Johannes Romberg
Johannes Christlieb Nathanael Romberg (born November 10, 1808 in Alt Bukow , Mecklenburg ; † February 5, 1891 in Black Jack Springs , Fayette County , Texas , United States ) was a German-American settler, farmer and poet . In 1857 he founded the first literary association in Texas (" Prairie Flower ").
family
He was the son of the pastor and teacher Bernhard Friedrich Christlieb Romberg (1776–1822) and Friederike Hast (1779–1863)
Romberg married Friederike Bauch (* 1812 in Schwerin; † 8 March 1883 in Black Jack Springs, Fayette County, Texas) on October 8, 1833, the daughter of the Schwerin businessman Johannes Dietrich Bauch (* 1781) and Dorothea Schleef (* 1785 ). Romberg had already got engaged to Friederike ten years earlier during his apprenticeship. The couple had nine children - Bernhard died immediately after birth in 1838, daughter Friederike was born on November 17, 1847 on board the emigrant ship the day before the arrival in Galveston (Texas), Julius was the only child in 1851 in Texas. The son Bernhard, born in Boizenburg in 1841, became a well-known cabinet maker in Texas.
Life
Romberg was supposed to succeed his father professionally as a pastor and teacher, but after the early death of his father, a university visit was too expensive. In addition, measles and an eye infection had weakened his eyesight . Then he wanted to become a carpenter , but this career aspiration did not correspond to his social background. That is why he was trained in 1823 by the businessman Johannes Dietrich Bauch in Schwerin.
Ten years later (1833) Romberg started his own business in Boizenburg an der Elbe and finally married the daughter of his teacher from Schwerin after a ten-year engagement period.
In order to find better living conditions for their large family, they emigrated to Texas in 1847 and went ashore in Galveston on November 18 with six children (two sons and four daughters) and the only one-day-old baby Friederike. After a few weeks the family moved to the San Bernard River near Catspring, Texas ( Austin County ). The ninth child, son Julius Romberg, was born here in 1851. They made friends with the family of the neighbor Pastor Adolf Fuchs and years later two Romberg daughters married two sons Fuchs.
In 1853 the family moved to Black Jack Creek , Fayette County, where they arrived on November 10, Romberg's 45th birthday. There he soon assumed a leading position within the Black Jack Springs settlement near La Grange .
Around 1857 he founded the literature group " Prairie Flower ", the first of its kind in Texas. The members, German settlers from the areas around Black Jack Springs and La Grange, read and discussed stories, poems and articles in the style of the intellectual " Latin Settlers ". They even wrote their own poems for their meetings.
Romberg is considered the most outstanding German-Texan poet and one of the most important German-American. Many of his works were inspired by his environment, the Texas in the pioneering days of Germany. A collection of his poems were published in Germany in 1900. In his foreword, the editor Alfred Wagner writes about the poet that he had an aversion to financial matters and preferred to leave them to his wife. But he always insisted on paying off his debts, even in the first tough years in Texas and during the American Civil War . It is also said that Romberg was of small stature and one of the friendliest people one could meet in these young settlements at that time.
estate
His estate is kept by the University of Texas at Austin together with the family archive, has been indexed and is available for research.
Works
- Alfred Wagner (Ed.): Poems by Johannes Romberg . Dresden and Leipzig, 1900.
literature
- CV Pollard and Crystal Sasse Ragsdale: " Romberg, Johannes Christlieb Nathanael ". Published in the Handbook of Texas Online on the Texas State Historical Association website . Retrieved April 30, 2012.
Web links
- Romberg's pedigree
- Biography in the Handbook of Texas
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lonn Taylor, David B. Warren: Texas Furniture. Volume 2: The Cabinetmakers and Their Work, 1840-1880. University of Texas Press 2012 ISBN 9780292739420 , p. 292
- ^ A Guide to the Johannes Christlieb Nathanael Romberg Family Papers, 1708-1933 , accessed December 9, 2016
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Romberg, Johannes |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Romberg, Johannes Christlieb Nathanael (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American settler and poet |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 10, 1808 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Alt Bukow , Rostock district , Mecklenburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 5, 1891 |
| Place of death | Black Jack Springs , Fayette County , Texas , USA |