Pochmann House

Duane's take

The way I heard it, this one comes straight off the official marker for the Pochmann House in Fayette County, and I'll tell it true. Now, a lot of folks came to Texas chasing a fresh start, and Zoellistin Pochmann was one of them. Born in 1835, this German immigrant made his way to Texas somewhere around 1856 or 1857.

He landed in La Grange, where he put his hands to work as a cabinetmaker. That trade would run deep in this family, but we'll get to that. In 1857 he married Karoline Wandke, born in 1837, and together they started building a life.

By 1860 they had moved into a three-room house about three miles northwest of where that house stands today. Three rooms. Northwest.

And then, not long after movin' in, they made improvements to the place and relocated the whole structure to this very site, around 1861. Think about that for a moment. They picked up their home and moved it.

That takes a certain kind of stubborn determination, the kind that made Texas what it is. And then 1862 came. Zoellistin Pochmann, not yet thirty years old by his birth year of 1835, died from a snakebite.

Just like that. A man who had crossed an ocean, learned a trade, married, moved a house, and was building something real, gone from a snakebite. Karoline lived on until 1910.

She outlasted him by nearly half a century of years on this land. But the story didn't end with Zoellistin. His son, Heinrich, known as Hy, was born in 1860, the same year his parents moved into that three-room house.

Hy Pochmann grew up and became a skilled cabinetmaker, just like the father he barely knew. He went further still, serving as mayor of Round Top for four years. Heinrich and his wife Clara, born an Ebner, raised their four sons right here on this property before Heinrich passed in 1926.

A cabinetmaker who built things to last, a house that was literally moved to find its permanent home, and a family that kept on building long after loss came knockin'. The Pochmann House has been standing on this site since about 1861, and now you know who put it here.

What the marker says

German immigrant Zoellistin (Cellestin) Pochmann (1835-1862) came to Texas about 1856-57. He worked as a cabinetmaker in La Grange and married Karoline Wandke (1837-1910) in 1857. They moved to a 3-room house about three miles northwest of here in 1860. After making improvements to the house they relocated the structure to this site about 1861. Zoellistin died from a snakebite in 1862. His son, Heinrich (Hy) Pochmann (1860-1926) also became a skilled cabinetmaker and served as mayor of Round Top for four years. Heinrich and Clara (Ebner) Pochmann reared their four sons here. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995