Wends of Texas
Encyclopedia
Sorbs
Sorbs are a Western Slavic people of Central Europe living predominantly in Lusatia, a region on the territory of Germany and Poland. In Germany they live in the states of Brandenburg and Saxony. They speak the Sorbian languages - closely related to Polish and Czech - officially recognized and...
/Wendish
Wends
Wends is a historic name for West Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It does not refer to a homogeneous people, but to various peoples, tribes or groups depending on where and when it is used...
people under the leadership and pastoral care of John Kilian
John Kilian
John Kilian also , was a Lutheran pastor and leader of the colony known as the Wends of Texas.-Background:...
who emigrated from Lusatia
Lusatia
Lusatia is a historical region in Central Europe. It stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the east to the Elbe valley in the west, today located within the German states of Saxony and Brandenburg as well as in the Lower Silesian and Lubusz voivodeships of western Poland...
(part of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) to Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
in 1854. The term also refers to the other emigrations (and all descendants) occurring before and after this group. However none came close to the size or importance of the Wendish culture in Texas.
History
In 1817, King Frederick William IIIFrederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
of Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
ordered the Lutheran and Reformed churches in his territory to unite, forming the Evangelical Church of the Prussian Union
Prussian Union (Evangelical Christian Church)
The Prussian Union was the merger of the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church in Prussia, by a series of decrees – among them the Unionsurkunde – by King Frederick William III...
. The unification of the two branches of German Protestantism sparked a great deal of controversy. Many Lutherans, termed Old Lutherans
Old Lutherans
Old Lutherans refers to those German Lutherans who refused to join the Prussian Union in the 1830s and 1840s.Attempted suppression of the Old Lutherans led many to immigrate to Australia and the United States, resulting in the creation of significant Lutheran denominations in those countries.The...
, chose to leave the established churches and form independent church bodies. Many left for America and Australia. The dispute over ecumenism overshadowed other controversies within German Lutheranism. The group which eventually became the Wends of Texas was part of this movement, its members distinguished in their specific ethnic identity as Wends, i.e. a Slavic minority living within a predominantly German environment.
Resisting the merger of Lutheranism and Calvinism being forced by the national church, this group, comprising members of many congregations and villages met at Dauban http://nona.net/features/map/placedetail.455990/Dauban/ on March 23, 1854, to make decisions on what was to be done. Finishing the meeting it had been decided to meet again in May to call a pastor. May 25, 1854, saw the call of Pastor John Kilian as pastor of the newly formed congregation and plans began to form for the emigration to Texas.
Converging at Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, they traveled to Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, where they were expecting to begin their voyage across the sea. Upon arrival they found their intention to travel on one large ship was fouled as two smaller ships awaited them. After negotiating and waiting for news to come back, their would-be ship line had found and transported them to their requested ship among the White Star Line
White Star Line
The Oceanic Steam Navigation Company or White Star Line of Boston Packets, more commonly known as the White Star Line, was a prominent British shipping company, today most famous for its ill-fated vessel, the RMS Titanic, and the World War I loss of Titanics sister ship Britannic...
's line of packet ships, the Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis
Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles. It is located at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Lochaber area of the Scottish Highlands, close to the town of Fort William....
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
.
Of particular note is the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak
1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak
The Broad Street cholera outbreak was a severe outbreak of cholera that occurred near Broad Street in Soho district of London, England in 1854...
that this group of Wends was apparently exposed to while in Liverpool, England. After setting sail they were forced to weigh anchor at Queenstown
Cobh
Cobh is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour. Facing the town are Spike Island and Haulbowline Island...
to have the ship quarantined and the disease complete its cycle. Continuing on they landed in Galveston, Texas
Galveston, Texas
Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...
, after passing the health inspection. Finding the largest city of Texas (at that time) beset by yellow fever
Yellow fever
Yellow fever is an acute viral hemorrhagic disease. The virus is a 40 to 50 nm enveloped RNA virus with positive sense of the Flaviviridae family....
they hurriedly continued on to Houston (then almost half the size of Galveston). By the time they left Galveston, a total of 73 had died from various ailments, chiefly though of cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
(55 died from it alone).
Upon arrival in Houston, many of the Wends did not have enough money to continue the journey inland other than to travel on foot, carrying what they could. Along the way many stopped short of the congregations aim in other German communities. Ultimately arriving in present-day Lee County, they founded the Low Pin Oak Settlement (now Serbin, Texas
Serbin, Texas
Serbin is an unincorporated community in southwestern Lee County, Texas, United States. Located about east of Austin, it was originally established as Low Pin Oak Settlement by Wendish immigrants to Texas in the mid-1850s...
).
Through their first winter they survived in little more than dug-outs and meager shelters. Through the coming year, they finished building their first church and a school, and continued to preserve their culture. Their pastor Johann Kilian persevered as pastor, preaching in both Wendish and German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
as more German migrants moved closer. Eventually he added English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
to the list of languages he preached in. His sons continued the Wendish preaching and teaching, but with them ended the last of major Wendish language exposure to the small colony.
Because of the poor soil quality in much of the surrounding land, many moved to join or start new Wendish communities and churches, though without any Wendish speaking pastors their culture died out within a few generations.
Present day
With renewal of the sense of Wendish culture since the 1970s, the Texas Wendish Heritage Society preserves the history and culture of this group with their museum located in Serbin, Texas. The 3000+ artifacts, documents and original log buildings of Johann Killian and his congregation serve as the chief voice of this bygone era. A Wendish Fest occurs annually every fourth Sunday in September to celebrate their cultural background. They continue to decorate eggs in their cultural fashion and their egg noodles are never far from the table.The original church bell, having been brought from Lusatia and since replaced in the St. Paul Lutheran Church's bell tower now rests at Concordia University Texas (a university in Austin
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, founded by Texas Wends and affiliated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod
The Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 2.3 million members, it is both the eighth largest Protestant denomination and the second-largest Lutheran body in the U.S. after the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The Synod...
) as a testament to these founding Texas Lutherans' desire and motivation for continuing their faith even so far from home.
Other sources
- Blasig, A. (1957) The Wends of Texas. The Naylor Company. San Antonio, Texas. ASIN B0007DXAP2 OCLC 1224161
- Caldwell, L. (1961) Texas Wends: their first half-century; With historical, biographical & genealogical information on the Serbin Wends, the Schatte & Moerbe families in particular. (The Anson Jones Press. Salado, Texas) ASIN B0007E9MBC
- Grider, S. (1982) The Wendish Texans. (The University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures. San Antonio, Texas) ISBN 0-86701-000-2.
- Malinkowa, T. (2009) Shores of Hope: Wends Go Overseas (Austin: Concordia University Press) ISBN 978-1-881848-12-7
- Nielsen, G. (1989) In Search of Home, Nineteenth-Century Wendish Immigration (College Station: Texas A & M University Press) ISBN 0-89096-400-9.
- Engerrand, G.C. (1934) So-Called Wends of Germany and their Colonies in Texas and Australia. (University of Texas bulletin, no. 3417. Austin, Texas: The University) ISBN 0-88247-188-0