Inventory of the County Archives of Texas: Number 62, De Witt County (Cuero) Page: 11

11 Historical
Sketch (First entry, p. 25)
Meyersville was the second German settlement to be established in
De Witt County before 1850. Adolph Meyer and Fritz Hausmann may be
called the founders of this town, for they arrived in the county and
took up lands along Coleto Creek in 1846. Other settlers came over
from Germany in 1848, and it was about this time that the settlement
began to be called Meyersville. Some of the families landed at GalvestDn,,and
came by flatboat to Houst-on. From there, they had their goods
hauled by four-horse wagon to Victoria. Unfortunately the wagon w-uld
hold only -the boxes and trunks; the immigrants had to walk. As if the
walking itself were not hard enough, the teamster forced them to travel
the entire distance without meals; he would allow no fires to be kindled
for fear the smoke would attract the Indians. At Victoria, two of the
families dropped out of the party, but the others pushed on to Meyersville.
Beyond a doubt, that spot, which meant food and rest and the end
of their journey, must have looked like a paradise to those travelers.38
The German pioneers, noted almost universally for the energy with
which they attacked the problems of the frontier, were faced with an
unusual hardship peculiarly their own. They had to learn to use an axe.
In the old country, their homes had been stone huts with thatched roofs;
and their fuel, peat or turf. At Meyersville they had to cut down large
trees for Logs to build their homes. Smaller trees and branches of the
larger ones had to be cut into proper lengths for their fireplaces. But
they mastered the new technique, built their homes, and provided themselves
with firewood; and in 1850, they undertook the larger and more important
project of building a church for their community. Whrien they began
to plant their crops and work in their fields, however, the German
immigrants needed no tutor; they taught their neighbors new methods. One
of the men:, a Mr. Dreier,had brought with him a plowshare, which he had
attached t-) a rude wooden frame. When he proposed to use this crudely
made implement to cut furrows in his land, his neighbors scoffed at him.
They had been accustomed to clearing their land with axes and scythes;
and their planting had been done by the use of a dibble or pointed stick,
Plows and furrows had no place in their methods of farming. But Drcietr's
enterprise was successful, and the score with regard to the axe was
evened,39
During the fiftie;s, De Yitt County knew a period of real social progress.
In 1851, the Meyersville settlement erected its Lutheran church
and churches for other denominations soon followed.4 On September 1,
1856, the legislature of the state chartered Concrete College, "a school
of learning, consisting of male and female departments," to be located
in the town of Concrete.41 In 1857 there were two post offices listed
in De Witt County, at Clinton and at Cuero. There were five towns in the
county: Clinton, Yorktown, Meyersville, Concrete, and Cuero; and the
38. Cuero Record, Dec. 31, 1935.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid,
41. TA., Sept. 1, 1856, Gainmel, Laws, IV, 758-760; Frederick Eby,
Education in Texas: Source Materials (Austin, 1918), 398.