Today is…The 165th Wedding Anniversary of Carl and Bertha Wendler Adam

Bexar County Marriage Records, D-1, p121

1395. The State of Texas }

County of Bexar } To any person authorized by law, to celebrate the

Rites of matrimony : Be it known, That I the undersigned,

Clerk of the County Court of said County, by virtue of the power

in me vested by Law, Do hereby License, any person legally

authorized to join in the bond of matrimony, Carl Heinrich Christian

Adam and Bertha Bertha Auguste Elsie Wendler both of said

State of Comal County                And of this license and your proceedings

had thereon, make due return to the Clerk’s office of said County

according to law, within the next sixty days.

Witness my hand and the seal of the County Court of said County

at office in San Antonio this 28th day of November Oct day of AD 1856

A D 185       S. Smith, Clk C. C. Bex,

The State of Texas} I one of the Justice of the Peace of Bexar County

County of Comal }  Precinct No 27.

Do hereby certify, That I have this 8th day of          Day of November

A D 1856 by virtue of the Marriage License herewith attached, joined

in the bonds of Matrimony Carl Heinrich Christian Adam and

Bertha Auguste Elisa Wendler, both of said State of Comal

County.  In presence of W friedrich Kerr Cty  } G. Plehwe, J. P. B. C.

Heinrich Wendler. Filed January 7^th, 1857.                  Prec No. 27

Carl is Conrad’s brother. They came to Texas together in 1854.

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Sentimental Sunday: Autograph Book, Betty Adam

Betty Adam’s autograph

His first cousin, Betty Adam, is the third autograph in Jimmie Adam’s 1938 autograph book.

Betty is the daughter of Eugene “Gene” and Thelma Carney Adam and the sister of Jack Reed Adam. She married Herbert Nickell in 1947.

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Adam, Jimmie. Autograph Book. Original held by Jimmie Adam. Digital copy privately held by Kathryn Adam-Hurst. Boerne

Wordless Wednesday: Jury Duty, Conrad Adam, 1879

Tombstone Tuesday: Ernst Bauer

Ernst Bauer is buried here

Ernst Bauer does not have a tombstone. He was buried in the Boerne Cemetery is September 1920. I stopped by the Dietert Historical Archives at the Patrick Heath Public Library to see if I could learn exactly where he is buried. He is in Lot 511, NW Section II and 14 rows from the entrance. This is the spot, so he is buried somewhere in that open space.

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Boerne Cemetery (Boerne, Kendall County, Texas). Ernst Bauer. April 2021.

Sentimental Sunday: Autography Book, Lillie Adam

Lillie Adam’s autograph for her son Jimmie Adam

The second autograph in Jimmie Adam’s 1938 autograph book is his mother Lillie Adam.

Jimmie listened! He was 21 when he married Sally Jo Richardson.

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Adam, Jimmie. Autograph Book. Original held by Jimmie Adam. Digital copy privately held by Kathryn Adam-Hurst. Boerne

Wordless Wednesday: Philipp Bauer

Willke’s Survey Book, Kendall County Historic Courthouse

Tombstone Tuesday: Phillip Zoeller

Phillip Zoeller, Boerne Cemetery

Hier ruht

in Frieden

Phillip Zoeller

Geb. in

Darmstadt

Oct 31, 1818

Gest.

Mai 29, 1900

Translation of Hier ruht in Frieden is Here Rests in Peace.

Phillip Zoeller was one of the Darmstadt Die Vierziger (the Society of Forty) who came to Texas in July of 1847. The Society of Forty was founded by Herman Spiess, Ferdinand Herff, and Gustav Schleicher. Phillip sailed on the St Pauli with Ferdinand Herff and twenty other young men. They established the Bettina Colony. After the colony failed Phillip Zoeller settled in the Boerne area.

His wife, Margaretha Gretchen Schneider came to Texas in 1853 with Phillip’s orphaned nephew, Adolph Zoeller. Phillip met them in Indianola where he married Margaretha. The couple had eight children.

It has been told that when the Johann Bickel family was murdered in 1868 their son, Henry, ran to the Phillip Zoeller farm for help.

Phillip, a trained architect, designed the first Kendall County Courthouse.

Phillip Zoeller was one of thirty-three inhabitants to purchase burial plots in the Boerne Cemetery in 1867.

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Boerne Cemetery (Boerne, Kendall County, Texas). Phillip Zoeller. marker; personally read November 2020.

Genealogical Society of Kendall County. The Sheriffs of Kendall County, Texas 1862-2020. Boerne, Texas: The

Genealogical Society of Kendall County, 2020.

Gray, Edith A. Recollections of Boerne and Kendall County: Family Histories, 1949.

Sentimental Sunday: Autograph Book, Willie Adam

Willie Adam’s autograph for his son Jimmie Adam

The first autograph in Jimmie Adam’s 1938 autograph book was written by his Daddy Willie Adam.

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Adam, Jimmie. Autograph Book. Original held by Jimmie Adam. Digital copy privately held by Kathryn Adam-Hurst. Boerne.

Did You Have an Autograph Book?

Jimmie Adam’s Autograph Book 1938

I did in elementary school.  It was lots of fun to take the autograph book to school and have my friends write a poem and sign and date it.  It was exciting to read what they wrote.  As I got older, yearbooks  [annuals] took the place of the autograph books.  The difference was very few friends wrote poems. They tended to write a memory, say something about my character, or wished me good luck in the future. 

I discovered my Daddy had an autograph book in 1938 when he was thirteen.  He attended the Balcones School, which was about a mile from his house.  Each morning he would join his cousins, and they would walk to school together.   In April 1938, he carried the autograph book with him to school. He saved the first two pages for his daddy and mother to sign, which they did in May.  I’m guessing most everyone at school had one. 

Remember to blot your ink,

Did you know that autograph books have been around since the 1500s, and it is thought they began in German or Dutch language countries?  Their popularity has come and gone over the centuries, but they were definitely popular in a small country school in Texas in 1938.

First Page in Jimmie’s autograph book.

This autograph book gives a quick snapshot of who was in his class at the Balcones School plus the ink stain on the front cover reminds us ballpoint pens had not been invented! 

The Balcones School was a two-room school located about 4 ½ miles south of Boerne.  In 1938 is was on Highway #6. The road is now called Scenic Loop Road.  The building is still standing and is located next to the Kendall-Bexar County Line and the Balcones Creek. 

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Adam, Jimmie. Autograph Book. Original held by Jimmie Adam. Digital copy privately held by Kathryn Adam-Hurst. Boerne.