Zion

A small group of the first settlers in the Fredericksburg area was of Lutheran faith. Their first religious leader was to be a minister invited by Mr. Schumacher. The man by the name of Schneider, who had lived in Victoria, TX appeared to be a Methodist. The minister must have been really convincing. Despite the fact that there were no Methodists in the colony, he encouraged the settlers to organize a Methodist congregation there (1849). 

 

The Lutherans taught their kids religion at their homes until 1850 when the first Lutheran ministers came to Texas. A year later, more missionaries arrived. In December of that year, the first Lutheran Synod took place in Houston, TX.

The Lutherans of the Fredericksburg colony applied to the Synod and asked for a religious leader. As a result of that, a missionary from San Antonio came to Gillespie County in August 1852. His name was Rev. Ziezelmann. 

The Lutheran congregation at that time consisted of six families. Soon, others joined them.

13 January 1853 - Zion Lutheran Church - the first Lutheran church of Gillespie County - was organized by 15 families and their spiritual leader Pastor Ziezelman.  The first church elders were G Roehrig, W Reider, D Rode, and FW Schumacher.

A site on which the church building would be constructed was chosen and a lot was purchased from Mr. Jacob Harth was purchased for $45. The members of the congregation (which grew to 28 families) and the pastor worked on the construction site. To obtain money for the building materials, they hauled corn and sweet potatoes to the market situated 300 miles away, by the ocean coast.

Not long after the construction was completed, Rev. Ziezelmann and his bride celebrated their wedding in the new-built church on 1 January 1855.

The very first parsonage built by the church was a two-room log cabin. 1878 - the cabin was replaced with a stone house. 1922 - the parsonage was enlarged and rebuilt.

The early pastors of the Zion church, besides Rev. Ziezelmann, were Rev. Bohnenberger, Schumacher (during the times of the Civil War), Holzinger, Gossweiler, Merz, Weiss, Fiedler, Glatzle (served for 27 years), and FA Bracher (since 1917).

Rev. Fiedler has already been mentioned in the previous post. I am going to write here about other ministers of Zion, too.

Source: "German Pioneers in Texas; A Brief History of Their Hardships, Struggles, and Achievements" compiled by Don H Briggs, Gillespie County Edition, Press of the Fredericksburg Publishing Co., 1925.

Photos: Zion Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, TX. Perfect skies and great weather in the forecast for the week  (taken April 2021). 

May 2022

I have not done a monthly summary for some time. May was so busy and eventful that I decided to make a post to sum it all up.

Maifest - the Spring Fest with the German Choirs of Fbg, TX.

 

 

175th Anniversary of day when the first European settlers came to the town area - anniversary weekend.

• Lasting Friendship (between the settlers and the Comanche Indians of the area) ceremony.
  

After the official part we enjoyed the lunched sponsored by the local State Fair Council, live music by a country and western band, and the fireworks.

 

• The Peace Treaty - the original document - signed in 1847 by the settlers and the Comanche chiefs was on display at the Nimitz Museum.
  

• Next day, Comanche Indians of Oklahoma presented their traditional dances. 

The last dance was also a community dance.

 

• History of the Lutheran church - exhibition

The display was quite interesting - the collection of items related to the Lutheran religion and the local Lutheran churches. Some of the items (such as a Bible printed in the 1700s) were very old. It was quite cool to see them.

1736 Luther Bible translation

• A few days later - Open day at the Meusebach Historic school was not what we had expected. 

We went there to learn something about the school itself, their first teachers, students, and so on. What we found there was a book presentation (by its author) not related to the school history at all. However, we met some nice people there including acquaintances of ours.

 

• Music concert - pianist and virtuoso Doug Montgomery gave quite a long and very enjoyable show. 

 

• Summertime dance night in the park came back in May as well.

 

We (and other people as well) danced a lot and had a very good time.

 

And I danced schottische for the first time - it is a kind of polka which originates in Bohemia.

 

 

What was your May like?

 Credits:

Schottische played by Rocky King Band

"Messiah" Christmas Concert

On Sunday, we enjoyed the music by Handel. "Messiah" was presented by the Fredericksburg United Methodist Church and Fredericksburg Chorale. The concert  at the United Methodist Church was truly splendid. We had never had such premium seats and never sat so very close to the orchestra. The concert at the United Methodist Church was truly splendid, and it added greatly to this year's Christmas spirit!

The shaky part in the video is the moment when all the audience was standing up. 

 

Painted Church in High Hill, TX

The church was established in 1860. The first church service was held in High Hill by Rev. Victor Gury of Fredericksburg in 1861. At the beginning, the mass was celebrated in the log cabin which belonged to Mr. Andreas Bilimek and then at Franz Wick's place. Later, in 1870, the first church log building was completed and blessed. 

 

Soon after that, in 1875, a new wooden church was built and primary the log building was used as a school (on weekdays only) for 55 years.

Father Gerlach, who came to High Hill in 1899, was the first parish priest there.

The local community grew and needed a bigger church, so in 1905 the plans for a new stone church building were created by Leo MJ Dielmann, an architect of San Antonio. Starting in 1906, when the first brick of the new structure was blessed, all the people of the Blessed Virgin Mary parish worked on the construction of their new church. Their efforts resulted in completing the place in 1910.

The original stained glass windows were transferred from the old church and installed in the new building.

The church pillars are painted so craftfully - looking at them you may think, the pillars are made of marble, however, it is just wood covered with paint.

That was the second "painted church" that we visited during our August day trip. In the short video you can see the beautifully decorated ceiling and a few other elements of the church decorations.

  

You can see few more photos from the church on our FB page.

St John the Baptist - Painted Church

In August, we visited some of the so-called "painted churches" in Texas.

The first one was St. John the Baptist Church in Ammansville. The church structure was built in 1919. The two previous ones were destroyed by a hurricane and fire.

The pretty pink church interior was decorated by Fred Donecker and Sons.

 

The settlement of Ammansville, situated 9 miles from San Antonio, was founded by Czech (mainly from Moravia) and German immigrants in the 1870s. The first man who made his home there was Mr. Andrew Amman. He came to the area on 12 March 1870.

 

 

 

Normally, we do not wear shorts when we go to church. That day was an exception - a whole day trip on a very hot Texas day. No Sunday type clothes were possible.

 Pretty, isn't it?

Not many people live in Ammansville theses days but it is quite a charming place.

Source:

Texas Handbook Online