In starting to post family stories, we could ask for no better a beginning than with Maria Geske Schmidt, a pioneering German widow, remarried into a blended family, who made her way to Texas along with many others from her region to join the newly emerging Castroville colony, seeking a better life for her four daughters and son. Along the way, she lost two more husbands while living the rest of a long life in her new surroundings of central Texas. Join us in recounting of her journey...
Maria Geske Schmidt is thought to have been born in 1807 in the hamlet of Friestett, near the town of Offenburg, Baden, Germany. (Map) Offenburg is roughly 15 miles west of Strasbourg, France and in the center of a region (Alsace or Haut-Rhin) that was at times in the early 1800s overseen by France, Prussia and later by a unified Germany.
At the time of Geske’s birth, Offenburg was politically allied to France, but by 1815 was part of the German confederation, and by 1848 was engulfed in political protests and revolution, becoming the first region among the unifying German states demanding democratic elections. It was an incredibly unstable time, both politically and economically for the area.
In this environment, Geske grew to adulthood and our first concrete details of her emerge in 1831, where at the age of 24 she married her first husband a Mr. Henry (perhaps Mr. Henrich). His first name is currently unknown, but his listed surname hints at a potential French ancestry and together they had four daughters, Hannah or Johanna (born 1832), Alice (born 1834), Rosalie (born 1836) and Ada (born 1842).
At some point between 1843-1844, Mr. Henry passed away in or around Offenburg, and our next siting of Geske is when she is married for a second time to local widower, Friedrich Volck, whose first wife Anna Maria Geissert had recently passed away leaving him with 11 children 6 still living at that time), the oldest born in 1817 and the youngest born in 1841. Adding Geske’s 4 current children to his 6, the new Volck family had 10 children before becoming 11 the next year when their only child together, Friedrich W. Volck, Jr. was born in 1845.
In the years surrounding Geske’s second marriage to Friedrich Volck, the region of Offenburg was both politically and economically unstable. It led many in the 1840s to consider emigrating abroad. And although many people emigrated independently to the US, there were also several for-profit emigration societies supported by the local government who were seeking ways to reduce the population of the area and through that they hoped, reduce economic and political tensions that were leading to recurring political instability.
One such emigration scheme was created by Henri Castro, a French diplomat of a Portuguese descent who had been previously the French consul to Providence, Rhode Island. In 1842, Castro received a land grant from the independent Republic of Texas for lands totaling 1.25 million acres on the condition that he would be able to settle between 600 and 1000 families on this land. Castro’s financial reward for this effort would be ½ of all the acreage allotted to the families. To receive their lands, families would need to be settled for three years on their land grant, build a home and maintain a certain portion of that land farmed.
With these conditions in place, Castro began his recruiting efforts in Europe in late 1842-3 in Paris, and later in the regions of Alsace, Baden and in several areas of Switzerland. Many families were understandably interested in the idea of starting a new life away from politically unstable Europe and they began departing their homes for Texas in the fall and winter of 1843-44. Most of these families were farmers in Europe and were hoping to continue in that line of work in their new central Texas land grants.
As colonists began leaving, Castro made the voyage to Texas himself in May of 1844 and by September of 1844 the first colonists were moved from San Antonio, Texs to be settled on their lands in what today encompasses Atascosa, Frio, La Salle, Medina and McCullen counties, and centered on the current towns of Castroville and Hondo,Texas. Each colonist family would receive 640 acres (320 acres for each single man) upon the condition that they built their homes, cultivated at least 15 acres of land and settled upon those acres for a period of at least 3 years.
For many of the families, the very different terrain, access to water and growing temperatures of central Texas proved to be a difficult environment to master. With little tree cover, there was little material to build homes with, and many families began by making their homes out of adobe. Those land grant holdings most proximate to the Medina river were able to irrigate their lands, but those farther out were often unable to continue farming in any real sense and many families were unable to make the switch to cattle raising and other non-farming activities. Because of this, many families could not comply with the terms of their land grants and instead lost their right to their 640 acres and moved instead to San Antonio whose population during the 1840’s and 1850’s had a very high proportion of German speaking immigrants.
For Geske and Friedrich, they made their trip to Texas aboard the ship “Albertina” which left Antwerp, Belgium on 17 September 1845 and arrived in Galveston, Texas in November 1845. During the years of 1845-1850, it appears that the new Volck family settled mostly in San Antonio, Texas though maintaining their right to the 640 acres of land in Castroville. Friedrich is listed in local records in the 1850 as living in Bexar county, Texas, whose seat is San Antonio. Unfortunately, on or around 17 November 1850 Friederich Volck, Sr. passed away at the age of 54. He was the son of Johann Philipp Volck/Wolk and Eva Rosina Lasch, and left not only his second wife, Geske, but 7 children and 4 stepchildren living in Texas.
Our next sighting of Geske occurs in July of 1851 when Friedrich Volck Sr’s petition for land in the Castroville colony was granted posthumously. His estate is listed as certificate number 317 and he is granted 320 acres of land in Medina, Texas. Geske, her daughters and son Friedrich W. Volck, Jr., then age 6, appear to have moved together to the Castroville area. Whether they moved out to their land, or the newly available city lots in Castroville, is unknown.
On May 1st, 1855, Geske married for a third time, this time to a local Castroville colony widower, Johan Joseph Filleman who also immigrated to Texas in 1845. Born in 1806 in the parish of Wessen, in the Canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, Johan was just a year older than Geske. He married his first wife, Frances Bochsler, in 1831 in Switzerland, and with her had one son John Anselm. Both father and son immigrated to Texas together and by 1850 were living in Castroville. Geske remained married to Johan Joseph until the later part of 1858 when he appears to have passed away.
During these years, Geske’s children were also making lives of their own in Castroville, nearby Hondo, and in San Antonio. Geske and son Friedrich likely lived nearby or with her daughter Rosalie Henry who married Christian Stiegler on May 1st 1854. In the 1860 census, Geske is listed as visiting her youngest daughter Ada, who had just recently married James Lovett and had their first child, a son, named Frank in Ft. Clark, Texas. Geske’s son, Friedrich W. Volck (spelled Folk in Medina county records) was listed during 1860 as living with Christian and Rosalie Stiegler, his sister and her husband. Also interesting is that Friedrich’s future wife, Augusta Martin, was also living just 3 houses away in that same year.
Of Geske’s older daughters, Hannah and Alice, they were both married in the 1850’s, though both would be widows and remarried before the 1860’s ended. Hannah, the oldest of the children from Geske’s first marriage to Mr. Henry, first married US Army Captain Willis Chamberlain who earned his commission in Army action against the Seminole Indians in Florida. He married Hannah in the mid-1850’s and with her had one daughter, Laura Lavinia Chamberlain who was born on 06 Nov 1856 in Parker county, Texas. Capt. Chamberlain was unfortunately killed the following year in an incident attributed to local Indians in Parker county, and Hannah remarried James A. Jenkins in May of 1859 in Caldwell county, Texas. Following her marriage to James Jenkins, Hannah left her young daughter in the care of her youngest sister, Ada, to be raised in San Antonio, Texas. Ada was perhaps living with her stepsiblings, the Volcks, in San Antonio. By 1860, Ada was raising her own family and making her way from Ft. Clark, Texas to California with her husband James Lovett, and her niece Laura Lavinia, then 3-4 years old, was sent to their other sister, Alice Henry to be looked after.
Alice Henry, the second of the Henry sisters, first married in 1853 to a John Goss. Killed in 1862, perhaps due to the Civil War, she remarried William Mannix, an Irish immigrant to Texas and together they ran a stagecoach station and post office in Caldwell county, Texas. They appear to have had two children of their own as listed in the 1870 census, Theodore and Julia, and in taking in her niece Laura Lavinia, Alice and William also raised her as their own. Interestingly, after Ada (Alice’s sister) returned a widow from California with her 6 children, she married as her last husband, Alice’s spouse William Mannix (after Alice’s death) and with him lived in Caldwell county, Texas until his death in 1891.
Geske’s son, Friedrich, was also growing up during these years and in November of 1871, he married local girl Augusta Martin. She was born in Medina county in 1855 to Andreas Martin (Nieterholfer) and Margareta Barbara Scheeler, and was among the first generation of children born to Castroville colonists in Texas. Her parents ranched lands granted by the colony and also maintained a town lot where they had their home as well as a 20 acre garden lot for personal farming, all allocated with land grants from the colony. Friedrich, or Fred Folk, as he was locally known, also went into ranching and together with wife Augusta they had 9 children between 1874 and 1894. At the time of his death, Friederich had accumulated over 1400 acres of pasture. On April 29th 1909, Friederich passed away on his land in Hondo, Texas. His obituary in the Hondo Anvil on May 1st 1909 reads:
“Fred Folk Dead: Fred Folk, a well-to-do stock farmer living a few miles northwest of town on the Hondo, was found dead in his barn early Thursday morning. His remains were interred in the family grave yard at 3 o’clock Friday afternoon in the presence of a large concourse of sorrowing friends and relatives. He deceased had been in bad health for several months past. He is survived by his wife and several grown sons and daughters who have the sympathy of all who know them in their sorrow. “
Interestingly, the Friederich Folk family are now interred in the Hondo Oakwood Cemetery.
As for Geske’s remaining years, little documentation has been found which provides a clue as to her life after 1860. Widowed, she likely lived with her daughter Rosalie Stiegler in Hondo, Texas. She is not yet found on the 1870 or 1880 census to provide us with more clues, and our next citation for her is her death record. Geske Maria Schmidt Volck Filleman passed away in Hondo, Texas on 08 April 1893 at the age of 85 and was buried at the New Fountain Methodist Church cemetery in Quihi, Texas. Her daughter Rosalie is also buried there with her second husband, Wilhelm Heyden.
During her life, Geske lived through political upheaval in Germany, married and survived widowhood three times and had 5 children, that we know of, who all survived into adulthood and who at the time of her death were all living in and around Hondo, Texas. For a woman who traveled so far to a new home, being surrounded by family in your adopted homeland and living a long and hopefully contented life were, one hopes, great gifts. Grandmother to at least 12 grandchildren, Geske’s line continues in many families today and provides an interesting glimpse into a slice of life - that of German immigrants to central Texas in the mid-1800s.
Sources for additional information available online:
Information
on the Henry Family of Medina county, Texas (with some errors contained in this
online document)
Additional information on Henry/Volck/Folk family in Texas:
Census information on members of the Henry/Volck/Folk family:
1870 Census for Caldwell County, Texas for William Mannix and wife Alice with children Theodore and Julia
1880 Census for Caldwell County, Texas showing William Mannix, wife Alice, her neice Amelia (possibily Ada’s daughter, though she is also listed in the Medina County census of this year), a ward, William, and a farm laborer. No mention of Theodore and Julia, the children from the 1870 census.
1860 Census for Fort Clark, Texas showing James Lovett, his wife Ada and mother-in-law, Geske Volck
1870 Census for James and Ada Lovett in San Pasquale, California with their children, Frank, Katy, Ada, and Emelia
1880 Census for Medina County, Texas for Ada Lovett (after her widowhood in 1878 in California) and her children, Frank, Katy, Ada, Amelia, Fred, Arthur, and Evalina.
1900 Census for Bexar County, Texas (San Antonio) showing Ada Mannix, 57, living with 23 year old Mattie Reiner
1910 Census for Bexar County, Texas (San Antonio) for Ada Mannix, 67
1920 Census for Bexar County, Texas (San Antonio) for Ada Mannix, 77, and son Frederick Lovett, 48
1870 Census for Medina County, Texas showing Frierich Folk, age 21, laborer living with the Stiegler family (his sister Rosalie’s husband’s family)
1870 Census for Medina County, Texas (previous page to the census record above) showing Christian Stiegler and his wife Rosa (Rosalie)
1880 Census for Medina County, Texas showing Christian and Rosalie Stiegler, as well as Friedrich Folk, wife Augusta, children, Laura, Louisa and Willie as well as sister Ada Lovett and her children
1900 Census for Medina County, Texas for Friedrich Folk, wife Augusta, and children William, Ida, Fritz, Anton, Charles and John
1900 Census for Medina County, Texas for Rosalie Stiegler Heyden with second husband William Heyden
1910 Census for Medina County, Texas for Augusta Martin Folk (widowed), with children: Carl, Carrie, Ida and John living at home
1920 Census for Medina County, Texas for Augusta Martin Folk, with children Ida, Carl and John living at home
1930 Census for Medina County, Texas for Augusta Folk, living with daughter Ida and next to son, Anton
Gravestone location information for:
Alice
Henry Mannix and her spouse William
Mannix
Friedrich
W. Folk, Jr. and spouse Augusta
Martin Folk
