Schumannsville Cemetery
McQueeney, Guadalupe County, Texas
Marker Inscription
German immigrant August Wilhelm Schumann (1791-1858) arrived in Texas with his family in 1846 and bought a large parcel of land in Guadalupe County. Meeting a wagon train of immigrants from his homeland a few months later, he agreed to sell them land near the Guadalupe River. The settlers, with their houses in close proximity, built a communal fence around their land to protect their crops, and the settlement became known as Schumannsville. Finding it difficult to travel to the county seat in Seguin, they petitioned the Legislature to change county lines to place their community in Comal County, but the request was denied and they remained in Guadalupe County. The Schumannsville Cemetery is located in the northern part of the land owned by August Schumann. The first burial occurred when Carl Blumberg died of yellow fever in 1853. The second was that of August Schumann in 1858. Now enclosed by a fence, the cemetery contains 2.75 acres of land. All but a few of the graves are marked with tombstones bearing German inscriptions. The names and epitaphs serve as reminders of the proud German heritage of Schumannsville citizens. Texas Sesquicentennial 1836-1986 [Historic Texas Cemetery name and date plaque added 2017] Established 1853. Historic Texas Cemetery - 2016
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
German immigrant August Wilhelm Schumann reached Texas with his family in 1846 and bought a large tract in Guadalupe County, soon selling nearby land to a wagon train of countrymen he happened to meet. The settlers built their homes close together behind a communal fence to guard their crops, and the place became known as Schumannsville. The cemetery on Schumann's land opened in 1853 with the yellow-fever death of Carl Blumberg, and its tombstones—most bearing German inscriptions—still testify to the community's heritage.
Why it matters
Schumannsville's cemetery preserves the tight-knit world of German immigrants who reshaped the Texas Hill Country in the mid-19th century.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The 1840s brought a large wave of German immigrants to Texas. Economic hardship, crop failures and political unrest at home pushed many Germans to look abroad, and promoters described Texas as a land of open opportunity. Thousands crossed the Atlantic, landed on the Gulf Coast and traveled inland by wagon toward the rivers and rolling country of south-central Texas.
The timing was dramatic. August Wilhelm Schumann arrived in 1846, just after Texas left behind its decade as an independent republic and joined the United States. New Braunfels, a major German settlement, had been founded nearby only a year earlier. Guadalupe County, with its seat at Seguin, was newly organized. The land along the Guadalupe River was fertile, and it was filling quickly with newcomers.
These settlers brought their language, churches, farming customs and strong traditions of community organization. For generations, German was the everyday language of many towns and farms in this region. The German inscriptions on the gravestones here are one lasting trace of that world.
People & events
August Wilhelm Schumann was already in his fifties when he brought his family to Texas in 1846, an old age to start over in a new country. He bought a large tract in Guadalupe County. A few months later he met a wagon train of fellow German immigrants and agreed to sell them land near the Guadalupe River. That one meeting turned a single family's holding into a community.
The settlers built their houses close together, much like a village back home, instead of spreading across isolated farmsteads. They also built a shared fence around their land to keep animals out of their crops, a practical arrangement that shows how much they depended on one another. The settlement came to be called Schumannsville.
The community also had to deal with county government. Seguin was a hard trip away, so the settlers asked the Legislature to redraw the county line and place them in Comal County. The request was denied, and they stayed in Guadalupe County. The cemetery started in grief: in 1853 Carl Blumberg died of yellow fever, a disease that struck Texas communities repeatedly in the nineteenth century, and became the first burial. Five years later, in 1858, August Schumann was laid to rest here as well, on his own land.
Its place in the American story
Schumannsville is part of one of the great immigration stories of the nineteenth century. Germans were among the largest immigrant groups to reach the United States in that era. They shaped farming, religion, education, food and civic life from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin to Texas. In central Texas they created a distinctive cultural region whose influence is still easy to see.
The settlement's story also shows how immigrant communities fit themselves into American institutions. These newcomers bought land, organized their own village, and then petitioned their state legislature to change county lines. Their petition failed, but it shows them taking part in American self-government within a few years of arriving.
Cemeteries like this one are some of the best records of immigrant life. Inscriptions written in German, generations after families settled in Texas, show how long these communities kept their language and identity while becoming Texans. The site's designation as a Historic Texas Cemetery recognizes that value.
If you visit
The cemetery sits on what was the northern part of August Schumann's land, near McQueeney, in the river country between Seguin and New Braunfels. It is fenced and covers about two and three-quarter acres. Take your time walking the rows. Most graves have headstones, and nearly all of them are inscribed in German.
Even if you don't read German, look at names, dates and the shapes of the old stones. See if you can find the earliest burials from the 1850s, and notice how inscriptions change, or don't, across the generations. It's a quiet, reflective place, and a cemetery, so please tread gently and leave everything as you found it.
This stop fits naturally into a drive through Texas German country. Seguin and New Braunfels are both nearby and have their own deep German roots. Together they make a rewarding day of tracing how a wave of immigrants turned the Guadalupe valley into a home.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · August Wilhelm Schumann
- · Carl Blumberg
Themes & tags
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