The History of DeWitt County (1899) by C. H. Waltersdorf, Publisher and Editor of the Lavaca County News

Abstract

The History of DeWitt County (1899) by C. H. Waltersdorf, Publisher and Editor of the Lavaca County News Translated by James C. Kearney (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution C. H. Waltersdorf's Geschichte von DeWitt County (1899). Courtesy of DeWitt County Historical Museum. [End Page 518] As the 175th anniversary of DeWitt County approached in 2020, members of the DeWitt County Historical Commission began preparing for a grand celebration commensurate with the county's rich history. One of the commission members, Beverly Bruns of Yorktown, discovered C. H. Waltersdorf's history among her family papers. It is the only known extant copy of his published study, which he wrote in German and published in 1899. Beyond the fact that Waltersdorf had briefly published a German language newspaper in neighboring Lavaca County, the Lavaca County Nachrichten, almost nothing was known about him. Both he and his history, it would seem, had slipped into oblivion. However, Peggy Ledbetter, president of the commission, quickly recognized the value of the forgotten narrative and agreed that a translation would be a valuable addition to the planned celebration. Mary Brindley, another commission member, approached me about doing the translation. After a quick perusal of the scans, which were all legible, I agreed to undertake the project. In addition to the translation itself, I was able to put together a short biography of Waltersdorf and to provide extensive endnotes to his narrative. Carl Herman Waltersdorf was born in Germany in 1872 and died in Cuero, Texas, in 1937.1 He lived an extraordinary, restless life marked by [End Page 519] many abrupt twists and turns. In 1889, at the age of seventeen, he came to the United States with a brother to join his parents, who had emigrated to Texas twelve years previously. Upon arriving in Texas, his father had purchased a small farm near Runge, just across the DeWitt County line in neighboring Karnes County, where he set up a homestead in an area with a strong and growing German presence. The town of Runge, in fact, had coalesced around a mercantile store and post office established by business associates of Henry Runge (1816–73), a successful and farsighted Texas German businessman.2 When Waltersdorf arrived in Texas, not only was he reunited with his parents, whom he had not seen in twelve years, but he also met for the first time his new brothers and sisters, who had been born in Texas. One can only imagine the story behind this unusual arrangement. Once settled, the teenager soon found employment as a typesetter with the Deutsche Rundschau, a German language newspaper published in Cuero, where he learned the newspaper trade at an early age. At the age of twenty, he married the daughter of a German American family in Cuero by the name of Ziehahn; they were a family of some means, apparently, because they helped him establish his own German language newspaper, the Lavaca County Nachrichten, in neighboring Hallettsville in 1895.3 An episode from the period suggests that he might have offended some readers on occasion: Editor Waltersdorf of the Nachrichten and Dr. Schiersman of Shiner had a little difficulty here at the post office last Saturday during which the editor knocked the doctor down. We have not been able to get fully into the merits of the affair, but what we have learned would go to show that Mr. Waltersdorf had considerable provocation for what he did. Mr. Waltersdorf went immediately before Mayor Eschenburg and paid his fine. Scrapping is rather an expensive luxury for newspaper men to be indulging in.4 In 1899, Waltersdorf penned his History of DeWitt County, which he advertised in his newspaper and sold as a supplement for twenty-five cents. According to the Hallettsville Herald, he also traveled around the county to give talks and promote his history.5 For reasons that are unclear, Waltersdorf apparently became disenchanted with the newspaper business after a scant five years. In May 1900, he sold the paper to his younger brother, Richard (Dick) Waltersdorf, who had worked for him as a typesetter and under whose stewardship the paper continued for many...