German-Texan Heritage Society, The Journal, Volume 22, Number 3, Fall 2000 Page: 68
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68
GENEALOGY SECTION
Elizabeth Nitschke Hicks, 746 Edgebrook Dr., Houston, TX 77034-2030,
(713) 944-1118, erootrot@usa.net would like to hear from anyone
researching the following surnames: NTTSCHKE/Nitzschke (Kingdom
of Saxony pre 1850; RICHTER (Gollnow, Stettin, Prenzlau, Pcrtthor-, P LC-U
pre 1880 Pomerania); MEISSNER (pre 1852 Brandenburg); HAASE
(pre 1880 Austin Co., TX); BENDER (pre 1850 Mghren); RELECKER
(pre 1875 Biedenkopf, Germany); LUCHTENBERG (Remscheid, Germany,
pre 1880); LUCK (Remscheid); SCHULTE (Remscheid); MIETHE; SCHANTZ
(pre 1900 Hastings, Barry County, MI, PA & OH); and following
who all arrived in Chicago, IL between 1865 and 1885: BACHERT,
BOSKE/BASKE, BUSH/BUSCH, BUNTNER, GEHRKE/VIERKE, GOMOLL,
HACKENDAHL/HACKENDALL, VOLLENDORF/VON ULLENDORF and PTNGER (Rattey,
MECKLENBURG).
The following Article was copied from the TEXAS GERMAN SOCIETY Newsletter, with
permission from the editor.9t514.
ETHNIC MIGRATIONS TO LESS
POPULATED TEXAS AREAS
by Eddie Wolsch
President's Chapter
At the turn of the last century, like many other towns in
the Rolling Plains of Northwest Texas, Sagerton, in Haskell
County and New Brandenburg in Stonewall County, were
platted and town lots and surrounding acreage sold due to
the extension of a rail line through the area. Land
speculator and rancher. William Sager, bought the land in
Haskell County where the Stamford and Northwestem
Railroad Spur was to pass through. He advertised and sold
town lots for the soon-to-be-town of Sagerton. G.R.
Spielhagen, a German land speculator from San Antonio,
did the same about five miles west, across the Double
Montain Fork of the Brazos River in Stonewall County.
The Stamford and Northwestern Rail Spur from Stam-
ford in Jones County was built to accommodate the SMS
Ranch interests which had "spreads" nearby Stamford and
Spur. The founder of this ranch was a Swedish immigrant,
Swcn Magnus Swenson, who founded a Swedish
community in Jones County and for whom another
community in Stonewall County was named, which also lay
along the route of this rail spur. Spielhagen platted New
Brandenburg and was responsible for a large number of
German farmers from the Austin to Houston area, the
"cradle" of German Texas, to migrate to specifically the
New Brandenburg community. Many chose to settle near
Sagerton, while others bought land adjacent to the New
Brandenburg community on the north, a part of an already
established Hooker community in Stonewall County.Germans and "Americans," as they were called. Hooker
was never more than a school, but Sagerton--which had
another railway, the Wichita Valley Railroad, which came
through shortly thereafter--grew into a fair sized town of
more than a thousand with several banks, hotels, and
businesses. However, the Stamford and Northwestern did
not make a depot stop at New Brandenburg, as Spielhagen
had anticipated, and thus New Brandenburg never
developed into anything more than a school, which later
became the Sons of Hermann Lodge, which is still active.
A depot was built about two miles west and businesses
soon developed. The name of New Brandenburg was
appropriated, with the original New Brandenburg being
called Old Brandenburg. Although Germans were in the
majority at New Brandenburg, there were some
"Americans," ranchers who were actually the first arrivals
there. They followed the old MacKenzie Trail into the area
after the Comanches and buffalo had been removed, only
about 30 years prior to the establishment of these com-
munities. There were also some Polish, Czech, Wendish,
and German-Jewish families in the Stamford-Brandenburg
area, in addition to the Swedes of Ericsdahl, the community
which rancher Swen Swenson founded. One notable
Jewish family was the Strauss family of Stamford, which
produced Robert Strauss who became a Democratic Party
leader at the national level and an ambassador.
Other Central European communities which developed in
this general area during this era were Megargel, a Catholic
Czech community in Archer County; Rheinland, a Catholic
German community in Knox County, Swedonia, a Swedish
community in Fisher County; two Wendish communitiesCopyright ( 2000 German-Texan Heritage Society
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German-Texan Heritage Society. German-Texan Heritage Society, The Journal, Volume 22, Number 3, Fall 2000, periodical, Autumn 2000; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1507441/m1/74/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting German-Texan Heritage Society.