Laging, H. W.

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Now, everybody around Nordheim knew the man. You couldn't miss him, really.

They called him Papa Laging, and a name like that doesn't come cheap. It has to be earned, one year at a time, one handshake at a time, until a whole community decides that's just who you are. Henry W.

Laging was born in Germany, and somewhere along the way he got the notion to cross an ocean. He came to the United States in 1860 and settled near Brenham, planting his roots in Texas soil. Then the war came.

He served the Confederacy in the Texas Volunteer Infantry, 23rd Brigade. He carried that with him the rest of his life, though the world he came back to looked nothing like the one he'd left. After the Civil War, he built something.

Became a successful farmer and a businessman. And in 1867, he married Marie Dahse. Together they raised six children.

That's a full house, a full table, a full life. The family moved to Weimar in 1875. Then, in 1913, they moved again, this time to Nordheim.

And it was there, in that small community, that Papa Laging became something more than a neighbor. He became a living piece of history, the last surviving Confederate veteran of that community. The last one.

That's the kind of thing that settles over a place quiet and heavy. Everyone around him knew what it meant, even if they never said it out loud. A man born in Germany, who crossed an ocean, served in a war, farmed the land, built a business, raised six children, and outlasted them all in that one particular way.

They called him Papa Laging. And now the marker calls him that too.

What the marker says

Born in Germany. Came to U.S. in 1860; settled near Brenham. Married Marie Dahse in 1867; they had 6 children. Moved to Weimar 1875, to Nordheim 1913. He served the Confederacy in the Texas Volunteer Infantry, 23rd Brigade. After Civil war, he became a successful farmer and businessman. Esteemed by his neighbors and known as "Papa Laging," he was last surviving Confederate veteran of this community. Recorded, 1968