The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 99, July 1995 - April, 1996 Page: 57
626 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Johann von Racknitz
Wiirttemberg government, and to private investors who wished to join in
the enterprise."
While he waited for the bureaucracy of the Wurttemberg government
to absorb and to act on the several facets of his proposal, Racknitz went
on with the business of organizing his colonization enterprise. He con-
tacted the envoy of the Mexican government in The Hague, Sebastian
Mercado, and began negotiations for a land grant in Texas on which to
establish a colony of two hundred to one thousand German families. On
September 17, 1832, Mercado wrote three letters to his superiors in
Mexico concerning Racknitz's proposal. Two of the letters were to the
minister for domestic and foreign affairs. One was a letter of transmittal
accompanying a copy of Racknitz's project proposal, in which Mercado
recommended its approval. The second letter identified Racknitz as the
bearer of the first letter, who was to travel personally to Mexico to pre-
sent his proposal to the government. The third letter was a letter of in-
troduction to the governor of the state of Mexico, also identifying
Racknitz and his business in the capital.34
Racknitz's next move was to publish on December 14, 1832, a notice
in the weekly supplement to the Frankfurter Journal describing his colo-
nization plans in Texas. The notice was titled "Nachricht fiir Auswander-
er" (News for Emigrants), and was almost two full pages in length,
including an addendum with "Instructions for Emigrants Who by
Arrangement with Herrn Johann v. Racknitz or His Central Agency are
Being Transported to America." Racknitz begins his appeal in this no-
tice by stating that negotiations with the Mexican government for colony
lands on either the Colorado or the Brazos River were in progress, and
that he expects them to be concluded in the coming year. He goes on
then to describe the climate and geography of Texas as ideally suited for
German settlement and agriculture, noting that arable land in the
colony would be sold for about two gulden or eighty cents per acre. He
describes transportation arrangements he had already arranged for emi-
grants in Hessen, Rheinhessen, Baden, and Wfirttemberg, to whom this
appeal was primarily directed. The embarkation port of choice was Le
Havre, France, where he had contracted with a reliable shipping compa-
ny for reasonable rates to New Orleans. For emigrants in Hessen and
Rheinhessen, he notes, the agencies, G. L. Wenck in Darmstadt and J. F.
J. Rumpf in Frankfurt, had already been established.35
" "Memorial, Johann von Racknitz, Rechts-Consulent Widmann, and Carl Schill to his Royal
Majesty, the King of Wiirttemberg," Aug. 11, 1832, Bestand Kreisregierung Ludwigsburg, E 173
I, fasc. 1572 (SL). Widmann's title is "legal advisor." No information could be found about Rack-
nitz's associates at this time, and none appears in any of his subsequent letters or publications.
S4 Archivo de la ... Colonizaci6n, vol. 307, pp. 57-58.
' Beslage zum Frankfurter Journal, Dec. 14, 1832.1995
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 99, July 1995 - April, 1996, periodical, 1996; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101217/m1/85/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.