Category: Articles

Gruetzners Come to Texas

Prologue A man and his small family exit the carriage that has transported them from the train station to the Hamburg American shipping company’s pier in the port of Hamburg. As they huddle together against the cold wind coming off the Elbe River, they gaze at the steamship...

Mattheaus Kneschk Marker

Matthaeus Kneschk Gravemarker

Hier ruht in Frieden Jan Matej Knéžka Johann Matthaeus Kneschke John Matthew Kneschk geboren am 5. März, 1833 in Weisswasser, Preussen gestorben am 9. Januar 1909 in Sagerton, TX The accompanying photo is of the grave marker my brother and I made for our Wendish immigrant ancestor, Matthaeus...

Wendish Research Exchange

The following is another letter discovered in the digitally archived issues of the “Serbske Nowiny” – the Upper Sorbian-language newspaper that our ancestors read. I wish to thank Dr. Gerald Stone for translating the article into English. “Serbske Nowiny”. 15 July 1871. pages 221-222. A Letter from America....

The Household of Faith

Helping fellow members of the faith has a long history with the Texas Wends. Both German and Wendish newspaper articles that reported the departure of the 1854 migration from the Bautzen train station also stated that the poorer immigrants received financial support from those who were well-to-do. And...

Andrew Urban, Builder and Craftsman

Andrew (Andreas) Urban, A Wendish Craftsman Introduction by Dr. George Nielsen, Special Features Editor One aspect of Wendish life that is generally ignored in Wendish studies is the daily activity of making a living. While most Wends took up farming, there were also some who became craftsmen. One...

St. Peter Lutheran Church at Serbin and Rev. Johann Pallmer

In the two previous issues of the TWHS Newsletter, I attempted to show how the religious environments of Prussia and Saxony contributed to the creation of the first St. Peter church in Serbin. While this first separatist group remained small and the congregation was short-lived (1858 to 1867),...

The Texas Wendish Renaissance

The Wendish language and the awareness of being Wendish were slowly dying in the minds of the descendants of the Wends who migrated to Texas. Rev. Herman Kilian wrote the last Wendish obituary on the occasion of the death of Emma Christiana Schubert on 15 May 1906. It...

Prussian or Saxon (Part 2)

Prussia It was in 1817 that the Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm III, decreed the creation of a single church that merged the two Protestant faiths-Lutheran and Calvinist-although participation was voluntary. Compliance was anemic, and the king did little more than make the change at the garrison church in...

Civil War Soldiers and PTSD

Walter Penk, acclaimed Veterans Administration researcher into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), will be the speaker at the 16 August 2015 General Membership meeting. Since this year marks the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War, I have asked him to speak to us about what...

Prussian or Saxon (Part 1)

Because some of the Texas Wends originated from Prussia and some from Saxony a question could be asked if origins made a difference. Does political geography influence the way people think and act? If you were asked about your origins, would it make a difference if you said “United...