Living

Living married Living [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Living
2. Living

Paul married Margarete Maria GIESEN on 9 Nov 1909 in Rheydt, Gladbach, Rheinprovinz, Preußen, Germany. Margarete (daughter of August GIESEN and Emma VON ROSENBERG) was born on 2 Sep 1885 in Austin, Travis, Texas, USA; died on 26 Dec 1916 in Berlin, Brandenburg, Prussia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Damian married Berta Maria Theresia ROELKER. Berta was born in 1835; died in 1916. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Plot: Sec 3, Lot 873

August married Emma VON ROSENBERG on 6 Sep 1882 in Austin, Travis, Texas, USA. Emma (daughter of Carl Wilhelm VON ROSENBERG and Auguste Franziska ANDERS) was born on 15 May 1857 in Austin, Travis, Texas, USA; died on 19 Dec 1924 in Austin, Travis, Texas, USA; was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Austin, Travis, Texas, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Plot: Sec 3, Lot 873

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