On the 1860 census of Comal County, Texas, Louise Magers Haufler stated she was born in Hanover and was 24 years old. Living with her and her husband, Gottfried otherwise known as John, she has two children, one-year-old Emma and four-month-old Marie (Anna). Also residing with the Haufler family is Charlotte Magers age 8.
Louise is the daughter of Heinrich and Wilhelmina Luersen Magers and was born on 24 September 1835. In 1855, she immigrated to Texas with her parents and brothers and sisters and they settled in the New Braunfels area. On 8 November 1857, she married Joh. Gottfried Haufler. They were married by Pastor Moezle (?) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Smithson’s Valley, Comal County, Texas.
By the mid-1860s the Haufler family had relocated to Kendall County and by 1864 three more children had been added to the family, Gustav, Bertha, and Louise. Her husband, a man of strong conviction, enlisted in the First Regiment of the Texas Calvary which was part of Union forces. Many Germans from the Comfort area had been killed at the Nueces River while on their way to join Union forces in August 1862 so the times were very dangerous for a German with Union sympathies. The Civil War was difficult for everyone but once John left to join forces in Brownsville, Louise was at home with five small children ranging in ages of six to a few months old. John wrote home from Camp at Brazos Santiago and tells Louise “I hope you and the children are not suffering great misery. Sell as much as you have to, but keep the wagon as long as you can.” I can’t imagine how difficult this was for Louise.
Gottfried and Louise had a total of thirteen children: Emma born 1858, Anna born 1860, Gustav born 1861, Bertha born 1863, Louise born 1864, Albert born 1866, Ernst born 1868, Carl born 1870, Ida born 1871, Clara born 1873, Alvina born 1875, Lena born 1876, Alma born 1878.
In 1884 Gottfried and Louise built a large two-story rock house two miles east of Waring in Kendall County. The next year on 15 May Gottfried drowned while crossing the Guadalupe River. He was 54 years old and was buried near the house in Waring. Louise died 29 December 1899 at the age of 64 and is buried next to him.
Kiel, Frank Wilson. “Wir waren unser 20 Mann gegen 150” Southwestern Historical Quarterly, January, 2002, 464-470p.
Haufler, Louise. Photograph of the original held by Doris Koenig family. Digital copy privately held by Kathryn Adam-Hurst. Boerne.
Texas. Comal County. Marriage Records, County Clerks Office, New Braunfels, Texas, V. B, p 95.
Texas. Comal County. 1860 U. S. Census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.
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