Texas Germans

{{Short description|Texans of German descent}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Texas Germans<br />''Texas Deutsche'' | native_name = | native_name_lang = | popplace = Texas | langs = Texas German, Texas English | rels = Christianity | related = Missouri Rhinelanders, Louisiana Creoles, Pennsylvania Dutch, German Americans }} '''Texas Germans''' ({{langx|de|Texas-Deutsche}}) are descendants of German Americans who settled in Texas from the 1830s. The arriving Germans tended to cluster in ethnic enclaves; most settled in a broad, fragmented belt across the south-central part of the state, where many became farmers.<ref>{{Handbook of Texas |id=png02 |name=Germans}}</ref> As of 1990, about three million Texans considered themselves German in ancestry.<ref name="txcemetery">{{Cite web |title=William Eberling – German Texan |url=http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/news.asp?newsid=9214 |access-date=2013-06-02 |work=Texas State Cemetery}}</ref>

== History == [[File:FredericksburgDowntown1 (1 of 1).jpg|thumb|Fredericksburg German Quarter]] Emigration in force began during the period of the Republic of Texas (1836–1846) following the establishment in 1842 of the ''Adelsverein'' (''Verein zum Schutze deutscher Einwanderer,'' Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas) by a group of Germans dedicated to colonizing Texas.<ref name = "txcemetery"/>

The ''Adelsverein'' helped establish German colonies throughout the state, including purchasing the Fisher–Miller Land Grant, some 5,000 square miles between the Colorado and Llano Rivers. In 1847, John O. Meusebach, acting as commissioner of the ''Adelsverein'', negotiated the Meusebach–Comanche Treaty to settle German colonists on the land grant.<ref name="MEUSEBACH">{{cite web |last1=Tetzlaff |first1=Otto W. |date=December 8, 2020 |title=Meusebach-Comanche Treaty |url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/mgm01 |website=Texas State Historical Association |language=en}}</ref> It remains the only unbroken treaty between European-American colonists and Native Americans.<ref name="TRUE">{{cite web |last1=Dasso |first1=Tim |date=4 October 2016 |title=The Unbroken Peace Treaty |url=https://truewestmagazine.com/the-unbroken-peace-treaty/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161006190818/https://truewestmagazine.com/the-unbroken-peace-treaty/ |archive-date=2016-10-06 |website=True West Magazine}}</ref>

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.<ref name="auto">{{Handbook of Texas |id=pnf01 |name=Forty-Eighters}}</ref> After generations, German Texans spoke what became known as Texas German ({{langx|de|Texasdeutsch}}), a German language dialect that was tied to the historic period of highest immigration. In Germany, the language developed differently from how it did among the relatively isolated ethnic colonies in the US. The dialect has largely died out since the First and Second World Wars, as have many other US German dialects.

Texas Germans were strong abolitionists during the 1850s. In the American Civil War, they opposed martial law and military conscription, and were made victims at the Nueces massacre. After Reconstruction, Texas Germans lived in relative obscurity as teachers, doctors, civil servants, politicians, musicians, farmers, and ranchers.<ref name="auto"/> They founded the towns of Bulverde, New Braunfels, Fredericksburg, Boerne, and Comfort in the Texas Hill Country, and Schulenburg, Walburg, and Weimar to the east.

German-American cultural institutions in Texas include the Sophienburg Museum in New Braunfels, the Pioneer Museum in Fredericksburg,<ref>{{Cite web |title=German Texans: Curriculum for Students |url=http://www.texancultures.com/assets/1/15/TTG%20German%20Texans.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510174046/http://www.texancultures.com/assets/1/15/TTG%20German%20Texans.pdf |archive-date=2013-05-10 |website=Institute of Texan Cultures}}</ref> the Witte-Schmid Haus Museum in Austin County,<ref>{{Cite web | title = Witte-Schmid Haus Museum, "Das Haus" | work = Texas German Society | access-date = 2013-06-02 | url = http://texasgermansociety.com/das_haus.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130202001331/http://www.texasgermansociety.com/das_haus.htm | archive-date = 2013-02-02 | url-status = dead }}</ref> the German-Texan Heritage Society,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.germantexans.org/|title=GermanTexas.org – Promoting Awareness and Preservation of the German Cultural Heritage of Texas|website=www.germantexans.org}}</ref> and the Texas German Society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://texasgermansociety.com/|title=Welcome to the Texas German Society Website|website=texasgermansociety.com}}</ref>

=== Black Texas Germans === {{further|Black Dutch (genealogy)}} thumb|Texas Germans aiming pistols; a Black Texas German is on the far left Texas Germans engaged with Black people economically and socially in the 1800s. Black Texans interacted much easier with Texas Germans than with Anglo-Texans; Black Freedom colonies shared economic ties with Texas German communities, and maintained cordial relationships.<ref name="africanamericansgermanlanguage">{{Cite news |last=Hünlich |first=David |date=Summer 2021 |title=Relations between African and German Americans and Black German Speakers in Texas |volume=30 |pages=4–6 |work=Friends Newsletter |publisher=Max Kade Institute |issue=3 |url=https://mkifriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/MKI_Summer-2021_Newsletter.pdf#page=4 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523061417/https://mkifriends.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/MKI_Summer-2021_Newsletter.pdf |archive-date=2023-05-23}}</ref>

After the Civil War, reports indicate Black Texas German communities in every county of the German belt, also known as the '''Texas German Country''', running from Houston to the Hills Region.<ref name="robbwalsh">{{cite book |title=Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from the Pitmasters|author=Robb Walsh|publisher=Chronicle Books|year=2016|pages=119}}</ref><ref name="germanamericanlife">{{cite book |title=German-American Life: Recipes and Traditions|author=John D. Zug|author2=Karin Gottier|publisher=Penfield Press|year=1991|pages=58}}</ref> For Black Texans, speaking Texas German was a means of social mimicry and protection.<ref name="africanamericansgermanlanguage"></ref>

Doris Williams, an African American in Bastrop County, recalls: {{blockquote|"We lived near Smithville Texas with my grandparents, and they always referred to people as Dutch... the thing that fascinated me most about them was that they never said anything negative about German people... you know, they would say 'Oh, he's German, you know that German family.' But they never said anything bad about them, and I felt that was unique, because they did say bad things about other people, but not about the Germans."<ref name="africanamericansgermanlanguage"></ref>}}

Black Texans and Texas Germans had a strong political bond, and supported the same political parties. This bond became increasingly crucial, especially during the height of anti-German sentiment in the 1920s when the Ku Klux Klan began persecuting Texas Germans, seeking to eliminate the Texas German ethnicity in Texas. The Black-German alliance gave Black and German communities mutual protection.<ref name="africanamericansgermanlanguage"></ref>

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Further reading == *{{Cite book |last=Biesele |first=Rudolph Leopold |title=The History of the German Settlements in Texas, 1831 - 1861 |publisher=Eakin Press |year=1987 |isbn=978-1-57168-236-9 |location=Austin, Tex |oclc=950973810}} *{{Cite journal |last=Jordan |first=Terry G. |author-link=Terry G. Jordan-Bychkov |date=October 1969 |title=The German Settlement of Texas after 1865 |journal=Southwestern Historical Quarterly |volume=73 |issue=2 |pages=193–212 |issn=0038-478X |oclc=9973024504}} *{{Cite book |last=Jordan |first=Terry G. |url=https://archive.org/details/germanseedintexa0000jord_a6f1 |title=German Seed in Texas Soil: Immigrant Farmers in Nineteenth-Century Texas |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1994 |isbn=9780292727076 |location=Austin |oclc=925060333 |url-access=registration}} *{{Cite book |last=Lich |first=Glen E. |url=http://digital.utsa.edu/cdm/ref/collection/p16018coll6/id/1057 |title=German Texans |publisher=Institute of Texan Cultures |year=1996 |edition=Revised |location=San Antonio |oclc=1128281376}}{{open access}} *{{Cite book |last=Lonn |first=Ella |url=https://archive.org/details/foreignersinconf0000ella |title=Foreigners in the Confederacy |publisher=Univ. of North Carolina Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8078-5400-6 |location=Chapel Hill |oclc=918253438 |url-access=registration}} *{{Cite book |url=https://digital.utsa.edu/digital/collection/p16018coll6/id/265 |title=German Texans |publisher=Institute of Texan Cultures |year=2001 |series=Texians and the Texans |location=San Antonio |oclc=813001512}}

== External links == * [http://www.germantexans.org/ German-Texan Heritage Society] * [http://texasgermansociety.org/ Texas German Society] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130603072612/http://www.wittemuseum.org/index.php/component/content/article/1-current/224-wanderlust Wanderlust: From German to Texan], exhibit at the Witte Museum * {{Cite web | title = German Texans: Curriculum for Students | url = http://www.texancultures.com/assets/1/15/TTG%20German%20Texans.pdf }} * [http://www.utexas.edu/depts/german/main.html Germanic studies, University of Texas at Austin] * [http://www.austintxgensoc.org/ Austin Genealogical Society] * {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070426102153/http://www.humanities-interactive.org/texas/lonestar/german_texas_families.htm German Texan Families]}} * [http://texashistory.unt.edu/search/?q=%22People+-+Ethnic+groups+-+Germans%22&t=dc.subject German immigration to Texas materials], hosted by the [http://texashistory.unt.edu/ Portal to Texas History] * [http://www.luckenbachtexas.com/history-module/how-luckenbach-got-its-name How Luckenbach, Texas Got Its Name]

{{German Americans by location}} {{Ethnicity in Texas}} {{GermanDiaspora}} {{European Americans}} {{Demographics of the United States}}

Category:German-American culture in Texas Category:History of Texas Category:German diaspora in the United States Category:Austrian-American culture in Texas Category:Swiss-American culture in Texas Category:Texas Hill Country