DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, out there near Fredericksburg in Gillespie County. Now, every family that put down roots in the Texas Hill Country has a story worth telling — but some stories are written not just in deed records and harvest tallies. Some are written in the ground itself.
Philipp Hartmann and Elisabeth Crenwelge were married in 1853 in Bruchweiler, Prussia. That's the old world, oak forests and cobblestone, not a cactus in sight. Two years after that wedding, they packed up their two children and everything they could carry, crossed an ocean, and came through the Port of Galveston in 1855.
Texas was waiting. They made their way to the Live Oak area near Fredericksburg, and Philipp got to work — farming the land and working as a butcher. Nine more children came along after that.
Eleven children total in this family, and if that number sounds like abundance, well, it was also heartbreak. Four of those children died in infancy or early childhood. The marker doesn't dress that up, and neither will I.
It calls it plainly what it was: a testament to the hard conditions of nineteenth century life. In 1859, the Hartmanns established a family cemetery — one hundred yards north of their homestead. Close enough that they'd never be far from the ones they'd lost.
Elisabeth died in 1877. Philipp remarried the following year, and his new wife, Rosina Hildebrand, brought four more children into the family — though two of those died young as well. Philipp carried on.
He died in 1911, and Rosina followed in 1913, and when they were gone, what they left behind was described as a large and prosperous family. The Hartmann Cemetery is still out there — a fine example, the marker says, of a German immigrant family graveyard. And I think that's exactly right.
It's not just a burial ground. It's the whole story — the crossing, the settling, the building, the losing, and the enduring — all of it marked in stone, a hundred yards north of where they called home.
What the marker says
Philipp Hartmann and Elisabeth Crenwelge were married in their homeland of Bruchweiler, Prussia in 1853. They and their two children immigrated to Texas in 1855, arriving at the Port of Galveston. They settled in the Live Oak area near Fredericksburg, where Philipp became a farmer and butcher. Nine more children were born to the family; the four who died in infancy and early childhood are a testament to the hard conditions of 19th century life. The family established this cemetery 100 yards north of their homestead in 1859. Elisabeth died in 1877 and Philipp remarried the following year. His new wife, Rosina Hildebrand, bore four children; two died young. Philipp died in 1911 and Rosina died in 1913, leaving a large and prosperous family. The Hartmann Cemetery remains a fine example of a German immigrant family graveyard. (1999)