DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Frank Cemetery in Austin County. In 1852, a ship called the Sophia cut through the Atlantic toward a new world. Aboard her was a man named Friedrich Frank — born in Germany back in 1818 — and alongside him sailed the Wendt family, all of them bound for Galveston.
Now, crossing an ocean with a family you're not even related to yet takes a certain kind of nerve. But Friedrich Frank was that kind of man. They made it to Galveston, and then they made their way inland to Austin County, where they bought land.
One year later — 1853 — Friedrich Frank married Friedrich Wendt's daughter, Marie Wendt, born in 1826. So the two families that crossed the ocean together became one family on Texas soil. Friedrich and Marie would go on to have ten children.
Now here's where the story gets its flavor — literally. Friedrich Frank, known to just about everyone as Fritz, had learned how to make beer back in Germany. And he didn't leave that knowledge on the other side of the Atlantic.
He brought it with him. The Frank Brewery took root in this predominately German community of Austin County and operated for several decades under Fritz's hand. When Fritz's time had run its course, his son Herman stepped in and took over operations.
Herman, it turns out, had a flair for promotion — he built a racetrack right there on the property to draw attention to the family product. A brewery with a racetrack attached to it. Austin County was not short on ambition.
But 1918 came, and with it came Prohibition. The brewery closed. Just like that, decades of work shuttered by law.
Fritz Frank, born 1818, died 1883, never saw that day. Marie, born 1826, died 1902 — she didn't either. They're both buried here, in this small family cemetery, which is where this story comes to rest.
And the ground around them tells the rest of the family's story, the kind that doesn't make the history books but gets written in stone all the same. Three of their sons: Ferdinand Frank, 1858 to 1893; Wilhelm Frank, 1855 to 1928; and Max Frank, 1865 to 1928. Their daughter Jane Frank Brockman, 1860 to 1948, and her husband Rudolph Brockman, 1846 to 1924.
Two daughters-in-law: Bertha Reinecker Frank, 1860 to 1939, and Minna Christina Ueckert Frank, 1872 to 1965. And then the ones that hit harder. Fritz's granddaughter, Martha Frank Finn — born 1884, died 1903 — buried here along with her infant child.
Two young grandsons: Oskar Frank, who came into the world in May of 1891 and left it in August of that same year, and Walter Frank, 1893 to 1895. Some lives are brief. The cemetery holds them all the same.
The landscape out here is traditional — cedar, pine, and crepe myrtles standing watch inside a fence. And descendants of the Frank family still maintain this ground, coming back to a place that reminds them of what it took. The determination of immigrants and pioneer families who crossed an ocean on a ship called the Sophia, bought land in Austin County, brewed beer for decades, raised ten children, and left behind a small cemetery that's still being tended more than a century and a half later.
That's a legacy Fritz Frank would recognize.
What the marker says
FRIEDRICH FRANK (1818-1883), BORN IN GERMANY, SAILED TO AMERICA IN 1852 ABOARD THE SOPHIA ALONG WITH THE WENDT FAMILY TO GALVESTON. UPON ARRIVAL, THEY MADE THEIR WAY TO AUSTIN COUNTY AND BOUGHT LAND. IN 1853, FRIEDRICH FRANK MARRIED FRIEDRICH WENDT'S DAUGHTER, MARIE WENDT (1826-1902). FRIEDRICH AND MARIE HAD TEN CHILDREN. FRIEDRICH, ALSO KNOWN AS "FRITZ," LEARNED HOW TO MAKE BEER IN HIS HOME COUNTRY OF GERMANY AND BROUGHT HIS SKILLS TO TEXAS AND AUSTIN COUNTY. THE FRANK BREWERY OPERATED IN THIS PREDOMINATELY GERMAN COMMUNITY FOR SEVERAL DECADES UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF FRITZ. LATER HIS SON, HERMAN, TOOK OVER OPERATIONS OF THE BREWERY. HERMAN ALSO OPERATED A RACETRACK ON THE PROPERTY TO PROMOTE HIS PRODUCT. PROHIBITION FORCED THE BREWERY TO CLOSE IN 1918. FRITZ AND MARIE FRANK ARE BURIED IN THIS SMALL, FAMILY CEMETERY. OTHER BURIALS INCLUDE THREE SONS, FERDINAND FRANK (1858-1893), WILHELM FRANK (1855-1928) AND MAX FRANK (1865-1928), A DAUGHTER, JANE FRANK BROCKMAN (1860-1948), A SON-IN-LAW, RUDOLPH BROCKMAN (1846-1924), AND TWO DAUGHTERS-IN-LAW, BERTHA REINECKER FRANK (1860-1939) AND MINNA CHRISTINA UECKERT FRANK (1872-1965). MARTHA FRANK FINN (1884-1903), FRITZ'S GRANDDAUGHTER, AND HER INFANT CHILD ARE BURIED HERE, ALONG WITH FRITZ'S TWO GRANDSONS, OSKAR FRANK (MAY 1891-AUG. 1891) AND WALTER FRANK (1893-1895). THE FRANK CEMETERY LANDSCAPE IS TRADITIONAL, FEATURING A NUMBER OF TREES INCLUDING CEDAR, PINE AND CREPE MYRTLES SURROUNDED BY A FENCE. DESCENDANTS OF THE FRANK FAMILY MAINTAIN THIS CEMETERY AND ARE REMINDED OF THE DETERMINATION OF IMMIGRANTS AND PIONEER FAMILIES THAT SETTLED AUSTIN COUNTY IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.