Julius and Sophie Splittgerber

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Julius and Sophie Splittgerber, out of Gillespie County. Now, some stories start quiet and end loud. This one starts in Brandenburg, Germany, and ends split across two Texas cemeteries, with a whole lot of Hill Country living in between.

Julius Theodor Splittgerber was born in 1819, the son of David von Splittgerber and Johanna Susanna Sophia Seiffert von Splittgerber. The family name alone sounds like something carved into stone, and as it turns out, carving stone would be part of Julius's story. But first, the young man went to the University of Breslau to study farming, completed his studies, and then entered required military service, rising to the rank of second lieutenant in 1842.

A university man, a lieutenant. You could picture a comfortable life in Germany unfolding from there. But Julius had other ideas.

Or maybe the times had them for him. He joined an endeavor led by Prince Carl von Solms Braunfels to settle German emigrants in Texas. In 1845, Julius Splittgerber stepped off the Arminius and onto Texas soil.

The name of that ship is worth saying twice. The Arminius. He had arrived.

By 1848, he was newly settled in the outpost town of Fredericksburg, and he married Sophie Dorothee Miehe, who had come from Gadenstedt, Hanover. She was born around 1832. Together, Julius and Sophie would have nine children: Carl, born 1850; Theodor, born 1851; Ida, born 1853; Emma, born 1856; Clara, born 1858; Nina, born 1860; Hulda, born 1863; Elfriede, born 1866; and Julius Alex, born 1869.

Nine children. That limestone house they constructed around 1851, at what is now the corner of Schubert and Orange Streets, must have felt busy in a way no university or army post ever prepared him for. And that limestone house was no accident of materials.

Julius Theodor operated a quarry and a lime kiln. The man studied farming, became a soldier, sailed across an ocean, and ended up cutting stone in the Texas Hill Country. In 1853, he resigned his Prussian army commission and became an American citizen.

That is a sentence that carries some weight. Then came 1862. The Gillespie County sheriff died, and Julius stepped in to serve the remainder of the term.

Now here is where the story sharpens. The Civil War was burning, and Julius's determination not to fully endorse the Confederates' cause brought increasing social pressure down on him. He was a man who had resigned one commission already.

He was not the type to be pushed easily. But pressure is pressure, and Fredericksburg in that era was no place for a man whose loyalties ran against the grain of his neighbors. In the 1870s, Splittgerber decided to move to Menard.

And the marker does not soften what came next. The plan was financially disastrous. A quarryman, a soldier, a sheriff, a citizen, and now a man who had made a costly gamble on a new start.

He spent the last twenty years of his life in Menard writing early historical accounts of Gillespie County and tutoring. Think about that. The man who had lived the early history of that county sat down and wrote it out.

Whatever the world had taken from him by then, it had not taken his memory or his sense that the story deserved to be told. Julius Theodor Splittgerber died in 1897. Sophie, who had outlasted so much alongside him, decided to live with their children who had moved to Mason.

She died in 1906. They are not buried together. Julius rests in the family plot at Pioneer Rest Cemetery in Menard.

Sophie rests in the family plot at Gooch Cemetery in Mason. Two Texas towns, two family plots, one long road that started on the Arminius in 1845. Some couples build a life in one place and stay there forever.

Julius and Sophie built a life across half of Texas, nine children deep, and the ground that holds them is still out there if you know where to look.

What the marker says

Julius Theodor Splittgerber (1819-1897) was a German immigrant and prominent member of early Fredericksburg. He was born in Brandenburg, Germany to David (1741-1823) and Johanna Susanna Sophia Seiffert (1764-1829) von Splittgerber. Julius attended the University of Breslau to study farming. After graduation, he entered required military service and achieved the rank of second lieutenant in 1842. Splittgerber joined an endeavor led by Prince Carl von Solms Braunfels to settle German emigrants in Texas, arriving in 1845 on board the Arminius. In 1848, newly settled in the outpost town of Fredericksburg, he married Sophie Dorothee Miehe (c. 1832-1906) of Gadenstedt, Hanover. The couple had nine children: Carl (1850-1851), Theodor (1851-1927), Ida (1853-1935), Emma (1856-1943), Clara (1858-1862), Nina (1860-1928), Hulda (1863-1865), Elfriede (1866-1948) and Julius Alex (1869-1946). Julius Theodor operated a quarry and lime kiln. Around 1851, the Splittgerbers constructed a limestone house at what is now the corner of Schubert and Orange Streets. He resigned his Prussian army commission in 1853 and became an American citizen. When the Gillespie County sheriff died in 1862, Julius stepped in to serve the remainder of the term. However, his determination not to fully endorse the Confederates" cause brought increasing social pressure. Splittgerber decided to move to Menard in the 1870s, but the plan was financially disastrous. He spent the last twenty years of his life writing early historical accounts of Gillespie County and tutoring. Sophie decided to live with their children who had moved to Mason. Julius is buried in the family plot at Pioneer Rest Cemetery in Menard; Sophie is buried in the family plot at Gooch Cemetery in Mason. (2023)