Mainz aristocratic association

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The logo of the "Mainzer Adelsverein"
Karl Emich Prince of Leiningen , first president of the aristocratic association
Founder share No. 4 for 5000 guilders
(issued on July 1, 1846 to the ruling Duke Bernhard von Sachsen-Meiningen )
Carl Prinz zu Solms-Braunfels (1812–1875) alias "Texas-Carl", first general commissioner
Otfried Hans Freiherr von Meusebach (1812–1897) alias "John O. Meusebach", second general commissioner

" Mainzer Adelsverein " was the short name for the " Association for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas " (1842–1848), through whose mediation between 1844 and 1849 around 8,000 Germans emigrated to the Republic or the US state of Texas .

Purpose of the association

The aim of the association was “ to direct German emigration as much as possible to a single, conveniently located point, to support the emigrants on the long journey and to do everything possible to secure a new home for them on the other side of the sea. “The aim was to counter poverty and need in Germany and give people new hope. The association offered every family willing to leave the prospect of around 130 hectares of land, plus the supply of food until their first harvest, as well as churches, schools and medical care. However, due to the shortage of money, these promises quickly turned out to be untenable, so that those who wanted to emigrate had to pay 300 guilders per individual or 600 per family for transport and food . The association also had material goals: the project was viewed as a worthwhile investment with an expected increase in the share value. With a German colony in Texas, new sales markets should also be opened for the domestic economy.

history

founding

The idea of ​​founding an overseas settlement company emerged from a memorandum by the Austrian major Christian von Neuleiningen-Westerburg on March 8, 1842. It advocates the support of German emigrants in their settlement in Texas primarily as a profitable capital investment, but also as a means against overpopulation in the German states, to improve German trade relations overseas and as a vocation for the nobility with a view to this Claim to leadership. Neuleiningen-Westerburg and other noble officers of the Mainz fortress won Duke Adolf von Nassau as the highest-ranking supporter. The association was founded on April 20, 1842 during a meeting of nobles from the Rhenish and Hessian regions at Adolf's residence at Schloss Biebrich . In the following years, other members, often closely related to one another, came from different parts of Germany. The 21 members of the association and later shareholders were exclusively members of the nobility , which is why the association was also known as the “ Mainz Adelsverein ”.

First America venture

Shortly after the association was founded, in June 1842, Viktor Graf von Leiningen and Joseph Graf von Boos-Waldeck drove to Texas to find out about the possibilities on site and arrived there in September. Negotiations with the government of the then independent state were unsuccessful, as it was only willing to surrender land in the undeveloped border region free of charge and at the same time demanded the guarantee that large numbers of settlers would enter with the help of the association. Instead, the two counts bought an area of ​​1,800 hectares for 3,500 Texas dollars and established the Nassau plantation there. Leiningen traveled back to Germany in January 1843 to report, while Boos-Waldeck managed the construction of the plantation until February 1844 and then returned. The conclusion of the scouts was that a large-scale settlement of emigrants was not feasible, but instead plantations with slave workers and possibly a small number of German colonists should be created.

The club management tried to raise further capital in order to still realize the settlement project on a large scale and wrote to the governments of the German states with this goal in the second half of the year. 400,000 guilders were to be mobilized in this way. However, the association did not receive any binding commitments.

First settlement activity

From January to April 1844 there were three general assemblies, which mainly dealt with the question of whether the plantation or the settler concept should be followed. In the end, the potentially more profitable plantation establishment was rejected, although the reluctance to maintain the slavery required for this also played a role. The association decided to make the Nassau plantation the core of a colony, but initially only to settle a maximum of 150 families there and to wait for the results of these efforts.

In May 1844 the association sent Carl Prince zu Solms-Braunfels as the first general commissioner to Texas, who arrived with his companion there on July 1st in Galveston . At the same time negotiations took place with the Texan consul Henry Fisher from Kassel. This had a "grant", a land allocation of a good 15,000 square kilometers inland. An agreement between the association and Fisher was dated June 24, 1844, in which the association undertook to make payments and settle colonists, the number of which later increased to 2000 families by March 1, 1846 and then to 6000 families by March 1. September 1847. Legal ownership of the land was to be divided between the colonists, the state of Texas, and the aristocratic society based on a complex key.

On September 18, 1844, the first ship with emigrants sailed from Bremen, others followed on September 29 and October 12, 1844. The association paid for the passage for about half of the emigrants who were destitute, the rest paid for it themselves . Solms had meanwhile acquired other smaller pieces of land in order to create an infrastructure for the arrival of the colonists. This involved a landing site near Indianapolis , which was christened "Karlshafen", as well as Fort Sophienburg on the Guadalupe River with the adjacent city of Neu-Braunfels . Solms founded the fort and the city on March 18, 1845 as a stopover about halfway between the coast and the inland area actually intended for colonization. After a three-month trek with great losses, the first almost 500 settlers arrived there on March 21, 1845. However, the prince did not show a happy hand in financial matters. He gave all the money from the association, made additional debt, leaving a chaotic accounting and was at the instigation of the creditors in debtor's prison taken. Solms returned to Germany on May 15, 1845, after he had been ransomed by his successor in office, Otfried Hans Freiherr von Meusebach, by paying 10,000 US dollars.

Second emigration campaign

On March 25, 1844 in Mainz , the association into a public limited company with temporary headquarters in Mainz converted. A general meeting on July 28 and 29, 1845 assessed the activities in Texas as a success and resolved to continue the activities and increase the share capital to up to 400,000 guilders by issuing further shares. With this money, 6,000 families should be settled in America. By the end of 1845, the association from Bremen and Antwerp had brought 28 ships with 4,110 emigrants on their way. The fulfillment of the first quota of 2,000 families by March 1, 1946 seemed achievable. However, Meusebach did not succeed in mobilizing enough horses, wagons and food in Inianapolis to transport the newcomers overland, not least because this equipment was needed for the looming Mexican-American War . Up to 5,000 people lived in a tent camp at the landing site. Many died of epidemics. In many cases, personal assets that the association was supposed to keep in trust for the settlers were not paid out. Larger treks did not arrive until the summer of 1846 and by August the camp was largely cleared.

Around 1000 settlers wanted to settle in Neu-Braunfels, around 1500 had the future Fredericksburg as their destination. Meusebach founded this place in May 1846 under the name “Friedrichsburg”, named after Prince Friedrich of Prussia . Friedrichsburg was also outside of the area actually assigned to the association. Meusebach only made this accessible to the colonists by negotiating a peace treaty with the Indian tribe of the Comanches on May 9, 1847 . The Germans bought skins and food from the Indians, while the Indians refrained from looting the German settlements in return. What is unique about this contract is that it was never broken by either side.

Decline

The promised large land allocations of 130 hectares per family each did not materialize, as the management of the Mainz Aristocracy Association was overwhelmed with the organizational implementation, the financial resources ran out and considerable debts had also accumulated. In mid-1846 these grievances and the situation at the landing site in Germany became known through press reports. The aristocratic association was preferred to be portrayed as a greedy noble clique who earned money from the plight of the emigrants. Many club members saw this as an attack on their personal honor, but recognized the inadequacies of the club's work.

In June 1846 the association sent a special envoy with 50,000 guilders to Texas to sort out the finances. An extraordinary general assembly followed on July 8, 1846, but was not quorate due to the small number of participants. The following day, Duke Adolf of Nassau granted the association an advance payment of 200,000 guilds from the general domain treasury, i.e. from his personal and non-governmental property. In December 1846 a further advance payment of 225,000 guilders followed from the same source. The money was to be used both to pay off debts and to directly support the emigrants.

A general assembly on October 28, 1846 decided to stop the transport of emigrants, their supply of goods and the management of entrusted property and to concentrate on the allocation of land to those already present in Texas. In order to implement this, further loans and subsidies were taken out by the association members. On August 29, 1847, the association finally raised 900,000 guilders from the Frankfurt banking houses Schmidt and Flersheim. In return, 17 members of the association signed bonds with the banks. These processes were accompanied by increasing complaints from settlers and creditors in Texas as well as the factual withdrawal of more and more members from active participation in the association and its funding.

Meusebach resigned from his position as general commissioner on July 20, 1847 and was replaced by Hermann Spieß , who had no choice but to explain the insolvency of the association. On February 23, 1848, the Mainz aristocratic association formally dissolved, and on May 6, 1848, asset and debt management was transferred to the "German Colonization Society for Texas" in Biebrich. In Texas the "German Emigration Company" continued the business. The corporation continued to exist and mainly dealt with attempts to repay debt. A shareholders' meeting for October 1, 1861 could not decide on the proposed dissolution of the company due to a lack of quorum. Since this formal act did not take place, the so-called Schmidt Consortium was formed, which was made up of the guarantors of the large bank loan of 1847. The last debtor paid off his remaining debt in the early 1890s.

Aftermath

Through the mediation of the association, around 8,000 Germans had come to Texas by 1849, more than in any other emigration project. Although the “Texan adventure” ended in a fiasco for the association, a flourishing settlement landscape arose around the founding of the New Braunfels and Fredericksburg associations, which became a new home for the emigrated Germans. The Germans in this area contributed a lot to the development of Texas. Both places were flourishing cities and centers of Germanness in the USA after a short time . Around 100,000 Texans were still German-speaking at the turn of the 20th century. Most of them settled in central Texas between Austin and San Antonio . To this day there is the “ German Belt ” in Texas, in which “ Friedrichsburger Deutsch ” is spoken, and to this day the Texan American is strongly interspersed with German influences.

The peace treaty between Meusebach and the Comanches is still in effect today: " Founder's Day " is celebrated in Fredericksburg on the second Saturday in May . Meusebach's descendants and those of the Comanche chiefs who signed the treaty at the time meet at this great festival. Gifts are exchanged and people smoke a peace pipe together to confirm the historic treaty.

Member list

In total there were initially 21 members, but when it was reorganized in 1844 there were 25; these included:

See also

literature

  • Beate Rese: Texas, destination of German emigration in the 19th century , Centaurus Verlag, 2001, ISBN 389085964X .
  • Helmut Schmahl: Planted but not uprooted: The emigration from Hessen-Darmstadt ( province of Rheinhessen ) to Wisconsin in the 19th century . Frankfurt / Main (a.o.) 2000 (Mainz Studies on Modern History, 1)
  • Ursula Hatzfeld: From Dillenburg to Texas; The emigration in the Dillenburg office from 1845 to 1846 , (2000)
  • Winfried Schüler: Emigration as a business? Duke Adolf von Nassau and the Aristocratic Association for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas , in: Nassauische Annalen . Yearbook of the Society for Nassau Antiquities and Historical Research, Volume 105, Wiesbaden 1994.
  • F. von Herff: The Mainzer Adelsverein , in: Deutsches Adelsblatt, Jg. XX, Kirchbrak 1981.
  • Helmut Mathy : The Mainz Adelsverein or the failure of a German settlement project in Texas , in: Lebendiges Rheinland-Pfalz, 13th year, issue 3, 1976.
  • Wolf Heino Struck : On the history of the emigration to Texas under the "Mainzer Adelsverein" , in: Genealogical Yearbook, Volume 11, Central Office for German Personal and Family History, Berlin-Frankfurt (Main) 1971.
  • Ulrich Lampert: The ancestors of the last German general agent of the so-called "Mainzer Adelsverein" in Texas , in: Archive for Family Research, XXXVII. Born in Limburg (Lahn) 1971.
  • Friedrich Hertneck: A German Colonization Attempt in Texas. The history of the “Mainzer Adelsverein” , in: Deutsches Adelsblatt No. 46 and 48, November 1936.
  • Carl Prinz zu Solms-Braunfels : Original reports from Prince Carl zu Solms-Braunfels, the authorized representative of the Mainz Adelsverein, from October 25th, 1844 to April 30th, 1845 regarding the founding of New Braunfels, Texas , in: Calendar of the "New Braunfelser Zeitung ”, 1916.
  • Rudolf Bonnet: The Mainzer Adelsverein and the Nassau emigration to Texas around 1850 , in: Rudolf Dietz (ed.): The clock tower . Communications from the Nassau Family History Association, Wiesbaden, Issue 1, Wiesbaden 1930.
  • Ferdinand Heymach: The Colonial Attempts of the Mainzer Adelsverein in western Texas , in: Volk und Scholle . Heimatblatt for both Hessians, 5th year, 1927.
  • Theodor Mandel: The activities of the emigrant organizations around the middle of the 19th century with special consideration of southwest Germany , dissertation, economic u. social science faculty at the University of Frankfurt am Main, 1922.
  • Gilbert Giddings Benjamin: The Germans in Texas . A Study in Immigration, German American Annals, Volume VII, 1909.
  • Ludolf Parisius: Schulze-Delitzsch and Alwin Sörgel . Berlin 1899, p. 38.
  • William von Rosenberg: Critique of the history of the association for the protection of German emigrants to Texas , Austin (Texas) 1894.
  • Instructions for German emigrants to Texas: In addition to the latest map of this state according to the border regulations by congress resolution of September 1850; then a special map over the measured part of the grant area of ​​the Texas Association and individual plans for the cities of Neu-Braunfels, Friedrichsburg and Indianola , issued by the Association for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas. Wiesbaden 1851.
  • Friedrich Pauer: Texas: A safe guide for emigrants, together with a detailed description of cattle breeding and the cultivation of the local products; as well as indications of weather conditions and health rules for new immigrants; together with an appendix relating to the Mainz Association for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas , FC Dubbers publishing house, Bremen 1846.

filming

Broadcast reports

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Quote from the association's statutes.