Spring Farm Life

Organized German immigration became an important force in the settlement of rural Texas after Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836. In efforts to attract settlers to the Republic of Texas, homesteading grants were offered to local citizenry as well as to foreign immigrants. Texas granted secure property ownership if the homesteader maintained and improved his property once he settled on it. When German immigrants had land, sometimes free – always inexpensive –  dangled before their eyes, they could not resist.

The Spring area can trace its agrarian roots back to the period between 1837 and 1850 with the influx of German immigrant farmers who came into the port of Galveston. These settlers, bold enough to leave their homes for a start in the “new world,” began an inland trek to places such as New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. There, they planned to homestead – and farm. Perhaps they were following the advice of editor of the Morning Star on January 10, 1840: “The shortest and easiest way to get rich in Texas is to cultivate the soil.”

Excerpt from Spring: Through the Seasons by Margaret Mallott Smith, which is available for purchase in the museum for $16.95.