Elfrieda is the daughter of Ernst Bauer and Rosa Bender Bauer and granddaughter of Phillip and Marie Peters Bauer. Her tombstone and death certificate state she was born in 1895, but most likely, she was born in 1896. When she was twenty, she married Charles Henry Hoeke on 16 November 1915 in Kendall County. Her husband Charles was born in New Braunfels on 17 July 1894. He worked for Wellceus [spelling ?] and Rickmann as a laborer. He is described as short, slender, with gray eyes and light brown hair on his World War I Draft Registration Card. In 1920 Charles was a salesman at a local grocery store in Boerne, and he and his wife are living in a rented house.
Seven years later, Elfrieda is going by the name Alpha and is married to Kearby Crockett. They are living at 316 Regina Street in San Antonio and she is working as a clerk. Kearby is the manager of the Tent and Awning Company. In 1930, Alpha states on the census she is divorced. Her sister Harriet Schrader and niece Constance Gore, age eight, live with her.
San Antonio Light, 19 November 1928
A few months later, Alpha Crockett married Michael “Mike” Solomon. Mike was born in Victoria, Canada, on 23 February 1897. Both of his parents were born in Austria. On his Naturalization papers completed in 1938, he stated he married Alpha Crockett on 12 July 1930 in San Antonio, but they were no longer married. He said she was born in Spring Branch on 27 April 1896. After coming to the United States in 1920, Mike joined the Army and was stationed at Camp Normoyle* with her sister’s future husband Fritz Klaeden. In 1940, Mike is stationed at Patterson Field in Bath, Greene County, Ohio. He is a mechanic helper and single.
In District Court Case 829, Arnold Bauer et al. vs. Rosa Hood et al., in 1934, it is recorded that Elfrieda is a widow. I located a grave in the Ft. Sam National Cemetery for Mike Solomon, born 23 February 1897 in Canada and died 15 August 1989 at age 92 in Bexar County. His service years were 1925-1946, and during World War II, his rank was Master Sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Corps. I think this is the same Mike Solomon. Perhaps, it was easier to say she was a widow rather divorced.
I cannot locate her on the 1940 census. She shows up again in 1942 when she files a quit-claim deed for a ¾ lot in Artesian Gardens to Mike Solomon, a single man. In 1948 she was listed in the San Antonio City Directory as Mrs. Alpha Solomon living at 111 Wellington and was employed by Grants. On 22 January 1949 she married Roy L. Gorsic in Seguin, Guadalupe County, Texas. They were married by County Judge A. W. Saegert and no witnesses were recorded. The final time I locate Alpha is on 25 August 1967 in an obituary in the San Antonio Light as Mrs. Alpha S. Gorsic. She was 72, lived at 111 Wellington, and was a St. Paul Lutheran Church member. The church is located at 106 Roseborough Street. Reverend Robert H. Studtman signed her death certificate, performed the funeral, and sold her house on 111 Wellington. Survivors were her sister Mrs. Hattie Klaeden and brother Arnold M. Bauer, nieces Mrs. Jean Weidman, Mrs. Connie Sutherland, and several great-nieces and nephews. She was buried in the Roselawn Memorial Park, now San Fernando City Cemetery #3.
*On a side note, I was not familiar with Camp Normoyle and looked it up. Here is what I learned. The Handbook of Texas describes this camp. “Camp Normoyle was established during World War I. It was located across the railroad at the northeast corner of Kelly Field in western San Antonio. In 1920 the base served as an army vocational school. Camp Normoyle was a quartermaster ordnance and engine-replacement depot for Kelly Field during World War II and was merged into Kelly Field in 1944.” This camp was named after Major James Edward Normoyle, who died in February 1916 from blood poisoning. He is remembered for assisting in the Mexican Border mobilization in 1911, directing flood relief in 1912 when the Mississippi River overflowed, and later in the great Dayton flood in March 1913.
Another fun fact, Elfrieda means elf, magical being with strength. It is a form of the Old German name Alfreda. Alpha being a nickname.
Alpha is my paternal grandma Lillie Adam’s first cousin.
Crockett, Kearby C. Obituary. 7 October 1960. Genealogybank.com.
“Discharge Four in Row Over Dog.” San Antonio Light (San Antonio, Tx), 19 November 1928. Genealogybank.com.
Grosic, Alpha Solomon. Bexar County Deeds, Vol. 5832, page 634.
Gorsic, Mrs. Alpha. Obituary. San Antonio Light. 25 August 1967. Genealogybank.com.
Kendall County Marriage Records, Kendall County Courthouse, Boerne, Texas.
Do you want to know more about the history of Kendall County?
Click on this link https://patrickheath.libguides.com/dietertarchives to access the Kendall County Local and Family History page on the Patrick Heath Public Library website. Here you can access The Dietert Historical Archives quarterly newsletter, Echoes From the Archives, about people, places, and events in Kendall County. You can read past copies, search the newsletter index, and sign up to receive a copy in your email box four times a year. There are several links, but one of great interest to local researchers of Kendall County is Mrs. Edith Gray’s book Recollections of Boerne and Kendall County, written in 1949. As described on the website, the book is “A book of histories, stories, documents, images, letters, and lists relevant to Kendall County’s growth and development. The contents focus on the people, geography, and topography of the area. The book also features accounts from eyewitnesses and experts.”
They are buried in the Phillip Cemetery formerly the Kreutzberg Cemetery. It is located off Highway 474 in Kendall County, Texas. Louise is the daughter of Philipp and Marie Peters Bauer.
Kreutzberg Cemetery (Kendall County, Texas). Louise and Charles Wessley marker; personally read 1996.
While looking for something else on the Texas Digital Archives website, I discovered this muster roll for Kendall County. The Texas Digital Archives is part of Texas State Library and Archives Commission. The link to their page is | Texas Digital Archive (preservica.com).
Muster Roll Sergeant A. B. Doering, Second Company of Cavalry, 50% call, Texas State Troops, Kendall County 31st Militia Brigade, mustered into the service of the State of Texas, and transferred to the service of the Confederate States Provisional Army by the order of his Excellency, F. R. Lubbock, Governor of Texas from the 5th day of October 1863.
Name, Rank, Age, Joined for Duty, Where, By Whom, arms value, Remarks
Doering, J. B., sergeant, 37, 5 October, Sisterdale, H. Seele
Asehmann (sp?), Fied., private, 43, 5 October, Sisterdale, H. Seele
Glass (sp?), E., private, 47, 5 October, Sisterdale, H. Seele, remark: discharged Conf. Soldier
Heuermann, W., Private, 36, 5 October, Sisterdale, H. Seele
Nichols, S., Private, 43, 5 October, Sisterdale, H. Seele
Strearns, E.S., Private, 45, 5 October, Sisterdale, H. Seele, has own arms: value 125 remark: transferred to Comal Co. Infantry
Wiedenfeldt, Theodor, Private, 35, 5 October, Sisterdale, H. Seele, has own arms: value 75
MR 1139, Confederate and Texas State Troops military rolls, Texas Adjutant General’s Department Civil War military rolls. Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
Henry came to Texas with his parents Carl and Elizabeth Koch Wendler in 1854. The family came from Bielefeld, Westphalen, Germany. His siblings are: Fritz (married Pauline Theis), Auguste Bertha (married Carl Adam brother to Conrad Adam), Auguste Elizabeth, Louis Carl, Louise Henrietta (married Lenz Leonard), and Max Rudolph. He married Pauline Auguste Lukenbach in 1864 in Gillespie County, Texas. They had seven children: Hugo (married Amalia Dietert), Theodore, Adolph (married Wally Toepperwein, granddaughter of Conrad Adam), Olga (married Lawrence Schrader), Albert, Bruno (married Alfie Stewart), Henry, and Clifford. Henry ran a dry good store in Boerne.
Henry Wendler was one of thirty-three inhabitants to purchase burial plots in the Boerne Cemetery in 1867.
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Boerne Cemetery (Boerne, Kendall County, Texas). Henry Wendler, Sr. marker; personally read 2020.
Gray, Edith A. Recollections of Boerne and Kendall County: Family Histories. 1949.
Since I first started gathering information about Conrad Adam, my great-great-grandfather, I have continually looked in books and later on the Internet for him. I never expect to find him and am always surprised when I do. Today was not any different. I typed his name into the Bexar County Deed search box. Lo and behold, there he was in 1875, agreeing to be a trustee with H. G. Froebel on a Deed of Trust for Michel Enderle. The witnesses were E. C. Grothaus and Ch. Dienger. The definition for a Deed of Trust is “a type of security for a loan. It names a third party called the trustee to hold the legal title until you pay it off.” So here, we find Conrad doing a good deed. Of course, this leads to another question. Who is Michel Enderle?
Bexar County Deeds , DT, Vol. 3, 481-482p.
Michel Enderle was born to Johann Georg and Elizabethe Enderle on 11 March 1808 in Baden. He arrived in the United States with his wife and family in January 1847. They sailed on the ship Talbot and landed in New Orleans. Michel married his wife, Anna Maria Manshardt, on 7 November 1833 in Linx, Hohenbuhn, Baden, Prussia, now Linx, Kehl, Baden, Deutschland. In 1850 Michel and his family lived on the East Side of the San Antonio River in Bexar County. They eventually move to Kendall County.
Ship Talbot, 1847, Michel’s name is missing but his age 39 is listed.
So, how did Conrad know him and then be willing to sign as a trustee? Kendall County’s population was somewhere between 1,500 and 2,700 people in 1875, so everyone knew everyone. It appears Michel had a closer connection. While looking at the 1880 census, Michel lived with his daughter Elizabeth Braun and her son and another daughter Emma. Then, I noticed their next-door neighbors were Frederick Voges, his wife Therese (Conrad Adam’s daughter), and grandson Louis. Next door to the Voges family is Henry and Amalia Dietert (Conrad Adam’s brother- in-law and sister-in-law), their children, his nephew and nieces, Gustav A, Bertha, Mollie, and (Conrad’s father-in-law) Joseph Bergmann. Conrad must have thought highly of Michel Enderle to agree to be a trustee for a loan. If Michel had defaulted, he would have had to pay the note. The good news is on 18 January 1882, Conrad and H. G. Froebel are released. Michel paid off the note.
Anna Maria died in 1870 and Michel died in 1890. Both are buried in the Boerne Cemetery.
Children of Michel and Maria Anna Enderle:
Elizabeth, born 24 January 1834 in Baden. She married ? Braun. She died on 18 January 1902 at age 67 and is buried in the Boerne Cemetery.
Barbara Peltzer, born 18 October 1838 in Baden. She married Gustav Peltzer. He died in La Grange and is buried there. She died 16 November 1916 at age 78 and is buried in City Cemetery #1 in San Antonio. Her obituary states:
San Antonio Light, November 1916
Catherine, born 2 February 1840 in Baden. Never married. Died 12 July 1919 and is buried in City Cemetery #1 in San Antonio.
Mary Magdalena, born 15 June 1843 in Baden. She married Charles Armand Schreiner on 13 November 1861. She died 8 September 1902 in Kerrville and is buried at Glen Rest Cemetery.
Ludwig died young.
Caroline died young.
Emma, born 2 July 1854 in Texas and never married. She died 2 January 1939 at age 85 and is buried in City Cemetery #1 in San Antonio. Her obituary stated that she spent the winters in San Antonio and the summers in Boerne when she was older.
Albert, born on 31 October 1857 in Texas. He moved from San Antonio to Kerrville in 1873. He married Amelia Dietert, daughter of Christian and Rosalie Dietert of Kerrville, on 15 January 1882. Albert died on 3 March 1946 and is buried in the Glen Rest Cemetery in Kerrville. He was employed by Captain Charles Schreiner as a cashier and bookkeeper for a number of years. Then he became a postmaster at the Kerrville Post Office for twelve years. Christian Dietert is related to Henry Dietert, Conrad’s brother-in-law.
1850 Bexar County Census. Ancestry.com.
1880 Kendall County Census. Ancestry.com.
Bexar County Deed Records, DT, Vol. 88, 354p.
Bexar County Deed Records, DR, Vol. 3, 481-482p.
Enderle, Michael and Anna Maria. Findagrave.com.
Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1971. Ancestry.com.
“Miss Emma Enderle Dies in San Antonio.” Kerrville Mountain Sun (Kerrville, Texas) 5 January 1939. Newspapers.com.
“Mrs. Barbara Peltzer.” San Antonio Light, 1916. Genealogybank.com.
New Orleans, Passenger List Quarterly Abstracts, 1820-1875. January 1847.
With COVID-19 still going strong, it is almost impossible to go to any facility to do any hands-on research, so here is the next best thing. To research Bexar County, Texas Land Records (Deed Records), Land Plats, and Marriages, go to https://bexar.tx.publicsearch.us/ and use the drop-down menu to select your choice. Once you have typed in a person’s name and the list appears, you can choose which document you want to read. You get to see the digitized copy of the actual document!
I took a genealogy course several years ago, and the instructor said always read the Deed records. You will be surprised what you find. Land records make my eyes roll around in my head with the terminology and the land description. Although, since Texas uses Spanish varas, it can sometimes be interesting to read the boundaries., especially those next to the tree with the bird nest or the small pile of rocks. After forcing myself to read some deeds, it is amazing what I found and what I did not find about my ancestors. The deeds records helped me sort out family relations and introduced children I did not know existed. My instructor was right!
If you have ancestors who lived in Bexar County, click on the link, and begin searching today!
Conrad's Stories 