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The Early Years
In the early 1840's the Republic of Texas opened thousands of square miles beyond the fringe of settlement for impresario colonies. The impresario could profit from surveying, selling cabins and supplies, and charging for transportation. The Republic retained alternate sections of land within the impresario grants which would later be sold. This program was very unpopular and was rescinded in 1844 after several impresario contracts had been let, including the Fisher-Miller grant. The Fisher-Miller Grant was entirely in Comanche hunting grounds and proprietors were unable to settle anyone there. They sold their rights to a German immigration society.
In 1842 German nobles formed the Society for the Protection of German Immigrants in Texas, called Adelsverein. The purpose was to create a new German fatherland in America where German workers could prosper, which would, in turn, open new markets for industry and commerce in Germany. The Adelsverein acquired the Fisher-Miller grant and proposed to settle half and sell the other half. Fisher and Miller had no right to sell the land, since they had already forfeited their impresario contract. The entire grant lay inside Indian country, and had rocky soil without much rainfall. These problems were not understood by the Adelsverein until 1847 when 7,000 German settlers had already arrived in Texas.
The Adelsverein sent Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels to Texas to prepare for the immigrants who had already set sail immediately after him. He realized that the Fisher-Miller grant was too far from the coast to be reached easily, and therefore he acquired tracts of land near the Guadalupe River which he called New Braunfels. The immigrants settlers ranks had been swelling on the Texas coast where they remained hungry and sick. So overwhelming was their condition that Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels resigned his commission and went back to Germany. Subsequently, the project was turned over to his deputy Otfried Hans, Freiherr von Meusebach (John Meusebach) who tried to help the immigrants. Due to war conditions in Texas it was impossible to hire enough freight wagons and, as a result, many of the immigrants walked the 300 miles to New Braunfels. Some stayed behind and settled where they stopped. However, the New Braunfels community could not support all the thousands of immigrants, and eventually the Germans spread out founding other communities including Sisterdale, Boerne, Comfort, and eventually Fredericksburg, and Mason which lies in the Fisher-Miller grant.
The Germans adapted to the Texas frontier and changed their farming methods to survive in the Texas Hill Country. They also transplanted cultural influences including the Lutheran and German Catholic churches. Many Germans put great labor into their farms, remained isolated, and were self-reliant. Some Germans struck out to the existing towns. By 1860 there were more than 5,000 Germans in San Antonio, outnumbering every other ethnic group.
A few of the German farmers, as well as other immigrants, found the clear Helotes Creek, as well as Leon Creek, and the surrounding pasturelands to be an excellent site for farming, ranching and related endeavors. The area known as Helotes, in the northwest quadrant of Bexar County about fifteen miles northwest of downtown San Antonio, lies at the southern base of the Texas Hill Country. Helotes Creek, as well as Leon Creek, run through the area, both eventually joining the San Antonio River. As the area lies over the Edwards Aquifer, water could be found at a depth of about 65 feet, and there were numerous springfed and artesian wells.
In the early days there were few trees or shrubs because Indians burned the land twice a year so that only tall grass would flourish for the bison to eat. In the later 1800's when fences and houses were built, and Indians no longer camped in the area, no fires were set to burn the trees and brush. Cedar, Scrub Oak and Live Oak trees began to flourish. Indians who camped in the Helotes area included the Kiowa, Payaya, Lipan Apache and Comanche. There were many wild animals in the area including bison, horses, bears, wildcats, catamounts, foxes, wild boar, snakes, deer and rabbits.
The German settlers came to the area in the mid 1800's, eventually formed a Lutheran congregation in 1904, and on June 10, 1906 dedicated Zion Lutheran Church of Helotes (Lutherishen Zions Kirche zu Helotes, Texas), the first church to be built in Northwestern Bexar County. The charter members listed at the organization of Zion Lutheran Church of Helotes on February 14, 1904 included (in alphabetical order): Augusta Biering, Bernhard (Ben) Biering, Fred Biering, Theodor Biering, Amalie Boegel, Emma Boerner, Christian Braendle, H. T. Brauchle, Freidrich Braun, Hulda Braun, Karl Braun, Wilhelm H. Braun, Samuel H. Galm, Karl Gass, Marie Gugger, Charles Ruempel, Phillip Ruempel, Heinrich Schmid, Heinrich Steubing, Karl Steubing, Sylvester Steubing, Bertha Wood. Charter members and early members of Zion Lutheran Church of Helotes were important because they were the pioneers of Northwest Bexar County, and the Helotes, Leon Valley, and Culebra areas.
When the pioneers first came to the area, there were no houses. The pioneers cleared the land and built homes from limestone blocks. There were Apache and Commanche Indians who raided and killed. The pioneers gathered wild dewberries, plums, turkey, deer, and wild hogs to eat, and eventually began to raise their own cattle, chickens, turkeys, domestic hogs and horses. They grew corn, sorghum cane, cotton, oats and vegetables, and sold butter, eggs, cotton, hay and furs in San Antonio for cash. They began the post office, the stage stop, the school, and the church, and turned an uncivilized territory into a community that still endures.
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