Wilhelm Victor Keidel
Wilhelm Victor Keidel (born March 1825 in Hildesheim , Kingdom of Hanover ; † January 9, 1870 in Fredericksburg , Gillespie County , Texas , USA ) Dr. med., was the first doctor and first magistrate in Gillespie County, Texas, and founder of Pedernales .
family
He was the son of Dr. Georg Keidel in Hildesheim.
Keidel married the German immigrant Albertine Kramer (* 1830 in Osterode am Harz , Lower Saxony ; † July 1, 1852 in Pedernales, Gillespie County, Texas, USA) in his first marriage (probably around 1851 ). She died giving birth to her first child, Albert. - An Albertine Kramer (18 ) immigrated to Galveston (Texas) on December 15, 1848 with sister Caroline (24) and mother Christine (54) from Osterode via Bremen with the brig " Joh. Dethard " . Albertine's father (or another passenger from Osterode) is not on the passenger list; maybe he was already in Texas and had the family join him.
In his second marriage, he married on October 16, 1856 in Gillespie County Caroline Kott (* 1841 in the Duchy of Saxony-Gotha ; † August 1865 in Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, Texas), the daughter of the German immigrant Ernst Eduard Gottfried Kott (* 1816) and the Luise NN. (* 1817). She died of fever after the birth of her son Hermann.
Life
Keidel studied medicine at the University of Göttingen from 1841-1845 . Immediately afterwards he emigrated from Bremen with the brig " Margarete " to North America and went ashore on December 1, 1845 in Galveston (Texas).
He soon joined the Union Army and fought for six months in the Mexican-American War in 1846 . Then he moved on to Fredericksburg, where he settled as a doctor, as which he was presumably committed to by the " Mainz Adelsverein ".
He belonged with the civil engineer Nicolaus Zink (1812-1887) to the signatories of the petition of December 15, 1847, in which the establishment of a separate Gillespie County was called for. In fact, this county was spun off from Bexar County and established in the following year . In the same year 1848 Keidel was elected the first justice of the peace of this new county.
Soon afterwards he left Fredericksburg again to build their own settlement with others on the Pedernales River . In 1850, the Pedernales settlement had 44 inhabitants of German descent, whose unofficial spokesman was Keidel.
On September 11, 1854, he invited to a founding meeting for the establishment of the first school. He also founded the Society for Good Fellowship and Promotion of General Information , a political and cultural association.
Also in 1854, at a meeting in San Antonio, he was elected Vice President of a nationwide Texan umbrella organization for all German associations.
Keidel planted avenues and did everything to beautify the town of Pedernales. As a doctor, he treated whites in the same way as Indians , although the Indians paid in kind.
In 1865 Keidel moved back to Fredericksburg with his second wife Caroline and their children. His wife was seriously ill and died there a short time later of fever after the birth of their son Hermann.
Keidel remained neutral in the American Civil War and supported both sides, the Union as well as the Confederate States .
He died of typhus on January 9, 1870 .
Web links
- biography
- Keidel's descendants in the USA ( Memento from November 15, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
- Passenger list of the brig " Joh. Dethard "
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keidel, Wilhelm Victor |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-American doctor and justice of the peace in Texas |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hildesheim , Kingdom of Hanover |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 9, 1870 |
| Place of death | Fredericksburg , Gillespie County , Texas , USA |