Our Friend
Wm. Friedrich
Died December 23, 1868
Age 45 years
In a letter dated 1 January 2012, from cousin Robert Clines, “The family history in what is now Kendall County begins in 1849 with Wilhelm Friedrich who arrived in Texas with the famous 40 students who first located at the Bettina Colony on the Llano Creek. He was a fellow student with Dr. Ferdinand Herff at the University of Giessen in Germany. After the colony failed he migrated to the Boerne area and used his college training to survey and locate land grants given to various recipients by the State of Texas. The family referred to him as an uncle. He wrote to Conrad and urged him to come to Texas.”
From a letter dated 27 September 1927 written by Bertha Adam Froebel Haby, “Papa had a rich uncle in America, Wilhelm Friedrich…This uncle persuaded Papa [Conrad Adam] to come to America. This uncle was a surveyor as it was called. It was said that owned a great deal of land…he always was one of the foremost men in Kendall County and a very good friend of old Doctor Herff.”
Research provided by Regina Adam, “William Friedrich had moved to San Antonio in 1861 in order to establish a gun powder factory. He believed that the Civil War was coming and that there was a need for a factory…In 1867, Friedrich was in a financial bind and temporarily resided with his friend Dr. Herff…An unexpected explosion took place at the factory in December, 1868 instantly killing all of his thirteen workmen. William Friedrich lingered on for three days…The Herff’s buried him in City Cemetery Number One in their cemetery plot next to Baldwin Herff.”
City Cemetery No. 1 (San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas). Wm. Friedrich marker; personally read 2011.
Adam, Regina. Family Group Record William Friedrich-7391, n.d.
Clines, Robert. Letter dated 1 January 2012 to Kathryn Adam-Hurst.
Haby, Bertha Adam Froebel dated 27 September 1927 to her son Guenther H. Froebel.
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