DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the marker on this site tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most folks arriving on the Texas coast in 1846 had a plan — Emil Kriewitz may have had one too, but Texas had other ideas. He'd come from Potsdam, Germany, stepped off onto the coast right at the onset of the Mexican War, and before long he was serving in the U.S.
Army. That's quite a welcome to a new country. But that was just the opening act.
The Adelsverein — that organization working to settle Germans along the Llano River — they engaged Emil to help with that effort. Now, the Llano River country at that time was Comanche territory. Not contested.
Occupied. And Emil Kriewitz knew it. What he did next is the part that makes you set down your coffee.
He went and lived among the Comanche Indians. Not as a captive. As a gesture of good will.
At great personal risk, the marker says, and you'd better believe it meant every word of that. No army behind him. No fort nearby.
Just a man making a bet on human decency in a place and time when that was a dangerous wager. He survived it. In 1857 he married Amalia Markwort, and together they built their home and a small Sunday house right here on this site, around 1867.
He went on to serve this community as justice of the peace and as postmaster, and he kept at it until his death in 1902. Emil Kriewitz came a long way from Potsdam — and this patch of Llano County ground is where the whole remarkable journey finally came to rest.
What the marker says
Arriving on the Texas coast from Potsdam, Germany, at the onset of the Mexican war in 1846, Emil Kriewitz began his Texas exploits by serving in the U.S. Army. He later was engaged by the Adelsverein to assist German settlement along the Llano River, an area then occupied by the Comanche Indians. At great personal risk, Emil lived with the Indians as a gesture of good will. In 1857 he married Amalia Markwort. They built their home and a small Sunday house on this site about 1867. He served as justice of the peace and postmaster before his death in 1902. (1993)