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Forefathers of Present Land owners Instrumental In Sett ling that Section of County By Grayson Jordan Not far from the Mason county line, and about 15 miles north of Fredericksburg, there was once a little spring in the midst of a grove of wild cherry trees. It was from this spring that the community derived it’s name. In the 1850's, German settlers, pushing outwards from Freder icksburg in search of more land and more privacy, decided that this section was the place they'd best like to call home—thus the community was founded. These first settlers were Adam Schuessler, William Rothe, Chris Rothe, Conrad Ahrens, Dietrich Rode, Ludwig Spaeth, H. H. Bratherich, William Marschall, Jacob Dearing,Tracy, Marquardt and Gastroph. Just when things were getting more or less straightened out, their fields finally cleared of stumps—a little furniture in their homes—and small herds of cattle and horses built up, along came the Civil War. That is when the Indians decided to get frisky—and began their famous moon light horse stealing raids. At times, as a result, there was hardly a horse in the coun try. The Confederate government could do nothing to help the sit uation, as they were facing quite a critical problem, them selves, and men and guns were severely needed for their own use. So the Indians enjoyed com parative freedom-of-action for several years. There were times, even, when they grew bold enough to ope rate in the open day-light——and there were instances when they killed some of the settlers on these raids. A fellow by the name of Behrends, who lived with Shuster Ahrens, was found mur dered one day by the side of a trail leading to H.W. Bratherich’s house, whom he was intending to visit. The Indians evidentally ambushed him from a grove of trees nearby. Then, in 1871, Ludwig Spaeth, who lived almost in the Crab apple community, was killed in a retaliatory raid by a group of Indians who were especially bold and determined to avenge the killing of one of their tribesmen sometime before, by a fellow named Reese, in the Sandy Creek area. (Continued on page , sec. 6) Founder Named Community Stonewall In Honor Of Stonewall Jackson By Herbert FE. Haas Almost a quarter of a century had elapsed after the founding of Fredericksburg before Stonewall, situated in the eastern end of Gillespie County on the banks of the Pedernales River resembled anything like an organized com munity. Sometime after the Civil War, approximately 1870, Major Nunez, a Jew, came from Georgia and established a stage station about two miles south of the present Stonewall on the property now owned by John Gardner. For the first few years there was no post office but the let ters for the early settlers were left with Major Nunez by chance travelers traveling between San Marcos, Blanco and points west. After the country became more populated, the need for better mail service became apparent. When the original post office be came established, Major Nunez insisted that the post office be named Stonewall in honor of General “Stonewall” Jackson under whom he had served dur ing the Civil War. In about 1879 a Mr. Bishop of Missouri formed a company con sisting of Pink Cover, Del Lud wig, dobe Adams, William Ricks and W. B. Walker. This company bought new machinery and built a grist mill and saw mill on the site now occupied by Eckert Gin. The mill site, as well as a small plot for a cemetery was donated by Major Nunez. In order to take better care of the many customers who pat ronized the new mill, Cass and Del Ludwig opened a small store in a part of the building now the home of the Otto Eckert family. The new settlement was known as Millville. In about 1882 the stage station operated by Major Nunez was discontinued and the post office was moved to Millville, and the Millville settlement was hence forth known as Stonewall. At about the same time Mr. Willie Hitzfeld purchased the store operated by the Ludwig brothers, and also the cotton gin owned by William Ricks. Mr. Hitzfeld operated this gin for many years and later sold it to Charles Wagner Sr., who in turn sold it to the late Otto C. Eck ert who operated the gin in this community for thirty-four years. This community was for many years one of the leading cotton producing communities of Gilles pie county. The first post office in the present Stonewall was housed in the Hitzfeld Store with Ad. Al berthal serving as the first post master. Among the other early post masters or post mistresses were Miss Martha White, Mrs Alfred Wagner and Mr. Joseph Lang. In 1907 Mr. Felix Wein heimer became postmaster, and he held the position until 1920 (Continued on page 4, sec. 6)
Newspaper Details
Fredericksburg Standard
Fredericksburg, Texas, US
Wed, May 01, 1946
Page 39
Full Page
Clipped by
Jenny I.
USA 15 Jun 2026
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