The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914 Page: 213
454 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews and Notices
the author deals with less than five years of the history of the
majority of Germans in Texas in 1850. No one will assert that
only those years of disappointment and hardship deserve a special
memorial, or that the Germans have not since greatly aided in the
upbuilding of the State.
Almost half of this section of the book (pages 58-113) and a
large part of the Appendix (pages 204-225) are devoted to the
"Verein zum Schutze deutscher Einwanderer in Texas." The
mistakes made at the outset by this association are detailed, and
the author severely denounces the whole course pursued by it with
reference to the colonization of Texas. The author is too much
concerned with the Verein as a business organization and not
enough attention is paid to the movement, which the Verein in-
augurated, for colonizing Texas with Germans. For instance, the
author says (page 83), "This sending of 4,000 immigrants in the
fall and winter of 1845 probably was the most inexcusable of the
many blunders of the Adelsverein." As a. matter of fact, whether
the Verein was swindled or not, whether its officers were efficient
or ignorant, whether its objects were humanitarian or selfish are
minor details viewed from the vantage ground the passing years
have given us. The essential thing to the student of the history
of Texas is that this Verein so successfully turned the tide of
German emigration toward Texas in 1845 that emigrants con-
tinued to pour into this State for years after the Verein had been
smashed.
On page 108 the author again speaks of "the senseless haste
with which the emigrants were sent to Texas by the Adelsverein."
Yet when the direful catastrophe occurred and the Verein in 1847
was declared bankrupt, he notes (page 110) rather naively that
"it proved well for them [the colonists] that they were forced
to remain" in Texas, and that "after the first outbursts of despair
and agony .. . they all set determinedly to work, and by
hard and persistent labor . . . and living on the barest neces-
sities of life for several years, they not only succeeded in estab-
lishing a firm existence for themselves, but in course of time made
New Braunfels and Fredericksburg the garden spots of Texas."
The Verein failed, but the German colonists prospered.
The "Historical sketch of the Texas Staats Saengerbund, 1853-213
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 17, July 1913 - April, 1914, periodical, 1914; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101061/m1/217/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.