Adam Becker Homestead

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, Adam Becker had himself a journey. Born in Germany in 1815, he made his way to Texas in 1845, and he wasn't just wandering.

He came with purpose, crossing an ocean to join Prince Carl Solms-Braunfels in building something from nothing, a colony in the Texas Hill Country, organized under The Adelsverein, the German Emigration Company. Becker put his hands to work helping establish Fredericksburg and lending himself to other aspects of the colony. That's the kind of man you're dealing with.

Not a man who watched things get built. A man who built them. He married Elizabeth Monken, and by 1852, he had planted himself right here on this very site, raising cattle and putting down roots so deep they'd last well past his own lifetime.

The house he raised for his family wasn't built from anything hauled in from somewhere else. The stone came from local quarries, and the cypress was hand-hewn from the banks of the nearby Guadalupe River. You can still hear that river if you listen.

In 1860, Adam Becker became a United States citizen. A German native who crossed an ocean, helped carve a colony out of the Hill Country, built a home with his own hands, and then, on paper and in full standing, called this country his own. He lived on that homestead all the way to 1901, and when he died, they buried him right there in the cemetery on his own land.

Same ground he'd worked. Same ground he'd built on. You don't have to wonder where Adam Becker ended up.

He never left.

What the marker says

Adam Becker Homestead German native Adam Becker (1815-1901) journeyed to Texas in 1845 to join Prince Carl Solms-Braunfels in establishing a colony on behalf of The Adelsverein, also known as the German Emigration Company. Becker contributed to the building of Fredericksburg and assisted with other aspects of the colony. He married Elizabeth Monken and by 1852 had established his homestead on this site, where he raised cattle. The house he built for his family was constructed of locally quarried stone and hand-hewn cypress from the banks of the nearby Guadalupe River. Adam Becker became a United States citizen in 1860 and upon his death in 1901 was buried in the cemetery on his homestead. (2002)