“Galveston, a town in Texas, counts about a 5000 population and all homes, save the church and the Bureau (Federal Building) are built of wood and covered with oil paint for in such a warm climate other types of dwellings are not needed.
“On our arrival, the potatoes were just in bloom and the gardens had English peas. The trees were going into bloom and leaf: carrots, lettuce, turnips and other kitchen vegetables were fresh for pulling. Before each home, there were roses planted which bloomed very beautifully. Other trees, such as oleander, orange and lemon, were in bloom and could be smelled everywhere.
“However, we who had intended to settle in Galveston, did not like conditions here. There were very many mosquitoes and the children were getting sores like smallpox and became sick.
“12 March 1850: We left on a steamboat from Galveston for the Brazos River and changed to another steamboat at Quintana at the mouth of the Brazos. We traveled upstream on the Brazos. This was a very exciting trip as there were large trees overhanging the banks. Plantations were located at intervals where we saw negroes working with cotton and sugar cane, all of which grew profusely. There is a large concentration of these unlucky negroes - that is, "slaves" - in Galveston, perhaps as many as 1000 head.
“One young strong and healthy slave costs 800 - 1000 dollars per head, a woman slave 500 - 800 dollars, boy from eight to ten years, 100 - 200 dollars; because everybody who is able wishes to buy a slave for work. But so you, even though you are Christians, feel that keeping a human in bondage is not proper, I wish to tell you that these negroes live in a better way than the poor people in Cechy and Moravia. They receive coffee twice a day, meat and bread three times daily, with good milk, as much as they wish, because each plantation has more than 1000 head of livestock. They are occupied with working in the fields, grazing the livestock, and cleaning and butchering same. I saw those slaves playing with the "dollar" same as your boys play with a button.
“16 March 1850: Saturday afternoon we arrived at San Felipe; a prominent town destroyed so thoroughly during the war with Mexico that only about fifteen homes remain. Here we stayed with a German merchant who hosted us until the 19th of March. On 17 March, we visited the American rural countryside for the first time and saw pretty tall grass. Cattle freely grazed on it and the children picked the beautiful flowers, some of which in your country are grown in clay flower pots! I and my daughter Julia and the maid Justina, sat down on the grass and sang "Ja ve vaem mem cineni jen k bohu mam sve zreni" (I in all my deeds have only respect for God), and we thought of you that just now you are returning from the afternoon church services. Here it is 9:45 before noon, and at your place it would be 3:30 in the afternoon since the sun is six and a quarter hours later here.
“Tuesday on the day of St. Josef, we loaded our baggage on a wagon and two oxen carried it to our intended place of living, where we happily arrived that same day before night. Here we stayed with a Merchant and farmer named Boulton, son of a pastor from Hamburg for whom we had two letters from Europe. We found our stay friendly. Here in his garden, we planted 21 trees which we brought from Europe; also some seed was sown and we planted several rows of potatoes. The surroundings are very beautiful, the soil is black mixed with sand and three fruitful layers deep.
“Not far from Mr. Boulton lives a buyer, also from Europe who lives an ugly life. He cheats and wrongly treats his fellow citizens and from this he hopes to become rich. “Tuesday after Palm Sunday, a terrible storm came up and lightning hit the house of the buyer. He had many hundreds of dollars of goods on display and it all burned. No one came to put the fire out because he has had too many quarrels and suits and there were no volunteers. There was no loss to the community and he came to the end of his name. He then moved to Galveston so that he would not have to return to working in the field.
“At that same time, the evangelical group met in the community center near Cat Springs, about a mile by the road from Mr. Boulton where it is planned to build a school building. On Saturday before Palm Sunday, I took off for this center so that I could arrange and discuss various things; however it was not possible to do this because it had already been arranged that I was to hold church services at Mr. Boultons on Good Friday. An Evangelical missionary from South Carolina came to this gathering. He was young, healthy and a good speaker, and had already gathered people together to whom he preached. Arrangements were made with him that Easter services would be celebrated at Cat Springs and the Lord's Supper held: and we both left in agreement. On that day (Easter) a larger crowd of people from all sides then gathered, which I had expected, and the large room at Mr. Amsler could not contain all of us - the greater number had to stand by the windows and the doors.
“At the conclusion of this service, I was voted unanimously to serve as their spiritual pastor and a yearly salary of one hundred dollars was assured me - each voted on this of their own free will and more than one openly agreed to give eight dollars per year. I accepted this assignment and in order to be better able to serve my listeners, I bought myself a small house near Cat Springs, which has one setting room, two closets and a small sleeping room. There is a small three-quarter acre garden near the house and a fifteen acre field which is not plowed.
“On the 5th of April, our neighbors came for us with two wagons and we somehow managed to get settled. Today in the afternoon, April 7,1850, it is planned that we will hold another church service under the same shelter on 17 April unless the listeners decide otherwise. We now have the most beautiful weather and winds; the afternoons are warm but the nights are cool and fine when the fireflies come out and swarm about. The redbirds, here called "Cardinals", sing in the woods and the trees around the house, their song being similar to the nightingale in Europe.
“The land here west of San Felipe and five miles from the Brazos River, is not sultry and humid since the winds blow steadily, and there is no fever which exists in some lowlands. There is none of the prevalent human ailments, mainly of the chest, and whoever would come here with a lung ailment will get well quickly. I know two neighbors who, as they told me, with their damaged lungs would already have been laid long ago in their cold bed, whereas here they got completely well. In the lowlands (bottomland) we have very productive lands, so rich that they never need to be fertilized; however, it is unhealthy to live there and for this reason, the colony and settlements is found on the highlands where there is healthy weather. The bottom land fields of the rich planters and settlers is worked by negroes, but the highlands grow Turkish wheat (corn) eight to ten feet high. Rye and wheat are not yet planted here as first, there is no mill to grind the grain, and second, it has not been proven to be successfully grown and harvested. Corn, however, grows well in the small valleys and is more productive. So the settlers bake bread made from corn. The corn is ground daily on small hand mills similar to those one has for coffee. The larger corn grain particles are fed to the chickens which everybody here has large flocks of, sometimes in two coops. The small corn flour is prepared with milk and eggs and baked on an iron plate above the coals, although it is still not as good as bread from buckwheat baked in an oven.
“Others in the neighboring settlements are able to get enough wheat flour but again there is no bakery or yeast shop, not even a beer brewery. According to a late word, the rumor is out that members of the settlement are planning an Evangelical Church and mill! “Each family has a fenced field here but the remaining land is open and basically used for grazing cattle and horses, however many a person wants; there are hogs beyond count because if you ask someone how many he has, he cannot tell you. [...]
“From this, it is possible to see that an industrious and working man can soon bring into himself some wealth. However, it is to be noted that "here without work, there are no kolache!" and anyone who is not industrious will soon return to Europe.“I have already bought two cows with calves for ten dollars and soon will be able to buy a horse so that I may be able to ride in our settlement, or perhaps to San Felipe, some five miles. I already have eighteen hens and a neighbor has promised me some hogs. I will work and fence four acres of field for the fall and will plant cotton because it brings the most. I hope, if God gives me good health, to have more in a few years - but the start is always hard.
“Beggars and robbers are not found here and people do not close their doors nor do they have concern for their fields. On our journey, we slept some distance from our wagons and nothing happened to us. In short, no one is concerned about stealing what belongs to others. My wife lost her satchel and in it she had some toiletries and some money. But see, in eight days, our neighbor brought it to us and said it was given to him by a stranger who said it belongs in our settlement!
“There are not many people in Texas which is a land as large as Germany and Prussia put together. Texas today has 200,000 inhabitants which is the same as Breslau alone. There are only a few women who are able to come to Texas from Europe and hence these are in great demand. Our maid, Justina, already could have gotten married three times to proper and occupied youths, but she has not yet decided on anyone. Besides that, she has to serve at our home for a time in exchange for the boat fare we paid for her. That will not last long and she will soon leave us and go to her own home and household on a beautiful saddled horse, and if she is fortunate, her groom will bring her the beautiful saddled horse as a gift.
“There is here an assortment of various trees such as oaks, maple, nut and so forth. There are forests five miles to the north with cedars and cypresses from which we are able to get boards (lumber). The trees in the forests grow wild, large and tall - from the ground up to the heavens. “You will be able to visualize how it actually all looks from all this I have said, as I have told you the whole clear truth. Whoever wishes to say goodby to Europe should emigrate through Bremen to America because the ocean voyage from there is better arranged and cheaper than from Hamburg.
“I wish to add that here we have many grouse (Prairie Chickens) and deer. Now, they are shooting turkeys and deer and Mr. Boltin killed a grouse which I saw with my own eyes that weighed twenty pounds. The quail and cranes here are smaller than in Europe but they swarm so no one hardly notices, though they don't stand to be shot. I have not yet had time to go on a hunt. Bees are kept at houses and can be found everywhere in the hollow trees; they swarm from spring to fall - but go into their hives or holes because with the snow and frost, they cannot live. The bees are "robbed" twice, in May and September.
“I will repeat once again that emigrants should start on their journey in the fall because in the summer it is dangerous and unhealthy. The best is to organize in groups with families.
“You'all be good - God be with you! (translation)
(Bergmann 1851)
- Bergmann, Ernst. 1851. “Bergmann_MoravskeNoviny1851.” Moravske Noviny.