Conrad's Stories

Today is…Lillie Katherine Schuetz Adam’s Brithday

Kathryn

September 9, 2011

Grandpa, Grandma and me

Today is my Grandma’s birthday!

Grandma said she always looked forward to her birthday because it was the only day she was allowed to sleep late. The bad part was she always woke up early.

Lillie Katherine Schuetz was born 8 September 1895 in a cedar log house in Kendalia, Texas. Her parents were Henry and Emma Bauer Schuetz. She had two brothers, Alec and Harry. As a young adult, she loved to go dancing and would go to dances with her younger brother Harry. They would go on horseback, horse and buggy or by car. One time they were headed to a dance in Kendalia when a spinning wheel zipped past the car. They thought that was so funny until they realized it was from their car! She met Willie Adam at one of those dances.

She married, my grandfather, Willie Adam on 16 March 1919, in San Antonio. Returning from their honeymoon in San Antonio they stopped by Willie’s parent’s house and received a special treat to welcome them home, homemade peach ice cream! They settled on a farm down the road from Willie’s parents.

I loved to go to her house for Sunday Kaffeeklatsch. She made the best raisin spice cake. I wish I had the recipe. She made cutout cookies that she kept in an owl cookie jar. You couldn’t eat just one cookie. They were lip smacking good! Now, all I can think about are the dishes she prepared, homemade noodles, fig preserves, homemade bread, homemade pickles. My mouth is watering…

Happy birthday, Grandma!

A Visit to the Boerne Cemetery

Kathryn

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September 6, 2011

Since the temperature was below 100 degrees today, I decided to visit the Boerne Cemetery. I wanted to find the graves of Adalbertha’s siblings.In 1867, Adam Vogt deeded the land to the city to create the Boerne Cemetery. Conrad Adam purchased his plots in August, 1867, as many of the early settlers did. Conrad and Adalbertha tombstones are the white marble stones. Kathinka Toepperwein, their oldest daughter, is buried next to them.

To the left, under some huge oak trees, I discovered Adalbertha’s sister Amalie Bergmann Dietert!

Amalie Bergmann Dietert’s Tombstone

Rosa Bergmann Dietert was near her sister Amalie.

Anton Bergmann, their brother, was buried in another section and was fairly easy to find.

Anton Bergmann’s Tombstone

Success! I found all three!

There are two more siblings, Gustav Bergmann and Johanna Bergmann Toepperwein. Both are buried in San Antonio.

Henry and William, husbands of Amalie and Rosa, are two of thirty-three inhabitants who purchased burial plots in the Boerne Cemetery in 1867.

Boerne Cemetery (Boerne, Kendall County, Texas). Amalie Bergmann Dietert, Rosa Bergmann Dietert, Anton Bergmann marker; personally read, 2011.

Reminiscing in Kendall County

Kathryn

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September 4, 2011

John Edward Vogt

Last night I finished reading Witches, Bitches and other Small Town Folks: A Hodge-Podge of the History and People of Kendall County, Texas by John Edward Vogt. The book came out last month and I wanted to go the autographing session at the Read All About It Book Store, but I had a conflict and didn’t pick up a copy until Thursday afternoon. It was a delightful read! The author reminisces about his life and what Boerne and Kendall County were like in the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s. I learned a lot about Boerne and the happenings in the area through the eyes of a “town kid.” Most of my family are “county kids.” In the last fourth of the book, he shares information he found when he researched the county records and explains why the small rock building, where the county agent has his office, was built. He studied in-depth about the formation of the county. Kendall County was the only county created during the Civil War. Very interesting! If you are interested in Boerne and Kendall County, I highly recommend you read Witches, Bitches and other Small Town Folks. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 2014 Note: This book is out of print.

Theresia Ohnesorge Bergmann

Kathryn

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September 2, 2011

Theresia Ohnesorge Bergmann

My 3rd great-grandmother

* Born in Machendorf, Boehem on 15 October 1813

* Died 4 August 1889 at 75 years of age

* Married to Joseph Bergmann who died in 1882

I am guessing this picture was taken between 1882 and 1889.

I wonder if she made delicious pastries…

Bergmann, Theresia Ohnesorge. Photograph of the original held by D. Lynn Rogers. Digital copy privately held by Kathryn Adam-Hurst. Boerne.

I Don’t Know Much About Joseph Bergmann my 3rd Great-Grandfather

Kathryn

2 comments

September 2, 2011

Joseph Bergmann

I don’t know very much about my 3rd great-grandparents, Joseph and Theresia Ohnesorge Bergmann. They arrived in Galveston on the ship Texas on 12 June 1853. Their destination was Bexar County. In New Homes in a New Land, Joseph Bergmann from Reichenberg, Bohemia arrived with 11 persons in his group. I have 7 accounted for and possibly one more named Gustav, that’s a total of 8. Who are the other 3???

Children are:

Adalbertha, born 30 October 1836 married Conrad Adam
Rosa born 10 August 1841 married Wilhelm Dietert
Amalia Margaret born 27 August 1844 married Heinrich Dietert
Anton born 2 April 1846 married Ernstine Beyer
Johanna born 16 September 1849 married E. A. Ferdinand Toepperwein

Some facts about Joseph Bergmann:

30 September 1856 applied for citizenship
1859 signed petition for create Kendall County
5 September 1855 applied for a cattle brand BI and lived near Menger Creek near Boerne
By 1870 is eligible to vote
In June 1880, he is 80 years old. He and his wife are living with Henry and Amalia Bergmann Dietert
He died 2 January 1882 and is buried in the Boerne Cemetery
In September 1882, William Dietert was appointed temporary administration of the Estate of Joseph Bergmann. His main job was to “collect from Anna and Rosalia Schubert, of Reichenberg, Bohemia, the amount due by them to the heirs of Joseph Bergmann deceased.”

History Pop Quiz! What and where is Boehem?

Kathryn

4 comments

August 30, 2011

Joseph Bergmann’s Tombstone

Adalbertha Bergmann and her family came from Boehem. Boehem is German for Bohemia which was located in central Europe and is now in the Czech Republic. Boehem was part of the Holy Roman Empire and by 1526 became part of the Habsburg’s Austrian Empire. That is why the Bergmann family, sometimes, is listed as coming from Austria rather than Boehem.

For centuries, there was religious unrest between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. In 1618, the Protestants revolted against the Habsburg rule and lost. In 1620, the Roman Catholics defeated the Protestants. Following the defeat, the Habsburg rule of Bohemia became stricter. Bohemia was no longer a kingdom, Protestantism and Czech nationalism was suppressed, Roman Catholic was the national religion and many families became serfs to the wealthy land holders. German became the national language and was taught in all schools. Czech was spoken mainly in the rural areas. Aha, that’s how the Joseph Bergmann family knew German! I wonder if they also spoke Czech.

In 1848, the Czechs in Bohemia and Moravia (a neighboring country) revolted. Even though the Czechs failed in their revolt, the serf system was abolished and this caused the middle class to rise.

Five years after the 1848 revolt, Joseph Bergmann of Reichenberg, Boehem (now Liberec, CZ), his wife, Theresia, and five children relocate to Texas. Joseph was 53 years old. They arrived in Galveston on 12 June 1853 and headed for the Texas Hill Country.

“Bohemia.” Encyclopdeia Britiannica. Web. 29 August 1011. http://www.britannica.com.

How do you spell Adalbertha?

Kathryn

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August 29, 2011

Signature of Adalbertha Adam

I am guilty. This is a personal issue for me. My name is Kathryn, not Katherine. My last name was Adam, not Adams. I have a very basic name but it is always misspelled. As a result, I have always tried to spell other people’s names correctly.

My great-great-grandmother was born in 1836 in Boehem (Czech Republic). Her parents named her Adalbertha. I had never before or since heard of anyone with this name so I decided to find out more about it. Adalbertha is the feminine form of Adalbert. Adalbert or Adelbert is an old Germanic name that has been around for over a 1000 years. In fact, the first Adalbert of any importance was St. Adalbert of Prague. He is the patron saint of Bohemia, Poland, and Prussia. Adalbert, which means noble and bright, was from a wealthy family but decided to become a priest. He was very zealous about converting heathens to Christianity. In 977, he went on a missionary trip to Prussia. It seems he was cutting down some sacred oaks. They asked him to stop. He didn’t, so they stopped him.

When I first started gathering information about the Adam Family I went to the cemetery and started copying down the information from the tombstones. I thought all the information would be correct. On Adalbertha’s stone, her name is spelled Adelbertha Adams. (I should have clued in on the Adams.) I happily began spelling her name Adelbertha. I found other spellings, Adalberthe on her marriage certificate, Adebertha on the 1870 Kendall County Census, and Adallberthe on her death certificate and then in her own handwriting on her will in 1895 Adalbertha Adam. Adalbertha, Adelbertha, Kathryn, Katherine are all correct spellings, but how did she spell her name? Adalbertha Adam. I am sooo guilty…

“St. Adalbert.” Catholic Encyclopedia. Web. 29 August 2011. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01127c.htm.

A Blessed Union: Conrad and Adalbertha Bergmann Adam

Kathryn

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August 28, 2011

Conrad Adam Family

Conrad and Adalbertha had seven children with six living to adulthood.

Kathinka born 7 September 1857 married Paul. J. F. Toepperwein
Therese born 20 August 1859 married Frederick Voges
Emilie born 27 April 1862 married William Schoenert
Julius Conrad born 15 March 1864 married Ida Haufler
Bertha born 8 July 1865 married Hilmar G. Froebel (1) Haby (2)
Emma born 11 September 1867 married Christian Herms
Amalie born in 1869 lived for 7 days or a few years; the stories vary

I don’t think Amalie had a tombstone but there was a small cemetery within walking distance of the house. When my father was a young boy he was told there was a baby buried in the cemetery. They did not purchase the land until 1874, so I am not sure Amalie is buried there.

Don’t you just love this picture? I wish it was clearer but you can still see Julius next to his sister Kathinka. He doesn’t look too happy. Conrad and Adalbertha are in the middle and Therese is holding Emilie. I am guessing Bertha and Emma were too small and would not hold still for the picture.

Oh Grasshopper!

Kathryn

4 comments

August 26, 2011

The weather has been on everyone’s mind lately because of the 45 days of 100 degree temperatures and no rain in sight. I decided to look at some newspaper articles from the 1800s to see what was happening with the weather in Central Texas. In 1884-1886 Texas was suffering from a severe drought. It was reported from Galveston, Texas to the Daily Inter Ocean newspaper in Chicago in early 1887 that “The fields are barren even of weeds, while strings of cattle almost too poor to stand up are traveling constantly in search of grass and water.” Boy, does that sound familiar.

Did you know that grasshopper plagues are also associated with droughts? I didn’t. Maybe Texas was in another drought in 1867. George Wilkins Kendall, a correspondent for the New Orleans Picayune, reported on November 21, 1867 in the Patriot newspaper in Harrisburg, PA, “In ten minutes time, from their first advent, the ground as I have already said was literally alive with them, in some places nearly over the shoes, and an onslaught upon okra, butterbeans, tomatoes and potato vines as well as many kinds of weeds was at once commenced.” It lasted twenty four hours and they traveled south to north. I would think it would be noisy and with no screens on the windows they would have been all over the house. Ewww! He also said, “they went through my wheat field faster than M’Cormicks.” I don’t even want to imagine what it must feel like to have your food source eaten by a bunch of grasshoppers.

Conrad and the settlers of Kendall County would have experienced both of these events. Anybody have a drought story to share?

“Another Storm of Grasshoppers.” Patriot, Harrisburg, PA, 21 November 1867. Print.

“Texas Drought a week of Expectancy and Disappointment Throughout the State.” Daily Inter Ocean, Chicago,

IL, 11 April 1887. Print.

Excerpt from Letter written by Bertha Adam Froebel Haby

Kathryn

3 comments

August 20, 2011

: Bertha Adam Froebel

I thought it would be really easy to come up with a title for this blog, but it wasn’t. Every name I came up with had already been taken or just didn’t sound right and then I remembered a letter written in 1927 by Bertha Adam Froebel Haby, one of Conrad’s daughters, to her grandson Guenther Froebel. In the letter she wrote about her father, one thing she said about him was, “My father was a great story teller when I was a child and I can remember many of his stories…” and Conrad’s Stories was born!!

There is a copy of the letter on file at the Family History Center, Boerne, TX. The original is owned by the Froebel family.

Do you know any of his stories or stories about other settlers in the Kendall County area? Just click on comment and tell your story!