Altwein Family

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Altwein family of Guadalupe County. Now settle in, because this story starts with a long journey and ends in quiet ground beside the Guadalupe River. Johann Gotthülf Altwein was born in 1801, a grain mill builder and operator by trade, a man who knew how to read a river and coax work out of stone and timber.

His wife Wilhelmine, born in 1802, née Quandt, was cut from similar cloth. In 1851, the two of them packed up their family and left Prussia behind, bound for Texas. They settled on a farm on the west bank of the Guadalupe River, right near where that marker stands today.

New country, new soil, a whole life yet to be built. And then, only three months after purchasing that farm, Johann Gotthülf Altwein was out clearing the land, doing the hard and necessary work of a man claiming his ground, and he suffered a fatal heatstroke. Just like that, the builder was gone.

The year was 1853. He was fifty-one years old, and Texas had barely had time to learn his name. The family established a cemetery that same year, right about half a mile east of that marker site, and that ground became the Altwein family cemetery.

Now here is a thing worth sitting with. Of all the souls known to rest in that cemetery, family history records at least fourteen burials. Some are marked with nothing more than simple native rocks pulled from the local earth.

But only one grave in the whole cemetery carries a proper headstone. It belongs to Herrman R. Altwein, who was born in 1880 and died in 1882, two years old.

That little headstone stands where most others have gone silent. Herrman's parents, Wilhelm Altwein, born 1840 and died 1915, and Louise Staats Altwein, born 1847 and died 1888, are also interred there, along with two of their daughters, one of them named Otillia, born 1884, died 1886. Also believed to be buried in that family graveyard are two children of a local Mexican laborer, which tells you something about the kind of people the Altweins were.

The oldest daughter of Johann Gotthülf and Wilhelmine, Augusta, born 1830 and died 1901, is buried there too, along with her husband Johannes Krams and their daughters Augusta Krams Dammann and Matilda Krams, all of whom died in the same year, 1883. The last person laid to rest in that cemetery was Bertha Matilda Krams Scheffell, born 1861, died 1933. And through all of this, Wilhelmine, the matriarch who crossed an ocean and watched her husband fall to the Texas heat within months of arrival, lived on until 1880.

She had time enough to see the school the family helped build. The Altweins donated land for the first Schumannsville community school, and that school was named Altwein School in their honor. In 1879, it was moved closer to town and renamed Unionwein School.

The legacy held. Descendants of the Altwein family are still living in that region today, which means that journey from Prussia in 1851 put down roots deep enough that no heatstroke, no grief, no passage of time has fully pulled them loose.

What the marker says

Johann Gotthülf Altwein (1801-1853), a grain mill builder and operator, and his wife Wilhelmine (Quandt) (1802-1880) brought their family to Texas from Prussia in 1851 and settled on a farm on the west bank of the Guadalupe River near this site. They donated land for the first Schumannsville community school. Named Altwein School in their honor, it was moved closer to the town in 1879 and renamed Unionwein School. Located about one-half mile east of this site is the Altwein family cemetery, established in 1853 upon Johann Gotthülf Altwein's death. Three months after purchasing the farm, he was working to clear the land and suffered a fatal heatstroke. Only one grave in the cemetery is marked with a headstone - that of two-year-old grandson, Herrman R. Altwein (1880-1882). Family history records at least fourteen burials at the site, some marked with simple native rocks. Interments also include those of Herrman's parents, Wilhelm (1840-1915) and Louise Staats (1847-1888) Altwein, and two of their daughters, one named Otillia (1884-1886). Also believed to be buried in the family graveyard are two children of a local Mexican laborer; the Altweins' oldest daughter Augusta (1830-1901), her husband Johannes Krams and their daughters Augusta Krams Dammann and Matilda Krams, who all died in 1883. Another daughter, Bertha Matilda Krams Scheffell (1861-1933), was the last person interred in the family cemetery. The Altwein family is representative of the many German immigrants who came to Texas in the 19th century, and their legacy continues with descendants still living in the region. (2002)