Conrad's Stories

Indian Depredations in October 1864

Kathryn

January 17, 2014

12 November 1864 the Dallas Weekly Herald in Dallas, Texas published an article about Indians in Kendall County. The Dallas Herald had picked up the article from the Austin Gazette. George Wilkins Kendall sent a news report on October 28^th stating Indians had raided two days before in Kendall County. The first sign of them was near Wasp Creek. They killed one horse with arrows and two horses were wounded and left behind. The next day five Indians were sighted by Mr. Heiligman who lived two miles from Wasp Creek. He saw them herding a group of animals including four of his horses who had been grazing in his pasture. Once the alarm was raised, Lieutenant O’Grady with a small group of men followed in pursuit.

I have two questions. Who were the men that followed in pursuit? Could Conrad Adam have been one of them? Arrgh! Conrad belonged to the Frontier Guard. The Guard had been organized by the Confederacy to provide protection for the settlers from Indian attacks and other dangers. Many men from the area and almost all the soldiers, who had been stationed in the forts along the line of the frontier, were gone and the Guard was just about the only line of defense for the citizens.

“Indians in Kendall County.” Dallas, TX: Dallas Weekly Herald, V. XII, 12, 2p.

Tombstone Tuesday: Wilhelm Kuhfuss

Kathryn

1 comment

January 7, 2014

Carl Wilhelm Kuhfuss

Geb. Sept 14, 1832

Gest. Aug 21, 1894

In Aller von 62 yahren 11 monate

The second photograph shows the view from Conrad’s grave to Wilhelm Kuhfuss’ grave. They are on border of the original part of the cemetery.

Wilhelm Kuhfuss was born in Babens Ruhe, Germany. After arriving in Boerne, he started buying and selling cattle. He met Theresa Louise Reidel at a celebration in New Braunfels. The story is he was so smitten by her that in four days he convinced her to marry him. They opened a general mercantile business in Boerne. Wagons from Indianola brought goods to the store. He was the first Kendall County treasurer and from 1889-1892 served as a Justice of the Peace. The couple had six children: Ottilie (F. W. Schweppe), Lina (Wm. Vanderstratten), Emma (Max Beseler), William, Jr. married first marriage to Bertha Stendebach, second marriage Mrs. Edmunda Guidry, Edward married Katie Platz, one son died as an infant.

Wilhelm Kuhfuss was one of thirty-three inhabitants to purchase burial plots in the Boerne Cemetery in 1867.

(Boerne, Kendall County, Texas). Carl Wilhelm Kuhfuss marker; personally read 2014.

Gray, Edith A. Recollections of Boerne and Kendall County Family Histories. 1949.

Sentimental Sunday

Kathryn

no comments

January 5, 2014

While looking through my parents photograhs for snow pictures for a Dietert Archives Project, I discovered this photo. The date on the back is December 1957. I’m thinking this is the first time I saw snow and there was enough to build a nice size snowman! So to family and friends in Indiana where it is snowing with windchill temps in the negative numbers, I just want to say “Just look, it does snow in the Texas Hill Country!”

Stay warm!

Sentimental Sunday: Julius and Willie Adam

Kathryn

no comments

December 22, 2013

Julius is driving the wagon loaded with corn. Willie looks like he is enjoying the ride.

Picture taken outside the yard of the Julius Adam home in the Balcones Community.

World War I Draft Registration for the Adam Brothers

Kathryn

no comments

December 20, 2013

World War I Draft Registration Cards are on file at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington DC. If a trip to Washington DC is out of the question, you can subscribe to Ancestry.com and read them any time. The copies are not the best but still readable. I searched for my grand-uncle Eugene Conrad Adam and my grandfather Willie Eugene Adam.

Eugene Conrad Adam

I have transcribed as much of the hazy blur as I could.

Eugene Conradt [sic] Adam; from Boerne, Texas; age 20; born June 1, 1898; white; farmer; employed by Julius Adam, Boerne, Texas; next of kin Julius Adam, RFD #1, Boerne, TX, he signed his name as Eugene Conrad Adams; medium height; build ?; eyes blue; hair brown; Registered by Elmer Watts on Sept 12, 1918

Willie Eugene Adam

Willie Eugene Adam; age 24; Boerne, Texas; Born March 23, 1893; natural-born citizen; place Boerne, Texas; Farmer; next of kin, Julius Adam, Boerne, TX; no children; single; caucasian; signed Willie E. Adam; Tall; Medium build; light blue eyes; Med. Brown Hair; H. O. Adler; Precinct #1, Kendall Co, Texas, June 5, 1917; Aug. Langbein

The House that Conrad Adam Built

Kathryn

2 comments

December 12, 2013

In 1959 my great grandmother, Ida Adam, moved to the Golden Age Nursing Home in Boerne. She sold the house that Conrad Adam built to the Thompsons. Mrs. Thompson was interested in the history of the place and created a large display with pictures and text. The fuzzy orange pictures are copies of the ones she placed in the display along with the text.

Conrad Adam home

Picture taken in 1898 when home was owned by his son Julius Adam

“Home built by Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Adam in 1873. Mr. William Schoenert contracted to build the house which took him one year. He was paid one dollar a day and board. Mr. Schoenert later married the third child of Mr. and Mrs. Adam, daughter Emilie.

The house has four bedrooms three upstairs with plenty of storage space and one downstairs. The bedroom downstairs measures 15’x18’ with 11’ceiling. When the house was built the living room measured 15’x17’ 8” with 11’ ceiling. There is a fireplace in it. There is a bath on both floors.

AdamConradhomeside2

Small room added after original kitchen made of wood was torn away (by Julius Adam) room divided equally into four small rooms. The cistern which was on a porch outside the original kitchen was enclosed in the N.W. corner room and was used for cream separator and milk utensils, S.E. corner room was used by Mrs. Adam for sewing room; S.E. corner room was used for entrance on east side; S.W. corner room was the bathroom. The original [?} Was more narrow but the same length as the rebuilt room, and was entered through an enclosed passage way from the dining room, and was entered through an enclosed passage way from the dining room, double doors were on both east and west sides of the passage way. The dining room was used for kitchen by Adam family.

East view of smokehouse. The slot in the wall was used to rest guns in guarding off Indians. The round hole in the gable is where a pipe came from the stove in the wash room. The outer toilet was built by WPA on 6 May 1935.”

Taken from plaque made by Mrs. Thompson who bought house from Ida Adam in 1959.

House served as a stage-coach stop for many years. The drivers would use a trap door in the roof to look for Indians.”

Tombstone Tuesday: Adam Vogt

Kathryn

2 comments

December 10, 2013

Adam Vogt

Geb May 10, 1822

Gest April 19, 1882

Adam Vogt was one of forty young men who founded the settlement of Bettina in the Fisher Miller Grant under the direction of the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas. Most were university students from Giessen, Heidelberg and from an industrial school in Darmstadt. Gustav Schleicher and Dr. Ferdinand von Herff organized the group of men in 1847 and called them “Die Vierziger” or “The Forty”. This settlement was abandoned by the end of summer in 1848. In 1849 five members of “The Forty”, Adam Vogt, Philip Zoeller, Wilhelm Friedrich, Leopold Schulz, and Christian Flach organized a farm located off present day Johns Road. This lasted about two years. Not far from the farm, Gustav Theissen purchased a tract of land on the Cibolo Creek and together with John James surveyed the tract for a town which Theissen named Boerne after Ludwig Boerne, a German writer. The first settlers in this new town were Adam Vogt, Leopold Schulz, Wilhelm Friedrich and Fritz Louis. Vogt was actively involved in the town of Boerne and later in helping organize Kendall County. For a time he was a County Commissioner and later a county judge.

Adam Vogt donated the land to form the Boerne Cemetery in 1867.

Biesele, Rudolph Leopold. The History of the German Settlements in Texas 1831-1861. Austin, TX: Eakin Press, 1987.

(Boerne, Kendall County, Texas). Adam Vogt marker; personally read 2013.

Wordless Wednesday: Toepperwein

Kathryn

1 comment

December 9, 2013

Wally Bertha Toepperwein, Ella Stein

Ella Clara Toepperwein, Ada Toepperwein

Toepperwein. Photograph of the original. 2000. By Gunner Froebel. Digital copy privately held by Regina Adam and Kathryn Adam-Hurst. Boerne, Texas. 2011.

Commissioner Court Minutes January term 1867

Kathryn

no comments

December 9, 2013

Commissioner Court Minutes for a county can give tidbits of information about the people who lived there. For example, I read in the January 1867 Kendall County Commissioner Court Minutes that Conrad Adam was an overseer for the upkeep of Road 1 in Kendall County. Who knew? Since there wasn’t a TXDOT in 1867 the men who lived along the road were to keep the part of the road where they lived in good repair. If everyone did their part, then travelers could easily travel down the road. I also learned that Conrad must have been able to speak English fairly well since not all of his road hands were of German descent. Some of the men who were road hands were not on the 1870 Kendall County Census which was taken three years later. I have listed their names at the end of the post.

Commissioner’s Court Minutes January Term 1867

“The Court proceeded to make appointments for road overseers and to designate the hands liable to work under the resp. overseers; for Precinct No. 1 there was appointed:

Conrad Adam, overseer for Road No. 1
commencing on Balcones crossing of San Antonio Boerne Road, following said Road to Cibolo crossing inclusive.

Hands: Christ. Humbold, Chs. Dienger, J. G. O’Grady, H. W. Topperwein, Ferd. Topperwein, Anton Bergmann, R. Westmoore, A. H. Barter, John Hermann, Chs. Cole, F. V. Henderson, W. V. Henderson, Nelson & George (freedmen)

William Kuhfuss, overseer for Road No. 2
commencing on Cibolo crossing exclusive, following the Boerne – Fredericksburg Road to Joshua crossing inclusive

Hands: Matth Baumann, Aug. Staffel, J. Nagelus, Christ. Jacob, Dei Sheridan, Jac. Theis, Jac. Gass, Henry Wendler, C. H. Clauss, Franz Schaeffer, H. G. Froebel, H. Baumberger, G.A. Topperwein, E. Reed, Jefferson, freedman, John Werner, Ferd. Lohmann, Ant. Koch, Rich. Street /freedm/ Ferd. Harz

Frederic Werner, overseer for Road No. 3
commencing at J. Saner’s residence in the town of Boerne following the Boerne Sisterdale Road to the crossing of Waspe [sic] Creek (exclusive)

Hands: Jul. Fabra. Ign. Minich, R. Brotze, Chas. Adam, Ad. Zoeller, Aug. Pfeiffer jun. W. Pfeiffer, Ernest Pfeiffer, Reinhold Kutzer, Dan. Meckel, Chs. Meckel, Fred. Meckel, Stewart, J. D. Johns

W. Vogt, roadoverseer for Road No. 4
commencing at the public square of the town of Boerne, following the Boerne – Curry’s Creek Road to the Guadalupe crossing at Aman’s place (exclusive)

R. Willke, H. Dietert, Jos Philipp, Jul. Philipp, F. Vanderstraten, F. Boehm, Aug. Vogt, Fred. Haag, Adolph Haag, Gottf. Hauffler, W. Hein, H. Spangenberg

J. F. Stendebach, overseer for Road No. 5
commencing at Cibolo crossing (exclusive) in the town of Boerne following the road towards Dripping Spring to the place where the road intersects the boundary line of the County

Hands: M. Schwarz, F. Schwarz, Bill Logan and son(freedmen) Dimas Huimizo, [B.] Dane, R. Lincoln, Jaco. Dedecker, J. Kraft, H. Scheele.

John Moser, roadoverseer for Precinct, No. 3 and Road No. 6
commencing at the crossing of Waspe[sic] in the Boerne-Sisterdale Road, following said Road and further on from Sisterdale towards Fredericksburg to the boundary line of the County.

Hands: C. Hoffarth, H. Magers, W. Magers, Chs Seewald, Alf Kapp, Rud. Wipprecht, Q. Bunsen, H. Carstanjen, Otto Neuber, J. Siebeneicher,

Charles Beseler, roadoverseer from Prect. No. 3 Road No. 7
commencing at Joshua crossing (exclusive) in Boerne-Fredericksburg Road following said road to the boundary line of the County

Hands: Mc Cluer, D. M. Davis, H. L. Mims, K. Ellis and son, R. B. Wilson, G. Nichols jun. Th. H. Manning, J. W. Manning, John Brown, L. W. Howell

Henry Boerner, roadoverseer for Pct. No. 4, Road No. 8
commencing at the fork of Boerne-Fredericksburg and Boerne-Comfort Road following the road last mentioned to the town of Comfort.

Hands: Alb. Beversdorff, Aug. Beversdorff, Chs. Bonnet, Sam. Ridley (fdmn), Doob, (fdm.) Henry Weber, Justus Sickenius, A. Lieck, A. Faltin, Chs. Kerger, G. Holekamp, F. Spenarth, M. Lindner, Chr Flach, L. Strohacker, V. Pfeuffer, H. Harms, Johns Stecher, G. Moorhoff, Rob. Schladeur, Henry Heinen, E. Serger, P. Hanish, John Hoerner, Jos. Lamm, A. Bohnert, J. Pankratz, Th. Wiedenfeld. O. Brinkmann, W. Heuermann.

The Clerk was ordered, to issue writs to all & each of the above named roadoverseers according to law.”

Road hands not on the 1870 Kendall County Census are: H. W. Topperwein, Ferd. Topperwein, R. Westmoore, F. V. Henderson, W.V. Henderson, Nelson & George (freedmen), J. Nagelus, Christ. Jacob, Die Sheridan, H. Baumberger, E. Reed, Stewart, W. Hein, H. Spangenberg (murdered 1868), F. Schwarz, Bill Logan and son (freedmen), Dimas Huimio, R. Lincoln, C. Hoffarth, Alf. Kapp, Rud. Wipprecht, Q. Bunsen, McCluer, D. M. Davis, H. L. Mims, K. Ellis and son, J. W. Manning, Sam. Ridley (freedman), Doob (freedman), Justus Sickenius, A. Lieck, Johns Stecher, Henry Heinen.

Texas. Kendall County. Commissioner’s Court Minutes Book 1, pages 67-69.

Adam-Hurst, Kathryn. 1870 Federal Census for Kendall County, Texas. Boerne,TX: The Genealogical Society of Kendall County, 1997.

Kendall County Grand Jurors for 1864

Kathryn

no comments

December 6, 2013

July 18th 1864

“At a special meeting of the county court held this day the following officers were present Hon Jos. Graham Chief Justice Commissioners Adam Vogt, C. Rhodius, M. Lindner E G Krissner(?). The proceedings of the last meeting were read and approved. The court then proceeded to select the following persons as Grand Jurors for 1864.”

Conrad Adam
A. H. Bartor
F. Doebbeler
Wm Ditret [sic] Dietert?
C. Flach
B. Hagamann
Johns Moses
F. Perner
L. Strotucker
Joseph Tate
Antone Bohnert
Charles Bergstrom
Charles Dinger
Wm Edge
C. Hoffarth
F. Hartz
James M. Patton
F. Sauer
John F. Stendebach
Augt Vogt

Texas. Kendall County Commissioners Minutes, Vol. 1, p. 35.