Lee County

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of Lee County, Texas. Now this particular stretch of ground has been carrying history a long time. It sits right on the Old San Antonio Road, on land that was surveyed back in 1821 as part of the original colony of Moses and Stephen F.

Austin. That is about as deep into Texas roots as you can dig. The ground was already old with story before most of the characters in this tale were even born.

Then comes 1854, and something remarkable happens right here. A major settlement takes shape, led by a man named Pastor Johann Kilian, and the people who followed him were Wends, come all the way from northern Europe. Now here is the part that ought to stop you cold on a quiet road.

The school they built here taught in Wendish, and at the time that school was operating, it was the only school in the entire United States doing so. The Wendish language, by that point in the modern world, was surviving in exactly two places: right here, and somewhere in Australia. Two places.

That is a thin thread for a whole language to hang by, and this county was one of the two hands holding it. The county itself was carved out of four neighbors, Bastrop, Burleson, Fayette, and Washington, organized in 1874, and named for Robert E. Lee, born in 1807 and died in 1870, general of the Army of Northern Virginia in the southern Confederacy from 1862 to 1865.

Giddings serves as the county seat. One road, one colony, one vanishing language, and a name drawn from one of the most consequential figures of the Civil War era. Lee County does not lack for weight.

What the marker says

Located on Old San Antonio Road, on land surveyed in 1821 as part of the original colony of Moses and Stephen F. Austin. In 1854 became site of major settlement by Wend from northern Europe, led by Pastor Johann Kilian. Had only school in U. S. that taught in Wendish-- language surviving only here and in Australia, in the modern world. County was created from Bastrop, Burleson, Fayette and Washington. Organized in 1874, it was named for Robert E. Lee (1807-1870), general of the Army of Northern Virginia, in the southern Confederacy, 1862-1865. Giddings is the county seat.