The following article appeared in the April 2015 Newsletter of the Texas Wendish Heritage Society in Serbin, Texas. Jan Ernest Smoler and Jan Kilian were contemporaries, although not always friendly ones. As editor of a newspaper in Bautzen, Smoler published negative letters sent from the Serbin colony leading to years of tension between Smoler and […]
Eating the Way our Ancestors Ate By David Zersen Read More »
After the TWHS printed my article on Andreas Matthijetz’s patents, Weldon Mersiovsky cotacted me and asked for my help. A reader of the article had told Weldon that she thought that a relative of hers had been awarded a patent for a cotton press and wanted to find it. Weldon asked me if I could help
Wendish Inventors (To be continued) Read More »
I’ve enjoyed translating and reflecting on addresses and sermons delivered by Pastors Herman Kilian and later Theodore Schmidt at the 75th, 100th and 125th anniversaries at St. Paul’s in Serbin. They encourage us to remember how sermon writing was different a century ago as well as to wonder what parishioners expected from a sermon. Today’s
Listening with Fathers and Mothers Read More »
As the German communities moved from speaking German to speaking English, short plays were written to inject some humor into the situation. These short plays were acted out in schools, youth groups and churches. A popular play at that time was a dialogue between two farmers, one a German and the other American, about a
Die Schneewittchen und die Sieben Dwarfen Read More »
Joseph Wilson’s article from 1977, The German Language in Texas Today from the Rice Institute Pamphlet, can be found on the Rice Fondren Library website at https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/63286. ]]>
The German Language in Texas Today by Joseph Wilson Read More »
Joseph Wilson’s article from 1960, The Texas German of Lee and Fayette Counties, from the Rice Institute Pamphlet, can be found on the Rice Fondren Library website at https://scholarship.rice.edu/handle/1911/62831 ]]>
The Texas German of Lee and Fayette Counties by Joseph Wilson Read More »
First published in the Texas Wendish Heritage Society Newsletter, Vol II, No. 4 of July-September 1981. In Texas, as had been the case in Germany previously, the Wends used German as their more official language. Therefore it is not surprising that their grave inscriptions were also in German. Until about nine months ago, I believed
This article was first printed, with Dr Wilson’s permission and consent, for the Krause family history book, Shipwreck to Settlement, published in 1990 by Weldon Mersiovsky. The following descriptions of various aspects of the 1853 emigration were written at the time of the events or shortly thereafter. The source and original language, Wendish or German,
Contemporary Materials Concerning the 1853 Emigration Read More »
This article was first printed, with Dr Wilson’s permission and consent, for the Krause family History, Shipwreck to Settlement, in 1990. The Wends or Sorbs of Germany are an originally Slavic group in what is now southern East Germany, in the area called Lusatia (Lausitz), around the cities of Bautzen and Cottbus. They were surrounded
The Wends In Germany and In Texas Read More »
Originally published in Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin, Vol LII, Number 1, 1987. In the area around Giddings (between Austin and Houston), Texas live the descendants of the Wendish settlers who immigrated to Texas in 1854 from what was the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) and who founded the community of Serbin west of Giddings.(1) The Wendish
"Dragons" and Other Supernatural Tales of the Texas Wends by Charles Wukasch Read More »
