Texas Land Commissioner, Johann Jacob Groos

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Johann Jacob Groos, Texas Land Commissioner. Now, some men leave a mark on the land itself, and some men leave a mark on the records of it. J.

J. Groos managed to do both. Born on March 6, 1822, he came into the world with a surveyor's eye, and he put that eye to work long before he ever set foot in Texas.

He was a professional surveyor back in his native Germany, and when he made the crossing and arrived in Texas in 1845, he didn't put down the tools of his trade. He picked right back up where he'd left off. Out in the New Braunfels area, Groos helped open that country to settlement, walking the land, measuring it, making it legible to the people who would come after him.

That is no small thing. A surveyor is, in a way, the man who turns wilderness into possibility. Then came the years of civic service.

From 1849 to 1865, Groos served as a Comal County official. That stretches across a remarkable span of Texas history, because tucked right inside those years is the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, and during that conflict Groos served in the Confederate militia. When the war was done and Texas was finding its footing again, Groos kept working.

In 1874, the people of Texas elected him Commissioner of the General Land Office. Now, that is the office that sits at the very heart of Texas land history, the keeper of the maps, the guardian of the surveys, the final word on who owns what piece of this enormous state. J.

J. Groos knew that territory, literally and figuratively, better than most. He served four years in that office.

He served, the marker tells us, until his death. He passed on June 15, 1878, still in the work, still in the record. He left behind a wife, Katharine Blieder, and seven children.

A family rooted, you might say, in the very soil he'd spent his life describing.

What the marker says

(March 6, 1822 - June 15, 1878) A professional surveyor before and after coming to Texas in 1845 fom his native Germany, J. J. Groos helped open New Braunfels area to settlement. He served 1849-65 as a Comal County official, and was in Confederate militia during Civil War (1861-65). In 1874, Groos was elected Commissioner of the General Land Office of Texas and served four years, until his death. Married to Katharine Blieder, he was father of seven children. Recorded 1974