(1853-1907)
CHAPTERS:
1. Earliest Known Ancestors
2. European Upheaval
A New World Puts Loss Behind
3. Family's Arrival in America
4. Civil War
A New Location Puts Loss Behind
5. Fayette County Entrepreneurs
6. Fayette County Lawmen
7. A Loessin Leaves Family Compound
for Wlliamson County
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1. Earliest Known Ancestors
before arriving in Circleville?
Germany? Yes. Poland? Yes. Both are true.
Then to Circleville.
Here is the story:
The Loessin name in Prussia can be traced back to Carsten Loessin [1605]. The Ranthum family came to Prussia from Scotland in 1700.
In Drosedow, Pomerania, Prussia
Joachim Loessin [1802-1848] a farmer,
the son of Peter Loessin [1772-1831], who
was the son of Michael Loessin [1740-1789],
who was the son of a former serf
named Jacob Loessin [1700-1750]
fell in love with a girl
of upper crust means in nearby
LangenHagen, Pomerania, Prussia named
Maria Ranthum [1806-1880]
They married in 1822.
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The German speaking Province of Pomerania was a province of Prussia from 1815 to 1945. ___________________________ Would you like it all on a 1-pager? |
2. European Upheaval
50 years after the French Revolution, what led to Revolutions once again on the European continent? A combination of factors: Drought led to Europe's wide-spread crop failures in 1846 that, in turn, produced serious hardship among peasants and the working urban poor. It exacerbated the animosity that had been simmering for some time toward Europe's scandal- prone aristocracy. Cities were becoming increasingly industrialized and factory workers bitter about living conditions.
depicts the fighting between
revolutionaries and the royal military
in Berlin's Breite-Strasse Street during
Germany's March 1848 Revolution.
1846-1848 saw many gruesome episodes
in these revolts that took place
all across the European continent.
The "March Revolution" in Germany in 1848 saw mass demonstrations led by students and intellectuals demanding German national unity, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. The uprisings were poorly coordinated, and in the end, the conservative aristocracy defeated it.
Joachim and Maria's lives were tragically impacted by the social and political upheaval of that period. The family's patriarch Joachim would lose his own life in Germany's March Revolution of 1848.
Five years later his widow Maria Ranthum Loessin brought her 8 children to Texas, the youngest was 5 years old.
Arrival in America ...but, Once Again Civil War
In 1853, 5 years after losing her husband of 26 yrs in Europe's bloody Revolutions of 1848, the widow Maria Ranthum Loessin and her 8 children - 6 sons and 2 daughters - made the treacherous journey through the North Sea and across the Atlantic Ocean. The family was happy to be traveling toward a land of great prosperity and freedom. They knew all too well the horrors of war, civil unrest, and revolution. In 1812 many of their own relatives were part of the auxiliary Prussian troops forced by their conqueror Napoleon to fight in his disastrous campaign in Russia, and in 1813 several of the family's men fought in the German coalition of states against France. And then this family had lost their father, Joachim, in a civil war within their own German state - the March Revolution of 1848.
They arrived at "the Ellis Island of Texas," the port of Galveston Texas in August, 1853. In his book The Galveston Immigration and Quarantine Stations (University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, 1994), author Harrold K. Henck Jr. notes the impact of the port:
“The legacy of Galveston’s immigrants not only influenced the growth of the city but drove a wedge of European culture through the heart of Texas.”
Certainly both my Czech maternal and German paternal ancestors were part of that drive (though their arrivals 20 years apart) with both eventually settling in central Texas.
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| Quarantine Station, Port of Galveston; 1910. |
"The windswept shores of Galveston Island greeted an estimated 750,000 immigrants from all over the world between 1839 and 1920. “Here in Galveston,” wrote novelist Edna Ferber in A Kind of Magic (Doubleday, 1963), “the humidity was like a clammy hand held over your face. Yet the city had a ghostly charm.”
Many new arrivals must have agreed. During the second half of the 19th century, Galveston transformed itself into the commercial and shipping center of Texas, yet many newcomers were not allowed to see the city until after a period of quarantine.
Galveston built its first quarantine station on the eastern tip of Galveston Island in 1853. Ships suspected of contamination were not allowed to enter the port until the quarantine officer inspected the vessel. If the officer discovered any infection among passengers, or if the ship had traveled from an infected port, a 20-day quarantine was imposed."
["Galveston's Immigration Station,"
Martha Deeringer; Texas History, Dec. 2016]
And so, arriving in August 1853, it is possible that Maria and her children spent some time in Galveston's Pelican Island Quarantine Station. Eventually, the group made their way to a new home near Frelsburg Texas in Colorado County.
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| Washington County, Texas |
FRELSBURG
First German settlement in Colorado County;
Founded in 1837 by William Frels who immigrated to Texas in 1834 and fought for
independence, 1835-36. Proposed site of Hermann University, first institution
of higher learning sponsored by Germans and chartered by the Republic of Texas
in 1844, but never established.
Photo: Just prior to joining the Union Army in America's Civil War, the Loessin brothers - Johann, August, Peter, Hermann, Ferdinand - ham it up in a Galveston photo studio.
When the Civil War broke out, most German immigrants favored the Abolitionist cause. They were morally opposed to slavery as they had been to the practice of Serfdom back in Europe. Furthermore, as new citizens of the U.S. they held strong Unionist sentiment - wishing to defend the Constitution of the United States rather than contrary laws proposed by many racist Southern politicians.
But living in Texas, where most Anglos were in favor of secession from the Union, the Germans feared reprisals should they be perceived as anti-secessionists. Thus, many Germans joined the Confederate ranks, but served reluctantly, not wanting to leave their hard-earned properties, wives and children to an unknown fate.
By 1862 Southern states had passed the Confederate Conscription Law which stated all males between 18-35 had to pledge allegiance to and serve in the Confederate Army. By 1863 the ages broadened to 17 to 50 and there was ruthless enforcement, including hangings. Many Germans fled their homelands to avoid military conscription into a cause they could not agree with, some even fleeing Texas altogether.
In August 1862 Hill Country Texas Germans were stereotyped as Unionists following the Battle of Nueces when they attempted to escape to Union lines via Mexico but were ambushed and massacred by southerners. In January 1863 Gillespie, Austin, Fayette, and Colorado counties were placed under martial law because of their German population's resistance to the Confederate cause.
And so it was at this point that the four Loessin brothers - Johann Wilhelm, August Ferdinand, Hermann Ludwig, and Ferdinand Heinrich - followed their own hearts and beliefs and would fight under the Union Captain Adolph Zoeller. The eldest brother Martin remained behind to take care of the Loessin matriarch Maria. At one point he was conscripted by the Confederate Army but given a certificate of disability in 1864. The other brother, Peter, was crippled, worked as a teamster during the war, hauling freight from Fayette and Colorado counties to Mexico.
Cautiously making their way to Mexico, the four Loessin brothers steam-boated with a group of others to Louisiana where they enlisted with Union forces in New Orleans on March 1, 1863.
Until Sept. 1863 this Company C in the first regiment of the First Texas Volunteer Cavalry, USA that they had joined had been assigned the defense of New Orleans. In October they embarked as part of the Rio Grande expedition and by November were occupying Brownsville. The brothers were involved in the skirmish at Rancho Las Ruicias in June 1864 when the brother my own family descends from - Hermann Ludwig - became ill and was hospitalized at the U.S. Post Hospital in Brownsville, the one in Mississippi and one in Louisiana.
Hermann's three brothers were captured in the skirmish and taken to Camp Groce in Hempstead where they endured brutal treatment in this notorious prison camp. Historians put the death rate at this Confederate holding camp at 20 percent. The Loessin brothers would survive and were among 450 prisoners exchanged at Galveston in December 1864. All four brothers spent the remainder of the Civil War in New Orleans until they were ordered back to Texas in June 1865 and mustered out of U.S. military service in San Antonio on October 31, 1865.
Still today the four Union cavalry swords of these brothers are passed down their family lines, one generation to the next.
Pictured are descendants of the four Loessin brothers who came to Texas in 1853. These four descendants include my dad (third from left) and they are posing with the Union-issued Civil War swords that are passed down generation after generation through each of the four brother's lines of Loessin descendants.
{Source for this Civil War information: The Fayette County Record, "The Loessin Family Remembers Four Union Army Brothers," Summer of 2003 on the occasion of the Loessin Family Reunion celebrating 150 Years in Fayette County.}
A New Location Puts Loss Behind
The Move to Fayette County
Black Jack Springs is today a ghost town in southwestern Fayette County, Texas. The community was near Farm Road 609 twelve miles southwest of La Grange. Named for the nearby clear springs and blackjack oak trees, Black Jack Springs was settled in the mid-1830s by Anglo pioneers.
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| Fayette County, Texas |
The Black Jack Springs community shared the same story as much of Fayette County. Most Anglo settlers sold out to German immigrants (who left the name intact). German immigrants gradually arriving in this location included the Luck, Melcher, Mueller and Loessin Families as well as a German poet named Johannes Christlieb Nathanael Romberg.
Romberg is a fascinating character. In about 1857 Romberg founded the Prairieblume, a literary society which was one of the first of its kind in Texas and included German settlers from the Black Jack Springs and La Grange areas. The society members, most of whom were younger and from the better educated German families, wrote, read and discussed their stories, articles and poems.
As soon as the war ended in 1865, the Loessin brothers bought their property in Black Jack Springs. The family's industries in Fayette county soon expanded - together the brothers would build and operate a cotton gin, grist mill, and saw mill.
Johann Wilhelm died about three years after the war, at the age of 41, never fully recovering from his ordeal at Camp Groce, and the crippled brother, Peter, died in 1877 at the age of 46. The other brothers lived full lives, married and produced large families, and became active members of their communities.
A post office was opened in Black Jack Springs in 1868, and in 1871 land was donated for separate white and black cemeteries. By 1884 Black Jack Springs reported a population of 400, three general stores, two steam-operated grist mill-cotton gins (one of which was the Loessin's), a broom factory, a school known as "Luck's School" and a Lutheran church (in each of which the Loessin's were founding directors). Black Jack Springs was a happening place!
But by 1896, the population would decline to just 100 and the community was reduced to the Loessin gin, the Lutheran church and a saloon. The reason for the decline is open to speculation. More than likely it was a desire to live near the railroad in Flatonia.
The post office was closed in 1910 and a few years later, the Lutheran church was moved to Swiss Alp. The school closed as well and by the 1940s only the cemetery was left. For many years, following my family's attendance at the annual Loessin Family reunion in La Grange, we would make the short trip to this cemetery and pay our respects to our departed ancestors buried there.
Many of the Loessin descendants still live in Fayette and surrounding counties. And, many Fayette County residents well remember two prominent members of the Loessin family – August and Will Loessin, two brothers who served a combined 53 years as sheriffs and in law enforcement in the county. Today the Fayette County Jail Museum holds many artifacts related to these two sheriffs. They were the sons of Martin Friederich, the eldest brother. Will Loessin is fondly remembered for his tenure as the Sheriff with a rather benevolent, longstanding relationship to the famous Chicken Ranch.
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| Fayette County Sheriffs have included (rear, middle) my great-great-great Uncle August Loessin [1895-1920] and (front, right) his son Will Loessin [1925-1946] |
1845 to 1925 was a particularly dangerous time in
The sheriff just walked up and took the gun away. Then, the sheriff had a long conversation with the man, who soon asked for forgiveness for what he had done.
For many sheriffs the job was a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week affair. Sheriff August Loessin and his family lived in the front of the old jail and his wife cooked for the prisoners. Having to listen to the insane or the drunk cry out into the night was not uncommon.
While Mr. Will did not live at the jail, he lived close enough to see the jail from his front porch.
Because the office of High Sheriff was an elected position, the sheriff had to take on what Thad Sitton describes in his book, The Texas Sheriff: Lord of the County Line, as a Jekyll and Hyde personality—he had to be mean to the bad guys so they wouldn’t settle in the county and approachable to the law abiding citizens so he could be reelected.
The necessity of winning the public vote forced these sheriffs and their deputies to be the county’s ‘fix-it’ men. They were called out to referee squabbles among neighbors, get squirrels out of the attic, or deal with wandering livestock. In one example of good deed gone wrong August was attempting to aid a fella in lifting his wagon out of the mud and found himself run down by the wagon when the horses suddenly charged. He would take months to mend.
Having to depend on the vote to stay in office put these sheriffs in a difficult position when it came to enforcing the law. Many voters expected the sheriff to support local traditions even if they were illegal.
Looking the other way or enforcing local rules that were not on the books was a common occurrence for the rural
Prohibition, for instance, was very unpopular with the population of
He looked the other way when citizens produced alcohol for personal consumption, but, if they made it to sell, he would give them a warning. They had a week to dismantle the still.
If he found they had not complied as requested, he would return, bust up their still, and possibly arrest them.
This political reality helps explain why Edna’s Fashionable Ranch Boarding House (aka the Chicken Ranch, or the Best Little Whorehouse in Texas) remained open until 1973. As Sheriff Will once put it, “It’s been here all my life and never caused anybody any trouble. And I don't see it as my responsibility to legislate morality."
Each October the Loessin family still gathers for its reunion in La Grange, Fayette County Texas with approximately 100 members generally in attendance. In 2003, the Loessin family celebrated 150 years in Texas, honoring past and present generations.
Hermann Ludwig Loessin
My own Loessin line descends from the third eldest of the six brothers named Hermann Ludwig Loessin. Born July 21, 1834 in Langenhagen, Pomerania, Prussia, he would have been 14 when his father Joachim died in Germany's 1848 Revolution.
Three years after Maria brought her eight children to America and settled in Fayette County, Hermann and his brothers filed for U.S. citizenship in 1857 and it was granted in 1860.
As mentioned, he and his three brothers volunteered with Company 'C', Texas First Regiment Volunteer Calvary in the Union Army. He was promoted to Corporal in May, 1864. Wounded at Rancho Las Rucias, near Brownsville on June 25, 1864 while on picket duty, he was taken to the U.S. Post Hospital at Brownsville where he recovered through October and then was transferred to a hospital in New Iberia, Louisiana. All four brothers spent the remainder of the Civil War in New Orleans until they were ordered back to Texas in June 1865 and mustered out of U.S. military service in San Antonio on October 31, 1865.
A year and a half after returning to the family's farm in Black Jack Springs, Fayette County, Hermann Ludwig fell in love. On January 12, 1867 he married Marie "Mary" Sophia Sauer.
His brothers August, Wilhelm, and Peter had purchased 284 acres in 1866. On this property near Black Jack Springs they would construct a cotton gin that would become the family enterprise. It was the first steam-driven cotton gin / saw and grist mills in Fayette County.
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| Loessin Cotton Gin & Grist Mill; Black Jack Springs, Fayette County TX. [circa 1880] |
After Peter and Wilhelm died, in 1881 August bought out all sibling's shares. In 1886 he sold Hermann 2 1/2 acres that included the gin. By this time Hermann had lost his right leg due to ongoing complications from his war wound and his former work as a farmer became difficult. Supervising the work at the gin provided a new means to make a living.
Hermann and Mary would have 10 children, the 10th - a girl named Lena - died 12 days after her birth in 1887 and was buried beside the family matriarch in Black Jack Springs Cemetery. (Sadly her tombstone was stolen in 1955.) The seventh in the line of the other nine children was my great grandfather, Karl "Oscar" Waldimar Loessin - and if you thought that was a mouthful, get this, everyone called him "Uncle Mike"! Born December 23, 1880, here he is sitting on the his parent's front porch in 1889.
and below, here he is a little older, center of the family with arms crossed,
this photo in front of his grandparent's home, the old Loessin's farmhouse.
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| In this fascinating picture taken at the Loessin family compound in Fayette County during an ice storm, the Loessin men are well-armed with snowballs and there appears to be some odd form of horse-drawn machinery possibly on hand for snow clearing. Date on back unclear, 188?. |
At the turn of the century in 1900, my great-grandfather Oscar "Uncle Mike" meets a nice girl from Williamson County. Her name was Martha Templin. The two "courted" for a surprisingly short period before marrying in 1901, the elegant ceremony held at the old Loessin home in Black Jack Springs.
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| Loessin Family Farm House Black Jack Springs near La Grange, Fayette County, Texas ca, 1900. |
The courtship might have had a more respectable length had the distance between their family homes not been so great.
annual Loessin Family Reunion in 2007, Dad and I returned to the cemetery:
While it may have surprised many in Fayette County that a Loessin boy would ever depart the family's tight-knit clan, anyone who met Martha later would not be surprised at all that it was her Templin family who won out in the frequent heated discussions about moving closer to her family.
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| A year before their departure from Fayette County Oscar & Martha Loessin and their two sons Edgar and Walter have a family portrait done at a studio in La Grange, TX. |
And so it was that
A Loessin Makes the Move to Williamson County
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| My great-grandparents: Oscar Waldimar Loessin Sr. aka "Uncle Mike" and his wife Martha (Templin) at their home in Thrall, TX. |
______________________
Enjoy looking through my Library:
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______________________________Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:
Body:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;Sedentary activities, Sugars, Salt.
Trust me,
you’ll be feeling better in no time!Mind & Spirit:
Avoid the 3 F’sManufactured in these mediums are
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!
- | HOME and FAMILY
- MATERNAL FAMILY
- PATERNAL FAMILY
- Mom & Dad
- 2023 Spring Patio Pics
- 2023 Ice Storm
- Home Remodel Projects
- Favorite Recipes
- Pets
- 2022 Holidays
- 2022 Family Reunions
- 2022 Estate Sale & Tornado!
- | NEWS and UPDATES
- | TRAVEL and DAYTRIPS
- | READING and WRITING
- | FAITH and SPIRITUALITY
- | LISTENING and VIEWING
- | EDUCATION and CAREER
Terry’s “Good Living” Guide:
Avoid the 3 PsBsSs
Processed Foods, Phthalates, Plastics;
Beef, Butter, Breads;
you’ll be feeling better in no time!
Avoid the 3 F’s
misinformation, fear, anger and hate!
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