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County
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Town
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Name
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Description
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Kendall
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Alfred Giles
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Alfred Giles was a famous
English architect who designed a number of historic buildings in the Hill
Country.
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Kendall
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George Wilkins Kendall
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George Wilkins Kendall was
a prominent rancher and sheep man in the Texas Hill Country. Kendall County and the town of Kendalia were named for him.
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Kendall
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Comfort
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Heinrich Christian Ludwig Seidensticker
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Heinrich Christian Ludwig
Seidensticker was born on September 2, 1836 in Brunswick, Prussia, and he
died in Comfort Texas on March 30, 1884.He settled in the Comfort area in
1855, and married his wife, Julianna, in 1859. He
was the first tailor in the Comfort community.
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Llano
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Bettina
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The Forty
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“The Forty” was a
fraternity of German students with chapters at the universities of Giessen and Heidelberg and at the industrial academy of Darmstadt. A group of them founded
the Bettina Settlement in 1847 and many of them figured prominently in the
subsequent settlement and history of the Hill Country. When the Bettina
Settlement failed, the settlers moved on to Sisterdale. From there some moved
on to Boerne and others moved on to Comfort.
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Mason
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Mason
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Richard E. Grosse
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Richard E. Grosse was born
in Germany and educated there as an
architect. came to Mason County in 1882 and settled
initially about seven miles east of mason in Plehweville.
Many public and private buildings in the Mason area were designed by him.
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McCulloch
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Benjamin McCulloch
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Benjamin McCulloch
(1811-1862) was an Indian fighter, Texas Ranger, United States marshal, and brigadier
general in the Army of the Confederate States of America. At the battle of San Jacinto he commanded one of the
famed Twin Sisters and won from Houston a battlefield commission
as first lieutenant. He joined the Texas Rangers and, as first
lieutenant under John Coffee Hays, won a considerable reputation as an Indian
fighter. On May 11, 1861, Jefferson Davis
appointed McCulloch a brigadier general, the second-ranking brigadier general
in the Confederate Army and the first general-grade officer to be
commissioned from the civilian community. In the battle of Pea Ridge,
McCulloch rode forward through the thick underbrush to determine the location
of the enemy line, was shot from his horse, and died instantly.
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"Big Foot" Wallace
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William Alexander Anderson
"Bigfoot" Wallace (1817-1899) was a soldier and Texas Ranger, and a
descendent of Highlanders William Wallace and Robert Bruce. He volunteered
for the Somervell and Mier expeditions, and some of
his most graphic memories were of his experiences in Perote
Prison. As soon as he was released, he joined the Texas Rangers under John Coffee
(Jack) Hays and was with the rangers in the Mexican War. In the 1850s Wallace
commanded, as captain, a ranger company of his own, fighting border bandits
as well as Indians.
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Henry McCulloch
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Henry Eustace McCulloch
(1816-1895) was an early pioneer, Texas Ranger, and Confederate officer.
Although he played an important role in military affairs in early Texas, he received fewer
accolades than his more famous cohorts John S. (Rip) Ford, John C. (Jack)
Hays, and his older brother, Benjamin McCulloch. He joined the Texas Rangers in the heyday of
their role as citizen soldiers against Indians and Mexican troops. In the
battle of Plum Creek in 1840 against the Comanches, he scouted, fought with
distinction, and was wounded.
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John B. Jones
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John B. Jones (1834-1881)
was a Confederate Army officer and a Texas Ranger. His family moved to Texas in 1838 and settled first
in what became Travis County. He fought on the
Confederate side in the Civil war, rising to the rank of Major. On May 2
Governor Richard Coke appointed Jones to command a battalion of Texas Rangers with the rank of
major, and Jones executed the governor's mandate to put an end to Indian
raids on the frontier and to enforce the laws of Texas in the interior. He was
instrumental in running the Sam Bass gang to ground at Round Rock, where the
infamous train robber was killed on July 19, 1878.
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John Coffee "Jack" Hays
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John Coffee (Jack) Hays
(1817-1883) was a Texas Ranger extraordinary and Mexican War officer. Hays
became the prototypical Texas Ranger officer, and he and his cohorts-John S.
(Rip) Ford, Ben McCulloch, and Samuel H. Walker-established the ranger
tradition. Hays joined the Texas Rangers in the formative
years of their role as citizen soldiers. His rangers gained a reputation as
mounted troops with revolvers and individually styled uniforms, who marched and fought with a noticeable lack of military
discipline.
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John S. "Rip" Ford
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John Salmon (Rip) Ford
(1815-1897) was a soldier, Texas Ranger, elected official, and newspaper
editor. He moved to Texas in June 1836 and served
in the Texas army until 1838, rising
to the rank of first lieutenant under John Coffee (Jack) Hays. He was elected
to the House of the Ninth Congress of the Republic of Texas, and introduced the
resolution to accept the terms of annexation to the United States. In 1845 he moved to Austin and became editor of the
Austin Texas Democrat. During the Mexican War Ford sent out notices of deaths
and included, "Rest in Peace". Later, he shortened the message to
"R.I.P." In 1858 he accepted
a commission in the state troops and defeated the Indians in two major
battles on the Canadian River. In 1859 he was sent to
the Rio Grande, where he commanded
operations against Juan N. Cortina. He served in
the Texas Cavalry in the Civil war,
and served in the Texas Senate from 1876 to 1879.
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Leander H. McNelly
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Leander H. McNelly (1844-1877) was a Confederate Army officer and
Texas Ranger captain. McNelly served as one of the
four captains of the State Police from July
1, 1870, until the force was disbanded on April
22, 1873. In July 1874 a thirty-man company of volunteer militia was mustered
into theTexas Rangers as the seventh company of the
Frontier Battalion, and McNelly was appointed its
captain. He died of tuberculosis on September 4, 1877.
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Robert Addison "Ad" Gillespie
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Robert Addison
"Ad" Gillespie (1815-1846) was a merchant, Texas Ranger and
soldier. In 1838, formed and his brothers formed a mercantile and land
partnership in Matagorda, but by they had moved to La Grange. In 1843 he enlisted in John Coffee
Hays' Texas Ranger company, and fought in numerous battles with the Indians
He was severely wounded in the battle of Walker's Creek in 1844. "Ad" Gillespie served with the Texas Rangers until 1845. He
fought in the battle of Monterrey in the Mexican American
War, and died there on September 23, 1846.
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Samuel H. Walker
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Samuel Hamilton Walker (1817-1847) was a
prominent Texas Ranger and a hero of the Mexican War. He spent two years in
the Florida swamps fighting Chief Osceola’s Seminoles, and then came to Texas
in January 1842 where he joined the company of Texas Ranger Captain John
Coffee “Jack” Hays. He participated in the Somervell and Mier
Expeditions, and was captured by the Mexican army. His bitter experiences in
captivity gave him a hatred for Mexicans and a desire for revenge which
ultimately led to his death in 1847. He escaped and rejoined the Texas Rangers under Hays. In
1844 he fought in the battle of Walker's Creek, which changed
the Indian's rules of engagement and led to his collaboration in the
development of the Walker Colt pistol. Walker was killed in 1847 while
fighting in the Mexican war.
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Sul Ross
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Lawrence Sullivan (Sul) Ross (1838-1898) was a soldier, Texas Ranger,
statesman, 20th Governor of the State of Texas, and university
president. Ross joined the Texas Rangers and took part in
the unsuccessful campaign of Middleton Tate Johnson against hostile tribes in
the spring and summer of 1860.
Governor Sam Houston, permitted him to raise
a company of his own. His aggressive boldness in pursuing a Comanche raiding
party in December 1860 resulted in the battle at the Pease River in which Cynthia Ann
Parker was recovered. He served in the Texas Cavalry during the Civil
War. After Reconstruction, he served two terms as Governor of Texas and then became the
President of Texas A&M.
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Texas Rangers
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In 1823, only two years
after Anglo-American colonization formally began in Texas, empresario
Stephen F. Austin hired ten experienced frontiersmen as "rangers"
for a punitive expedition against a band of Indians. But not until November 24, 1835, did Texas lawmakers institute a
specific force known as the Texas Rangers.
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link at the bottom of the page.