Henry Bernard Feldhaus Family

Henry Bernard Feldhaus visit to Texas in 1893

My father's father, Henry Bernard Feldhaus, kept a journal. Here's a portion about a trip he made in 1893 from Dickson TN near the iron mine where he was working to repair the kiln used to make fire brick for the iron furnace.

He made the trip to visit his father and mother and his sister and her husband Joe Sutter. They had moved from Lawrenceburg to Westphalia Texas in August of 1884.

Henry's father died 18 Feb 1901. His wife died 10 Feb 1901. Joseph Sutter died young on 6 March 1911.

SUN. OCT. 7 - Ordered ticket for CAMERON, (MILAN CO.) TEXAS from Dickson. Full fare $23.65 on Stemwinder.

TUES. OCT. 9 - STARTED TO TEXAS. Had to pay full fare on stemwinder.

WED. OCT. 10 - Arrived MEMPHIS daylight. Started west 7:30. Came through GRAND PRAIRIE (ARKANSAS). Freight wreck LILLEY (AR), delay 3 hours. PINE BLUFF (ARKANSAS) the biggest town seen today.

THURS. OCT. 11 - TEXARKANA (ARKANSAS/TEXAS LINE) during the night, also MT. PLEASANT (TEXAS). Could not make connections via FT. WORTH (TEXAS), went via WACO (TEXAS). Arrived Waco noon and at MCGREGOR (TEXAS) 1 P.M. Arrived TEMPLE (TEXAS) 2 P.M. Found cotton team (?) Joe's neighbor. Arrived 10 P.M. All well.

FRI. OCT. 11 - FATHER AND JOE to Temple. Sold cotton at 505. (?)

SUN. OCT. 14 - Church, large congregation. No rented pews. People social and friendly.

MON. OCT. 15 - To Hoisher's (?), well to do, has plenty land, 3 renters. Was offered Clemen's place at $26 per acre. Wind blows always. (Talks about going to see Mr Kalig, J. Stermer, Rabroker (?), Maix (?), and Mr. Hollis).

SAT. OCT. 20 - Walked all over Clemen's place. Poor, badly cultivated. Henry no good.

MON. OCT. 22 - GOING HOME. Started 8:30. Arrived Temple 11:30. Left Temple 4:30 going via Waco.

TUES. OCT. 23 - Arrived Memphis 8:40. Leave 11:10.

WED. OCT. 24 - Arrive Dickson about 5:30 and home at 1 P.M.

The journal is hand written in German and hard to read. One of my cousins translated it. Not sure what all of the above means. His father was still living at the time. He apparently met with his father and Joseph Sutter, Anna's husband. At this time they had been in Texas about 9 years. When he says Henry no good, apparently talking about his father being in bad health.