Hermann Jonas Homestead

Duane's take

The way I hear it, this one comes straight off the official marker for the Hermann Jonas Homestead out in Comal County. Now let me tell it right. Somewhere in the hill country of Comal County, there stands a four-story farmhouse.

Four stories. In the middle of the early German settlement country of Texas, that is not a modest statement. That is a man saying something.

And the man saying it was Hermann Jonas, born in 1836, who came to this land as a German-born settler and decided, apparently, that he was going to build big. His wife Dorothea, born in 1843, also German-born, also a settler of Comal County, was right there with him through all of it. But here is where the story gets its texture.

Because Hermann and Dorothea did not start with four stories. Nobody does. They started the way most pioneers started, small and practical and close to the ground.

Back in 1861, they built a little log and limestone cottage. Tucked in what is now the rear of the property. That modest little structure was their home.

Their pioneer home. The place where the work of building a life in a new land actually happened. Now, fourteen years is a long time to be planning something.

And by 1875, the dream had taken shape in hand-cut and faced limestone and squared cedar timbers. That four-story farmhouse, one of the largest residences in the entire area of those early German settlements, was complete. And that little log and limestone cottage out back?

It did not get torn down. It did not get forgotten. In 1875, when the big house was finished, the old home became the smokehouse.

A working piece of the new life, still standing, still useful, just playing a different role. Hermann Jonas, 1836 to 1912. Dorothea Jonas, 1843 to 1909.

Their four-story limestone and cedar house still stands in Comal County, one of the largest of its kind from that whole era of German settlement. And out back, quiet as ever, so does that first little cottage. The place where it all started.

What the marker says

This four-story farmhouse is one of the largest residences in entire area of the early German settlements in Texas. It was the pioneer home of Hermann Jonas (1836-1912) and his wife Dorothea (1843-1909), German-born settlers of Comal County. Small log and limestone cottage in rear was built and occupied in 1861 and became the smokehouse in 1875 on completion of the large house of hand-cut and faced limestone and squared cedar timbers. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark -- 1972