G2W : Thu Nov 30 02:13:28 UTC 2023), Entry for Harold E. Stork and Hulda E. Metzger, 29 Dec 1914.
15. "United States Census, 1920", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MC9C-SMQ : Thu Dec 07 23:02:58 UTC 2023), Entry for Peter Metzger and Sophie Metzger, 1920.
16. "Texas, County Marriage Index, 1837-1977", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QK8T-95VZ : Thu Nov 30 11:48:02 UTC 2023), Entry for Erwin L. Weerner and Dorothea Metzger, 28 Apr 1920.
17. "Texas Deaths, 1890-1976", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K3H5-2HH : Fri Feb 16 21:35:29 UTC 2024), Entry for Peter Metzger and Jacob Metzger, 11 April 1937.
18. "Texas Death Index, 1903-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZDV-VLB : 24 May 2014), Emma Sophie Metzger, 13 Feb 1938; from "Texas, Death Index, 1903-2000," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2006); citing certificate number 7623, Gillespie, Texas, Texas Department of Health, State Vital Statistics Unit, Austin. 

 

Photos: August 2020