Kurten Cemetery

Brazos County

German Immigrant Of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kurten

Written by: Mrs. H.P. Dansby Jr. And Mrs. B.F. Norman Jr., 1948

The German immigrants in the United States have played a very important role in the history of this country. From the earliest time they caught the fever of hope and ambition this new country offered, and came by the tens of thousands. They were also moved by political, economic, and religious discontent in Germany. This land with its agricultural resources and unlimited supply of timber provided everything needed for the inhabitants of this new country. These German immigrants were thriftier than the original English settlers and brought with them a deep desire for culture and religion. They contributed a definite strengthening element to the melting pot of America. In all fields of science, music, art, engineering, and the like, the German-American has made outstanding contributions. Two great men of out time who are descendants of German immigrants are Admiral Nimitz and General Eisenhower. The lives and work of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Kurten might not be recorded in history, but people like those helped make this great country what it is today. Henry Kurten was born September 4, 1827 in Cologne, Germany, the oldest of a family of twelve children. At this time all men had to serve five years in the German Army. He had served three years and was given three months furlough before serving the last two years. He was one of the Kaiser's bodyguards. He thought he would have time to come to America and return before his furlough was up. He wanted to see Texas, as he might want to come back and settle later. He came to the United States in the spring of 1851 at the age of twenty-three. He landed in Galveston. He could not speak a word of English so he sought out a German boarding house. The keeper of the boarding house was glad to have him stay but he had to share the room with another man. He didn't mind, but woke up the next morning to find the man gone, also all of his money and papers. He didn't do anything about the army papers at first. As time went on and he got a job and liked Texas so well he never did do anything about replacing his army papers and never returned to Germany. His landlady was very kind to him, let him work around her house and in her flower garden until she and some German acquaintance obtained a job for him with a man who had a freight line from Galveston and Matamoros, Mexico. They operated two wagons drawn by oxen and carried cotton to Mexico in exchange for sugar, linen, whiskey, and coffee. He stayed in the freight business for ten years. He also carried cotton from Millican to Mexico and from Booneville (which was the first settlement of Bryan) and Wheelock (a little country place close to Franklin, Texas) to Mexico. The lonely life as a freighter caused him to become very fond of his oxen. He had a big white main yoke ox called "Joe". At night when he camped, the ox would bellow until he gave him a "nip" from his whiskey bottle. When he was on a trip in cold weather, and had to sleep out in the open he would make a big fire, when it burned down he would rake the coals away and sleep on the warm ground. Many times he would camp on a riverbank for days, waiting for the floodwaters to go down so he could cross. At night he would put a rope make of hair on the ground around his tent or bed so the snakes would not bite him. Whether this superstition is true or not, he was never snake bitten. One Christmas he was in Wheelock with a load of cotton he was carrying to Mexico. The roads were too muddy to travel, and while there he was told of a German settlement at Cottonwood, about twelve miles south. While there he visited the families of: Peter Keifer, Cyrus Koontz, and Peter Thomas. They told him of a family of Carl Zerbst, who had a pretty daughter, in fact, she was the only young girl in the settlement. Her name was Augusta Wilheilmina Zerbst. He went there immediately and she came to the door when he knocked. She was a pretty auburn haired young lady. He was so surprised and delighted he just blurted out "You are the prettiest girl in the world and I am going to marry you." Some years later she became his wife. Mrs. Kurten was born November 9, 1841, in Berlin, Germany. She came to America with her parents and brother, Carl Jr. when she was eight years old. High taxes and the fact that their son would have to serve five years in the German Army caused them to sell their property and come to the United States in 1849. They had bought their tickets and were waiting to catch the boat in Hamburg, Germany, when Mr. Zerbst became ill. Some thought he was drunk but his wife knew better; he was not a drinking man. He was taken to a hospital and it was found out that he had cholera. He persuaded his wife Henrietta, and the children to go on and catch the boat as they had planned. They had sold everything they had in Germany and a new life in a new country was waiting for them. It meant more than anything in the world for Mr. Zerbst that his family get to America. So the wife and children sailed. A boat trip at best was not too comfortable at this time and they thought the end had come when the boat got into a calm at sea and stood practically still for days. Their food and water was beginning to get low, when a brisk wind came up and sent them on to Galveston. This experience and a child dying at sea are ones Mrs. Kurten never forgot. They had been in Galveston three months when a boat from Germany came into port. Mrs. Zerbst and the two children were there to their great joy Mr. Zerbst was on the boat. The family came by boat up the Brazos River to Old Washington. Here they heard of the German settlement in the Cottonwood community. This is near the present town of Wheelock, Texas in Robertson County. They traveled by ox cart to this place to make their home in the new country. Here they bought a sixty-acre farm and built a log house. Another son, Ferdinand, was born and the three children grew up with the usual joys and hardships of pioneer life. Mrs. Kurten had a "bone fellon" (an infection) on her finger. They treated it with what medicine they had but the bone from the first joint came out of her finger and as a result she had a flat finger. They lived off the land partly by raising food and partly by hunting and fishing. Mrs. Kurten did not care for wild game and wished her brothers would quit going hunting. At first they did not have any cattle or other stock. A kind neighbor let them milk some of his cows, finally they managed to buy a few cows and got a herd started. There were no fences, so the cows grazed on the open range on what is Kurten community now. The only fences used were rail fences, and they could only enclose gardens and small fields. They saw a few Indians but were never bothered by them. They were also on the look out for them for fear a hostile tribe should attack. Sometimes squirrels and great herds of deer would migrate from one section to another and if not watched they would eat the garden and food crops. Mrs. Kurten's brother, Carl Jr. served in the Civil War. He was captured and almost starved to death having only wheat bran and water to eat. After his return he married and had one daughter, Annie Zerbst, soon after this he died. His descendants, the Fred Lockes, live and own land in the Cottonwood community now. Henry Kurten and Augusta Zerbst were married November 18, 1863. She was twenty - two years old and he was thirty-six years old. They had twelve children, three boys and nine girls, six of whom lived to rear families and four of them are still living. Their first child was a girl named Henrietta for her father and Grandmother Zerbst. She died in infancy, her father never having seen her since he was on a trip to Mexico. Their second child, Gertrude, died at two years of age, nearly breaking Mr. Kurten's heart. He said he could not take her to the old cemetery, which was quite a distance from their home. They buried her on a hill a short way from their log house. This started the Kurten cemetery for which he gave the land. Their third child was named Johanna Helena, for Mr. Kurten's brother who had joined them there in Texas but had recently died. He was a fine promising young man. He never married. His death was caused by what was commonly known as congestion and no one knew what it really was. She is Mrs. Johnnie Kurten Koppe and still lives in Kurten at the old homestead. The living children are Mrs. Ella Lilly Odom, Mrs. Pearl Buchanan, and Mr. Henry Kurten Jr., all living in Kurten. The other children were Ida, Kedwig, Edith, Oscar, Herman, and Gussie who was Mrs. F. C. Herrling of Dallas. Two of these children died of typhoid fever. This disease was one Mrs. Kurten certainly feared having lost two grown daughters by it. Just before the close of the Civil War Mr. and Mrs. Kurten decided to buy some land from Mr. Isarah Curd. Mr. Kurten saved three hundred dollars and Mrs. Kurten had inherited three hundred dollars in gold from her family. They paid fifty cents to one dollar per acre for the land. Isarah Curd was a staunch Confederate and was so confident that the Confederate Army would win the Civil War, that he refused to accept the six hundred dollars in gold, and would have payment for the land in nothing but Confederate money. Mr. Kurten rode on horseback to Houston, Texas, which was about one hundred and ten miles, to exchange gold for paper confederate bills. His saddlebags were bulging with the money. The lawyer who made out the deed advised him to have it recorded at once, as the outlook for the Confederacy was very dark. He rode by Anderson, Texas in Grimes County, the only courthouse in this vicinity, and had the sale and deed recorded. It was on this trip that Mrs. Kurten almost gave up hope of ever seeing her husband again. One day as she looked out of her little log house, she saw a tired horse and man walking toward home. They were both completely worn out. The horse dropped dead a few hours later. Mr. Kurten took days getting over this long, hard, dangerous journey. These saddlebags now belong to a daughter Mrs. Pearl Buchanan. It was not long until the Civil War was over and the Confederacy failed. Mr. Crud's Confederate money was worthless, but the land belonged to the Kurtens. Since they had no cows to graze on the land and no slaves to work it, Mr. Kurten bought eighteen hundred sheep. His first sheepherder was Ive Sabo and some of his descendants still live there. He learned first hand the meaning of the story "wolf". His herd had to be closely watched to keep wild animals from destroying them. Soon after the Civil War was over and "freedom had cried out" for the Negroes, as they expressed it, Mr. Kurten started farming. He had to use "Out law" slaves who were to mean to stay with their former owners. He had to use the cowhide whip to control them. Mrs. Kurten shuddered in fear every time for she knew they could easily turn and kill her husband, even though he was a big six-foot man. One ex-slave who was especially mean was Mike Reid. Others who worked for them were Dan Evans, Sandy Wallace, and Nancy Koontz. Nancy had belonged to the Koontz family and had never married, but had a big family of girls. No one wanted her and her family, but they proved to be good workers. Jim Harris', one of the Negro workers, pastor had told him he should have a contract from Mr. Kurten. Being a good-natured person, he humored the Negro by letting him bring his pastor over to write the contract. They all went into the kitchen and the preacher sat down to write it, while Jim, the Negro, farmed. The preacher began making ^^^^^^^^^^^ along each line. Mrs. Kurten, who was very businesslike and didn't have the sense of humor her husband had, wasn't at all amused. She pointed to the paper The German Brogue and said to the preacher "Now read that." That was the end of the contracts with the Negro laborers. The Kurtens decided to send for German immigrants to help them farm the land. Through a friend in Bryan, Dr. Platner who was connected with the German counsel in Galveston, they were able to send money for passage to families who wanted to come to Texas. They didn't know whom they would get, but requested families who knew how to farm. Some of these families were Peter Yeager, Antone Kershinsky, Mike Berger, August Schmidt, The Rahnerts, and Herrlings. Some of their descendants still live in Kurten. More than one housemaid married the yard boy, both usually German immigrants. Many times they named their first children Johnnie and Walter for Mrs. Kurten's oldest daughter and her husband. In need of a big house, Mr. Kurten decided to make his own brick from suitable clay in a nearby branch. Adolph Gerka and Perter Winter, who had been brick masons back in Germany, helped make the brick and build the house. The house was a one-story building with a wide hall down the middle. It had two large front rooms with smaller bedrooms back to one side and the dinning room and kitchen on the other side. It stood until 1912 when Mrs. Koppe had it torn down. The kitchen portion is still used in her home. The Kurten home was known all over the country for its hospitality and abundance of food. Every Sunday a big meal was enjoyed by as many as happened to come, which was usually a big crowd. Sunday morning breakfast was about the only meal of the week when only the family was present. The servants having gone home for Saturday night returned in time to help with the noon meal. The breakfast usually consisted of fried chicken, ham or sausage, rice or fried potatoes, gravy, and biscuits. A yearling mutton or hog was killed each week for meat. Mrs. Kurten was a wonderful hostess and manager. Some of her best friends were Mrs. Kindt, Mrs. Jurad, Mrs. August Prmzol, Mrs. LeFever, Mrs. Lueck, and Mrs. Gerke. Many times their friends in Bryan would come out to spend Sunday with them. They always brought a keg of beer and a demijohn of wine. Everybody would eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow would be hard work. Among these friends were Mr. William Koppe, Mr. and Mrs. Booneville, Mr. and Mrs. Gus Harbers, Mr. and Mrs. Huffman, Mr. and Mrs. Koetsch, Mr. Holman, Mr. Gus Stevener, Mr. Billy Schultz, and Mr. Zulch of North Zulch. About the year 1870, Philip Prinzel brought Mrs. Kurten an oil-burning lamp from Millican, Texas as a Christmas gift and a quart of oil to burn in it. This was the first lamp in the community; candles were used for light. Everybody came to see the lamp, as it was a miracle to them. Shortly after this, Mr. Kurten bought the first wood burning stove in this community. Everybody used the open fireplace for cooking. It was also a thing of marvel and everybody in the countryside came to see it. They also had the first organ and Mr. Hugo Endler, one of the immigrants who had come over form Germany, taught their daughters music. Mr. Endler also taught some of Mr. and Mrs. Kurten's granddaughters. Mr. and Mrs. Kurten learned to read English from the Galveston newspaper. They took this paper as long as they lived. Mrs. Kurten's formal education consisted of having read through the New Testament in German at the age of eight. They also took a New York paper published in German called "New York Statt Zeitung." Mrs. Kurten was generous, a kind and good neighbor, wife, and mother. She kept all the finances of the farm and family. She would write in German script but spelled words as they sounded to her in English. She was rather serious and matter of fact, with very little foolishness about her while her husband had a wonderful since of humor. He'd come home full of jokes and stories, but would have to tell them to someone else. They were a devoted couple and a wonderful match. Once a man came to the house to see Mr. Kurten on business. From an argument, the two men go into a fight. The man about to get the best of Mr. Kurten and had him down, Mrs. Kurten saw the situation so she proceeded to take a board and flay the man in order to free her husband. It was serious at first but turned out to be a joke. When later people would say "anyone can get free boarding from Mrs. Kurten." Mr. and Mrs. Kurten were instrumental in making this community a better place in which to live. They gave three acres for the Kurten School and built the first schoolhouse. They gave land for the two German churches, The Lutheran Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. They also gave land for a Negro Church and for the white and Negro cemeteries. Mr. Horace Raymond was not the first but possibly the best known and most beloved schoolteacher of the Kurten School. He boarded at the Kurten home for sixteen years, while he taught school. He taught all of the Kurten children as well as the children of the community. He was a highly respected person. When they needed a name for the post office they wanted to name it Raymondville, but found there was already a Raymondville, Texas so it was named Kurten for Mr. Henry Kurten. Before Kurten had a post office all of the mail was brought from Bryan to the Kurten home. It was distributed from there. Mr. Kurten's place was the center of activity. He built and operated the first cotton gin, blacksmith shop, and owned the gristmill. Every Saturday the people brought their corn to be ground into meal. He always gave the widows' families a free sack of meal. People to this day tell how he always helped their families in time of need long ago. Mr. Kurten was a Catholic in Germany. Here he chose Masonry as his religious guide. The first lodge was built at the old Tryon Cemetery, a cemetery still in use. The Masonic Lodge was later moved to Kurten next door to the schoolhouse. Mr. Kurten was good natured, kind, and generous, and had an abundance of patience. He was a good husband and father and a helpful neighbor. One of his philosophies of life was however bad a thing it was, it could have been worse. Once when he went on a friend note for $5000.00 and a few days later the friend committed suicide, he said, " well it could have been for $10,000.00." In about 1900 two men built a store in Kurten and prepared to run a saloon until Mr. Kurten found out about this. He knew it would bring no good to the community, so he immediately prepared a local option, which prohibited the sale of liquor anywhere between Mathis Creek and the Navasota River. This part of the country has never been voted wet since. Families who owned land and lived in Kurten at this early date were Jim and Dawson Lawless, Henry and Philip Prenzel, Billie Plagens, Sue Hintz, Gus Hedtke, Joe Seale, Wash Henderson, the Wittmans, the Marouns, and Conrads. Also the Honecher girls, Alice, Mary, and Clara. Other families near were Jim, Bill, and Monroe Cloud, Ollie, Ive, John Hammond, Dr. John Edge, Henry and Lee Edge, and Billie Morgan of Reliance. Mr. and Mrs. Kurten were typical German-American pioneers who helped make this country what it is. They had their hardships, but both working together made the best of it and had more than a lot to be thankful for. During his life, he accumulated about 9,000 acres of land, which he left to his children. He sold several small pieces of land to people desiring homesteads but was more interested in buying land than selling it. He was called Grosspapa and their twenty-eight grandchildren and most of the community called her Grossmama, which means Grandfather and Grandmother in German, Mr. Kurten died November 1, 1906 at the age of seventy-nine and was buried in the Kurten Cemetery which he had given the community. Mrs. Kurten died March 19, 1919 at the age of seventy-seven and was buried beside her husband in the Kurten Cemetery.