Fischer Homestead

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Somewhere in Comal County, right at the mouth of the springs of Rebecca Creek, sits a seven-acre patch of Texas that has seen a lot of living. And I mean that literally.

Rebecca Creek was a significant source of water for area settlers and farmers, which means whoever held this land held something precious. That's not nothing. That's everything, out here.

The land itself started as part of an original grant to James Baker, an early Texas pioneer who earned it through his service in the Texas War for Independence. That's how this homestead entered the story of Texas, as a reward for a man who answered the call. Then, in 1860, a man named John Heinrich Fischer purchased the land.

Now, it's likely he'd already been working it since as early as 1857, leasing it for the purpose of running his cattle, so by the time he made it official, he probably knew every inch of those seven acres. John Heinrich and his wife Auguste, she was born Auguste Koch, both came over from Germany. They built their life here, reared their children here, right at the mouth of those springs.

Then, in 1881, their daughter Anna and her husband William Klinger bought the homestead and kept the family story going. They lived in the very cabin Anna's father had built, and they stayed in it all the way until 1886. A cabin built by a man for his family, and his daughter made it her home too.

That's the Fischer Homestead. Seven acres, a creek that kept people alive, and a family that stuck.

What the marker says

This seven-acre homestead sits at the mouth of the springs of Rebecca Creek, a significant source of water for area settlers and farmers. It was part of the original land grant to early Texas pioneer James Baker for his service in the Texas War for Independence. John Heinrich Fischer purchased the land in 1860, although it is likely he leased it as early as 1857 for the purpose of running his cattle. He and his wife, Auguste (Koch), both natives of Germany, reared their children here. Daughter Anna and her husband, William Klinger, bought the homestead in 1881 and lived in the cabin her father built until 1886. (2001)