German Pioneers in Texas; A Brief History of Their Hardships, Struggles and Achievements Page: 23
3 p.l., 230 p. incl. plates, ports. 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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- 23
Eighteen princes and nobles comprised the membership,
with an incorporated capital of $80,000. The small amount
of its capital reveals the utter lack of practical knowledge
on the part of its incorporators, for as Professor Tiling
remarks, one million dollars would have really been insufficient
to carry out the plans of the company, and this would
have required the best of executive control, whereas the
company or association, had about the worst possible
management.
Two representatives, Counts Victor von Leiningen and
Boos-Waldeck, were sent as representatives to buy land
from the Texas government. Count Leiningen seems to have
been empowered with the gratest authority in this matter,
though endowed with the least ability. He seems to have
presented the matter to President Houston very awkwardly
and improperly. He lacked both diplomacy and judgment.
At any rate he failed in his mission, apparently because of
his own mistakes. He requested too much and haughtily
refused to accept anything less than full compliance with
his demands. Count Boos-Waldeck was a man of entirely
different temperament and judgment. He had visited with
and listened to the advice of Mr. Ernst, the founder of
Industry, a man of many years' experience as a pioneer. As
a result of Mr. Ernst's advice Boos-Waldeck bought an improved
tract of 4428 acres in Fayett county, together with
all slaves on the place, this being the first, and perhaps the
only instance of Germans owning slaves in Texas.
It is evident that there was utter lack of agreement
between the two representatives of the Adelsverein or
German Emigration Company as it was named. Notwithstanding
the fact that he had failed to secure an acre of
land for colonization purposes Count Leiningen returned
to Germany and recommended a big colonization movement.
Count Boos-Waldeck counseled against an undertaking on
such an elaborate scale, particularly pointing out the difficulties
to be encountered and the great cost that must be incurred.
He favored the colonization proposition, but counseled
conservativeness. Had his advice been heeded the
history of German colonizing would not only have been a
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Biggers, Don Hampton, 1869-1957. German Pioneers in Texas; A Brief History of Their Hardships, Struggles and Achievements, book, 1925; Fredericksburg, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth29394/m1/29/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Texas at Arlington Library.