Dr. Dale Ursini VON ROSENBERG

Notes:

“After graduating from Austin High School, Dale attended the University of Texas and received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1949. He then attended graduate school at the Massachuesetts Institute of Technology, receiving his doctorate in 1953 on the same day he married Marjorie Ann Taylor.
“Dr. von Rosenberg’s professional career of 39 years was divided between industrial research and college teaching. He began at Humble Oil and Refining Company in Houston, then entered teaching at Louisiana State University. He spent 13 years at Tulane University in New Orleans where he was made a Full Professor. After a short time at the University of Tulsa, he completed his professional career with 13 years at Mobil Research and Development Corporation in Dallas and retired from Mobil in 1992. He was a life member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers.
“Dr. von Rosenberg used mathematics extensively in his research. His book, Methods for the Numerical Solution of Partial Differential Equations went through five printings and was used in graduate courses more than 30 years after its first publication. His book was published in Russian by the Soviets.
“Dale was active in Boy Scout Troop 20 in Austin and attained the rank of Eagle Scout. He served as Scout leader for ten years with Troop 48 in New Orleans while his sons were scouts. All three of his sons also attained the Eagle rank. With his sons, Dale hiked at Philmont Scout Ranch twice and attended the 1973 National Jamboree.
“Dale played clarinet in bands throughout his schooling. He began in the University Junior High band while still in John B. Winn. This was followed by the Austin High band and four years in the Longhorn Band at the University of Texas. He played in the M.I.T. concert band while in graduate school.
“Dr. von Rosenberg studied the history of his family, especially their immigration to Texas in 1849. He was a member of the German-Texan Heritage Society. Dale enjoyed reading and listening to classical music. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and served as a deacon. He was active in the Republican party all his adult life. In 1996, Dale and his wife moved to Sun City Georgetown and joined First Presbyterian Church.”

Dale married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Eugene Dale VON ROSENBERG was born on 30 Jan 1956 in Houston, Harris, Texas, USA; died on 4 Oct 2013 in New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, USA; was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Travis, Texas, USA.
3. Living
4. Living

Notes:

Died:
at 5:25 a.m. at Austin State Hospital

Buried:
Plot: Sec 1, Lot 151

Hermann married Lucy Marie GOLDTHWAITE on 26 Aug 1924 in Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, USA. Lucy (daughter of Eugene Henry GOLDTHWAITE and Amelia Minnie HUBER) was born on 18 Apr 1903 in Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, USA; died on 25 Dec 1980 in Covington, Saint Tammany, Louisiana, USA; was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Travis, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Plot: Sec 1, Lot 151

Notes:

Ernst Johann, the third son of Karl William and Auguste Anders-von Rosenberg, was born on a farm near Round Top, Fayette County, Texas, on November 25, 1852.

When he was three years old the family moved to Austin. Here Ernst received the limited schooling which was available in this section just before, during and right after the Civil War. He was too young to participate in that war.

As a young man he was a member of the Travis Rifles, a local military company. This company was called out early in 1873 to uphold Governor-elect Richard Coke in the dispute with the incumbent carpetbag governor, E. J. Davis, as to when Coke should be inaugurated into office. Davis had placed colored troops in the Capitol to support him. The Travis Rifles were instructed to avoid a clash if possible. Ernst related that they spiked the Capitol cannons so as to render them useless. No violence occurred.

One of the first positions he held was with the Johns Bank. He was appointed draftsman in the General Land Office on December 21, 1876, by Commissioner J. J. Gross. In 1913 Commissioner J. T. Robison appointed him chief draftsman. Except for the period from January, 1891, to June, 1893, he was an employee of the Land Office continuously from 1876 until his death. Sidney Porter, known as O. Henry, the short story writer, was a co-worker with Ernst in the Land Office.

Ernst married Helene Lungkwitz in October, 1879.

As a member and for forty years treasurer of Austin Hook and Ladder Company No. 1, he took a great interest and active part in the volunteer fire department of Austin. It is said that he turned in the alarm for the fire which destroyed the old Capitol and assisted in fighting the fire.

In about 1903 he was elected to the City Council as Alderman from the Third Ward.

He helped found the First Congregational Church of Austin.

With very little schooling, through extensive reading, he was self-educated, and attained a remarkably well-rounded knowledge of many subjects. He was a conscientious, energetic, and industrious citizen. He was of medium height, blond, and of a rather military bearing like his father and brothers. Ernst was a loving and devoted husband and father.

He died in August, 1915, following an illness of three months. His wife, four daughters, and three sons survived him.

Buried:
Plot: Sec 1, Lot 151

Ernst married Helene Clara LUNGKWITZ on 18 Oct 1879 in Austin, Travis, Texas, USA. Helene (daughter of Herman LUNGKWITZ and Elise PETRI) was born on 29 Nov 1857 in Fredericksburg, Gillespie, Texas, USA; died on 22 Jan 1925 in Austin, Travis, Texas, USA; was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Travis, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Helene and her twin sister, Alice, were born November 29, 1857, on a farm located on the Pedernales River near Fredericksburg, Texas. It was here that they spent their early childhood, gathering wild flowers and playing along the banks of the river.

When the twins were about seven, the family moved to San Antonio where the father, Herman Lungkwitz, a landscape artist, opened a studio and photograph gallery. Most of Helene’s childhood was spent in San Antonio where she received her early education. When she was fifteen, the family moved to Austin and her education was completed at B. J. Smith’s, a fashionable school for young ladies.

It was at a dance at the Turner Halle, at Lavaca and Eighteenth Streets in Austin, that Helene first met Ernst von Rosenberg. On October 18, 1879, they were married by the Rev. T. B. Lee, Episcopal minister, at the home of her brother-in-law and sister, Professor and Mrs. Jacob Bickler. Helene and Ernst were a very striking couple—he tall, erect, and handsome with blond hair and blue eyes, and she petite with brown hair and hazel eyes.

Their eight children are: Else Cornelia, Mary, Hannah, Ernest, Ralph, Emma and Herman. Helene and Ernst both lived to see seven children grown, and to enjoy the company of several grandchildren.

It was ten years after her husband’s death that Helene passed away on January 22, 1925.

She was a great lover of nature. In her younger days, she was an art pupil of her father and showed considerable talent. Her children treasured several of her lovely pencil sketches.

Helene had a wonderful sense of humor, was gentle and kind-hearted, and was a most hospitable hostess. She was affectionately known to all her nieces and nephews as “Aunt Ellen.”

Buried:
Plot: Sec 1, Lot 151

Notes:

Married:
by Rev. T. B. Lee, Episcopal minister, at the home of her sister and brother-in-law, Prof. and Mrs. Jacob Bickler

Notes:

Birth:
1900 census: Sep 1881

Died:
at 3:30 a.m. at Howard Sanitarium

Eugene married Amelia Minnie HUBER about 1902. Amelia was born on 30 Sep 1879 in Tarrant County, Texas, USA; died on 18 Oct 1963 in Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, USA; was buried on 21 Oct 1963 in Greenwood Memorial Park, Fort Worth, Tarrant, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Died:
at 6:10 p.m. at All Saints Hospital

Notes:

Carl Wilhelm, son of Peter Carl and Johanna von Rosenberg, was born on his father's estate, Eckitten, near Memel, East Prussia. He was tall, with piercing brown eyes and dark or brown hair.

Upon completing the course at the Memel high school, Wilhelm served as a government surveyor's apprentice. In 1838 he was employed as private secretary to an administrative land official and accompanied him to Saxony. He held this position until 1841. Wilhelm then entered the army and served his time as a soldier until 1844, when he was appointed lieutenant in the reserves.

Upon completing that assignment in June 1849, he was promptly discharged, proscribed because of outspoken democratic ideas and barred from further employment with the Royal Prussian government. This was during the time of political upheaval in Germany leaned toward despotism. Rather than have him receive a dishonorable discharge, Wilhelm's major allowed him to resign his commission as lieutenant in the Prussian Reserve Army.

Wilhelm realized that he would always be opposed by governmental influences because of his liberal ideas, so, like many other cultured Germans of that period, he chose a career in America. At that, his father tried to dissuade him, believing that the princely despotism would surely not last long. Therein he erred. Being liberal and democratic father Peter Carl himself may well have been having difficulties and, with his family, suffering unpleasantness. At any rate, they were all deeply attached to one another and concluded that all should emigrate together and seek happiness under freer institutions.

Wilhelm married Auguste Anders near Berlin shortly before sailing. The group of eleven landed in Galveston, Texas, in December, 1849.

Early in 1850 William purchased a small farm, part of Nassau Plantation, owned by his father, near Round Top, Fayette County. He farmed for six years, learned the English language and in 1855 became a citizen of the United States. Being a skilled draftsman, he was called upon to draw a design for the Fayette County Courthouse in La Grange. This work gave such general satisfaction that he was recommended by American friends to the Commissioner of the General Land Office of Texas. In consequence, William sold his farm and moved to Austin in April, 1856. He was appointed draftsman at the first vacancy in October.

In the meantime he made drawings of homes and buildings. His drawing of the Harrell home, one of the earliest in Austin, had hung in the Memorial Museum. He also made a drawing of the old Capitol, copies of which were in possession of several members of this family. It is his pencil drawings of Eckitten that we reproduced in the first von Rosenberg book (blue).

The land office then occupied a small frame building in the Capitol yard. In 1861 he was appointed chief draftsman, which position he held until 1863, when he left to serve as topographical engineer under General J. Bankhead Magruder in the Confederate Army. His rank was Captain, in Hood's Brigade.

Having known of slavery here before coming, William felt it his duty, upon the outbreak of war, to stand with the people of his adopted state. He participated in East Texas skirmishes near Sabine Pass. After the war ended, he resumed his position as Chief Draftsman in the General Land Office until the trying "Reconstruction" period.

Starting from scratch after the war, in order to buy a home for his large family, William borrowed $800 in gold from Jacob de Cardova, a friend in Marlin. In 1871 he built a substantial stone residence on the corner of Sixteenth and Guadalupe Streets, where he resided the remainder of his life. In about 1867 he entered partnership with Major C. R. Johns, J. C. Kirby, and F. Everett in a profitable land agency business, which lasted about ten years. When banking was combined with the land agency, however, the business failed. Broke again through no fault of his, William then opened a land agency of his own in 1877 and did very well. He knew sound engineering principles and advised correctly against the location of a proposed Colorado River dam site.

Once, when a newly arrived German immigrant came to his office, bowing and scraping with "Herr Baron" this and "Herr Baron" that, William declared emphatically, "This is America, where we don't have that." Though politically a Democrat, William ever reserved the right to follow the dictates of his conscience. He never sought nor desired public office. He was solicited to run for the legislature on the Horace Greeley ticket, but opposing Greeley's nomination, declined to enter the race. William von Rosenberg at all times manifested a deep interest in the prosperity and general welfare of Austin and Texas. He took a leading part in establishing the first free school in Austin.

He was tall, erect, and dignified in appearance and of a composed and gentle manner, which his piercing eyes seemed to belie.

He passed away at his home in December, 1901, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin.

Buried:
Sec 1, Lot 141

Carl married Auguste Franziska ANDERS on 5 Sep 1849 in Herzberg, Schweinitz, Sachsen, Prussia. Auguste was born on 6 Nov 1825 in Herzberg, Schweinitz, Sachsen, Prussia; died on 6 Oct 1897 in Austin, Travis, Texas, USA; was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Travis, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The Anders family made fine cloth, like fine linens. Father Anders was a dashing officer in the Prussian Army, and a heavy bettor on horses. After his marriage he is said to have bet away much of his wife's money, and finally disappeared. It is thought that he came to the United States, but that was never established.

Auguste's mother's people were flour millers in Herzberg, Saxony, and very wealthy. Auguste had two very handsome sisters, one of whom married a Koenig, of Koenig u. Verlag, publishers.

Of medium stature, Auguste herself was beautiful, with brown hair, and liquid blue eyes. A serious, devout girl, she doubtless inherited some typical Prussian sternness of cold countries, where life is hard. Or did the trials of her dear mother make her so earnest and conscientious? It is agreed, however, by all who knew her, that she was genuinely kind, sweet, and generous. Perhaps, too, she chose to share William's feeling of at least partial responsibility for bringing the family to Texas, and therefore a determination to help him make good here.

Aged twenty-four, she was newly married and en route to a strange, rough land, with a life mainly of hardships and pioneering ahead, after probably some affluence and elegance. This must have required courage and determination, and great love and faith. She never saw her beloved mother or sisters, or her homeland again.

A good thing, perhaps, that the next twenty years were far too busy for vain regrets. She bore twelve children during years of pioneering, Civil War, and "Reconstruction" days. And she raised them well; lost but one—little Marie at the age of one and a half years.

She and her dear William helped found St. Martin's Lutheran Church of Austin. She never forgot the prospective positions apparently in store for them in the fatherland at the time of their betrothal. If one considers it a fault, then she was certainly partly responsible for the William von Rosenbergs sometimes being called "those proud, aristocratic von Rosenbergs." Yet with their accomplishments, they surely had a right to hold their heads high. Sweet, patient Grandmother Auguste richly deserved the affluence that came their way in later life.

Her death was caused by apoplexy at the age of seventy-two, and she is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Texas.

Buried:
Sec 1, Lot 151

Herman married Elise PETRI. Elise was born in 1823; died before Jun 1880. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]