Conrad Krause and his 17-year old son George arrived December 22, 1851 at Galveston, Texas on the ship Hermann Theodor.

Galveston, Texas 1853. (Click on image to open a high-res map in a separate window.)

They had just spent over two months at sea with about 130 passengers from Germany, many from Conrad’s own village of Niedenstein. (Search lists of ships and passengers arriving at Galveston at the Galveston Immigration Database website.)

The wharf at Galveston c. 1850. In 1851, when Conrad and George arrived in Texas, Galveston was the largest city in Texas and would not be surpassed in population by San Antonio and Dallas until 1890.

Galveston Harbor c. 1855. This is the year when Conrad’s wife, Juliane, and their other six children arrived on the ship Neptune.

Galveston, Texas c. 1870. Still the largest city in Texas. (Click on image to open a high-res bird’s-eye view in a separate window.)

Most German immigrants to Texas had the same goal: Settle on “land in the public domain” and claim it as a homestead under Texas law. Vast amounts of open land were available to all comers. Conrad, sons George & Louis, and Louis’s sons Theodore & Otto would eventually homestead close to 1,000 acres of land in western Comal County in the years 1861 to 1891. The area of these early Krause homesteads was known as Anhalt.

An elaborate travelers guidebook had been published in Germany in 1851, a copy of which may well have been in the possession of Conrad and many other Germans arriving in Texas in the mid 1800s. This well-known guide—containing detailed maps of Texas counties, roads and towns, as well as information about how to acquire land and equip a homestead—was the Instruction für Deutsche Auswanderer nach Texas (Instruction for German Emigrants to Texas).

Cover of the Instruction für Deutsche Auswanderer nach Texas (Instruction for German Emigrants to Texas) published in 1851.

It was published by the Verein zum Schutze deutscher Einwanderer in Texas (Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas), a privately-funded German organization better known as the Adelsverein, which assisted in establishing New Braunfels in 1845 and Fredericksburg in 1846.

Verein zum Schutze deutscher Einwanderer in Texas (Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas), better known as the Adelsverein.

The text of Instruction für Deutsche Auswanderer nach Texas, in German, can be viewed on The Portal to Texas History.

To get a flavor of life in Galveston around the time Conrad and George arrived, nothing can beat a local newspaper.

Browse the pages of the Tuesday, October 7, 1851 edition of the Galveston Weekly News: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6. The advertisements show that every modern service, good and luxury was available in not only Galveston but in New Orleans, San Antonio and Austin. Although the Galveston Weekly News was in English, German language newspapers were published in San Antonio and New Braunfels at the time.

List of Texas Historical Newspapers Available Online

Galveston was the Port of Entry for immigrants to Texas but getting inland to New Braunfels would not be possible until they took another ship 120 miles down the Texas coast to Indianola. This was because roads inland from Galveston were poor and traveling overland from Houston toward New Braunfels required crossing large rivers like the Brazos, San Bernard, Colorado, and San Marcos.

Detail of a 1857 U.S. Coast Survey Map of Matagorda Bay, Texas. Indianola is located on the west side of Lavaca Bay. (Click on image to open a full-size map of the Texas coast from Aransas Pass to Galveston Island.)

From Indianola, the road to New Braunfels was well-established in 1851 and traced up through the towns of Victoria, Cuero, Gonzales, and Seguin, along the east side of the Guadalupe River. A wonderful little book, A History of Indianola written in 1930 by Lelia Seeligson, Historian for the Indianola Historical Association, can be read by clicking here.

1850 map from Instruction für Deutsche Auswanderer nach Texas showing wagon/stage coach route (green line) from Indianola to New Braunfels.

An advertisement for a coach line from Port Lavaca (near Indianola) to New Braunfels c. 1855.

The Lost Texas Roads website (LostTexasRoads.com) has a very informative article worth reading about stage travel between San Antonio and the Texas Coast in the mid-1800s.

It’s easy to imagine that the typical German immigrant family arrived in Texas well-prepared and with a pretty good idea of what to expect. Immigrants were needed and welcomed. Galveston was a bustling, growing town and an important commercial seaport. It would not be hard to find a comfortable room and good meals. Shops offered goods and supplies of every sort. Many different languages would be heard as residents and travelers strolled along the wharf. Letters would be written to loved ones back in Germany and mail from friends and family already settled in Texas would be waiting at the Post Office for arriving immigrants. Indianola and other towns they passed through along the wagon road into Texas would offer comfort, rest, and news from other travelers going in both directions.

Indianola, Texas c. 1860.

For the German immigrants, danger, threats, and disappointment surely lurked around every corner. Just as surely, any setback would be overcome by the spirit of great adventure and lure of what was promised to settlers of this vast, new land called Texas.

Town of Indianola Historical Markers

On 15 October 1851, Conrad Krause and his oldest son George began their emigration to America. It was a Wednesday in the German port city of Bremerhaven. Conrad was 41 years old and George was 17. Along with 132 other passengers, they boarded the sailing ship Hermann Theodor of the Oldenburg Shipping Co., Captained by B.A. Müller. They would depart from the Alter Haven (Old Port) at the high tide.

Bremerhaven in 1845. The view is north, at the Old Port. (Downloaded Oct 2015 from http://www.deutsche-auswanderer-datenbank.de.)

Bremerhaven in 1852. The view is south, up the Weser River toward Bremen. In the foreground is the Neuer Haven (New Port), which had recently been completed. The Alter Haven (Old Port) can be seen in the background fronted by the city buildings. (Downloaded Oct 2015 from http://gauss.suub.uni-bremen.de.)

In the mid- to late-1800s, millions of Germans left their homeland for the American promise of wide open spaces and a chance to prosper. Life in Germany offered only constant political conflict and dwindling opportunities to inherit land, own a home, or succeed in business. Parents wanted something better for their children. To this end, they uprooted and separated families, broke ties with ancestral communities, and took on tremendous personal and financial risks. If this was the better alternative to staying put, all hope for a future in Germany surely had died.

It was time to find a new place in the world.

Map showing Bremerhaven on the North Sea, Niedenstein, and the Weser River Valley in Germany.

Like so many European families who traveled to Bremerhaven from their small towns and villages—never to return—Conrad and George had already made the long trip from Niedenstein, 150 miles to the south, possibly by coach, rail, or barge down the Weser River. The plan was for Conrad’s wife Juliane and their six other children to join them in America a few years later. Conrad may have been corresponding with friends who had already left Germany for a new life in Texas. He and George would have had much in common with fellow German emigrants they met along every part of their journey. It must have been a time filled with sadness and heartache along with excitement and a sense of great adventure.

A typical mid-19th century packet ship that would have transported emigrants and cargo from Germany to Texas. (Downloaded Oct 2015 from http://www.wendishheritage.org.au.)

Emigrant ships in the 1850s were of varying sizes and rigging styles. All were oceangoing sailing ships built of wood with no steam power. Many were “packet” ships, which sailed on regular schedules and carried freight as well as passengers. A packet ship might make one or two transatlantic round trips per year. The passengers, of all ages and backgrounds including extended families, could expect to spend two or more months at sea before reaching America. Stops at different American ports along the way such as New York, Baltimore and New Orleans could add more weeks. Texas would have been the last stop before the ship, laden with cargo and some passengers, sailed back across the Atlantic to its home port.

Ein Auswandererschiff (An Emigrant Ship). (Downloaded Oct 2015 from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Die_Gartenlaube_(1854)_b_450.jpg.)

Zwischendeck eines Auswandererschiffs, Holzstich von 1847 (Steerage or “between decks” of an emigrant ship, wood engraving from 1847). (Downloaded Oct 2015 from http://www.deutsche-auswanderer-datenbank.de.)

The interior of the saloon of a packet ship. (Downloaded Oct 2015 from http://www.sil.si.edu.)

Generally, emigrant ships had three classes of accommodations. First Class would mean a private cabin on an upper deck and the best food. Second Class would mean shared quarters and good food. Third Class meant crowding and poor food. The exposure to unhealthy conditions and the onset of illness would have been a risk for all on board but more so for the lower class passengers. Emigrants would frequently sicken or die on such voyages. The fact that every member of Conrad Krause’s large family arrived safely in Texas is a testament of healthy travel accommodations and extraordinarily good luck.

Conrad and Juliane Krause in Texas c. 1857.

The Krause family tree has many descending branches that have divided and grown over eight generations in Texas. During the first few generations, it was not unusual for a family to have 10 surviving children. It would be impossible to discover and share stories for all of the Krause descendants.

The John Krause and Anna Seidemann Krause Family c. 1900. Children L to R: Regina, Helen, Albert, Conrad H., Emilie, and Peter.

Therefore, the focus of this Krause Family History is the line of descendancy from Conrad and Juliane Krause, who emigrated from Germany to America in the 1850s, to Frank and Joy (Krause) Brussel, the present-day occupants of the Krause-Brussel Ranch in Kendalia, Texas. An ancestry report is available here.

Anhalt Founders in front of the Anhalt Hall c. 1904. Standing left to right: Louis Krause, G. Werner Krause, and George Krause. Sitting: Friedrich J. Hofheinz and Christian Frederich Bergmann.

Conrad and Juliane Krause, along with their seven children, immigrated to Texas in the 1850s. They came from the area of Niedenstein, Germany. Niedenstein is a small, picturesque city in Central Germany made up of five villages or districts: Ermetheis, Kirchberg, Metze, Niedenstein, and Wichdorf.

Conrad Krause (24 Feb 1810 – 29 Jul 1889) was from Wichdorf.  His wife Juliane Krause, nee Ackermann (28 Mar 1807 – 21 Mar 1893), was from Ermetheis.  They were married about 1828 and by 1850 had seven children, four boys and three girls, all born in Germany.

Little is known of their life in Niedenstein before they left for America.  They must have known they would never return and, instead, focused only on their future in a new homeland.  The Germany that they loved, and possibly also repudiated, was behind them.

The German immigrants brought their strong, industrious, and ethical culture with them—much to the benefit of the many American regions in which they settled. Distinctive German influences are evident in every aspect of American life to this day, especially in certain parts of Texas.

ACRES OF HISTORY is a Blog where commentary will be posted about the Krauses, a German family that immigrated to Texas in the 1850s and settled in Comal and Kendall Counties. Many Krause family descendants still live in Texas. In 1881, a member of the family acquired and settled on a large ranch in Kendalia, Kendall County, Texas. Since then, seven generations of Krauses (and now Brussels) have lived on this ranch. The Krause-Brussel family was honored in 1980 by the Texas Family Land Heritage Program, which recognizes families who have continuously owned and operated an agricultural operation in Texas for 100 years or more.

My name is Jenny Hoffmann and I have lived on this ranch for almost nine years now. I am not a Krause or a Brussel, but I have come to love this land and its heritage as much as their descendants who still live here. I feel extremely fortunate to call this ranch “home.”

I hope you will enjoy reading—and commenting on—future postings about the history of this family and this ranch.