Witajcže K’nam
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...
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...
Texas Wends, especially those who trace their families back to Prussia, should consult Dr. Georg Alpermann’s book, Höfe und Bauern in Klitten (Homes and Farms In Klitten) for possible information about their own family. It identifies homes and farms in the villages of Klitten, Jahmen, Dürrbach, Kringelsdorf, Ölsa,...
By 1853 many Old Lutherans had left Europe for Australia and the United States. This article tells the story of thirty-five Wends who had initially planned to go to Australia, but in July of 1853, changed their minds and instead sailed to Galveston, Texas.1 The thirty-five were the...
Following a brief business meeting, Caroll Scogin-Brincefield will present a program on the role of women in the Civil War. The Civil War was one of the most turbulent periods in America’s History. Texas had the role of a supply state for the Confederate cause because of the...
On the morning of December 16, 1854, the immigration authorities at Galveston went out to meet the Ben Nevis, an English sailing ship, which had arrived in the harbor. On board they examined the papers and the physical condition of the five hundred some Wends who had come...
The optimism of the Wends as they left their European homeland for a new home in Texas was soon tempered by the recurrent deaths within their group. The first death took place in Hamburg on September 10 even before they boarded a ship. That death may not have...
The Wends or Sorbs of Germany are an originally Slavic group in what is now southern East Germany, in the area called Lusatia (Lausitz), around the cities of Bautzen and Cottbus. They were surrounded and infiltrated by the German expansion to the east in the middle ages, and...
This is one track from a CD produced in 2003 by the Texas Wendish Heritage Society. The narration on this track is by Dr. George Nielsen, special features editor. Contact the museum for more information or for pricing information.