DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Sit back, because this one goes back a long way. Out on the high bluff on the west side of the Medina River, seven miles north of Castroville, there's a place called the Haby Settlement — and if that name rings a bell more than once before this story's done, well, there's a reason for that.
The Habys were everywhere, and they intended to stay. The settlement was established in the 1840s, when Francois Joseph II and Marie Anne Haby, Jean Jacque and Marthe Haby, and Catherine and Michel Gsell — Catherine being a Haby herself — all packed up their lives and crossed an ocean from Oberentzen, Alsace, France. Other Haby family members followed, and so did the family of George Joseph Beck, also from Alsace.
Two families, new land, a whole lot of frontier between them and anything resembling comfort. The Habys and the Becks purchased land together to farm and develop. That's the kind of arrangement that either forges something lasting or falls apart fast.
Out here, it lasted. Now, the eldest sons of Francois Joseph II — Joe and Nicolas — weren't the kind to stay home and wait for civilization to arrive. They were among the twenty-seven colonist men who founded Castroville on September 3, 1844.
And to keep that young settlement fed, Joe and Nicolas served Castro as paid hunters, bringing in venison. You want to talk about earning your place at the table — those two were putting the table together. The family earned a reputation that followed them like a shadow on a long afternoon.
They were called the fighting Habys. Several Haby men joined the Texas Rangers, and the family as a whole stood between their settlement and the dangers of the frontier. That name wasn't given lightly.
Now, anybody who's tried to farm dry Texas ground knows that water isn't a convenience — it's everything. The Habys figured that out quick. They took advantage of an ingenious system of gravity-fed ditch irrigation, made possible by perennial artesian springs the family named Die Quelle.
Those springs are flowing to this day. That's not a small thing. Most of the Haby homesteads also kept a rock-lined well dug into the shallow river gravel, or a cistern to capture rainwater off the roof.
These were people who understood that you don't wait on luck when you can build a system. The settlement grew, and with it came something else — a Catholic School in Haby Settlement, operated by the Sisters of Divine Providence from Castroville. It ran from 1874 to 1895, and it was housed in the first home of Andrew Haby.
The children of the settlement had a place to learn, and that place had roots in the same stone and soil as everything else the Habys built. Today, the Haby Settlement still shows around ten quaint stone Alsatian homes, and many of the farms and ranches in the area are still owned and operated by Haby descendants. They came from a village in Alsace, they climbed a bluff above the Medina River, and they didn't leave.
The springs are still running. The stone homes are still standing. Some stories just don't have an ending yet.
What the marker says
Located on the high bluff on the west side of the Medina River, seven miles north of Castroville, the Haby Settlement was established in the 1840s. Francois Joseph II and Marie Anne Haby, Jean Jacque and Marthe Haby, and Catherine (Haby) and Michel Gsell and their families immigrated to Texas from Oberentzen, Alsace, France. Other Haby family members followed as well as the family of George Joseph Beck, also from Alsace, France. The two families purchased land together to farm and develop. The eldest sons of Francois Joseph II, Joe and Nicolas, were among the twenty-seven colonist men who founded Castroville on September 3, 1844, and served Castro as paid hunters to bring in venison. Known as the “fighting Habys,” the family protected the settlement against the dangers of the frontier with several Haby men joining the Texas Rangers. The Habys quickly realized the importance of water and took advantage of an ingenious system of gravity-fed ditch irrigation allowed them by the perennial artesian springs, named Die Quelle by the family, which are flowing to this day. Most of the Haby homesteads also included a rock-lined well into the shallow river gravel or a cistern to capture rain water off the roof of the home. The Catholic School in Haby Settlement was operated by the Sisters of Divine Providence from Castroville from 1874 to 1895 and was housed in the first home of Andrew Haby. Today, the Haby Settlement reveals around ten quaint stone Alsatian homes with many farms and ranches in the area still owned and operated by Haby descendants.