Where There’s a Will
From 1820 to 1870, a second wave of German immigrants landed on the shores of Galveston Bay, seeking a new life. The collapse of the old agricultural society and the dawn of the industrial age displaced peasants and made artisans jobless. Improvements in medical care led to a reduced death rate but the resulting overpopulation made communities vulnerable to depletion of resources. The German Confederation, formed in 1815, gave citizens the right to move away. The promise of religious and civil freedom, political security, and economic opportunity was enough to pull them to the new world. Departing primarily from the port in Bremen, immigrants sailed for months across the Atlantic Ocean. These were solid middle-class individuals, mostly from land-owning families and in a few cases, university-educated professional people, such as Victor Witte (one of the founders of Latium, or Latin Settlement). The “German Belt” stretched from Texas’s Coastal Plain to the Hill Country, including the larger towns of New Braunfels and Fredericksburg
Those who did not want to stay in cities, where they would be subject to local authorities, went on to purchase land and resume their agricultural livelihood.
Farming is not an easy endeavor, and although free and independent, farming families had to contend with weather, accidents, and disasters that could ruin them at any moment. Farmers had to find ways to diversify their activities to avoid relying too much on one type of crop or livestock. Henry Jaeger Sr.’s primary crop was cotton. He also raised sheep and dairy cows. His wife, Alvine, and all of the children worked hard in the fields and garden, and with the animals to ensure survival of the farm.
When my grandparents purchased the farm in 1931, they worked the land while raising four young children. They faced financial hardships, so in 1939, they leased the land and moved to Port Arthur for better work opportunities. They returned to the farm in 1946 and Popo opened a small store. He raised sheep for a year and sent the kids to the fields to pick cotton. He had a flock of over 2,000 turkeys, had bee hives, and ran a dairy for a period of time. Despite all of this, money remained tight and after selling his dairy and turkeys, he moved to Houston in 1955 for more work opportunities. He returned to the farm in 1957 and reopened the dairy but continuing to face hardships, went back to work in Houston in the 1960s. The family moved to Houston, then eventually back to the farm, but even in their retirement, Popo and Granny continued to work. The working spirit brought over by their ancestors and the will to succeed kept them going even into their final years. Roosters, ducks, cattle, pear trees, and potatoes replaced cotton. Lanis divided his time between the fields and his welding business.
A story I remember well took place in the early 1990s. All of the aunts, uncles, and kids had gathered at the farm for one last gettogether before the school year started. Long into the afternoon, Granny said she needed to rest because she, Popo, and Lanis had a long week ahead of them, picking potatoes. My mother said there were enough folks up there to do the work. If everyone pulled together, the crop could be harvested that day. Lanis hitched up the plow and drove his tractor up and down the rows, kicking up the Sunday dust while three generations of Jaegers followed close behind. I remember reaching into the dry, upturned soil for potatoes and using my shirt as an apron to carry them to the waiting buckets. By evening, we had picked several acres and Granny and Popo were able to rest that week.
The old saying goes, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” This sentiment holds true of the Jaeger family, who endured many hardships but never stopped moving ahead. We are a testament to the persevering spirit of our forefathers who took a chance on a new life in Texas and never gave up.
