Philipp Hartmann Family Cemetery
Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Philipp Hartmann and Elisabeth Crenwelge were married in their homeland of Bruchweiler, Prussia in 1853. They and their two children immigrated to Texas in 1855, arriving at the Port of Galveston. They settled in the Live Oak area near Fredericksburg, where Philipp became a farmer and butcher. Nine more children were born to the family; the four who died in infancy and early childhood are a testament to the hard conditions of 19th century life. The family established this cemetery 100 yards north of their homestead in 1859. Elisabeth died in 1877 and Philipp remarried the following year. His new wife, Rosina Hildebrand, bore four children; two died young. Philipp died in 1911 and Rosina died in 1913, leaving a large and prosperous family. The Hartmann Cemetery remains a fine example of a German immigrant family graveyard. (1999)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Philipp Hartmann and Elisabeth Crenwelge married in Bruchweiler, Prussia, in 1853 and sailed for Texas in 1855, settling to farm and butcher near Fredericksburg. They opened this family graveyard in 1859, and its stones tell a hard story: of thirteen children between Philipp's two marriages, several died in infancy. Well kept for well over a century, it remains a fine example of a German immigrant family cemetery.
Why it matters
Family burial grounds like this one preserve the intimate cost of frontier settlement—the immigrant journeys, the fertility, and the child mortality that shaped nineteenth-century American life.
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Related people
- · Philipp Hartmann
- · Elisabeth Crenwelge
- · Rosina Hildebrand
Themes & tags
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