Heritage, 2011, Volume 3 Page: 6
39 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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PRSImN' MESG
Tom C. Doell
This issue of Texas HERITAGE magazine
has several interesting articles about histo-
rians. There is a piece on women histori-
ans, another on newspaper journalists who
write Texas history columns, and a discus- {
sion among historians about the most im-
portant Lone Star history books. 6
One of the main articles in this issue
is about Dr. Light Cummins, the recent
State Historian of Texas. Dr. Cummins
has spent 34 years teaching history at Aus-
tin College in Sherman and is the author
of several books on American and Texas
history. Most of his work as the state his-
torian has involved traveling across Texas
for public speaking engagements. Cummins says that after he
gives one of these talks, people like to come up to him to share
their family stories of Texas, and that most of the time the per-
son starts off by mentioning that they are an x-number gen-
eration Texas native. Cummins points out that many Texans
have a real appreciation for their family heritage, but usually
can't find published books about their ancestry. Instead, these
people have to play historian and research and write down
what they learn so that they have a record they can pass down
to their children.
Thirty years ago, my wife Susan and I became interested in
our family history. We had some information provided by our
parents and grandparents, but a lot of information was missing.
We decided to start investigating the Doell family that came
to the Republic of Texas in 1845 from Germany. Since there
was no Internet in 1980, we started our work by visiting the
public library and looking at microfilmed U.S. census records.
This helped us determine where everyone was living at each
ten-year interval. Early in the process, we came across the book
A New Land Beckoned: German Immigration to Texas, 1844-
1847. This work was a wonderful resource and helped us learnabout the immigration process and settlement
ofTexas by early German immigrants. We dis-
covered that most of these immigrants landed
at Galveston and then took smaller vessels to
Indianola. From there they proceeded on foot
to New Braunfels.
In archives at the Texas Seaport Museum in
Galveston, we were able to find the Doells list-
r ed on a passenger manifest. Later on, we vis-
ited Indianola and found that it was basically
a ghost town that had been destroyed by hur-
ricanes (twice). We eventually went to New
Braunfels, and by searching church records,
found that my great-great-great grandfather
had died there and was buried in a mass grave.
The Texas General Land Office and the Texas State Library and
Archives in Austin helped us locate the Doell's immigration
contracts (signed in Germany) and their land grants. Through
these immigration contracts, we were able to determine where
they had come from in Germany. We then followed them (on
paper, at least) from New Braunfels to Fredericksburg, where
county deed records indicated the property they owned and
where it was located. We looked through old church records
in Fredericksburg to find marriage, birth, and confirmation re-
cords. Eventually, Susan and I went to Germany and visited the
small town that they left 166 years ago.
This same type of process has been repeated for other family
members during the past 30 years. Though we certainly don't
consider ourselves historians, through this genealogical inves-
tigation, we gained an appreciation for the history of Europe
and the United States, and of the interesting journey that our
families took to Texas so long ago.
Tom Doell is a businessman from Dallas. Send comments on this
column to: Texas Historical Foundation, PO. Box 50314, Austin,
Texas 78763.6 TEXASHERITAGE I Volume 3 2011
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, 2011, Volume 3, periodical, 2011; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth254222/m1/6/?rotate=90: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.