[Dysart]

I really don’t have any specifics about the German emigration to Texas. Surely there must be some Texas FReepers who have knowledge(or an oral tradition) of their origins, however, my roots are largely from Scotland and Ireland and I just haven’t come across too much info of this group. I’d hoped someone would catch this article and add some more detail/personal history. I do know that there are several communities in the Hill Country that have pockets of Texas-Germans. Incidentally, Fredericksburg was recently listed as one of the best small towns in America.

[goldstategop]

Then there's Wurtfest - A Texas celebration of all things sausage - no its not the Oktoberfest, but worth checking out all the same:

WELCOME TO WURTFEST

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Alkhin]

A guy I dated in college used to know all the "German" spots...Blanco, Boerne. And the Czechs made quite a few inroads in population too in Texas, but they are further south and east. Pretty much any little hideyhole town in the Hill Country can bring you Germans.

Have you tried Luchenbach too?

[Rte66]

I spent a lot of time many years ago all through the little towns from about Bellville, New Ulm, La Grange, Fayetteville, and on west.

They still had (and may still have) turne vereins where people held dances on the weekends - whole families came, babies and great-grandparents - and the only music on the little country radio stations was polka music.

I also spent a lot of time in New Braunfels, Groene, Fredericksburg, Luckenbach, and points west. Stopping to eat the local sausage at every smokehouse we encountered, too. There’s a sausage for every German dialect, and then some!

[Christopher Lincoln]

You might look up a biography of Adm. Chester Nimitz. He spent part of his youth in Fredericksburg, where, as he well remembered, one heard German spoken as often as English.

[TXLady]

Hi
Texas born Freeper living in Ozarks of Missouri here. I am a seventh generation Texan on my English side, fourth generation on the German side. My ancestor,Fredrich Wilhelm Keng, came from Westphalia in Germany(Prussia) in 1848. They came into Galveston and traveled to Giddings, TX. They owned a mill in Germany and Friedrich’s father fought against Napoleon. I’m glad to hear there is someone interested in preserving the language.