Jacob Neffendorf

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Jacob Neffendorf, right here in Gillespie County. Now settle in, because this is a story about a man who crossed an ocean, helped draw a town out of the Texas Hill Country, and then just kept going. Born in Redert, Nassau, Germany, Jacob Neffendorf set sail for Texas in 1845 aboard the barque Neptune.

Picture that, a ship called Neptune carrying German settlers toward a piece of land that, at that moment, didn't even have a town on it yet. When Jacob arrived, he was part of the group that surveyed the Fredericksburg townsite itself. He wasn't moving into a place.

He was helping invent one. And in 1846, he helped move families to Fredericksburg from New Braunfels, making sure other people could find the life he was building for himself. Every settler who came received a hundred by two hundred foot town lot and a ten-acre outlot for farming.

Jacob got his. He built a log cabin right there on his town lot on Creek Street, and while he was living in that cabin, he was out clearing his outlot near the Kreuzberg, that's Cross Mountain, working land that hadn't been worked before. Now here's where Jacob Neffendorf shows you something about his character.

He didn't stop at the lot he was given. He started buying nearby outlots, one after another, until he had accumulated more than two hundred acres in that vicinity. A man who came over on a ship with what he had, and built two hundred acres out of it.

In August of 1850, Jacob married Katherina Dietz, born in 1828, and together they raised eight children in their home near this very site. Katherina lived until 1904, and Jacob himself lived until 1910, having arrived in Texas all the way back in 1845. Along the way, he served as Gillespie County Treasurer from 1874 to 1876.

From the barque Neptune to County Treasurer, from a surveyor's chain to two hundred acres of Hill Country ground. Jacob Neffendorf didn't just help build Fredericksburg. He stayed to see what it became.

What the marker says

JACOB NEFFENDORF BORN IN REDERT, NASSAU, GERMANY, JACOB NEFFENDORF (1822-1910) CAME TO TEXAS IN 1845 ABOARD THE BARQUE NEPTUNE. HE WAS IN THE GROUP WHO SURVEYED THE FREDERICKSBURG TOWNSITE AND ALSO HELPED MOVE FAMILIES HERE FROM NEW BRAUNFELS IN 1846. SETTLERS RECEIVED A 100 BY 200 FOOT TOWN LOT AND A 10-ACRE OUTLOT FOR FARMING. NEFFENDORF BUILT A LOG CABIN ON HIS TOWN LOT ON CREEK STREET AND LIVED THERE WHILE CLEARING HIS OUTLOT NEAR THE KREUZBERG (CROSS MOUNTAIN). HE BOUGHT NEARBY OUTLOTS UNTIL ACCUMULATING MORE THAN 200 ACRES IN THIS VICINITY. JACOB MARRIED KATHERINA DIETZ (1828-1904) IN AUGUST 1850; THE COUPLE RAISED EIGHT CHILDREN IN THEIR HOME NEAR THIS SITE. JACOB SERVED AS GILLESPIE COUNTY TREASURER IN 1874-76. (2010)