Wends of Change
Even as their language disappears, descendants of Slavic immigrants still embrace their cultural and religious freedom in tiny Serbin.
Category: Articles
It Must Be The Noodles
It’s been quite a while since I’ve had time to think about our Wendish preoccupation with our heritage, our history and our specialness. In a previous column, I decided it had to be the noodles, because we are so proud of our yellow, egg-rich Wendish noodles (you can...
Serbin
How do you get to Serbin? Here are the directions Pastor Johann Kilian gave to Pastor Th. Brohm in 1870 for finding his way from New Orleans to Serbin: “When you come to Galveston go to J. Kauffman & Co. with whom I have dealt for many years....
Who Are the Wends?
In December of 1854, an English sailing vessel, the Ben Nevis, docked in Galveston harbor loaded with some 500 immigrants from Lusatia, an area in Germany comprising parts of Saxony and Prussia. These immigrants were not the typical lot of Germans, Swedes, Czechs, and Poles who flocked to...
Touring the Wendish Homeland
In the region of Schleife, which consists of the villages of Schleife (Slepo), Rohne (Rowno), Mulkwitz (Mulkecy), Mühlrose (Miloraz), Trebendorf (Trjebin), Halbendorf (Brězowka), and Groß Düben (Dźewin), the Advent season tradition of the gift-giving Christkind (dźěćetko) is kept alive. According to the tradition, a young woman who will...
Wendish Communities Fedor – Part I
The early names for the Fedor community were Bluff Creek, Moab, and West Yegua (YEHwah). Yegua is the Spanish name for mare and became the name for a creek. The name change to Fedor began when August Polnick, an early Wendish settler, decided to move to Thorndale, and...
Johann Kilian’s Call
Following is the text of Rev. Johann Kilian’s Call to serve as pastor for the group of Wends that emigrated on the Ben Nevis in 1854. The original document is located in the archives of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Serbin, Texas and a typed copy is included with...
The Wends at Thorndale and Noack
The Wendish road to Thorndale first led to Hochkirch, or Noack, as it is called today. The distance separating the two communities is about 9 miles. On September 21, 1871, 7 years before Thorndale even existed, Peter Zieschang purchased 440 acres of land on Brushy Creek in southern...
The Wendish Lutheran Church of Texas
The early Wendish Lutherans in Texas have left an interesting history of Lutheranism in North America. One can discern the classic factors which may effect the outward unity of a church, though in a microcosm, even among these faithful Lutherans. Religious identity, national identity, pastoral leadership, language, personality,...
History of Holy Cross, Warda, Texas – Daughter of Serbin, 1873-1905
The beginnings of Holy Cross lie in the dissensions within the Serbin congregation. After Ernst Leuber, teacher at St. Paul’s, Serbin, and his party left to organize St. Peter’s Church, it did not take long for Karl Teinert, one of the other dissenters, to air his grievances against Pastor Kilian. He used his influence to persuade a number of farmers near the Rabbs Creek section that their interests would be best served if they should separate from the two Serbin congregations and organize their own parish.