“The Forty” or Die Vierziger

Thank you Charles Daniels for another post.

“The Forty” or Die Vierziger was a fraternity of German students with chapters at the universities of Giessen and Heidelberg and the industrial academy of Darmstadt. The name comes from there being 40 members or because it was founded in the 1840’s. The group was recruited in early 1847 by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels to immigrate to Texas. They started the Bettina Settlement which lasted less than a year, There were two later attempts to establish the communes of Darmstädler Farm and Tusculum near New Braunfels and Sisterdale, respectively, which were equally short-lived, and when these efforts failed, some settlers moved  to Sisterdale, from there some moved to Boerne, and others to Comfort.

The following is a list of names of this group that made the trip to Texas as found in Biesele, History of the German Settlements in Texas, pages 155 and 156 quoting – Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 3, pages 34 and 35 and in Deutsche Pioniere in Texas, page 26– Adolph Paul Weber – [as found in a footnote in Biesele]

Names in Biesele#

1.       Dr. Ferdinand von Herff

2.       Dr. Leopold Schulz.

3.       Gustav Schleicher

4.       Lerch

5.       Philip Zoeller

6.       Wilhelm Zoeller

7.       Wundt

8.       *Fuchs

9.       Theodor Schleuning

10.   Amelung

11.   Christian von Hesse

12.   Julius Wagner

13.   *Herrman

14.   Friedrich Schenk

15.   Jacob Kuechler

16.   Adam Vogt

17.   Strauss

18.   Christian Flach

19.   *Schunk

20.   Neff

21.   Adam Teichert

22.   Adolph Hahn

23.   Fritz Louis

24.   Kappelhoff

25.   Michel

26.   *Ottmer

27.   Peter Bub

28.   *Mertins

29.   Backoften

30.   *Lindheimer

31.   Edward Mueller

32.   *Rock

A.P. Weber list includes: Herman Spiess, Kattmann, Kappel, Zentner, Hoerner’ Louis Reinhardt, and Obert instead of the names marked by a “*” above.

The Other Texas Latin Settlements

While these may be “Latin” settlements –  Shelby and Ratcliffe are also identified as such in information about those settlements. [dates in parenthesis are when the county where the settlement was located was founded]

Bluff, Fayette County [formed 1837]

Bluff is on the south side of the Colorado River across from La Grange in Fayette County and was settled by German immigrants - Forty-Eighters. In 1987 at the site were two businesses and a large country club.

Castell, Llano County [formed 1856]

Castell is a small unincorporated riverside town in Llano County,  its northern border is formed by the Llano River. Castell began in 1847 as a land grant in Comanche territory settled by German Abolitionists and Free-Soilers. The land was part of the Fisher-Miller Land Grant.  The population was 104 at the 2010 census. The community is now on the south bank of the Llano River near the Mason County line.

Comfort, Kendall County [founded 1862]

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,358 people, 799 households, and 603 families. Comfort was established in 1854 by German immigrants, who were Freethinkers and abolitionists. Some early settlers in Comfort migrated from the colonies of the Darmstadt Society of Forty

Frelsburg, Colorado County [founded 1837]

Frelsburg is an unincorporated community in Colorado County, at the intersection of Farm Roads 109 and 1291. The population of Frelsburg was reported as seventy-five from 1933 to 2000.

New Ulm, Austin County [founded 1837]

New Ulm, on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas line at the intersection of Farm roads 109 and 1094, in western Austin County, was known as Duff's Settlement, after James C. Duff.  In 1840, the settlers named the community New Ulm after Ulm, Germany. In 1990 the population was estimated at 650. The population remained the same in 2000.

Leiningen, Llano County [founded 1856]

Leiningen was established in 1847 as part of the Fisher-Miller land grant with Castell, Bettina, and Schoenburg. It did not survive.

CASTELL, Llano County [founded 1856]

Castell is at the intersection of Farm roads 2768 and 152, on the south bank of the Llano River. Castell was established in 1847 under the auspices of the Adelsverein. By 1972 the community had declined to a population of seventy-two, mainly descendants of the original German settlers. A population of seventy-two was still reported in 2000.

Meyersville, DeWitt County [founded 1846]

 Meyersville is just east of U.S. Highway 183 and fourteen miles south of Cuero.  In 1985 Meyersville  had a few businesses and active churches. The population estimates for the Meyersville communities approached 250 during the 1940s but decreased to 150 during the next decade and by 1968 to 110, which remained the figure given for 2000.

Ratcliffe, DeWitt County [founded 1846]

Ratcliffe – a Lateiner community -, originally  Five Mile, in south central DeWitt County, was established in the late 1840s and early 1850s. In 1962 area homesteads were still owned by descendents. The 1983 county highway map shows a school at Ratcliffe on Farm Road 2718 eight miles east of Yorktown.

Schoenburg, Llano County [founded 1856]

Schoenburg was established in 1847 as part of the Fisher-Miller land grant with Castell, Bettina, and Leiningen. It did not survive.

Shelby, Austin County [founded 1837]

Shelby is an unincorporated town at the junction of Farm roads 389 and 1457, twenty-four miles northwest of Bellville. Otto von Roeder was the first settler in Shelby in 1841. Shelby became the home of  Adelsverein colonists in 1845. It is believed to be part of the Latin Settlement communities populated in Texas at that time.  In 1992 Shelby reported 175 residents. The population remained the same in 2000.

Information taken from Wikipedia and Texas Sate Historical Association [online] and Texas Genealogy WebCounties [online]. 

This post provided by Charles Daniels.